A whole-earth catalogue of martial cunning that suggests Victorian novelist Francis E. Smedley was at least half right when he decreed that ``all's fair in love and war.'' In a breezy survey more notable for breadth than depth, Dunnigan and Nofi (Shooting Blanks, 1991) offer a series of short, self-contained takes that show why guile ranks among the most effective weapons in any arsenal. Accounts range from how the Israelites employed false retreats in their conquest of Canaan through the ways in which the Allies concealed their capacity to decode Axis radio traffic. Before getting down to ammunition cases, however, the authors provide introductory perspectives on such tricks of the military trade as ambuscades, camouflage, concealment, disinformation, and feints. Having set the scene, they deliver a roughly chronological guide that rambles from the wily warriors of ancient times (Joshua, Alexander, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, et al.) through the havoc indigenous insurgents or outlaws have wreaked on UN peacekeepers in Somalia and the former Yugoslavia. Along their episodic way, Dunnigan and Nofi comment knowledgeably on the practice of deception during the Crusades, several revolutions (including the American), early US campaigns against native American tribes, two global conflicts, and a host of other hostilities, including what the authors call ``the other Gulf War,'' which pitted Iran against Iraq for most of the 1980s. They also cover the sly likes of Cesare Borgia, George Washington, Napoleon, Rommel, two generations of Israeli commanders, and the spymasters who waged most of the Cold War's major battles. Nor do they scant the contributions of technology (advanced or otherwise) to essentially bloodless triumphs in belligerencies down through the ages. Savvy, often sardonic briefings on the consequential role of subterfuge in an enterprise in which, as the old saw has it, truth is the first casualty. (maps, charts, tables)
Pub Date: April 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-688-12236-1
Page Count: 350
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Even though the narrative bogs down in the middle under the figurative weight of bibliomania, overall, this is an enchanting...
A Shakespeare scholar takes on the “biggest enigma in literature.”
Shortly after William Shakespeare died in 1616, friends and scholars began looking for his books, figuring that he must have had many. Shakespeare was notorious for borrowing plots and characters from histories and literary works. Where were these source books? Shakespeare’s brief will makes no mention of them. This is the premise of historian and award-winning author Kells’ (The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders, 2018, etc.) look “through the lens of the searchers themselves,” a search that “bears upon fundamental principles of art, history, meaning and truth.” It’s an engaging and provocative contribution to the unending world of Shakesperiana. On his wide-ranging journey, Kells discovered many intriguing clues, but the mystery of the missing library remains unsolved. The author notes that besides a missing library, there were no manuscripts, letters, or diaries. This leads to his insightful discussion of the “ ‘Shakespeare Authorship Question’—how he worked, what he wrote and, most controversially, whether he wrote at all.” Kells takes on the detractors with gusto, especially those promoting Shakespeare’s contemporary, the diplomat Sir Henry Neville. Along the way, the author entertains us with a fascinating publishing history of the plays and stories of famous book collectors. “To reach something like the truth,” he writes, “we must walk through noxious territory, consort with cranks and rogues.” Kells also provides a revealing assessment of the famous 1623 First Folio, the first collection of the plays. Authoritative? It’s an “unreliable source,” Kells writes. “Posthumous, incomplete, error-ridden; produced by piratical publishers and hidden editors.” He concludes with the tantalizing Littlewood Letter, “arguably the most important Shakespeare letter in the world today—provided, of course, it is genuine.” On the whole, Kells delivers reams of arcane bibliographical information with humor and wit.
Even though the narrative bogs down in the middle under the figurative weight of bibliomania, overall, this is an enchanting work that bibliophiles will savor and Shakespeare fans adore.Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64009-183-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Counterpoint
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A troubling look at world history during the ``Short Twentieth Century,'' from 1914 to 1991. Hobsbawm (History/Univ. of London; The Jazz Age, 1992, etc.) divides his review of this tumultuous period into thirds: the ``Age of Catastrophe'' from 1914 through 1945, when the world was continually either engaged in vastly destructive wars or preparing for them; the ``Golden Age,'' from 1945 to 1973, characterized by a standoff between capitalist and communist blocs and by increasing wealth and social revolution in the capitalist sector; and the ``Landslide'' after 1973, when the world ``lost its bearing and slid into instability and crisis.'' The author points out that this short span of the 20th century saw the disappearance or diminution of the world's ancient kingdoms, empires, and great powers; the waging of the two most destructive wars in world history and many minor ones; multiplication of world population; a growing threat of ecological disaster; and technologically orchestrated death on a mass scale. At the same time, the author notes, there was unprecedented economic prosperity in the postWW II years, and triumphs of science and technology promised to better the lot of humankind, at least in the richer countries. Reviewing transformations in social mores, global economy, politics, and the arts, Hobsbawm concludes that the world is now radically less Eurocentric than it was before WW I and much more integrated in transport, communications, and economics—so much so that the very term ``national economy'' may be outmoded. At the same time, societies are significantly more anomic and individualistic as ancient patterns of human relationships have disintegrated. The socialist historian concludes that the human race cannot prosper in the face of the continued growth of world capitalism and relentless change. This eloquent, well-written, and depressing review of the folly and tragedy of humankind's recent past is even more oppressive when it looks into what appears to be an unstable future. (32 pages b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Jan. 30, 1995
ISBN: 0-394-58575-5
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1994
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