The Latest Stuff - Page 27 of 40

November 10, 2012 Bill Swislow

Review: The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker My rating: 4 of 5 stars Steven Pinker’s core argument is compelling and important. Contrary to the nearly universal assumption that things have never been worse, human society is actually becoming less violent. As horrifically as the wars and genocides of the last 100 years loom in our consciousness, the long view of history demonstrates that life for many of our ancestors was far nastier. Genocide, rape and enslavement were routine, even heroic, aspects of war. Interpersonal violence was ubiquitous. Human rights as a concept was unknown.

November 9, 2012 Bill Swislow

Book Review: Groundwaters: A Century of Art by Self-Taught And Outsider Artists

Groundwaters: A Century of Art by Self-Taught And Outsider Artists, Charles Russell, Prestel, 256 pages, 180 color illustrations, 2011. ISBN: 978-3-7913-4490-4. Hardcover $65.00 Charles Russell’s Groundwaters has the look and feel of a conventional coffee table book, and it can indeed be appreciated simply for its many beautiful plates representing the work of important self-taught artists of the 20th Century. Start reading the text, however, and another kind of book emerges. Those pictures aren’t there just because they’re striking. Each one is referenced in the text to make or elucidate a point, and Russell has many to make. Their density

November 9, 2012 Bill Swislow

Book Review: Accidental Genius, Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection

Accidental Genius, Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection, by Lisa Stone and Jane Kallir, Milwaukee Art Museum/DelMonico Books/Prestel, 240 pages, 250 color illustrations, 2012. ISBN 978-3-7913-5200-8. Hard cover $60

October 30, 2012 Bill Swislow

Review: A Murky Business

A Murky Business by Honoré de Balzac My rating: 4 of 5 stars Did Balzac write anything crummy? I’m not expert enough to know. This is another good one, though you really need a working knowledge of revolutionary and Napoleonic France to follow the plot. View all my reviews

October 22, 2012 Bill Swislow

Go cat go

Really obscure epiphany time: Listening to some early Carl Perkins tunes (best rockabilly ever), I realized that when he refers to “cats” he doesn’t mean guys, which is what I always assumed based on more recent usage, but to girls. That would include the famous “go cat go” line in Blue Suede Shoes.” Makes more sense.

October 22, 2012 Bill Swislow

Review: What’s the Matter with White People? Why We Long for a Golden Age That Never Was

What?s the Matter with White People? Why We Long for a Golden Age That Never Was by Joan Walsh My rating: 5 of 5 stars A resonant and highly readable political memoir that attempts to unlock some of the most stubborn mysteries of modern politics, including why false promises work so well, without falling back on the tempting conclusion that people are just dumb. Walsh writes from a highly personal perspective, and it works. View all my reviews

October 20, 2012 Bill Swislow

Review: public phenomena

public phenomena by Temporary Services My rating: 5 of 5 stars A cool little art book about the everyday, and mostly inadvertent, aesthetic experiences that turn up as people attempt to the adapt the urban environment to their needs (and occasionally as the urban environment adapts to people). Photos range around the world showing everything from post-snowstorm parking blockades in Chicago to makeshift barriers in Ljubjana to ghost houses all over. The book itself is a form of the adaptation it celebrates. Taking note of the aesthetic content hidden in plain view by the side of the road is a

July 16, 2012 Bill Swislow

Interesting Ideas