The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga Of Churchill, Family, And Defiance During The Blitz, Larson - B

                      On May 10, 1940, George VI asked Winston Churchill to form a new government. Three days later, he told the Commons "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."  He reorganized and invigorated the government for the long fight ahead. The defeat of France left the UK entirely on its own with Churchill thinking constantly of how he could convince America to help. With the Germans on the French coast, the almost exclusive concern in Great Britain was the possible depredations of the Luftwaffe. German air power was believed to be two or three times greater than that of the RAF. The other anxiety was the fate of the French fleet. The UK was quite worried that it would fall into German hands. Thus, they sunk a portion of the fleet that had been at anchor in Algeria. 

                      Hitler was so confident that Britain would either surrender or be defeated that he ordered preparations in Berlin for a victory parade at the end of August. That month saw the unleashing of the Luftwaffe, with its 2300 planes and the beginning of the Battle of Britain. Britain's defense consisted of its effective use of radar, its devoted pilots and two very good planes, the Hurricane and the Spitfire.  On the 15th, Germany sent 2100 planes to attack Britain. Seventy-five of the Luftwaffe aircraft were lost on what became known as Black Thursday. The attacks came in waves all day, and soon came every day. On the 24th, London was bombed for the first time, albeit by accident as Hitler had expressly prohibited the bombing of the capital. The following night, the RAF bombed Berlin. On Saturday Sept. 7, the Luftwaffe sought to deliver a knockout blow to London. A thousand planes attacked in the first wave alone. The all clear did not sound until 5 a.m. Sunday morning. Day in and day out into September, the bombing continued. Through it all, the RAF fought with unprecedented valor and was able to daily challenge the German bombers. The Luftwaffe's failure to control the skies led to Hitler's abandonment of his invasion plans. Even when Hitler turned his thoughts to Russia, the Luftwaffe continued its ongoing raids over England. The year 1940 closed with the bombings ongoing and the UK still very much alone.

                      The new year dawned with FDR conceiving, and then introducing during a fireside chat, his brilliant Lend-Lease program to assist the British. The president's personal envoy, Harry Hopkins, was sent to London and spent a month assessing Churchill and Britain's war effort. Averell Harriman followed to help implement America's assistance. On every front though, the war continued to go badly. The Luftwaffe continued to pound England. Greece was abandoned by British forces. In Africa, Rommel pummeled the army and appeared ready to capture Egypt. Indeed, right up to Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe came and came again wreaking endless destruction. But, all at once it was over as Germany turned her attention east. The United Kingdom had survived and Churchill had provided the leadership the situation had so sorely called for. The Blitz had killed 29,000 Britons and injured many more. Vast expanses of all the major cities, especially London, had been destroyed. Yet, it was the country's finest hour.

The Book of Lost Friends, Wingate - B+

                     Every chapter of this exceptional novel is preceded by a reprint of an article from the 'Lost Friends' column from the Southwestern Christian Advocate newspaper in the early 1880's. The articles were intended to be read by pastors at the colored churches in the Louisiana-Texas borderlands and throughout the south. The clippings are very brief and some of the most painful reading imaginable, simple requests for information about siblings, children and parents, all lost and separated prior to emancipation.  The novel tells two stories, one set in 1875 about a woman, Hannie, who was born enslaved but lived to be free, and about a school teacher, Benny, in 1987. Both are connected by a place and the exploration of that place reminds us of the extensive intermingling of the races that was part of the South. This is a great book and another fine Wendell Erwin recommendation.

White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness In America, Williams - B+

                     This book is a discussion of the challenges facing non-college graduates, whose wages have been halved in the last half century, while the elites have stopped connecting with them and have written off their anger as racism, sexism and xenophobia. Fully two-thirds of the country have no chance for the good life, and have become extremely disaffected. The author refers to this group as the 'working class', those neither in the top 20%, nor the bottom 30%. The term 'middle class' seems the most descriptive, but it has lost its place since so many Americans, including those at the top and on the bottom, label themselves as such. For this book, the working class is, in 2015 numbers and statistics, those between $40,000 and $130,000 of family income. They receive fewer government subsidies than the poor and seriously resent what those poor get, because they believe they follow the rules and the poor don't. They believe in family values and view the raising of a successful nuclear family as a major accomplishment. Working class people are closer to their extended family than elites are and they do not consider relocating as easily as elites do. They do not consider college as a must. They feel resentments and injustice at their place in society.  They simply want decent jobs. They're not interested in safety nets, and probably don't realize they do receive substantial, but often disguised, subsidies from the government. They are tired of being disdained by the elites. They simply want to work. 

