Amy Newman Books

If Charles Olson was an archaeologist of morning, then Amy Newman is an epistemologist of morning: she wants to know where the knowledge starts. She is Wallace Stevens's inheritor in the depth and precision of her investigations of the interrelation of mind and world, the imbrication of perception and conception. Her poem "Travel Diary" speaks of "An apprehension in the ascending lid,/deciding proportion, engraving./The eye knows plainly inside, outside." Much of her work hinges on the double sense of the word `apprehend', to grasp, which is both to take hold of a thing and to understand a thing. In Amy Newman's work we see (and sight is a vital sense in her work, both essential and fully alive) that to know something we must touch it, feel it in both senses of the word, and to touch something we must know it, know of it. All of her work "proposes/to engage the physical world" ("Realism"), and knows that such engagement is always propositional if not suppositional: it is contingent, an aspiration, a "desire for the real world" ("Flesh"). In this sense, apprehension is the anxiousness to get the world as right as one can. In the words of "A Note on the Type," Amy Newman's is "The calculus of symbol/and the move to the real."

For Amy Newman, ideas are always embodied: all her ideas are in things and all things are bright with idea. This embodiment is not only in the images but in the words of her poems, which have a body and substance felt on the tongue and in the ear: "I promise you something/you'd shape a sound on,/white as a page but full," and the promise is kept. Her poems are not simply comments on the world of things but additions to that world: as she writes in "Darwin's Unfinished Notes to Emma," "The world this morning is wide as this sea,/and full of potential." Amy Newman's poems realize some of that potential for us all.

Amy Newman has written a thrilling account of how a small alternative art magazine, first published in the back room of a San Francisco art gallery in the early 1960s, developed into the "Bible" of the contemporary art world. Told compellingly in the words of the participants themselves, this oral history is a must read for people interested in contemporary art and an important introduction for those who want to know more. Ms. Newman adds important chapter and section introductions that move the story along and explain the interplay of personalities, ideas and events that influenced the art world. Important and surprising gems appear in endnotes, which reveal a depth of scholarship and insight that gives both the knowledgeable reader and the novice a further appreciation of the dramatic changes occurring in the art market and art criticism during the crucial decades of the 1960s and early 1970s. You meet not only the significant writers and editors of the time, but also the gallery owners, artists, collectors and others who shaped opinions and battled among themselves to create and mold the world of contemporary art into what is now a worldwide industry worth many hundreds of millions of dollars annually. This is a story told by men and women with deeply held views, strong personal and professional attachments, intense friendships and breakups--all committed to influencing how the world looked at, reacted to and evaluated the exploding contemporary art scene. They tell you about their battles, their triumphs and their defeats. They discuss issues that still resonate strongly throughout the art world. As the story develops, it becomes a drama that can't be put down.

Amy Newman's third and most recent book _fall_ is a gesture of her continual climb into thither worlds of dense poetic possibility. Following the fully reproduced defintion of "fall" and an epigraph from Rilke that call to attention our own restlesnsness in the world, the book, indeed snuggles into that very discomfort. The poems lay bare the physical world--landscapes and bodies--as they move through 72 definitions of "fall." The collection is an attentive journey to Eden and back, smart as it is sensual. _fall_ is a terrific third book--an excellent read after her exploration of the represented world in _Camera Lyrica_ (1999). Excellent, too, for use in women's studies courses or forms & theories of poetry. Highly recommended.

Prelude to a Holocaust

The Nuremberg Laws Institutionalized Anti-Semitism by Amy Newman

San Diego-based writer Amy Newman has written a chillingly lucid and terrifying yet factual textbook for teenagers about Nazi Germany's anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws of the mid-1930s. Don't be fooled by the cover photograph of the well-known post-war Nuremberg Trials, which is not the subject of her book. The lesser-known Nuremberg Laws were a direct precursor to one of this century's greatest catastrophes: the Shoah, the cold-blooded mass killing of European Jewry.

Newman's book is part of a series of textbooks published by Lucent called "Words That Changed History." Other volumes in the series include The Declaration of Independence, The Emancipation Proclamation and The U.S. Constitution. Strangely, The Nuremberg Laws offers an antithesis to those immortal documents, each of which was created to uplift the spirit and dignity of man. In fact, these pitiless, racist laws had the exact opposite intention: to degrade the spirit and dignity of the Jews. But of course their effect was far more destructive than even their drafters could have anticipated, leading directly to the Holocaust, and ultimately to the utter defeat of Hitler's Third Reich.

