This book is somewhat reminiscent of the Clinton presidency. That is to say, it is all over the place. Rather than start with the Starr investigation as it evolved over four-and-a-half years, it jumps right into the president's grand jury testimony before Starr in 1998 and just steamrolls into the rest of the sordid affair. There is virtually no perspective. The impeachment began in late summer 1998 when Starr sent two copies of his Report to an unprepared Congress. Twenty-years ago was the beginning of the hyper-partisan permanent news cycle that was enhanced by the burgeoning internet. The Report was released online and most of the nation knew that Bill Clinton had lied in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit deposition over his inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The public didn't seem to think this rose to the level of impeachable conduct, gave the President high approval ratings and handed the Democrats an additional five House seats in the mid-terms. Those election results led to the resignation of Newt Gingrich as Speaker. Nonetheless, a little over a month later, the House Judiciary Committee voted out four articles of impeachment. The man designated as the next Speaker, Bob Livingston of Louisiana, was outed for a number of extra-marital affairs and withdrew his name from consideration on the very day the House approved two of the four articles. Thus, on December 19, 1998, Bill Clinton joined Andrew Johnson as the second president to be impeached. On January 7th, the Senate began the first impeachment trial in 131 years. The case was virtually DOA, had a few good days and wilted after Clinton's State of the Union address and Robert Byrd's motion to dismiss. The seven term Democrat was perceived to be the conscience and historian of the Senate and was known to totally despise Clinton. The motion failed, but it signified the beginning of the end. On February 12, the perjury article received 45 votes and the obstruction 50.
I read this book because twenty years ago, I was so engrossed in work that I missed a great deal of the drama. It has been helpful in filling in a lot of blanks. Bill Clinton was a serial philanderer, congenital liar and sexual predator. Comparisons to Cleveland, Harding, Roosevelt, Kennedy or Johnson fail, as I do not believe any of them were ever accused of forcing himself on anyone and none ever carried on with a White House intern. Also, after six years in Washington, it is fair to say the president was despised in the House and Senate by virtually everyone for his lack of character and inability to keep his word. As for the Republican accusers, hypocrisy is not a strong enough word to characterize their failings. Gingrich carried on a five-year affair with a staffer that featured oral sex because intercourse would constitute cheating on his second wife, with whom he had cheated on his first wife. Two decades later, the staffer, now his 3rd spouse, became the US Vicar to the Holy See. Livingston, as mentioned above, strayed from his marriage. Hyde, the Judiciary Chair, strayed from his, as did House manager Bob Barr. The Whip, Tom Delay who tirelessly rallied for impeachment, later went to jail after a felony conviction for campaign finance fraud. Prison was also the outcome for Speaker Hastert, who tried to hush up his perverted years as a boys wrestling coach. What a wealth of Depravity and Hypocrisy marching across history's pages!
2.27.2018
Manhattan Beach, Egan - B-
On the face of it, I should have loved this book. It's a NY Times Notable for 2017 and for some reviewers, a top ten book for the year. It is set in Brooklyn in the 1930's and during WWII. The story is about life on the docks and in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Yet, as is so often the case with me, highly acclaimed literature seldom resonates. Anna Kerrigan is devoted to her dad, the raffish bag man and employee of the International Longshoreman's Association. Eddie has many skills and is devoted to his wife and family, but life for those on the edge of edgy businesses in NY during the depression is full of risks. They eventually catch up with Eddie and Anna has to fend for herself when the war breaks out. Work at the Yard is tedious, but soon she is pioneering the role as the first woman diver amongst all the men. The book provides some fabulous insights into the city when it was at, perhaps, its most legendary height.
The Kremlin's Candidate, Matthews - B +
This book is the third and final volume in the 'Red Sparrow' trilogy. The ante has been upped because Egarova is now in the inner sanctum of the tsar of new Russia, but likely to be exposed soon when the Kremlin's candidate to replace the Director of the CIA is installed. All three books are great fun, although I think Matthews tends to run a bit long and adds too many chapters that are no more than diversions that lengthen the text.
2.18.2018
Meet You In Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, And The Bitter Partnership That Transformed America, Standiford - B
"Carnegie and Frick represent the American ethos of limitless possibility more forcefully than any fictional overachieving shoeshine boy or chimney sweep." The title of this book stems from an exchange between the two men in 1919. As Carnegie lay on his deathbed, he wrote a letter seeking a reconciliation with his former partner. Frick's response was, "Tell him I'll see him in Hell, where we both are going."
