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THE COMMANDOS

Name: THE COMMANDOS
Author: Douglas C. Waller
ISBN: 0-671-78717-9

THE INSIDE STORY OF AMERICA'S SECRET SOLDIERS

by Douglas C. Waller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 25, 1994

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From a Newsweek correspondent who's seen them in action on a number of fronts: an absorbing and informative briefing on the American military's elite but covert forces Drawing mainly on personal observations and interviews with over 200 of the roughly 46,000 soldiers, sailors, and airmen who comprise the US Special Operations Command, Waller focuses on four outfits—the Army's Delta Force and Green Berets, the Navy's SEALs, and the so-called cowboys who fly the Pave Low helicopters that, among other missions impossible, put commando units where they have to be by day or night. While he went along on the rigorous, realistic field exercises many such cadres employ to separate the men from the boys, the fortysomething author was obliged to tap retired veterans and the precious few manuals that are publicly available for insights on how Delta Force screens and trains its counterterrorist and hostage-rescue squads. Even so, Waller offers vivid accounts of what America's shadow warriors (the disciplined latter-day equivalents of WW II's apocryphal dirty dozens) are prepared to do and what they have done in the post-cold war era. Cases in point range from the 1989 breakout of a US businessman from a Panama City prison through a host of reconnaissance forays, airborne raids, and diversionary feints behind Iraqi lines during Desert Storm. Covered as well are the turf battles unconventional troops must fight with the Pentagon's establishment, which regards them as an alien element in the nation's arsenal. An evenhanded appreciation of special forces and their varied roles in a Global Village that, despite the USSR's collapse, falls well short of being a peaceable kingdom. (First serial to Newsweek; Main Selection of the Military Book Club)

Pub Date: Jan. 25, 1994

ISBN: 0-671-78717-9

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
BIG RED
by Douglas C. Waller

- BOOK REVIEW
AIR WARRIORS
by Douglas C. Waller

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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.