A Poignant Emotion Odyssey. By Tony Williams on December 2, 2015 Five Stars For those in the Legion of the Damned, this is a very touching book. The author has shared his bitter experiences of the past involving individual turmoil and social alienation that will affect many who read it. Even in cultures where the[…]
5 stars: Articulate, insightful, fascinating account of a seminal period in the author’s life. I couldn’t put it down. 3 stars: I found this book compelling, and the writing was really good. The subject matter meant this was not always an easy read, but it was very honest, and I appreciated that. I must confess that I[…]
May 11, 2016, Second Review by Midwest Book Review, The Biography Shelf. Synopsis: In “The Broken Places,” author Joseph McBride, an internationally acclaimed American cultural historian, recalls his troubled youth in the Midwest during the 1960s. Searingly immediate and yet reflective, this is the McBride’s memoir of his breakdown as a teenager and triumphant recovery.[…]
April 13, 2016, Review by Lois C. Henderson, Book Pleasures. Joseph McBride, an American film historian, biographer, screenwriter, and professor in the Cinema Department at San Francisco State University, has now brought out a coming-of-age memoir in which he relates the psychological trauma that he endured growing up in a dysfunctional Catholic home, resulting in[…]
March 2016: Small Press Bookwatch, The Biography Shelf. Synopsis: In “The Broken Places”, author Joseph McBride, an internationally acclaimed American cultural historian, recalls his troubled youth in the Midwest during the 1960s. Searingly immediate and yet reflective, this is the McBride’s memoir of his breakdown as a teenager and triumphant recovery. “The Broken Places” gives[…]
March 30, 2016: Interview with Jovelyn Richards. Cover to Cover Open Book, KPFA Radio, Berkeley, California. Click here to listen to the interview.
March 29, 2016: FLIXWISE podcast with Pauline Lampert on Billy Wilder’s film, Some Like It Hot, and The Broken Places. Click here to listen to the podcast.
March 28, 2016: Review by A Bookish Affair What’s the Story?: From Goodreads.com: “In The Broken Places, Joseph McBride, an internationally acclaimed American cultural historian, recalls his troubled youth in the Midwest during the 1960s. Searingly immediate and yet reflective, this is the author’s memoir of his breakdown as a teenager and triumphant recovery. It[…]
March 22, 2016: Review by Kirkus Reviews A memoir that recalls a gifted but troubled youth’s first love in the brutal setting of a psychiatric ward. McBride (Hawks on Hawks, 2013, etc.) follows his past biographies of Orson Welles, Steven Spielberg, Howard Hawks, and Frank Capra with this unsparing account of a mental and spiritual[…]
March 11, 2016: Review by The Midwest Book Review Synopsis: “The Broken Places” is the personal memoir of internationally acclaimed American cultural historian Joseph McBride. In it McBride recalls his troubled youth in the Midwest during the 1960s that included his breakdown as a teenager and his eventual triumphant recovery. “The Broken Places” gives an[…]
March 6, 2016: “San Francisco State professor’s memoir chronicles mental breakdown that led to success: Writing through the pain.” Interview by Michael Barba, San Francisco Examiner. Professor, author and historian Joseph McBride poses for a portrait in the library of San Francisco State University in San Francisco, Calif. Thursday, March 3, 2016. (Jessica Christian/S.F. Examiner)[…]
March 2, 2016: Review by Michelle Anne Schingler, FOREWORD/Clarion Review (Five Stars). THE BROKEN PLACES This unflinching account of one man’s descent into temporary madness is certain to move those who have ever felt at odds with the world around them. Joseph McBride’s The Broken Places is a brazen, revelatory, and disturbing memoir that follows the author[…]