Fat Man on the Left by Lionel Rolfe

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04/10/2010

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In 16 essays about American culture and politics, Lionel Rolfe, a scion of the world-renowned musical Menuhin family and author of “Fat Man on the ... (More) In 16 essays about American culture and politics, Lionel Rolfe, a scion of the world-renowned musical Menuhin family and author of “Fat Man on the Left: Four Decades in the Underground,” mixes it up with royalty, revolutionaries, murderers, celebrities and visionaries, in a journey that juxtaposes his uncle, classical music violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and Frank Zappa.

In four decades, Rolfe roamed the underground, writing extensively on his own unique and endearing vision of things. He wrote for everyone from the “Los Angeles Free Press” to the “Los Angeles Times,” the “San Francisco Chronicle” and was even an editor at “Psychology Today.” He was often syndicated and anthologized in important books such as “Unknown California” (Macmillan) and “On Bohemia: The Code of the Self-Exiled” (Transaction).

An author of the classic “Literary L.A.” (Chronicle Books), his literary musings are wide-ranging, including even his godmother, Willa Cather. But he also writes about politicians, journalists, rabbis, musicians as well as Hollywood celebrities.

Collectively his tales rip the masks off the politics, culture and society of the last four decades of the 20th centuries. His political coverages ranges from Abba Eban, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon to Jim Garrison and Robert Kennedy. Rolfe has developed a personal and compelling vision of things, full of larger-than-life citizens, doing, fighting, screwing, oppressing, liberating and just being. You will meet some strangely shadowy figures in this book, but also some beautiful visionaries. And it all adds up to blinding revelations about our times.
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