by Henry J. Greenberg ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 30, 2015
A haphazard, overwrought, sometimes-eccentric treatise on chess history that forgets that it’s just a game.
Chess is a continuation of war by other means, according to this debut history of the popular board game.
Greenberg, a chess historian, wanders back to the year 2,500 BCE in his review of the game’s historiography (the period in the subtitle, 1989-90, appears to refer to when academic conferences were held). He locates its origins in India’s Gupta Empire in the fourth century, and embellishes on the historical consensus that it was inspired by the four branches of ancient Indian armies—pawns, knights, bishops, and rooks symbolize infantry, cavalry, war elephants, and chariots—by styling the game as an actual war game invented by King Chandragupta II’s staff to teach principles of their military academies. (Paradoxically, he also asserts that the king believed the game would keep peace in his realm by distracting young men from fighting—hence, it was the “The Anti-war Wargame.”) From there, Greenberg’s theory becomes more literal-minded, portraying changes in the game’s rules not as the idle brainstorms of aristocratic players, but as deterministic outgrowths of battlefield advances; thus, for example, “The innovation of the pawn’s double-step initial move was an attempt to represent the role of the infantry pikemen of the Crusades.” It often seems to mistake analogy for causality, as when the author writes that in a 1922 game “played against [Efim] Bogolyubov…the Queening of pawns by [Alexander] Alekhine symbolically represents the training and mobilization of tank corps by the Russians in 1942.” He also insists that Leonardo da Vinci “invented the modern moves of the Queen and Bishop” in order “to represent Leonardo’s innovative ideas regarding artillery” and “to represent Leonardo’s forerunner of the modern tank,” although he presents no evidence for this assertion. Such ill-supported, wildly overstated suppositions feel strained and unconvincing, and they’re presented in a confused, repetitive jumble with slabs of tiresome bibliography dropped into the main text. The book does reprint some historic games that aficionados can have fun playing through. However, those interested in the topic of chess history are best advised to seek a more polished, judicious account.
A haphazard, overwrought, sometimes-eccentric treatise on chess history that forgets that it’s just a game.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4917-7352-9
Page Count: 294
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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