A dry-as-dust look at the hardware that fought the cold war, by the author of more than 25 works of military history and a veteran of more than 36 years of military service. Miller, who is credited as the author of Jane’s Major Warships, is in dire need of an editor who can whip his senseless listing of weapon system after weapon system into something approaching interesting reading. Though few will argue that the cold war was won by anything other than massive defense spending, there certainly was more to the conflict than weaponry. The Cold War is billed as “A Military History,” but there is almost nothing of the historical details that would illuminate such theaters of action as Korea and Vietnam, almost nothing of the countless espionage cases or the other conflicts that brought the United States and the Soviet Union face to face, whether in actual battle or by proxy, and nothing at all of the millions who actually fought the war. Miller concentrates instead in looking at the submarines, aircraft carriers, missiles, fighter planes, bombers, tanks, and virtually every other tool in the modern major general’s arsenal. Although he describes these weapons in numbing detail, he does little to place them in the broader context of cold-war strategy, as he might have done by looking at how missile ranges affected the superpowers’ relationship with their satellites, or how submarine developments affected the brinksmanship under the seas. Despite his overwrought infatuation with technological details, Miller does offer interesting coverage of the military relationship between the superpowers and their allies, such as NATO’s division of naval duties according to traditional strengths and weaknesses. Most readers, however, will have to supply their own rationales for why, rather than how, the cold war was fought. Not a military history, a hardware history. (16 pages b&w photos)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-312-24183-6
Page Count: 498
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
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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