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NO HANDS

Name: NO HANDS
Author: Judith Crown
ISBN: 0-8050-3553-2

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SCHWINN BICYCLE COMPANY, AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION

by Judith Crown & Glenn Coleman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1996

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A fine generation-spanning account of the unhappy fate of Schwinn, a family firm that for the better part of a century bestrode US bicycle business like a colossus. Although they received no cooperation from surviving members of the founding family, Crown and Coleman (both staffers at Crain's Chicago Business) tapped a wealth of other sources to reconstruct the sad story of a Windy City enterprise that achieved the status of an American household name, only to develop an inbred arrogance that rendered it unable to meet the challenges of an increasingly volatile marketplace. The authors track the activities of Ignaz Schwinn, who set up shop as a manufacturer in 1895, four years after emigrating to the US from Germany. During the patriarch's lengthy tenure, which lasted until his death at 88 in 1948, Schwinn earned a reputation for quality and innovation, becoming the brand of choice among kids, who accounted for 95 percent of the domestic industry's sales. The founder's son and grandson consolidated these gains, and the company produced one million bicycles in 1968. Schwinn's prosperity came to a screeching halt in the mid-1970s. Among other problems, the company (which was unprepared as well as unwilling to meet overnight demand from fitness-minded adults for mountain and racing bikes) lost momentum in the children's market. Imports, a steadfast refusal to go public, labor strife, an unsuccessful move of manufacturing operations from Chicago to Mississippi, resistance to technological advances not developed in- house, and other miscalculations all took a toll. In the fall of l992, Schwinn filed for bankruptcy. The marque lives on, thanks to vulture capitalists who snapped up corporate assets at distress prices, but control has passed from the founding family's hands. A tellingly detailed, often gossipy, and consistently absorbing case study on the largely self-induced eclipse of a commercial paragon, from journalists who know the territory. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) (Author tour)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-8050-3553-2

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

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.