Nonfiction recommendations please

[Newdaawn]

Just found this book that was written in the mid 80s - Home Before Dark - written by Susan Cheever about her father, the author, John Cheever. It hooked me in by the 2nd chapter. She (Susan) is quite an author in her own right. I will be on the lookout for her books now.

[jertheber]

I just finished reading "Smart Ass" by Joel Selvin, he reported for the SF Chronicle through the best of the Bay Area band years. His one on one interviews with the likes of Garcia, Elvin Bishop, Mike Bloomfield, and others, are some of the best "inside the mind of" reporting I've ever read. I'll always be enamored of that era's music, not denigrating today's stuff but that's just my kind of music..

[kevxu]

I am interested in American pop music, and particularly the African-American stream that contributed to it. This is why I picked up Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot, 1843-1924 written by David Wondrich.

As an exploration of the development of minstrel music (by both blacks and whites), ragtime, jazz and blues; and how these eventually prevailed over the tamer American music of sentimental waltzs and parlor ballads is fascinating. A big plus is that the author cites by catalogue number the early recorded music, and its availability in CD anthologies. In these respects the book is excellent.

Now comes the "however," and it is directed to the author's writing style - which reads as if it were the product of adolescent testosterone or too much booze, or both. The ultimate effect I can only characterize as "cutsie hip," screaming look at me, me, me the totally knows-everything Mr. Cool, and relying heavily on often unnecessary terminology and neologisms for that effect. In fact, his entire style is effect, and it worked strongly against the presentation of content for me. Wondrich's authorial personality finally overwhelmed me about two-thirds of the way through and I gave the book a two week rest. I came back to it reluctantly - but I have to say, the content was too good to miss; and alternately I ploughed and raced through to the end.

The author writes books on "cocktails" the cover copy says, and you would never convince me that he hadn't had too many of said drinks before each session writing this book. A very big drawback, but if you are interested in African-American music and the origins of U.S. pop, take a deep breath and dive in, because on that level it is worth the pain.

[LauraC]

I can add another one that I really enjoyed:

The Presidents Club: Inside The World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

Bound together by experience, ambition and scars, and a desire to remain relevant, ex-presidents have discovered, along with sitting presidents who draw on their expertise, that they can accomplish more together than apart. Beginning with Hoover and Truman and ending with Obama and his club of ex-presidents, the book explores the consultations, collaborative efforts, rivalries and dustups between sitting presidents and the men who once held the oval office. They may have left office but they still seem to want to be influential. Big personalities/egos, hypersensitivity as to how they are treated and the unlikely friendships forged in private between former political foes make this book really interesting and full of surprises.

[Blinx]

I just started Titanic Survivor by Violet Jessop. It's the memoirs of a stewardess who was working on the ship when it sank. But it's so much more! The title is a little misleading, since Violet recounts about 40 years of her life working on board several ships, and Titanic is not the only sinking that she survived.