Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Concise Life, Rohl - B

                                              I long ago concluded that 'Willy' was one of the worst monarchs in the long history of European incompetence, a delusional disaster whose arrogance, militarism, hatred of England, and insecurity was a significant reason the first half of the 20th century turned Europe into a charnel house.  Recent scholarship has raised the concept that all of Europe, particularly the Serbs and Russians, were equally at fault.  Thus, I decided to check this out - after all, it's only 193 pages.  Indeed, it was that same recent scholarship that led  the author to "miniaturize" his 4,000-page, three-volume biography, and he begs to disagree. He gets right to the point in the introduction. "Kaiser Wilhelm II, imperious, impulsive, imbued with the antiquated notions of the divine right of kings and of Prussia/Germany's God-given trajectory to greatness, while at the same time insecure and hyper-sensitive to perceived slights to his imperial dignity or his dynastic mission, was arguably the very last person who should have been entrusted with the immense powers of the Hohenzollern military monarchy at such a critical juncture in Germany's and Europe's history."  He was the oldest of Queen Victoria's grand children, the son of her daughter Victoria and Crown Prince Frederick. He was breech-born and his left arm was disabled at birth. His mother couldn't stand his deformity and treated him very, very badly. He grew up to despise her English liberalism. Wilhelm was Kaiser at only 29, because his father died of laryngeal cancer only a few months after Wilhelm I died at 90. His ideas and attitudes were a throwback to the 18th century and his first major failure was the dismissal from office of Bismarck, who had managed Germany's awkward constitutional system which had an elected legislature with budgetary powers and ministers appointed by the Kaiser. Without the Iron Chancellor, Willy consolidated more and more power in the military. Whereas Bismarck knew Germany had reached the limits of its size in Europe and worked for peace, Willy wanted to dominate the continent and was ready to go to war to accomplish that.  Throughout the quarter century from Bismarck's dismissal to the guns of August, the Kaiser provoked crisis after crisis, by ill-advised off-the-cuff comments, letters not cleared by the Foreign Office, bombastic interviews with newspapermen, and intervention in diplomatic protocol.  Many, many people in Germany and around Europe wondered out loud if he was off his rocker. Delusional to the end, he approved of Hitler's Chancellorship and asked the Fuhrer to bring him back and make him the Kaiser again. He relished the success of the Wehrmacht in 1939 and 1940 saying that they were his boys now grown to generals who were conquering Europe. He died a few weeks before Barbarossa.
                                           Two years ago as I walked around Berlin, it occurred to me that the Germans won - just not how they intended to win. They are the 4th largest economy in the world, clearly the leaders of Europe, and Berlin will be the 21st century capital of the continent. It was all so unnecessary and, hopefully, as some have observed, at least in Europe, war is no longer a policy option.
                                         

The Invisible Hand, Jevons - B

                                            The invisible hand, of course, refers to Adam Smith in this interesting novel written about an economist, by two economists. This book is the fourth in a series, the first of which was published in the 70's. One writer is a Professor at U.Va. and the other at Trinity University in Texas. Their protagonist is Prof. Henry Spearman at Harvard who occasionally solves mysteries by applying economic logic to the case.  The second book, published  in the 80's, holds the distinction of being the first mystery novel published by a University Press (MIT).  The books are apparently so good that they are sometimes used as assigned supplementary reading in college econ courses.  In this one (the first in twenty years) Spearman wins the Nobel and winds up as a visiting Nobel Professor for a semester at a fictitious school in San Antonio. He decides to teach a course on Art and Economics just as the University's rising star artist-in-residence is murdered a few weeks after 5 of his paintings were stolen.  The solution is not that complicated or even interesting, but the lectures, theories and enthusiasm for the 'dismal science' is fun and I'll likely track down the first three.

