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Utne Reader's "Loose Canon"
From the alternative magazine Utne Reader:
"What follows is a smorgasbord of books, movies,
plays, television shows, and works of music that
broaden,deepen, or define the experience of being
alive.
They will stretch your thinking, stir your soul, and
maybe even offer some startling insights on what to
cook for dinner tonight. We created this list out of
thousands of recommendations from authors, activists,
professors, book club members, spiritual teachers, and
bemused observers of the human condition. It's offered
not as a checklist to measure your intellectual standing,
but as an inspiration, to give you an incentive to pursue
your own blissful course of study.
The real value of self-learning is that it connects you
with a whole web of knowledge, each new discovery
moving you in the direction of further insights. That's
why every one of the main selections here points to
another work we've listed, which of course will lead you
to more and more. Please let us know where this list
takes you, and what else you would include.
--Jay Walljasper and Jon Spayde"
[Editor's note: in Utne Reader's list, works in all artforms were
listed together, organized in loosely chronological order, often in
pairs of works that are related somehow. I have chosed to break the
list into separate sections for "Written Works" (fiction and non-fiction),
"Music", and "Film/Television". List contributed by David Veinot]
I. WRITTEN WORKS
Isaiah. The Book of Isaiah. (ca. 8th - 2nd centuries B.C.E.)
The fieriest of the Hebrew prophets zaps the rich, the greedy,
and the unjust as well as the ungodly, and calls eloquently
for an end to war.
Various. The Zohar. (ca. 1275)
The most beloved and influential of all kabbalistic books, finding magical,
mystical meaning at the heart of the Torah.
Tzu, Lao. Tao Te Ching. (3rd century B.C.E.)
A political treatise as much as a spiritual text, but readers in China
and the West have long been fascinated by its enigmatic
doctrine of wise compliance with nature's way.
Tzu, Chuang. Chuang Tzu. (3rd century B.C.E.)
The other classic of Taoism is full of delightful stories that illustrate
the vast mystery of the world.
Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. (431 - 404 B.C.E.)
The story of antiquity's Vietnam: a punishing
conflict between Athens and Sparta that ripped the Greek
world apart.
Hesiod. Works and Days. (ca. 700 B.C.E.)
While his contemporary, Homer, sang of battles and wanderings,
Hesiod stayed home and penned hymns to the seasons and the
right way to live on the land.
Various. Mahabharata. (ca. 400 B.C.E. - 200 C.E.)
The Iliad on acid. This vast, fantastically elaborate Indian epic of
warfare is also a profound meditation on duty; it contains a
religious allegory (The Bhagavad Gita) that has shaped
Indian culture as no other book has.
Maharaj, Sri Nisargadatta. I Am That. (1983)
Brilliant teachings on the true nature of the self and other tenets of
Eastern mysticism from a simple Indian householder.
Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. (ca. 2nd century)
Somber and eloquent musings on human community, duty, and fate by one
of the few Roman emperors who wasn't a murderer or a moron.
Apuleius, Lucius. The Golden Ass. (ca. 2nd century)
The opposite side of the Roman mind. Irrepressible high spirits
fill this picaresque tale of an apprentice magician who
gets turned into a donkey and is rescued by a goddess
Bingen, Hildegarde of. Scivias. (1141 - 1151)
The mystical visions of a Christian seer who was also the enemy of
ecclesiastical and political corruption.
Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. (1979)
An insightful exploration of the spiritual fluidity of New Testament
times and the various forms of Christianity that existed then -- including
doctrines of God the Mother.
ar-Rumi, Jalal ad-Din. The Divan of Shams-i-Tabriz. (13th century)
Passionate poems by the greatest Sufi master. In Rumi, earthly love,
including sexual desire, always joins the great river of love that
flows to God.
Smith, Margaret. Râbi`a. (1994)
A biography of the greatest female saint in
Islam, an eighth-century Sufi teacher whose spiritual
passion recalls the great women mystics of the West.
Rabelais, Francois. Gargantua and Pantagruel. (1532 - 1546)
In this baggy monster of a book, giants cavort, defecate,
fornicate, and celebrate the forces that the Renaissance
unleashed: human power and passion.
Ch'eng-en, Wu. Monkey (or, Journey to the West). (1592)
Buddhism goes Rabelaisian in this Chinese tale of a monkey with
superpowers and his mind-blowing adventures with gods, demons, and
the King of Death.
