Hard Neighbors: The Scotch-Irish Invasion of Native America and the Making of an American Identity, Gallloway - B

            In the 17th century, England invited Presbyterian Scots to settle in Ulster to act as a buffer between the English and the 'wild' Irish. A century later, many moved to the American frontier. "They were recurrent colonizers and they perpetually opened new killing grounds." Their identity "had roots in Northern Ireland  but was made largely in America."  Battling Indians was central to their frontier experience. 

           The people from the English-Scotch borderlands went to Ireland to claim the lands the monarchy had confiscated. It was a violent place where they lived on the cusp of famine.  Between 150,000 and 200,000 went to America. They were "a double-distilled selection of some of the most disorderly inhabitants of a deeply disordered land." "Unlike 19th century immigration, pre-industrial immigration was not primarily an urban phenomenon; the newcomers gravitated to the frontier." They replaced the indigenous peoples from Maine to Georgia. The Indians they encountered were part of a fluid constantly moving society. 

            The racial hatred that dominated the interactions did not erupt until the French and Indian War. Most of the regular French forces were defending Canada, leaving the frontier fighting to the frontiersmen and the natives. Released from any need to collaborate or cooperate, each side flung itself at the other with a ferocity and violence unseen previously. The die was cast on the side of vicious personal animosity. The coastal legislatures were content to leave the Scotch-Irish on their own on the borders. Thus, the war shaped "their identity as a people in conflict with Indians and at odds with government." Relations between the adversaries worsened when the war was over. Near Paxton, Pennsylvania, locals slaughtered twenty Conestoga Indians under government protection. When the public labeled this an outrage, the Scotch-Irish threatened to march on Philadelphia. "The Paxton Boys' brutality that was anomalous and shocking in 1763 would soon become the normal." The conflict continued when the Revolution began. Both the central and state governments promised soldiers land in lieu of pay, pushing more whites to the frontier. The British encouraged the Indians to wage war on the settlers, who willingly pushed back. Each side committed atrocities and massacred the other mercilessly. Although the war in the east stopped in 1781, the fighting continued in the west, particularly in the Ohio Valley, because America wanted as much expansion as possible before a treaty was negotiated. Although the Scotch-Irish continued to be known for the troublesome nature, now at least they were identified as Americans patriots.

           In the postwar era, fighting Indians continued, alongside the Scotch-Irish belief that they had earned the land and did not have to pay either taxes or rent. Ulster immigrants continued to pour into the borderlands, reenforcing those who were opposed to a strong federal government.  The frontiersmen were central players in the 1791 Whiskey Rebellion that required President Washington to send troops to western Pennsylvania. The arrival of  Jacksonian democracy in the 19th century ended the government's policy of trying to suppress conflicts between the settlers and the natives. Trespass and expulsion became the name of the game. Andrew Jackson was the embodiment of the Scotch-Irish frontiersman. "He was the driving force behind Indian removal." His presidency featured the removal of 46,000 Indians from 100 million acres. Congress authorized his removing all Indians east of the Mississippi. "The national identity that Jackson formed and that shaped American politics for the next generation was grounded in western expansion and Indian removal, and ultimately, in violence."

         Even before the US acquired Louisiana, settlers were flooding across the Mississippi, where intrusion once again led to Indian dispossession. The Scotch-Irish made significant contributions in Texas fighting for decades. (For the record, Lonesome Dove identifies Woodrow Call as born in Scotland, and Augustus McCrae born in Tennessee - clearly both are Scotch-Irish and clearly represent the clan well).

          Of course, the Scotch-Irish blended into the mainstream of American culture. They became the "heart and soul" of American "nation building." They loathed the Catholic Irish who came in a torrent after them, and made efforts to make certain other Americans understood they were Scotch Presbyterians, who only spent a passing generation or so in Ireland. Emphatically, they were not Irish. The frontier has been mythologized in America, and per famed historian Frederick Jackson Turner, was the defining experience in the development of the US. And many historians credit the Scotch-Irish as the leaders on the frontier. The author points out that today's Scotch-Irish folks are Trump's people. Long before Trump, noted historian David Hackett Fischer identified the Scotch-Irish as the people from Appalachia to Texas who  fought most of America's wars and highlighted Sgt. York and John McCain's family. Fischer identified the Puritan, Quaker, Cavalier and Scotch-Irish folkways as the principal definers of early America in his brilliant book, Albion's Seed. However, at 899 pages it weighs in rather heavily. A better option is American Nations by Woodward, a journalist who brings in more groups and does so in only 314 pps. I gave his book an A on this blog in January, 2019. 

