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DID YOU EVER SEE A DREAM WALKING?

Name: DID YOU EVER SEE A DREAM WALKING?
Author: William F. Buckley Jr.
ISBN: 0672512408

AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE THOUGHT IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

edited by William F. Buckley Jr. ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1970

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To remedy a glaring neglect in their American Heritage Series, general editors Leonard Levy and Alfred Young gave the inimitable Buckley a loose rein to gather together his version of the best of twentieth century American conservative thought. Buckley's introduction, sober, cogent, of a pungency well below the Vidal debate heights, centers around the experiences of National Review and "their bearing, by the processes of exclusion, on a workable definition of contemporary conservatism." (The featured excludees: Avn Rand, Dr. Murray Rothbard and "his merry anarchists," Robert Welch and fellow Birchers, and dedicated atheists.) With a deliberate bias for the most current thinkers and an eclectic sensibility for attitudes and tones which are quintessentially conservative, Buckley "corrals into a single volume" diverse contributions by conservatives arch and archetypal on the historical and intellectual bases of American conservative thought, the limitations of the state, contemporary challenges to the social order, social science and the nature of progress, and the spiritual crises of Western culture and of conservatives resisting the twentieth century. Pieces range from the broadly analytical (like Gary Wills' "The Convenient State") to the issue-oriented (e.g., Ernest van den Haag's "Race: Claims, Rights and Prospects") to the poetical-devotional (Frederick D. Wilhelmsen's "Christmas in Christendom"). Buckley's selections and section prefaces reflect his individual dream talking, an asset insofar as this frames the parts into a cohesive (though pluralistic) personal vision, but a liability in a collection for a series intended to be standard and authoritative.

Pub Date: March 1, 1970

ISBN: 0672512408

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill

Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1970

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
FLYING HIGH
by William F. Buckley Jr.

- BOOK REVIEW
THE RAKE
by William F. Buckley Jr.

- BOOK REVIEW
LAST CALL FOR BLACKFORD OAKES
by William F. Buckley Jr.

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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.