December 6–13, 2001

book quicks|nonfiction

When Falls the Coliseum: A Journal of American Culture (or Lack Thereof)

Scott Stein and C.P. Kaiser, editors
Free Reign Press, 304 pp., $15.95

When Falls the Coliseum is a collection of super-short fiction and nonfiction writings related to national culture and drawn from the nearly three-year-old website of the same name (www.wfthecoliseum.com). The intent of editors Scott Stein and C.P. Kaiser was noble: to provide a forum for political/personal/pop-cultural issues, to spotlight several Philadelphia-area authors, and to include reader responses, tacked on to the end of articles, to lend the website’s interactive quality to the book. But the proposed "conversation about America" feels like a less-than-democratic dialogue among a few. Stein, who also runs the website and the press that published the book, wrote a significant fraction (35) of the book’s 124 pieces, Kaiser weighs in with 18, and both contribute several "reader" responses. Some of the duo’s particularly glaring excesses, such as a question mark-shaped "spatial love poem" by Stein and a softcore short story by Kaiser, are redeemed by Cassendre Xavier’s snappy essays, Jason Stein’s profile of his life as "The Temp" and Ari McKee’s psychoanalysis of the modern renaissance man in "We Are Too a Men’s Magazine." The "recipes" by various authors are also addictive and include instructions for concocting the perfect liberal, surviving Thanksgiving with the family and getting to work by public transportation. Other pieces seem dated, such as critiques of Eyes Wide Shut and cell phones. The book itself suffers from a case of unlucky timing; these writers could have surely let loose on bin Laden (and in fact have: check the website for the current commentary). Despite the shortcomings, When Falls the Coliseum has its insightful, laugh-out-loud moments and is ultimately a welcome reminder that in America many voices want to and can be heard, though certain voices shout louder than others.

—Karen Gross