  

          

Fever Beach, Hiaasen - B +

           Dale Figgo is the founder of the American Strokers for Liberty (he was kicked out of the Proud Boys for excessive self-abuse). He is unpopular with the right wing for smearing dog shit on a statue of a Confederate general on Jan. 6th because he mistook it for US Grant. Back in Florida, he gins up a scam with a crooked congressman to help him fund the Strokers. Said congressman's primary legislative activity is trying to prevent the woke left from manufacturing 8 balls in the colors of the pride rainbow.  Rep. Clure Boyette found Dale to help provide 'poll watching' duty in the one portion of his district he consistently lost, but Dale has other ambitions.  He leads the Strokers to Key West intent on shutting down a drag queen show with a placard reading God Hates Homoz, but the LGBTQ crowd whupped them good. Featured on Steve Bannon's podcast the next day, the Strokers are soon right-wing heroes. They are ready for election day, and drove to Boyette's district for their grand performance to assure that the House remains in the hands of those who believe in God, and country, and hate Jews, immigrants, Blacks, libtards, fags, lesbos, and anyone who doesn't fit in their vision of right wing white America. The Strokers go to the assisted living facility that houses a voting site at the center of the offending district on election day. When one of the Strokers asks the opposition  candidate for an ID, a video was sooon on GMA and all over the internet. The consequence is an outpouring of sympathy and votes for Boyette's opponent, a twice divorced schoolteacher. The Strokers continue to question/abuse/insult enough voters to garner widespread attention for their idiocy and incompetence. Boyette loses, and the losers are scattered to the winds. Hiaasen's skewering of Floridians, particularly the right wingnuts is one of life's joys.

Famous Last Words, Macallister - B+

       On a sunny London summer morning, Cam wakes up to a note from her husband Luke saying "It's been so lovely with you both." She takes Polly to daycare and returns to the office after a nine month maternity leave. A few hours later, police arrive and tell her Luke has taken three hostages in a nearby warehouse. The  negotiator, Niall, observes that although Luke is holding a gun on three people, he looks terrified. When Niall approaches with coffee, he hears Luke sobbing. A little bit later, Luke releases the owner of the building, shoots the two hostages, neither of whom are ever identified, and escapes via a freight elevator. Luke disappears.

      Seven years later, Cam files the paperwork to have him declared dead. She cannot get over him as there are simply too many unanswered questions for her to move on. A woman stops her on the street and tells Cam that she had been married to one of the hostages, but had been told to never say anything. They plan to meet but the mysterious lady never shows up. 

       Niall has let the failed hostage negotiation haunt him for seven years and continues to investigate the case. He follows a lead, talks to a man who knew Luke, but he too was terrified about talking. He tells Niall that Luke had hired him for protection. Why does an author married to a literary agent need protection? Niall concludes the two hostages were actually hitmen hired to kill Luke.

     When Cam reads that the woman she was supposed to meet has been murdered, she knows there is serious danger lurking, and that someone is watching her. Niall sorts it all out about the same time Cam begins to see the big picture, and the whole story is drawn to a conclusion. The brilliance of this book is the building up of tension throughout, as you know, just know, that there's way more lurking under the surface. A fun, recommended, summer read.

