A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens - A*

                   "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." It was the fall of 1775. Mr. Jarvis Lorry of Tellson's Bank advises young Lucie Manette that he is off to Paris to see one of the firm's clients—her father, long assumed dead for eighteen years. Lucie and Lorry arrive at the Defarge wine shop in Paris, where Ernest escorts them to a garret on the fifth floor. There, they find an old man making shoes. Monsieur Manette has just been released from the Bastille. Within an hour, the three are in a carriage headed for London. Five years later, the same trio sits in court, watching the treason trial of Charles Darnay, accused of helping the French aid the Americans in their war with Britain. Upon his acquittal—due to mistaken identity—Lucie rushes to him. With the trial behind them, the doctor’s and Lucie’s lives return to normal.

                       In Paris, Monsieur the Marquis St. Evremonde’s carriage charges through the streets, scattering the poor before crushing a young boy in front of Defarge’s shop. The Marquis disdainfully tosses a few coins to the grieving father, then is stunned when they come flying back at him. Madame Defarge stares coldly at the aristocrat as he drives away. Unbeknownst to him, a man from the crowd clings to the underside of his carriage. Later that evening, the Marquis’s nephew, Charles Darnay, joins him for dinner. He pleads with his uncle to abandon his cruel ways, noting how the family name is now despised. The Marquis replies, “Detestation of the high is the involuntary homage of the low.” Charles renounces the title, the property, and France. At sunrise, the Marquis is found dead, a knife in his chest with a note: “Drive him fast to his tomb, Jacques.” The assassin is quickly captured and executed.

                      Darnay settles into life as a French tutor in London and asks Manette for Lucie’s hand in marriage. The young couple is soon wed with Dr. Manette’s joyful blessing. The years pass. They are blessed with a daughter, but lose a son.

                     The summer of 1789 brings revolution to Paris. Among those storming the Bastille is Manette’s former servant, Defarge. Leading the women in acts of ferocity is Madame Defarge. Vengeance floods the streets, and the nation burns in agony for years. Over time, many aristocrats lose their homes and fortunes, fleeing to London. At Tellson’s, a packet arrives addressed to the Marquis St. Evremonde. Lorry makes inquiries, but no one claims the name. Darnay admits his identity and reads the letter at home. It is from Gabelle, the man entrusted with his estate. Darnay had instructed him to collect no rents and to aid the peasants when possible, but Gabelle has been imprisoned for helping an emigrant aristocrat. Darnay resolves to go to Paris.

                 On his return to France, Darnay learns that, as an emigrant and aristocrat, he has been condemned to death. He is taken to La Force prison and placed in solitary confinement. Manette and Lucie rush to Paris. As a former prisoner of the Bastille, Manette is hailed as a revolutionary hero. With Defarge’s help, he is allowed to write to Darnay. Manette soon gains favor with the Tribunal and secures Charles’s transfer to the general prison population. For fifteen months, Lucie and her daughter wait while Manette insists he can save Charles. Finally, he receives word: Darnay will be tried the next day at the Conciergerie. At the trial, two witnesses—Citizen Gabelle and Dr. Manette himself—sway the jury. Charles is declared free.

                  That night, however, he is re-arrested on the accusation of Madame Defarge. Before the Tribunal, Ernest Defarge testifies. He reveals that, on the day the Bastille fell, he entered Manette’s old cell and discovered a letter hidden behind a stone in the wall. Written around 1767, the letter recounts the Evremonde family’s crimes of rape, murder, and oppression in Beauvais. For these sins, the court condemns Charles Darnay to death.

                  As his execution nears, Sydney Carton enters Darnay’s cell. He has bribed the jailers and devised a daring plan. Carton, a dissolute lawyer who once helped free Darnay from the treason charge in 1775, has long loved Lucie in silence. Though wasted by drink and regret, he admires all the Manettes stand for. Because of his striking resemblance to Darnay, he offers to exchange places. By the time Carton approaches La Guillotine, the family is already safe. “It is a far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far better rest that I go to than any I have ever known.”