Shakespeare, William. Coriolanus. (1608)
This story about the fall of a Roman general isn't the Big Bard's most
famous tragedy, but it is unmatched as a study of what
happens to heroism when it's forced to confront political
reality.
Johnson, Samuel. Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler Essays. (1750 - 1760)
None of the mundane emotions of daily life -- boredom, embarrassment,
daydreams, vague dissatisfaction -- was too trivial for Johnson to take
on and ennoble with his rolling ocean of prose.
Stark, Freya. The Journey's Echo. (1920s - 1960s)
Excerpts culled from the many books of an extraordinary Englishwoman
who camped with desert nomads, explored forbidden cities, and crafted
one of the 20th century's finest writing styles.
Blake, William. The Book of Urizen. (1794)
One of the most accessible of the poet-visionary's books, this is the story
of Urizen ("your reason"), a chilly deity whose kingship
over human beings keeps the imagination on the defensive.
Ginsberg, Allen. Illuminated Poems. (1996)
A late collection that matches some of the Blake-loving New York poet's
best works with Eric Drooker's gritty-but-grandiose illustrations.
Austen, Jane. Persuasion. (1818)
A serene story of love regained between two proud people, written by a
novelist for whom the comedy of manners is a way into deeper truths.
Murasaki, Lady. The Tale of Genji. (ca. 1000)
The world's first novel of manners (the world's first novel, period) is
a Japanese tale of a supremely attractive prince whose lovers form an
unforgettable gallery of female sensibilities.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. (1854)
Thoreau is as much a satirist as a nature rhapsodist in this famous
memoir as he mixes serene reflection with political and social zingers.
Oliver, Mary. New and Selected Poems. (1992)
Nobody puts fewer human beings in her poems than this singer of the
magnificence and cruelty of nature. For Oliver, the world
of moles, bears, and lilies is a vehicle for understanding
deeper truths.
Whitman, Walt. Song of Myself. (1855)
The greatest long poem in American English -- an epic that imagines a
human self that's as vast as our landscape.
Rukeyser, Muriel. A Muriel Rukeyser Reader. (1935 - 1976)
This poet, activist, and explorer of the American psyche was probing the
relationship between sexuality, history, the body, and
politics decades before the advent of feminist cultural studies.
Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. (1875 - 1877)
Tighter and more tragic than War and Peace, this story of doomed
adultery is no less of a panorama of the corruption and idealism of
Russian society.
Herzen, Alexander. My Past and Thoughts. (1852 - 53)
The most humane of Russian socialist revolutionaries tells, in prose as
vivid as the great Russian novelists', the story of his adventures as a thorn
in the czar's side.
Gandhi, Mohandas. The Gandhi Reader. (1900s - 1950s)
No one in the 20th century more profoundly nor successfully
challenged the prevailing order -- it's a life well stocked
with lessons and inspiration for those seeking to change
the world.
Freire, Paulo, and Myles Horton. We Make the Road by Walking. (1990)
A seminal Brazilian educator trades ideas about social change and
education with a legendary American organizer.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition (1910).
The classic edition, acclaimed for its fine writing, offers a window on
the world as it existed before the shiny-new, high-speed
values of the 20th century took over.
Bryson, Bill. Made in America. (1994)
A riotous and grandly researched
romp through the history of English that also serves as handy
revisionist history of our land.
Proust, Marcel. Remembrance of Things Past. (1913 - 1927)
The Everest of novels, offering a similarly spectacular
view of nature -- in this case, human nature.
Forster, E.M.. Howard's End. (1910)
Even better than the movie, a story of how modern society muscled out
the traditional ways of English culture.
Rilke, Rainer Maria. Duino Elegies. (1923)
The greatest spiritual poet of the century shows the beauty and the
terror of wrestling with all that's unfathomable in life.
Fu, Tu. Poems. (8th century)
Somber and reflective, Tu Fu
lived in a turbulent era of Chinese history and wrote
political poetry of a beauty and density rarely equaled anywhere.
Gramsci, Antonio. Prison Notebooks. (1926 - 1937)
An Italian Marxist martyr whose keen thinking on the role of mass
media, civil society, and power politics in society is still important
in the postcommunist world.
