I can't say I disagree with BFSON's review, I suspected that there was much
dilettantish in Deutschman's approach but I lack the knowledge of the people
and events depicted to make a written and potentially libelous judgment.
Besides this board my reviews appear on the Parker-Squires BB as well as
that of Robin Garr as well as off-line in the Baltimore Chronicle,
Woodlawn(MD) Villager and the Matrix a literary mag published in New
Zealand.

Since I liked Conway's Napa I'll have to get the Far Side of Eden book.

--
Joe "Beppe" Rosenberg
"BFSON" > wrote in message
...
> For a less flattering view of the book, here is my review from the April
2003
> California Grapevine wine newsletter:
>
> "A Tale of Two Valleys, Alan Deutschman, Broadway Books (A division of
Random
> House), New York, 2003, 174 pages, softback, $25. This must be the year
for
> spending time in a wine growing area and then writing about the political
and
> social movements within the communities. Earlier this year we had James
> Conway's insightful book The Far Side of Eden (reviewed in Vol X, Issue
x-Nick
> please add the correct cite). Alan Deutschman tries this same approach
but
> stumbles badly. The author made several very wealthy friends in Silicon
Valley
> who let him spend time in their weekend retreats in both Napa and Sonoma
> Valleys. While Conway seemed to have a depth of insight, Deutschman seems
to
> have been swept away by geographic stereotypes. In his work, the Napa
Valley
> has been lost to dot-commers intent on building mansions horribly out of
place.
> Sonoma continues to struggle against the onslaught but may be losing. If
only
> the world was this simple.
> Again and again I found the author accepting at face value comments made
to
> him by locals. For example he declares that the Farmer's Market in Sonoma
is
> held on Wednesday nights so as to exclude the weekenders from San
Francisco and
> Silicon Valley. (Nick Pg 31) Oh? The farmers and agriculture people I've
> spoken to in Sonoma tell me it is held on Wednesdays so that they could
have
> the weekend off and then have time to harvest before the event. I also
found
> the author amazingly unaware of the realities of the world. For example,
the
> author describes going to the Sonoma County Fair and watching the members
of
> the Future Farmers of America showing the lambs they have raised. The
author
> is shocked when he learns the winners will not go back to the farms as
pets but
> will be sold off and slaughtered for food. (Nick pages 145-147.)
Deutschman
> describes the sale of the animal as a Faustian bargain (Pg 147) of trading
a
> pet for money. Pet? Pet? I find it hard to believe that even one raised in
the
> sterile innards of a big city would not have gleaned that farmers raise
animals
> for slaughter not as pets. The idea that what was going on at the fair
was
> unusual or sinister leaves me shaking my head in disbelief.
> This is the problem I had with the book. As someone raised north of the
Golden
> Gate bridge much of the book seemed to describe an image not reality.
Time and
> again the author makes judgments and evaluations I found shallow,
superficial
> and odd. This book may appeal to those who have stereotyped images of the
> citizens of Napa and Sonoma (perhaps the East Coast media types) but I
found it
> lacked the depth or sophisticated analysis of Conaway's book. Not
recommended."