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PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Name: PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Author: Noam Chomsky
ISBN: 0006339182

REFLECTIONS ON JUSTICE AND NATIONHOOD

by Noam Chomsky ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 1974

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A small book of essays on the Mideast written from 1969 to 1973 by the political essayist and linguist Noam Chomsky. The best piece ridicules the claim of Zionists such as Irving Howe and Seymour Lipset that Chomsky and "the New Left" advocate the destruction of Israel. The other articles are bland and constricted and sometimes off the mark, as when Chomsky asserts that arrangements between Europe or Japan and the Arab oil producers would threaten U.S.-based multinational capitalists. The book has the merit of showing that the claims of Zionists and Palestinian nationalists to that pathetic patch of land possess equal merit and urgency on their own terms. But "neither view can be adopted by people with any compassion or sense of justice. . . . Supporters of the just claims of each contending party. . . have reinforced the tendencies of each toward self-destructive policies." Chomsky also warns against a consolidation of Israel with the reactionary Arab sector as buffers on behalf of the U.S., and suggests that a so-called independent Palestinian state might be nothing but a South African-style labor reserve for Israel. The book does not investigate how Palestinian terrorism has been manipulated but takes it at face value. And even in Chomsky's long introduction, there is no substantial analysis of the external causes of the 1973 war. The book's virtues are negative — it transcends reflex parti pris, it demolishes narrow logic up to a point. Its affirmative features aren't really far from the spirit of neocolonialist regional development (Chomsky abstractly terms it "binational socialism") which is mooted with contrasting saccharinity by Elon and Hassan in Between Enemies (see below).

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 1974

ISBN: 0006339182

Page Count: 187

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: May 16, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1974

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ON CUBA
by Noam Chomsky & Vijay Prashad

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WITHDRAWAL
by Noam Chomsky & Vijay Prashad

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE GLOBAL GREEN NEW DEAL
by Noam Chomsky & Robert Pollin

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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.