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| October 10, 2001 |
Rare Birds
Dan Bessie
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An American Family. On the surface this book is merely a genealogy of a particular family, but Dan Bessie tells his stories well. He explores the Bessies on his father's side and the Burnetts on his mother's, revealing quite a bit about himself in the process. His father Alvah is a particularly interesting character who tried his luck on the New York stage before joining the other Americans who went off to fight in Spain, and who was one of the Hollywood 10 jailed during the McCarthy era. I also loved the story of Dan's half-sister Eva and her experiences in San Francisco in the 60s, and of his gay puppeteer uncle Harry. As Bessie writes, "I'm convinced that my family history contains, in microcosm, the similarities and peculiarities to be found, in one way or another, in most American families. The threads I weave are common to us all. These just happen to be my rare birds—your own simply have a different plumage."
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