by Mary Edwards Wertsch ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1991
Having grown up in an Army family and thus a ``military brat'' herself, Wertsch is, in her own words, ``a journalist in search not only of ways to describe the roots I share with my subjects, but ways to understand those roots and their implications.'' Impelled to tackle the subject after a chance viewing of The Great Santini, a movie about a dysfunctional military family not unlike her own, Wertsch contends that not all military families are as troubled as the one in the film, but that all live in a separate subculture, marked by a strict class system, rigid discipline, extreme mobility, alienation from the civilian community, and a strong sense of mission. Alcoholism is high, family violence is not uncommon, and the father is frequently absent. Wertsch examines at length these factors, their psychological impact on children, and the adjustments made by military offspring as they grow up. Despite its many handicaps, a military upbringing also offers unique bonuses, and Wertsch stresses the particular strengths that military brats can, and often do, develop. In-depth interviews with 80 military brats— plus various social workers, psychologists, teachers, historians, and others—and quoted extensively; indeed, their revelations constitute a large portion of the test. The subjects were all born between 1932 and 1964, so their stories don't reflect the situation in today's all-volunteer military, with its much higher ratio of servicewomen. Although an attempt was made to include offspring of all ranks, the officer class seems to dominate in the interviews. Military families may have the most interest in (and stamina for) this 512-page portrait, but a more tightly edited version would have greater appeal to civilians.
Pub Date: May 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-517-58400-X
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Harmony
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1991
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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by Charlayne Hunter-Gault ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1992
From the national correspondent for PBS's MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour: a moving memoir of her youth in the Deep South and her role in desegregating the Univ. of Georgia. The eldest daughter of an army chaplain, Hunter-Gault was born in what she calls the ``first of many places that I would call `my place' ''—the small village of Due West, tucked away in a remote little corner of South Carolina. While her father served in Korea, Hunter-Gault and her mother moved first to Covington, Georgia, and then to Atlanta. In ``L.A.'' (lovely Atlanta), surrounded by her loving family and a close-knit black community, the author enjoyed a happy childhood participating in activities at church and at school, where her intellectual and leadership abilities soon were noticed by both faculty and peers. In high school, Hunter-Gault found herself studying the ``comic-strip character Brenda Starr as I might have studied a journalism textbook, had there been one.'' Determined to be a journalist, she applied to several colleges—all outside of Georgia, for ``to discourage the possibility that a black student would even think of applying to one of those white schools, the state provided money for black students'' to study out of state. Accepted at Michigan's Wayne State, the author was encouraged by local civil-rights leaders to apply, along with another classmate, to the Univ. of Georgia as well. Her application became a test of changing racial attitudes, as well as of the growing strength of the civil-rights movement in the South, and Gault became a national figure as she braved an onslaught of hostilities and harassment to become the first black woman to attend the university. A remarkably generous, fair-minded account of overcoming some of the biggest, and most intractable, obstacles ever deployed by southern racists. (Photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-374-17563-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992
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