In a handful of spare and elegantly written pages, Newman leads the reader through the long history of the Jews in Europe, as well as the dark and evil story of the vicious anti-semitism that has followed and threatened them for 17 centuries. Reading her clear description of the sequence of events that led inexorably to the Holocaust, Newman's audience will agree with her thesis that intolerance is at the core of the great convulsions of history. In particular, judging by these laws and their effect, Newman believes that racism, a common mental illness still far from eradicated, is the engine of genocide. It is impossible to disagree.

Strangely, I read this book in the aftermath of the carnage in Littleton, Colorado, and kept seeing parallels to the murders there. I couldn't help thinking that, had this little gem of a book been required reading at Columbine High, then perhaps that horror might have been averted. You should read this book and judge for yourself.

I go to a somewhat conservative boarding school and lent this book to one of my writing teachers, who previously had said that there is no way that a political poem can be heartfelt. This book proves that notion wrong. Normally when people think about politics, they only think about who is running for office, but there is so much more than that in this book. This book should be available in every library in both the poetry and political section. This is an inspiring book that speaks not only to the mind, but to the heart.

As one of the poets featured in Will Work for Peace, one might expect me to be a bit biased, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Most poets work in a virtual vacuum, only tenuously connected to each other by the occasional workshop or shared membership in a 'poetry society'. When Brett Axel first approached me for a submission to an anthology he was considering, the names Marge Piercy, Lyn Lifshin, Moshe Bennaroch and so many others were abstractions to me as a fledgling poet. I knew these tremendous writers were 'out there' somewhere, beating down doors with their words and keeping a struggling artform alive. But to think that someday I would ever share a credit with these dynamic modern poets would be a pipe dream at best. It is through the sincere efforts of Brett Axel that many newer voices like mine have an extraordinary opportunity to appear with Pulitzer Prize winners and other poetic heavyweights. By way of an honest review, however, I will say this- not everything in this book will be to your particular liking. I myself came across some works that did not move me in the way the author may have intended. Some imagery can be raw and visceral, using shock value in place of craft at times. But to ignore those voices would be an even more shocking turn of events, so praise be to the editor for not sacrificing his vision to a senseless conformity. As Pete Seeger so aptly put it in his quote, trying to read all these poems at one time would be like trying 'to swallow Manhattan whole'. I say to you- buy this book, read this book, but understand that it's what you do after reading this book that will ultimately define who you could be. Poetry is alive and well, and lives in the blunt pages of Will Work for Peace.

This book has been a long time coming. Brett Axel has really contributed to the poetry world in a way that is noticed, rather than swept into a corner. Many of the poems are good, some are great. Not all the poets are famous, but most of them contributed good work. I liked Amy Ouzoonian's and Brett's poems, as well as "Pinaud's Tonic" by Michael Pollick. I recommend reading that one. The only criticism I would have of the book is of the extreme scatalogical nature of some of the poems, which do not seem to fit with the theme of the anthology, and would, perhaps, be better in collections by that particular poet, rather than in such an anthology. But, overall, it is a great work.

I liked this book. It has some of the best poetry I've ever seen in it. I especially liked the poems by Marge Piercy, Antler, Diane di Prima, and Susan Griffin, but all of it was good. I think there was only one or two that I didn't like at all and they were short. I'd give it 5 stars but the type was kind of small and I'd rather it be easier to read. My eyes aren't what they were when I was 30.

Just amazing start to finish! I like the disregard for fame used in putting the book together. That great poems got in even if they were writtenby nobodys. Look at Roger Bonair-Agard's poem on page 74. Shortly after Will Work For Peace came out he won Slam Nationals, becoming Slam Champion of 1999, which will be getting him lots of offers. But Zeropanik Press didn't need to be told he was good by an award. They could tell by his writing! Good for them and good for all of us because Will Work For Peace is a literary milestone. It's a new standard for all future anthology editors to try to live up to. Thumbs up to Brett Axel and Thumbs up to Zeropanik Press for their guts and integrty.

This is a book for the people who no longer hear the ring of the bell -- but if you're in that category (or are just generally fatigued by holiday cheer), then this is for you. The 18 short stories very in quality but, overall, they reflect bright writing about sometimes depressing holiday happenings. Leave it in your bathroom at your holiday party and group your guests by their reactions as they leave. Those with a sense of humor about the holidays will be amused. Those without (perhaps some of the reviewers here) could be upset.