Marcos, Subcomandante. Shadows of Tender Fury. (1995)
Communiques from the masked rebel who speaks for the insurgent Mexican
peasants of Chiapas: "We are nothing if we walk alone; we are
everything when we walk together in step with other dignified feet."
Neruda, Pablo. Canto General. (1938 - 1950)
In this book-length epic, the towering Chilean leftist poet explores the
geography, history, and troubled fate of Latin America from
a life-affirming point of view.
Lispector, Clarice. The Hour of the Star. (1977)
In exquisitely simple prose, this Brazilian Jewish novelist turns the
heartbreakingly ordinary life of a forgettable young girl of the slums
into heroic poetry.
Agee, James, and Walker Evans. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. (1941)
A roving reporter and photojournalist find poetry
as well as pain in the lives of Depression-era cotton farmers.
Berger, John. Pig Earth. (1979)
A celebration of French peasants living close to the land, sparing
none of the blood, sweat, or splendor.
Vidal, Gore. United States -- Essays. (1951 - 1990)
Elegant and incisive analysis of American literature, politics, and
history from our most brilliant wit. His patrician bearings
don't stop him from exposing the darkness lurking in the
heart of the American dream.
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. (1980)
From Columbus to corporate power, here's what your high school history
teacher glossed over: bare-knuckled injustice and ruthless
class bias that has sparked an impassioned tradition of resistance.
Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. (1952)
In the opening volley of the modern struggle for women's rights,
Beauvoir portrays women as a distinct class in need of economic
freedom.
Daly, Mary. Gyn/Ecology. (1978)
A radical feminist combines theology, mythology, philosophy, history,
and biology in her examination of centuries of sexism.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. (1952)
This stark parable illuminates the plight of African Americans by way of
existentialism, absurdism, and other currents of international postwar
thought.
Mackey, Nathaniel. Bedouin Hornbook/Djbot Baghostus's Run. (1986-1993)
Avant-garde literature you can love: an evolving multivolume novel of
the jazz world that plays with language and ideas the way
Thelonious Monk plays with flatted fifths.
Baldwin, James. Collected Essays. (1955 - 1986)
Angry and eloquent, Baldwin expresses the complicated experience of
being black before, during, and after the civil rights
movement.
West, Cornel. Race Matters. (1993)
A preacher and Harvard professor looks deep into the soul of contemporary
American culture in search of ways to overcome racism and
the self-destructive impulses that racism spawns.
Ray, Satyajit. The Apu Trilogy. (1955 - 1959)
Effortlessly told, luminously portrayed, this growing-up story of a
Bengali boy insists that life's simplest truths are always
its most resonant ones.
Mahfouz, Naguib. The Cairo Trilogy. (1956 - 57)
In a leisurely, sensual family saga, the Arab world's first
Nobel laureate tells the story of modern Egypt from street
level.
Toer, Pramoedya Ananta. The Buru Quartet. (1969 - 1979)
Deprived of paper in prison, this often-jailed Indonesian novelist
dictated his multivolume masterpiece of anti-colonialism (and veiled
anti-Suharto-ism) to fellow prisoners, who kept it alive in their memories
till he could write it down.
Sayles, John. The Secret of Roan Inish. (1995)
An enchanting fairy tale about family secrets and the endurance of
tradition set among the myth-lush scenery of Ireland's west coast.
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. (1958)
This saga of a Nigerian villager torn from his past by missionaries and
colonialists, yet unwilling to "modernize," sums up the central spiritual
dilemma of the "developing" world.
Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. (1993)
Palestinian-born critic Said wants us to understand the colonialism implicit
in many of the great 19th-century works of literature -- not just to be PC,
but to make them richer reading experiences.
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. (1961)
Jacobs turns urban planning on its head by explaining how small things --
corner shops, people on the sidewalk -- make a neighborhood vital.
Alexander, Christopher, et al. A Pattern Language. (1977)
In this design manual, Alexander lays out 253 elements -- from small
window panes to sidewalks wide enough for promenading -- that add up to
good houses, good neighborhoods, and good cities.
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. (1962)
The famous wakeup call about the dangers of pesticides. What makes the
book still compelling is the clarity of Carson's ecological vision and
her ominous warnings about unchecked corporate power.
