Personal and professional memories (though never intimate- -that's not his style) from a man not much given to ``self- oriented, navel-examining profundities,'' revealing a scrupulous, genial, generous spirit possessing a passionate, informed concern for the future of journalism. Cronkite recalls, reflects, opines, and offers some superlative stories to illustrate the way it was. He writes affectionately of his childhood and avuncularly of the young self in whom he locates the roots of the man he became. WW II was formative: He files United Press dispatches from Europe when ``communications weren't difficult, they were nonexistent.'' Russia came next, and proved dreary and duplicitous; having a visceral aversion to regimentation, he chafed under the Soviet bureaucracy. His improvisational bent served him well in the early years of TV news: Cronkite, who once broadcast imaginary football games, extemporized easily from only a list of the day's stories. Recounting the low-tech escapades of that era, he's as frisky as he is thoughtful later, for instance when characterizing the presidents he's known (Carter had the best brain; Nixon, ``the outstanding phoenix of our time,'' actually ``seemed imbalanced'' at moments), and when searchingly reviewing the Vietnam debacle from misguided genesis to sorry legacies (``a generation of officers later, there still lurks the belief that the media lost the war''). Cronkite consistently praises the CBS of his tenure for courage but hands Black Rock a black eye for its thrall to the bottom line: That news should ``pay off'' like other investments is a ``travesty,'' he asserts, positing a public responsibility to support quality journalism. The ``narrow intellectual crawl space'' that is television news is ever more compressed; ``Will the journalism center hold?'' Cronkite bears out our trust in him as he bears wise witness to our collective adventures of the past half-century; he endears himself anew when he good-humoredly shares his own. (16 pages b&w photos) (Book-of-the-Month Club main selection; author tour)
Pub Date: Dec. 16, 1996
ISBN: 0-394-57869-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1996
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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