A first-rate, vivid, verbal diorama of the varied events that formed and reformed California during the convulsive decade before WW II, from the state's librarian and author of Inventing the Dream (1985, etc.). While Starr hits virtually all of the high points of the Golden State's Depression-era history, he's careful to set the stage for his tellingly detailed vignettes. Before addressing the protracted labor strife that culminated in a bitter 1934 strike effectively won by Harry Bridges and his International Longshoremen's Association, the author traces the radical roots of California unions back to the IWW, which was challenging the agricultural establishment before the turn of the century. Likewise, in probing another Left/Right confrontation—a gubernatorial campaign narrowly lost by Upton Sinclair running on the EPIC (End Poverty in California) platform—Starr offers an accessible account of the muckraking writer's views on utopian socialism. While reactionaries and revolutionaries were literally battling for California's sociopolitical soul on the waterfront, in the fields, and at other barricades, many government agencies and voluntary organizations struggled to cope with the influx of refugees from the Dust Bowl and other states where tenant farmers had been displaced by tractors—the cross-country migration documented in art and literature by Dorothea Lange, John Steinbeck, and others. Nor does Starr ignore the public works, which he felicitously observes helped complete California (still a preindustrial venue in the 1930s). Among other marvels of civil engineering in state or out, he focuses on aqueducts (like Hetch Hetchy), bridges (Bay, Golden Gate), canals, dams (Boulder/Hoover), ports, and tunnels. Complete with anecdotal particulars and big-picture perspectives, a stunningly effective chronicle of a vanguard state's coming of age. (25 halftones, not seen)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-510080-8
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1995
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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