Entertaining studies of classic imposters and a public inclined to be gullible even before the age of TV. (20 illustrations)
Continuing his series of historical investigations (Buried Alive, 2001, etc.), Bondeson reconsiders perennial tales of substituted infants, royal pretenders, wild children, and claimants to lapsed inheritances.
Many prior tracts, plays, and romances have covered the strange doings of these schemers and scoundrels, not to mention the beliefs of their credulous victims, and this author feels no need to search for the un-obvious. Was a taciturn Russian ascetic really the tsar who presided over the defeat of Bonaparte? What of the lost dauphin, child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, who turned up in the darndest places? (Though Bondeson neglects Twain’s Mississippi, he overlooks little else in the grand story of the little child in the Temple dungeon.) Was the famous Kaspar Hauser actually a lost prince, simply a belching vagabond, or something else? (The author has a credible notion.) Speaking of royalty, as a work like this must, some believe that the British throne itself may rightfully belong to a black South African. The expansive, notorious Tichborne claimant, Bondeson reminds us, had a malformation that would qualify him to play M. Butterfly better than the lost Wodehousian ninny he purported to be. A truly eccentric English nobleman was reputed to have secretly commuted, mainly underground, to life as a London tradesman. To solve that case, retired Detective Chief Inspector Littlechild of the Yard was summoned, with as much success as Lestrade would have had without Holmes. To his cogent critical analyses of these familiar cases, the author adds mention of the inevitable Anastasia pretenders, Lindbergh babies, and a surviving Princess Di, each essential to a cadre of never-say-die believers. Bondeson (Wales College of Medicine) examines hitherto neglected documents and adds his valuable medical knowledge to the combined myths and histories, noting the contributions and limitations of DNA testing.
Entertaining studies of classic imposters and a public inclined to be gullible even before the age of TV. (20 illustrations)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-393-01969-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2003
A copious account of the modern American experience with terrorism that substitutes descriptive detail for thoughtful analysis. Although the book's title implies a comprehensive history of terrorist activity in America, the text covers the period from 1776 to the 1950s in less than 30 pages. The narrative proper develops after 1968, which Simon, editor-in-chief of TVI (Terrorism, Violence, Insurgency Report), pinpoints as ``the beginning of international terrorism as we know it today.'' He explores three central themes: the growing frequency of terrorist acts; the presidential role in countering terrorism; and the potential for terrorists to exploit sophisticated weaponry and technology. Using interviews with terrorists, hostages and other victims, government officials, and, most effectively, former presidents, Simon conveys the personal drama inherent in these often tragic events. These episodes, however, are frequently mired in excessive detail and lacking in critical analysis. Simon accepts the ``endless nature of terrorism,'' and thus falls into a pattern of describing individual incidents without considering their larger causes or their common linkages. For instance, Simon does not discuss the relation between America's economic, political, and social ties to Israel and its increasing position as a target of terrorist activity. Thus the connections among the 197981 Iranian hostage crisis, the 1983 bombings of the US embassy and marine barracks in Lebanon, the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, the Persian Gulf War, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing (to which he devotes significant space) are never drawn. Simon deserves credit for broaching such a broad and overwhelming subject as terrorism—a subject he has obviously studied at great length. Though he may understand the manifold definitions of ``terrorism,'' however, these distinctions are not clearly identifiable for the reader. Despite its various limitations, the book proves a worthwhile read on a thorny and highly sensationalized topic. (45 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-253-35249-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Indiana Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
Though she has a superb story, Solinger never quite finds the voice with which to tell it. Despite these rough edges, well...
Solinger's (Wake Up, Little Susie, 1992) biography of abortionist Ruth Barnett introduces us to a compelling character and to the underdocumented history of illegal abortion before Roe v. Wade.
Between 1918 and 1968, Ruth Barnett performed some 40,000 abortions in Portland, Oreg. Her life story reveals as simplistic the popular stereotype of illegal abortionists as unscrupulous, predatory opportunists indifferent to women's health and safety. Although Barnett lived well and flamboyantly, she was also motivated by a profound desire to help those in need. All her life, she acknowledged that her work was illegal but insisted that abortion should be a woman's personal decision. Indeed, she could not turn down women and girls who had no other options. Barnett's skills—she never lost a patient, and medical complications from her operations were extremely rare—were well-known to doctors throughout the Northwest, who frequently referred patients to her, and her antiseptic offices with up-to-date-equipment were hardly the dangerous, infection-ridden sites of current "back-alley'' mythology (though such outfits certainly did exist). Solinger manages to thoroughly engage the reader in Barnett's life without excessively lionizing her or retreating into revisionist polemics. This groundbreaking work should encourage further research on—and popular interest in—the pre-Roe abortionists. Unfortunately, Solinger's prose is inconsistent: at times too dry, at times overwritten and melodramatic. A plethora of mixed metaphors muddy the text, and awkward phrasing disrupts the narrative throughout.
Though she has a superb story, Solinger never quite finds the voice with which to tell it. Despite these rough edges, well worth the attention of anyone interested in the history of women's reproductive rights.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-929865-2
Page Count: 250
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
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