A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES, VOLUME 1

bookshelf

A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES, VOLUME 1

Name: A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES, VOLUME 1
Author: Winston S. Churchill
ISBN: 0304341010

THE BIRTH OF BRITAIN

by Winston S. Churchill ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 23, 1956

bookshelf

A rare gift for vision, a sense of drama, a genius for the right word, an imaginative sense of people and story are here applied to the beginnings of a great people. Winston Churchill was endowed with a sense of history- and this is an ambitious project into which he has poured his great gifts. 'Begun in 1939, now finished, to be issued in four volumes over the next three years, this will be for the average reader the definitive history; for the student an inspiration for further study. For Sir Winston makes even his earliest period, in the dawn of the island's checkered history, seem alive. One goes through successive invasions, conquests, struggles for power with an awareness of the contribution each invader, each conqueror made to the building of a nation. Romans, Danes, Normans, each in turn became part of the life stream. Men advanced the island's development- or threw it back for long periods. Great figures and events took place on the stage of history. The things that characterize the English speaking race today put down roots that survived. Churchill does not hesitate to illumine the past through contrast and comparison with the present. He makes his story a living, growing thing. His human beings stand out against their times- good and evil as they may be. He reinterprets old legends, retaining much we learned in childhood, but throwing new light upon it. Exciting and revealing reading, this provides the background we need for other reading-fact and fiction, and leaves us with eager anticipation for the volumes to come.

Pub Date: April 23, 1956

ISBN: 0304341010

Page Count: 448

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1956

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
HIS FATHER'S SON
by Winston S. Churchill

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SIX DAY WAR
by Winston S. Churchill Randolph S. Churchill

- BOOK REVIEW
GREAT DESTINY
by Winston S. Churchill

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.