An enjoyable, thought-provoking approach to addressing conflicts between two people and between nations.
A husband and wife apply the lessons they’ve learned about managing their marriage to questions of international relations and world peace.
In this combination self-help and public policy book, Martin Hellman (editor: Breakthrough: Emerging New Thinking, 1988) and debut author Dorothie Hellman present their narrative in the form of a dialogue between themselves. The book is divided into two parts, with the first focused primarily on their decadeslong marriage and the second on the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world, but the same themes run through both. Although the idea of applying marital advice to foreign relations may raise readers’ eyebrows at first, the authors make a persuasive case for it. They describe the mechanics of their successful but often contentious marriage and demonstrate the personal benefits they derived from taking a holistic approach to their arguments, placing compassion at the center of their decision-making and accepting that neither person has any control over what the other does. They then apply lessons learned from buying a new car, managing an interfaith marriage, and meeting each other’s emotional needs to the concept of improving U.S. relations with Russia, Syria, Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam. The authors also address the issue of nuclear disarmament, a cause that the Hellmans have long supported. The book is at once conversational and solidly informative, and it includes thorough citations. The casual tone (“Dorothie and I don’t expect the nations of the world to love each other the way we do, but we do expect them to grow up enough to reduce the risk of global devastation to a more reasonable level”) makes for an easy, engaging read, and the authors’ clear passion and dedication to their subject on both a personal and a global level add weight to their arguments. The authors demonstrate wide-ranging knowledge and enthusiasm as they urge even skeptical readers to consider the benefits of a new relationship paradigm.
An enjoyable, thought-provoking approach to addressing conflicts between two people and between nations.Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9974923-1-6
Page Count: 328
Publisher: New Map Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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