Rare Birds

Family memoirs always run the risk of careening between the sentimental and the sensational, but this heartfelt, warmly intelligent kaleidoscope of intimate portraits never glosses over the rough edges while casting an illuminating glow on hard times and intriguing personalities. In this collection of 15 interrelated essays about members of the extended Bessie/Burnett clan, the author portrays his relativesDboth famous and notDas striking examples of American individualism, ingenuity and integrity. Some of themDincluding advertising genius Leo Burnett and publisher Michael BessieDhave garnered mainstream praise for their work, while others have become heroes in the political and social counterculture: Alvha Bessie (the author's father) was one of the Hollywood Ten, while Harry Burnett and Foreman Brown founded the famous Yale Puppeteers and Turnabout Theater. The latter also wrote Better Angle, a pro-gay novel, in 1933. Meanwhile, Wes Wilson (husband of Bessie's half-sister Eva) invented the acid-art-nouvelle posters that defined the drug and youth cultures of the 1960s. At the center of this memoir is the portrait of the author's mother, Mary, a woman of intense devotion, intelligence and varied talents who lived her life for her family and children and never gained the recognition granted to many in her extended family. To Bessie's credit, he never sermonizes about his relatives or their lives but simply presents them as complex human beings. His reflections will especially appeal to historians of progressive political movements, gay history and contemporary social history. (Nov. 17)