The author of God and Man at Yale, co-author of McCarthy and His Enemies and one of the most articulate spokesmen for the Right, attempts here to discredit "doctrinaire Liberalism and plead the viability of enlightened conservatism". In his examination of the economic and political assumptions of Liberalism, much of what the author discusses surrounds the McCarthy phenomena but he claims that he is not weighing the worth of the controversies he describes, merely the behavior of prominent Liberals caught up in them in order to demonstrate liberal intellectual and moral irresponsibility. Who are the Liberals? "Those men and women who tend to believe that social progress is predictable...that truths are transitory and empirically determined...that equality is desirable and attainable through the action of state power..." Some typical Liberal public figures and institutions? Eleanor Roosevelt, James Wechsler, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Adlai Stevenson, the New Republic, St. Louis Post Dispatch, New York Post, most of the N.Y. Times. In dealing with such questions as: the legality of enforced desegregation, the activities of congressional committees, academic freedom, conformity on campus and various ramifications of the Welfare State, Buckley admits that the conservative position has not been adequately demonstrated and he indicts Old Guard Republicanism for its irrelevancy and Modern Republicanism for its pseudo-Liberalism. In the area of the controversial Buckley's intellectual agility and facility for impaling logical fallacy has already been established as provoking and/or provocative.
Pub Date: June 15, 1959
ISBN: 1258011166
Page Count: -
Publisher: Ivan Obolensky
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1959
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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