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THE TYRANNY OF HISTORY

Name: THE TYRANNY OF HISTORY
Author: W.J.F. Jenner
ISBN: 0-7139-9060-0

THE ROOTS OF CHINA'S CRISIS

by W.J.F. Jenner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1992

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Provocative analysis of how China's culture will affect that nation's current and future behavior; by Jenner (History/Australian National Univ.). China is China is China—that, in brief, is Jenner's well- articulated message: that the weight of history, bureaucracy, language, philosophy, and national character make real change in China—though urgently necessary for economic reasons—virtually impossible. Jenner sees Communism as largely illusory in its effect, and the Party as little more than a ``club...the collective identity of China's ruling class...a shenshi or gentry...whose members will be able to adapt themselves to whatever follows....'' Real change, the author says, has occurred only when ``alien colonial power in Singapore, Hong Kong [or] Taiwan [was able] to break the continuity of Chinese bureaucracy and to permit growth and development.'' Cultural sophistication, a solid grasp of Asian history, crisp details, and clear conclusions lend credibility to Jenner's argument as he penetrates Chinese culture to the language itself and its peculiar ability, through lack of the usual verb tenses, to create ambivalence about time—and thus about change. Jenner examines the unequaled Chinese historical record and what its limitations reveal: a fatalistic and cyclical view of human experience that's the antithesis of the Western conviction that significant change can and will occur. And from the saga of the dynasties, he discerns an overwhelming tendency for the Chinese state to re-establish itself, whatever the current vicissitudes, in remarkably similar monolithic form. A consort's uncanny description of the aged Mao living exactly like an emperor, cut off from reality and reading ancient Chinese history, drives this point home. Jenner argues persuasively that China may be largely immutable, but he never really deals with today's ultimate agent of change: the information avalanche, which buried even the Soviet Union.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-7139-9060-0

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 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.