Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a highly passionate and highly entertaining book. Author Bill Kauffman was born in Batavia, New York, and as the book's jacket copy notes, experienced "a bumpy ride on the Washington, DC fast track." After that, he knew it was time to return to his roots.
"Dispatches" is a celebration of the people and institutions that make Batavia uniquely Batavian, but it's by no means a rose-colored look at small town life. Because he cares so much, Kauffman is unflinching in his criticism of the community when it strays from its history and values. He's particularly eloquent in writing about the destruction of the city's old central business district and its replacement with a soulless mall, the product of misguided urban renewal. He also looks back at Batavia's colorful political history, including its dubious distinction as birthplace of the anti-Masonic movement; chronicles the decline and fall of Carr's, once the town's finest department store, the inevitable victim of the Wal-Marting and KMarting of America; he takes us to the local ballpark to meet the minor league team he grew up with, the Muckdogs. But lest we think the author's love for his community is wavering, we only have to look to this pronouncement: "This is my place, and whatever I might say about it, however caustic or corrosive my pen, I love it and will forever."
"Dispatches From the Muckdog Gazette," is an eloquent celebration of the power and importance of community spirit.
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