This latest entry in the Nations in Transition series recounts the history and struggles of Bulgaria and the hardships connected with its Soviet relationship. Otfinoski (Boris Yeltsin and the Rebirth of Russia, 1995, etc.) reveals the vast problems experienced by Bulgaria, so far unable to make the transition to a democratic system of government and a free-market economy; instead, the country has experienced “economic disaster and near political chaos.” Approximately the size of the state of Tennessee, Bulgaria has been in crisis recently, but the coverage reaches back, presenting the government, religion, economy, culture, beautiful architecture, and great leaders, and offers a sense of a rich national identity. The author also makes excellent use of unfamiliar aspects of Bulgarian life to draw readers in: the roses grown there that produce an oil (attar) that is highly prized by perfume makers; the fact that this nation of “yogurt-eaters has the greatest population of people over the age of 100 in all Europe”; and that the best surgeons earn about $60 a month. The road to democracy and prosperity is difficult for Bulgaria and readers will clearly understand that it has not given up its struggles. (b&w photos, maps, index, not seen, notes, chronology, further reading) (Nonfiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-8160-3705-1
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Facts On File
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This entry in the Oxford Portraits series is both very good and very useful. White presents a clear biography of the Supreme Court justice who served in the Civil War, studied law, and lived long in the shadow of his famous writer father of the same name. By the time he came to the Supreme Court, he was already 60 years old, but served for three decades more. White creates a vivid portrait of this scholarly and philosophical legal thinker while including rich details of his intellectual but reserved home life and his affectionate flirtations with many women. More than that, readers will absorb a history of the development of legal education, the growth of the Supreme Court, and how law unfolds as a study and a discipline. White is especially felicitous in explaining how the elegance of Holmes’s prose occasionally obscured the legal point he was making. Quotations from Holmes’s writing and picture captions with further details add to the story, and not the least of its accomplishments is to show a man who began the greatest of his career challenges when he was already perceived of as old. Excellent. (chronology, further reading, index) (Biography. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 12, 1999
ISBN: 0-19-511667-4
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A vivid yet even-handed account of the ill-fated Donner Party—the California-bound wagon train that was forced by impassable snow to camp for the winter of 1846—47 on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, resorting to cannibalism when there was literally nothing else to eat. Calabro neither shrinks from nor sensationalizes this aspect of the story. Instead she places it in a carefully constructed context beginning with the start of the journey in Springfield, Illinois, on April 15, and chronicling each unfortunate decision along the way that ultimately led to the company’s entrapment. Making good use of primary sources, especially the letters and memoirs of Virginia Reed, who turned 13 on the journey, the author tells of Virginia’s excitement at having her own pony to ride west. However, she doesn’t limit the story to Virginia’s perspective, but skillfully profiles many members of the party, including Virginia’s dynamic father, James, who strongly favored taking an unproven shortcut, and the intelligent and perceptive Tamsen Donner, who was firmly against it. The result is a combination of well-researched factual detail, a gripping narrative, strong characterizations, and a thoughtful analysis of the historical record. (b&w photos, chronology, further reading, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 19, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-86610-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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