When the Carnegie family arrived in Pittsburgh in 1844, twelve -year-old Andrew went to work in a weaving mill. He was a clerk who soon caught the attention of management; he then went on to work for the Pennsylvania RR. By the time he was twenty-four, he was an executive managing the western division of the Pennsy. He profited from an investment in an oil company and founded Cyclops Iron Co. with his brother. He started in the steel business with the construction of the Edgar Thomson Mill. Henry Clay Frick was American-born and, through a cousin, got into the coking business. He became known as the 'King of Coke' and in 1882, signed a deal whereby he became Carnegie's exclusive supplier. When younger brother, Tom Carnegie, died, Andrew brought in Frick as a partner to run Carnegie Steel. The company became the most successful in the world.
The summer of 1892 saw an event that would lead to a falling out between the two men and go down as one of the lowest points in American labor history. The contract at the Homestead Works expired and Frick announced the company would no longer negotiate with the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. As was his practice, Carnegie was in Scotland for the summer. In preparation for what he assumed would be a long struggle, Frick hired three hundred Pinkertons. A headline in the Pittsburgh Post said : IT LOOKS LIKE WAR. Frick locked out the workers on June 30 and shut down the works. When the Pinkertons attempted to land their two barges from the Monongahela on July 6, a day long gun battle erupted. Six workers and two Pinkerton's died and scores were wounded, before the Pinkertons surrendered and were escorted out of Homestead by the sheriff of Allegheny County. Less than a week later, Homestead was occupied by the Pennsylvania National Guard. Warrants were issued for the arrests of seven of the strike leaders for murder. An anarchist from out of town strode into Frick's office and fired two shots, injuring him. Slowly, the mill came back on line with substitute workers and those who chose to accept the new terms without the union's approval. In October, twenty-seven union leaders were indicted for treason and Frick and a handful of the officers were indicted for murder. In November, the union capitulated and thousands of men returned to work. Three workers were acquitted at their murder trial and all other charges were dropped.
More than half of the states adopted laws prohibiting the hiring of private police during labor disputes. Although the majority of the nation was opposed to Carnegie and Frick, they succeeded in burying the union. Indeed, US Steel wouldn't recognize a labor union until 1937. The strike was the beginning of the end of Carnegie's and Frick's relationship, as Carnegie attempted to distance himself from the violence. The final break came in 1900 when Frick Coke and Carnegie Steel were merged and Frick walked away with $31m. Two years later, Carnegie accepted JPMorgan's offer to create USSteel and walked away with $225m. The two extremely philanthropic men died two weeks apart in 1919. The industry they had created would dominate America and the world until the 1960's. The charities they created and nurtured are still prospering today. Once again, thanks to Wendell Erwin for this recommendation.
When the Carnegie family arrived in Pittsburgh in 1844, twelve -year-old Andrew went to work in a weaving mill. He was a clerk who soon caught the attention of management; he then went on to work for the Pennsylvania RR. By the time he was twenty-four, he was an executive managing the western division of the Pennsy. He profited from an investment in an oil company and founded Cyclops Iron Co. with his brother. He started in the steel business with the construction of the Edgar Thomson Mill. Henry Clay Frick was American-born and, through a cousin, got into the coking business. He became known as the 'King of Coke' and in 1882, signed a deal whereby he became Carnegie's exclusive supplier. When younger brother, Tom Carnegie, died, Andrew brought in Frick as a partner to run Carnegie Steel. The company became the most successful in the world.
The summer of 1892 saw an event that would lead to a falling out between the two men and go down as one of the lowest points in American labor history. The contract at the Homestead Works expired and Frick announced the company would no longer negotiate with the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. As was his practice, Carnegie was in Scotland for the summer. In preparation for what he assumed would be a long struggle, Frick hired three hundred Pinkertons. A headline in the Pittsburgh Post said : IT LOOKS LIKE WAR. Frick locked out the workers on June 30 and shut down the works. When the Pinkertons attempted to land their two barges from the Monongahela on July 6, a day long gun battle erupted. Six workers and two Pinkerton's died and scores were wounded, before the Pinkertons surrendered and were escorted out of Homestead by the sheriff of Allegheny County. Less than a week later, Homestead was occupied by the Pennsylvania National Guard. Warrants were issued for the arrests of seven of the strike leaders for murder. An anarchist from out of town strode into Frick's office and fired two shots, injuring him. Slowly, the mill came back on line with substitute workers and those who chose to accept the new terms without the union's approval. In October, twenty-seven union leaders were indicted for treason and Frick and a handful of the officers were indicted for murder. In November, the union capitulated and thousands of men returned to work. Three workers were acquitted at their murder trial and all other charges were dropped.
