Fans of medical mysteries will find scores of EIS case histories to slake their appetites in this meticulous history.
Pendergrast (Mirror Mirror: A History of the Human Love Affair with Reflection, 2003, etc.) provides an exhaustive account of the “shoe-leather epidemiologists” who trek to the world’s troubled spots when a serious or unusual disease strikes.
The author digs deep into the archives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to produce an impressive, occasionally awe-inspiring narrative about the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. The organization is comprised of idealistic young men and women who sign up for two years of training and field work, postings during which they can face Ebola in Africa, bird flu in Asia or other more routine clusters of salmonella food poisoning in America. When EIS was founded in 1951, it was a haven for doctors seeking to avoid the draft for the Korean War, and EIS recruits were envisioned as first responders in the case of biowarfare. The early EIS decades were largely devoted to infectious outbreaks—bat rabies, Asian flu, oyster-borne hepatitis, etc.—and EIS sleuthing then and now looks at patient histories and environmental clues, often conducting case-control studies. Pendergrast does not gloss over the moral shortcomings of the early years—the infamous Tuskegee study, vaccines tested on prisoners or institutionalized children—nor does he ignore the role of bureaucratic in-fighting and politics. The author celebrates EIS’s successes and occasional triumphs—like the eradication of smallpox—and the commitment, intelligence and passion of its trainees and alums.
Fans of medical mysteries will find scores of EIS case histories to slake their appetites in this meticulous history.Pub Date: April 13, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-15-101120-9
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
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
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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