Ronald Brownstein
Autore di Rock Me on the Water: 1974-The Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television, and Politics
Sull'Autore
Ronald Brownstein, a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of presidential campaigns, is a senior editor at The Atlantic and a senior political analyst for CNN. He also served as the national political correspondent and national affairs columnist for the Los Angeles Times and mostra altro covered the White House and national politics for the National Journal. He is the author of six previous books, most recently The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America. mostra meno
Opere di Ronald Brownstein
Rock Me on the Water: 1974-The Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television, and Politics (2021) 127 copie
The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America (2007) 113 copie
Who's Poisoning America: Corporate polluters and their victims in the chemical age (1982) — A cura di — 12 copie
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Data di nascita
- 1958-04-06
- Sesso
- male
- Nazionalità
- USA
- Attività lavorative
- journalist
editor - Organizzazioni
- Los Angeles Times
National Journal - Premi e riconoscimenti
- Pulitzer Prize finalist (Beat Reporting, 2005)
Utenti
Recensioni
Premi e riconoscimenti
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 5
- Utenti
- 315
- Popolarità
- #74,965
- Voto
- 3.8
- Recensioni
- 8
- ISBN
- 18
- Lingue
- 1
My main problem is the book’s structure. This is the second nonfiction book I’ve read in the last year that uses a single year’s calendar months as chapters. Based on that small sample size I don’t think it’s an approach that works very well. Brownstein has four different threads he’s trying to follow in this book. And he isn’t trying to stick only to events in 1974. To his credit he’s trying to tell the story of what the 1974 changes in music, movies, television and politics meant, where they came from, and where they were leading. So forcing himself into chapters nominally about the twelve months of 1974 is a difficult challenge for the writer, and for the reader.
Brownstein has cast a pretty wide net with this book. He wants to explain how the 60s crashed into the 70s and changed American culture through these four areas of life. But, the book is pretty siloed. By that I mean that the stories of the four areas each have their own cast of characters, their own histories and their own trajectories through the turning of the culture.
There are a few crossovers. Jane Fonda was active in politics while trying to maintain her career in the movies. Linda Ronstadt scored musical success in 1974 and is also romantically linked with Jerry Brown, who had his successful political run for California’s governor that year.
The one thing that links all these stories is Los Angeles, the place where they all occur. The talent gathered in LA in the 1970s was amazing, and Brownstein captures that notion well. As someone who came of age in the midwest in the 1970s I can tell you that the siren call of California and LA was real. It was where things were happening, and where many of us wanted to be, to experience and take part.
What is so enjoyable about this book are the individual stories Brownstein tells. I didn’t care much for the structure, but the people and events he details were fascinating. For me this book is part nostalgia and part history.
The fact that I listened to the audiobook also helped to make this book enjoyable. If I had tried to read this book I may have been overwhelmed - Brownstein covers A LOT of territory. Listening to it as an audiobook for an hour or so each day helped to break it up into bite sized pieces and, I think, made it more enjoyable.
What it comes down to is that I enjoyed this book probably more than it deserves. If you want to take a dive into early 70s LA history and read some good stories about the talent that brought cultural change to the movies, television, music and politics, and you are willing to put up with the weird structure the stories come in, then grab the audiobook of Rock Me On the Water. I give it Three Stars ⭐⭐⭐.… (altro)