Letters at 3am [Paperback]

Michael Ventura (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1998

From a strip club in Indiana to ritual gatherings near Austin, Texas—from Brooklyn in the 50s to L.A. in the 90s—Michael Ventura takes us on a tour of the American psyche and speaks out on a civilization in seeming agony.

This is the only collection of one of America's original writers observing and pondering the implications of the current state of the American psyche. His grasp of war, jazz, religion, and death are of "uncompromising spirit", says Andre Codrescu. "The Report on Endarkenment," says Robert Bly, "is the greatest essay written by a member of his gengeration."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In an antidogmatic, mordant but ultimately humanistic voice, the versatile Ventura ( Shadow-Dancing in the USA ) grapples with American culture in these essays, most of which were first published in the L.A. Weekly . A series of essays on religion and ritual leads Ventura to reflect on the universal, urgent traumas of adolescence; much of popular culture, he suggests, engages this darkness, and he posits "an irresistible collective need for endarkenment." A New York-born Los Angeleno with an eye for dislocation, Ventura surveys Las Vegas--a place where you can do anything but which also has the highest teen suicide rate in the country--and concludes that the weirdest thing is how we take that city's weirdness for granted. His anti-Gulf War columns capture the cultural longing behind the jingoism that was rampant then, suggesting that the left fails to grasp the collective American psyche and its sense of shame over failure. A more-or-less reformed alcoholic, Ventura resists therapeutic cant; rather than renounce drinking, he has decided to be more careful, but also to learn "when to risk the immoderate." He is a worthy, if quirky, companion.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

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Product Details

• Paperback: 247 pages
• Publisher: Spring Publications (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882143611
• ISBN-13: 978-0882143613
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Letters At 3A.M.: Reports on Endarkenment, January 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Letters at 3am (Paperback)

I not only have read this book, but I also work for the publisher.

To start, I would like to say that this book is not out of print.

Personally, at Spring Publications (the publisher) we do some pretty heavy, dry writing. But Michal Ventura lightens things up just a bit with his looks into the American way of life. His essays range in topic from the neo-pagan rituals that he has participated (The Witness Tree) in to his own alcholism (In Defence of Alchol). (in his words, "I don't like to drink alone, I love it.")

For anyone looking to find good left in America, Letters at 3 A.M. is just the thing. In my eyes, it is one of the top five books I have ever read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ventura's Essays a Lesson in Writing the Truth, June 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Letters at 3am (Paperback)

I've come across more technically crafty essayists (Saffire and Buckley come to mind) but never one who is better in writing the truth. Not the truth from inside Washington's Beltway, but the truth from inside America's heartland. Ventura conveys this truth in a style that is devoid of intellectual trickery, speaking directly to the reader in a clear, honest way.

It's far too long that America has been without a brilliant humanist essayist. No over-wrought intellectual squirming or pop-tart-culture narcissism here - each of the essays is a mature, meaningful discussion with plenty of depth to back it up. Ventura's work is all the more valuable in that he doesn't allow his erudition to stand in the way of the reader's enjoyment. It's there to enjoy if you like, but if you've never heard of Francis Bacon, he's not going to let that stand in the way of your getting the point.

Nor is he going to let the point get in the way of the reader having a good time. They may be hard to face, but no matter how much the issues and observations he drags kicking and screaming from under the rock of our culture's subconscious may make you squirm, it's always difficult not to jump straight-away into the next essay - they're that fun to read.

None of this comes at the expense of providing the reader with clear, mature, thoughtful comments on our society - the society of the common man in the United States. Ventura is without doubt among the top five living American essayists.

It's a shame that this book is currently out of print - If you can find this book anywhere, get it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Student, October 23, 2000

By 

Rain King (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters at 3am (Paperback)

Michael Ventura teaches at my school. Often he has read things to us in his writing class, and sometimes they have been things he himself has written. He is incredibly wise, wheather he knows it or not, and is a voice that should be heard. Buy this book because, and trust me on this as a student of his, you will not regret it.