New York Review of Books Review
ELIZABETH BISHOP: A Miracle for Breakfast, by Megan Marshall. (Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99.) A former student delves into Bishop's complex personal life, which the poet fiercely tried to protect. Drawing on a trove of new documents, Marshall, a Pulitzer Prizewinning biographer, notes parallels between Bishop's published and private writing, and writes frankly about her alcoholism and central love affair. THE MORAVIAN NIGHT: A Story, by Peter Handke. Translated by Krishna Winston. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.) An unnamed writer invites friends to a houseboat docked in the Balkans, where he regales them with stories of his travels across Europe. The writer's personal history is bound up with that of Central Europe, including stops in places irrevocably changed by time. THE RISE AND FALL OF AMERICAN GROWTH: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War, by Robert J. Gordon. (Princeton, $24.95.) The economic growth that powered the United States between 1870 and 1970 was probably a one-time event, Gordon, a noted macroeconomist, argues. As our reviewer, Paul Krugman, said here: "This book will challenge your views about the future; it will definitely transform how you see the past." SIGNALS: New and Selected Stories, by Tim Gautreaux. (Vintage, $16.95.) Gautreaux chronicles the life and times of ordinary Louisianians throughout this collection. Southern literary giants haunt Gautreaux's writing, including James Dickey and Flannery O'Connor, whose protagonist from "Everything That Rises Must Converge" he resurrects in one of his tales. The "stories all begin in the relatively humble territory of realistic fiction," our reviewer, Rebecca Lee, said here. "The real thrill of this collection is its inevitable march into poetry." THE WORD DETECTIVE: Searching for the Meaning of It All at the Oxford English Dictionary, by John Simpson. (Basic Books, $16.99.) A former chief editor of the dictionary, Simpson reflects on nearly four decades as a gatekeeper of the English language. Along the way, he offers insight into how words come into being and a look at origins of a scattering of words: inkling, deadline, apprenticeship, balderdash. CHRISTMAS DAYS: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days, by Jeanette Winterson. (Grove, $16.) For years, Winterson has made a tradition of writing a story at Christmastime, ranging from the sentimental to the bittersweet: A team of frogs saves an orphanage; a woman finds solace in a haunted seaside mansion. In this gift book, she shares a collection of those tales, along with recipes for favorite holiday dishes.
Choice Review
The Rise and Fall of American Growth is essential reading for anyone interested in economics. Gordon (Northwestern Univ.) takes a new tack on one of the most important questions in economics--why do some economies grow while others stagnate? The book's groundbreaking contribution is to answer this question by examining, in great detail, how (and why) standards of living have changed over time. The analysis is presented in three sections. Section 1 explores changes in American standards of living experienced between 1870 and WW II in areas such as food quality, transportation, and health care. The second section examines changes in standards of living for the same areas in the postwar period. In each section the author discusses not only the changes in standards of living but also the forces that caused them. In the third section Gordon offers his perspectives on why growth rates have differed so dramatically before and after 1970, what we might expect in the years ahead, and, finally, what roadblocks we might face as we attempt to return to the robust rates of growth experienced in the "Special Century" (1870-1970). Summing Up: Essential. All collections and readership levels. --Fred H. Smith, Davidson College
Kirkus Review
A comprehensive analysis of "one of the most fundamental questions about American economic history." Gordon (Social Sciences/Northwestern Univ.; Macroeconomics, 2008, etc.), a respected macroeconomist, provides a groundbreaking contribution to political economy. His emphasis is quite different from the familiar concerns of budget deficits and quarterly profits. He compares the growth of real wages, living standards, and innovations in technology over two periods: 1870 to 1940 and 1940 to 1970. The author identifies advances in lifestyles, and he establishes that New Deal labor policies, which caused real wages to rise faster than productivity, laid the foundation for "the Great Leap Forward" in the middle of the 20th century. The author also shows how horse-drawn streetcars and steam-powered trains expanded urban activities, and he examines how electrification and the internal combustion engine powered the Second Industrial Revolution. Gordon is primarily concerned with the quality of these successive improvementswhich, he writes, "are missing from GDP altogether"as well as the consumer price index, which tracks current sales and prices. "Our measure of capital input," he writes, "is newly developed for this book and adjusts for the unusual aspects of investment behavior during the 1930s and 1940s." The author uses his fresh methods to back his argument for the primary significance of the reforms that took place during the New Deal. These policies, many of which are now considered failures, are thus shown to have provided the groundwork for what was to come. This Great Leap Forward generated the momentum that continued into the 1970s. The book is not for general readers, but students and scholars in economics and American history will find within these pages much illuminating interpretation of a massive amount of data. A masterful study to be read and reread by anyone interested in today's political economy. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Gordon (economics, Northwestern Univ.) indicates that after the Civil War there was an economic revolution that changed the American standard of living, but that the rate of technological change has been slowing down. Coverage begins in 1870; there was little economic growth prior to that, as peasant life remained basically unchanged. Electricity, internal combustion engines, running water, indoor toilets, communication, entertainment, chemicals, and petroleum-these have created a tremendous growth in the American economy. Owing to medical discoveries, the life expectancy between 1870 and 1970 increased from 45 to 72 years. However, that century didn't have an aging population, the increasing debt of college student loans, rising inequality, and stagnating education. The author warns of forthcoming change and increasingly tough times: the younger generation might be the first not to increase their standard of living. VERDICT This specialized book will interest the individual scholar and to a lesser extent the general reader. Patrons might also consult American Economic Growth and Standards of Living Before the Civil War, edited by Robert E. Gallman and John Joseph Wallis.-Claude Ury, San Francisco © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
