Reviews for Verve

The average rating for Verve based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-09-30 00:00:00 David Olexsak I should have flipped through this more but was in a hurry and it was on sale, so I picked it up. I can only blame myself for what I got. The book is a collection of essays, reviews and other prior works by the author. I was under the impression from the index that this book would give new or interesting insights into the topics listed, but was greatly disappointed. Most of these essays read like reference papers citing other works and showing his knowledge, but doing little for the reader. The last hundred pages were more interesting and redeemed it a little, but there are much better books out there on these topics, so I would pass on this one.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-10-10 00:00:00 Nigel Ninvalle ‘Uncommon People’ has taken me a long time and not a little effort to get through. There is no strong thread linking all the chapters, although they are grouped by broad themes. However, the switch from one theme to another is not signposted in the text, as it is in the contents page. This results in some disorienting shifts, for example from a potted biography of a Cold War fixer to the history of jazz. Moreover, it resulted in my levels of interest varying markedly according to what Hobsbawm happened to be discussing. In general, I found the biographical chapters less enjoyable as his personal judgements always appeared so harsh. The sections on peasants were somewhat colourless, possibly because he didn’t define peasant to my satisfaction. On the other hand, I enjoyed the early chapters on political shoemakers and the variation in labour traditions between Britain and France. Later chapters on guerrilla warfare and May 1968 were also very interesting. The final 80 pages on jazz were of only indirect interest to me, although I am pleased to now know something about how jazz became popular in the US and Europe. I still cannot really fathom, however, why all these short pieces were lumped together in one 400+ page book. The title is not deceptive so much as overwhelmingly general: yes, all the chapters are about people of some kind. That doesn’t narrow it down much.