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UNABOMBER

Name: UNABOMBER
Author: Jim Freeman
ISBN: 978-1-940773-06-3

BREAKING THE RULES AND CHANGING THE FBI

by Jim Freeman ; Terry D. Turchie ; Donald Max Noel ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 17, 2014

Despite its considerable flaws, the book is valuable as a rare insider’s account from an agency that does not value...

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San Francisco–based FBI administrator Freeman chronicles the agency’s two-decade quest to identify and arrest the notorious homegrown terrorist.

Although the book lists three authors, the text is a first-person narrative by Freeman, who was given the difficult task of heading a large team charged with cracking the Unabomber case after years of frustration within the agency. (Freeman mentions co-authors Turchie and Noel frequently, but there is no sign that either wrote any of the chapters.) Between the explosion of the first bomb in 1978 and Ted Kaczynski's arrest in 1996, his homemade devices killed three and injured 23 more. Kaczynski mailed the bombs to private homes, university offices and commercial establishments; a few times, he physically placed them near such locales. In 1979, he arranged for a bomb-laden package to be hauled in the cargo bay of a commercial airliner heading for Washington, D.C.; it damaged the aircraft, but the pilots managed an emergency landing without fatalities. Freeman emphasizes throughout the impressive resources of the FBI but also includes criticism of the bureaucratic methods that initially hindered the investigation. He and his task force had to determine how to bypass FBI protocols without getting fired and without publicly besmirching the agency's image. Although the result of the investigation is cause for celebration, Freeman is painfully aware that the Unabomber might have remained at large if Kaczynski hadn’t anonymously written a manifesto and insisted it be published in the mass media. That led to a tip that sent Freeman's team to his isolated Montana cabin and resulted in a life sentence for Kaczynski. Regrettably, his account is poorly written and organized. Characters from inside and outside the FBI appear, disappear and reappear with mind-bending rapidity.

Despite its considerable flaws, the book is valuable as a rare insider’s account from an agency that does not value transparency.

Pub Date: June 17, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-940773-06-3

Page Count: 380

Publisher: History Publishing Company

Review Posted Online: April 1, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2014

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.