A wide-ranging, fascinating investigation by Slaughter (History/Rutgers) into the social and racial circumstances surrounding the Christiana Riot of 1851, in which runaway slaves stood up to the master who tracked them down and killed him. Sketching vivid scenes of a polarized American society in the 1840's and 50's, Slaughter re-creates conditions in Maryland and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the grim episode began and ended. Together, four men escaped their slavers, fleeing to the free-black community of rural Lancaster; two years later, their presence was reported to owner Edward Gorsuch, who came after them with a posse and a warrant under the newly enacted Fugitive Slave Law. In a tense face-off, during which dozens of nearby African-Americans answered a call for assistance, Gorsuch was murdered and his posse beaten back, acts forcing the primary black participants to flee to Canada. A trial garnering national attention ensued in which a neighboring white miller, a bystander in the riot, was charged with treason but acquitted, to the delight of abolitionists and the disgust of slave-owners. From this historical base, Slaughter expands his inquiry compellingly to consider preexisting social conditions in the area, where roving white gangs of kidnappers forced blacks to defend themselves, as well as the prevailing racial prejudices under which supposedly free men and women suffered as severely in Pennsylvania as they did in slave-holding Maryland. An admirable study of a significant precursor to the Civil War, with specific details providing a springboard to broader treatment of the issues and tensions of the time.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-19-504633-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
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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