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EMINENT CHURCHILLIANS

Name: EMINENT CHURCHILLIANS
Author: Andrew Roberts
ISBN: 0-684-80403-4

by Andrew Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1995

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In a wearyingly carping exercise in Lytton Stracheylike iconoclasm, British freelance journalist Roberts (The Holy Fox, 1991, not reviewed) exposes the heroes of the period of Britain's imperial decline as grandiloquent fools and knaves, appeasers and apologists for various forms of authoritarianism, and purblind racists. In the summer of 1940, when Winston Churchillpreviously regarded as a political failureassumed leadership, parliamentary Conservatives continued to distrust him. The extent of their distrust, and the lengths to which Churchill had to go to propitiate those who regarded him as unfit to lead the nation, tend to be widely forgotten today. Roberts delights in showing Churchill's feet of clay, from his often sensitive relationships with pro-Chamberlain Conservatives to his embarrassingly overt racism (a fault, after all, that he shared with many contemporaries who, like him, were ardent British imperialists). In addition, Roberts assembles a small rogues' gallery of contemporary figures who in his view presided over Britain's decline with incompetence, indifference, and outright villainy. Among these are Lord Mountbatten, who emerges as a posturing, egocentric humbug whose love of swift and adventurous action, first as a commander in WW II and then as Britain's last viceroy of India, resulted in thousands of unnecessary deaths; the Nazi apologist and anti-Semite Sir Arthur Bryant; and Walter Monckton, the minister of labour whose industrial policies left Britain in thrall to rapacious trade unions. Even King George VI is characterized as an unimaginative and hidebound appeaser. In his thoroughgoing revisionism, Roberts makes some arresting historical arguments (he contends that Mountbatten's socialist views and proCongress Party stance resulted in a tragically mishandled transition of power during the 1948 birth of India and Pakistan). But too often, Roberts's text reads like a mean-spirited attack on the personal foibles of some dead men; it does nothing to diminish the stature of Britain's magnificent Last Lion. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen)

Pub Date: July 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-684-80403-4

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
CONFLICT
by David Petraeus & Andrew Roberts

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LAST KING OF AMERICA
by Andrew Roberts

- BOOK REVIEW
LEADERSHIP IN WAR
by Andrew Roberts

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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.