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THE DARDEN DILEMMA

TWELVE BLACK WRITERS ON JUSTICE, RACE, AND CONFLICTING LOYALTIES

Another volume inspired by The Case That Would Not End, which only fitfully addresses its subject: the dilemma that African-Americans face when they must use the authority and responsibility they have obtained in a white-dominated system against members of their own race. A few of the pieces are interesting, though nothing here is likely to change anyone's mind. Cose, a Newsweek contributing editor who has written perceptively on race and other social issues (Color-Blind, 1997, etc.), artfully compares Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden and defense counsel Johnny Cochran respectively to Joe Frazier, the black heavyweight champ who was acceptable to whites, and Muhammad Ali, who became a black idol by symbolically outfighting and outwitting white America (before time and success made Ali a white idol, too). Stanley Crouch portrays Darden as a whiner who did a lousy job on what should not have been a difficult case. Former prosecutor Paul Butler reprises his controversial view that black jurors should sometimes ignore the letter of the law, since the system is fatally biased against black defendants. Clarence Page notes that Darden became a ``double outsider, cast out by outcasts,'' when he tried to convict Simpson. Anita Hill thoughtfully and persuasively analyzes the particular dilemmas faced by black women when black men are subjected to the criminal justice system; she focuses on the example of Felicia Moon, who recanted an accusation that her football-star husband, Warren, had assaulted her. The best is saved for last, with Roger Wilkins's eloquent reminder of the historic importance—and possibility—of successful blacks' efforts ``to tell the truth for people who cannot speak for themselves because of the damage that continues to be done to them.'' Unfortunately, most of these essays pay little attention to the book's theme, and several read like annual reports on the state of race relations in America.

Pub Date: March 12, 1997

ISBN: 0-06-095227-X

Page Count: 288

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1997

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NUTCRACKER

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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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

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

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