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A DOG’S HISTORY OF AMERICA

Name: A DOG’S HISTORY OF AMERICA
Author: Mark Derr
ISBN: 0-86547-631-4

HOW OUR BEST FRIEND EXPLORED, CONQUERED, AND SETTLED A CONTINENT

by Mark Derr ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2004

A humbling reminder of the dog’s remarkable spirit and intelligence in the face, even, of human cruelty.

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A consummate and loving tribute to canines as well as a comprehensive history, seamlessly blending facts, anecdotes, and ideas.

Though rigorously unsentimental, Derr (Dog’s Best Friend, 1997, etc.) infuses his text with loving concern and quiet outrage at how dogs were, and still are, treated. Since the first dogs crossed the Bering Strait with their human companions between 35,000 and 12,000 years ago, dogs have participated in the settlement of the continent. They helped hunt, were a food source (even Lewis and Clark ate dogs), guarded settlements, and did humans’ dirty work. The Spanish trained dogs to kill the enemy in battle, slave-owners used them to hunt runaway slaves, and in pre-industrial times dogs were beasts of burden who pulled heavy carts and worked tread mills. The Enlightenment changed attitudes—dogs began to be valued for their character, loyalty, and company—but abuses continued, ameliorated somewhat by the activism of newly established humane societies. In the wake of Darwinism and a growing social obsession with pure blood, pedigree dogs were declared superior, despite mongrels’ proven record of accomplishment. Derr includes stories of heroic dogs like Satan, who in WWI dodged bullets to take a message that saved a garrison under fire; the Alaskan sled team whose 1920s “serum run” saved a town from diphtheria; and dogs in the Pacific who detected hidden Japanese snipers in WWII. Though physical cruelty to dogs is less socially acceptable today, Derr warns that they still endure abusive treatment. He also deplores the health consequences of inbreeding, the lack of space in cities where dogs can run, and the inept training of working dogs.

A humbling reminder of the dog’s remarkable spirit and intelligence in the face, even, of human cruelty.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-86547-631-4

Page Count: 352

Publisher: North Point/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2004

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW THE DOG BECAME THE DOG
by Mark Derr

- BOOK REVIEW
DOG'S BEST FRIEND
by Mark Derr

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FRONTIERSMAN
by Mark Derr

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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.