Former People, Smith - B

                                          The draconian categorization of the aristocracy as 'former people' was indicative of what the Bolshies had in store for the approximate 1.9 million members of what they called the' bourgeois'.  The 1.5% of the population that were aristocrats, nobility, landlords and civil servants of the Russian Empire were unmercifully destroyed by the Soviets.   Lenin said that revolution  "is the incredibly complicated and painful process of the death of the old order and the birth of the new social order".  In this instance, the death of the old order was not figurative, but quite literal.  Half of the bourgeois escaped; the rest perished.
                                          The Russian empire under the hapless Nicholas II was on a downhill slope that steepened after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and the revolts at home in 1905.  The perpetual suppression of the poor exploded in violence, and between early 1908 and mid-1910, there were 20,000 acts of terrorism in Russia. Seven hundred officials and three thousand citizens died. Clearly, the fabric of state was torn long before the war, which led to four-and a-half million casualties. After the February Revolution, the mobs began to sack the homes of the rich and indiscriminately punish and execute them.  When the Reds took over in October, the attacks became systematic and, with all caution thrown to the wind, the peasants joined in. During the three-year Civil War (1918-21), there were an additional 10 million deaths.  Private property, particularly the financial and real estate assets of the wealthy, was confiscated by the state. Because of loyalty to the Empire, almost everyone had all of their assets at home and not in any European safe-havens. Those who survived were deprived of any citizenship rights, and many wound up in the burgeoning Gulag.  Stalin's first five-year plan and his later show trials were the final straws.  The history of Russia in the last century is an appalling spectacle of violence and atrocious governance, of which this is a modest chapter.

Solo, Boyd - B

                                          Half a century after the death of Ian Fleming, the esteemed William Boyd sets out to pen a 007 novel and, for my money, he succeeds.  It's more of a thriller than a spy novel, and is set in Africa in 1969.  Bond is tasked with the assignment of stopping a civil war by eliminating the leader of the rebellious provinces.  As it turns out, the chief dies, the war is resolved in favor of the UK's preferred side and James is pretty seriously shot up.  After he recovers, he decides to go 'solo' for his revenge and trails the shooters to Washington, D.C.  With some help from his old friend Felix Leiter, he discovers that perhaps the ending of the African civil war was not as it seemed.  He uncovers a drug smuggling ring and helps restore the apparent good guy to his rightful position in Africa, where he can sign oil leases that benefit the US and the UK.  A bit of revenge, and fun was, of course, had along the way.

Bunker Hill, Philbrick - B

                                         This is the telling of the story of Boston and its environs in the two-and-a-quarter years between the Tea Party in December of 1773 and the British evacuation of the city on March 17, 1776.  The most fascinating aspect of the book is the portrayal of the Americans as they transition from loyal subjects of the King to rebels. "The patriots had not wanted to create something new; they had wanted to preserve the status quo-the essentially autonomous community they had inherited from their ancestors-in the face of British attempts to forge a modern empire".  The Americans felt they were loyal subjects of the King, true Englishmen, covetous of their natural and God given freedoms, which they were unwilling to forego by paying Parliament's taxes. That those taxes were imposed to help pay for the imperial efforts in The French and Indian War was not a position acceptable to the Americans.
                                       The Bostonians were always somewhat detached from the motherland --after all, they were the descendants of religious emigres who had taken the drastic step of moving to Holland and the New World over theological differences. The British response to the Tea Party was a determined effort to punish and control the colony.  The new governor was Thomas Gage, who closed the port, implemented the Coercive Acts, and was met with a boycott of British goods. By the middle of 1774, Boston was cut off from the rest of the colony, which was in a state of outright civil disobedience.  Barricaded in the city with 3,000 troops, Gage asked for 20,000 more. He was instructed by London "to do something" to preserve the King's honor and he choose to try to confiscate the Americans' store of shot and powder at Concord. The sally to and from Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775  ended with 49 dead colonials and 64 dead British regulars.  Nine thousand citizens left the city which, before the later filling in of the Back Bay, was an isthmus with a narrow southern neck of land attached to the mainland. Fearing that the British would attempt to take Bunker Hill in Charleston, the Americans struck first. Overnight, they constructed defenses, which the British attacked on June 17th. The Americans were evicted, but at a heavy cost.  The British casualties were two-and-a-half times that of the defenders.  A few weeks later Washington arrived and a long, relatively inactive, siege began. When Henry Knox arrived from Lake Champlain with artillery, the Americans began firing, and the new commander, Gen. William Howe, struck a deal with Washington. If allowed to peaceably depart, they would not burn the city.  Months later, America declared her independence.

Police, Nesbo - B

                                          This is the ninth in the Harry Hole series, and here we find our alcoholic detective on a very positive upswing. He's not drinking, and he and Rakel are doing very well. Harry now is lecturer at the Police college and no longer involved with the investigations that drive him over the edge. However, a serial murderer of police is enough to pull him back in. He handles the pressure and, of course, solves the case.

