For those who enjoyed Zinn's 1979 American Book Award nominee, A People's History of the United States, here's a rehash of his previous arguments against war, injustice, intolerance, and plutocratic politics. In the guise of a critical analysis of America's prevailing orthodoxies, Zinn accuses Plato and Machiavelli of misleading humankind into believing that obedience to laws and political realism are necessary components of citizenship. Locke, Madison, and Hamilton are condemned for using representative government to perpetuate a class system. In the meantime, the author denounces a wide range of American attitudes and actions in chapters on foreign policy, economics, free speech, and the legal system, etc. Predictably, he argues that America's downtrodden are victims of a system that closes minds and demands obedience. To prove his case, Zinn drags out the familiar examples of labor strikes, the WW II internment of the Japanese, civil rights demonstrations, and protests against the war in Vietnam. Included as well are his own experiences as a bombardier during WW II and as an activist teacher during the 1960's. Zinn also takes mainstream historians to task for their conservative bias and their claims to objectivity, which—he says—reinforce an undesirable status quo. As an alternative, he offers the study and advocacy of social protest. Zinn sees hope for the future in massive nonviolent movements resisting inequities—"the ultimate weapon for social change." An unabashedly subjective challenge to American orthodox beliefs, polemical and prickly.
Pub Date: Oct. 24, 1990
ISBN: 0060921080
Page Count: 341
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1990
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
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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