Hard on the heels of Julie Burchill's take on The [Un]documented Mark Steyn, here's another view of the book from another of my very favorite writers - the dean of Canadian cultural commentators, Robert Fulford. About a decade and a half ago, I turned him down for an interview in Toronto Life, which, considering some of the guys I've agreed to be interviewed by in the years since, was really rather rude of me. At any rate, he's a forgiving chap and his piece in The National Post is very generous:
Mark Steyn is a phenomenon of English-language journalism, a writer unlike any other, a commentator with a luxuriously original spirit.
In the journalism of Canada, America, Britain and several other countries, he follows his own rules and makes his own noise...
It's the range of the essays that seems to appeal to Mr Fulford:
His book takes us through folk songs and pop songs, Viagra, the Rushdie fatwa, Monica Lewinsky's famous dress, Starbucks and many another cultural or politically cultural sensation.
He's a virtuoso of the unexpected connection, the comparison that makes us see something freshly... When he shows no interest in Starbucks, a friend suggests he doesn't understand coffee culture.
"What culture?" asks Steyn. "The coffee houses of 17th-century England were hives of business. They spawned the Stock Exchange and Lloyd's of London. The coffee houses of 18th-century Paris were hives of ideas: Voltaire, Rousseau and the gang met to thrash out the Enlightenment." What have the coffee houses of 21st-century America spawned? "The gingerbread eggnog machiato and an accompanying CD compilation."
Speaking of the latter, I should probably do one for the book after Fulford calls "Moon River And Me" "the best appreciation of Johnny Mercer's great lyrics that I've ever read". He gets to all the serious stuff in the book - US politics, the new Jew hate, etc - before concluding:
When people praise H.L. Mencken, they often say we need someone like him in our time. Steyn is far from an echo of Mencken — for one thing, he has none of the ugly prejudices. But he's the only writer today who sometimes brings the best of Mencken to mind.
Mr Fulford is being too kind there, but do read the whole thing.
~If any National Post readers are eager to hear more about The [Un]documented Mark Steyn, I'll be talking about that and much more in conversation with Indigo Books suprema Heather Reisman on stage at the Manulife Centre branch in Toronto on January 28th. Full details here. For any readers in upstate New York, it's a zippy 90 minutes (give or take) up the Queen Elizabeth Way, so treat yourself to a priced-to-clear tank of gas and head on up.
The [Un]documented Mark Steyn is available at all branches of Indigo-Chapters north of the border. At the Dix-Trente Indigo outside Montreal the other week, my daughter noticed it was on a display table for men who wanted to "live dangerously" and "walk on the wild side" - which seems to mean books that are a bit too controversial to be recommended outright. Hey, I'll take it!
Down south you can find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and even Costco. And, wherever you are, you can be reading it within seconds - via Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks. Or treat yourself to a personally autographed copy direct from the SteynOnline bookstore.