                  This very short book (117 pps.) is an expansion of an article in the Harvard Business review. It, and the author, a California based law professor, have received widespread support and acclaim for the ideas set forth herein. The author posits the question whether the liberal elites can accommodate this group and suggests that the answer is yes. Required is understanding, training for all in civics leading to an acknowledgement that the government is not our enemy, and once again - decent jobs and respect. 

                     

               

Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights, Sorin - B

                      The title refers to the challenge of "encountering danger, harassment, and even violence while operating a car on the road in the United States. This is a reality...every African American family still lives with each and every day." 

                        Mobility for slaves was virtually non-existent, and was only marginally better during the Jim Crow era. The Great Migration which began in 1916 saw millions of Blacks leave the south by train and bus to head north and west. Returning to visit family in the south became part of the Black experience. In the first half of the 20th century, separate and clearly unequal conditions were prevalent on the trains and buses of the south. For Black Americans, obtaining a car was a means to "take charge of one's own destiny." Cars offered freedom, privacy and the added benefit of depriving Jim Crow transportation systems of ongoing funding. Automobiles were also used to help transport   Blacks boycotting segregated bus systems. "Black buying power, vehicle selection, and even driving practices were all sharply determined by discrimination." Blacks preferred large powerful cars and Buicks were their favorites. The bigger the car, the more space to carry things on long trips in order to avoid interacting with whites. The"racialized roadside" was a constant threat. Disappointment, embarrassment and rejection were around every turn. Even the purchase of gas could be a distressing experience and use of a station's rest rooms was seldom an option. The only company to solicit Black business, and even have almost two-hundred Black owned stations, was Esso. 

                     White dissatisfaction as the Blacks sought equality led to increases in violence by random individuals against Blacks in cars. Ever present were two other risks. Any interaction with the police in the north and south was always potentially dangerous situation for Black drivers. Also, when there was an auto accident, Blacks, particularly in the south, were not afforded emergency medical assistance. Finding a decent place to stay was almost impossible for Black motorists. The saving grace for many was a travel guide, "The Negro Motorist Green Book." Modeled on travel guides for Jews, it was published by Victor Green from offices in Harlem.  It provided Blacks with information about how to safely navigate the roads throughout the country.  Green had predicted that his guide would eventually go out of business when it was no longer needed and that was the case by the late 1960's.  Businesses that catered only to Blacks faded away as traveling Blacks had the opportunity to stay at the national chains. 

                    The phrase that is the title of this book wasn't coined until the 1990's, long after Jim Crow had passed. But the concept in terms of potential issues with police, is very much alive and well. In 2017, the NAACP issued a warning about people of color driving in Missouri. This is interesting, well-written and quite informative.

Three Hours In Paris, Black - C

                   The title refers to the time Hitler spent in the City of Light in June, 1940. This novel is a silly attempt to tell a story about a fictional English attempt to assassinate him.  

Lady Chevy, Woods - D

                    On the recommended lists, but a horrible, depressing read. It is set in today's southeastern Ohio, deep in the heart of fracking induced Appalachian poverty and dead ends. Everyone is a miserable miscreant. We have a h.s. senior murderer, her KKK grandfather, her obese adulterous mother, a police sheriff who takes the law into his own hands, an Afghan vet suffering from PTSD and filled with hate, a lecherous guidance counselor and on it goes. I get that Appalachia is hopeless and horrible, but couldn't the point be made with one decent soul in the whole town.

Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Fremont Mapped The West, Invented Celebrity, And Helped Cause The Civil War, Inskeep - B+

                  This is a history of a couple who were front and center during the westward expansion of the nation, the first struggles for women's rights and the anti-slavery movement in the 1840's and 1850's. Born in 1813, Fremont was living in Charleston when he obtained work on a railroad survey, and then a mapping expedition for the army, that led to his commissioning as a second lieutenant in the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. In Washington DC, he met and fell in love with, Jessie Benton, the second daughter of Sen. Thomas Hart Benton. They eloped in 1841. She was 17 years old.

