Here, Fischer (American Studies/Notre Dame; Notre Dame Remembered, 1986) writes vividly of the ``Green Hell'' of southeast Asia after Japan struck in WW II. Chancy indeed was the Allied outlook when the Japanese military machine cut the Burma Road, thereby isolating China from the West while Japan advanced toward India. Fischer, who during the war was the army's official historian for the region, honors many heroes: General ``Vinegar Hoe'' Stillwell, who led his battered G.I.s and Chinese in the incredible ``walk out of Burma'' retreat; General Chennault and his volunteer American ``Flying Tigers,'' who destroyed hundreds of Japanese planes; the legendary Ranger regiment of ``Merrill's Marauders''; American airmen who daily flew the ``Hump'' over the high Himalayas with material to help keep China in the war; the fighting British generals Wavell and Slim; Father Stuart, the brave Irish missionary who rallied his Burmese tribesmen while confounding the enemy and saving thousands of lives. Less well treated, though, are the corrupt Chiang Kai- shek and the overbearing British Raj, which did little to aid the building of the Ledo Road through fearsome, dense jungles amid intense heat, monsoons, deadly fauna, and the Japanese enemy—one of the great feats of the war. When completed, the Ledo Road joined the retaken Burma Road to open up a 1750-mile lifeline from Calcutta to Kunming, China. Short on background material and chronology, but Fischer's impressionistic, anecdotal style will engage military-history fans. (Sixteen-page b&w insert—not seen.)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-517-58424-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1991
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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