Margulis, Lynn, and Dorion Sagan. What Is Life?. (1995)
This beautiful
large-format book uses design and image as well as language to show
how biological cooperation works alongside competition in the process of
evolution.
Kuhn, Thomas. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. (1962)
Kuhn made paradigm into almost a household word, and he brings a new
understanding of the dynamics of intellectual development in science --
and, by implication, all other fields of knowledge.
Gleick, James. Chaos. (1987)
Charting the seeming randomness of weather patterns and traffic jams,
chaos theory reminds us that the universe does not behave according to our
best calculations; something more complicated and interesting is at work.
Rexroth, Kenneth. An Autobiographical Novel. (1965)
The elder statesman of the Beat Generation vividly narrates
wild tales of his bawdy, boho youth in jazz-age Chicago.
Pekar, Harvey. New American Splendor Anthology. (1991)
The real world that you never see on TV. An engrossing comic
book series about the everyday life of a working-class
comic book writer in Cleveland.
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. (1967)
Garcia Marquez' saga of a Colombian family introduced something new to the
modern novel: a fusion of political concern, exquisitely inventive fantasy,
and a sense of the immortality of human desire.
Kushner, Tony. Angels in America. (1993)
In this magical multilayered play about a gay man dying of AIDS,
Kushner widens the American mind and heart.
Murphy, Michael. Golf in the Kingdom. (1972)
Carlos Castaneda with a nine iron: a mystical fantasy of
one man's quest for perfect golf -- and inner peace -- under
the tutelage of Shivas Irons, the Don Juan of the driving
range.
Schumacher, E.F.. Small Is Beautiful. (1973)
A surprise best-seller from an English economist making the simple but
exceedingly radical observation that large-scale projects
tend to turn into disasters.
Illich, Ivan. Tools for Conviviality. (1973)
A maverick thinker takes aim at the institutions of modern technological
society, from medicine to transportation, convincingly showing that
most of them offer us far less than is commonly assumed.
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Dispossessed. (1974)
A science-fiction journey to an anarchist utopia filled with
intriguing theories about society, science, and spirituality.
Starhawk. The Fifth Sacred Thing. (1993)
A thought-provoking novel about
an ecotopian society of the future forced to defend its green lands and
gentle ways against an invading technofascist army.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. (1977)
The odyssey of an American Indian World War II veteran from shell shock and
drunken madness to redemption through the healing power of
Native ritual.
Neihardt, John G.. Black Elk Speaks. (1932)
The profundity of a Lakota holy man's teachings, as revealed to a white
writer, transformed the wider culture's image of Native spirituality.
Nin, Anaïs. Delta of Venus. (1977)
Underrated as a fiction writer, the famous memoirist is also a splendid
erotic writer whose lyrical turn-ons prove that there's as much
sexual excitement in a perfectly shaped phrase as in a hot body part.
Anand, Margo. The Art of Sexual Ecstasy. (1989)
A Tantric sex manual showing how spiritual awareness can
channel the body's pleasures to enlighten the heart and
build mature love.
Fo, Dario. Accidental Death of an Anarchist. (1980)
A radical jester but nobody's fool, this Nobel Prize-winning
Italian playwright deploys comedy, absurdity, and slapstick
sabotage to undermine authoritarian power.
Churchill, Caryl. Cloud Nine. (1981)
Merry mischief on stage as all the political and personal parameters
surrounding sex, class, and the fall of the British Empire are turned
upside down.
Pasolini, Pier Paolo. Poems. (1982)
The great filmmaker is also a great poet: a singer of the forgotten poor
on the dirty edges of Italy's postwar economic recovery, a stunning nature
poet, and a relentless examiner of his own troubled life.
Miyazawa, Kenji. Spring and Asura. (1924)
Miyazawa is a rarity: a brilliant avant-garde poet who was
also a dedicated helper of the poor. These poems from once-impoverished
northern Japan crackle with visionary intensity and Buddhist clarity.
Eisler, Riane. The Chalice and the Blade. (1987)
Eisler relates how critical the roles of cooperation and sexual
equality have been in the evolution of human culture -- not
only to correct the idea that might-makes-right makes
history, but also to point out the direction humankind
might follow from here.
