A detailed analysis of U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding abortion.
Debut author Carmichael (My Absolutely Insane Attempt to Rank All Cinema, 2010), a former attorney, brings his legal background to this thorough examination of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and other noteworthy Supreme Court decisions that have shaped abortion law in America. He provides a close reading of the justices’ legal reasoning in each decision and also analyzes media coverage, particularly regarding criminal prosecutions of abortion providers and mothers of abandoned fetuses. The book argues that the court has made substantial logical and legal mistakes in its decisions, resulting in an incoherent and potentially dangerous set of laws and regulations. Carmichael’s substantial research is evident in his copious footnotes, and his book pursues complex legal and ethical discussions of life, personhood, and rights. But although it does provide some criticism of the anti-abortion movement’s arguments and tactics, it doesn’t present its own conclusion—that the court erred in asserting a legal right to abortion—in a way that is likely to sway pro–abortion-rights readers. The prose often veers into hyperbole (“Roe has to qualify as the worst centralized planning since Stalin’s five-year-plan”) or sacrifices accuracy to argument (“Of course, all our abortion rules are actually mandated by federal judges, not by our elected representatives”). The book’s understanding of feminist thought can be grating, as well (“Feminism shot at patriarchy and killed our fathers”). However, readers who choose to engage with the book’s arguments will find them easy to follow, even if it isn’t entirely persuasive in its approach. A thoroughly researched but uneven critique of abortion policy.
Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-692-27281-7
Page Count: 366
Publisher: Con Law Books
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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