A heart-warming chronicle of human courage and endurance, as well as a welcome restoration of a pioneering aeronautical...
A gripping tale of a disastrous expedition to the North Pole led by the Italian dirigible designer Umberto Nobile.
Cross (The Conway Twitty Story, 1986) began researching the Italia story in the late 1950s while writing adventure pieces for True magazine. He interviewed not only Nobile and other survivors, but also members of the international search parties who combed the Arctic in 1928 looking for the downed airship, and he has created a remarkably detailed picture of the crash of the Italia on a floating ice pack and of the ordeal of the survivors, battling harsh conditions and physical pain and frustrated by repeated failures to establish radio contact with potential rescuers. After the crash, the main group of survivors coped for 49 days, stranded on the ice, while three men left the crash site and set out across the ice pack on foot in hopes of reaching land. The author also describes the sad fate of the various rescuers, some of whom ended up needing to be rescued themselves. Nobile and the Italia were the victims not just of the forces of nature, Cross maintains, but of political intrigue as well. Their base ship, the Città di Milano, made no attempt to locate them, and the Italian government made no attempt to coordinate the efforts of the numerous rescue teams that converged on the Arctic from around the world. Nobile had previously resisted Fascist attempts to take over his aeronautical business and had made enemies among the Italian military and government figures; he found his reputation in tatters after the event. Having been lifted off the melting ice pack ahead of his men, much against his wishes, he faced accusations of cowardice, was condemned in the press, and became a virtual political prisoner upon his return to Italy.
A heart-warming chronicle of human courage and endurance, as well as a welcome restoration of a pioneering aeronautical engineer's tarnished reputation.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-58574-049-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Lyons Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
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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