by Neal F Thompson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2013
An impressively argued takedown of historical orthodoxy.
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A revisionist history of the Cold War challenges simplistic notions of America’s heroic victory over communism.
The now-conventional historical interpretation of the Cold War imagines a relentless half-century of bipartisan resistance against the global spread of communism inspired by American diplomat George F. Kennan’s famous theory of containment. It sees the low points of anti-communist policy as being the unhinged witch hunts of McCarthyism and the morally and strategically disastrous military campaigns in Southeast Asia. However, debut author Thompson, a practicing attorney, contends that the real story is a far messier one and that foreign policy during the Cold War years was largely shaped by domestic political squabbles, electoral opportunism, and brazen mendacity. President Harry Truman, he says, was skeptical about the strategic significance of South Korea but understood that its surrender to communistic forces would be a political catastrophe for the Democratic Party. Truman’s intervention in Korea became the paradigm for U.S. foreign policy in Asia as a whole, the author notes; neither Presidents John F. Kennedy nor Lyndon Johnson were ever truly committed to repelling communists in Vietnam, he says, but both worried that the perception of weakness in the face of communist aggrandizement would be punished at the polls. The book offers similar analyses of the distance between conviction and action for Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter. Thompson argues that U.S. foreign policy, built around the Truman Doctrine, did in fact contribute to the demise of both communism and the Soviet Union, but the implementation of that doctrine was still largely “directed from start to finish by an incompetent, dishonest, corrupt political class, with evil conduct, dumb luck, and the law of unintended consequences providing this country with its Cold War victory.” The author researched and wrote his study over a span of 16 years, and his meticulousness is evident on every page; his command of the relevant historical materials, both primary and secondary literature, is beyond reproach. His thesis is an impressively subtle one, avoiding demonization or valorization of any of the primary actors. For example, President Ronald Reagan is described as the one American president who governed in a way that was congruent with his own political philosophy, attached in word and deed to the destruction of the Soviet Union. However, the author also points out what he sees as the lawlessness of Reagan’s presidency—a continuation of the Cold War legacy in the executive branch, established by Truman. As a whole, the study largely covers familiar ground and relies heavily on the secondary literature—a fact the author acknowledges by calling it a “work of synthesis rather than original history.” Nevertheless, it’s a valuable single-volume introduction to a plausible counterhistory of the Cold War that ably calls into question, among other things, the notions that the Vietnam War was unwinnable and that McCarthyism was motivated by baseless fantasy. Also, Thompson provides some trenchant thoughts on how to rehabilitate American democracy, including recommending compulsory military service for all citizens.
An impressively argued takedown of historical orthodoxy.Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-615-62272-9
Page Count: 588
Publisher: Charlevoix Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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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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