Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Nobody Better, Better Than Nobody is a collection of five extended essays that appeared in The New Yorker from 1978 to 1986. In the tradition of A. J. Liebling and Joseph Mitchell, Ian Frazier raises journalism to high literary art. His vivid stories showcase a strange and wonderful parade of American life, from portraits of Heloise, the syndicated household-hints columnist, and Jim Deren, the urban fly-fisher’s guru, to small-town residents in western Kansas preparing to celebrate a historic, mutual massacre, to which they invite the Cheyenne Indians’ descendants with the promise of free bowling.
"Wonderfully dry and dull reporting. . .His remarkable powers of observation are set at full throttle."--New York Times
Synopsis
Nobody Better, Better Than Nobody is a collection of five extended essays that appeared in The New Yorker from 1978 to 1986. In the tradition of A. J. Liebling and Joseph Mitchell, Frazier raises journalism to high literary art. His vivid stories showcase a strange and wonderful parade of American life, from portraits of Heloise, the syndicated household-hints columnist, and Jim Deren, the urban fly-fisher’s guru, to small-town residents in western Kansas preparing to celebrate a historic, mutual massacre, to which they invite the Cheyenne Indians’ descendants with the promise of free bowling.
Publishers Weekly
Frazier (Dating Your Mom is a staff writer for the New Yorker; collected here are five of his articles that have appeared in the magazine since 1979. They are a masterly blend of detailed observation and subtle humor, perhaps best combined in the title story, a profile of Heloise, the syndicated household-hints columnist. The opening piece describes an unusual festival, the small Kansas town of Oberlin celebrating an anniversary with the descendants of Cheyenne Indians who raided the town in 1878. Frazier's love of fishing and the state of Montana are reflected in ``An Angler at Heart,'' a profile of an unusual purveyor of fishing tackle near New York's Grand Central Station, and ``Bear News,'' which tells almost as much about Frazier as about Montana's bears. The work of a true listener and observer, these reportings are Americana at its idiosyncratic best. (May 4)
Editorials
From the Publisher
"Subtle...The unwary reader never knows what Frazier is up to until he's hooked." —The Boston Globe"Wickedly funny...[A] rare combination of humor and empathy...More eloquent in their directness than poetry." —The New York Times
"Five extraordinary tales profiling people and events in the coolest, clearest, most wittily perceptive prose you’ll find anywhere these days." —Forbes