My Cold War

by Tom Piazza

A sharp, searching novel of an American son and the family he left behind 埦rom a writer of rare breadth and human insight. My Cold War is a critically acclaimed debut novel of extraordinary depth and range : the story of a man's alienation and attempts at reconnection with his family, and a rich exploration of the thorny implications of American popular culture. At its center is John Delano, a professor of Cold War Studies and successful mass–market historian a la Stephen Ambrose or Ken Burns. Raised by an awkward, embittered father and a frustrated mother in a Levittown–style suburb on Long Island, Delano has made a name for himself as a gimmicky interpreter of Cold War America, a controversial but popular repackager of events like the JFK assassination for those who lived through them without noticing. And yet, as the novel opens, Delano has reached an during a crisis of confidence, he shelves a major new book project in favor of a quest to drive to the Midwest and seek out his estranged younger brother. But when the trip ends in a sobering discovery that his brother has led a life of desperate transience, grasping at straws and scapegoats 埨e undergoes an epiphany that propels him back to the newly sacred ground where he and his brother were raised. Long recognized as a writer of exceptional vision and unflinching candor, Tom Piazza has crafted a novel full of incident and argument, a book that speaks with depth and range about what it has meant to be American in our time.

Genres: Fiction

254 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 2003

Reviews

[Alibiserver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personal history, relating to the bigger history around it, may not make a good story.

For My Cold War, history plays a big role around its characters; it is bent and shaped according to the thoughts of its characters, it gives rise to the question what is significant, and will smaller pockets of histories of people ever affect the bigger picture around it, and how will revisiting your history prove to be your salvation in your end?

John Delano (who changed his name as he taught history and "Cold War studies") was not the man he should be. Borne out of a dysfunctional family (with an agnostic-epileptic father, a mother who's tired of the man in the house, and a younger brother who practically hero-worships him) John grows up in an era that's been long considered as a turnaround time in US history, an era when the cold war erupted, when Kennedy was shot, music assumed a stance in what is proletariat against what is high-class (as snitches of Bob dylan and the beatles collide, where the romanticized fisticuffs between Lomax and Grossman symbolized music's commercial and artistic aims) and the Vietnam War was looming close by. Now, as he struggles to finish a book, the history of his era meshes with his own.

Piazza's narrative shifts back and forth in time, with John reminiscing soured friendships, ivory-tower babble, domestic woes, familial problems, and endless philosophizing. It is, not much of a heavy philosophy as one would think, but more veering towards personal views, of what John was supposed to write about, of why he should be writing about it. There were some off-kilter portions for me, like the Grossman-Lomax bout, which seemed to had lost me on the way, but technically, the book shines, the narrative flows off very well, it captures the spirit of the American '60s and romanticizes with it but not as much as flirting with it, and with disaster tumbling and crushing John's hopes up until the last stretch, the book gives us hope, and gave meaning to what John should write about.

[Stop]

Read the STOP SMILING interview with author Tom Piazza

Setting the Tempo: TOM PIAZZA
By JC Gabel

(This interview originally appeared in the STOP SMILING Ode to the South Issue)

Tom Piazza grew up on Long Island, New York, but has lived in New Orleans for the last 14 years. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, as well as an ardent jazz fan and historian, Piazza fell in love with the Crescent City, which spawned not only jazz itself, but also some of the most unforgettable works of American literature.

In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, Piazza wrote his ode to the city, Why New Orleans Matters, which was published by HarperCollins just three months after the storm. He is the author of eight other books, including the short story collection Blues and Trouble, the novel My Cold War, several collections of jazz writings (Understanding Jazz, The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz and Blues Up and Down: Jazz in Our Time) and a portrait of bluegrass music great Jimmy Martin (True Adventures with the King of Bluegrass). He is currently at work on two new novels, one of which is set in New Orleans.

Piazza spoke with STOP SMILING this past spring about what has become of his favorite American city.

Read the complete interview...

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich and complex story of a middle-age man looking for redemption, but not quite sure how to go about it and willing (maybe eager) to let ideas and images get in the way of his emotions. It's a story that builds slowly -- it was hard to put down once I hit the last half. The story also has gems of brilliant description that keep you wanting to read just to turn them up.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is a brilliant writer. He shows his diversity with this novel.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich family story that gets everything right.

[Matt Paz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best quote so far: "Almost anything, I have come to realize, can become and object of longing if you put a frame around it."

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I am deciding what I want to read, I constantly am battling between a non-fiction work rich with history and a novel chock-full of morals. My Cold War (excuse my inability to italicize as I am typing this on my phone) is the happy medium of both kinds, and after reading the last word I was astonished at how beautifully Piazza meshed the two together. I don’t want this review to be too hard on the eyes, so I’ll end it with this: if you’re ever unsure about anything in life (from relationships to whatever it is that you’d like to read next), pick this up. Put whatever it is that’s going on in your life aside, and absorb this heart-wrenching, captivating story. It will undoubtedly change your life.

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe Delano is a professor of Cold War Studies at a small New England college. He is successful. His classes are filled, his books are published, he is a guest lecturer at many campuses, but personally he is troubled. His publisher wants one more book and he finds himself debating if we create history or history creates us. Author, Tom Piazza alternates Joe Delano's personal family history with topics of the time, fears of Communism, John Birch Society, JFK's assassination, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and even Johnny Carson. You will laugh. You may cry. If you are a 'Baby Boomer' you will identify.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Delano, a professor of Cold War Studies and writer of popular books about this subject has a Cold War of his own on his hands. Raised in a "little boxes" suburb on Long Island by frustrated parent whose dreams went awry, Delano has a bit of a writer's block and leaves behind his work and tries to find his brother. What he finds is a man in crisis. Can he help? A good story.

[Bijoy]

Cold War is a important War of Historical Cities. According to me all the cities must need to this. Read More About it

[David Stine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another winner from Tom Piazza. This rather short novel grapples with so many social issues it will make your head explode. Not for the "surface" reader. Get ready to examine your own consciousness.

[Mary Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I get this book. I really do.

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This certainly isn't the most sophisticated or well written book I've ever read. But it tells a good story and I like the pontifications on the meaning of history.

Best of all is that the front cover review is from Bob Dylan. "Tom Piazza's writing pulsates with nervous electrical tension - reveals the emotions that we can't define."

If Dylan enjoyed the book you know it can't be that bad.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good --- Story of a middle aged college professor trying to write a book on his specialty, Cold War history and culture. Along the way he describes his life growing up and the book takes an interesting turn when he looks for his estranged brother and his wife leaves him. Good section describing him watching Buddy Rich on Johnny Carson when he was stoned.

[patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't decide between a 3 and a 4 but ultimately the book kept me entertained and some of the passages he wrote were beautiful. I loved the childhood sequences as well as when he was with his brother but was sort of uninterested in him as a middle aged man. I wish there were half stars.

[Ann Diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed by the author's unwillingness to dig past the surface of Cold War nostalgia. I felt he skirted the hidden truth about his family, and at times he seemed to be borrowing heavily from Don DeLillo's WHITE NOISE.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down.

The cover commentaries that strike me after having read it are "deceptively complex," "vivid and poignant," "ambivalence, complexity and disappointments."

Guaranteed to pull at the heartstrings of your memory.

[Cam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was fine but nothing really stood out - guy struggling with his own internal battles.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the first piece by Tom Piazza I've ever read. His writing is really enjoyable, even though the tone of the book is depressing.

[Sheila Beckeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice story.

[Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

more of a 3.5, but oh well.