Michael Ventura teaches at my school. Often he has read things to us in his writing class, and sometimes they have been things he himself has written. He is incredibly wise, wheather he knows it or not, and is a voice that should be heard. Buy this book because, and trust me on this as a student of his, you will not regret it.

This collection of essays blew my mind in a big way when I first stumbled onto them in the early 90s. Of course, I was a fan of Ventura's "LA Weekly" column, from which many of these essays come. And Ventura read these essays on Pacifica's KPFK here in Los Angeles, so hearing his magnetic voice read these be-boppin jazz-style essays was a double plus. No one else, at that terrifying time in America, seemed to be saying the things that needed to be said about the Gulf War, mental illness, the fact that our jobs are killing us, and the need for a spirituality of compassion in the barren American landscape of the post-Reagan years. Ventura's essays on Las Vegas are fun. I re-read them every time I venture off to Sin City. I often have my students read Ventura's essays to see what voice and presence in writing are all about--he's got it.

These essays now might seem a little bit dated and heavy-handed; but they can still pack a wallop to the sophomoric mind and those just starting to struggle with life issues--Ventura is perfect for those in their 20s--or their midlife crisis. Put on a Mingus or Parker CD while you read, and it'll be quite an experience.

Ventura is a truly American voice on par with Dos Passos or Randolph Bourne (who? )

havnt read it yet... but needless to say its a good book..

Marilyn is captured in just about every mood possible in this book. A wonderful book for my MM collection.

The pictures of Marilyn in this book are wonderful..I thought I saw them all until I got this book. I recommend to all Marilyn fans, it is a must.

This is a scorching first novel from a first-rate American writer about the back road, the juke joints, and the inner lives around them --- without a trace of bombast or sensationalism that so often come with this territory.

I've done my share of Lit.101 and Great Books, yet this is the only book that came along and successfully conjured in flesh and blood the secret selves that people around me carry in concealment.

Never spent time in that corner of America myself, yet the book had made me see the world in a whole new light.

Strong stuff -- but medicine for all you seekers out there....

(Read his column too in Austin Chronicle if you like this.)

This is a much needed and enjoyable book. Although not terribly well written (in that trendy, almost-clever way), it covers material that must not be neglected. Rigoberto Torres is a treasure.

I expected so much more from this book. Rather than taking a serious look at the some of the shortfalls of psychotherapy, these two guys whine on and on about why therapy won't remove their guilt of having affairs and continuing other self-destructive issues. And then they blame it all on Puritanism!
Darn! I would really like to throttle my next-door neighbor and his noisy kids if it wasn't for that pesky Puritanism! Puerile self-justification. This book was a huge disappointment.

This is unquestionably one of the best books I've ever read-and it is much more than a critique of the legacy of psycotherapy. Hillman and Ventura improvise their way through a series of dialogues, rants, ruminations that question and turn upside down many of the most dearly beloved tenets of our current culture-the importance we attach to "personal growth" being just one example. The book is very opinionated (thank goodness), gutsy and provocative. It's also very deep-but not in a self conscious or pretentious manner-it just helps to reveal the depth that's there in the everyday world. The best thing about it is that after you've read it you'll want to live your life with the same critical intensity. Really great book.

In this intense, incisive & barefaced series of dialogues & letters between two spirited people, we get searing insights into the legacy of psychotherapy & just about every aspect of contemporary life. After we found this book we finagled several of our friends into reading it. Our experience of what James Hillman & Michael Ventura spoke & wrote changed our minds & the way we went about living & loving. Fascinating!

ventura has opened my chest and massaged my heart while also opening my skull and exciting my mind..this ranks as one of the best books ive read in the past decade..on my second journey through it now..may not be for everyone but its not only for middleaged complex men who think,wonder,question,ache and search..i love this book..try it...the viewpoint is original,interesting,helpful,truthful,beautiful

This man is absolutly brilliant and his brain is an enigma to most all of our modern mindsets. If you want to peek into a still water image of the path western culture is marching, reading this book will most definatly begin the process. This is not a book that will sing you to sleep, and dont expect to ever, EVER look at the zoo the same agian. Mr.Micheal is a teacher at my school, though "teacher" dosent correctly capture his function from 8 to 10 am, in our 16 year old lives. As a person who has been privledged enough to converse with the man representing this complex and truthful perspective on the world we share, i advise all of you strongly on this book. Although don't expect to find any kind of instint gratification, the man dosent know how to spoon feed. enjoy the clarity.