The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Future, Kenneally - B +

                                               This book is a romp through genetics, genealogy, DNA testing, historic memory and a sort of world-wide sociological analysis. To some extent it rambles all over the place. There were some interesting points along the way. The author is Australian ,and as we know, millions of British citizens were 'transported', many for serious crimes and equally many for nothing more sinister than stealing bread for a starving child, a la Jean Valjean in French literature.  The author's great-etc. grandfather stole a handkerchief. Those convicts stayed on after their time was done, found partners and gave birth to the modern country of Australia. However, until recently, most Australians were in denial of and not aware of their convict heritage. On Tasmania, formerly Van Diemen's Land where, according to the author, over 90% of the people are convict descendants, anyone who learned of a connection to a convict was shocked. In a bout of serious national denial and forgetfulness, the Aussies simply ignored the past of which their great-grand parents were so ashamed that they never taught their children how or why they came to the continent. Today, finding a convict in one's family tree is a point of pride for the young.  Perhaps the most shocking chapter in the book has to to do with German anti-semitism linked by geography from the 14th century to the 20th.  When the Black Death came to Europe, someone had to be blamed, and in many German cities, Jews were, with disastrous consequences for those Jewish communities.  Hatred can be passed down, but I am shocked that the cities with pogroms in the 14th century were the ones with higher incidences of anti-Jewish violence in the 1930's. Researchers have found that extreme prejudices were rarer in the more cosmopolitan cities where there had been substantial population inflows. It was in those place where there had been minimal outside influences that anti-semitism was more easily passed down.
                                              The DNA  portion of the book has some interesting tid-bits also. A thorough genetic study of the UK showed that from the time the Romans left in 400 AD until the mid-nineteenth century, very few moved or married outside of where they were born. There were interlopers, Danes and Vikings who had an impact, but they were quickly absorbed. There are seventeen distinct clusters from south of London to Cornwall to the Orkneys where everyone in the cluster is pretty much the same.  In the last decade alone, DNA testing has replaced the anthropological fossil-based guessing game about where and how mankind has evolved. The Out of Africa theory has been confirmed and the age-old question about whether or not we share DNA with the Neanderthals has been answered in the affirmative.  How and when the far reaches of the South Pacific and the Western Hemisphere were populated has been resolved.  It has even helped identify the remains of a former King of England. This certainly is an interesting read. Be prepared for a far-reaching tour.

Bad Paper: Chasing Debt From Wall Street To The Underworld, Halpern - B -

                                           Buffalo was once the sixth-largest city in America, and late in the 19th century, because of its proximity to hydro-electric power generation, it was known as 'The Electric City.' I knew it had fallen on hard times, but had no idea it had become the debt collection center of America. Thanks to this book, I've learned a few things about 'paper'. Good paper is sold by banks and other financial institutions to collection agencies. One would think that they would do what they could with the paper, wring out whatever was possible and then forget about it. Far from it.  Those first tier collection agencies (monitored by the FTC) feel like Tiffany's compared to what happens later.  After the paper is worked, incredibly, it is resold over and over to lower tier entities, where you get to the point that the chain-of-title has been corrupted.  Buffalo's skilled players, many of whom have criminal records, call plead, threaten and mislead the debtors. Remarkably, good collectors can make up to $100,000 per year, although job security can be sketchy when the entity's owner is another ex-con scouring the netherworld for paper.
                                         This era may be ending as the Great Recession threw a monkey-wrench in the never-ending expansion of credit, and entities like Chase have been so tarnished that they no longer sell paper. Also, the FTC and the new Consumer Protection Bureau are making it harder for many of these abuses to continue.

The Lady From Zagreb, Kerr - B -

                                               As mentioned previously,  the Bernie Gunther series is about a Berlin cop who somehow keeps his job through the Weimar years and, although virulently anti-Nazi, stays on at the Alexanderplatz HQ of the Criminal Police. After the war begins, he is assigned to the SD and winds up doing occasional odd jobs out-of-town for various big wigs.  I was very disappointed in the last book because Bernie  was interacting with too many real characters and was involved in investigating real wartime occurrences. It felt uncomfortable.  Here he again is involved with actual people (he is asked to go to Yugoslavia by Goebbels), but it's more of a historical novel like most of the books in the series.  And in this book, the author accomplishes what a good historical novelist should - he sheds light on topics I was only slightly familiar with and follows up with historical postscripts. He tells of the extreme hatred and violence between the Croats and Serbs and of the killing camps set up by the Ustase. He also sets part of the novel  in Switzerland, which the Nazis apparently gave consideration to invading, particularly after Italy switched sides. Interestingly, the Swiss were ready with plans to blow up the valley passes that the Wehrmacht needed to attack. The wise-cracking Kripo cop wears thin after thirteen (ten if you count the Berlin Noir trilogy as one) novels, but  I'll likely give the next one a try.

