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PSYCHOSURGERY

Name: PSYCHOSURGERY
Author: Joanne Ellison Rodgers
ISBN: 0-06-016405-0

DAMAGING THE BRAIN TO SAVE THE MIND

by Joanne Ellison Rodgers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 20, 1992

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Forget those ice-picking, mind-deadening lobotomies of yesteryear; society needs to keep an open mind about modern psychosurgery, argues Rodgers (Raising Sons, 1984), Director of Public Affairs for Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Rodgers's detailed account of clinical practice, case histories, and quotes from physicians makes for a greater acceptance of modern psychosurgery—which, she says, can be performed with pinpoint accuracy and enjoys seemingly limitless potential to explore and thus to treat a variety of afflictions including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and a host of other severe behavioral disturbances. The author does a good job of describing psychosurgical operations, some quite grisly (one trans-orbital lobotomy, for example, was so horrid that it reportedly made a 74-year-old observing surgeon faint). But the organization of Rodgers's book could cause a headache: topics don't track well; she takes too long to explain exactly what psychosurgery is and how much of it goes on; and she gives the opposition to psychosurgery only short shrift. The suspicion lurks that the author, not exactly an impartial observer, is writing p.r. here, particularly for a group of Johns Hopkins researchers whose views she duly records, along with their stated goal of getting a National Insitutes of Health grant to fund a symposium on the benefits of psychosurgery—which is now to be referred to as the more socially acceptable ``NRI,'' for ``neurological and related interventions.'' An interesting introduction to a brave new world already upon us (one in which, Rodgers explains, surgeons may remove as much as half a brain to treat certain forms of epilepsy). Interesting, too, the discussion of psychosurgery as social-control—but a more balanced presentation would have served the subject better.

Pub Date: May 20, 1992

ISBN: 0-06-016405-0

Page Count: 256

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1992

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.