Bytes and bombs, bureaucrats and booze dominate Wiener's lively account of the six months he spent as the CNN executive producer in Saddam Hussein's Baghdad. When the veteran newsman—he previously covered the Vietnam conflict and the Romanian War- -arrived in August 1990, Iraq and the non-Arab powers were inching toward war. Wiener soon discovered that working in the Iraqi capital was unlike any of his earlier assignments. For one thing, foreign correspondents were assigned Iraqi ``minders,'' functionaries whose job, according to the authorities, was to facilitate the news- gathering process but who were, in fact, little more than government informants. Setting up the CNN offices in the Al-Rasheed Hotel, Wiener and his staff managed, despite the obstacles placed in their way, to broadcast reports that accurately detailed conditions in the country. Government ministers were interviewed, and the local situation was analyzed on a day-to-day basis in such a way that the Iraqi powers-that-be gradually became more cooperative. (Wiener made it clear to them that he felt the Bush Administration's early handling of the crisis was provocative and bound to fail.) When war eventually broke out and most of the foreign press was expelled, Wiener and his crew were allowed to remain. The CNN news team—notably Peter Arnett and Bernard Shaw- -were thus able to become the first in history to report on a conflict from behind enemy lines. Several vignettes here capture such personalities as Muhammad Ali, Jesse Jackson, and Carl Bernstein, all of whom visited the Iraqi capital during the crisis. Wiener views most of these emissaries with a jaundiced eye, finding their motives self-serving. According to the author, Bernstein was a moocher, Ali seemed punch-drunk, and Jackson received special treatment from the American embassy. A refreshingly candid memoir told with pride but also an often disarming flippancy.
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 1992
ISBN: 0-385-42165-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991
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
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