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A WALK ALONG LAND'S END

Name: A WALK ALONG LAND'S END
Author: John McKinney
ISBN: 0-06-258530-4

by John McKinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1995

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An environmentally minded trailblazer hikes the entire California coastline, tossing out barbs against corporations, developers, and government agencies as frequently as he pushes aside recalcitrant manzanita bush and dodges poison oak. The writer, the executive director of the California Coastal Trails Foundation, chronicles his 1,700-mile meander along the beaches and through coastal mountain ranges, alternately bushwhacking through scrubland, trespassing on the seaside lawns of condominium owners, and protesting against the unceasing residential and industrial encroachment that blocks his northerly progress. Beginning at the Mexican border, where he encounters a family of illegal aliens, McKinney hikes about 15 miles daily, discoursing on native Californian shrubbery, offshore oil-well leaks, and the adventures of earlier Californian notables, such as 19th-century sailor/writer Richard Henry Dana, and later, less salubrious figures, such as Ronald Reagan. This is not quite a guidebook for prospective hikers; McKinney is often stopped and upbraided for being where he shouldn't; he flees across miles of ``off-limits'' military bases; he crashes the yearly ``Rancheros'' party, a gathering of Fortune 500 types who own vast tracts of rangeland. One chapter is devoted to his recollections of the disastrous 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill; elsewhere, McKinney recounts his protests outside the gate of the Diablo Nuclear Power Plant in 1981. The more northerly portion of McKinney's hike is apt to appeal to the reader searching for some calming nature writing, but the purpose of this book is not to entertain but to admonish the reader about the necessity of ``a new visualization'' in our society's approach to the land, and especially the coastline. At points a bit redundant and overly ironic, but generally informative and immediate in its impact.

Pub Date: May 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-06-258530-4

Page Count: 256

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995

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.