More than half of the states adopted laws prohibiting the hiring of private police during labor disputes. Although the majority of the nation was opposed to Carnegie and Frick, they succeeded in burying the union. Indeed, US Steel wouldn't recognize a labor union until 1937. The strike was the beginning of the end of Carnegie's and Frick's relationship, as Carnegie attempted to distance himself from the violence. The final break came in 1900 when Frick Coke and Carnegie Steel were merged and Frick walked away with $31m. Two years later, Carnegie accepted JPMorgan's offer to create USSteel and walked away with $225m. The two extremely philanthropic men died two weeks apart in 1919. The industry they had created would dominate America and the world until the 1960's. The charities they created and nurtured are still prospering today. Once again, thanks to Wendell Erwin for this recommendation.
The Spy's Daughter, Brookes - B+
This, the third book in this series, confirms the author as an up-and-comer in the spy thriller genre. Following up on a name and address from the previous book, Mangan obtains a lead in Suriname that brings him to Washington, D.C., where he and Patterson unearth a plot by the Chinese to use the talents of a college student with a brilliant mind and a job at a firm that focuses on AI. Young Pearl was brought to he US by her parents as part of a long-term sleeper program. The author explores the depths of China's efforts to take on the US, as well as the total cynicism and lack of morality that drive the big spy agencies.
Bonfire, Ritter - B
This is an interesting novel that combines a legal investigation with a coming of age story. A young Chicago lawyer returns to her hometown in Indiana to work on a potential environmental case as part of a team investigating illegal contaminants in the local water supply. Returning home also involves revisiting all that she hated about growing up in a small town in the early oughts. There is a tie-in between the plastic company polluting the reservoir, the 'game' from back in the day and one of her high school friends. This is a debut novel, and as is so often the case, the author struggled with the ending.
The Shadow District, Indridason - C +
The author, Iceland's best-known crime novelist, starts a new series here featuring a detective in WWII Reykjavik. The character is interesting, but the story in this one just flops. My only worthwhile takeaway is that I've learned that Iceland was occupied by the British, then the US, and declared its independence from Denmark establishing a new republic in June, 1944.
2.11.2018
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, Egan - B
"This story takes you beneath the lakes' shimmering surface and illuminates an ongoing and unparalleled ecological unravelling of what is arguably North America's most precious natural resource." Saved from a century of industrial pollution by the Clean Water Act, the Lakes are now home to 186 nonnative species because the EPA allowed seafaring ships to dump their ballast water, thus introducing, among other species, two small mussels, the zebra and quagga. The mussels have cleansed the water, but killed native fish populations and have spread west into the Mississippi basin because of the Chicago Sanitary Canal.
Prior to the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway lock system that opened up the Lakes to traffic from the Atlantic, the Lakes were isolated by Niagara Falls and the drop of almost 800 feet from the midwest to sea level. The only breach of that defense had been the Erie Canal and it is believed that the canal was the route taken to the Lakes by the sea-lamprey, which virtually eliminated the lake trout in the 1930's and 40's. The alewife followed, and by the mid-60's, alewives were 90% of the fish mass in Lake Michigan. A solution was to stock the Lakes with Pacific silver salmon, a predator fish that would feast on the alewives and was also a fun sport fish. That worked for decades until the alewives began dying off because the mussels were eating all the plankton. Without the alewives to feed on, the salmon numbers dropped precipitously. The invasive zebra mussel, a Black Sea native that arrived in ballast discharge, was first seen in the 1980's. It clogged water intake pipes and its cousin, the quagga, cleansed all the plankton in the water leaving the Lakes, particularly Michigan, clear as a glass of water and without many fish. One suggestion to solve this problem is to preclude the 'salties' from entering the Lakes, and some have pointed out that the cost of shipping goods offloaded somewhere on the St. Lawrence would be a fraction of what we've spent protecting our waters from invaders.
