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BLOOD

Name: BLOOD
Author: Douglas Starr
ISBN: 0-679-41875-X

AN EPIC HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND COMMERCE

by Douglas Starr ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 21, 1998

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Seasoned journalist and former field biologist Starr writes an outstandingly lively history, based largely on archival research and interviews, of an unexpectedly dramatic topic: the international science, economics, and politics of blood transfusion. The topic subsumes several others: methods of collecting and storing blood, of deconstructing it (isolating out its several components, especially the clotting agent Factor VIII, so crucial to the health of hemophiliacs), and screening it for disease. The story begins in the 17th century, when the French doctor Jean-Baptiste Denis first transfused calf’s blood into a crazed patient, inducing a fever that temporarily cured him of syphilis. It proceeds up until the late 20th century, when angry hemophiliacs, infected with HIV by contaminated blood, brought suits against doctors and blood banks in Japan, France, and America. In between, Starr recounts the heroic transfusing efforts of donors, doctors, and military personnel during WWII, which saved countless front-line soldiers’ lives; the postwar competition among modern blood banks; and the rise of the blood-buying business, which too often exploited the poor and unhealthy. Several tensions move the drama: between medical professionals and service-minded laypeople; between government health agencies and business-oriented blood banks; and between views of blood as purchasable commodity and as humanitarian gift. The history of blood’sanguine though it is by definition—is thus far from uniformly rosy. Starr, an accomplished storyteller, weaves his plot around the great, eccentric, and sometimes tragic personalities of blood history, lightening it with humorous anecdotes, as of Bela Lugosi (alias Dracula) donating blood to American servicemen during WWII in order to make good on his “ill-gotten gains.” A potentially dramatic tension Starr might have explored further, in his final chapters on AIDS, is between the two politically vocal—but otherwise very different—communities of HIV-infected hemophiliacs and gay men. Transfused into such good narrative history, blood will interest even those who can’t stand the sight of it. (16 pages photos, not seen)

Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1998

ISBN: 0-679-41875-X

Page Count: 448

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1998

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.