Yonaton Netanyahu, Yoni, was the 30-year-old leader of the Israeli force that rescued the hostages at Entebbe and he was its only casualty. His mission and his death made him a national hero in Israel and this book, unabashedly the story of a hero, describes with dignity and restraint who he was and what he came to represent. Restraint might seem misplaced in a tale of twelve years of rescues, raids, defenses, and attacks, each of which calls for the whole list of heroic adjectives. Yet it seems appropriate to a soldier who was an avid chess player and had spent several semesters studying philosophy and mathematics at Harvard. His greatest devotion, however, was to the land of Israel and to "Zahal"—its uniquely individualistic defense force. He wrote to his parents in America, "In this country, at this moment, being in the army means to be inside"—outside lay bureaucracy, corruption, and shoddiness. "In Israel, if you want to see creative brilliance, look for it in the army." Rising from the ranks, like all Israeli officers, Yoni gained experience in the paratroops, special forces, and armored commands. The spirit and direction of the army is traced through his career from the exuberance of the mid-Sixties, to the overwhelming confidence after the Six Day War, and then to the war of attrition and the near-disaster of 1973. Finally even Netanyahu, to whom the army was a home, "lost faith in the power of Zahal alone to preserve Israel from her enemies." The mission to Entebbe did much to rebuild that faith. Hastings' admittedly censored account offers few new details of the raid, but it does deal in a limited way with the lack of military preparedness in 1973, the blunders on Mount Hermon, and the subsequent demoralization of the army. Although he ignores the price the Arabs paid, Hastings implies through Yoni's story that the profound personal and cultural costs of being a nation at war may not always be redeemed by victory. It is a one-sided tale, but it is a side well told.
Pub Date: July 1, 1979
ISBN: 0297775650
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1979
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
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
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