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BREAKING THE WALLS OF SILENCE

Name: BREAKING THE WALLS OF SILENCE
Author: ACE/Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
ISBN: 0-87951-500-7

AIDS AND WOMEN IN A NEW YORK STATE MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON

by ACE/Bedford Hills Correctional Facility ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1998

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A compelling record of how women incarcerated in a maximum-security prison developed a widely applicable model AIDS program. AIDS is the leading cause of death in New York State prisons, and among those entering prison, HIV infection is present in twice as many women as men. The ACE program (ACE stands for AIDS Counseling and Education) was begun by a group of women inmates in Bedford Hills prison, who in 1988 saw the need to reach out to those among them already suffering with AIDS and to educate the entire Bedford Hills population about the disease. They tell their story here. Creating such a program within the restrictions and bureaucracy of a prison was not easy, but aided by a $250,000 grant from the AIDS Institute, which funded an outside community agency to work with the women, the program gradually took shape. ACE developed workshops and seminars, provided counseling, and held memorial services inside Bedford Hills. The original manual was expanded for use by other prisons and then later into its present form, which is both manual (Part II) and history of ACE (Part I). What makes ACE’s story powerful is not the facts of its history, but the voices of the women recounting that story and at the same time telling their own stories. Not all have AIDS, but all are affected by it, and the pain of prison life, even absent AIDS, is made abundantly clear. The manual itself describes the various teaching methods used and, for each of the nine workshops, outlines the goals and curriculum content. Topics include the stigma of AIDS, transmission, testing, treatment, and how it impacts women as caregivers and mothers. The volume includes a preface by Whoopi Goldberg. A valuable handbook for any group, in or outside prison, involved in AIDS education, but even more, a testament to the humanity of a group of dedicated women. (35 b&w illustrations)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-87951-500-7

Page Count: 448

Publisher: Overlook

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998

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.