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NIGHT LETTERS

Name: NIGHT LETTERS
Author: Rob Schultheis
ISBN: 0-517-58861-7

INSIDE WARTIME AFGHANISTAN

by Rob Schultheis ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1992

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A journalist's unsentimental and impressionistic reminiscences of his experiences as a free-lance correspondent in embattled Afghanistan. Schultheis (Bone Games, 1985; The Hidden West, 1982) had trekked through the mountainous Asian republic on several occasions during the 1970's, long before Soviet invaders encountered implacable resistance from poorly armed guerrilla bands. Though he had been at pains to avoid serving in the US military during Vietnam, the author accompanied a photographer friend back to Afghanistan in 1984 to cover mujahedin campaigns against occupying USSR forces. To his great surprise, Schultheis found himself irresistibly drawn both to combat and to the primitive Muslim freedom fighters with whom he traveled on repeated returns to this hard land. (The title here derives from a translation of the Pashto word for the anonymous broadsides insurgents employed to rally support in urban centers.) Unaccountably, the author also found himself relishing, even reveling in, the horrific ironies, idiocies, and narrow escapes of a murderous conflict that held little interest for the outside world, and the text offers a rather full ration of the grim anecdotes he and fellow newsmen found hilarious during their typically harrowing time in country. Still, Schultheis seems not to have taken complete leave of his senses; indeed, he endured deep sorrow for the loss of fallen comrades. After Afghanistan, moreover, his personal symbol for our time became ``a bombed and blasted village, its people streaming away across a ruined landscape, and a refugee camp at the dead end of the line.'' Haunting vignettes of civil strife's barbarities—and fatal attractions.

Pub Date: April 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-517-58861-7

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1992

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.