Book Reviews

One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band
Alan Paul
St. Martin’s Press
Street: 02.18
I’ve never been a big Allman Brothers fan—I blame it on my aunt playing them while I spent my summers as a young teen landscaping and gardening. The same goes for The Eagles. When I picked up this book, I promised myself that I wouldn’t let that taint my experience. One Way Out is similar to most modern rock history books—it’s an oral history stringed together by a handful of narrative paragraphs. The book starts out prior to the band’s formation with the brothers growing up together, jamming in various bands, separating and subsequently reuniting to form a legendary band with a sound described as a mix of country, folk, jazz and blues. This book encapsulates the beer-scummed croons of Duane Allman, the jazz-centric drums of Jaimoe and Gregg Allman’s psychedelic-tinged musicianship. While sometimes the oral accounts get repetitive, it doesn’t take away from the intimate feelings rendered by reading their accounts. If you’re a fan of Southern rock or want to know what it was like to be an interracial band from the South in the ’60s, I suggest you pick this up. –Alex Cragun

The Ploughmen
Kim Zupan
Henry Holt and Co.
Street: 09.30
With praise ranging from Larry McMurty (Lonesome Dove) to William Kittredge (Hole in the Sky), Kim Zupan’s The Ploughmen stands strong among the herd of western novels. The story features the classic pairing of an old bad guy and a young sheriff whose paths get crossed, establishing their relationship. The tale is presented in a deadpan voice, which helps when it gets to the more grisly moments. The bad guy, John Gload, has not come to his reputation by accident, and is the catalyst behind some fairly disturbing content. This is balanced in the story by the nobility of the young sheriff, Valentine Millmaki, but the two eventually learn to work with each other despite their differences. For a debut novel, Zupan displays a promising amount of control over the story and never lets it slide too far from its central plot. This keeps the pacing interesting and far from boring. I recommend this to anyone—especially fans of westerns. The only thing missing would be a campfire to read it by. –Benjamin Tilton