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STORMING THE COURT

Name: STORMING THE COURT
Author: Brandt Goldstein
ISBN: 0-7432-3001-9

HOW A BAND OF LAW STUDENTS SUED THE PRESIDENT--AND WON

by Brandt Goldstein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 20, 2005

A revealing look at the legal system, a compelling human rights story and an inspirational tale of dedicated people who...

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A cadre of dedicated Yalies takes on the U.S. government in the case of Haitian refugees in the early 1990s.

Before Guantánamo Naval Base in Cuba made headlines for its detention of suspected terrorists, it served as temporary home to some 12,000 Haitian refugees fleeing the sadistic military regime that in 1991 ousted newly elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. When a group of Yale law students learned that the Immigration and Naturalization Service was returning nearly all the refugees to Haiti, where they would face persecution—and perhaps even death—the students decided to sue the government. Led by professors Harold H. Koh and Michael Ratner, the students put aside class, work and graduation preparations to pursue the case, conducting all-night research sessions and traveling to interview the detainees. They argued all the way to the Supreme Court, focusing worldwide attention on the plight of some 300 HIV-positive refugees incarcerated in Guantánamo’s squalid detention center. Both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton (who had decried his predecessor’s Haitian policy during the presidential campaign) were content to let the detainees languish indefinitely. Aided by the high-powered firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, who worked pro bono, the students eventually won the Haitians’ release and brought them to the U.S. Journalist Goldstein, himself a Yale Law grad, manages to bring passion and drama to a story that consists primarily of legal filings. It helps that he focuses on the wrenching story of one activist refugee who was forced to leave her family behind in Haiti. The dozen or so students are less clearly drawn, but no less heroic for risking their careers.

A revealing look at the legal system, a compelling human rights story and an inspirational tale of dedicated people who refused to accept the status quo.

Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2005

ISBN: 0-7432-3001-9

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.