Like all good biographers, Sutherland starts this study of Ronald Reagan not with his birth but with a scene that grabs readers’ attentions: the shooting of the president on March 30, 1981. Readers may be surprised to learn how close to death the president had been, and the traits demonstrated in facing death—humor, optimism, courage and determination—are exactly the ones that defined his life. This straightforward and fast-paced account sticks closely to Reagan’s life, with only occasional excursions into the social issues of his early years, slowing down and expanding to cover the themes that dominated his presidency: communism in Central America, nuclear-arms discussions with Soviet leaders, the Strategic Defense Initiative and the Iran-Contra Affair. The volume ends with Reagan’s death from pneumonia in 2004 with little reflection on his place in history. As with all of the volumes in this fine series, the writing is clear, the bibliography is solid and the historical content is accessible for the intended audience, if somewhat lacking in analysis. (foreword, source notes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 11 & up)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-670-05345-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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