August 1914, Solzhenitsyn - A*

            When the war began, Russia's 2nd Army was headquartered in Ostrolenka about 75 miles northeast of Warsaw. The commander was fifty-five year old General-of-the Cavalry Alexander Samsonov. The woefully unprepared, untrained, and ill-supplied army had entered East Prussia on August 6th.* Constantly conflicting orders from above, and a total lack of knowledge about the whereabouts of the Germans complicated the army's readiness. Raw troops were given equipment and sent off to the front with no training. No unit knew where it was or who was on its flanks. Notwithstanding the size of the army, all of its regulations, and the fact that there had been major reforms after its defeat by the Japanese a decade earlier, it remained a 19th century antiquity with extremely limited rail support, and a de minimis amount of artillery. Russian men marched continuously while Germans were shuttled to and from the front by an extensive railway system.  Indeed, by the time of first contact with the Germans, the Russians  had already lost a quarter of their effectives. Samsonov was under pressure from the Northwestern Army Group commander, Yakov Zhilinsky, to stay close to the 1st Army on his right, while he sensed that the Germans were grouping on his left and he should alter his advance accordingly.

          Because the commander of the German forces had failed at Gumbinnen in his attack on the 1st Army, Berlin relieved him, placed Hindenburg in charge and reinforced the army in the east. When the new commander arrived, he was handed reports about the disposition and intentions of both Russian armies. Communications between Group HQ and both armies were in the open, uncoded, and easy to intercept. The Germans positioned their forces to attack Samsonov from the north and the south, a classic pincer movement. On the morning of the 14th, the German artillery opened up. When the infantry attacked, the Russians held firm and did not waver. Nonetheless, the order came to withdraw.  The Germans pursued and attacked along the entire front of the 2nd Army. On the 15th Samsonov, once the Attaman of the Don Cossacks, rode to the front to ascertain the status of the battle, and spent the day turning around fleeing troops. After five days of fighting, the commander was overwhelmed by an impending sense of doom. "On the morning of August 16, the Second Army was a unified formation, by that evening it was a disorganized, uncontrollable rabble." They were fleeing the impending encirclement. For Samsonov "the knowledge that he had served his sovereign  and country so lamentably was a terrible, painful burden for him to bear." On the night of the 17th, Samsonov walked into the woods, sat down, and committed suicide. The Germans found his body and repatriated it through the Red Cross.

         On the evening of the 19th, the commander-in-chief, Grand Duke Nicholas, advised the Tsar of an "unfortunate reverse." The duke, arguably, held little responsibility for the outcome as he was brand new to the position, and had no input on the war plans. In an immediate post-mortem, Zhilinsky blamed everything on Samsonov, but the duke silently concluded that Zhilinsky was equally, if not more so, to blame. He then asked a young colonel who he had sent on a week long tour of the front to offer an assessment. Col. Vorotyntsev pointed out that Samsonov had sent Zhilinsky a report insisting that the offensive plans he was tasked with were geographically impossible to implement and that his army, only one month into mobilization, required another month of ecpeerience. As they bickered, the Grand Duke received a telegram and proudly announced the defeat of the Austrians at Lvov.

          "Who can undertake to name the decisive battle in a war that lasted four years and strained the nation's morale to the breaking point? It can be claimed that it was the first defeat which set the tone for the whole course of the war for Russia: having begun the first battle with incomplete forces, the Russians never subsequently managed to muster enough men in time for an engagement. Unable to discard bad habits acquired at the start, they went on throwing untrained troops into action, thrusting them into the line in a series of convulsive attempts to regain lost ground. From the very first, our spirits were damped and our self assurance never regained."

             This novel is a blistering damnation of the command structure of the entire Tsarist army. It is also considered one of the finest of the 20th century. Fifty years after my first reading, I concur. I am almost speechless about the very smooth flow of page after page^, and overwhelmed by the author's insights into life, politics, war, bravery, and incompetence. Pure genius. Perhaps his greatest skill is his ability to totally immerse the reader in the first month of the war in East Prussia. You literally are in and around the Masurian Lakes, and fully feel the deperation of the Russian soldiers.

                Since this is a novel, one of the areas the author explores is the inner thoughts of Samsonov, which he obviously imagines. But it is barely fiction as it is filled with first class history. Half a century ago, I read One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, Cancer Ward, FirstCircle, the three volumes of The Gulag Archipelago, and this. I have always deeply admired Solzhenitsyn for his skills and his courage. I do not see myself tackling the two successor books in the trilogy as both are over 1,000 pages.

