First published last year in Great Britain, a decent but already dated quickie account of cult leader David Koresh and the conflagration last year at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. Leppard (On the Trail of Terror: The Inside Story of the Lockerbie Investigation, not reviewed), deputy editor of the Sunday Times (of London) ``Insight'' team, draws mainly on court transcripts, official reports, and affidavits rather than on primary sources. He devotes a section each to the March 1993 federal raid that left four agents and six cult members dead, Koresh's background and the cult's cosmology, and the 51-day siege that ended in the fiery (and bullet-riddled) deaths of Koresh and some 80 followers. Most interesting is Leppard's somewhat luridly written tale, based on Koresh's 1988 trial for attempted murder, of how Vernon Wayne Howell, ``a semi-literate ninth-grade drop-out and failed rock guitarist,'' became ``David Koresh, pathological killer and child molester, hell-bent on mass destruction.'' Leppard has a tendency toward breathlessly sensationalist prose: ``What force was at work? Was it some psychopathology which clinical experts could recognize? Was it evil?'' However, this book has already been overtaken by events, such as the 1994 trial of surviving Branch Davidians, whose revelations reflected poorly on the government. Nor has Leppard had the time to fully investigate issues like Attorney General Janet Reno's questionable decision to approve the raid that ended the siege, or to query whether the FBI could have allowed other hostage negotiators, such as those from city police departments, to replace its fatigued agents. Deeper books probing both Koresh and the feds' poor procedures surely are coming. (8 pages b&w photos)
Pub Date: July 1, 1994
ISBN: 1-85702-166-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Fourth Estate/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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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