In a lavishly illustrated treatment, Aslet, the editor of Country Life, magnificently brings to life the rich history of Greenwich, England. Americans know the city as the site of the Royal Observatory, which sets time for the world. Aslet reveals it as much more. First the site of a mysterious Roman shrine or temple on the Thames, the settlement that became Greenwich was thereafter occupied by Anglo-Saxons for whom it may have functioned as a port or market. In the 10th and 11th centuries, the town was sacked by Vikings, who killed the local archbishop. Greenwich later developed into the site of a great estate and manor house, and a maritime port of considerable prominence, linked to the sea by the Thames. Starting with Henry VII, who built the palace of Placentia there in 1500—04, Greenwich became a home away from London for Britain’s kings and queens, a refuge from the intrigues at court and the plague, which frequently infested the capital, a place of magnificent buildings and opulent living, and most importantly, a center of maritime activity. Though Aslet’s story is largely one of buildings, he weaves into the narrative the story of the people who have lived in them through the centuries: from Chaucer to Samuel Pepys, as well as celebrated mathematician Sir Jonas Moore and Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed. In the late 17th century, the Royal Observatory was built at Greenwich in order to escape the smoky skies around London, and the magnificent Seamen’s Hospital, designed by Christopher Wren, was erected. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the building of more estates and parks and the establishment of Greenwich’s role as the site of the timeball to which the world sets its watch. The 20th has seen the creation of the Millennium Dome, built to celebrate the year 2000, and the declaration by UNESCO of Greenwich as a World Heritage Site. A congenial, absorbing tour through time of an immensely interesting old town.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-674-00076-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harvard Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
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
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