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50 GREAT AMERICAN PLACES

Name: 50 GREAT AMERICAN PLACES
Author: Brent D. Glass
ISBN: 978-1-4516-8203-8

ESSENTIAL HISTORIC SITES ACROSS THE U.S.

by Brent D. Glass ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2016

An enlightening trip with an expert guide.

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A journey in search of the nation’s history.

In his debut book, Glass, director emeritus of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, offers a personal and eclectic guide to 50 sites, chosen from over 100 more, that represent significant moments in America’s past. Organized chronologically, each recommendation includes an informative essay, website addresses, and suggestions of places to visit in the same area. Many sites are likely to be familiar: Jefferson’s Monticello, Boston’s Freedom Trail, the Liberty Bell, the Alamo, and Yellowstone National Park, for example. Some represent dark episodes—e.g., Little Rock Central High School and the Minidoka Japanese internment camp. Even for well-known destinations, Glass reveals intriguing tidbits: for almost a decade, he reminds readers, Texas was an independent nation; its annexation by the U.S. incited the Mexican War in 1846. During Jefferson’s lifetime, “as many as 600 African slaves lived at Monticello” and on Jefferson’s additional landholdings, with boys ages 10 to 16 engaged in making nails for sale to other plantations. Some recommendations celebrate famous individuals, including Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Jonas Salk, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Henry Ford. George Vanderbilt II, grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, erected Biltmore House in North Carolina. With 250 rooms covering nearly 4 acres, it is “America’s largest private dwelling.” Besides the house, Vanderbilt established a huge dairy, a textile production industry, and a planned community of shops, houses, a school, an infirmary, a train station, and a church. One of the more unusual destinations is a state historic site near Collinsville, Illinois, where visitors may climb Monks Mound, a structure more than 10 stories high, covering more than 14 acres. From 1050 to 1200, the area was the site of Cahokia, “the largest city north of Mexico,” with a population larger than London’s at the time. By 1400, for unknown reasons, the thriving city had disappeared.

An enlightening trip with an expert guide.

Pub Date: March 15, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4516-8203-8

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015

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.