Griffin, Susan. Woman and Nature. (1978)
A powerful exposition of how women and the natural
world have been seen as versions of each other -- and
violated in strangely similar ways.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. (1987)
An escaped slave murders her baby to save the child from being returned
to bondage under the Fugitive Slave Act. From this terrifying true story
Morrison fashions a lyrical, ghostly novel of love and
remorse.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Dust Tracks on a Road. (1942)
The spirited autobiography of the Harlem Renaissance novelist and
anthropologist who enshrined the poetic genius of black folklife.
Wilson, August. Joe Turner's Come and Gone. (1987)
A revealing portrait of the African American extended family
and the role mystical belief plays in it -- not just as
picturesque "hoodoo," but as a very real tool of survival
in a world that often makes no sense.
Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight, Los Angeles 1992. (1994)
The pioneer of documentary theater, Deavere Smith interviewed 200 people
involved in some way with the Rodney King case and incorporated their
words into a riveting one-woman show.
Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. (1988)
Read this unrelenting essay on the psychological effects of Caribbean
colonialism and tourism and you'll understand why the guy
serving you rum punches in your favorite island paradise
does not like you.
Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera. (1987)
The Chicana poet and critic uses her own life as a springboard for a
freewheeling, poem-enriched collage of reflections on being Latina,
being queer, and the postmodernity of the Aztecs.
Chomsky, Noam, and Edward Herman. Manufacturing Consent. (1988)
An eye-opening account about why media propaganda is
subtler yet more prevalent in America than in other nations.
Beck, Charlotte Joko. Everyday Zen. (1989)
Zen never seemed less like an endurance contest and more like a path to
genuine healing than in this down-to-earth, plainspoken guide.
Rinpoche, Sogyal. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. (1993)
A Tibetan answer to The Divine Comedy complete with mind-boggling
stories and the real deal on living your dying.
La Place, Viana. Verdura -- Vegetables Italian-style. (1991)
Earthy recipes for fulfillment -- one of the easiest and
most rewarding vegetarian cookbooks around.
Schiffmann, Erich. Yoga -- The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness. (1996)
A guide to inhabiting your body in new ways. This accessible, clearly
written book opens a doorway to yoga for newcomers and jaded veterans alike.
Cameron, Julia. The Artist's Way. (1992)
It's not about how to paint or write or dance -- it's about how to nurture
the part of you that's afraid to paint or write or dance. Cameron's
pathway to creativity is through health and fulfillment, not purgatorial pain.
Ueland, Brenda. If You Want to Write. (1938)
Shining with the visionary high-mindedness of the old American avant-garde,
this classic on unblocking your inner writer recommends watchful laziness,
cheerful egotism, and flat-out joy.
Allison, Dorothy. Bastard out of Carolina. (1992)
In the turbulent Southern-poor-white world of this novel, incest
isn't a joke -- it's a powerful, brutal family reality,
movingly and convincingly portrayed.
Olds, Sharon. The Dead and the Living. (1984)
No-holds-barred poems about Olds' own abusive family risk
self-indulgence in order to deliver a knockout emotional punch.
Ventura, James Hillman & Michael. We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy -- and the World's Getting Worse. (1993)
Enlightening conversations on the nature -- and limitations -- of
therapy, especially the danger of cordoning off psychology from the
gritty world of civic and political life.
Miller, Alice. The Drama of the Gifted Child. (1983)
A bad title but a good book, which explores the hollowness within people
whose parents instill in them an insistent and urgent expectation of success.
Sheldrake, Rupert. Seven Experiments That Could Change the World. (1995)
Empirically probing the mysteries of life that the scientific
establishment refuses to acknowledge, the celebrated biologist invites
us to share in the creation of a New Science.
Kulthum, Umm. Al-Atlaal. (1966)
This beloved Egyptian singer sent audiences into frenzy with love songs
that hover between despair and ecstasy.
Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous. (1996)
There's far more to the world than science can measure, says
anthropologist and magician Abram, proving his point with a
rich helping of examples from indigenous cultures.
Capra, Fritjof. The Web of Life. (1996)
Challenging all who think the world functions like a machine, Capra
examines the new science of life and explores possibilities for an
emerging ecological politics.
Hawken, Paul. The Ecology of Commerce. (1993)
At last -- a business guru who talks about something other than fatter
profits. A calm and illuminating discussion of how the economic order
must adapt to environmental realities.
