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DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENCE

Name: DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENCE
Author: Howard Zinn
ISBN: 0060921080

CROSS-EXAMINING AMERICAN IDEOLOGY

by Howard Zinn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 24, 1990

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For those who enjoyed Zinn's 1979 American Book Award nominee, A People's History of the United States, here's a rehash of his previous arguments against war, injustice, intolerance, and plutocratic politics. In the guise of a critical analysis of America's prevailing orthodoxies, Zinn accuses Plato and Machiavelli of misleading humankind into believing that obedience to laws and political realism are necessary components of citizenship. Locke, Madison, and Hamilton are condemned for using representative government to perpetuate a class system. In the meantime, the author denounces a wide range of American attitudes and actions in chapters on foreign policy, economics, free speech, and the legal system, etc. Predictably, he argues that America's downtrodden are victims of a system that closes minds and demands obedience. To prove his case, Zinn drags out the familiar examples of labor strikes, the WW II internment of the Japanese, civil rights demonstrations, and protests against the war in Vietnam. Included as well are his own experiences as a bombardier during WW II and as an activist teacher during the 1960's. Zinn also takes mainstream historians to task for their conservative bias and their claims to objectivity, which—he says—reinforce an undesirable status quo. As an alternative, he offers the study and advocacy of social protest. Zinn sees hope for the future in massive nonviolent movements resisting inequities—"the ultimate weapon for social change." An unabashedly subjective challenge to American orthodox beliefs, polemical and prickly.

Pub Date: Oct. 24, 1990

ISBN: 0060921080

Page Count: 341

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1990

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
A YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
by Howard Zinn ; adapted by Rebecca Stefoff with by Ed Morales

- BOOK REVIEW
TRUTH HAS A POWER OF ITS OWN
by Howard Zinn with Ray Suarez

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HISTORIC UNFULFILLED PROMISE
by Howard Zinn

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.