In the chatty, breezy style of her Elvis and Gladys (1985), Dundy explores the history and character of the small southern town that has produced the likes of Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gen. Claire Chennault, and newscaster Howard K. Smith. What is it about Ferriday that can bring forth from a population of 5,000 these varied celebrities, plus blues trombonist Pee Wee Whittaker and country-and-western singer Mickey Gilley? Dundy examines the early Spanish and French influences; the town's integral relationship to Natchez, Tenn.; the role of the plantations and the Civil War; and the tremendous influence of Leona Sumrall—founder in the late 1930's of the Assembly of God Church—whose evangelical fervor has passed from one generation to another. The author provides some insight by contrasting the differing motivations of 18-century governor Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos and of his assistant, Don Jose Vidal. Gayoso de Lemos's need for personal glory was inseparable from the glory of Spain, whereas the ambitious Vidal felt little need for personal glory—just personal property. One was a colonialist, the other was an entrepreneur, and, according to Dundy, both are keys to the heritage of Ferriday. Among other factors, Dundy also wants to credit ``telluric'' forces, a term physicists ascribe to an area whose subsurface is unnaturally high in flowing electrical currents. She is more at home in discussing pop figure Lewis and his two cousins (Swaggart and Gilley) and the familial and social influences that brought them to notoriety, but that is ground rather well trod. More discussion of Chennault and Smith would have been welcome, and Whittaker's life in music, which spans nearly eight decades, calls for considerable amplification. Intriguing, but incomplete and inconclusive. (Fifteen photographs.)
Pub Date: June 13, 1991
ISBN: 1-55611-144-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Donald Fine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 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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