Always in Pursuit: Fresh American Perspectives [Paperback]

Stanley Crouch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 16, 1999

  As a cultural and political commentator, Stanley Crouch in unapologetically contentious and delightfully iconoclastic. Whether he is writing on the uniqueness of the American South, the death of Tupak Shakur, the O.J. Simpson verdict, or the damage done by the Oklahoma City bombing, Crouch's high-velocity exchange with American culture is conducted with scrupulous allegiance to the truth, even when it hurts—and it usually does. And on the subject of jazz—from Sidney Bechet to Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington to Miles Davis—there is no one more articulate, impassioned, and encyclopedic in his knowledge than Stanley Crouch.

   Crouch approaches everything in his path with head-on energy, restless intelligence, and a refreshing faith in the collective experiment that is America—and he does so in a virtuosic prose style that is never less than thrilling.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Always in Pursuit iconoclastic essayist and columnist Stanley Crouch collects some of his best work from 1995 through 1997. His interests are far-reaching, but Crouch's central concern is how U.S. residents work to further American democracy. He takes heart that so few believed Susan Smith, the white South Carolina woman who murdered her children and then said a black man had done it; chides Jesse Jackson for failing to live up to his potential as a leader; and speaks out in support of affirmative action simply because no one has proposed a better solution. Sometimes outrageous, sometimes abstruse, Crouch is never anything less than interesting. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In this collection of essays, social commentator Crouch, a Sunday columnist for the New York Daily News and contributing editor to New Republic, expresses his views on everything?and everyone?from racial militancy and feminism to Duke Ellington, O.J. Simpson, and Michael Jackson.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 355 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (March 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375701680
• ISBN-13: 978-0375701689
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,637,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stanley 'live wire' Crouch..., October 6, 2000

By 

yygsgsdrassil "yygsgsdrassil" (Crossroads America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Always in Pursuit: Fresh American Perspectives (Paperback)

....I dig Crouch, because, right or wrong, he, like one of my favorites Camille Paglia, has the guts to say the unspeakable, and to go where few dare to go....

I was exposed to his writing via my bohemian older brothers and sister...they were into art, jazz, the Greenwich Village avant garde, the left, the left, and all things Nina Simone and Dick Gregory and Lenny Bruce. Somehow all these issues of The Village Voice wound up in this poor kid's frame of reference. They were stacked at the foot of my bed, what can I say? So, I browsed them not just because they were provocative in many ways, but because I dug the Jules Ffieffer comic strips near the front of each issue.

So, one day, I go deeper into the paper and began getting hooked on these great music reviews--jazz, in particular, by Nat Hentoff, by Christeau (? spelling), by our hero Stanley Crouch...

Stanley and Nat usually ended up writing other things like of a Noo Yawk political matter, and Stanley left the VV for writing novels, essays, OP-Ed articles in The Daily News, etc, etc, etc...

The man is opinionated, that's for sure. He calls Michael Jackson an out of touch narcissist, he criticizes Malcolm X for being no more than a rabble rouser, and conjectures that Monica Lewinsky is one out of 50 million other American women....? (I don't need more negative votes than I can handle--these are some of Crouch's opinions, now!) He's the one who bought the notion that Al Sharpton is probably worse than that characterisation of him in Wolfe's "The Bonfire of the Vanities" and I don't think Spike Lee likes him much, because the two always seem to be feuding about something.

But this much is true, Stanley Crouch did say that the rap/hip-hop posturing is sort of minstrel show-like and Stephen Fetchit-like...I wonder how much Spike Lee was influenced by Crouch, afterall, being that his film "Bamboozled" goes deeply into this very notion....

Crouch does his best when he is observant of occurances in this great nation. He sees and decries the balkanization of America (that "our group is better than and more important than anyone else's group" feeling in which I call "hubris"--which, I may add, is in no short supply by any strech of the imagination) and wonders if America will ever become like a jazz ensemble. "A democratic music form" in which each player will have to know how to play his instrument, and each player has an unsentimental view of things in life. Sentimentality is another one of America's unresolved issues, according to Crouch. Get over it, says Crouch, be an adult...

Anyway, however you take Stanley Crouch, he sure is interesting and thought provoking and this book of his essays from the nineties will have you informed and entertained...

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Miss it!, June 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Always in Pursuit: Fresh American Perspectives (Paperback)

Crouch, an essayist, newspaper columnist (Sunday column in the New York Daily News), critic (of music and film) and fiction writer (of the novel "Don't The Moon Look Lonesome"), writes in an easy flowing prose style that takes no prisoners. He doesn't hesitate to slaughter sacred cows and like his idol Ralph Ellison, doesn't hesitate to tell it like it is, to hold up a mirror to the world (apologies for that cliche ridden previous sentence).

Always in Pursuit is a 325-page collection of essays with a few speeches thrown in for good measure. Most of the pieces come from various books and magazines as well as Crouch's newspaper column.

Crouch's philosophical commentary stretches across the spectrum and defies any attempt to put the man in a particular category. He bashes gangster rap in general and Tupac Shakur in particular. He speaks out against affirmative action on moral grounds, yet says he's willing to stick with it until someone proposes a better idea. He expresses his belief that OJ Simpson was in fact guilty, yet praises Johnnie Cochran and takes the prosecution team to task for what he feels was their incompetence. He's especially hard on Christopher Darden, comparing him to General Custer.

Elsewhere he defends the use of the Atomic Bomb to end World War II and proposes locking up child molesters for good (can't argue with him there).

Lest I made you all think (from the previous two paragraphs) that Crouch is a conservative grouch, rest assured he's not. There's a tribute to the veterans of World War II and great commentary on the Kosovo situation. Plus, the tributes to Ellison, William Faulkner, Duke Ellington and various others are touching, informative and very entertaining to read.

Crouch also offers up a two-part elegy for the late Ron Brown (Clinton commerce secretary who died in a plane crash). He assesses the state of race relations in this country as moving in a more positive rather than negative direction (as opposed to the assesment offered by many others). He even manages to find a few kind words for Spike Lee and 1996 era Eddie Murphy. And his love for Jazz and Blues music and the films of John Ford is heartfelt.

Crouch has an easy flowing style of writing that's easy on the eyes, yet does not kowtow to ghetto speak. The influence of the aforementioned Ellison is prevalent throughout this book, in both the philosophy and the style of writing.

The Ellison influence may one day prove to be Crouch's undoing. There are times where he pushes his fascination with the great essayist to the point of obsession. Memo to Mr. Crouch. Ellison was great. But you are a fine writer in your own right. Don't forget that.

If you like great social commentary written by a master, Always In Pursuit is definitely worth reading. But be prepared to experience some strong emotions while reading it. Crouch is polite but brutally direct and he doesn't care who might get offended. He deserves to be read, especially in this era of faceless demagogues. A terrific book! Don't miss it! Another recent Amazon quick-pick, a great offbeat novel, I want to recommend is THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars he takes no prisoners, October 20, 2002

By 

Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Always in Pursuit: Fresh American Perspectives (Paperback)

In this collection of essays the brilliant Stanley Crouch comes off a lot like your grouchy old uncle who hates everything. This may put you off but keep reading because a lot of what he's saying is true. Miles Davis did turn out scholk ablums in his later years, much of what passes for black comedy is half a step from the old mintrel show and the O.J.Simpson case was lost becuase the prosecution did a lousy job.
Crouch takes know prisoners and spares no one's feelings. If he loves something he says so and if he thinks someone is a fool he says that too. You'll smile, you'll be offended and you might hurl the book down in anger but read it. Mr. Crouch has an interesting mind, something that is sorely lacking in much of our media figures today.