              

The Jackal's Mistress, Bohjalian - B+

                   This novel is set in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864. Libby, whose husband was wounded at Gettysburg and is believed to be in a Yankee prison camp, and her Black freedman, Joseph, are running the family's gristmill. At a neighbor's house, they realize someone is inside and discover Jonathan, a badly wounded Union officer left behind because he was so close to death's door. They take him to Libby's home. Libby decides to treat Jonathan the way she hopes someone in the North would have helped her husband. She and Joseph travel to Harper's Ferry to obtain medicine for Jonathan and, on the way, encounter two Rebel deserters who threatened them. Libby shoots both dead. As Jonathan recovers, he has to deal with the local doctor, who has lost two sons to the war and Jubilee, Libby's 12-year old niece, who taunts the Yankee and calls him 'Captain Jackal.' The real problem is that there's a rumor around that the Yankee's left an officer behind, and the local soldiers suspect Libby is harboring a northerner. A few inspections don't turn up Jonathan, but sooner or later they will. When half-a-dozen locals come one night, they are ready for action and kill the attackers - but they lose Joseph's wife, Sally. At dawn, Josep, Jubilee, Jonathan and Libby head north and easily reach Harper's Ferry. All ends well for the four of them.  This is a great read, and highly recommended.

The Decine And Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction, Gee - B

                   "Humanity will perish. The reason is because of its very success. Humanity has become so preeminent, so dominant, that it threatens the functioning of the ecosystem on which it and all other creatures depend. No other species in the history of  creation has ever posed such a threat." 

                    We are all descended from a population that at one point almost a millennium ago was reduced to no more than 1280 individuals, leaving us with limited genetic diversity, thus weakening us.  We suffer from a litany of illnesses occasioned by our domestication of animals and our reliance on a handful of foods. We are headed to extinction because of climate change that will make vast portions of the planet unlivable.  The 'Karenina Principle' says we will meet our doom in our own way.  

                     "Africa played host to many different species even as our own - Homo Sapiens - was emerging there, more than 300,000 years ago." Our knowledge of our ancestors comes from the physical evidence of their fossils, but the depth of our understanding comes from our modern ability to study their DNA. By analyzing mitochondrial DNA, we know that each and every one of us descended from one African woman who lived 200,000 years ago. As the human population grew, it slowly left Africa, traveled east all the way to Indonesia, and eventually by boat to Australia. Sapiens went north encroaching on the Neanderthals and by 40-50,000 years ago, eliminated them while absorbing some of their genes. We were the only hominin species left standing, and demographers believe that when a species succeeds in eliminating its competition, the only way left is down.

                   Approximately 10,000 years ago, mankind in the Fertile Crescent, and soon around the world, turned to farming, likely because their population growth mitigated against continuing to rely solely on hunting and gathering.  Some of the consequences of humanity turning to farming was a decrease in body size and the rise of malnutrition, tooth decay, bone deformation and infectious diseases. Diseases such as tuberculosis, plague, and influenza spread from animals to people, and then spread between people in close proximity to each other. Of course, the increase in the food supply led to increases in the population.  That said, we remain "remarkably pox ridden, worm-eaten, and lousy." 

                  Now, "for the first time in human history the human  population is on a pronounced downward trend." The species is not replacing itself, and by 2100 there will be 5 times as many octogenarians as today, and only half as many children under 5.  The future will be dominated by climate change featuring rising sea levels, and a hotter and more humid world. Major coastal cities wiil flood and millions will leave Africa for Eurasia. Humanity will likely disappear no longer than 10,000 years from now.

                   The only optimism that the author can offer is that we need to colonize space. As far-fetched as that conclusion is, the first three-fourths of this book are great.

                 

                 

Out Of Italy: Two Centuries of World Domination and Demise, Braudel - B+

               Throughout the history of Italy, there have been times of extraordinary greatness, and the years between the mid-fifteenth to the mid-seventeenth centuries qualify as one of those times. It was "an age of vigorous expansion, an age of active exploitation of the Mediterranean, by shipping, by regular traffic, by a form of capitalism, with strings of solidly attached trading posts." They established a trading supremacy over Byzantium, Islam and western Europe. There also "was one of the most dazzling sequences of displays of intelligence since the the world began."

