Republican Party heavyweight Nofziger's political memoir details Ronald Reagan's rise from perceived joke to popular President, and Nofziger's role in that rise. The most interesting passages here involve Reagan's early days in politics—his transition from former actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild to governor of California. Backed by Republican money-men Holmes Tuttle and Henry Salvatori, Reagan proved almost immediately to have superb political instincts. His reliance on advisers and ``macromanagement'' style, according to Nofziger, were apparent from the first. As governor, he urged aides—caught up in their importance and prone to work late—to go home to their families. Another Reagan phenomenon that surfaced right away was the governor's omnivorous but unselective memory. Nofziger, though a Reagan loyalist to the core, is catty enough to relay that Reagan's drivers and security men, prone to express their political opinions, were ordered to stop lest Reagan repeat their layman's views in an unguarded moment. If Reagan is the book's overarching hero, one of its main villains is James Baker, perceived by Nofziger as an opportunist who muted the projected Reagan revolution and betrayed true believers, a vindictive heretic willing to ``use Reagan for his own ends.'' Nofziger has spent decades around electoral politics and the corridors of power, as a press secretary and as as assistant to the President for political affairs in the Reagan White House—and he is a bit flip about flaws in the system. ``After all,'' he crows, ``anyone can lie to the press, but confusing them with the truth is an art I am proud to have mastered.'' Yet when Nofziger discusses his entanglement in the American justice system—he was cleared of unethical lobbying charges—his bitterness knows no bounds. A partisan, mean-spirited, but sharply observed view of a fascinating political era.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-89526-513-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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