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FREE SPEECH FOR ME BUT NOT FOR THEE

HOW THE AMERICAN LEFT AND RIGHT RELENTLESSLY CENSOR EACH OTHER

In a sometimes confused, sometimes admirable polemic, Hentoff (John Cardinal O'Connor, 1988, etc.) argues against restraints on free expression in a wide variety of contemporary contexts. Hentoff does not limit his discussion to legal cases arising under the First Amendment, which prohibits only government interference with free expression. Instead, he tries broadly to illustrate "Americans' unbounded hypocrisy concerning free speech." Thus, he sees, and deplores, censorship whenever an individual or private organization dislikes speech enough to express a desire for its suppression. For instance, Hentoff finds insidious censorship in an incident in which parents disliked a book (Huckleberry Finn) enough to try to remove it from a high-school reading list, and in another case in which a high school sought to compel a student to read an assigned book that the student found offensive. One might argue that the first case raises a literary question rather than a free-speech issue, and that the second case does not involve suppression of speech but, rather, the right of a school to set its own curriculum. Also, Hentoff sometimes fails to acknowledge that freedom of speech can include the right to express a desire to suppress others' free speech (e.g., he condemns the movement to boycott orange juice for the purpose of expressing opposition to Anita Bryant's antihomosexual campaign as being "in contempt of [her] right of free expression"). Nonetheless, Hentoff identifies many genuine threats to free expression—e.g., the use of federal lawsuits to stop demonstrations, and a broad "antipornography" statute that would allow people to enjoin the display of works of art or literature they found offensive—and he nicely points out, through many examples, that the desire to suppress free speech is universal and without political affiliation. Hentoff's sentiments are laudable, and he astutely analyzes the hypocrisy of the left and the right about free-speech issues. Nonetheless, those seeking a clear and consistent analysis of the meaning of free speech will be disappointed.

Pub Date: Oct. 21, 1992

ISBN: 0-06-019006-X

Page Count: 416

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992

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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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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

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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