Dramatic yet well balanced, a biography framed by chapters outlining Grant's earlier and later life while focusing on his major military campaigns and offering perspectives of civilians in charge as well as of generals and the soldiers who carried out their orders. The author is particularly effective in depicting motivations, whether of patriotic ordinary soldiers or scheming generals; he points out that Lee personally abhorred both slavery and secession but felt honor bound to defend his home state, while Lincoln, Grant, and other Union generals insisted that they were fighting only to preserve the Union. Graphically, he portrays the waste and slaughter that destroyed young soldiers' visions of easy victories, and the sufferings of civilians in this first ``total war.'' Moving effortlessly from one viewpoint to another, Marrin considers Grant's mistakes and failures along with his hard-won successes, humanizing his portrait with details of a loving family life and struggles with political and military enemies. An excellent complement to Jim Murphy's The Boy's War (1990). Contemporary illustrations (mostly portraits); source notes; extensive bibliography; index. (Biography. 12+)
Pub Date: April 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-689-31837-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1994
There are—count them—nine genies in this slapstick tale of pride going before a fall, love requited (and unrequited), and don't-count-your-chickens. Genie Khalid, star pupil of master teacher Ishmael, forgets to say (on his trial rub) that none of Haroun's three wishes can be a wish for more wishes. Result: Khalid is doomed to serve Haroun and no one else, while Ishmael is imprisoned by the genie council. But Haroun agrees to free Khalid after beautiful genie Tamar brings princess Nur to Haroun's palace, despite the machinations of evil genie Gamal- -who's jealous of Tamar's love for Khalid—and the interference of the entire council of five. (It also takes the help of talking cat Boabdil, who ends up with three wishes apiece from six genies.) Aye, there's the rub... Each entry in the ``Dragonflight'' series (this is the eighth) deals with a major fantasy theme. Is the one here goofy humor, or tales of the Djiin? Either way, it's a smoothly written tale, and SF great Kelly Freas's drawings are as apt and appealing as they were 30 years ago. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1993
ISBN: 0-689-31574-0
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
A look at the science behind science fiction, at least as it relates to space travel: the historical musings of Rostand and Jules Verne; Goddard's early experiments; the Apollo moon flight; early nuclear rocket experiments; and some far-out (but theoretically possible) mechanisms—Bussard ramjets, antimatter, and the use of tachyons (faster-than-light particles that may be the result only of fevered mathematical imagination). The author points out that the best that's been done with our rockets' thunderous noise and flame is little better than 70% of the velocity required to escape Earth's gravity, so space travel is hardly in hand. The style is breezy and informal, even when Herbst is describing complex ideas, making the book accessible even to casual readers. There are some glitches: a spaceship traveling at 15% of the speed of light would take more than 40 years—not 36—to go six light-years; a falling object falls 16 feet in the first second and 48 feet in the next, not 32 and 64 feet. And Herbst doesn't explain how, if we can't achieve escape velocity, the Voyager probes actually journeyed beyond the solar system (by using the gravity of the sun or another planet to increase their velocity.) Still: useful information, entertainingly presented. Bibliography; photos, diagrams, & index not seen. (Nonfiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1993
ISBN: 0-689-31523-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
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