ENTERTAINMENT
By M.G. Lord and By M.G. Lord,Special to the Sun | December 8, 2002
Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear. By Paul Fussell. Houghton Mifflin. 224 pages. $22. I have been a fan of Paul Fussell for years -- not just of his rich, beautifully written World War I history, The Great War and Modern Memory, but also of his 1983 effort, Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, whose winsome, cranky voice was eclipsed only by its stunning accuracy. Thus I eagerly looked forward to Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear. This book is not, however, all that I had hoped it would be. The first disappointment was that it focused on uniforms in a literal way -- not, say, the gray flannel suit of mid-20th-century businessmen or the baggy trousers of contemporary hip-hop types, but clothing actually issued by institutions like the military and the post office.
ENTERTAINMENT
By Frederick N. Rasmussen and Frederick N. Rasmussen,Special to the Sun | September 7, 2003
The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944-1945, by Paul Fussell. Modern Library. 208 pages. $19.95. Paul Fussell, who has written widely on war, knows firsthand the absolute terror and brutality that combat can inflict upon adolescent infantryman. He was a 22-year-old lieutenant leading a rifle platoon in the 103rd Infantry Division when he was severely wounded in France during World War II. In this crisply written, profoundly moving and all-too-vivid narrative, Fussell chronicles the role of American soldiers during the last full year of the war. The campaign from the bloody beaches of Normandy to the triumphant fall of Berlin in the spring of 1945 is the framework on which he has chosen to tell the story of the effects of war on those who were destined to fight it. "It should strike everyone as funny that armies at war are insane institutions devoted to two quite contradictory operations, both brought to the highest technological standard," he observes.
NEWS
By Dan Rodricks | January 16, 1991
"Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected. Every war constitutes an irony of situation because its means are so melodramatically disproportionate to its presumed ends."Paul Fussell According to news reports from Washington, President Bush strolled the White House grounds at dawn," which evoked the cinematic image of a solitary commander-in-chief, reflective and contemplative, awed by his power and the immensity of his responsibility. Other news reports said the question of war with Iraq "weighed heavily" on the president.
NEWS
By Jay Merwin | March 16, 1992
BAD: Or the Dumbing of America. By Paul Fussell. Summit Books. 201 pages. $19. WHAT is it that unnerves us in an expensive restaurant when a blow-dried person in an apron presumes intimacy by saying: "My name is Sandy and I'll be your server tonight"? Why does the recitation of the "specials" -- bloated with adjectives about the sauce slathered on them and the sensuous pliability of their fibers -- make us worry we're being taken?Finally, Paul Fussell explains this experience, and many others like it, in his new book, "BAD: Or the Dumbing of America."
NEWS
By Caitlin Francke and Caitlin Francke,SUN STAFF | September 14, 1997
To some, H. L. Mencken is Baltimore's sage -- his hyperbolic biting criticism are the words of pure truth. To others, he is Baltimore's scourge -- an anti-Semitic bigot and woman hater.But Mencken really was an artist who had a love for words and a magical way of crafting them, Paul Fussell, award-winning author and University of Pennsylvania professor, told a packed room of Mencken lovers at the revered writer's 117th birthday anniversary celebration yesterday at the Enoch Pratt Free Library on Cathedral Street.
FEATURES
By John E. McIntyre and John E. McIntyre,Sun Staff Writer | November 8, 1994
The defendant, Kingsley Amis, stands accused of incorrigibly right-wing views and -- worse still -- attitudes deeply offensive to women, all expressed vigorously and repeatedly in his novels.The counsel for the defense, Paul Fussell, has filed a spirited brief on behalf of his client, who is also a friend. He concedes that Mr. Amis went a bit potty about the Red Menace during the years before it collapsed under its own weight. But the charge of anti-feminism, he argues, rises mainly from the vulgar error of misidentifying characters in a novel with the author -- which is particularly unfair to Mr. Amis, who has created some of the most thoroughly disagreeable characters in contemporary British fiction.