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PRESSURE

Name: PRESSURE
Author: Malik Wade
ISBN: 978-0-9986167-0-4

FROM FBI FUGITIVE TO FREEDOM

by Malik Wade ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2017

An engaging work by a drug dealer turned advocate.

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Wade explores his journey through crime, punishment, and redemption in this debut motivational memoir.

The author started selling cocaine at age 15. A poor kid growing up in San Francisco’s Sunnydale projects, he saw it as one of the few lucrative employment options available to him. “Instead of leaving school with biology books,” Wade remembers, “I had a brick of cocaine and a 9-millimeter pistol in my backpack.” The author spends the first third of the book describing his life as a young drug dealer, from riding around in a $400 to $500 car with $50,000 in the back seat to landing in juvenile hall—referred to as “Gladiator School”—to escaping from two kidnappers who snuck up and placed a shotgun barrel on his neck. Wade only fully grasped the consequences of his actions when, at 29, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. That’s when his real story began: more than a decade’s worth of self-examination and self-improvement that led to a profound transformation. From a drug dealer who spent seven years on the FBI’s wanted list, Wade reformed himself into the executive director of a nonprofit organization, a guest lecturer at Stanford Law School and UC Berkeley, and a reflective memoirist: “I offer my counter narrative to many of the common conceptions that some people have about drug dealers, people who go to prison, and people who grow up in the inner city.” Wade is a natural raconteur, and his account of his life both before and during his time in prison makes for compelling reading. His post-prison success is remarkable, and while some of the lessons he wishes to impart read as standard motivational fare, his musings on the ways in which criminals are treated in this country—and the ways in which disadvantaged youth are tempted into crime—are worthy of consideration. The author manages to embody both the successes and failures of the American experience, and in his life the reader gets the opportunity to consider who society deems deserving of punishment and who remains worthy of rehabilitation.

An engaging work by a drug dealer turned advocate.

Pub Date: May 27, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-9986167-0-4

Page Count: 282

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: May 30, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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.