Got a little love from the public affairs office at San Francisco State University. Matt Itel wrote a piece for Campus Memo, an online newsletter for the campus community. Mostly we talked about Carey McWilliams and American Prophet. Then they put the link on the university's home page:
http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/cmemo/spring06/may22people.htm
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Monday, May 15, 2006
The Bonnie Cashin Lecture
I'm working hard on the Bonnie Cashin lecture, which I'll deliver at UCLA on June 15. I'm trying to answer a basic question. If Kevin Starr is right that Carey McWilliams is "the single finest nonfiction writer on California--ever," how come so few Californians know about him? Even after thinking about McWilliams and his work for years, I haven't quite figured that out, so I'm curious about where that question will take me.
Here's a link with lecture info:
www.library.ucla.edu/special/scweb/cashin/lecture.htm
Here's a link with lecture info:
www.library.ucla.edu/special/scweb/cashin/lecture.htm
From Left Field
Had a chat yesterday with Barry Gordon on "From Left Field" on KCAA in Los Angeles. Carol Pott and I spoke about PoliPointPress and The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics and Practices. Carol has been working hard and intelligently on the promotion front, and the book is getting a great reception. It shows how much and to which political party hundreds of corporations contribute their money. Which means that consumers can use the directory to support companies that share their values. As Norman Solomon puts it, let the seller beware.
For those of you taking notes, Barry Gordon used to be president of the Screen Actors Guild--longest tenure of any president, it turns out, one year longer than Ronald Reagan and Charlton Heston--and now plays the rabbi on Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
For those of you taking notes, Barry Gordon used to be president of the Screen Actors Guild--longest tenure of any president, it turns out, one year longer than Ronald Reagan and Charlton Heston--and now plays the rabbi on Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
L.A. Times Review
The Los Angeles Times removed its review of American Prophet from its website, so I removed the link from this page. Please contact me at peter.richardson@sbcglobal.net if you'd like an electronic version of that review.
Bush Style vs. McWilliams Style
One of my favorite books on writing style is Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner's Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose. Thomas and Turner discuss and contrast various styles, including plain style, which they describe as follows.
"Plain style is communal, its model scene a congregation in which speakers reaffirm for each other common truths that are the property of all. In the theology behind plain style, truth is always simple, and it is a common human possession. Individual revisions of this communal possession distort and dilute it. The wisdom of children can be the wisdom of adults, because knowing truth requires no special experience and no critical analysis. Sophisticated thought and conceptual refinement pervert truth. Any language that reaches beyond the simplest level is suspicious as the probable symptom of such a perversion" (76-77).
For my money, this is the best description of President Bush's conception of the truth. Plain style is very popular in Texas, where intellectuals are defined as people "educated beyond their intelligence." I heard Henry Hyde describe some academics that way when they informed his committee that it was torturing the Constitution during the Clinton impeachment.
Carey McWilliams's style was more like what Thomas and Turner call classic style. For the classic stylist, common wisdom is often self-serving. Without critical testing, such common wisdom can become "an anthology of a community's complacent errors." Classic style remedies that deficiency by requiring critical analysis. "In classic style, truth is available to all who are willing to work to achieve it, but truth is certainly not commonly possessed by all and is no one's birthright. In the classic view, truth is the possession of individuals who have validated common wisdom; for them, truth has been achieved, and such achievement requires both experience and a critical intelligence beyond the range of babes" (77).
In short, classic style values simplicity but doesn't reject nuance or sophistication on principle. Today's headlines suggest we could use more classic style and less plain style in American politics.
"Plain style is communal, its model scene a congregation in which speakers reaffirm for each other common truths that are the property of all. In the theology behind plain style, truth is always simple, and it is a common human possession. Individual revisions of this communal possession distort and dilute it. The wisdom of children can be the wisdom of adults, because knowing truth requires no special experience and no critical analysis. Sophisticated thought and conceptual refinement pervert truth. Any language that reaches beyond the simplest level is suspicious as the probable symptom of such a perversion" (76-77).
For my money, this is the best description of President Bush's conception of the truth. Plain style is very popular in Texas, where intellectuals are defined as people "educated beyond their intelligence." I heard Henry Hyde describe some academics that way when they informed his committee that it was torturing the Constitution during the Clinton impeachment.
