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COURTROOM 302

Name: COURTROOM 302
Author: Steve Bogira
ISBN: 0-679-43252-3

A YEAR BEHIND THE SCENES IN AN AMERICAN CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE

by Steve Bogira ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 25, 2005

Modern-day muckraking at its best.

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Addictive portrait of an American courtroom.

Chicago Reader staffer Bogira chronicles a year in the titular Courtroom 302 of the Cook County Criminal Courthouse, where Chicago’s felons are tried, convicted and sentenced. He aims to show “how justice miscarries every day, by doing precisely what we ask it to.” The resultant account is eye-opening and bold from the start, beginning with the prologue; there, Bogira portrays a deputy shouting obscenities at prisoners waiting in the courthouse’s holding pen and quotes a lieutenant saying, “We get the dregs of humanity here. If these people moved in next door to you, your lawn would die.” Readers meet a host of defendants, including Larry Bates, a middle-aged, small-level drug criminal, in for violating the terms of probation, and Tony Cameron, arrested for armed robbery. But the strongest portrait here is of Judge Daniel Locallo, who emerges as a hero even though Bogira doesn’t refrain from criticizing him. Locallo is fair, doesn’t suffer fools, genuinely loves what he does each day and seems to dispense justice as best he can from the bench in an imperfect system. The narrative turns on the so-called Bridgeport case, involving three white teenagers charged with brutally beating a 13-year-old black boy. In racially charged Chicago, this case can only be explosive. It has all the elements of a great story: heartstring-pulling parents of the kids on trial; whispers of mob involvement; rumors that a hit has been ordered on Judge Locallo himself. Bogira’s critique focuses on the culture of the courtroom. Judges are awarded for getting as many cases through their courtroom as possible in a given day; defense lawyers have almost no time to spend with their clients; and the defendants, even innocent ones, feel pressured to take plea bargains. Meanwhile, judges are elected, but a system of merit appointment would ensure that they weren’t catering their decisions to voters’ whims.

Modern-day muckraking at its best.

Pub Date: March 25, 2005

ISBN: 0-679-43252-3

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2005

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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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.