by John C. Danforth ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 21, 1994
A personal, insider's view of the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, from the justice's chief Senate sponsor. Missouri senator Danforth is an ordained Episcopal priest, and religious metaphors inform both this book's title and its tale of Thomas's eventual confirmation. Given that other authors have explored the context and politics of the Thomas hearings in greater depth, Danforth's account of day-to-day strategizing offers only a few interesting nuggets. Lawyers handling Thomas initially discounted Anita Hill's allegations of sexual harassment; Danforth backed up his longtime friend and former employee from the start, while Thomas told him—somewhat dubiously—that Hill was ``very ideological.'' When the allegations hit the media, Thomas was besieged. His wife, Ginni, is quoted recounting his anxiety and humiliation, and Danforth describes Thomas sobbing. The author relates his disputes with Senate Judiciary Chair Joseph Biden on handling the hearings and reflects that a longer delay might have allowed Thomas to retain counsel and gain procedural safeguards. He also recalls advising Thomas, who absolutely denied Hill's allegations, to say he'd agree to a lie detector test when Senate staffers were similarly tested about news leaks. Danforth shifted from minister to ``street fighter'' in an attempt to suggest that Hill was fantasizing and destroy her credibility; his own staffers, in fact, argued against some of his efforts, and Danforth himself now regrets playing dirty. The author's contention that the hearing procedures were unfair is worthy, but his account is necessarily slanted. Danforth avoids engaging Thomas's ideas: ``I did not think his political philosophy should be relevant to his nomination,'' he declares—which seems glib, given Thomas's show of hard-line conservatism as a justice. Strictly for the converted. (First printing of 50,000; author tour)
Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1994
ISBN: 0-670-86022-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
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by Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayres ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 25, 2010
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
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IN THE NEWS
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis
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