Essays from the editor-in-chief of Ms., including: an interesting look back at the feminist wave she helped start 20 years ago; some fine partisan journalism; and some perfectly dreadful flights of fancy. The earliest essays here are classics of late-60's, left- inflected early feminist rhetoric to which Morgan has added context and reflection through self-critical introductory notes. A cofounder of the Sisterhood Is Global Institute, Morgan is most impressive as a journalist and activist covering international women's issues, taking readers on personal, detailed visits to unfamiliar realms. She meets with Palestinian women (after the start of the Intifada and two years after an earlier visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip that accounted for the strongest section of The Demon Lover, 1989), finding them still struggling to maintain constructive values in counterpoint to war-culture- -although young Palestinian girls who two years earlier dreamed of being teachers and doctors now say they hope to become ``the mother of a martyr.'' Morgan's 1988 visit to the Philippines introduces local women dealing with male domination, economic oppression, and sexual tourism. The issues raised—as well as the rural women who walk 12 miles to attend a meeting on women's rights—prove that feminism is not a purely middle-class concern. But when Morgan eschews journalism for creativity, her musings on metaphor and her muddled attempts to link feminism and modern physics (as in The Anatomy of Freedom, 1982) show clumsy self-indulgence. Too valuable to be ignored, but too often testing the reader's patience.
Pub Date: Nov. 2, 1992
ISBN: 0-393-03427-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1992
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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