Gerald Nachman
Hot off the Millennium Press
EDITOR'S NOTE: To help our readers sort through the mass of new millennium-oriented books, TheColumnists.com has acquired the services of esteemed critic Gerald Nachman, whose serious perspective on them follows below.
"Stone Phillips' Personal
Century"
Scribbler's Sons; $49.95
Fill-in anchorman Phillips, albeit scooped by rival newscasters
Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings with their own insider views of
the last 100 years, reports on the 20th century from the perspective
of a smart, hunky lad whose nightly broadcasts have given him
a unique view of some of the century's big events, many of which
he reported on even though he was not always personally present.
Phillips speculates what it must have been like to cover the
Lindbergh trial, the Johnstown Flood, the Chicago fire and the
"Cats" opening. "As centuries go," he remarks,
"I would rank it among the very best."
"Alan Dershowitz's
Guide to Surviving the Next Century"
A.D. & Co., $55
The voluble and prolific legal whiz kicks off his next century
of publishing with sage counsel on how unwary readers not quite
as smart as himself may protect themselves against insidious
political, social, and electronic forces -- "the least of
which," he claims, "is the Y2K menace." Dershowitz
imagines horrific problems likely to beset citizens during the
next 100 years and then provides cogent solutions in capsule
form for ready reference.
Down the Millennial Hatch:
Julia Child's Most Unforgettable Meals, 1915-2000
Pigout Press; $150, wine and tip not included
Julia Child discusses the tastiest dishes she has eaten in her
80-some years of dining in and out -- not just the expected major
dinners at snazzy four-star restaurants, but also many bizarre
brunches in out-of-the-way places and more than a few pick-up
snacks whipped up for herself at the sink, which are sure to
delight the reader as well. Julia still has the ability to make
the mouth water equally over a 17-course meal in Lyons, France,
or a tuna melt with a side of macaroni salad at a Bob's Big Boy
in Wilmington, Del., on May 6, 1947. This is a book certain to
provide savory pleasures well into the next century.
The Plot to Overthrow
the Millennium
InstaPress; $40
In this new Tom Clancy page-turner, international agent Henri
Pastiche, head of the anti-terrorist unit E.U.R.O. (European
Underfinanced Resistance Organization) working out of an unidentified
village in Iowa, takes on a militant group of French radicals
scheming to ruin all millennium celebrations across America by
flooding liquor stores with flagons of flat champagne. The action
is set in Washington where the suspense builds as December 31
approaches. Pastiche tries to persuade a skeptical president,
in the midst of a new attempt to impeach him (this time for allegedly
bribing an ex-network anchorwoman-mistress to assassinate Ken
Starr), that the following year must be canceled and that all
government computers be re-set to Dec. 31, 1928. Readers will
be on edge as White House aides scramble to assemble a plausible
cover story to explain the sudden presence of flappers in downtown
Washington.
(Editor's Note: The fact that we already know none of this happened
might spoil it for some readers, but we checked and found that
Mr. Nachman read the bound galley proofs last November and remained
in suspense.)
Millennia Mania
Doorstop Books; $75
In this enterprising work, historians Theo and Hannah Morch explain
why the year 2000 is such a big deal and, specifically, why 1400
failed to excite the imagination as much as other routine turns
of the century. The Morches trace millennium madness back to
1100, where the trail thins. But along the way we're treated
to a dazzling array of millenniumiana -- not just festivals and
bacchanals but a history of bric-a-brac sure to give readers
a better appreciation of why the most recent New Year's Eve was
treated so differently from others and what all the hoo-ha was
about.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Merger House; $63
Author Giles McCaffrey explores the 20th Century's most famous
recluses and privacy obsessives, not all of them as famous as
Garbo, Salinger, DiMaggio, Howard Hughes and V.S. Pritchett.
He enterprisingly includes several lesser-known stay-at-homes
the average recluse buff may be curious about, such as Joey Franconi,
longtime opening act for Susan Anton, and Mortimer Gravlax, the
so-called "quiet man of Nova Scotia." In this exhaustive
survey, sure to spark intense right-to-privacy debates, the writer
examines the roots of hermitry and discusses the lives of people
who refuse to be identified. Included are blurry snapshots of
shadowy figures ducking into cars, slouching in taverns and slinking
down side streets to avoid the probing eye of McCaffrey's omnipresent
lens.
Canada's Turn...of the
Century
Maple Leaf Press, $15.35
Despite Henry Luce's famous boast that the past 100 years were
"the American Century," Calgary journalist Seth Wankel
insists that the next hundred will belong to Canadians. He claims
his massive country is a sleeping giant about to roar after 100
years of U.S. indifference. "All we need now is somebody
to pay attention to us," Wankel argues. "We have the
land and God knows we have the maple syrup."
Copyright 2000 by Gerald Nachman
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