An in-depth study that will suit detail-oriented gardeners and natural history buffs.
Australian historian Keogh explores how a humble box made of wood and glass changed the course of world history.
In 1829, British surgeon and amateur naturalist Nathaniel Ward designed a case in which living plants could be kept alive for months at a time with little or no human intervention while being transported from one continent to another. Over the next century, thousands of these boxes were crafted and sent back and forth across the ocean many times, carrying plants for agricultural purposes, scientific study, and personal enjoyment. Technologically, what came to be known as the Wardian case—though Ward never took out a patent or received any reimbursement for the invention, to his disgruntlement—was seemingly unremarkable. A wooden bottom held soil in which plants could be grown, and glass windows allowed in sunlight, prevented water loss through evaporation, and kept seawater from entering what was basically a terrarium. In this well-balanced, thoughtful account, Keogh investigates both the positive and negative impacts of the cases, which contributed to science and food production but also allowed for the spread of many invasive species, including not just the desired plants themselves, but species that hitched rides in the boxes. Ample illustrations, including some in color, add visual appeal to the book. Though some may find it overly scholarly and wonder whether what is essentially a well-designed packing box deserves quite so many pages of study, the author carefully teases out the connections between this innovation and its multiple consequences. Along the way, he introduces some colorful characters, not least the debonair homebody Ward himself, with his “pleasant and caring disposition” and knack for networking and self-promotion. Endnotes reveal the careful lengths to which Keogh has gone in his investigation and suggest many possible books for further information about the subjects he covers.
An in-depth study that will suit detail-oriented gardeners and natural history buffs. (color photos)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-226-71361-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Univ. of Chicago
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
An old-school Hollywood tell-all with all the trimmings, traumas, and bold-face names.
A great American character claims her double legacy of genius and addiction.
Calling herself “the original nepo-baby,” the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli offers a raw and revealing look at a life shaped by fame and personal struggle. At the heart of Minnelli’s story is her fraught relationship with her volatile mother. While stressing that “our love was what mattered,” life with Judy was no picnic. The night before her fifth birthday, she accidentally kicked her mother in the head while watching TV, permanently scarred by lesson that “if Mama got angry, she was the most terrifying person in my life.” Garland’s addictions made her unstable and unreliable, forcing her daughter to take on adult responsibilities at a very young age. A veteran performer by the time she was in double digits, she won the first star in her EGOT crown (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards) at age 19 for her role in the musical Flora the Red Menace. This was also her first work with John Kander and Fred Ebb, musical collaborators in her most iconic successes: Cabaret, Liza With a “Z,” and New York, New York. Minnelli describes taking her first Valium in 1969 at the time of her mother’s death from an overdose, unwittingly assuming the mantle of addictions that would mar her public and private life for decades. In and out of the Betty Ford Center, she finally achieved sobriety in 2015, on the eve of her 70th birthday. As the title suggests, she has great stories, and, with the help of her dear friend Feinstein and co-writers Getlin and Evans, she leaves out none of the juice. From her torrid, cocaine-fueled romance with Martin Scorsese (both were married at the time, and she cheated on both husband and lover with Mikhail Baryshnikov) to her falling-out with Lady Gaga at the Oscars in 2022, she spares neither herself nor anyone else and, in the process, reclaims her once very tattered dignity in a moving and remarkable way.
An old-school Hollywood tell-all with all the trimmings, traumas, and bold-face names.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9781538773666
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
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