*Solzhenitsyn uses the pre-revolutionary calendar in use at that time in Russia. It was thirteen days in arrears.

^The translation is exceptional.

The City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days Of Disaster That Gave Birth To Modern Chicago, Krist - B

                 On July 21, 1919, a Goodyear dirigible, Wingfoot Express,  burst into flames over the Loop, and crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank building at LaSalle and Jackson. It fell through the skylight over a two story rotunda, killed thirteen, and injured many more.

                  The year had opened on a high note of enthusiasm and commitment to advancing the Chicago Plan. The mayor, Big Bill Thompson, declared for reelection. But the year that ensued was restless and disconcerting. The mayor's win was much closer than expected, the mayor and the governor were opposed to each other, there were bombings in Black communities, crime was up, and Prohibition took hold on July 1. On the afternoon of July 21st, the city council passed the City Plan ordinances.

                      Within hours of the first air disaster in the US, city officials arrested the pilot and an executive from Goodyear. The following evening, a Scotch immigrant couple reported their six-year old daughter missing. An unsettled transit strike added to the city's woes. On the 26th, a municipal court judge leapt to his death from his 11th story office window. Then, after days of intense questioning, a neighbor acknowledged he had killed the little girl. On the 26th, a Black boy went rafting in Lake Michigan and drowned after a white man hit him in the head with a thrown rock. A riot ensued as the South Side became a battlefield. The mayhem continued the following day. The transit strike expanded to the point that every public transport vehicle in the city ground to a halt. The riots spread around the city on day three. Under a tremendous amount of pressure, the mayor called out the militia."Someone had to be held accountable for the profound collapse of civil order that Chicago had just experienced. And there were many determined to see that it would be Big Bill Thompson."

                  On August 1, the transit strike was ended and the rioting wound down. "Over the next few days, the battered city began to recover." When the mayor realized that the governor had been able to settle the transit strike by raising fares 40%, he knew he had a scapegoat.  He  denounced the fare increase, and threatened to take over the transit system. When the state's attorney began to prosecute only Blacks and the South Side objected, he did too. On Oct. 17, Thomas Fitzgerald, the child murderer, was hung before the largest crowd to ever witness an execution in Chicago. On election day, voters approved a bond issue to implement the Chicago Plan. Thompson began to plan his revenge on the governor, who hoped to be the Republican nominee for president. The convention was at the Chicago Coliseum. He was a delegate controlling 17 votes, and he theatrically marched out of the convention, arranged for a major newspaper to thrash the governor, and killed Governor Lowden's chances. In November, the Thompson machine swept every state and city office.

                That summer, the Michigan Avenue drawbridge over the Chicago River was completed, connecting the Loop with the north side. "Big Bill's lakefront parks, his new boulevards and plazas, his glorious museums and stadiums, would continue to rise and change the skyline of Chicago for the better." But, it was a city of corruption, violence, and vice. "For better or worse, the Chicago of the twenty-first century, perhaps the most architecturally distinguished and physically attractive city in the Americas, is in no small part a creation of the Thompson administration. " A fun read for anyone with a Chicago connection. 

Dead Money, Jakob - B+

           Mackenzie Clyde is a fixer for Hammersmith Ventures and is tasked by her boss to help the FBI investigate a murder. The victim, Trevor Canon, was the CEO of Hammersmith's largest ever investment, and his will froze his assets if he were murdered. She and Jameson Danner, the FBI agent, learn that access to the elevator to Canon's wing was limited to his five direct reports a few days before he died. The only conclusion can be that he was murdered by a member of his executive team. They all have an alibi and one of them tells Mackenzie and Danner that the company is sinking like a rock and is not worth anything close to what the world believes. The further they dig, they discover that Canon was likely working on an autonomous vehicle with a competitor, until they talk to the competitor and learn that Canon was working on AI and had made a brilliant breakthrough. The FBI then puts Mackenzie in a safe house, and tell her that her boss is behind it all because he's indebted to the Russian Mob. Together with the FBI, she runs down the bad guys at Burning Man as the story concludes with some head-spinning twists.