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TRAVELS WITH A HUNGRY BEAR

Name: TRAVELS WITH A HUNGRY BEAR
Author: Mark Kramer
ISBN: 0-395-42670-7

A JOURNEY TO THE RUSSIAN HEARTLAND

by Mark Kramer ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 29, 1996

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A vivid personal journey into the question of how Communism ruined farming in the Soviet Union, and an indication that we should not look for improvement any time soon. Kramer the author of a highly praised book on farming in the US (Three Farms, 1980, etc.), was asked in 1987 by the New York Times Magazine to explain ``why a nation whose farms stretched from Norway to Korea across eleven time zones suffered nearly empty shops.'' His journeys over a period of seven years provide a devastating picture of a smug and selfish bureaucracy, a disillusioned and unmotivated farming population, an infrastructure where little works, and an industry that simply didn't know how much it didn't know. Kramer imagines telling Iowa farmers ``who demand ambulance-speed service when their combines break'' that a repair service in Russia boasted proudly that it could repair combines in three weeks. What makes it worse is that, on all but Kramer's last trip, he is the guest of the government and is taken to show farms. Over that period, he sees farmers introducing reforms based on personal effort and reward frustrated by the opposition of an officialdom that fears it will be undermined, and by the envy of those working less. Even after 1991, when the Communist Party has fallen, Kramer can discern no improvement. A farmer he had publicized in the US as ``the farmer of the future'' is driven off his land when his rent is raised more than 500 percent. And in an afterword he reports that farm output has fallen by a quarter since the demise of the Soviet Union. Kramer is knowledgeable and he writes well, and it is not his fault, though it is Russia's tragedy, that his account tails off into something close to despair. (An excerpt from this book was included in Best American Essays 1994.)

Pub Date: April 29, 1996

ISBN: 0-395-42670-7

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996

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.