An objective, well-researched historical backdrop to the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, by a Washington-based reporter. Perry (Eclipse: The Last Days of the CIA, 1992, etc.) offers insights into the events that led up to the dramatic accord signed on the White House lawn. In the wake of the Six-Day War in 1967, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank became ``occupied Palestinians'' and, the author implies, the world's favorite victims. In the initial chapter of this solid account, the reader is taken inside Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp, ``a hotbed of radicalism, the flagship of the Palestinian revolution and a symbol of resistance to the Israeli occupation.'' Both the Israelis and the Palestinians subsequently made a number of strategic errors that, ironically, made the pursuit of peace almost inevitable. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, of Israel's Likud party, aroused the ire of the Bush administration with his intransigence, helping to assure Labor's victory in 1992. Labor Prime Minister Rabin's expulsion of hundreds of Islamic fundamentalists inadvertently drove the PLO and the extremist Hamas closer together. On the other side of the table, Arafat's poor judgment in backing Iraq during the Persian Gulf War cost the PLO millions of dollars in aid, making it desperate to grasp any deal. In addition, writes Perry, ``by choosing not to fight against Iraq, Israel implicitly made itself an ally of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and even Syria. The Gulf War made Israel a part of the Middle East as no other event had in its forty-year history.'' All these factors (and many more), coupled with the fall of the Soviet Union, are noted by Perry as crucial in pushing Israel and its neighbors to the peace table. The ideas are not original but are neatly collected and discussed here. An engrossing look behind one of the decade's most dramatic moments.
Pub Date: June 20, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-12171-3
Page Count: 356
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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