Another threat to the Lakes comes from the Mississippi basin, where the Asian carp has been reproducing and marching north for decades. Because of the mid-19th century Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal, which reversed the flow of the diminutive Chicago river to the south and connected the Lakes to the Des Plaines River, there is no natural barrier to keep the carp out of the Lakes. The Corps of Engineers has placed an electric barrier just south of Chicago in an attempt to keep the carp out. No one knows if it will work indefinitely, and there is serious concern about the devastation the carp would wreak on the Lakes. Conversely, the Canal also allowed the migration of the mussels into the Mississippi basin, where they are causing the same problems that they've caused in the Lakes.
As for the future, the author offers up the hope that the native fish of the Lakes are evolving, finding new food sources and making a comeback. Specifically, both whitefish and trout are reviving. There is even a chance that science can create a gene to kill the invasive species that will not harm the water or another species. Clearly, time will tell, and since the Lakes hold 20% of the world's fresh water, one can only hope that somehow we do not continue to despoil these treasures.
Prior to the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway lock system that opened up the Lakes to traffic from the Atlantic, the Lakes were isolated by Niagara Falls and the drop of almost 800 feet from the midwest to sea level. The only breach of that defense had been the Erie Canal and it is believed that the canal was the route taken to the Lakes by the sea-lamprey, which virtually eliminated the lake trout in the 1930's and 40's. The alewife followed, and by the mid-60's, alewives were 90% of the fish mass in Lake Michigan. A solution was to stock the Lakes with Pacific silver salmon, a predator fish that would feast on the alewives and was also a fun sport fish. That worked for decades until the alewives began dying off because the mussels were eating all the plankton. Without the alewives to feed on, the salmon numbers dropped precipitously. The invasive zebra mussel, a Black Sea native that arrived in ballast discharge, was first seen in the 1980's. It clogged water intake pipes and its cousin, the quagga, cleansed all the plankton in the water leaving the Lakes, particularly Michigan, clear as a glass of water and without many fish. One suggestion to solve this problem is to preclude the 'salties' from entering the Lakes, and some have pointed out that the cost of shipping goods offloaded somewhere on the St. Lawrence would be a fraction of what we've spent protecting our waters from invaders.
Another threat to the Lakes comes from the Mississippi basin, where the Asian carp has been reproducing and marching north for decades. Because of the mid-19th century Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal, which reversed the flow of the diminutive Chicago river to the south and connected the Lakes to the Des Plaines River, there is no natural barrier to keep the carp out of the Lakes. The Corps of Engineers has placed an electric barrier just south of Chicago in an attempt to keep the carp out. No one knows if it will work indefinitely, and there is serious concern about the devastation the carp would wreak on the Lakes. Conversely, the Canal also allowed the migration of the mussels into the Mississippi basin, where they are causing the same problems that they've caused in the Lakes.
As for the future, the author offers up the hope that the native fish of the Lakes are evolving, finding new food sources and making a comeback. Specifically, both whitefish and trout are reviving. There is even a chance that science can create a gene to kill the invasive species that will not harm the water or another species. Clearly, time will tell, and since the Lakes hold 20% of the world's fresh water, one can only hope that somehow we do not continue to despoil these treasures.
The Gate Keeper, Todd - B+
This is the 20th book in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series; it is set in the week before Christmas in 1920. I have praised the authors in the past for their fine understanding of the Great War and its impact on post-war English society. Unlike many of its predecessors, this book's plot does not hinge on the war, but a matter much older, the death of a soldier in the Boer War. These stories are almost always excellent and it is fun to read a book where instead of instant communications and information, the protagonist tries to solve multiple murders in a village with a single telephone.
Righteous, Ide - B-
This is the second novel in the Isaiah Quintabe series, but sadly, it is not as good as the debut. The author develops the character well, but the overall story is not as strong as the first. Isaiah is asked by his late brother's former girlfriend to help her Las Vegas-based half-sister who is in serious debt to a loan shark and being chased by Chinese triads. It's an interesting diversion but not much more.
2.04.2018
Jefferson: Architect Of American Liberty, Boles - B +
A special thanks to Wendell Erwin for not just recommending this book, but for giving me a hardcover copy with a personal dedication by the author, a professor at Rice University. Boles is a graduate of the University of Virginia and seeks a middle ground in analyzing our most complex president, doing so in the context of his times.
