Washington City Paper: Arts & Events: Books & Talks

More Depression
Reviewed: Amanda Petrusich's It Still Moves

Book Reviews By Krista Walton

Amanda Petrusich knows what most people think about when they think about Americana: denim, banjos, a paisley handkerchief tied just so, maybe amber waves of grain. But she still has a host of questions about it: “What does Americana look like? What does it sound like? Does it move?” Part history, part travelogue, It Still Moves is Petrusich’s attempt to find some answers. She chronicles her travels through the South, with stops in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia. She drops by meccas like Graceland, where she’s overwhelmed by all the kitschy familiarity (“There’s a toaster sitting on Elvis’ kitchen counter that reminds me of the one in my own childhood kitchen, all orange levers and fake wood paneling”), visits more serene landmarks such as Robert Johnson’s grave outside of Clarksdale, Miss., then swings up to Brooklyn where she watches indie-folk icon Sam Beam of Iron & Wine perform at Williamsburg’s McCarren Park Pool. A staff writer for Pitchfork, Petrusich initially overreaches to define Americana music: It’s “a symbiotic swirl of folk, bluegrass, country, gospel, blues, and classic guitar-and-vocals emoting [that] is always infused with the vitality of the landscapes from which it has sprung,” she writes. But it’s soon obvious that It Still Moves doesn’t intend to strictly locate the genre’s history and meanings. Instead Petrusich takes a much more meandering approach to identify the people who she feels figure prominently in the evolution of American music: Delta blues musician Charley Patton, who helped define the genre that so influenced rock ’n’ roll, Sun Studio impresario Sam Phillips, who first recorded Elvis Presley and Johnny ... Continued

Tome Rule
Toy Styles makes her move to rule street lit from a strip mall in Oxon Hill
Cover Story By Ruth Samuelson
More Depression
Reviewed: Amanda Petrusich's It Still Moves
Book Reviews By Krista Walton
A Pelecanos Dictionary
Coming to terms with D.C.'s most site-specific author.
Cover Story By Mark Athitakis
Battle Formulation
Reviewed: Gary Brecher's War Nerd
Book Reviews By Justin Moyer
Franco Discussion
Reviewed: Lluis-Anton Baulenas' For a Sack of Bones
Book Reviews By Eve Ottenberg
Documenting the
Undocumented
A cliche-freel oral history of illegal immigrants today.
Book Reviews By Justin Moyer
Rite Turns
Reviewed: Leni Zumas' Farewell Navigator
Book Reviews By Mark Athitakis
Bright Lights, Charm City
Reviewed: Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Beautiful Struggle
Book Reviews By Justin Moyer

Books Picks

Jennifer Baumgardner
Wednesday, September 3, at Busboys & Poets
To the curious conservative, Jennifer Baumgardner’s body of work might look like a feminist freak show: Single motherhood! Breast-feeding other women’s babies! A fling with an Indigo Girl! In her...

Event Calendar: This Week in Books

Fri. Aug. 22, 2008 - Thu. Aug. 28, 2008

PAUL AUSTER
discusses and signs copies of Man in the Dark.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Thu., 8/21, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919
MOUSTAFA BAYOUMI
discusses and signs copies of How Does it Feel To Be a Problem?.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Mon., 8/25, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919
ROBERT F. DORR
signs copies of Hell Hawks!: The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler's Wehrmacht and his other works.
National Air and Space Museum,, 601 Independence Ave. SW. Sat., 8/23 & Sun., 8/24, at noon. Free. (202) 357-2700.
STEFAN FATSIS
reads from and signs copies of Few Seconds of Panic.
Barnes & Noble,, 3040 M St. NW. Thu., Aug. 21, 7:30 PM Free. (202) 965-9880
MELVIN A. GOODMAN
discusses and signs copies of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA.
Internationl Spy Museum, 800 F St. NW Thu., 8/28, at noon Free (202) 393-7798
BETSY HARTMAN
discusses and signs copies of Deadly Election.
Busboys and Poets,, 2021 14th St. NW. Tue., 8/26, at 6:00 p.m. Free. (202) 387-7638.
ELEANOR HERMAN
discusses and signs copies of Mistress of the Vatican.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Wed., 8/27, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919.
SCOTT D. POMFRET
reads from and discusses Since My Last Confession: A Gay Catholic Memoir.
Artfully Chocolate/Kingsbury Confections,, 1529C 14th St. NW. Thu., 8/21, at 8 p.m. Free (202) 682-2245
JOANNA SCHERER
signs copies of A Danish Photographer and her other works.
National Museum of the American Indian, 4th St. & Independence Ave., SW Sat., 8/23, at 2 p.m. Free. 202-633-1000
ABBE SMITH
discusses and signs copies of Case of a Lifetime.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tue., 8/26, at 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919.
LOUISE FARMER SMITH
reads from her work.
Riverby Books,, 417 E. Capitol St. SE. Wed., 8/27, at 7 p.m. Free. (202) 543-4342.
NATAKI SUGGS
discusses and signs copies of Life Beyond Limits: Overcoming Private Pain.
Borders,, 913A Capital Centre Blvd., Largo, Md. Fri., 8/22, at 5 p.m. Free. (703) 998-0404.
NANCY WHITNEY-REITER
discusses and signs copies of Unplugged: How to Disconnect from the Rat Race, Have an Existential Crisis, and Find Meaning and Fulfillment .
Olsson's Books & Records,, 1307 19th St. NW. Wed., 8/27, at 7 p.m. Free. (202) 785-1133.