In the hands of, say, Luc Sante, this tale of the London lowlife would have been gold. As it is, general readers should hold...
A tale of two crimes: the first, an endlessly juicy mystery that captivated England in the late 18th century; the second, the tragedy of that fascinating episode being done in by lifeless prose.
History profs Andrew (Univ. of Guelph) and McGowen (Univ. of Oregon) dredge up a sordid affair that figures in few standard histories of England, and one that begs to be turned into a film: two 40-something twin brothers fall under the spell of a skillful courtesan who enlists them in trying to pass off a forged bond; caught in the act, the brothers are nearly let off by their would-be victims but protest their innocence a little too loudly; enter the constabulary, the judiciary, and the hangman. The tale, open-and-shut in the eyes of the presiding judge, turns out to be a bit more complicated: in exploring the case of the brothers Perreau and the beguiling Mrs. Rudd, the authors call forth conflicting testimonies, contemporary newspaper accounts marked by a loose regard for the facts, and the political climate in a time of colonial revolt and widespread anti-Scottish and anti-Semitic sentiment, all of which had bearing on the outcome. Andrew and McGowen are careful researchers, and they do a good job of elucidating the social history of the time and some of the Rashomonish qualities of Perreau/Rudd affair. Ultimately, however, their bloodless exposition overcomes the inherent interest of the story: “Although newspaper accounts dominated discussion of the case, they were supplemented by the several versions of events that appeared in pamphlet form”; “Although publishers expressed a general commitment to fairness, objectivity, and honesty, the conditions of publication militated against their realization”; “The actions undertaken to bring Mrs. Rudd to trial struck some as an abuse of power loaded with disturbing consequences for society.” And so on, until it all becomes such a bitter chore to read that only the most dogged student of the era will persist to the index.
In the hands of, say, Luc Sante, this tale of the London lowlife would have been gold. As it is, general readers should hold out for the movie.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-520-22062-5
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Univ. of California
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2001
A horde-pleaser, well-written and full of surprises.
“The Mongols swept across the globe as conquerors,” writes the appreciative pop anthropologist-historian Weatherford (The History of Money, 1997, etc.), “but also as civilization’s unrivaled cultural carriers.”
No business-secrets fluffery here, though Weatherford does credit Genghis Khan and company for seeking “not merely to conquer the world but to impose a global order based on free trade, a single international law, and a universal alphabet with which to write all the languages of the world.” Not that the world was necessarily appreciative: the Mongols were renowned for, well, intemperance in war and peace, even if Weatherford does go rather lightly on the atrocities-and-butchery front. Instead, he accentuates the positive changes the Mongols, led by a visionary Genghis Khan, brought to the vast territories they conquered, if ever so briefly: the use of carpets, noodles, tea, playing cards, lemons, carrots, fabrics, and even a few words, including the cheer hurray. (Oh, yes, and flame throwers, too.) Why, then, has history remembered Genghis and his comrades so ungenerously? Whereas Geoffrey Chaucer considered him “so excellent a lord in all things,” Genghis is a byword for all that is savage and terrible; the word “Mongol” figures, thanks to the pseudoscientific racism of the 19th century, as the root of “mongoloid,” a condition attributed to genetic throwbacks to seed sown by Mongol invaders during their decades of ravaging Europe. (Bad science, that, but Dr. Down’s son himself argued that imbeciles “derived from an earlier form of the Mongol stock and should be considered more ‘pre-human, rather than human.’ ”) Weatherford’s lively analysis restores the Mongols’ reputation, and it takes some wonderful learned detours—into, for instance, the history of the so-called Secret History of the Mongols, which the Nazis raced to translate in the hope that it would help them conquer Russia, as only the Mongols had succeeded in doing.
A horde-pleaser, well-written and full of surprises.Pub Date: March 2, 2004
ISBN: 0-609-61062-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not flawless, but one of the best recent analyses of the contemporary woes of American economics and politics.
Remarkably comprehensive and coherent analysis of and prescriptions for America’s contemporary economic malaise by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Smith (Rethinking America, 1995, etc.).
“Over the past three decades,” writes the author, “we have become Two Americas.” We have arrived at a new Gilded Age, where “gross inequality of income and wealth” have become endemic. Such inequality is not simply the result of “impersonal and irresistible market forces,” but of quite deliberate corporate strategies and the public policies that enabled them. Smith sets out on a mission to trace the history of these strategies and policies, which transformed America from a roughly fair society to its current status as a plutocracy. He leaves few stones unturned. CEO culture has moved since the 1970s from a concern for the general well-being of society, including employees, to the single-minded pursuit of personal enrichment and short-term increases in stock prices. During much of the ’70s, CEO pay was roughly 40 times a worker’s pay; today that number is 367. Whether it be through outsourcing and factory closings, corporate reneging on once-promised contributions to employee health and retirement funds, the deregulation of Wall Street and the financial markets, a tax code which favors overwhelmingly the interests of corporate heads and the superrich—all of which Smith examines in fascinating detail—the American middle class has been left floundering. For its part, government has simply become an enabler and partner of the rich, as the rich have turned wealth into political influence and rigid conservative opposition has created the politics of gridlock. What, then, is to be done? Here, Smith’s brilliant analyses turn tepid, as he advocates for “a peaceful political revolution at the grassroots” to realign the priorities of government and the economy but offers only the vaguest of clues as to how this might occur.
Not flawless, but one of the best recent analyses of the contemporary woes of American economics and politics.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6966-8
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
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