Peter Jefferson purchased the land that would become Monticello a decade before his son Thomas' birth in 1843. In 1760, Thomas went to Williamsburg and spent two years at the College of William and Mary. He then undertook the study of the law and was admitted in 1765. A few years later, he was elected to the Burgesses and on New Years day in 1772, he married Martha Wayles. As political matters with the UK deteriorated, Jefferson gained some notoriety for penning a manuscript known as 'A Summary View of the Rights of British America', earning himself the sobriquet 'the pen of the American Revolution.' He was sent to Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. Virginia instructed its delegates to vote for independence. Before the drafting of the Declaration, Jefferson was working on a draft constitution for Virginia in which he proposed near universal male suffrage, the banning of the slave trade and the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. He was appointed the lead writer for the committee on the Declaration and fully ninety percent of its text is his. Perhaps the most famous words ever penned were published in his handwriting on July 4, 1776. For the next three years, he worked to build Monticello and the laws and structure of the new state of Virginia. He authored 'The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom' which, although not adopted until 1786, he considered one of the most important accomplishments his life. The war came to Virginia in 1781 and by then Jefferson was Governor, a position he held for two years. At war's end, he retired from politics and public service intent on mending his financial affairs and attending to his family. However, on Sept. 6, 1782, Martha died after asking that he never remarry and impose a stepmother on her daughters. He accepted a position in the new Congress and two years later, at the age of 41, joined by his 11 year old daughter, Martha and a few slaves, he departed as minister plenipotentiary for Paris.
Jefferson spent five years in Paris working on behalf of the US and indulging his life-long curiosity and relentless pursuit of knowledge. He paid particular attention to architectural and agrarian matters, as he accumulated ideas for the improvement of Monticello. During his stay, he published 'Notes On The State Of Virginia' in which he deplored slavery, applauded the yeoman farmer and continued his arguments for religious freedom of conscience. He was absent throughout the Constitutional Convention and was only able to offer his ideas in writing, often long after the fact. In France, he saw the emerging revolution first hand before he returned to America in late 1789. He wanted to take his daughters to Virginia so they could learn the necessary skills to run an American household. Both James Hemings, a trained French chef and his sister, Sally, the girl's bilingual ladies maid, and, certainly by then, Jefferson's lover, received certain promises from Jefferson to assure their return. In Sally's instance, it was that any children she should have would be freed at their maturity.
Upon his return, he was offered and accepted the position of Secretary of State. In the first months, he brokered the deal between Madison and Hamilton that led to the assumption by the US of the states' debts in exchange for the removal of the capitol to the Potomac. Washington's first term became a battleground between Jefferson and Hamilton, who were almost always diametrically opposed on the issues facing the new nation. Longing for Monticello, he resigned at the end of 1793. He was home for the next three years, fathering his first two children with Sally, experimenting continually with the farming operation and expanding and building Monticello, which was not 'completed' until 1809. His idyll ended when he was elected Vice-President and returned to Philadelphia in March, 1797. His goal was to limit his activities to his constitutional role as president of the Senate. However, the Sedition Act of 1796 forced him to argue against the centralizing policies of the Federalists, in particular Hamilton's sponsorship of a standing army. As the election of 1800 approached, he was the leading light of the Republicans and actively pursued the presidency. In a bizarre election, he and fellow Republican, Aaron Burr tied in the electoral college. After thirty-seven votes in the House, Jefferson prevailed and became our third president. His goals were to prove he was no Jacobin radical and to stem the incredibly virulent partisanship of the day.
Although be believed in a less centralized state than many in the Federalist party, he did pursue a more active role than his predecessors by actually suggesting legislation, meeting often with his cabinet and generally, spending more time in the capital and working very hard. In some correspondence early in his term, he used the phrase "a wall of separation between Church and State." He suggested the creation of West Point as a military academy with a focus on engineering and was instrumental in establishing the Library of Congress. He prosecuted an undeclared war for four years against the Barbary pirates. The year 1803 saw both the completion of the Louisiana Purchase and the departure of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, perhaps the two most memorable events of his presidency. The following year, he was re-elected in an electoral landslide. His second term was marred by Aaron Burr's plot to raise a rebellion in the west and America's struggle to maintain a neutral stance in the latest European conflagration. Britain's harsh treatment of American shipping led to Jefferson and Congress closing American ports to European trade. The Embargo was both ineffective and unpopular. When the time came to step down, he eagerly left Washington behind and returned to Monticello.
