Excellent railroad material which has glamor, color and breathless pace. Tales of the longest railroad system in the West, of the imagination that brought it into being, the planning, fighting, building and running of it and how it opened up the great Southwest. From foot, to wheels, to trails, to steel track; from Holliday, man with the vision, to present-day wartime problems and their solution; from the wild country of cattle and stock to cities; from steam engines to diesels-this covers the great span from the prairies to the Rockies, from California to Chicago, from the Gulf to Oklahoma, the Mexican border to the Arkansas River, Missouri to Mississippi and the Southern Pacific coastline. There is the tale of Fred Harvey and the Harvey Girls, fine restaurants and fine railroad manners; human interest bits; development during peace and war; tales of railroad strategy...A large appendix includes glossary of railroad slang, Santa Fe town names, trains, departments of the Santa Fe, finance, a chronology of the road, etc....Assuredly one of the better individual railroad books.
Pub Date: Dec. 17, 1945
ISBN: 1258145065
Page Count: -
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1945
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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