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OPEN SECRETS

Name: OPEN SECRETS
Author: The New York Times
ISBN: 9780615439570

WIKILEAKS, WAR AND AMERICAN DIPLOMACY, COMPLETE AND UPDATED COVERAGE BY THE NEW YORK TIMES

by The New York Times edited by Alexander Star ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 31, 2011

An important book that gives coherence to a massive data dump.

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Thoughtful analysis of one of the largest leaks of classified information in history—how it happened, what the secret documents say and what it all means.

In its first e-book, the New York Times brings welcome order to the chaos of the hundreds of thousands U.S. government documents released last year by the elusive and volatile hacker Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowers’ website. In addition to the newspaper’s own extensive news and op-ed coverage, including the texts of military and diplomatic documents published on the Times website, the book has an extended insider’s essay on the entire episode by Times executive editor Bill Keller, as well as profiles of both Assange and Army Private Bradley Manning, his suspected source. Keller details his six-month experience working with the “secretive cadre of anti-secrecy vigilantes” known as WikiLeaks, whose release of the candid documents about world leaders and events embarrassed the U.S. government. A Times team created a searchable database of the material: 500,000 military dispatches on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and 250,000 confidential cables between the State Department and 270 U.S. embassies and consulates. Keller says the newspaper acted responsibly in publishing the documents, redacting information that might endanger lives. The book includes contrasting views as well as reflections on the episode’s implications for the future of secrecy and diplomacy in the digital age. Both Assange and Manning emerge as bright, attention-seeking outsiders from unstable backgrounds. Assange, envisioning WikiLeaks as a new “scientific journalism” allowing people to judge facts for themselves, became increasingly erratic as his notoriety grew. Manning landed in a brig, where he awaits trial. One-third of the book consists of solid, old-fashioned journalism, offering the context and background needed to understand the documents. With links to cables and images, a helpful glossary and an appendix of significant photographs, the text takes full advantage of the capabilities of the e-book format.

An important book that gives coherence to a massive data dump.

Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2011

ISBN: 9780615439570

Page Count: -

Publisher: The New York Times

Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011

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.