Perceptive reprise of what strong-willed Margaret Thatcher did and did not accomplish during her 11-year tenure as Great Britain's first woman prime minister. Before assessing how the Iron Lady fared in office, Dellheim (History/Arizona State Univ.) offers an informative briefing on the sociopolitical forces that sapped the UK's economic strength and helped shape the future PM after WW II. Influenced by her roots (Lincolnshire), class (lower-middle), religion (Methodism), gender, and upbringing as the favorite daughter of a self-reliant tradesman, Thatcher became what the author calls ``a conviction politician, a righteous leader who loathed compromise.'' Having snatched control of the Conservative Party from enervated Tory aristocrats, she led it to victory against Labour at age 54 in the general election of 1979. Once in power, the new premier moved at flank speed to replace Britain's welfare state with what she perceived as the blessings of an enterprise culture. As an awesomely self-assured head of government, Thatcher unleashed a convulsive counterrevolution that wrested control of the national agenda from entrenched guardians of the progressive consensus. With a solid majority in Parliament, she oversaw the privatization of state-owned industrial concerns, brought fractious trade unions to book, made business a respectable profession, and otherwise pushed Britain to make its own way; in the process, however, her abrasive, obdurate style antagonized small but important constituencies, in particular the Oxbridge-educated intelligentsia (a.k.a. the chattering classes). Ironically, it was fellow conservatives, not socialist diehards, who ousted Thatcher in hopes of fostering a kinder, gentler version of her Darwinian faith in capitalism and sovereignty. A savvy scholar's vivid and informative account of a consequential figure who indeed made a difference in an island nation ripe for change.
Pub Date: July 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-393-03812-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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