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ADAMS V. TEXAS

Name: ADAMS V. TEXAS
Author: Randall Adams
ISBN: 0-312-05811-X

by Randall Adams & William Hoffer & Marilyn Mona Hoffer ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 18, 1991

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In a shocking and absorbing narrative, Adams, a former inmate on death row, recounts his wrongful conviction for murder in 1976, his 13 years in a Texas prison, and the protracted legal and political battle to free him. Straightforwardly and without bitterness, Adams—writing with the help of the Hoffers (Freefall, 1989, etc.)—tells how casual acquaintance David Harris, the juvenile murderer of a police officer, identified Adams as the murderer. Although Harris already had an extensive record of serious crime and Adams had no criminal record, and although there was considerable evidence that Adams was not at the crime scene, the press and police regarded Adams's guilt as a foregone conclusion. Adams was convicted and sentenced to death. The prosecutor, Doug Mulder, emerges here as a profoundly unethical man, willing to suppress exculpatory evidence in order to achieve the conviction and death sentence he so desired. Ultimately, it took a decision of the Supreme Court to get Adams off death row (the court ruled that Texas jury-selection procedures predisposed the jurors to condemn Adams to death); however, it took years of further legal wrangling and a confession from Harris (as well as publicity, especially from Earl Morris's film The Thin Blue Line) to persuade Texas authorities to drop the charges against Adams and free him. Adams's description of life in prison is harrowing, and the story of his long ordeal makes one wonder how he did not succumb to despair. A chilling, forthright account of a Kafkaesque nightmare, rendered with a remarkable lack of resentment.

Pub Date: June 18, 1991

ISBN: 0-312-05811-X

Page Count: 400

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1991

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.