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LEADER OF THE CHARGE

Name: LEADER OF THE CHARGE
Author: Edward G. Longacre
ISBN: 1-57249-006-3

A BIOGRAPHY OF GENERAL GEORGE E. PICKETT, C.S.A.

by Edward G. Longacre ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 9, 1996

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Definitive by default, the first full-length Pickett biography in nearly a century attempts to set the historical record straight on the complicated, maligned Confederate general whose name will be forever associated with the suicidal charge at Gettysburg. Contemporaries envious of Pickett's quick rise to power, high living, and erratic battlefield performance demonized him after the war as an inept, irresponsible dandy. His adoring widow made a vocation of burnishing his image. Between these extremes Civil War historian Longacre strikes a happy medium, splitting the difference more from compromise than hard evidence. Longacre's Pickett is a classically tragic figure: Well born of Virginia gentry, an ambitious leader and courageous fighter, the career military man staked all on the Confederacy and lost. Beset by tragedy even before the war (two wives died in childbirth), he finished it weakened by illness and the hardships of battle. Home, career, and reputation destroyed, the once proud general—a rough-and-tumble paragon of chivalrous Southern manhood—fled the country to avoid prosecution for war crimes and was later forced to move in with in- laws and sell insurance to eke out a living. Though Longacre refutes the most obvious myths (that Abraham Lincoln sponsored Pickett's appointment to West Point, for example), he provides little insight into the thornier elements of the general's character. Known for rash behavior on and off the battlefield, Pickett sent his men to certain slaughter at Gettysburg while watching from the rear. Though said to have been devastated by the carnage, later errors of judgment and his execution of prisoners suggest deeper flaws not satisfactorily examined. Analyzing military tactics more than moral and ethical issues, the author fashions a biography long on ``when'' and ``where'' but short on ``why.'' (27 maps and illustrations) (Military Book Club main selection)

Pub Date: Feb. 9, 1996

ISBN: 1-57249-006-3

Page Count: 304

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1995

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.