As much a book about old buildings as some of the men involved in saving them, here's a thoughtful journey through contemporary cultural conservation. Acknowledging the impossibility, and questioning even the desirability, of ever completely recapturing the past, Howard (How Old is This House?, 1989not reviewed) claims that the role of the preservationists he has profiled is rather to ``enable us to glimpse other times within the context of our own modern world. It is their insistence on the importance of the physical presence of the past, of its artifacts and its architecture, that preserves them.'' To make his case, then, he has assembled an eclectic group of buildings and preservationistsincluding architects, businessmen, art historians, and craftsmen like Donald Carpentier, who has lovingly assembled his own small restored village. In separate chapters, Howard profiles, among others, a preservation group in Essex, N.Y. that consults the community in making preservation decisions; the director of the curatorial department at Old Sturbridge Village; the architects restoring one of Thomas Jefferson's ``pavilions''; the founder of Old House Journal; a New Yorker who does research on buildings, especially in New York, for his clients; and an ongoing study of a problematical Frank Lloyd Wright house in Buffalo. An informative and accessible guide to the current status of preservation by someone who celebrates style and craftsmanship.
Pub Date: May 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-374-17303-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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