              In 1450, Italy's city-states dominated the peninsula. The Venetians and Genoese controlled trade with Constantinople from 1204 until its fall in 1453, and continued to do so after the Muslim conquest. They traded up and down the Atlantic coast connecting those markets with those from the east. Milan and Florence joined Venice and Genoa as the paramount city-states.  They were able to keep the coalescing nation states of England, France, and Spain at arms length. The second half of the century was a time of peace throughout Italy, and Florence took the lead in the flourishing world of the arts. The poorer but burgeoning nations of Europe attacked the wealth of Italy beginning in 1494 and war would dominate the peninsula until 1559. The wars were spread out over time and place, and did not materially disturb Italy's prosperity.  Returning soldiers and traveling artisans brought the Renaissance north.  

           Peace returned to Italy in 1559 and remained for a century while the rest of the continent tore itself apart over religion. "Italy derived  substantial advantages from its religious unity and  fidelity to Rome." As the European powers developed their Atlantic navies, their ships slowly replaced the galleys from the Italian cities that had previously dominated the Mediterranean. "A prosperous Mediterranean meant a prosperous Italy." As the century ended,  Genoa reaped a fortune as the banker to Spain and its Latin American empire. "Prosperity and unquestionable wealth was the noticeable feature in Italy, as the sixteenth century turned into the seventeenth." The word 'Baroque' has been used by historians to denote the spread of Italy's influence in the seventeenth century and beyond 1650. Rome now became the center of  the widespread distribution of cultural goods. "All artists went to Rome." The paintings of the era turned from religious and mythological to realistic scenes of life in Europe. 

           By leading the Counter-Reformation, Rome took steps that imposed a heavy hand on the peninsula. The Inquisition, book burnings, and prosecuting men like Galileo all led to the end of a period of glory.  "What was now missing from the newly intolerant Italy was not only science, but economic preponderance." Economic supremacy was lost as trade moved north to Amsterdam, the economic focal point of the Protestant north. Italy was no longer competitive. "What happened in Italy is that a long, catastrophic industrial crisis followed on the heels of a long, catastrophic shipping crisis."

          Braudel is considered one of the greats of the 20th century, and is very enlightening to read. The depth of his knowledge and the breadth of his analysis can be a bit of a challenge.

The Poet's Game, Vidich - B+

                     This is the seventh novel by the former CIA agent, and it is set in 2018. Alex Matthews has retired from the agency, but is asked by the director to meet with an agent Matthews had recruited, but who hasn't been heard from in a decade. Now an international venture capitalist who frequently travels to Moscow, Matthews asks 'why' and is told his former agent, Byron, has 'kompromat' on the president. When he meets Byron, he is told that the quid for the kompromat quo is somehow getting Byron out of Russia. The same day, the FSB tells Matthew that if he gives up Byron, they'll pull the phony tax charge against his business.  Matthews flies home and Moscow issues an arrest warrant for him as he liquidates his Russian assets. He returns to Moscow under an assumed name with the false papers necessary to extract Byron. In a dazzling finish with twists, turns, and deceptions, Matthews eventually returns home. 

Paperboy, Petroski- B

                    The author was a well-known engineering professor at Duke, and also a former resident of Cambria Heights in southeastern Queens. His family moved there two years before mine did, both Catholic and from the same section of Brooklyn. After the 7th grade at PS 147 (because Sacred Heart was too crowded), he switched to SHS in the 8th grade. That summer of 1955 saw Henry begin his career as a paperboy for the Long Island Press. He learned how to fold the paper, and backhand it onto the waiting stoop. After Sacred Heart, Holy Cross High School was next, and although the three-bus commute lengthened his day, he continued his afternoon Press route. The pay was excellent, approximately $15 per week for about eight hours of work. The life lessons were incomparable. After his bike, along with most of his teeth, was banged up in a crash, Henry did what every American boy dreamed of. He bought a Schwinn Black Phantom. Eventually though, even that bike wore out and in his junior year at the Cross, he quit his paper route. With post-Sputnik America focused on science, Henry turned to engineering and furthered his education at Manhattan College. He then attended graduate school at the University of Illinois. His parents left Queens in 1974.

                 I lived in Cambria for fourteen years, from the 3rd grade until college graduation. It was a special place at a special time and to read an elegy to my hometown has been an absolute joy. A very sincere thanks to my lifelong friend, Dr. George Todd, for telling me about this book.