In retirement, his focus was his farm and his family. Martha had eleven children who lived to adulthood, all residing at Monticello, and providing Jefferson with love and affection throughout his retirement. In 1812, he and John Adams reconciled and took up their legendary correspondence that would continue until their deaths in 1826 on July 4th. They exchanged 158 letters discussing religion, personal matters, their health, and politics.
The author addresses that great paradox of Jefferson and slavery. He was considered opposed to slavery, yet lived off the efforts of slaves and had a four decade relationship with Sally Hemings. The only slaves he ever freed were her children and her siblings. To some extent, a 1792 Virginia law allowing slaves freed by men in debt to be re-enslaved, and an 1806 law requiring freed slaves to leave the sate tied his hands. Jefferson could not square his beliefs with his circumstances and "believed that in God's good time, emancipation
would somehow be effected."
This is a delightful book, extremely well-written and a pleasure to read. It is always helpful to be reintroduced to the era and the Founders. I tend to prefer American history from the 1840's on, and do not regularly seek out this era. The topics of tariffs, internal improvements, the bank, impressment on the seas, and the vicious factionalism about sometimes befuddling issues all add up to a difficult read for me. But it is helpful to be reminded that these men were writing on a blank sheet of paper. They created a country and a system that, although at times troubled, remains the finest ever.
Peter Jefferson purchased the land that would become Monticello a decade before his son Thomas' birth in 1843. In 1760, Thomas went to Williamsburg and spent two years at the College of William and Mary. He then undertook the study of the law and was admitted in 1765. A few years later, he was elected to the Burgesses and on New Years day in 1772, he married Martha Wayles. As political matters with the UK deteriorated, Jefferson gained some notoriety for penning a manuscript known as 'A Summary View of the Rights of British America', earning himself the sobriquet 'the pen of the American Revolution.' He was sent to Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. Virginia instructed its delegates to vote for independence. Before the drafting of the Declaration, Jefferson was working on a draft constitution for Virginia in which he proposed near universal male suffrage, the banning of the slave trade and the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. He was appointed the lead writer for the committee on the Declaration and fully ninety percent of its text is his. Perhaps the most famous words ever penned were published in his handwriting on July 4, 1776. For the next three years, he worked to build Monticello and the laws and structure of the new state of Virginia. He authored 'The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom' which, although not adopted until 1786, he considered one of the most important accomplishments his life. The war came to Virginia in 1781 and by then Jefferson was Governor, a position he held for two years. At war's end, he retired from politics and public service intent on mending his financial affairs and attending to his family. However, on Sept. 6, 1782, Martha died after asking that he never remarry and impose a stepmother on her daughters. He accepted a position in the new Congress and two years later, at the age of 41, joined by his 11 year old daughter, Martha and a few slaves, he departed as minister plenipotentiary for Paris.
Jefferson spent five years in Paris working on behalf of the US and indulging his life-long curiosity and relentless pursuit of knowledge. He paid particular attention to architectural and agrarian matters, as he accumulated ideas for the improvement of Monticello. During his stay, he published 'Notes On The State Of Virginia' in which he deplored slavery, applauded the yeoman farmer and continued his arguments for religious freedom of conscience. He was absent throughout the Constitutional Convention and was only able to offer his ideas in writing, often long after the fact. In France, he saw the emerging revolution first hand before he returned to America in late 1789. He wanted to take his daughters to Virginia so they could learn the necessary skills to run an American household. Both James Hemings, a trained French chef and his sister, Sally, the girl's bilingual ladies maid, and, certainly by then, Jefferson's lover, received certain promises from Jefferson to assure their return. In Sally's instance, it was that any children she should have would be freed at their maturity.
