by Clarence Vold ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 4, 2015
A sometimes-touching memoir that will particularly delight the author’s friends and loved ones.
Vold’s debut memoir focuses on the 30 years he devoted to the U.S. Air Force.
The author was born in 1940 and grew up on the eastern plains of South Dakota. His father was a farmer, but it wasn’t the most rewarding profession for him, especially during the Depression years. Vold says that he was deeply influenced by his father’s experience when he made the decision to chart his own course. After a brief stint in college at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, the author dropped out and enlisted in the Air Force. He was initially rejected because of his farsightedness, he says, but he successfully reapplied for an officer-commissioning program. After this point, the memoir largely chronicles his successful military career, which spanned three decades; he retired in 1989 as a chief master sergeant. During his service, he traveled widely within the United States and abroad, and was stationed in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. The most dramatic elements of Vold’s tale take place then, when he worked as a boom operator, helping to refuel other planes in flight; on one particular mission, he recalls, flying over the Gulf of Tonkin he could see the North Vietnamese fire missiles at American aircraft. After his retirement, he went back to school at California State University, Chico, and eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in economics. Vold’s remembrance is filled with photos and he explains them with plentiful commentary, tracking the arc of his professional life, as well as his developing family. At its best, this autobiography is candidly thoughtful. For example, the author tells of how, as a young man, his horizons were broadened regarding race relations; he notes that he, a white man, had never met a person of color before he entered the military. Also, his accounts regarding his father radiate a heartwarming affection, as in a section in which he recounts various dreams that he’s had about him. However, Vold’s minutely detailed exposition of his military career—including the most quotidian parts—may not interest many general readers.
A sometimes-touching memoir that will particularly delight the author’s friends and loved ones.Pub Date: March 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63417-861-7
Page Count: 334
Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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