The former foreign-service officer, professor at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, and author of 18 books now offers The World According to Kennan. Here, Kennan (Sketches from a Life, 1989, etc.) tries to set forth a coherent personal and political philosophy. Unfortunately, he starts with the personal. Sex, he tells us, is usually ``tedious, monotonous, at times ridiculous,'' and, along with conceit, constitutes ``a little demon companion in attendance on every civilized person.'' The widespread American hostility to the idea of hereditary effects on personality stems, he contends, from our being ``a nation of immigrants.'' Kennan declares that the soul is separate from the body, and that it's difficult to reconcile God-the-creator with God-the-custodian-of-our-fates. Kennan's general statements on government also tend to be chatty and unhelpful: Power is ``not, in truth, a nice thing''; government is an ``unpleasant business''; urban expansion is ``simply a horror.'' There are odd moments here, as when Kennan calls for carrying on the tradition of household servants. Yet when he talks about foreign policy, his words take on the weight of a distinguished career. Kennan rejects ``any and all messianic concepts of America's role in the world'' and calls for ``a modest and restrained foreign policy,'' with cuts in military spending and foreign aid. An admirer of the European system of democracy, he also suggests that the secretary of state become a sort of prime minister to supervise the executive branch and deal with party politics. Finally, Kennan recommends that a ``permanent, nonpolitical advisory body'' be formed to take advantage of the collective wisdom of retired statesmen, jurists, and educators. Quoting Goethe, Chekhov, Gibbon, and Clausewitz, Kennan veers from the erudite to the platitudinous. He presents some valuable policy suggestions toward book's end, but, most of the way, he seems asleep at the wheel.
Pub Date: Jan. 11, 1993
ISBN: 0-393-03411-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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