Will delight nostalgic Californians—and make all readers think differently about the monuments in their own towns.
A wacky, illuminating exploration of the political and cultural currents swirling around four public monuments.
Lurking behind even the most seemingly innocent object is a story of power and exploitation, avers self-styled “radical historian” Frank (History/Univ. of Calif., Santa Cruz; Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America, 2005, etc.). She opens with a dazzling consideration of the redwood trunk that has long attracted tourists to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. In the 1950s, someone added date markers connecting some of the redwood’s rings to great historical events—almost all of which, Frank notes, involved “conquest, invasions, or expansion.” The preservationists who campaigned to save the redwood trees from extinction “projected onto these innocent trees…the notion of human history as the rise and fall of civilizations.” Many of them were also eugenicists, urging Americans to practice “selective breeding” in order to create a fit race that could lead the world. Another fascinating chapter looks at Santa Cruz’s Cave Train Ride, a child’s amusement-park entertainment with an adult cult following. Built in 1961, the ride features cavemen and cavewomen playing cards and hanging out at the Laundromat. Frank sensitively examines the race and gender scripts on which these vignettes draw, shedding light along the way on such diverse cultural icons as The Flintstones, Li’l Abner and Clan of the Cave Bear. The final two sections are more predictable. Frank’s investigation of two giant stone cats along California’s Highway 17 quickly leads her into a saga of “the unequal politics of history” as embodied in the relationship between the wealthy couple that commissioned the sculptures and their domestic servants. Her discussion of the Pulgas Water Temple at the Crystal Springs Reservoir focuses unsurprisingly on its function as “a charming but powerful pawn in the grand scheme of California’s environmental politics.” Nonetheless, Frank’s personal engagement and punchy prose enliven even the slighter chapters.
Will delight nostalgic Californians—and make all readers think differently about the monuments in their own towns.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-931404-09-7
Page Count: 132
Publisher: City Lights
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
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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