A chronicle of the private and public lives of Mercy Otis Warren, one of the first historians and poets of the new American republic, and her father. (James Otis) husband (James Warren) unstable brother (James Otis, Jr.) and friends of the Otises and Warrens. Fritz, who has written histories for juveniles, is an assiduous researcher and competent assembler; this germane but bland book, however, cries out for fuller use of primary sources, especially the Warrens' correspondence with John and Abigail Adams, and Mercy's own poetry and prose. A compensatory grasp of factions and issues is lacking, though the book records the external shifts in the alignments of Massachusetts politics. Though Mercy was an energetic satirist, the psychological side of her character emerges insufficiently. Her despair over her willful and favorite son is one of the more vivid elements of the book, along with the estrangement from the Adamses and 1812 reconciliation, the sympathetically rendered collapse of Governor Thomas Hutchinson in England, and Mercy's acquaintance with a more spectacular woman of letters, Catherine Macaulay. A period piece spanning almost a century whose circumstantialities might gently engage specialists, devotees, and researchers of American social history.
Pub Date: Oct. 18, 1972
ISBN: 0395139457
Page Count: 440
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1972
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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