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FIRE AND BLOOD

Name: FIRE AND BLOOD
Author: David Leppard
ISBN: 1-85702-166-5

THE TRUE STORY OF DAVID KORESH AND THE WACO SIEGE

by David Leppard ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1994

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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

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.