bookshelf

THE D.A.

Name: THE D.A.
Author: Lawrence Taylor
ISBN: 0-688-11731-7

A TRUE STORY

by Lawrence Taylor ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1996

bookshelf

Taylor (To Honor and Obey, 1992, etc.) chronicles one fascinating year (mid-1991 through mid-1992) behind the scenes with a deputy DA at the Los Angeles district attorney's office, ``the largest prosecuting agency in the world.'' Before there was O.J., there were the Menendez brothers, the Charles Keating savings and loan trial, the Rodney King trial, and the ensuing Reginald Denny case. With those headline grabbers in the background, Taylor tags along with Larry Longo, 52, a senior deputy district attorney, to learn what the job is like for ``a foot soldier in the front trenches'' and out of the spotlight. A ``gruff and scarred veteran of over twenty years of trial warfare,'' Longo ``had not given up an acquittal in eighteen years.'' His cases, while important and sensitive locally, do not get CNN coverage: the prosecution of a respected LA attorney for bilking a client; a case involving a Crips gang member accused of torturing one of his street pushers and feeding him to his pit bulls; the kidnapping and rape of a woman whose car had broken down. Longo's trickiest case found him outmaneuvered by a slick, politically powerful defense attorney named Mike Yamaki, whose client, a prominent leader in the Japanese-American community, was charged with shooting his best friend to death when he found him in the arms of his wife. Among other complexities, the case involved the controversial drug Halcion. The man was convicted, but Yamaki made a successful motion for a new trial by charging that Longo had committed prosecutorial misconduct by making a comment to the jury about the defendant's use of the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying. With glimpses of Judge Lance Ito and Marcia Clark and looks back at Vincent Bugliosi and others well known in the LA legal arena, Taylor does a masterful, straightfoward job of showing the day-to-day workings—and failings—of the judicial system. (photos, not seen)

Pub Date: March 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-688-11731-7

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.