A short (224-page) series of low-key essays that offer random reflections on America's recent past rather than any systematic appreciation of what's in store for the country. Drawing on his experience as a globe-trotting journalist, Halberstam (Summer of '49, etc.) leaves little doubt that the US is losing a substantive measure of its socioeconomic power and geopolitical influence. Early on, for instance, he cites a contemporary's wry comment: "The Cold War is over; the Japanese won." In surveying the convulsive events in Eastern Europe and harking back to Vietnam, moreover, the author concludes that the threat posed by Communist states in the post-WW II era was more real than imagined; he fears, though, that the resources and emotional capital committed to keeping ideological enemies at bay proved unduly costly. In the meantime, Halberstam observes, Japanese manufacturers have been outhustling their stateside competitors in consumer as well as industrial markets where success now depends on advanced technologies, leaving a free press and freedom of speech as "the last great American export." Among other causes, he attributes the decline in US commerce to psychological factors (notably, a growing sense of entitlement on the part of a spendthrift populace) and a deteriorating educational system. The author also charges that the increasingly ubiquitous medium of TV has fostered a sound-bite culture that trivializes political debate and effectively precludes "thoughtful civility of discourse." But beyond the implicit suggestion that America had best get a grip on itself, Halberstam makes no specific proposals for renewal of the nation's putatively flagging fortunes. State-of-the-union jottings that, while sporadically analytic, afford a less than coherent perspective, owing mainly to their limited focus and oddly enervated tone.
Pub Date: Feb. 20, 1990
ISBN: 0517098822
Page Count: -
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1990
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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