A fusty, indignant report—dated 1983—from Tibet by Harrer (Seven Years in Tibet, not reviewed), the now-celebrated adventurer who briefly returned to his “second home” 30 years after fleeing China’s invasion. In 1945 the Austrian author escaped from a British prisoner-of-war camp, hoofed it over the Trans-Himalayan range, and eventually arrived in Lhasa, capitol of Tibet. There he found what he took to be an idyll: a sublime mix of Tibetan Buddhism, ancient customs, and dust-free air that made landscape colors incandescent. He became an important figure in the country—chief engineer, tutor of the Dalai Lama—but left as the Chinese commenced their occupation. In 1982 he was able to revisit Tibet during the “Chinese-staged thaw,” and he was by turns heartbroken and inspired by what he observed: Valuable cultural treasures had been destroyed by the invaders, and stories of concentration camps, forced labor, and political murders sent him reeling. Yet the country’s religion was still strong, and there continued both armed resistance to the Chinese and an unquashable national will. His two sojourns in the country make for some intriguing before-and-after comparisons, and his comments on particulars of Tibetan Buddhism are revealing. But the tone of the book is dryly nostalgic, when not bitter, and Harrer’s opinions sometimes seem jarringly contradictory. He rails against what the Chinese have done to the country—razing monasteries, imprisoning and killing nationals—and then inexplicably suggests that China and Tibet might be well served by a partnership, with Tibet happily becoming “part of that enormous yellow state.” Moreover, every so often he lets the feudalist in him shine through unforgivably in making unfortunate remarks on his longing for a land “where superstition would be the poetry of life.” The insights are worth the cover price anyhow, despite the author’s occasional reactionary comments and his priggishness.
Pub Date: June 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-87477-925-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: TarcherPerigee
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1998
Dedicated to the great merchandising empire of The Mouse between 1928 and 1958, this book looks at Mickey Mouse books and magazines (yeah, watches, too); Donald Duck castile soap figures; Bambi pencil sharpeners (ouch); rubber Dopey dolls; and Goofy wind- up action toys. And it does it with a straight face, which the gazillions of dollars spent on the stuff no doubt warrants. The authors, who write frequently on pop culture, tell the story of Disney merchandising and how the company used its characters during WW II for army training films and for morale on the home front. (The illustration for the sheet music of Oliver Wallace's ``Der Fuehrer's Face'' shows the intrepid Donald Duck flinging a giant tomato, pow!, right in der Fuehrer's face.) A time capsule of images and characters that are an integral part of American culture, the book is a testament to an even more integral part- -merchandising (exemplified by the book's publisher itself; Hyperion is a division of Disney Book Publishing).
Pub Date: Dec. 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-7868-6054-5
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
Marsalis writes as elegantly as he plays the trumpet, so fans will doubtless enjoy his atmospheric musings on playing jazz across America, nicely complemented by photographer/filmmaker Stewart's glamorously black-and-white photos. Less indulgent readers may notice that there's not much new here: the usual tributes to band members (``one of the finest musicians in the world,'' ``a great jazz musician,'' etc.), remarks on the grinding travel routine (``the road is an endless series of `Are we here?' ''), and bouquets to the audience (``What I really love about meeting people we have played for is the range of personalities''). Also not new are Marsalis's bad-tempered putdowns of popular culture other than jazz—music videos are ``visual projections of the purest ignorance and worst intentions,'' and he decries ``young sensibilities slowly destroyed by the alpha-wave onslaught''—though he claims to like rap. Marsalis is a lot more appealing when he gets off his soapbox and concentrates on extolling (with considerable eloquence) the music he loves.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-393-03514-X
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
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