The fourth and final volume in the Handlins' monumental study (Liberty in Expansion, 1989, etc.) of the development of liberty in American history. Like earlier books in their series, this volume explores a cohesive theme: ``the forces that narrowed or expanded peoples' ability to act'' in the period after 1920. The authors divide their survey into three parts. In the first, ``The World Made Safe—For Despair, 19201950,'' they trace the transformations in the relationship between Americans and their government wrought by the successive shocks of the Depression, the New Deal (and the vast governmental bureaucracy created by it), and the Second World War. While often still embracing the traditional American view of the limited role and powers of government, Americans came to view the government as playing a significant role in creating conditions in which both liberty and equality could thrive. In the second section, ``Leveling Out, 19501970,'' the authors sketch how entitlement programs like the Great Society, changes in social mores, and increasing emphasis on self-gratification failed to relieve tensions between the demand for equality and the desire for liberty. Furthermore, the drive to achieve equality of results (as opposed to equality of opportunity) for women and members of ethnic and racial minorities undermined the traditional idea of liberty by ``shift[ing] emphasis away from the merits of individuals to entitlements as group members.'' In their last section, ``Equality's Challenge,'' the authors sketch a troubling portrait of a society in which a superabundance of material wealth and an almost anarchic emphasis on liberation from social and moral constraints have not prevented widespread despair and unhappiness. Eloquently though lugubriously, the Handlins point out the paradoxes of a society in which a deteriorating moral consensus and a quest for equality of result have undermined both liberty and equality.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-06-017513-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.
Too much free time leads a New Hampshire bookseller into yet another case of murder.
Now that Tricia Miles has Pixie Poe and Mr. Everett practically running her bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, she finds herself at loose ends. Her wealthy sister, Angelica, who in the guise of Nigela Ricita has invested heavily in making Stoneham a bookish tourist attraction, is entering the amateur competition for the Great Booktown Bake-Off. So Tricia, who’s recently taken up baking as a hobby, decides to join her and spends a lot of time looking for the perfect cupcake recipe. A visit to another bookstore leaves Tricia witnessing a nasty argument between owner Joyce Widman and next-door neighbor Vera Olson over the trimming of tree branches that hang over Joyce’s yard—also overheard by new town police officer Cindy Pearson. After Tricia accepts Joyce’s offer of some produce from her garden, they find Vera skewered by a pitchfork, and when Police Chief Grant Baker arrives, Joyce is his obvious suspect. Ever since Tricia moved to Stoneham, the homicide rate has skyrocketed (Poisoned Pages, 2018, etc.), and her history with Baker is fraught. She’s also become suspicious about the activities at Pets-A-Plenty, the animal shelter where Vera was a dedicated volunteer. Tricia’s offered her expertise to the board, but president Toby Kingston has been less than welcoming. With nothing but baking on her calendar, Tricia has plenty of time to investigate both the murder and her vague suspicions about the shelter. Plenty of small-town friendships and rivalries emerge in her quest for the truth.
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0272-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
A murder is committed in a stalled transcontinental train in the Balkans, and every passenger has a watertight alibi. But Hercule Poirot finds a way.
**Note: This classic Agatha Christie mystery was originally published in England as Murder on the Orient Express, but in the United States as Murder in the Calais Coach. Kirkus reviewed the book in 1934 under the original US title, but we changed the title in our database to the now recognizable title Murder on the Orient Express. This is the only name now known for the book. The reason the US publisher, Dodd Mead, did not use the UK title in 1934 was to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel, Orient Express.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1934
ISBN: 978-0062073495
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1934
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