Former Chief Justice Burger offers a survey course on the level of a high-school history textbook as he sketches 14 controversies that have defined the US Constitution and the role of the Supreme Court. Burger's opening sentence announces that his book is ``in no sense intended as a serious, scholarly, or comprehensive study of constitutional law, but rather as a story for nonlawyers.'' But why shouldn't the man who for 17 years presided over the Supreme Court offer a ``serious'' interpretation? It's not as if he's a natural storyteller: His long paragraphs meander illogically, and his style is clunky (e.g., ``The Court held that the jugular was protected by the shield of the Constitution embodied in the Treaty Clause''). In addition, Burger lacks a gift for nuanced characterization. After assessing Thomas Jefferson as ``labyrinthine'' in complexity, he then dismisses the third president as a hypocritical, opportunistic, shortsighted ``political science generalist,'' a foe of the judiciary and, on occasion, of the Constitution itself. On the other hand, Chief Justice John Marshall, often viewed as an archconservative ``property judge,'' is treated here with reverence. Burger conjectures that had Marshall presided over the Dred Scott (1857) and Plessy (1896) cases, he would have cast enlightened, nonracist votes; indeed, claims the author, even FDR would have liked him. This haywire conservative revisionism ends, predictably, with Burger deploring the ``monster'' that national government has become. The book's best moments are the summaries of decisions in major Supreme Court cases, such as Marbury v. Madison (1803), in which Marshall proclaimed to the nation that the Supreme Court would review all challenges to the Constitution, and M'Culloch v. Maryland (1819), which upheld Congress's power to pass legislation. But such summaries are readily available in any law school bookstore. What's missing here is interpretation or, failing that, a good story. A golden opportunity to educate America on its greatest subject—missed.
Pub Date: April 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-688-09595-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1995
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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