Book Review: The New Kings of Nonfiction, by Ira Glass

The New Kings of Nonfiction by Ira Glass

My review
rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is a collection of non-fiction pieces collected and edited by one, Ira Glass of This American Life. I really enjoyed some of these, and others I was less impressed with. I love the radio show and thought that these would be on the same level, but nothing is as wonderful as the original. I'm just going to go over the highlights: "Toxic Dreams: A California Town Finds Meaning in an Acid Pit," "Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg," "Tales of a Tyrant," and "My Republican Journey."

"Toxic Dreams: A California Town Finds Meaning in an Acid Pit," by Jack Hitt, is about the lawsuits files on behalf of the resident of a California town against several large companies. The story itself is incredible, and a tad strange. It is a good read though.

"Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg," by Malcolm Gladwell, is great; it is a spin on six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Essentially, Gladwell does a case study on one woman, Lois Weisberg and her ability to network. Gladwell argues that a person's ability to network is true what separates people for example a poor black man in a lower economic class will not be able to network for upward mobility in a poor neighborhood, but send him to university and her can network with people from a higher class...education matters less than who you know. I don't know if I entirely agree, but it was interesting anyway.

"Tales of a Tyrant," by Mark Bowden, is about Saddam Hussein. It is an interesting tale about life as Saddam; just normal life for him.

In "My Republican Journey," Dan Savage goes undercover to the dark side. However, he isn't undercover; he goes as a gay sex writer. He forces them to discuss the anti-gay stances of their party at their own convention. He does an selection of this on This American Life.

View all my reviews.