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CAR

Name: CAR
Author: Mary Walton
ISBN: 0-393-04080-1

A DRAMA OF THE AMERICAN WORKPLACE

by Mary Walton ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1997

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The newest entry in the burgeoning genre of behind-the-scenes auto books. Journalist Walton (Deming Management at Work, 1990) here turns to Ford to observe how the company updates its top seller, the Taurus. As in other recent books on automakers designing new models or updating old ones, Waltons approach is fast, jumping from smoky boardrooms to the clay-filled basements where the real design work is done. And her characters, too, take cues from central casting: the aging leader, uncomfortable with women, who takes on one last car; the rising young female exec he clashes with and comes to admire; the rogue designers who want style, no matter what. Walton certainly has fun with her subject and revels in revealing the Dilbert-esque machinations of a large corporation. When one engineer new to the Taurus project tries to get his phone fixed, he discovers that the intricate Ford hierarchy is such that only his supervisor is allowed to make a service call. Another supervisor announces that the black rubber gap hiders universally known as ``gimps'' would now be called ``aeroshields''—though that word has already been chosen to designate another part on the car; much confusion results. The gorier details of the car industry also appeal to Walton, who explains how federal crash regulations were developed using human cadavers. (The testers had just 24 hours to work with the bodies.) The larger story here is well done, and the race between Honda, Ford, and Toyota for market share is fairly interesting. But much of the script is familiar, and the insights amount to little more than that the American spirit of competition, as well as corporate bureaucracy and workplace pettiness, are alive and well. A late entry in a crowded field, but solidly written and reported. (First serial to Fortune)

Pub Date: May 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-393-04080-1

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1997

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.