bookshelf

CORPORATE POWER IN AMERICA

Name: CORPORATE POWER IN AMERICA
Author: Ralph Nader
ISBN: 014004566X

edited by Ralph Nader & Mark J. Green ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1972

bookshelf

Many years ago H. G. Wells wrote "It is not creative minds that produce revolutions, but the obstinate conservation of established authority," a sentiment that can serve as the text for this proficient if rather stereotyped critique of contemporary American corporate power. The contributors — all participants in a Nader-sponsored colloquium on big business accountability held late last year — want the corporation to become more socially responsible, not out of starry-eyed rapture with the boardroom and the fatcats who run it but because they are pragmatic welfare capitalists who seek to reform rather than revolutionize our economic subsystems. Robert Dahl leads off the proceedings with a call for more competition, more public control, less bigness; John Kenneth Galbraith plumps (once again) for transforming large private corporations into public enterprises; Senator Fred Harris proposes breaking up the monopolies; Mark Green issues a plea for a new corporate moral standard in which the companies "realize their special obligations as dominant citizens"; John J. Flynn looks toward a "corporate democracy"; Willard Mueller discusses the need for public disclosure; Andrew Hacker believes that it will take another serious depression before corporate accountability can be implemented. Not at all a muckraking collection (cf. Nader above), this lacks the intensity of recent similar works like Heilbroner's In the Name of Corporate Profit (p. 235) and the proposed remedies are either stale or too soulful for the soulless.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1972

ISBN: 014004566X

Page Count: 309

Publisher: Grossman

Review Posted Online: May 22, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1972

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.