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ISRAEL AT FIFTY

Name: ISRAEL AT FIFTY
Author: Moshe Raviv
ISBN: 0-297-81851-1

FIVE DECADES OF STRUGGLE FOR PEACE

by Moshe Raviv ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1999

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An informative if also dry history of Israeli diplomacy from the state’s founding through early 1998, combined with elements of a memoir. Raviv, a senior Israeli diplomat for over 40 years (he was political secretary to then Foreign Minister Abba Eban during and after the Six Day War and ambassador to Great Britain for much of the 1990s), states at the outset that his is “not a scholarly account,” but rather “a record of close observation and personal analysis.” At times his writing is overly cursory; only about 70 pages are devoted to the 14 particularly tumultuous years between the Lebanon War and the election of Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996. Raviv is best in focusing on the details of diplomatic initiatives and contretemps around Israel’s five major wars (1948—48, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982). Yet while his book is solidly workmanlike, it lacks the kind of vivid background information and colorful anecdotes found in such books as those by Eban himself, or in Uri Savir’s recent account of the negotiations leading to the 1993 lsrae-PLO Oslo accord. An exception is aspects of the British-Israeli relationship, many of whose major players Raviv came to know well from his many years of service in London. This work also is marred by some sloppy editing, though some instances may be due to the volume’s British provenance; for example, the late Republican New York senator Jacob Javits is strangely referred to, in a transliteration from the Hebrew, as Yacov Yavetz. Raviv covers all the major bases, so that readers unfamiliar with Israel’s immensely complex foreign policy history will learn a great deal—but they probably will not have as interesting or memorable an experience as that provided by a number of other Israeli historians and memoirists.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-297-81851-1

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Trafalgar

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1998

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.