II. FILM
Kurosawa, Akira. The Seven Samurai. (1954)
Out-of-work samurai defend a village against bandits in the
greatest action movie ever made, resonant with the noblest
themes: justice, loyalty, love, memory, and the resilience
of the downtrodden.
Bergman, Ingmar. The Seventh Seal. (1957)
A gripping philosophical inquiry into whether God exists played out in
the story of a medieval knight home from the Crusades.
Marx Brothers & Leo McCarey. Duck Soup. (1933)
Amidst all the hilarious mayhem, the brothers Marx offer trenchant
commentary on the all-out idiocy of war.
Kubrick, Stanley. Dr. Strangelove. (1964)
Not only the best (and probably only) comedy about nuclear war, but
also one of the funniest satires on any subject.
Welles, Orson. Citizen Kane. (1941)
This echt-American tale of the making of a capitalist titan gets
better with every viewing.
Altman, Robert. Nashville. (1975)
Altman's chaotic, everybody's-talking
style meshed perfectly with the theme in this country-music saga: America
adrift socially, sexually, and politically -- and looking for a reason to
believe.
Kiarostami, Abbas. Where Is My Friend's Home?. (1995)
This Iranian director is often called the heir to Ray -- and his
quiet film about a little boy trying to return a notebook to a friend
has a lot of the Indian master's less-is-more sense of conviction.
Truffaut, Francois. Jules and Jim. (1961)
Everybody's favorite menage-à-trois movie follows the story of three
bohemian friends in World War I-era France. Swift changes of tone from
sadness to whimsy keep you guessing -- and remind you what life is really
like.
Godard, Jean-Luc. Two or Three Things I Know About Her. (1967)
Godard's deadpan mock-documentary about a prostitute is full of ironies
that stand for the deeper disorders of modern life.
Fellini, Federico. Amarcord. (1974)
A bittersweet, slightly surreal, and altogether engaging comedy of Italian
village life, focusing on a gang of schoolboys hungry to figure out
the meaning of sex, religion, family, and politics.
Reitz, Edgar. Heimat. (1984)
The evolution of the modern world from World War I to the Cold War of
the '80s as seen through the eyes of one German village -- a masterful,
completely captivating 16-hour saga that makes most other
films feel like mere anecdotes.
James, Steve, with Fred Marx and Peter Gilbert. Hoop Dreams. (1994)
Visions of NBA stardom and the realities of life in
Chicago's inner city shape the lives of two black high
school stars in this poignant documentary that raises
serious questions aboutt the American sports machine
Goldsmith, Rick. Tell the Truth and Run. (1996)
An entertaining documentary about George Seldes, a legendary
foreign correspondent of the '20s and '30s who became the
granddaddy of the alternative press.
Groening, Matt. The Simpsons. (1989-)
An "anti-sitcom" that shishkabobs every shabby contemporary trend from
infomercials to "safe" nuclear power without a whisper of
political correctness.
Kovacs, Ernie. Works. (1951-1962)
This small-screen pioneer created a surreal world of sight and
sound gags -- women disappear as they take off their clothes, hula hoops
cut people in half, typewriters tap to music all by themselves -- that
stretched and celebrated the new medium.
Wenders, Wim. Wings of Desire. (1987)
A profound, non-sappy exploration of the interplay between the angelic
realm and earthly desire.
Flaherty, Robert. Nanook of the North. (1922)
A still-fascinating portrait of the life and traditions of the
Itivimuit people of Hudson's Bay that helped launch documentary filmmaking.
III. MUSIC
Bach, Johann Sebastian. Suites for Solo Cello. (1720)
Bach's magnificent genius shines no matter who's performing --
Pablo Casals, Yo-Yo Ma, or (our favorite) Mstislav Rostropovich.
Part, Arvo. Te Deum. (1993)
Spiritual wonder at the immensity of existence still lives in our age, as
seen in the majestic work of this Estonian composer.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Don Giovanni. (1787)
Breaking musical rules, flaunting moral conventions, Mozart's opera
was hailed as a masterpiece opening night -- and ever
since.
Berg, Alban. Wozzeck. (1922)
Berg translated opera for the 20th-century sensibility: a hapless
soldier in place of romantic heroes, flourishes of dissonance and
atonality on top of arias.
Beethoven, Ludwig van. Ninth Symphony. (1824)
Reaches for the heavens, and gets as close as any music ever written.
