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STARS AND SWASTIKAS

Name: STARS AND SWASTIKAS
Author: Walter Schroder
ISBN: 0-208-02322-4

THE BOY WHO WORE TWO UNIFORMS

by Walter Schroder ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 15, 1992

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Unsophisticated yet engrossing memoir about a remarkable childhood and adolescence. Schroder's German parents came to the US to escape the chaos of post-WW I Germany, but while their son grew up American, the family remained very German, buying him German toy soldiers to play with and returning to the homeland for vacations. When his father found employment in Hitler's reviving Germany, Schroder returned and joined the Hitler Youth. At 15, he became one of Hitler's teenage soldiers, and his description of these young combatants meeting Allied paratroopers in a small engagement at the end of the war reveals how Hitler subverted youth's spirit of play and sport: The teenagers proceeded innocently through the battle, displaying no normal adult fear or even caution, until their surrender. Taken prisoner, the author eventually faced yet another incredible adjustment—released from POW camp, he was ordered to report for induction into the US Army (where he ate his first full meal in months). Through all this, Schroder bobs like an unsinkable cork, sane, reasonable, and cooperative, a true survivor—and, like any true survivor, reveals himself to be essentially apolitical, never scrutinizing his shifting loyalties, at least not here. Lack of deep emotion makes this a curious memoir, but the splitting of Schroder's family by the division of Germany, and his recurrent dreams of his father (whom he loves too much to question) give some dimension at the end. Solid, fact-oriented, and conventional, Schroder is by no means a born writer, but those interested in the period will find his reminiscences worthwhile.

Pub Date: July 15, 1992

ISBN: 0-208-02322-4

Page Count: 202

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1992

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.