My mother did the index for the new book 1959: The Year Everything Changed and thought it was a bit lacking in purpose. The author gives his mission statement in the form of a Slate column and does a good job reminding us that the years just before “the Sixties” were indeed full of change and portent. He doesn’t get into why 1959 should be his focus, as opposed to 1958 or 1961 or any other year out of that batch. Maybe they also had some amazing did-you-know firsts and breakthroughs, maybe they didn’t; he doesn’t realize the question might be relevant.
He does spend a lot of energy explaining why we should care about this long-ago time of change and portent and breakthroughs. The reason is that it’s just like our current time of change, portent, etc. I find it discouraging that he would think the question was necessary, and discouraging that he would answer it the way he did. All in all, he provides a disincentive for checking out his book, especially since some of it appears to be about jazz.
The author’s name is Fred Kaplan and he covers defense issues for Slate. He screwed up very badly on Colin Powell’s UN speech but wrote some good columns explaining why the occupation of Iraq would probably be very difficult and not a good idea.
You don't like jazz either, huh? What music do you like, anyway?
Well, I'm not against it. I'm just out of tune with the stuff.
To tell the truth, it's been a while since I cared much about music. Nowadays I guess most of my favorites are Broadway and standards, especially Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, and Sondheim.
Neil Gaiman is a Sondheim fan! That amazed me, though I don't know why.
I like Cole Porter. So do lots of jazz folks, for that matter; his stuff got covered all the time…
You both don't like jazz? Good thing I'm furlough. Miles did "Kind of Blue" in '59, which could justify a book.
Incidentally, Tim Geithner, when he furrows his brow, has two little veins that cup it and make him look like a Star Trek alien. Back to furlough.
Didn't Gaiman do a Sweeney Todd adaptation or something?
"ON furlough" geez
Yeah, you're right, him and McKean back in the 90s. I bought it, I think, but don't remember it.
No, no. I like jazz. I like "Kind of Blue" even.
I was really into jazz for a while, and haven't been listening to it all that much recently. But I'm definitely a fan, especially of earlier swing era stuff.
Is this Fred Kaplan the same guy who wrote the (quite good) Dickens biography?
You should listen to Ella Fitzgerald "Cole Porter" songbook (and Rodgers and Hart) if you like showtunes and the like–It's kind of jazz but all kinds of awesome.
I love me some Ella
Yeah, I love the Songbooks. That's how I started listening to R&H, and the rest is history.
It can be pretty tough to draw the line between jazz and standards. Ella's an example of someone whose career falls into both categories. But the Songbooks fall on the standards side, in my view. There's no improvisation, and isn't that supposed to be key?
Slate's Fred Kaplan is different from Fred Kaplan the professor (who also wrote a biography of Gore Vidal).