Howard Cosell: the man, the myth, and the transformation of American sports by Mark Ribowsky
Howard Cosell is a fixture in the history of sports broadcasting and journalism, with a distinctive voice like a K-Tel commercial: grating, obnoxious, cartoonish, buffoonish, and divisive.
Yet this man who was so insecure, occupied the pinnacle of Monday Night Football, made history with Muhammed Ali, starred in movies and media, and in many ways was ABC Sports in the wide world of the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. We all watched him growing up, he was controversial because Cosell actually asked good questions, and he was a true sports journalist rather than just another talking head.
The great Canadian media professor Marshall McCluhan said the medium is the message, and Howard Cosell was that medium, indistinguishable from the sports broadcasting of the time. Woody Allen, a follower of McCluhan, put Howard Cosell in three of his movies as a New York cultural touchstone, so identified was Cosell with television and the art of self-image.
Howard Cosell was the man we all loved to hate, yet we watched him. He was the first mega-personality, hated and reviled, scrutinized, scathed, but never ignored. No other broadcaster received so much mail, death threats, or required armed bodyguards. Cosell was a true journalist, engaged with the turbulent times, and he had strong views on race, civil rights, and stood by his convictions, most notably through Muhammed Ali.
This biography is enthusiastic, yet fair, and deals with the more petty and revolting aspects of his personality, but also examines his impact on modern sportscasting, the special relationship with the love of his life, his wife Mary Edith Abrams. He was a great organizer, learning hard work as a major during the Second World War, when he was responsible for logistics and transportation of vast resources out of New York City. Cosell had a unique style, bred from his roots as a lawyer and his language was verbose and cumbersome which led people to believe he talked down to others. In reality, he was an original who left his stamp on broadcasting, a figure who was curious, and truly an investigative journalist.
Cosell often bit the hand fed him, rejecting professional boxing and writing books like What's Wrong With Sports, and in general representing opinions that were almost designed to ignite controversy. In this day of social media, where we swallow wholesale chunks of media and advertising as fact, it is refreshing to read a biography about a man who was truly an individual, who wanted to be liked and never was; who asked pertinent questions and got real answers, whose most famous catchphrase was "I'm just telling it like it is."
-- Reviewed by Allan Wilson, chief librarian at the Prince George Public Library
The Social Conquest of Earth by Edward O. Wilson
Edward O. Wilson is one of the world's pre-eminent biologists and a prolific writer. In his latest book, he describes our dual natures, our capacity to be both selfish and altruistic. People possess both the capacity to swindle others for personal gain or to engage in selfless acts, such as rescuing a child from freezing water or inoculating children against polio in a developing country. We all have the capacity to act like an Ebenezer Scrooge or a Mother Teresa, an Adolph Hitler or a Martin Luther King.
He highlights why human beings are the only species of animal ever to develop a technological culture on earth. The necessary pre-adaptations include living on land, a relatively large body size, hands that evolved to manipulate objects, a shift in diet from vegetarianism to a mixed diet of plants and animals, and the controlled use of fire. The exact combination of traits and pre-adaptations is likely unique in the history of life on earth. For much of our existence, our ancestors were few in numbers in Africa and could have easily been wiped out, like any species before us.
For decades, scientists have focused on the selfish side of human behaviour, the selection of human traits that promote individual fitness, our ability to transmit our genes from one generation to the next.
However, humans are also social animals. We never followed lives that involved a Hobbesian "war against all". Natural selection works at the group level, selecting genes that enable us to work together for the common good. Even our natural tendency to form groups has a dark side - prejudice, discrimination (both conscious and unconscious) and war.
Humans are one of a small number of species that are inherently sociable. Individually, our ancestors would provide a quick meal for a lion or a bear. We cannot run fast (though we are the marathoners of the natural world), we are physically weak, and lack protective armour. We are omnivores. However, we lack the fangs and claws of a cat or a dog, requiring tools and group hunting techniques to bring down game. We need to cook our food for consumption because our teeth are so small.
The Social Conquest of Earth is a well written book that explores how our species likely arose and how traits that were selected during our long history as hunters and gatherers who lived in small bands continue to haunt us today. The aphorism, "know thyself" inscribed in ancient Delphi is as relevant now as then. Only by understanding ourselves, can we seek to overcome the dark side of all of us.
-- Reviewed by John Shepherd, a former library board member.
