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An Angle on the World: Dispatches and Diversions from the New Yorker and Beyond
An Angle on the World is a brilliant tribute to Bill Barich's extraordinary range as a writer. Gathering together more than thirty years of work, this book addresses such diverse subjects as a murder trial in the Caribbean, a visit to a juju doctor in Nigeria, and the author's youthful escapades in Italy and the Haight-Ashbury. As the New York Times put it, "An easy, fluid stylist, Barich writes entertainingly about anything."
As a staff writer at the New Yorker , Barich found editorial support for his long form dispatches. He makes no pretense of being an objective observer. Instead he's out to capture what Norman Mailer called "the feel of the phenomenon," be it the texture of street life in Belfast or the trails of operating a home for paranoid schizophrenics in San Francisco. He finds heroes in such unlikely places as San Fernando Valley, where former gang members try to prevent teenagers from killing one another in turf wars.
The hallmark of An Angle on the World is its compassion. Few writers are as gifted as Barich at making people come alive on the page. His portrait of David Milch, the legendary creator of HBO's Deadwood , offers an inside look at an eccentric genius at work. Here the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia is depicted as a real person, not a rock star cliché. Barich's touch is light, intimate, and acutely aware of our foibles.
Whenever he hits the road, whether to London or Barbados, he expresses the sheer joy of being alive. An Angle on the World is an ideal bedside reader, packed with insight, good humor, and razor-sharp prose that has earned Barich his enviable reputation as a writers' writer.
As a staff writer at the New Yorker , Barich found editorial support for his long form dispatches. He makes no pretense of being an objective observer. Instead he's out to capture what Norman Mailer called "the feel of the phenomenon," be it the texture of street life in Belfast or the trails of operating a home for paranoid schizophrenics in San Francisco. He finds heroes in such unlikely places as San Fernando Valley, where former gang members try to prevent teenagers from killing one another in turf wars.
The hallmark of An Angle on the World is its compassion. Few writers are as gifted as Barich at making people come alive on the page. His portrait of David Milch, the legendary creator of HBO's Deadwood , offers an inside look at an eccentric genius at work. Here the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia is depicted as a real person, not a rock star cliché. Barich's touch is light, intimate, and acutely aware of our foibles.
Whenever he hits the road, whether to London or Barbados, he expresses the sheer joy of being alive. An Angle on the World is an ideal bedside reader, packed with insight, good humor, and razor-sharp prose that has earned Barich his enviable reputation as a writers' writer.
- GenresNonfictionTravel
440 pages, Hardcover
Published November 15, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 4, 2017
Light-hearted, detached, and aloof: these terms are my take on Barrich's style in this collection of essays and reviews. He deprecates himself frequently, understating his own role as writer or muse: in one instance, as the idea guy for Hollywood writer David Milch’s HBO series Luck; in another, as co-founder with a roomie of Larry’s Literary Agency, a dubious institution that proffered its wares to the big-name publishers out east. Barrich characterizes his stint at Larry’s in a deadpan tone—the reader gets just hints here and there of the love beads, hippiespeak, and a billowing purple haze that clung to Haight-Ashbury even as the zenith of hipdom was devolving: what had been Trends were now becoming Business. Barrich captures this moment in its poigniance, even as Larry’s establishes itself as a house of some repute. In his account of the publishing industry per se, I am reminded of the vanity publishing house Manuzio in Foucault’s Pendulum, where the tawdry and the sublime cohabit in the kind of state of affairs that Barrich revels in.
Barrich writes from an experience of 'real time' that civilization is losing, now that everyone is attuned to their I-phones. These essays date from the 1990s and early 2000s, most of them, before the onset of apps. He converses with people. Now, most people glom themselves smugly to their devices, making casual conversation—amiability in general?—a lost, or at best, a nostalgic art.
A google search for ‘Bill Barrich’ produced this result, among others: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:... -- scroll down to ‘Box 13: 49-51’, and sure enough you will find archival materials for Larry’s Literary Agency 1971-1996—the kind of thing, that, if I could finagle a look-see some afternoon with guardians of UC Davis’s archives, might shed more light on Barrich’s encounters during the headiest time and place in American history.
One of Barrich's best lines in this collection--a reminiscence of his Italian exchange experience 50 years ago--couldn’t be more apropos of the current domestic situation: “I want to be part of a civilized world, not the kindergarten of America. A world where art, literature, and music matter, where history is present and palpable”. Count me in.
Barrich writes from an experience of 'real time' that civilization is losing, now that everyone is attuned to their I-phones. These essays date from the 1990s and early 2000s, most of them, before the onset of apps. He converses with people. Now, most people glom themselves smugly to their devices, making casual conversation—amiability in general?—a lost, or at best, a nostalgic art.
A google search for ‘Bill Barrich’ produced this result, among others: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:... -- scroll down to ‘Box 13: 49-51’, and sure enough you will find archival materials for Larry’s Literary Agency 1971-1996—the kind of thing, that, if I could finagle a look-see some afternoon with guardians of UC Davis’s archives, might shed more light on Barrich’s encounters during the headiest time and place in American history.
One of Barrich's best lines in this collection--a reminiscence of his Italian exchange experience 50 years ago--couldn’t be more apropos of the current domestic situation: “I want to be part of a civilized world, not the kindergarten of America. A world where art, literature, and music matter, where history is present and palpable”. Count me in.
May 26, 2024
An interesting read.
October 4, 2016
I am grateful that so many publishers are willing to share their books as e-manuscripts with librarians like me. I have gotten to read some very interesting books while walking at the gym. When I went to library school neither walking on a treadmill nor reading a book on a computer were something I could imagine doing.
Barich's essays turned out to be quite interesting. He is a curious man and has let his curiosity take him from the California gang wars to working on a series for HBO to writing about Jerry Garcia. I knew nothing about Barich, but the fact that he had written for The New Yorker caught my attention. Without that link, I probably would not have picked this book up. I would have missed a lot of interesting people and information. Barich fulfilled one of my reading desires - he introduced me to new worlds that I could never find on my own.
If you like meeting new people and visiting places you might not find on your own, Barich may be for you. For those who like non-fiction, this book might be just what you are looking for.
Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing and Edelweiss for sharing this book with me in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to them for showing me once again how wonderful serendipity is.
Barich's essays turned out to be quite interesting. He is a curious man and has let his curiosity take him from the California gang wars to working on a series for HBO to writing about Jerry Garcia. I knew nothing about Barich, but the fact that he had written for The New Yorker caught my attention. Without that link, I probably would not have picked this book up. I would have missed a lot of interesting people and information. Barich fulfilled one of my reading desires - he introduced me to new worlds that I could never find on my own.
If you like meeting new people and visiting places you might not find on your own, Barich may be for you. For those who like non-fiction, this book might be just what you are looking for.
Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing and Edelweiss for sharing this book with me in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to them for showing me once again how wonderful serendipity is.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews