Most of us will be familiar, at least in general terms, with the incidents detailed in this nine-part collection of reports, but the cumulative effect is still tragic and horrifying. We begin with a pollution overview: the rampant growth of the chemical industry, the increasing incidence of cancer and occupational disease, nuclear wastes, pesticides, fouled air and groundwater, oozing dumpsites, bureaucratic bungling, corporate hostility and neglect. Seven thoroughly documented case histories—by local people—follow: Michigan Chemical's fire retardant, PBB, mistakenly mixed with animal feed; kepone (a DDT-like pesticide), which poisoned Allied Chemical's own workers and the entire James River; West Valley's defunct and now festering nuclear waste reprocessing plant and dump, whose ownership was foisted upon N.Y. State; General Electric's discharge into the Hudson River of PCBs (chemical cousins of PBB), whose ill-effects were known back in 1936; Reserve Mining's dumping of pulverized rock containing asbestos-like fibers into Lake Superior; the herbicide 2,4,5-D and its lethal contaminant, dioxin, blithely sprayed by the military in Vietnam and the Forestry Service in the Pacific Northwest; and Hooker's infamous Love Canal. Nader himself winds up, outlining feasible preventative measures from integrated pest management schemes to "criminal penalties for corporate criminals." What emerges past the ineptitude and indifference at all levels of responsibility is the disturbing fact that most of these disasters could and should have been prevented, and that workers whose livelihood depends on chemicals, even hazardous ones, can't be expected to complain ("kepone trucking"). Carefully detailed, quietly implacable; a useful and chilling summary.
Pub Date: June 17, 1981
ISBN: 0871562766
Page Count: 369
Publisher: Sierra Club/Counterpoint
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1981
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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