Comments to:
peterkurth@peterkurth.com
After a nightmare flight from
Pondering the perils of publishing
IN THE NAME OF THE SISTER: THE STEPHEN FAGAN CASE
“You'll remember that Barbara Kurth is the
mother whose daughters were kidnapped by her ex-husband, Stephen Fagan, who
changed his name and lived in shadowy splendor in Palm Beach, Florida, raising
"the girls" as they are always called, having told them their mother
died in a car crash. … So, of course, since she is the mother, Barbara Kurth
has been attacked in the media, solely on the basis of allegations by Stephen
Fagan, who says she was an alcoholic who neglected the children, leaving him no
choice. … He doesn't explain why he kept
up the deception for two decades, long after his ex-wife had clearly overcome
her problems, if she ever had any, and had gotten a Ph.D. (she is now a professor
of cell biology, married -- but no kids).
His whole family was in on it, too … It's hard to imagine the cruelty
involved here.” -- Katha Pollitt
What a
difference 30 years makes!
ABLE-BODIED SEMEN AND THE
WOMEN OF SCIENCE
My sister came home for the holidays this
year with news of fresh advances in the war against sperm.
Just the kind of thing you’d expect from the
Infidel, who knows no compassion like the electric chair, the hanging, or the
murder by “lethal injection.”
An exhibit at Middlebury College honors the
300th anniversary of Peter the Great’s “Window on the West.”
For painter and activist Alice Neel, reality
brought some devastating blows.
“IF ELECTED, I PROMISE MORE GIRLIE-SHOWS AT THE
FAIR!”
Candidate Fred Tuttle sets Vermont politics
on its ear.
REFLECTIONS ON PROTEASE THERAPY
National Public Radio, “Morning Edition,”
October 1996
There’s nothing like rising from the grave
to get people’s attention.
Remember, when they say “one man, one
woman,” they mean one at a time.
On the subject of Vermont’s civil union law,
I can see all points of view, even the stupid, hateful, ugly, Christian ones.
THREE UNPUBLISHED
PIECES FOR VANITY
Celebrating the centenary of the queen of
wisecracks.
The Author of `Darkness at Noon,’ a double-suicide
with his wife, left his estate to paranormal research.
The Return of the King.
SELECTED BOOK REVIEWS
THE
EDUCATION OF ARNOLD HITLER by Marc Estrin
I don't write fiction, and I'm amazed at the
mixture of erudition, imagination and sureness of purpose that went into the
creation of a work as sharp and enticing as this.
THE WHITE
NIGHT OF ST. PETERSBURG by Michael of Greece
A bauble here, an icon there -- it adds up:
There was never so much Fabergé lying around the Romanov palaces that a few
missing pieces wouldn't be noticed.
AMERICANS
IN PARIS, edited by Adam Gopnik
Why do Yankees love the City of Light?
THE DREAMER OF BROOKLYN, by
Jonathan Lethem
Jonathan Lethem's astonishing "Fortress
of Solitude" places him in the first rank of American novelists.
A beautiful, floating novel about the life
of Rudolf Nureyev.
THE FOURTH STAR, by Leslie Brenner
Who Stole the Squeeze-Bottle? Exquisite Mayhem at `Daniel’
ELIZABETH AND MARY: COUSINS, RIVALS, QUEENS by Jane Dunn
A wholly engrossing and sumptuous retelling
of a tale that entered legend even before its protagonists were dead.
COMING OUT: LETTERS IN THE ATTIC by Bonnie Shimko
It all works out in the end, but this isn’t
your ordinary adolescent fiction.
DUCHESS DEAREST by Christopher Wilson
A dodgy new book claims that Wallis Simpson
was genetically a man and romanced a much younger gay playboy -- "Dancing
With the Devil" shouldn't be critiqued so much as held at a distance with
tongs.
AMERICAN RHAPSODY by Joe Ezsterhas
Let's face it, America: A straight man “telling all” isn't telling
much.
OUT OF THE FLAMES by Lawrence
and Nancy Goldstone
The scholar who enraged Calvin and inspired
the Unitarians was gruesomely executed for writing a book.
YOU SHALL KNOW OUR VELOCITY by
Dave Eggers
Stop squawking about the money, the youth
and the fame -- there's a real writer among us, and Dave Eggers' new novel
proves it.
MORE, NOW, AGAIN by Elizabeth
Wurtzel
Sorry, Elizabeth -- wake up dead next time
and you might have a book on your hands.
It's mean. It's tough.
It's ugly. It's male. But is it art?
DISCO BLOODBATH, by James St. James
Violent death doesn't get more
FABULOUS than the murder of drug dealer Angel Melendez by party promoter
Michael Alig.
AFTER
THE FALL by Suzanne Somers
The difference between Suzanne
Somers and Mary Magdalene is greater than you know.
BLOODSTAINED
KINGS by Tim Willocks
A
shocking, gore-drenched story of lust, betrayal and (inevitably) miscegenation
on the bayou.
Is that icon of gay culture, the Broadway
musical, a dead genre? A new book by a
Columbia professor puts another nail in its coffin.
DREAMING
OF HITLER by Daphne Merkin
If these collected essays are any
indication, Merkin’s quest for self-abasement didn't end or begin with a check
from Tina Brown.
GEORGETTE MOSBACHER: THE FEMININE
FORCE
Georgette Mosbacher has earned every one of
those power lunches, every one of those houses and gowns, those cars, those
jewels, those shiny incisors and that big red hair.
LISTENING TO PROZAC by Dr. Peter Kramer
The harder we're urged these days to follow
our bliss and run with the wolves the more determined are the experts, in their
oily little hearts, that we stay on the straight and narrow.
PETER KURTH IN SALON.COM – LISTING AND LINKS
THE SALON.COM
READER'S GUIDE TO CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS
by Laura Miller (Editor)
All the news that gives us fits
Talking about the weather is the very best
thing to avoid talking about something else -- Dick Cheney, for example.
It was Clausewitz, we’re always told, who
said that “War is a continuation of politics by other means,” but he was
wrong: War is a continuation of
ownership by any means.
Let’s face it, from the point of view of
media scandal, the kind the public gobbles up, this summer’s been Double
Dullsville.
We need someone who’ll rule us by fiat, with
an iron fist – or, in Angelina’s case, iron lips.
A doctor called in to attend to the tribe’s
immediate needs told the Times matter-of-factly, “The Nukak don’t know
what they’ve gotten themselves into.”
George, you’ll have to forgive me for not
addressing you as “Mr. President.” I’d
like to honor your office, at least, but in your case I’m not allowed.
The Lord doesn’t mind a little stealing, really,
because He puts it way, way down on the list of things thou shalt not do.
Right now, Mel Gibson could say that the
world is balanced on the back of a giant turtle and half the population would
flip-flop itself into believing it.
THE BREAST THAT ATE PITTSBURGH
It’s hard to know if the sight of Janet
Jackson’s dexter mammary posed an “imminent” threat to public morality, or if
it was merely “urgent,” “immediate,” “serious,” “mortal” and “mounting.”
You just
keep your eyes on Harry Potter!
Barbara Bush is said to regret that she has
sometimes been “too outspoken” in public life – outspoken by whom?
I suppose everyone knows by now -- don't
they? -- that the Pledge of Allegiance was written by a card-carrying
socialist.
Take
“civility” -- please!
No
wonder you look worried!
Selective complaining, 1997-2005
