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LEVEL 4

VIRUS HUNTERS OF THE CDC

Adventures of two gutsy physicians fighting deadly viruses amidst political chicanery and under incredibly harsh and primitive conditions. ``Level 4'' refers to the biosafety standards required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for working with lethal agents. Among these are the viruses that cause Ebola and Lassa fevers. McCormick, the initial narrator, gives a vivid picture of trying to control outbreaks of these in Sierra Leone and Zaire early in his career as an epidemiologist for the CDC. In 1986, he asked Fisher-Hoch, a British researcher into the pathophysiology of viral hemorrhagic fevers, to join the CDC, and soon afterward she too was doing fieldwork in Africa. Although both doctors are masters of the quiet understatement (they take turns narrating and have nearly identical styles), their tales of plague fighting in isolated African villages often boggle the imagination. Their dispassionate description of the outbreak of Ebola among monkeys in a laboratory in Reston, Va., differs markedly from the high drama of the event as described in Richard Preston's bestselling The Hot Zone (1994). McCormick's account of tracing the spread of AID in Zaire, where the primary mode of transmission turned out to be heterosexual contact, is especially noteworthy, as is his criticism of the Reagan administration for denying this finding, preferring to see AIDS as simply a ``gay plague.'' Fisher-Hoch's experiences in Saudi Arabia during an outbreak of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever reveal as much about the subjugation of women as about disease. The doctors wed in 1992 and since 1993 have been working in Karachi, Pakistan, where cholera, typhus, and hepatitis are rampant and overpopulation, violence, and extreme poverty are facts of life. Demonstrates clearly that while viruses can be deadly, humans may have more to fear from humanity itself. (16 pages photos, not seen) (First printing of 100,000; $150,000 ad/promo; author tour; radio satellite tour)

Pub Date: July 1, 1996

ISBN: 1-57036-277-7

Page Count: 288

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1996

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NUTCRACKER

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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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

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

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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