Michael Davis (1) (1952–)
Auteur van Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street
Voor andere auteurs genaamd Michael Davis, zie de verduidelijkingspagina.
Over de Auteur
Michael Davis has worked for the Baltimore Sun and Chicago Sun-Times. From 1998 - 2007, he was the senior editor and family TV columnist for TV Guide. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street is his first book. (Bowker Author Biography)
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Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Geboortedatum
- 1952-04-22
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Opleiding
- Northwestern University (MA|Journalism)
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (BA|Psychology) - Beroepen
- journalist
Head Start teacher - Korte biografie
- [from author's website]
Michael Davis has held an array of top leadership and creative positions at digital news sites, magazines, newspapers and broadcasting outlets. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University during the 1986-87 academic year. Later he wrote the New York Times non-fiction best seller Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street and is a co-executive producer of the feature-length documentary film adapted from the book.
He received his undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master's in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, where he later taught as an adjunct professor. He describes himself as a storyteller who helps others become better storytellers.
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Street gang : the complete history of Sesame Street door Michael Davis
Interesting history, if not a little dry in the beginning.
Like many in my generation, I grew up with Sesame Street. It was an integral part of my childhood, so as an adult I was thrilled to find a book about the show's conception and history. I found this book absolutely fascinating. The sheer vision behind the show was astounding, as was the dedication of all involved. I actually teared up when Davis was writing about Jim Henson's funeral. Davis did a fantastic job detailing Sesame Street's predecessors, its creation, and it's evolution over the years.… (meer)
First things first, I will echo a sentiment from another person's review and say that before embarking on this book, decide what kind of Sesame Street fan you are. If you want to go back for a look at favorite characters, scenes, performers, puppeteers, and even a little bit into the psychology behind the show, turn to Sesame Street Unpaved. Seriously. This one will bore you to death. And there's nothing wrong with that--I totally get the neutral to negative reviews I've read so far concerning this book. But if you need to know more, more, more, and are interested in every possible thing that might surround Sesame Street and its origins, and are OK with the fact that it takes half the book for the show to even air, then this book is pretty cool.
Like most of my peers, I grew up on Sesame Street. And like many things in my young life, I had completely taken it and all other things educational for granted...I mean, c'mon. People have to PLAN this stuff? Don't teachers just tell you stuff and you just learn it? I think my first true revelation about education came late in high school when I came across Sesame Street Unpaved, which actually discussed the theory behind the show. This concept inspired a new sense of awe in me--the realization that I was part of the target audience for deeply considered formulas designed specifically to make me a more well-rounded human being, academically and psychologically. Sure learning prepositions and how to count in Spanish and that crayons don't grow on trees was one thing, but wasn't it just entertainment? My appreciation for the show on this level has continued to grow since.
I loved this book for the history of television, of which I had no perspective (I was born in the 80s...the world WAS television), and for the history of children's television (I was born in the 80s...children's television WAS Sesame Street). I loved learning about the years of research involved leading up to the first season. I loved its discussion of Sesame Street's development out of all things cultural, political, and commercial of the 1950s and 60s. I even loved the somewhat overkill of giving a biography on every person who so much as sneezed on the show. I loved learning about government funding and business. I loved learning how the focus of the show has swayed over the decades and the motives behind such decisions. I love that I have another reason to dislike Barney, have a growing distrust of Disney, and that I grew up on a Sesame Street that designed its curriculum around education and not how-can-we-make-this-as-PC-as-possible and will-this-character-make-us-lots-of-money (not that I entirely blame them...the money's gotta come from somewhere) (also, make your own conclusions about how this might reflect our current education situation) (also--holy cow--almost all the founding fathers of the show died in about a 10-year period between the late 80s and the late 90s...talk about upheaval). And finally, I love Jim Henson (still).
This book has been meticulously researched. You could just skim to the parts that matter to you, but good luck. The chapters don't have titles, and there's so much information, it's hard to separate what's crucial and what isn't. Davis' delivery is enthusiastic, but seems somewhat fair most of the time in talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the show as well as of those involved (the only time I really strayed was on Cooney's somewhat hypocritical attitude towards the feminist complaints early on concerning the lack and limited range of female characters on the show). Also note that Davis is over-the-top at times...in fact, some phrases sound straight out of TV Land they're so corny. There are lots of "little did he know" moments. If you are truly interested in the content and can get over some of the stylistic setbacks, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you.… (meer)
Like most of my peers, I grew up on Sesame Street. And like many things in my young life, I had completely taken it and all other things educational for granted...I mean, c'mon. People have to PLAN this stuff? Don't teachers just tell you stuff and you just learn it? I think my first true revelation about education came late in high school when I came across Sesame Street Unpaved, which actually discussed the theory behind the show. This concept inspired a new sense of awe in me--the realization that I was part of the target audience for deeply considered formulas designed specifically to make me a more well-rounded human being, academically and psychologically. Sure learning prepositions and how to count in Spanish and that crayons don't grow on trees was one thing, but wasn't it just entertainment? My appreciation for the show on this level has continued to grow since.
I loved this book for the history of television, of which I had no perspective (I was born in the 80s...the world WAS television), and for the history of children's television (I was born in the 80s...children's television WAS Sesame Street). I loved learning about the years of research involved leading up to the first season. I loved its discussion of Sesame Street's development out of all things cultural, political, and commercial of the 1950s and 60s. I even loved the somewhat overkill of giving a biography on every person who so much as sneezed on the show. I loved learning about government funding and business. I loved learning how the focus of the show has swayed over the decades and the motives behind such decisions. I love that I have another reason to dislike Barney, have a growing distrust of Disney, and that I grew up on a Sesame Street that designed its curriculum around education and not how-can-we-make-this-as-PC-as-possible and will-this-character-make-us-lots-of-money (not that I entirely blame them...the money's gotta come from somewhere) (also, make your own conclusions about how this might reflect our current education situation) (also--holy cow--almost all the founding fathers of the show died in about a 10-year period between the late 80s and the late 90s...talk about upheaval). And finally, I love Jim Henson (still).
This book has been meticulously researched. You could just skim to the parts that matter to you, but good luck. The chapters don't have titles, and there's so much information, it's hard to separate what's crucial and what isn't. Davis' delivery is enthusiastic, but seems somewhat fair most of the time in talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the show as well as of those involved (the only time I really strayed was on Cooney's somewhat hypocritical attitude towards the feminist complaints early on concerning the lack and limited range of female characters on the show). Also note that Davis is over-the-top at times...in fact, some phrases sound straight out of TV Land they're so corny. There are lots of "little did he know" moments. If you are truly interested in the content and can get over some of the stylistic setbacks, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you.… (meer)
This is the first book I am listing as dropped here on GR. While the premise of the book sounds interesting, the book is very slow in terms of its pacing. There is a lot of biography, as expected, but it is not exactly engaging reading. After one too many passages of so-and-so met what's-his-face for dinner/lunch to bounce ideas, I just got tired of the book.
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- 713
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- #35,570
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- 3.5
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- 44
- ISBNs
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