Carey McWilliams's style was more like what Thomas and Turner call classic style. For the classic stylist, common wisdom is often self-serving. Without critical testing, such common wisdom can become "an anthology of a community's complacent errors." Classic style remedies that deficiency by requiring critical analysis. "In classic style, truth is available to all who are willing to work to achieve it, but truth is certainly not commonly possessed by all and is no one's birthright. In the classic view, truth is the possession of individuals who have validated common wisdom; for them, truth has been achieved, and such achievement requires both experience and a critical intelligence beyond the range of babes" (77).
In short, classic style values simplicity but doesn't reject nuance or sophistication on principle. Today's headlines suggest we could use more classic style and less plain style in American politics.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Patt Morrison and All Saints Church
I'm making another Lo-Cal swing in June, and I'm pleased to add two more events to that trip: a conversation with Patt Morrison (KPCC, 89.3) and a talk at All Saints Church in Pasadena, both on June 16. Patt Morrison and All Saints Pasadena are two very impressive Southern California institutions. (See www.pattmorrison.com and www.allsaints-pas.org for details on their efforts and achievements.)
Rothmann Show Tonight
I'll appear on John Rothmann's show tonight on KGO (810 AM) at 1:00 a.m. to discuss Carey McWilliams and American Prophet. We should have a lot to talk about. Rothmann worked on Nixon's 1968 campaign, and McWilliams followed Nixon's career closely if unsympathetically. Rothmann is also interested in the Jewish experience in America, which McWilliams treated in Brothers Under the Skin and A Mask for Privilege.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Michigan Daily Excerpt
The Michigan Daily ran an excerpt of the book. Here's the link.
Book Excerpt: American Prophet: The Life and Work of Carey McWilliams - The Statement
Book Excerpt: American Prophet: The Life and Work of Carey McWilliams - The Statement
Monday, April 10, 2006
Gigs Update
Here's the flapjaw schedule (and past events) for American Prophet: The Life and Work of Carey McWilliams.
Saturday, June 17--Dawson's Book Shop, 535 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, 2:30 p.m. Open to public.
Friday, June 16--All Saints Church, Pasadena, 7:00 p.m.
Friday, June 16--Talk of the City with Patt Morrison, KPCC, 89.3 FM, 2-3 p.m.
Thursday, June 15--Bonnie Cashin lecture, UCLA, 4 p.m. Open to public.
Sunday, April 30--The John Rothmann Show, KGO, 810 AM, 1:00 a.m.
March 30--Black Oak Books, Berkeley.
March 1--Morning Review with Gabriel Gutierrez, KPFK, Los Angeles.
February 28--Huntington Library, San Marino. Sponsored by the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.
February 27--Oxnard Public Library.
February 27--Cal State Northridge. Sponsored by the Chicana/o Studies Department.
October 3, 2005--Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco.
September 21, 2005--California Studies Lecture, UC Berkeley.
May 21, 2005--The Sleepy Lagoon Case, Constitional Rights, and the Struggle for Democracy: A Commemorative Symposium, UCLA. Sponsored by the Chicano Studies Research Center, the Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, and the Fowler Museum of Cultural History.
April 6, 2003--All Saints Church, Pasadena.
Saturday, June 17--Dawson's Book Shop, 535 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, 2:30 p.m. Open to public.
Friday, June 16--All Saints Church, Pasadena, 7:00 p.m.
Friday, June 16--Talk of the City with Patt Morrison, KPCC, 89.3 FM, 2-3 p.m.
Thursday, June 15--Bonnie Cashin lecture, UCLA, 4 p.m. Open to public.
Sunday, April 30--The John Rothmann Show, KGO, 810 AM, 1:00 a.m.
March 30--Black Oak Books, Berkeley.
March 1--Morning Review with Gabriel Gutierrez, KPFK, Los Angeles.
February 28--Huntington Library, San Marino. Sponsored by the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.
February 27--Oxnard Public Library.
February 27--Cal State Northridge. Sponsored by the Chicana/o Studies Department.
October 3, 2005--Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco.
September 21, 2005--California Studies Lecture, UC Berkeley.
May 21, 2005--The Sleepy Lagoon Case, Constitional Rights, and the Struggle for Democracy: A Commemorative Symposium, UCLA. Sponsored by the Chicano Studies Research Center, the Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, and the Fowler Museum of Cultural History.
April 6, 2003--All Saints Church, Pasadena.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Next Radio Gig
Just received an invitation to appear on KGO's John Rothmann show to talk about Carey McWilliams and American Prophet. The show is scheduled for Sunday, April 30, at 1:00 a.m. That's cutting pretty deep into the cocktail hour, but duty calls. If you're up late that Saturday night, give it a shot at 810 on the AM dial.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)