Ruth Run, Kaufman - B

                 Ruth is a young, brilliant woman in the tech world and an accomplished thief, with $250M hidden around the world. One night, somewhere in her extensive computer system, an alarm goes off, she abandons her apartment and follows her 'go' plan. She grabs her somewhat nitwit of a co-conspirator, Thom, and heads north from Menlo Park. They agree to go their separate ways in Sacramento. Unbeknownst to her, the man following her, Mike, met her years ago, was astounded by her criminal skills, and has been surveilling her for seven years for some unnamed government agency.  With the government on her heels, she slips into the world of cross-country truckers, religious fanatics and hard core libertarians. The chase is a full on page turner extraordinaire, but, as is so often the case with debut novels, the finale is a bit flat.

The Fatherland Files, Kutscher - B+

                  The fourth novel in the 'Babylon Berlin' series is an absolutely great police procedural and the best so far. It opens in the summer of 1932. Gereon is called to a nighttime murder in a downtown department store on the day he meets Charly upon her return from her legal studies in Paris.  She deftly defers an answer to his somewhat awkward marriage proposal, but only for a few days before she says yes. Charly reports to the Alex as a CID Cadet.  Chief Inspector Gennat sends her to Homicide on a temporary assignment to assist on the case Rath is working on, and when Gereon suggests they need someone to go undercover at the department store, Gennat recommends Charly.  It turns out that the deceased in Gereon's case was killed in a manner similar to two others, and all three were involved in a moonshine scandal in East Prussia years ago.  Gereon is sent east to investigate and suspects that he has found the connection, but can't quite sort it out. One conclusion though is obvious: that the local police are as corrupt as the day is long.  The key to the plot is found when the Berlin police realize that a witness to the murder in the department store was more that a bystander. Once again, the author blends a great story with a fascinating depiction of Prussia at a crucial time in its history, a time which saw the Nazi's step closer to power.

The Art Thief: The True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession , Finkel - B

             Stephane Breitwieser, "perhaps the most successful and prolific art thief who has ever lived" stole not for gain, but to "surround himself with beauty."  He was an unemployed freeloader who lived on the top two floors of his mother's house with his partner, Anne-Catherine. Those two floors were filled with a vast, magnificent $2B art collection. He was born in Alsace in 1971. The couple met in 1991, and immediately committed to each other. Three years later, he snatched a walnut pistol from a small museum, and thus began a career of consistent brazen thievery. He targeted small regional institutions, mostly in France and Switzerland, because their security was very light. One of the museums the couple stole from had a hidden security camera, and a Swiss art crimes inspector was soon on their trail. In France, a theft in Blois also attracted the attention of the authorities. They were arrested in Lucerne in May, 1997, but talked their way out of incarceration. His compulsion to constantly steal continues unabated, and he was arrested once again in Lucerne in late 2001. This time, the Swiss kept him in custody and obtained a search warrant for his house. When the authorities investigated his home, they found no art of any kind. His mother had  dumped the hard goods in a canal and burned the paintings. In Switzerland,  Breitweiser breaks down and confessed, and after a trial he was sentenced to four years in jail. He was tried in France in 2005. He was sentenced to two years, his mother a few months and Anne-Catherine was required to pay a small fine. Between the two countries, he served three years and seven and a half months.  Stephane picked up a handy $100,000 for collaborating on his story and seemed to be headed in the right direction when he was arrested for shoplifting at an airport. After a brief detention, he stole a Brueghel in Belgium and went to jail until 2015.  He eventually returned to thievery, this time for profit, and is currently under house arrest wearing an ankle bracelet.          

Stranglehold, Rottenberg - B+

          On a Monday morning when Ari Greene, senior detective in Toronto, shows up at a chintzy motel for his weekly assignation with the married Crown Prosecutor, he finds her strangled. Before he can consider his next step, he hears sirens in the distance and steps away. When the investigating detective, Kennicott, tells him about the case, he decides to keep quiet, and concludes he needs to solve the case on his own. As clues start to come in, Kennicott begins to think that perhaps the mystery man seen at the motel that morning was Greene, and arrests him for murder. The trial begins, and the prosecution lays out its circumstantial evidence case. The defense counters, and slowly spreads doubt about the timeline. The court is adjourned for the weekend when the truth is spectacularly splashed all over Toronto's television news and papers on. Thrilled to find a series with a decade-and-a-half of stories to tell.