Brilliantly written account of the 18th-century nobleman was a key player in British naval strategy during the War of Independence—and who invented our favorite fast food. The fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-92) is usually written off as the archetypal wicked aristocrat: a self-seeker who neglected his country's interest in the pursuit of the pleasures of the bedroom and the gaming table. Here, British naval historian Rodger- -drawing on a wide range of sources, including Sandwich's own letters and papers—attempts to go beyond this caricature by viewing his subject in the context of the realities of 18th-century party politics and naval warfare. His Sandwich emerges as an ambitious man with many interests and talents but little wealth—a man who consequently was distrusted by his own class and failed to achieve full scope for his powers. His beloved wife went insane, and the mistress he subsequently took was murdered. As First Sea Lord, Sandwich began a fundamental reform of the fleet, making use of seasoned timber and the latest technique of sheathing ships' bottoms with copper to improved speed—but the American Revolution interrupted these plans. Rodger argues that Sandwich's strategy in that war made sense in terms of contemporary presuppositions and the limitations of a Britain under attack from France and Spain: The 13 colonies were lost but Quebec and the West Indies were retained and, above all, the homeland was saved from invasion. Today, Sandwich is best remembered for his part in the revival and continued popularity of Handel's music—and for sandwiches. A pleasure to read—and offering new depth and insights into the political and social values of a critical epoch. (Illustrations)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-393-03587-5
Page Count: 425
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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