The John McPhee Reader (John McPhee Reader, #1)

This book contains 12 articles, or chapters, that were written by McPhee from 1965 to 1975. The strongest single element in these works is McPhee's use of detail. In The Pine Barrens McPhee tells the story about New Jersey's great forest, the Pine Barrens, and its back-woods inhabitants, the "pineys." The piece is richly appointed with details about the history of the Pine Barrens, the people who live there, and the forest itself. Consider the following description of a piney named Bill Wasovwich: "In a straight-backed chair near the doorway to the kitchen sat a young man with long black hair, who wore a visored red leather cap that was darkened with age. His shirt was course-woven and had eyelets down a V neck that was laced with a thong. His trousers were made of canvas, and he was wearing gum boots." McPhee lets us actually see this character by painting him in such vivid details. He gives us colors, hues, and textures that make his words spring to life, and leaves firm images in a readers mind. McPhee extends the use of details to the historical narratives he utilizes in his works. Here is an example from The Pine Barrens. "The wizard" of the pines was Jerry Munyhon. He could make a cat's paw come through a key hole. He could cause axes to chop wood by themselves. He could cause money to multiply. He was bulletproof. And he once caught a bullet that was fired at him and handed it back to the man who had done the shooting." Page 77, paragraph 2. McPhee had to talk to many piney to get all these wonderful details about the Munyhon, and he gives us a marvelous look into the folklore of the pineys as a result. But McPhee is also keen on using details to describe things as well as people and history. In A Roomful of Hovings McPhee profiles the life and times of the New York Metropolitan Museum's director, Thomas Hoving. He describes an important ivory artifact that Hoving procured for the museum called the Cross of Bury St. Edmunds in the following passage. "Carved in walrus ivory, the two foot cross had sixty-three cryptically abbreviated inscriptions in Greek and Latin and a hundred and eight carved figures, which were sharply detailed and extraordinarily alive in their gestures and expressions...." Page 110, paragraph 1. This began a long and detailed description of the artifact and its history that went on for four pages. I was enthralled by both the descriptive and historical details that McPhee used, and am convinced that he becomes an expert on anything he writes about.

I read this a good twenty years ago and found it to be very interesting and varied. It started me on reading his books.