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CONTINENTAL DRIFTER

Name: CONTINENTAL DRIFTER
Author: Michael J. McRae
ISBN: 1-55821-243-4

DISPATCHES FROM THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH

by Michael J. McRae ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 10, 1994

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Fourteen essays—most previously published in Outside and other magazines—by a world traveler and adventurer. In his introduction, McCrae muses on the reasons for his vagabondage (``a nomadic upbringing as a military brat, my romanticism, and the counterculture ethic of the sixties''). Usually, though, he's less introspective than, say, Paul Theroux, and less flashy than, say, Tim Cahill. This allows him to produce some fine profiles in which he never commits the error, common among adventure-journalists, of standing in front of his subject. Notable here are presentations of Jane Goodall, as brave and resolute as ever, despite tourists invading her land and her beloved chimps turning out to be cannibals; Richard Bangs, ``the P.T. Barnum of the adventure-travel industry,'' who manages a truck rally through the Amazon basin; Joe Cummings, author of a guidebook to Thailand; and Warren Pearson, a middle-aged professor from California who tried, unsuccessfully, to sail alone to Antarctica. McCrae spends much of his time in Africa, where, besides visiting Goodall, he fly-fishes in Kenya; rides an Arab dhow off the eastern coast; stomps through AIDS-infested villages and little-visited jungles in Uganda; and watches cheetahs stalk impalas under the Nairobi skyline. In South America, McCrae runs out of food while skiing the Patagonian icecap; in Asia, he listens to Michael Jackson records in Outer Mongolia and munches on croissants in the Holiday Inn in Tibet (``had it not been for the Tibetan staff in the coffee shop, I might have been in Dayton, Ohio'')—a nation that, he says, the Chinese are turning into a ``Buddhist World theme park.'' Small, upbeat, evanescent pieces: good reading on that next Everest expedition.

Pub Date: Jan. 10, 1994

ISBN: 1-55821-243-4

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Lyons Press

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993

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.