US

by Richard Goldstein (Editor)

191 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice time capsule, similar to other anthologies edited by Goldstein.

It's writing from (and for) another era, of varying quality. There are hits and misses, and naturally, some pieces fall flat that I likely would have dug then (but then, one reads this for overall effect, so that's not really a gripe).

The entry that both stands the test of time and is not tethered to this collection, is Sally Grimes' "Obit" (*****) which the credits claim is condensed from a longer memoir titled "The Death of The Obituary Writer". Previously unknown to me, I haven't been able to track down the larger piece (if published) or anything else by the writer.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me of Joan Didion’s White Album, a collection of essays in which that writer represented California in the sixties as a set of cultural extremes that did not fit together, and which seemed to reflect a social and psychological crisis. The difference with US: A Paperback Magazine is that there is a lot more humor, not only in the writing, but also in the inclusion of comic photographs, the pattern poems by Richard Kostelanetz, and in the drawings by cartoonist Robert Crumb. In the articles, James Kunen describes a rocket launching, and comments on its cultural and political symbolism; Michael Lydon writes of his own adolescence in the fifties, and about what the Charlie Starkweather murders suggest with regard to the experience of adolescence; Michael Thomas describes moments of flight and nudity during a performance by the Living Theatre; Jon Landau analyzes politics and tradition at Brandeis U.; and in an unfocused article that employs a lot of parenthetical comments, Richard Meltzer writes about ambiguities in boxing statistics (not as good as Roland Barthes writing about wrestling—unless you’re a fan of boxing or of Richard Meltzer). The second issue of this “magazine” includes articles on Bob Dylan, acid guru Timothy Leary, actor Robert Mitchum, astrology, feminism, and jail.

[Lew · Rating 2 out of 5]

A counter culture paperback with articles, avante garde and section of sketches by Robert Crumb.