A highly detailed and readable exploration of war stories that other histories largely overlook.
Cooper-Clark’s nonfiction debut tells the story of two camps in Kingston, Jamaica, where Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe were interned during World War II.
In careful, meticulous detail, Cooper-Clark looks at Gibraltar Camp II and Up Park Camp and refugees’ experiences there—a tale that’s largely unknown even to some WWII history buffs. Using a wide array of primary sources, the author reconstitutes the tales of dozens of Jewish refugees, many of whom only reached the comparative safety of Jamaica after long and harrowing flights from their homelands and dangerous border crossings on their way to Lisbon, known as “the refugee capital of Europe.” In addition to tracing the life stories of individual inmates and their families, the author also outlines the history of Jewish life in Jamaica before the war and renders with precision and narrative flair the complete story of the camps’ existence. “The skeins of history that link the British, the Jewish refugees, and Gibraltar Camp II require disentanglement,” she writes at one point, and this well-organized tome, generously illustrated with photographs, accomplishes this, laying vital groundwork for all future studies of the subject while also making for engaging reading. The stories of the refugees’ flights are, predictably enough, the most gripping parts of the narrative, depicting desperate families hastily grabbing whatever possessions they could before fleeing into unknown futures. The drama of these stories is heightened by Cooper-Clark’s abundant use of immediate, firsthand oral histories. Overall, these testimonies bring the difficult life in the camps into clearer focus.
A highly detailed and readable exploration of war stories that other histories largely overlook.Pub Date: July 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5255-0549-2
Page Count: 164
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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