http://dir.salon.com/topics/allen_barra/?source=rss&aim=allen_barra en-us Copyright 2007 Salon.com. Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/06/04/aleksandar_hemon/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/06/04/aleksandar_hemon/index.html?source=rss Aleksandar Hemon's fictional alter ego drinks and writes his way through exile in these superb coming-of-age tales. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2009/05/08/a_rod/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2009/05/08/a_rod/index.html?source=rss A controversial new biography collects just about every rumor and bad story ever told about baseball icon Alex Rodriguez. But who leaked his drug tests, and what do they mean, anyway? By King Kaufman Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/sports/kaufman/feature/2009/03/25/yogi_berra/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/sports/kaufman/feature/2009/03/25/yogi_berra/index.html?source=rss Biographer Allen Barra talks about his new book, in which the lovable, quotable old catcher comes off as intelligent, shrewd and decent. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2009/03/03/flannery_oconnor/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2009/03/03/flannery_oconnor/index.html?source=rss Flannery O'Connor wrote two novels and died young, but her influence has been vast. Why has it taken half a century for her to get a definitive biography? By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/06/20/sebastian_barry/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/06/20/sebastian_barry/index.html?source=rss Sebastian Barry may be the most exhilarating prose stylist in Irish fiction. His new book weaves together strands from Ireland's past -- and his own. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/02/06/nemirovsky/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/02/06/nemirovsky/index.html?source=rss "Suite Française" made her a posthumous literary sensation. But newly published work raises the question: Was Némirovsky a Jewish anti-Semite? By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2008/01/11/comanche_moon/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2008/01/11/comanche_moon/index.html?source=rss Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove" may have been the best TV western ever made. Can his new CBS miniseries "Comanche Moon" shine as bright? By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/11/27/true_grit/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/11/27/true_grit/index.html?source=rss In a movie season crowded with westerns, "True Grit" -- the great, unsung novel of the American frontier -- celebrates its 40th anniversary. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/06/15/richard_nixon/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/06/15/richard_nixon/index.html?source=rss Richard Nixon continues to fascinate and repel us. On the 35th anniversary of Watergate, is it time to stop kicking Dick around and reconsider his accomplishments? By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/04/09/clive_james/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/04/09/clive_james/index.html?source=rss If a team of scientists crossed the DNA of Edmund Wilson with Pauline Kael, and added a dash of Wilfrid Sheed, they would come up with Clive James. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/02/07/auster/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/02/07/auster/index.html?source=rss When Paul Auster is at his best he's like a brilliant magician. When he's not -- as with his latest -- it's as if he's sawing away without a woman in the box. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/01/03/vidal/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/01/03/vidal/index.html?source=rss Vidal's second memoir merely retells the stories we already know from his enormous -- and potentially irrelevant -- body of work. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2006/11/25/fleming/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2006/11/25/fleming/index.html?source=rss With the release of "Casino Royale," I read Ian Fleming's classic Bond novels again and discovered a talented spy who was "just like us" and a writer devoted to pleasure. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/10/26/tolkin/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/10/26/tolkin/index.html?source=rss In Michael Tolkin's follow-up to "The Player," Griffin Mill leaves the movie business behind -- but he's still out for blood. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2006/10/03/football/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2006/10/03/football/index.html?source=rss Two ambitious high school football dramas, "Two-A-Days" and "Friday Night Lights," hit the small screen this season. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2006/09/07/algren/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2006/09/07/algren/index.html?source=rss The 1956 classic "A Walk on the Wild Side" captured the Crescent City as we'll never see it again -- seedy, brutal, alive. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/06/27/brinkley/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/06/27/brinkley/index.html?source=rss Douglas Brinkley's epic account of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath stops short of laying blame where it belongs: On President Bush. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/literary_guide/2006/06/26/venice/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/literary_guide/2006/06/26/venice/index.html?source=rss Get to the city of canals before it disappears -- and don't forget to grab Calvino, James and, of course, Thomas Mann. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/06/12/mcmurtry/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/06/12/mcmurtry/index.html?source=rss From Larry McMurtry and Thomas Berger to "Deadwood" and the gay cowboys of "Brokeback Mountain," the American West is alive and wilder than ever. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/04/26/white/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/04/26/white/index.html?source=rss Rejecting Freudian analysis and embracing his true identity, Edmund White penned two landmarks of gay literature and redefined the autobiographical novel. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2006/03/10/fante/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2006/03/10/fante/index.html?source=rss The Italian American author of "Ask the Dust" was the quintessential L.A. writer, a big brother to the Beats and the voice of immigrant America. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2005/12/22/nabokov/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2005/12/22/nabokov/index.html?source=rss Fifty years after its publication, and 20 after my first reading, Nabokov's masterpiece is still dangerous -- but not for the reasons you might think. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2005/11/28/warriors/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2005/11/28/warriors/index.html?source=rss Twenty-six years after being shunned by the mainstream, the cult classic rises again (and again, and again). By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2005/11/09/marquez/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2005/11/09/marquez/index.html?source=rss Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcma Marquez's new book follows an aging man who seeks out illicit sex -- but finds something else. By Allen Barra Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT http://www.salon.com/books/review/2005/10/04/wilson/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2005/10/04/wilson/index.html?source=rss Edmund Wilson had four wives, dozens of affairs, a drinking problem -- and the sharpest critical mind of his generation.