The author of A Capital For The Nation (1990) presents another American symbol in a skimpy history of the US's most important patriotic holiday. Hoig approaches the subject from two directions: a lively, if episodic, account of how the Declaration of Independence's ratification came to be commemorated, sandwiched between reminders that the ideals celebrated on the Fourth are ones we are still struggling to live up to. The choice of detail reads like a set of historical snapshots, parades, and parties (toasting each state was a common practice until the number of states began to exceed the human capacity for drink) alternating with more somber events (the nearly simultaneous deaths of Jefferson and Adams, the battles of Gettysburg and Little Big Horn). The narrative is further padded with side trips to the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument, a discussion of discrimination that recapitulates points made elsewhere, and the Declaration's complete text. Meanwhile, the 20th century gets six pages, with little or nothing on recent traditions, the efforts to preserve the Declaration physically, or even how fireworks came to be associated with the Fourth. Many of the b&w photos and reproductions are muddy (and misplaced) space- fillers. A weak alternative to James Cross Giblin's Fireworks, Picnics and Flags (1983). (index, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-525-65175-6
Page Count: 81
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
The author of the century-old, still-beloved Little Women led an extraordinarily interesting life herself, as Warrick makes plain in this dutiful biography. Alcott’s often-absent father, full of educational dreams and schemes and a friend of Emerson, her hard-working and hard-pressed mother, and her three sisters (models, as is well-known, for the siblings in the book) moved a great deal as she was growing up. Alcott soon realized that if there was to be money, she had to make it, and found a career writing sensational trash under a pseudonym and wonderful family stories under her own name. The biography opens with the story of Alcott’s letters from a Civil War hospital where she worked as a nurse, published in Boston Commonwealth magazine and her first real literary success. Vignettes and quotations enliven the text, which is written in a direct and straightforward style. Alcott’s work as a feminist and her possible love life are mentioned, if briefly. For those seeking yet another biography, this will serve. (b&w photos, not seen, chronology, notes, glossary, index) (Biography. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7660-1254-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Enslow
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
paper 0-395-97499-2 Introducing this overview of everyday life in a Plains Indian village circa 1868 is a map locating tribal lands of the Plains Indians. Contemporary Native Americans pose as models depicting the full regalia of the Cheyenne, Lakota Sioux, Crow, and Blackfeet. In re-enactment style, reminiscent of a visit to a living history village, each “actor” then personifies a member in the family of Real Bird, a northern Cheyenne warrior from the plains of southeastern Montana. A staged full-color photograph of family members engaged in role-specific work, leisure, food preparation, warfare, trade, and ritual is at the center of each spread, surrounded by additional text and captions that expand each topic. Sees the Berries Woman and Pretty Plume Woman demonstrate the construction of a tipi in a frame-by-frame, five-step procedure; warriors and chiefs hold council in a pre-battle ceremony; Timber Leader shows off a bearskin that gives him healing powers. Artifacts such as beadwork, weapons, tools, toys, and medicine objects lend authenticity to this informative survey and history of the culture. (chronology, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 23, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-94542-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
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