As a historian Professor Schlesinger has sired some significant scholarship; as a father he's also sired one of President Kennedy's hot-shot Special Assistants; nevertheless, his In Retrospect is about as invigorating as a Class Report. "This memoir", says the professor, overstating the case considerably, "attests one man's reactions to the times, though as a teacher and writer of American history I was mainly an observer of great events, seldom an actor in them"....Yes indeed. The times range from a midwestern town of the horse and buggy days to various academic engagements at Ohio State, Columbia, Iowa State, Harvard; the events cover random reflections on the New Deal, the World Wars, schoolbook censorship and academic freedom the ADA and McCarthyism, early socio-economic movements and a series of shifts in historical studies. It's all pleasantly donnish and dim. One or two good lines, e.g., "the Harvard community presented something of a cellular structure, with little communication among its parts". The following, however, is more typical. "Next year, though it seems impossible that the time could have passed so fast, we will reach the golden anniversary of our marriage". Well, that's about his speed. For the faculty clubs.
Pub Date: June 15, 1963
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & World
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1963
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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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