This is not a book to be read for fun. Or a book to read for the satiation of hunger. If you decide to step into the world that Michael Ventura is expressing, bring only those questions which live inside you and which you are not only afraid of, but a bit surprised by. There, go, be free. I'm not joking anymore than I'm serious. But this book is outstanding and extremely particular. It ain't the type of book you recommend as good or bad. And I'm not sure what five stars have to do with it either.

'Shadow Dancing' is the sum of its parts: essays confronting a variety of pressing subjects (or thought to be pressing in the 1980's) on American society. Some of the essays are stronger than others, there are a variety of interesting and thought provolking insights, but some of the idea development is spotty. However, on the whole, a worthwhile read: a kind of Celestine Prophesy of the mind at times, at others, a male empowerment how-to manual, but always an interesting and thoughtful book. Ventura is an accomplished essayist

The Hamlet-esque mind of Mike Rose is the hook to Ventura's "The Death of Frank Sinatra". His head whirls in the indecision of what he loves or hates and in some cases what or whom is the object of both extremes. The italicized asides in the first person are probably the strongest portions of the book as Rose's wannabe existentialist is continually crippled by loathing for himself, his past, his connections, and perhaps most of all, for Las Vegas which he believes is his puppet master and submissive lover all at once.

Here is the crux of the novel which centers on a private eye who has bathed with and been raised by mobsters but has remained on the edge of the precipice without ever truly jumping in. It is an intriguing dilemma when his unstable brother unwittingly blabs "too much" in front of a grizzled old Outfit veteran, although as with most of the book what is spoken is half said, a half truth and, well, to be blunt, only half convincing. It's all well and good having the circle of insecurity forever turning in one's head, but surely no group of people are as instantly tuned in as Ventura's characters are. It seems half the time that, whoever it is, they are inexplicably able to read their conversation partner's mind, irrespective of intelligence, age or familiarity. What we get is a series of unfinished statements and knowing glances, which doesn't quite wash.

At first, I thought the insight into Vegas, spearheaded by the persona and rep of Frank Sinatra - a nifty touch - was about as illuminating as a travel guide, but without really being conscious of it, the constant bombardment and repetition of the town's warts and all, became quite intoxicating and ultimately revealing. I was less convinced by the insider knowledge of the mob, which seemed to focus on shock value and sensationalism, in marked contrast to the understatement of the book's overall tone. The little nuances that are so prevalent in Scorsese's films, for example, that help to humanize and rationalize are absent for the most part here.

The plot is convoluted and difficult to grasp with several intertwining threads that don't really mesh. However, in truth, most of the action happens in Rose's head, so that's not as disastrous as it sounds. Still, there seemed to be several loose ends that Ventura was content to let lie, which was a little unsettling.

Overall, I felt it was indulgent and melodramatic, teetering on the edge between dark social commentary about an inately corrupt city, and simply incoherent rambling, but the well expressed sadness and stolid, if misguided defiance of the central character, along with the admitted originality of the style was enough to earn 3 stars. Just.

OK, I picked up "The Death of Frank Sinatra" as an impulse-buy $2.99 hardcover from the "used library books" aisle...so I was pretty much purchasing it by-the-pound...no expectations, other than it was Vegas-fiction and sounded fun.

Now, I feel like I owe somebody. Which is not a good feeling in the hardboiled world Ventura describes so bristlingly.

I have been turned on to a fusion of genres so rich and bountiful, that a full $24.99 pricetag seems only fair. So...if anyone wants to collect the remainder, no pistol-whipping will be necessary.

It's quite simply pulp poetry.

Crackling descriptions of the blood-in-your-urine doings of a Vegas private dick, featuring characters that jump off the page to pin your arms back while kicking your nuts and a geo-real Vegas that resonates with anyone who can "recite" the Strip from the Alladin to the Sahara and whose secret desire is to be buried at the YESCO graveyard.

It's great stuff, and if you've never heard of Michael Ventura, (cause I sure as hell hadn't) you'll soon be saying the same thing I am now..."How the hell is this guy not being read on every Flight 711, instead of Grisham?"

...

Michael Ventura really knows how to tell a story that's more than just plot or characterization, but also SAYS something. I bought this book, read it right through, and then re-read it in bits right away, just for the enjoyment of it. This is as good as it gets.