by Frans H. Jager ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 16, 2014
A cogent look at the United States from someone who’s seen it as an outsider and as an insider.
In his debut, a Dutch immigrant reflects on his decision to permanently relocate his family to the United States and the future of the country he now calls home.
Jager has a unique perspective, informed by his twin experiences of growing up in the Netherlands and raising a family across the Atlantic in America. The book opens with a brief memoir recollecting his time in the Netherlands and, by extension, looks at the plight of Western Europe as the specter of the Soviet Union still haunted the continent. The author draws unexpected comparisons between the political trajectories of the Netherlands and the United States—particularly their commitments to democracy and pluralism—and uses each to critique the other. Although the author finds social life in the U.S. unsatisfying, at best a “mixed bag,” he’s impressed by the country’s economic opportunity, its spirit of entrepreneurship and its historic resilience in the face of adversity. Culturally, however, Jager struggles to reconcile his intellectual cosmopolitanism with what he sees as the general provincialism of Americans isolated from the rest of the world. More than half the work is devoted to an ambitiously comprehensive diagnosis of the country’s current challenges, covering a diverse range of topics that include gun control, campaign spending, health care, unemployment, terrorism, tolerance and inequality. While always thoughtful, the author has no claim to expertise on these subjects and so offers little that’s fresh. His discussion on immigration, however, is enhanced by his own personal experience, and he writes briskly about the ways in which the current system fails: “A problem with the current immigration policy in the USA is that we make illegal immigration too easy and legal immigration too hard!” The book as a whole tries to serve too many functions—personal recollection, sweeping political commentary, cultural analysis—and is a bit disjointed as a result. It does manage, however, to deftly combine serious criticism with a sense of hopefulness, crafting what the author rightfully calls an “optimistic book.”
A cogent look at the United States from someone who’s seen it as an outsider and as an insider.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-0692209776
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Castnet Corp.
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972
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
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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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