Mahler, Gustav. Fourth Symphony. (1902)
Another musical imagining of life beyond this realm, joyous but with the
recognition of loss.
Johnson, Robert. Complete Recordings. (1936 - 37)
Haunting distillations of hard living from the most legendary blues
singer of them all.
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. The Message. (1982)
Stark scenes of ghetto life comin' at ya in a riveting rhythmic
recitation -- rap music at the peak of its powers.
Ellington, Duke. In a Mellotone. (1940)
In the absence of a royal family, America created an aristocracy of
jazz -- in which the Duke always holds court.
Coltrane, John. A Love Supreme. (1964)
The giant of free jazz saw playing the saxophone as a form of prayer.
Holiday, Billie. Lady in Autumn. (1940s - 1950s)
Pain crackles through her voice, but there's also a deep passion
and poignance that may be unsurpassed in recording history.
Rodrigues, Amalia. Monitor Presents .. (1960)
Fado is Portugal's blues -- sad and stirring sounds rising out of
slums and shanties -- and Rodrigues' powerful voice makes
her the master of the form.
Williams, Hank. 40 Greatest Hits. (1940s - 1950s)
Although he's worshipped as the patron saint of Nashville, Hank goes
further than anyone in country music at evoking both the
sorrow and joy of being alive.
Cash, Johnny. The Sun Years. (1950s)
A sharecropper's son with his hand
on the pulse of American music -- call it country, rock, or folk, it's all
Johnny Cash.
Howlin' Wolf. His Best. (1950s - 1960s)
Rawboned, wailin'
Chicago blues with undertones of pride, hope, and even joy.
Los Lobos. Just Another Band from East L.A.. (1980s - 1990s)
A wonderful blend of bar band boogie, Mexican folk styles, mythic
borderland themes, and serious dedication to rock 'n' roll artistry.
Marley, Bob. Songs of Freedom. (1960s - 1970s)
Not just the giant of reggae but also a music master whose social
commentary matches that of any of his rock 'n' roll peers.
I.K. Dairo and His Bluespots. JuJu Master. (1960s)
One of the grandparents of today's world beat music, Dairo added
electric guitar and accordion to traditional Nigerian
rhythms, spawning the dazzling JuJu sound and setting the
stage for the emergence of African pop.
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong. Verve Recordings. (1956 - 57)
Two vocal masters at the height of their powers make this roster of
standards, including all of Porgy and Bess, completely their own --
a truly joyful occasion.
Armstrong, Louis. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (1922 - 1934)
Few CD box sets could live up to this title, but this collection
captures the young Armstrong at his most inspired, creating the music
that turned the jazz age inside out.
Monk, Thelonious. Monk's Dream. (1962)
Monk is one of the masters of modern composition and, in the words of
critic Martin Williams, "a virtuoso of the basic materials of jazz: time,
meter, accent, space."
Davis, Miles. Kind of Blue. (1959)
Davis is the Chartres cathedral of jazz improvisation, or maybe Chartres
is the Miles Davis of Gothic architecture.
Evora, Cesaria. Cesaria Evora. (1995)
A barefoot diva who touches the whole world with her stirring interpretations
of Cape Verde's melancholy morna music.
The Clash. London Calling. (1979)
Smarts, spunk, overflowing creativity, and a sharp political edge made
these boyos into one of the greatest rock bands ever.
The Pogues. If I Should Fall from Grace with God. (1988)
Punk bumps into traditional Irish music late one night in a
smoky pub, with utterly exhilarating results.
Dylan, Bob. Highway 61 Revisited. (1965)
"How does it feel?" Dylan sang -- and pop music (and numerous other things)
would never be the same again.
DeMent, Iris. The Way I Should. (1996)
A honky-tonk singer-songwriter, full of rollicking good-time rhythms and
twanging hard-luck stories, but also outrage at America's escalating
injustice.
Franklin, Aretha. The Very Best Vols. 1 & 2. (1960s-1990s)
.
Franklin's ecstatic renderings brought the sweet soul of gospel music
into R&B.
Williams, Marion. Surely God Is Able. (1989)
This superb gospel singer -- called "America's greatest living singer"
by rock critic Dave Marsh -- gives a powerful, rollicking voice to the
Holy Spirit.
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