Upon his return, he was offered and accepted the position of Secretary of State. In the first months, he brokered the deal between Madison and Hamilton that led to the assumption by the US of the states' debts in exchange for the removal of the capitol to the Potomac. Washington's first term became a battleground between Jefferson and Hamilton, who were almost always diametrically opposed on the issues facing the new nation. Longing for Monticello, he resigned at the end of 1793. He was home for the next three years, fathering his first two children with Sally, experimenting continually with the farming operation and expanding and building Monticello, which was not 'completed' until 1809. His idyll ended when he was elected Vice-President and returned to Philadelphia in March, 1797. His goal was to limit his activities to his constitutional role as president of the Senate. However, the Sedition Act of 1796 forced him to argue against the centralizing policies of the Federalists, in particular Hamilton's sponsorship of a standing army. As the election of 1800 approached, he was the leading light of the Republicans and actively pursued the presidency. In a bizarre election, he and fellow Republican, Aaron Burr tied in the electoral college. After thirty-seven votes in the House, Jefferson prevailed and became our third president. His goals were to prove he was no Jacobin radical and to stem the incredibly virulent partisanship of the day.
Although be believed in a less centralized state than many in the Federalist party, he did pursue a more active role than his predecessors by actually suggesting legislation, meeting often with his cabinet and generally, spending more time in the capital and working very hard. In some correspondence early in his term, he used the phrase "a wall of separation between Church and State." He suggested the creation of West Point as a military academy with a focus on engineering and was instrumental in establishing the Library of Congress. He prosecuted an undeclared war for four years against the Barbary pirates. The year 1803 saw both the completion of the Louisiana Purchase and the departure of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, perhaps the two most memorable events of his presidency. The following year, he was re-elected in an electoral landslide. His second term was marred by Aaron Burr's plot to raise a rebellion in the west and America's struggle to maintain a neutral stance in the latest European conflagration. Britain's harsh treatment of American shipping led to Jefferson and Congress closing American ports to European trade. The Embargo was both ineffective and unpopular. When the time came to step down, he eagerly left Washington behind and returned to Monticello.
In retirement, his focus was his farm and his family. Martha had eleven children who lived to adulthood, all residing at Monticello, and providing Jefferson with love and affection throughout his retirement. In 1812, he and John Adams reconciled and took up their legendary correspondence that would continue until their deaths in 1826 on July 4th. They exchanged 158 letters discussing religion, personal matters, their health, and politics.
The author addresses that great paradox of Jefferson and slavery. He was considered opposed to slavery, yet lived off the efforts of slaves and had a four decade relationship with Sally Hemings. The only slaves he ever freed were her children and her siblings. To some extent, a 1792 Virginia law allowing slaves freed by men in debt to be re-enslaved, and an 1806 law requiring freed slaves to leave the sate tied his hands. Jefferson could not square his beliefs with his circumstances and "believed that in God's good time, emancipation
would somehow be effected."
This is a delightful book, extremely well-written and a pleasure to read. It is always helpful to be reintroduced to the era and the Founders. I tend to prefer American history from the 1840's on, and do not regularly seek out this era. The topics of tariffs, internal improvements, the bank, impressment on the seas, and the vicious factionalism about sometimes befuddling issues all add up to a difficult read for me. But it is helpful to be reminded that these men were writing on a blank sheet of paper. They created a country and a system that, although at times troubled, remains the finest ever.
The Night Trade, Eisler - B +
This is the sequel to Eisler's previous novel about Livia Lone of the Seattle PD. She is an extraordinary individual, someone with a purpose and a set of values that complement her martial art skills, that are on a Jack Reacher and Lisbeth Sanders level. This book is set in Thailand, where she goes to finish off those in the trafficking business who had taken her and her sister. Once again, I really like novels where the good guys get revenge on the bad guys; this fits the bill to a tee.
The Wanted, Crais - B
This is the latest book in the superb Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series set in modern day LA. Cole, a veteran PI, receives a call from a woman who has found a very expensive Rolex in her son's bedroom. It turns out that he and two friends are responsible for a series of house burglaries in the Beverly Hills area. Matters get very sticky when Elvis realizes that someone very evil is after the young people, because one of the laptops they lifted has some very incriminating material on it. As always, this is fun, well-written and a perfectly-paced addition to the series.
The Take, Reich - C-
This not very adequate novel starts with a Saudi prince leaving the George V in Paris on his way to the airport along with a half-dozen cars and the appropriate security. A hijacking that steals his walking around money and a mysterious letter lead to a clash of security services from the US, Russia, the UK and France, chasing each other all over France, a lot of shooting, some very hi-tech hijinks and a totally implausible plot line.
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