A deliciously engaging tale of flower-power.
An exuberant romp through the surprisingly bizarre world of orchid collectors, where decorous matrons swoon over blooms,
bureaucrats act like SWAT teams, and reputable scientists punch customs officers in the face. Hansen's (Motoring with Mohammed, 1991, etc.) skeptical mind makes him the perfect guide to an activity that now generates nine billion dollars annually and rivals the 17th-century Dutch tulip mania in the fanaticism it inspires. During travels in the Far East, while attempting to help rain-forest villagers raise orchids for export, Hansen learned about CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), a Geneva-based environmental agency that, in his opinion, operates more like a group of thugs than an informed consortium of scientists and conservationists. Without any supporting data, they refuse to permit botanists and nurserymen to collect and breed orchids CITES considers endangered. Those who transgress their rules have their homes searched and their possessions, as well as their orchids, confiscated—or they wake to find a posse, armed with machine guns, surrounding their greenhouse. Hansen also introduces us to collectors like octogenarian Eleanor (who calls a provocative orchid of hers "a bodice ripper"), Terry (who has grown more than a million rare orchids and describes orchid breeding as an "illness, an addiction"), and Tom (who braves heat and insects to save wild orchids in northern Minnesota from destruction by road crews). Hansen's research into the trade took him around the world, from Borneo to Copenhagen, and his account of these visits is accompanied by descriptions of different orchids, the history of orchid fever (which began in ancient China), and an analysis of its current popularity. It is estimated that there are today four to five million orchid collectors worldwide.
A deliciously engaging tale of flower-power.Pub Date: March 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-679-45141-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
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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