This third and final installment of the author/broadcaster's memoirs examines in human terms the forces that shaped the history of the past five decades. Included in Shirer's well-wrought narrative are such little-known events as the trials of American broadcasters who propagandized for the Third Reich during WW II, as well as such more familiar matters as the McCarthyism of the 1950's. The author's comments are refreshingly unfettered by self-consciousness (e.g., when he recounts his own extramarital affairs and the end of his 37-year marriage), and they are also resonant in implication—he speculates, for instance, on the reasons for Edward R. Murrow's buckling under to the witch-hunting of the "Red Channels" years. After a brief recap of his experiences during the Second World War, Shirer writes of his return to America, a country that in large measure was unfamiliar to him after years abroad. He tells of the circumstances surrounding the publication of his best-selling Berlin Diary—Alfred Knopf felt it had "no beginning, middle or end" and was sure to be a flop. Shirer then describes the events that led up to his "resignation" (read "firing") from CBS as a result of unsubstantiated accusations of being Red-tinged. The memories obviously still rankle. It was his inability to obtain work that resulted in the creation of his monumental Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Shirer's personal life is also examined: his affairs with dancer Tilly Losch and TV personality Virgilia Peterson. Included as well are charming vignettes of a visit to Tolstoy's home and of a hilarious French TV interview show that was disrupted by a pair of insistent panhandlers and an impenetrable fogbank. A fine, fitting conclusion to an important work of autobiography.
Pub Date: Jan. 26, 1989
ISBN: 0517076152
Page Count: 484
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1989
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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