This edifying collection of letters between two titans of American legal thought will be a welcome addition to the library of any student of legal theory, legal history, or the Supreme Court. Editors Mennel (History/Univ. of New Hampshire) and Compston (former director of the National History Education Network) have compiled and annotated the personal correspondence of two of America's preeminent legal minds, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Felix Frankfurter. When they first met and began corresponding, Holmes, though in his 70s, was at the height of his formidable powers—a sitting Supreme Court justice and the author of leading texts on American law. Frankfurter was a highly respected attorney and an ebullient and brilliant young professor at Harvard Law School. In Holmes, Frankfurter found a mentor and sponsor worthy of deification. ``For you to call my work `really A1,' '' Frankfurter wrote to Holmes, ``is to be knighted by the King!'' In Frankfurter, Holmes found a doting pupil whose exhilaration and youth rejuvenated the aging and cynical justice: ``Even your more optimistic outlook and prophecy for human destinies than I can venture upon makes you dearer to me.'' Spanning the period from 1912 through 1934, their never-before-published letters present in a terse microcosm not only the heart of American legal theory, but indeed the core of early-20th-century American intellectual development. They do not contain lengthy exegeses of jurisprudence but lively snippets of philosophy along with politics and gossip. The editors open the collection with a useful but, for the uninitiated, too brief introduction to the philosophies and history of Holmes and Frankfurter. They have, however, supplied rich annotations regarding the individuals, legal cases, books, and events alluded to by the two men. This, then, is a most useful addition to the existing biographies and commentaries regarding Holmes, Frankfurter, and their contemporaries.
Pub Date: Nov. 18, 1996
ISBN: 0-87451-758-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996
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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