My favorite Fred Kaplan book is 1959, a glorious account of how so much of what seems new and different about our contemporary world took off in the late 1950s, a decade commentators have long dismissed as sleepy.
As for Charles Willeford, I'd like to mention two particularly great film adaptations of his books, Cockfighter and the Woman Chaser (which seems to be shamefully hard to find to watch).
My favorite Fred Kaplan book is 1959, a glorious account of how so much of what seems new and different about our contemporary world took off in the late 1950s, a decade commentators have long dismissed as sleepy.
yes I've read 1959! Some good jazz commentary in there as well.
As for Charles Willeford, I'd like to mention two particularly great film adaptations of his books, Cockfighter and the Woman Chaser (which seems to be shamefully hard to find to watch).
Awesome! On my old site I host Ray Banks's assessment of all Willeford on film https://ethaniverson.com/ray-banks-on-willeford-movies-grimhaven/
Ray is also on Substack https://raybanks.substack.com