Reluctant Meister: How Germany's Past Is Shaping Its European Future, Green - C +

                                               This is a very deep, thoughtful, almost philosophical analysis of the topic. And, as one would expect, any assessment of Germany must analyze how the most sophisticated culture in Europe, if not the world, wound up at 'Stunde Null' (Zero Hour) in 1945.  The author starts with Luther and his division of responsibilities into the personal or internal issues of faith, and the public responsibility to be part of a functioning civic entity. Layer on the Thirty Years War and a devastation almost on par with 1945, and you start to move toward a society with a huge emphasis on individual responsibility to the greater whole.  When the Teutonic Knights were disbanded in 1525, many of the members settled in what would become East Prussia and their descendants became the Junker backbone of the 2nd and 3rd Reichs. He points out there was almost similar language on the topic of 'obedience' in  the oaths sworn by the Teutonic Knights and the Wehrmacht.  He also emphasizes a national sense of victim hood occasioned by the Thirty Years War, constant French invasions and Napoleon's triumphs. As Germany grew in in the 19th century, it grew as an insecure victim constantly looking over its shoulder.  One theme he explores was totally over my head. He spends chapters on German culture, discussing Beethoven, Bach, Schopenhauer, Wagner, Schiller, Brecht, the Brothers Grimm, Kant, Nietzsche, Goethe, Hegel etc. etc. and their influence on the formation of the national character.  Other than Hitler's obsession with the Ring Cycle, particularly Gotterdamerung, I'm not sure he ties it at all in.
                                                Finally, with an eighth of the book left, he turns to the question posed in the subtitle, i.e. how the past influences today. He contends that because Germany has had to deal with the mumble jumble of the Holy Roman Empire and the overlapping entities of the 19th century, it is at home and comfortable in the inherently unstructured EU, where there are different entities responsible for different aspects of European life.  Also, Germany experienced the massive struggle to integrate the GDR into the nation and thus is best equipped to work through the issues involved in the expansion of the EU east. Germany's willingness to assume responsibility for the ECB and take on the lead role in trying to preserve the Euro stem from its own success with the Deutschmark and its need to be part of the greater European community. Green loves Germany, its language, Kultur and music and believes it can lead the continent into the future.
                                             

All The Old Knives, Steinhauer - B +

                                              Olen Steinhauer, at this stage, is pretty well-known and admired for his ability to shift his method of writing thrilling spy novels. His last two were a bit complex and this one responds to that criticism.  His two principal characters are former lovers and the entire book is spent over dinner at a lovely restaurant overlooking the sea in Monterey CA. He still works for the CIA and is stopping by because he's "going to be in her neck of the woods". She bailed five years previously after the Vienna office may have contributed to an Islamic- inspired act of terrorism at the Vienna airport. Her new life  involves a husband, two children and forgetting about her old life. It appears as if someone in the Office may have called a number in Jordan that could have tipped off the terrorists about an asset the CIA had on the plane. She thinks it was him.  He wants to know why she never told anyone about the call,after she checked the logs.  Love and trust are distant memories. They both arrange back-up, which leads to some unexpected consequences and a wholly unimaginable ending.

Fear: A Novel Of World War I, Chevalier - B +

                                               Thanks to Greg Weiss for this one too.  This remarkable book was completed in 1931 by a man who went on to fame as a writer. It is easy to discern his skill in this book, which is written in the first person and presumably, is very close to his memoir.  At the age of 19 in December, 1914, Chevalier (Dartemont in the novel) was drafted and found himself at the front in Oct. 1915. His pen drips with rage and sarcasm at those who threw young Europe into the ash heap. His disdain of politicians and generals comes through in such fabulous phrasing that you could almost find a quote on every page: "And millions of men, because they believed what they were taught by emperors, legislators, and bishops in their legal codes, their manuals of instruction and their catechisms, by historians in their history books, teachers in their colleges, and decent, ordinary people in their living rooms, these millions of men form countless flocks that shepherds with officer's braids lead to the slaughterhouses, to the sound of music."  Blessed with a light series of shrapnel wounds and after never even seeing a German, never mind shooting at one, he is hospitalized, sent home and free of the war over the winter and thus, survives into 1916. He misses Verdun, and spends months doing light duty as a runner, while his regiment is stationed in the Vosges. Being a runner is exponentially safer than being on the front line, but his good luck ends in the spring 1917 offensive.  He ably describes the hell, fear and stench of those condemned to the trenches and consistently describes  the 'Poilus' as interested in one thing and one thing only - survival. There is no interest among the men for glory, for country, for heroism - there is only survival.  He makes it through 1917 and by the end of the following summer, it is clear that the 'Boche' are done in. That however does not eliminate the need for a 24 Sept 1918 offensive and Dartemont is in the 2nd wave.  They advance 15 kilometers over 11 days as the Germans, if not retreating, are certainly backtracking. Nov. 11, 1918, 11AM.  Peace!  This is an absolutely fabulous anti-war treatise. It's so good that in 1939 the government asked the author to suspend publication and he agreed.