A collaborative history of the profound influence of the sea on America’s identity and its national imagination. The six authors (including William Fowler Jr., Andrew German, John Hattendorf, Jefrey Safford, and Edward Sloan, in addition to Labaree), all historians associated with the Munson Institute at Mystic Seaport, trace both the development of distinctive American industries dependent on the sea—fisheries, boat building, merchant service—as well as the emergence, over the course of two centuries, of the US Navy, culminating with WWII, when the country fielded both the largest navy and the largest merchant marine service the world had ever witnessed. A considerable amount of material on the impact of a sea-based economy on the rise of eastern and western cities, and on the influence of the sea on American society, carries the narrative far beyond the precincts of economic history. There’s also an astute summary of three centuries of marine art in America, and a survey of the presence of the sea in American literature and folklore. Some 300 illustrations further enliven the text. A model of popular scholarship, and clearly the definitive work on the subject. (71 color 287 b&w illustrations, 10 maps)(History Book Club selection)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-913372-81-1
Page Count: 704
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1998
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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