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
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
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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