Though questions of the attainability of the change proposed throughout are left to linger, Atwater’s “blueprint” will...
In his sweeping, dialectical history of California, Atwater investigates the tumultuous marriage of dream and reality in the Golden State.
Atwater’s is a colossal undertaking—he introduces his project as an attempt to take the lessons embedded in California’s collective memories and dreams and apply them to the present state of affairs. His approach is based heavily on citations, pulled mainly from texts by California State Librarian Kevin Starr and journalist Carey McWilliams, often at significant length. Though he preempts criticism of this tactic at the outset, one cannot help but feel overburdened by the quoted material, and perhaps more interested in reading the source texts rather than the presented amalgam. When Atwater is describing California in his words, he does so with equal parts oratorical flair and academic historicism, as well as a smattering of personal anecdotes. Over the course of four parts and eight chapters, he addresses each aspect of the California existence—economics, lifestyle, education, race relations and even geology—in the same way: first in its fabled grandeur, then in its uglier truth and finally with the rhetorical question of “why not fix it?” While this question may feel naïve to readers familiar with the nature of political gridlock, Atwater finally arrives at the simple answer that “the paradisal conceptions we have of how to live life…cannot but be twisted by the fact that we irrevocably live in reality.” This conclusion feels long in coming, as the discrepancy between dream and reality feels inherent throughout the text. Rhetorical questions and answers aside, Atwater at his best is able to elegantly depict California as a metaphor for the United States as a whole—a land in which economic greatness is “an imperfect proxy for societal well-being,” and the greater good is ensnared by arcane bureaucracy and special interest.
Though questions of the attainability of the change proposed throughout are left to linger, Atwater’s “blueprint” will appeal to the hearts of California enthusiasts.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2011
ISBN: 978-0615474663
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Atwater Consulting Group
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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