Drawing on such popular histories as Nancy Mitford's The Sun King (1966), Elliott, a San Francisco writer, weaves through an informed and absorbing history of Louis XIV's court at Versailles the cloying story of little Adelaide, the ``perfect princess,'' betrothed at age ten to the king's grandson and sent to court to be groomed as the future queen. Traded off by her father, the Duke of Savoy, to secure a fitful peace, brave but ``merry'' Adelaide won the heart of the aging king and his secret wife, the wise Mme. Maintenon. They doted on Adelaide, amused her with hunts, masquerades, and fireworks while she learned the ceremonies and intrigues on which the opulent court functioned. ``Gay,'' ``reckless,'' ``irrepressible,'' briefly addicted to gambling, often ill-natured, mischievous, and demanding, Adelaide at age 14 married her moody, austere, and eccentric prince. As the ``18th century dawned over Europe,'' bickering over the Spanish succession turned into a long and costly war (1702-13), conducted only in the spring and summer under strict rules of decorum that guaranteed the dignity of the warring royals, all of whom were related. The war, however, was merely an unpleasant interlude in Adelaide's repeated attempts to produce an heir. Along with many miscarriages, she had three sons: One died in infancy, another at age five, and the last—orphaned as a toddler when both Adelaide and the Dauphin died of measles—grew up to become the ill-fated Louis XV. For those who like to read about the domestic life of royals, this is a rich tale. For the sake of Adelaide, though, it trivializes the marvelous French court, and turns the powerful and fearsome Louis XIV into an aging Maurice Chevalier singing ``Thank Heaven for Little Girls'' as he ogles his grandson's wife. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: July 14, 1992
ISBN: 0-395-60516-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1992
An openly liberal polemic, but nevertheless a brilliant summary of the important legal trends of the last 20 years.
Prominent New York lawyer and television commentator Garbus (Tough Talk, 1998, etc.) lucidly examines the threat he sees developing from an increasingly conservative judicial system.
Since 1980, Republicans have controlled the legal system more and more, the author contends. Reagan's Supreme Court appointments and the ascendancy of the Federalist Society, founded in 1982 and now the country's most powerful legal organization, have succeeded in reversing the liberal Warren Court’s decisions. Although Miranda v. Arizona (1966) guaranteed constitutional protections to criminal suspects, 60 related cases have subsequently been decided with only two rulings benefiting the defendant. In Atwater v. City of Lago Vista (2001), Gail Atwater, driving with two infants in her car, was arrested, handcuffed, and jailed for a seatbelt violation. Bringing her suit to the high court, she lost on grounds that policemen cannot immediately tell whether a suspect is jailable. Chief Justice Rehnquist openly opposes the Court's decision in Roe v. Wade (1973), which granted women a legal right to an abortion, and in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Robert P. Casey (1992), he came only one vote short of denying women that right. Any nominee of George W. Bush will probably reverse the 5-4 decision. For 30 years, asserts Garbus, the religious right has successfully pressed to blur the separation of church and state. In Mitchell v. Holmes, argued in 1999, the Court voted 6-3 to uphold a Louisiana law that permitted the state to loan computers and books to parochial schools. Dissenters Souter, Stevens, and Ginsburg saw the implicit danger that religious schools could benefit from taxpayer money. Garbus reviews cases covering environmental issues, employee rights, affirmative action, and federal versus state sovereignty. His portraits of the nine justices are most scathing in the cases of hardhearted Rehnquist and incompetent Thomas. He concludes by urging his allies to fight the present prevailing powers.
An openly liberal polemic, but nevertheless a brilliant summary of the important legal trends of the last 20 years.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2002
ISBN: 0-8050-6918-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Murray has left as his final gift a lovely book of song. (8 pp. b&w photo insert)
A season in the lives of young singers struggling get noticed in the demanding world of opera, alluringly told by prolific writer and tenor Murray (City of the Soul, 2003, etc.).
The author, who died in March 2005, spent 24 weeks during the 2003–04 season with 12 artists in the Lyric Opera of Chicago training program, a launching pad for many great international careers. What makes the training program so special is not only the quality of its singers, but the talented coaches who guide the artists through their exercises and roles, instructing them in dramatic interpretation, language meaning and pronunciation and movement. Murray shines in chronicling the development of the singers’ technique; his prose is gratifying, his dry humor a pleasure. He is wonderfully adept at evoking the particular musical personalities of the singers, and he stands in awe of their courage and professionalism. Murray understatedly brings his own history as an opera singer into the picture when it helps shed light on the challenges faced by his subjects. (Of that career, he says: “[I]t never amounted to much, but it had deeply enriched my life.”) He is sensitive to the aspects of opera that help create “sacred monsters,” singers of such ego and celebrity they are like forces of nature. Aspiring artists are judged day after day, he writes, and rarely given more than a nod of acknowledgement. So if perchance one becomes a great star, he or she may well feel it’s another’s turn to play the supplicant.
Murray has left as his final gift a lovely book of song. (8 pp. b&w photo insert)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2005
ISBN: 1-4000-5360-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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