A 19th-century unsolved murder is probed in an analysis that makes a good run at being both solidly academic and convincingly mysterious but comes up wanting on both counts. In July 1841, only days after she disappeared, Mary Rogers, known as the ``Beautiful Cigar Girl'' for her work in a tobacconist's shop, was found floating in the Hudson River. Rogers's deathvariously attributed to strangulation (by the Hoboken coroner), drowning (by the New York City coroner), and an unsuccessful abortion (in a witness's deathbed confession)captured public imagination and provided raw material for dramatic renditions ranging from accounts in the penny press to openly fictionalized versions, including Edgar Allen Poe's ``The Mystery of Marie Rogàt.'' Srebnick (History/Montclair State Univ.), who uses the death to explore ``the historical place of women in . . . [that period's] economic and social transformations,'' is particularly interested in how sensational 19th-century accounts portrayed Rogers as either a chaste victim of urban toughs or, conversely, the very embodiment of danger (as an unmarried, sexually active woman). Not unlike the texts she critiques, Srebnick makes Rogers into the person she wants her to be: a member of the historically significant Mather family and a woman whose identity is ``emblematic'' of some important social changes. Where Srebnick might lose casual readers is when she detours into background that isn't always delivered with the intensity of the murder case. She might irk other readers in making questionable conjectural leaps and in not reconciling some details, as when she says that there was little violent death in New York City but also that it was ``not unusual'' for corpses to be found in local waters. Also, Srebnick uses her facts selectively, ignoring some that don't contribute to her greater purpose. A reminder that the past is unknowable and that history is whatever historians say it is.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-506237-X
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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