Choice 评论
There are subtle connections that link these ten essays, but the most obvious unity is the parade of American characteristics. Horatio Alger Jr., the juvenile underworld of 19th-century New York City, Buffalo Bill, Theodore Roosevelt, Deadwood Dick, Owen Wister, Allan Pinkerton, the Mollie Maguires, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Dashiell Hammett--there seems to be something for everyone here. There is much valuable information, but it is so tightly packed that it is difficult to follow Klein's kaleidoscope of analogies and metaphors to understand and accept his conclusions. His points are made in such overwritten and complex sentences that he occasionally ends by denying the assertion made in the opening clause. His assumptions are not always accompanied by adequate supporting evidence--just how did Alger undermine children's literature? The author's seeming disdain for his subjects makes one wonder why he bothered to consider them at all. He treats most of the writers as hacks, with the exception of Wister and Hammett (who is really outside the parameter of dates set in the subtitle). Extensive and valuable bibliography. Recommended only for large research libraries. J. R. Cox; St. Olaf College
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Klein (English, SUNY-Buffalo) discusses Horatio Alger's stories about boys living by their wits on the streets of New York City; the West as imagined by Easterners like Theodore Roosevelt, Owen Wister, and the dime-novel writers; and Pinkerton detectives and the fiction they inspired. Unfortunately, his work lacks focus. Despite his claims, Klein fails to illuminate the rags-to-riches stories, the Westerns, and the detectives of current popular culture by discussing their predecessors. Even his title is misleading since the concluding chapter covers Dashiell Hammett's private detective novels of the 1920s and 1930s. Many of the works Klein discusses are not included in the bibliography. While this book may be useful to popular culture specialists, it is unlikely to appeal to general readers.-Judy Mimken, Saginaw Valley State Univ., Mich. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.