A fascinating biography of the world-famous photographer, written by the daughter of Lange's assistant in the 1930s. Born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn in 1895 in New Jersey, she was stricken with polio at age seven, and later spoke of it as "the most important thing that happened to me. It formed me, guided me, instructed me, helped me, and humiliated me." Taking her mother's maiden name when she began her professional photography career, Lange went from portraits to documenting the "disastrous human consequences" of the Great Depression. "I had to get my camera to register things that were more important than how poor they were_their pride, their strength, their spirit," she wrote about photographing migrant workers in California. She also photographed sharecroppers in the South and Japanese-American internment camps during WWII. Lange's life has been well-documented, but Partridge's conversational tone and intimate details of the Lange household will draw readers in. She also makes vivid Lange's lasting contributions; her photographs_many of which have been reproduced in these pages_captured some of the darkest episodes in American history and continue to touch all who ponder them. (b&w photographs) (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-87888-X
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998
A biography of the author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit that devotes equal time to all periods of his life. Tolkien lost both parents by the time he was 12; at 17 he found the love of his life, but his guardian forced him to give her up for three years. Following his schooling, they were reunited, and he convinced her to marry him, a relationship that lasted more than half a century. As a scholar, Tolkien broke ground in the fields of language, literature, and philology. Fans will be heartened to see his life's passion—inventing languages and worlds—succeed in the form of The Hobbit. The Rings trilogy was rejected at first by publishers, so the story of its success is even more sweet. Neimark offers no clues as to her sources for information, so that credible situations include dialogue that—barring information to the contrary—seems invented. Tolkien's fans will find this to be a serviceable look at his life, no more. (illustrations, not seen) (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-298847-5
Page Count: 111
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
Wadsworth (John Muir, 1992, etc.) pays tribute to an icon of the environmental conservation movement, a popular nature writer of the last century and friend to the likes of Walt Whitman, John Muir, and Teddy Roosevelt. An inveterate keeper of notebooks, Burroughs seems to have recorded his every deed and thought, and while he's not quoted extensively here, included are somewhat trivial details: the name of his cow, the kinds of books he bought on a particular occasion, how many barrels of butter his father once sold. Nonetheless, Wadsworth offers a good sense of Burroughs's gregarious personality (he particularly enjoyed the company of younger women) and almost sensuous writing style: ``The apple . . . I toy with you; press your face to mine, toss you in the air, roll you on the ground, see you shine.'' His personal life is sketched but not idealized, his influence on his own and succeeding generations clearly laid out, and a generous selection of black-and-white photographs captures his shaggy-bearded presence, benevolent but magisterial. Burroughs's work remains a landmark of environmental awareness and much of it is still being reprinted: Back this capable biography up with the compilation John Burroughs' America (1997). (bibliography, index) (Biography. 10-13)
Pub Date: March 17, 1997
ISBN: 0-395-77830-1
Page Count: 95
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1997
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