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GIAP

Name: GIAP
Author: Peter MacDonald
ISBN: 0-393-03401-1

THE VICTOR IN VIETNAM

by Peter MacDonald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 11, 1993

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A perceptive briefing on the remarkable career of Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnam's ranking soldier-statesman and, arguably, one of military history's greatest captains; by a British brigadier who gained direct access to his subject. Drawing on interviews with Giap, comrades in arms, adversaries, and such archival sources as exist in Vietnam, Macdonald offers a balanced, tellingly detailed rundown on how his protagonist played the leading role in an impoverished, industrially backward nation's defeat of two Western powers by force of arms. An activist member of the Communist Party long before he became (at Ho Chi Minh's behest) a world-class warrior, Giap (now 81) can look back on some signal accomplishments as commander of his country's guerrilla, militia, and regular forces over a 30-year span. Having conducted effective insurgencies during the late 1940's, for example, he routed the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Subsequently, Giap organized grass-roots resistance in South Vietnam, created resilient supply-lines, and masterminded campaigns that made continuation of America's Indochinese commitments politically untenable after the Tet offensive of 1968. In his evenhanded narrative (which doubles as a chronicle of war in Vietnam from the pre-WW II colonial era through 1975), Macdonald does not shy from assessing Giap's shortcomings. He faults Giap, for example, for his willingness to sustain severe casualties and for involvement in Politburo pogroms. Nor does Macdonald fully understand how a man of Giap's intellect could have clung to Marxism's discredited dogmas ``like a medieval Christian who dreaded the frightful consequences of uttering the slightest heresy....'' But Macdonald gives Giap full marks for strategic vision, geopolitical savvy, tactical finesse, and grasp of logistics (more an art than a science in a land where all resources, save manpower, were thin on the ground). As authoritative an account of Giap and his considerable achievements as is likely to be available any time soon. (Photographs and maps—not seen.)

Pub Date: Jan. 11, 1993

ISBN: 0-393-03401-1

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LAST WARRIOR
by Peter MacDonald with Ted Schwarz

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LAST WARRIOR
by Peter MacDonald with Ted Schwarz

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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.