The best conservative treatment of the Pope to date, but so fiercely partisan that no one to the left of William Buckley will be able to stomach it. Johnson has outstanding credentials in both journalism (erstwhile editor of the New Statesman) and history (including a solid History of Christianity), which lend some intellectual weight to what is basically a rather simplistic case: the Catholic Church has been seriously ill, but John Paul is its skilled and resolute physician, and with any luck the patient will make a splendid recovery. Even more telling than this medical analogy, however, is the political one in Johnson's title: after the destructive hurly-burly of the Vatican II Commonwealth, Catholics now have a vigorous king back on the throne. After a brisk and pointed summary of Karol Wojtyla's pre-election career, Johnson presents the Pope's life since October 1978 as a sort of holy war on five fronts: against the crucifixion of man (by Marxist-Leninist atheism), the temptation of violence (to which Latin American theolibs are especially prone), secularization by stealth (contraception, feminism, etc.), threats to Catholic certitudes (such as papal infallibility), and the shadow of heresy (as cast by Hans Kung and his ilk). If you can accept without protest Johnson's apotheosis of the pope (any pope) as the high priest of the planet, you may well be swayed by this forceful plea-for-the-defense. If not, Johnson's effort is liable to sound like just another shrill blast on the Vatican trumpet.
Pub Date: Aug. 8, 1982
ISBN: 0892831839
Page Count: -
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1982
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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