Q, Blissett - B

                                          This sprawling, very long and quite good historical novel was written by a group of four Italian men  in 1999.   It has been lauded  throughout Europe for its scope and breathtaking creativity, and critiqued for its attempt to blend the vernacular into 16th century dialogue. As it provides fascinating insight and background to the first forty years of the Reformation on the continent, and has left an opening for a sequel, I look forward to the follow-up.
                                          The Q of the title is the nom de guerre of a spy in the employ of the Inquisition.  His story is told through letters to his sponsor, Cardinal Carafa, later Pope Paul IV.  Quelling heresy, hounding and slaughtering heretics, and suppressing subversive literature are the primary responsibilities of the Inquisition and of Q, whose full name is Quoelet.  Q infiltrates and betrays Lutheran and  Anabaptist sects throughout Germany, the Netherlands, and ultimately in Venice.  Carafa, on the other hand, is playing a game of three dimensional chess focused on restraining the Hapsburg emperors, and is willing to work with the French, the Lutherans, and the Sultan to accomplish his goals.  The narrator of the story, and the man Q hounds for thirty years is an Anabaptist named Gert.  He is a fighter, organizer, preacher, and perhaps more than anything else, a survivor. The most enlightening bit of background information has to do with the Reformation more as a social or economic action than as an doctrinal one.

The Decision To Intervene, Kennan - B

                                          This book is Part II of 'Soviet-American Relations 1917-1920' and the follow-up to  'Russia Leaves The War', reviewed here in May.   Chaos, confusion, paranoia and delusion dominate this tale of Allied intervention in the vast reaches of Russia, barely under the  control of Moscow and linked by telegraph wire.  After Brest-Litovsk, the Allies faced the full fury of the Germans on the western front and sought any relief possible.  One source of help that the Allies focused on were the 1.6 million former prisoners of the Central powers, now displaced persons in Russia.   In particular, the Czechs and Slovaks wanted to fight the Germans, as they were unwilling participants in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and desirous of achieving freedom for a new country.  Getting the 'Czech Legion' onto the Trans-Siberian Railway out to Vladivostok, where they could be transported to Europe became the pipe dream of the Allied Command and eventually, a poorly thought out strategy.  The Soviets agreed; then Trotsky said they needed to be disarmed. That led to the Czechs rebelling and fighting their way from the Ukraine to Vladivostok.  At one point, they had control of 2500 miles of the railroad. A reluctant Wilson eventually succumbed to Anglo-French pressure and ordered Americans to land at Vladivostok and help the Czechs hook up with their forces stranded at Irkutsk.  By the time the Americans landed, the Czechs had broken through, and more importantly, had decided to fight with the Whites in the Russian Civil War.  The Soviets shipped out the ambassadors of the Allies through Archangel.  The consular staffs had a more difficult time getting from Moscow to Finland.  In the midst of their evacuation, an attempt on Lenin's life led to a Red terror.   US- Soviet relations had gotten off on the wrong foot. Ambassadors would not be exchanged again until 1933.

The Way of The Knife, Mazzetti - B

                                          This is the story of how the CIA, in the words of Director Brennan, no longer used a "hammer", but a "scalpel".  The subtitle of the book is 'The CIA, a Secret Army and a War at the Ends of the Earth'.  A generation ago, under attack from all corners of American society and in particular, the Church Committee, the CIA was prohibited from  assassinating foreign leaders.  That prohibition was lifted by Pres. Bush in the early days of the 'GWOT'.   The CIA latched onto the newly created drones, has utilized them effectively throughout the world  and "....has become a killing machine, an organization consumed with manhunting."  Indeed, the operation to kill Bin Laden used Navy SEALS, but was a CIA operation, commanded by Leon Panetta and not the JCS.  The road has been bumpy and the author goes into detail about the endless rivalry and competing roles of the Agency and the DOD. Even more confusing is our relationship with Pakistan and its spy agency, the ICI.  Allies? Not really - they signed up to help because they had no other choice. They were later told that we would conduct drone strikes in their country without any consultation, because we couldn't rely on them to pursue the Taliban. As we all know, they were not informed of the Bin Laden strike and have been particularly difficult since then. The author points out that Pres. Obama often articulated our (or his) aversion to "enhanced interrogation techniques", but has had no problem enthusiastically embracing drone attacks all over the world.  Clearly, the Predators and Reapers are doing yeoman's work in the pursuit of Al Qaeda, and cause concern abroad, but are popular at home and are a permanent part of the arsenal.   The only real concern or question raised is whether or not the fixation on killing has taken away from the task of spying.

Younger Next Year, Crowley and Lodge - B

                                         As far as self-help books go, this one is pretty good.   The basic message is that exercise, not just exercise, but vigorous exercise is what it takes to live long and prosper. I'm going to try to ratchet things up a bit.

Gun Machine, Ellis - B

                                          This is a fascinating fun, novel about an NYPD detective in pursuit of a madman, who thinks he's a direct descendant of the Lenape Indians, who once lived on Manahatta.   The author is a successful writer of graphic novels and screenplays.  He tells a wicked tale chock full of interesting insights into life in modern Manhattan.