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AS VARIOUS AS THEIR LAND

Name: AS VARIOUS AS THEIR LAND
Author: Stephanie Grauman Wolf
ISBN: 0-06-016799-8

THE EVERYDAY LIVES OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY AMERICANS

by Stephanie Grauman Wolf ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1993

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Less vivid and detailed than the five earlier volumes in the ``Everyday Life in America'' series (Harvey Green's The Uncertainty of Everyday Life 1915-1945, etc.), this last installment emphasizes diversity of American experience during the transitional 18th century. During the 1700's, America grew from ten colonies on the Eastern seaboard, consisting of a quarter-million people preoccupied with survival and their European origins, to 16 states expanding westward, consisting of five million citizens developing a national identity. Here, Wolf (Research Fellow/University of Pennsylvania) is concerned with the commonplace experiences that made up that identity: the organization of daily life and of private time; the habits, attitudes, and occupations of ordinary people—their entertainments and responsibilities, what they ate and wore, and how they furnished their homes. Grouping people by families, occupations, and communities, Wolf also distinguishes them according to class and geography: New England Puritans, Middle Atlantic farmers, Southern plantation owners, Native Americans, African-Americans, pioneers, craftsmen, merchants, and professionals. In a chapter called ``The Invention of Childhood,'' the author's awareness of the diversity of experience is especially revealing, emphasizing the different conceptions of children—from the ``pets'' of the Virginia aristocracy to the laboring children of German immigrants. Wolf concludes by studying community as neighborhood and as network, the development of communications, and the role of the Church in regulating communal life. Using diaries, magazines, and letters, Wolf does some historical housekeeping here, setting things in order, polishing, arranging, and simplifying. A useful resource.

Pub Date: July 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-06-016799-8

Page Count: 320

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993

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.