by Lorraine Jean Hopping ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2010
Hopping wraps her cogent account of how the Nee-mee-pu (Nez Perce) were rooted out of their homeland and only subdued after a long and heroic pursuit around twin character portraits of the group and of its most renowned member. While presenting Joseph as one chief among several—and not a war chief, as sometimes depicted, but “a peace chief, a civil leader” whose greatest skill was the ability to “sway others with well-chosen words”—she places him in a peaceable, prosperous and steady society that enjoyed good relations with encroaching “So-ya-pu” until broken promises, profound misunderstanding and outright aggression escalated into violence. Joseph argued for peace before and during the tragic “War of 1877” and in later years too as he became a nationally known figure. His tale has been told plenty of times to young audiences, but this iteration comes in an appealingly compact format, with plenty of contemporary photos and maps, plus a generous selection of backmatter. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-6842-2
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
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More In The Series
by Bill O'Reilly ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 11, 2013
The melodrama is laid on with a trowel, but it’s nevertheless a thoroughly documented, visually rich presentation of the...
Aiming for a young audience, the popular political pundit pares down his Killing Kennedy (2012) considerably (and leaves out the sexual exploits) while shoveling in sheaves of documentary photographs.
O’Reilly writes in staccato bursts of present-tense prose chopped into short chapters and featuring quick shifts in point of view. This effectively cranks up the suspense despite tinges of purple (“The man with fewer than three years to live places his left hand on the Bible”) and the foreordained outcome. The book chronicles John F. Kennedy’s course from PT-109 through a challenging presidency and positively harps on Lee Harvey Oswald’s determined but doomed quest to become a “great man.” Though he ends with a personal anecdote that hints at the possibility of a conspiracy, the author’s closely detailed account of the assassination itself and its aftermath follows the Warren Commission’s version of events. News photos or snapshots on nearly every page provide views of the Kennedy and Oswald families over time, as well as important figures, places and major world events. Aside from a perfunctory list of “Fun Facts About the Early 1960s” that seems misplaced considering the somber topic, the backmatter is both extensive and helpful for further study of Kennedy’s career and accomplishments.
The melodrama is laid on with a trowel, but it’s nevertheless a thoroughly documented, visually rich presentation of the official version. (timeline, quotes, capsule bios, sites, books, films, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)Pub Date: June 11, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9802-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
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More by Bill O'Reilly
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Bill O'Reilly ; illustrated by William Low
by CAP Saucier ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2015
Better ventures into the high frontier abound—and so do better profiles of our leading living science popularizer.
A tour of the solar system and the cosmos beyond, with a celebrity guide standing by.
Saucier opens with two chapters of biography and later shoehorns in a third. Forcibly interspersed are capsule histories of astronomy and the universe, discussions of galaxy and star types, a progression past our astronomical neighbors from the sun to the Oort cloud, and a final omnium-gatherum look at exoplanets, asteroid impacts on Earth and like matters of current interest. Tyson’s role in all this is to be paraphrased, often inanely: “Neil reassures us that dark matter does not interfere with Earth or humans as we move around on our planet’s surface”; “Neil hopes Earth does not end up like Venus….” Not only is the narrative further hampered by clumsy prose, but the author leaves indigo out of the visible spectrum, makes conflicting claims about whether or not Ceres is the only round asteroid, and confusingly asserts that Saturn’s “surface” (which it doesn’t have, at least not a solid one) is less colorful than Jupiter’s due to “a thick layer of clouds” (as if Jupiter lacks the same). Though sometimes misplaced, the many photos, both of space taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and of Tyson at various ages, are a plus but can’t compensate for the book’s many liabilities.
Better ventures into the high frontier abound—and so do better profiles of our leading living science popularizer. (notes, glossary, bibliography, no index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)Pub Date: March 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63388-014-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
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