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EXECUTION EVE

AND OTHER CONTEMPORARY BALLADS

This weighty (that's poundage, not profundity) miscellanea of the comments of WFB, as Buckley signs himself, spans three years of National Review, and Washington Star syndicated columns plus the occasional piece for Esquire or Redbook. Here are Buckley's thoughts on detente ("I, for one, yearn for the days of the Cold War"), the 1972 presidential campaign (the best defense of the Nixon camp was a vicious offense against McGovern), Watergate ("to remove a President is to remove the sovereign"). Buckley also continues his friendly feud with Galbraith and Schlesinger in these pages, initiates a not so friendly libel suit against Gore Vidal, cheers on sister Priscilla for her slap at Ti-Grace Atkinson, ridicules Germaine Greer (who creamed Buckley in an earlier debate) and from time to time jumps on Jack Anderson. His solutions to the Mideast crisis include annexing Israel and raising the tariff on OPEC oil. There's some flapdoodle about "the lash of black nationalism," several polemics on the fights of unborn fetuses and on-going general hostility toward students ("kids")—those pot-smoking, sexually immoral, liberal bigots who supported McGovern. And so on. Mr. Buckley is an arrogant, facile wit and could be considered a very amusing writer indeed if only one could be certain that no one took him seriously.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1975

ISBN: 0399115315

Page Count: 318

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1975

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

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NUTCRACKER

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

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