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STREETS WITH NO NAMES

Name: STREETS WITH NO NAMES
Author: Stryker McGuire
ISBN: 0-87113-433-0

A JOURNEY INTO CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA

by Stryker McGuire ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 23, 1991

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From Newsweek's chief of correspondents, an engaging travelogue of lands from Mexico to Argentina, deftly weaving anecdotes, historical tales that rival the region's fantastical fiction, and ponderings over racial conflict, economic booms and busts, and political violence. As a reporter in Nicaragua during the 1979 revolution, McGuire wrote the hard news of war; here, to set the stage for his account of his 1987 return to Central and South America, he pours out absurd tales of that time: the drunken ramblings of doomed dictator Somoza as his handlers tried to pull him away from the reporter; the female who posed on Somoza's bed for press photos after his fall. McGuire's stories of his six-month drive south of the border in 1987 are equally vivid, and his portraits of the men and women he met manage to convey the essence of their homelands without stereotyping national characteristics. Juan Carlos, a ``child philosopher'' and absent-minded shoeshiner in Quito, Equador, wonderfully illustrates that land's endemic combination of street smarts and naivetÇ; a less-endearing immigrant innkeeper, who displays a portrait of her late husband in his Nazi uniform, provides an oddly sympathetic look at the need for economic stability in Chile. McGuire complains jovially about washed-out roadways and misleading maps, and warns fellow travelers to remove their cars' sideview mirrors when parking outside at night; but he is disheartened to see stoplights across the border into Chile, where he finds the atmosphere ``spruced-up Orwellian.'' It's clear that McGuire's capital helped make these countries such enjoyable places to visit, but for anyone with the same resources, it sounds like a great trip.

Pub Date: Aug. 23, 1991

ISBN: 0-87113-433-0

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1991

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.