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Between the World and Us

Name: Between the World and Us
Author: Petar Divjak
ISBN: 978-0-692-58291-6

A WORKINGMAN'S RESPONSE TO BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME

by Petar Divjak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 18, 2015

A studious, provocative hodgepodge of history, conspiracy theory, and philosophy that’s heavier on vitriol than veritas.

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Debut author Divjak attempts to rebut Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2015 prizewinning memoir Between the World and Me.

The author uses a similar structure to Coates’ book, penning a letter to his son, advising him to embrace wariness in the face of wielders of arbitrary power. He divides his book into eight major sections, each revolving loosely around a philosophical idea (such as “Morality, Ethics, or any Attempt to Define Good and Evil cannot be Applied to the Dead”). The first three sections, dedicated specifically to dismantling Coates’ points, passionately defend ad hominem arguments, insisting that Between the World and Me “exemplifies so well the bullshit used by the new economic slave masters of our Technological Society for whom [Coates] ignorantly or intentionally toils.” The irony of associating a pained meditation on the tragedies of being black in America with a new form of slavery seems lost or ignored. The author goes on to draw on his own Slavic roots to justify his confusion about why Coates wouldn’t “use slavery as a source of pride and incentive for education and hope as every other former slave peoples do instead of as an excuse.” This book, effectively a polemic, offers up an odd mix of philosophical sympathies from Niccolò Machiavelli to Karl Marx, all to provide an existentialist take for a working-class audience, asserting that life is despair, that neither law nor nature can be trusted, that ethics are proscribed by the powerful, and personal satisfaction can only be found in resistance to the status quo. To achieve his goals, the author opens up an impressive cache of historical knowledge, ranging from Greco-Roman and military history to existential philosophy to modern scientific theory, all to ultimately claim that people who manage to survive without despair can only be “bullshitters.” What he doesn’t explain is why the impetus of this work, Coates, isn’t entitled to his own despair.

A studious, provocative hodgepodge of history, conspiracy theory, and philosophy that’s heavier on vitriol than veritas.

Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-692-58291-6

Page Count: 102

Publisher: Diviacchi Promotions

Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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.