                 Benton lived, breathed and epitomized the concept of America's 'manifest destiny' to conquer the continent and suggested Fremont lead an expedition to Oregon, which he wanted populated with Americans. The War Dept. ordered Fremont to explore and map the Platte, but he also headed west through the South Pass on the Continental Divide on the Oregon Trail before heading home. Jessie took the lead in writing his 'Report' and had it published broadly. The Senator then arranged for a second expedition to head for the coast. Fremont explored the area around the Great Salt Lake, headed to the Columbia River, came back to the Salt Lake area, somehow transversed the Sierra Nevadas in the winter and made it to Alta California before turning back to Washington. Once again, Jessie penned the 'Report' as part of a process of promoting the Fremont name. The timing of his increased association with the west coincided with Polk's 1844 election campaign seeking American domination of Texas, Oregon and California. The 1845 mission again brought Fremont to California. Tension between the US and Mexico increased because of  Polk's move to annex Texas and the sense, unstated but obvious, that California was next. Fremont was a US army officer leading men in a foreign country and attracting the attention of the local Mexican authorities. Fremont was assisting a settler's revolt around Sonoma when an American naval task force landed in San Francisco and raised  the American flag in California. Although no one in California knew it in the summer of 1846, the US and Mexico were already at war. The naval commodore, Robert Stockton, appointed Fremont military governor and they attempted to take control of California. When Army Gen. Kearny ordered Fremont to stand down, he refused, was arrested and returned to Washington to face a court martial. Notwithstanding Fremont's status as a hero who had helped conquer California, he was convicted, with a recommendation for clemency. Polk granted clemency and a re-instatement, but the stubborn Fremont refused and resigned from the army in early 1848.

                 Benton arranged for Fremont to conduct a railroad survey through the Rockies, thus affording him another opportunity to travel to California in 1848. By then the war was over, California was US territory and gold had been discovered. Jessie and their daughter, Lily, sailed to California from New York. The family reunited and soon were on the way back east to Washington, as John was elected to the Senate by the state constitutional convention.  His time in office was short-lived as the legislature did not reelect him, and he found himself in 1851 living in California attempting to manage his affairs. During  previous times in California, he had acquired significant tracts of land, although the validity of his titles was uncertain. He was also being hounded by creditors as he had broadly borrowed upon the credit of the government during his expeditions and not all the bills were honored in Washington. 

                   The 1850's were a tumultuous time in America as the issues of slavery, expansion and immigration were tearing the country apart. Party alliances were shifting and a new party, the Republicans, arose from the ashes of the Whigs. They were looking for a candidate who was anti-slavery and had a "slim record" and certain people put forth Fremont. He was nominated and ran under the slogan "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Men and Fremont." The Know-Nothings nominated former president, Millard Fillmore and the Democrats nominated James Buchanan. It was a vicious campaign, with Fremont's illegitimacy leading to charges that he was not born in America. He was accused of being a Catholic and everyone complained about ballot stuffing. Buchanan won with the support of a solid south.

                  During the Civil War, he was twice appointed general and twice relieved. He did, however, provide early opportunities under his command to a washed-up Union officer, U.S. Grant. The Fremont's had the misfortune to miss the Gilded Age, as John's financial inadequacies reduced them to penury before his death in 1890. Jessie lived another 12 years.

                 One of the men who had placed Fremont at the top of the Republican party later claimed he had been the perfect candidate for the new party. He was a well-known hero with anti-slavery positions and laid the foundation for the future that Lincoln would capture. This is a very enjoyable history book.

Don't Turn Around, Barry - B+

               This is a really good thriller set in today's Texas. At midnight, Cait picks up Rebecca outside her house in Lubbock and begins driving to New Mexico. Cait is a volunteer who drives women to abortion centers, and Rebecca is carrying a severely ill fetus who will die within an hour of birth. Both are haunted and looking over their shoulders. Rebecca's married to a Congressman running for the Senate and cannot abide an abortion that will end his career. Rebecca posted an on-line criticism of a brutal well-known singer and is being targeted as a feminazi. This is a fast-paced excellent book.

Trials And Tribulations, Grainger - B

                  Finishing this trilogy off in 1950, the families have made Robinswood a successful hotel and everyone in the extended family now lives there happily ever after. Not even a dollop of historical insight here.