Yes, as you might guess from the title, this book is mildly amusing in spots. But then a leopard is coal black in spots, too.

Most of the essays are written by Jewish females who tend to be too arch and clever by half for their own good, and who seem to think that cynicism and pseudo-sophistication are funny in and of themselves. Often, they're not.

Do the essays capture some of the frustrations and imperfections that accompan our biggest holiday? Yes, definitely. But do they, as a whole, also show the beauty and majesty of the Christmas season, of what The Day is really all about? I think not. All too often the writing sounds like the whining of spoiled suburban kids who have had far too much handed to them free gratis in their lives.

If many of the writers are from families who found themselves caught awkwardly between their Jewish heritage and the national peer pressure to participate in the Yuletide -- well, it's part of the fate of minorities to sometimes feel out of step. Get over it.

I read a review of this book in a magazine, and thought it would be the perfect thing to help get me through hosting Christmas in my home for my dysfunctional family.
Because I don't normally purchase books except as gifts or reference items, or unless I KNOW I'll love it, I put a reserve on this book in late November at my local library.
Christmas came and went, and the book was still not available.
Wow! I thought. This book must be really great! I looked so forward to getting it and curling up with it on a cold day.
When I finally got notice from the library that the book was available, I rushed to get it, and started in on it during a long car trip. (You know a book is bad when it makes a long car trip seem longer.)
This book is full of such neurotic, pathetic whining and overblown, uninteresting angst, that I actually felt ripped off - and I got the book for FREE from the library.
If I had actually spent anything other than time and gas money to obtain this book, I would have done whatever necessary - including demanding my money back from whereever I had purchased it, AND asking for an apology from the editor who compiled this little compendium of holiday drivel - in order to feel remotely satisfied with the experience.
I have never done an online review of a book I have read. This book, however, is so horrifically-bad, that I feel compelled to save even ONE person from having to read this dreck.

An abysmal collection of foul-mouthed Northeasterners who have no clue what Christmas is truly about think that it is hilarious to present absurd caricatures of families from the South as ignorant hicks who cling to stupid, outdated traditions which are skewered on each page. Does this sound really funny? Then this is the book for you.

There are some really funny elements of our modern-day Christmas celebrations which are ripe for humorous examination, but if your idea of cleverness and wit involves something more than cheap shots and four-letter obscenities you would do better to look elsewhere for a good read.

FIrst off, let me say that I am Jewish myself and grew up in a Catholic neighborhod, where my family was one of the only Jewish families around. So I know plenty about being the "odd girl out" during the holiday season, with many of my own humorous tales.

However, I think it is wildly misleading to label a story collection "The Worst Noel" and then have more than half the stories about Jews who either are celebrating a bogus Christmas they clearly don't believe in (for the parties and gifts) or angsting because they are stuck with the incredibly lame Festival of Hannukah, the poor stepchild of Christmas. There is certainly a place for the assimilated (or unassimilated) Jewish writers to pour forth their anguish or glee or awkwardness, but it is NOT in a book glaringly mislabeled "The Worst Noel". Maybe it's in a book that could be called "The Worst Hannukah" or "The Worst Chrismukkah".

Anyone even nominally Christian, or even non-sectarian, who picks up this book hoping to read actual funny stories about CHRISTIANS celebrating THE MOST IMPORTANT HOLIDAY OF THE YEAR is going to feel wildly cheated. After all, Jews make up roughly 1.5% of the US population (although disproportionately more of the book buying public). It would make more sense to write about a Muslim's outlook on Christmas or a Hindu's or even an atheist's.

Maybe the publisher thought a story collection called "Dysfunctional Jews At Christmastime" wouldn't sell. But this book is a cheat and misleading. While about 1/3 of the stories are genuinely funny (although collected here inappropriately), the rest are often whiny and betray an insulated sense of privilege, as they are entirely about wealthy, educated intellectuals whose idea of how to celebrate the holidays bumps up against Southerners, low-lifes, non-intellectuals and peope with -- GASP! -- bad taste.

I guess therefore that "bad taste" is the ultimate sin against Christmas. I don't read any ringing indictments of tasteful, Martha Stewart/Pottery Barn celebrations.

HINT: buying this for a Christian friend or family member as a holiday gift would be a huge mistake.

All you get is a three page article being the first one an introduction and the rest a poorly explained example too specific to be usefull.