Aug 30, 2006

Things Not Yet Noted

by Cliopatria

On the anniversary of E. P. Thompson's death, J. Carter Wood at Obscene Desserts remembers his work. Thanks to Sharon Howard at Early Modern Notes for the tip.

Scott McLemee,"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," Inside Higher Ed, 30 August, takes a look back at three seasons of HBO's"Deadwood."

Douglas Mastriano,"Alvin York and the Meusse-Argonne Offensive," HistoryNet.com, n.d., looks at America's hero in WWI, Alvin York, from the German point of view. Thanks to Tom Bruscino at Big Tent for the tip.

Richard Wolin's"Foucault the Neohumanist?" CHE, 1 September, is not subscriber only and it's definitely worth the read. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.

Louis Menand,"Bob on Bob," New Yorker, 4 September, reviews Jonathan Cott, Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews. Does Menand publish anything that is not essential reading? Thanks to Eric Altermann at Altercation for the tip.

More Comments:

Jonathan Dresner - 8/30/2006

Menand's review is indeed a great piece of work. It doesn't entirely work, though: his conclusion that "it's all about sound" and his dismissal of lyrics ignore the fact that Dylan's early success was entirely lyrical. The man can't sing to save his life (my father remembers booing him off the stage in upstate New York in the early 60s), and there was nothing special about his early sound, but some of what he wrote for acoustic performance is extremely powerful lyrically.

He may have changed, at some point, and decided to make his mark with sound rather than with words, and the success he'd had made it possible for him to be artistically free. But so many more people know his words than his sound....