Some atmospheric photographs by Mrs. Uris, but otherwise a disaster: uninformed, intemperate, chauvinistic, and altogether embarrassing. Not content with Jerusalem, lifts tries his hand at a splashy, impressionistic history of Israel, from Abraham to Teddy Kollek ("the greatest single person to have benefited Jerusalem since the days of the Bible"). But the results are unfortunate. Consider the following pronouncements: "Rameses II became Hitler in the bunker, a raving madman." (Lifts forgets for the moment that he doesn't believe in the literal truth of the Exodus story.) "Mosaic law . . . will never be improved upon." (Treatment of women?) Alexander the Great was "one of the glamor figures of all history." Jesus was "in his rookie year as a rabbi." (Uris the stylist.) "The main body of Jews rejected Mohammed's divinity." (As did the entire body of Muslims.) "Nothing resembling a democracy has existed or ever will exist in the Arab world. . . . The Arab world has contributed almost nothing in the way of advancement for the human race for a thousand years. Work is not an Arab ethic." (Uris as cultural historian.) One can understand Uris's intense partisan feelings for modern Israel, and one can pardon his careless scissors-and-paste approach to ancient Israel; but his mouthings here are just too much.
Pub Date: Oct. 2, 1981
ISBN: 0553249649
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1981
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
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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