The Ghosts of The Mountains: Unraveling The Secrets of The Snow Leopard, Surywanshi - B

         This is the story of a recent study of the elusive cat that lives high in the Himalayas. The landscape at those elevations is snow, rock, and glaciers. The cat has perfect camouflage that allows it to disappear in the snow and rocks. It is the only large carnivore that lives exclusively at those altitudes. It has a long tail that helps it balance itself, and is capable of wrapping around the animal for warmth. Its paws have the same effect as snowshoes. The primary prey of the leopard is the blue sheep. Scientists from India studied the interaction of prey, predator and local livestock.The conclusion was that increasing the number of herbivore prey would enhance the sustainability of the snow leopard population, which is estimated at a few thousand. The precarious life of the leopard is threatened by climate change and human development, such as mining and road construction. Whether this extraordinary animal survives depends on the consequences of the two preceding human activities.

A Stranger In Corfu, Preston - B

         On Corfu in the mid-90s, a village that had been the Med HQ for Britain's security services is now a place of rest. Its guests range from young, recently wounded and recovering MI6 agents to old fossils too ditzy and filled with state secrets to be left unobserved. Nina, only 24 but already put through the hell of a six-month incarceration in Bosnia, is walking with one of the older fellas one day when shots ring out. A month later, a different long-term resident drowned under mysterious circumstances. Most of the seniors were recruited by Philby and were communist double agents. A few months later, another one of the old ones is dead—this time weighed down and drowned. London assures them there is no connection and that there is nothing to worry about. Then, another one is shot. Apparently, someone at HQ is clearing up and burying all of the old-era commies at the behest of their former KGB handler, who now has a shot at the Russian presidency. And Arkady's daughter with one of the Oxbridge recruits is the MI6 Chief, with a shot at PM or the Foreign Office.

        I find it fascinating that the English still write about Philby, the 1930s Oxbridge fascination with communism, and its always-ongoing consequences. The book excels at assessing old age and the reminiscences of things done well and those not.

Dr. Zhivago, Pasternak - B+

       Yuri Zhivago is ten years old when his mother dies and he is sent to the Gromeko's, family friends who raise him in Moscow. About the same time a widow moves to Moscow with her daughter Larissa. Mme. Guichard was beholden to and regularly bedded by her late husband's lawyer, Viktor Komarovsky. The sinister Komarovsky took advantage of Lara, who eventually tried to kill him. Yuri, a young physician and his wife Tonya are at the party where Lara shoots, but only slightly wounds, Viktor. Lara escapes to a position as a tutor and attends university. She meets and marries Pasha Antipov and moves to Yuriatin in the Urals to teach school. 

        In Moscow, Yuri works in a hospital as those wounded in the war flow in. That first autumn of war, Tonya gives birth to a son, and days later Yuri is sent to the front. In Yuriatin, Pasha enlists in the army, is commissioned as a lieutenant, goes to the Hungarian front, and disappears during the Brusilov offensive. Lara has been trained as a nurse, decides to go find him, and volunteers for the front. When Yuri is concussed by an explosion, Lara attends to him. She learns that Pasha is dead and she and Yuri fall in love, but never act on their feelings.

           Yuri's return home is disappointing after so many years away.  Moscow is a mess, his home is now shared, and they face endless privation. Yuri's half brother, Evgraf, a rising star in the party suggests they go to the family's country estate, Varykino . The trip to the Urals is long and troubling, but worth the effort. Varykino is in excellent condition, they can hunt, farm, and build a near normal life. Yuri finds work as a doctor. While visiting the local library, he sees Lara. They talk, slowly rekindle their feelings and eventually become lovers. Yuri is torn by his love of two very different woman. One day as he is returning to Varykino from Lara's, he his kidnapped and put to work as a doctor for the Red Army. He suffers through years of seeing the randomness and brutality of the civil war tearing Russia apart.

          Yuri is freed, returns to Yuriatin, and moves in with Lara. They live happily until the world around them again goes astray. Pasha is alive, is now known as Strelnikov, and is a general in the Red Army, and a hunted man. Yuri learns the devastating news that Tonya and his family have been exiled and now live in Paris. Yuri and Lara move to Varykino and have a wonderfully happy, final winter. It is at Varykino that Yuri writes his Lara Poems. Komarovsky arrives, and tells Lara that because of her connection to Strelnikov, both she and her daughter are in danger. He tells Yuri there are some who believe he deserted the Red Army and offers to take all of them east to Vladivostok. They agree, but Yuri lets them leave without him.

           Back in Moscow, Yuri knows he has lost everything, the two woman he loved and his family. He contentedly marries Marina,  lives a quiet life, and dies of a heart attack. At his funeral, a heartbroken Lara asks his brother to help her find her and Yuri's daughter, Tanya. She and Yevgraf also work for a dew days on Yuri's papers, and one day she is arrested and disappears. No one knows where or how she died. Later, during WWII Tanya learns from two of Yuri's good friends who her parents were: Yuri and Larissa. Old Russia, Yuri, and Lara are all gone, but Tanya lives, and of equal import Yuri's poetry survives as his legacy.

             This is one of the most famous novels of the 20th century because of its sweeping, brilliant depiction of the havoc unleashed upon Russia and millions of its people. It is also important to note that its release was a politically electrifying event in 1957. Khruschev's famous speech denouncing Stalin was a year earlier, and Pasternak gave a copy to a Italian communist who smuggled it to the west. Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize In Literature. He was expelled from the Soviet Writers Union, and had to beg to not be exiled. The fabulous 1965 film with brilliant cinema photography and a great score won five Academy Awards.

           

           

              

The French Illusion, Grisham - B

         Chelsea and Paul Tanner are enjoying their honeymoon in Paris when they are kidnapped and held for ransom. Chelsea's dad easily comes up with the $2 million ransom while Paul's parents struggle to. The kidnappers release Chelsea, but not Paul. Everything goes quiet. When the FBI and CIA are brought in, they come to an unpleasant conclusion. This is the third time that French kidnappers have kept the husband after releasing the wife. All three men are former military and current government lawyers. Paul is moved to Algeria, where he is starved, beaten, and waterboarded. After months, he learns why when he chats with his chief captor, Nabeed. Nabeed was at Abu Ghraib, a dark site in Poland, and Guantanamo for a total of eight years. He was completely innocent, as was his brother, whom the US murdered in captivity. He is now seeking revenge. The US hatches a plan to send another couple to France and see if they can trace their whereabouts after another kidnapping. Plenty of action in this one with the usual tidy Grisham conclusion.

The Adolescence of Technology: Confronting and Overcoming the Risks of Powerful AI, Amodei

       This is the CEO of Anthropic's essay on the "risks we are about to face." Since no one knows where this is headed, corporate governance and government regulation will be necessary. It is probable that in a few years AI will be better than humans at everything. Think of it as "a country of geniuses in a datacenter." There are five primary categories of risk.

       The first is autonomy risk. AI could do something dangerous on its own. "AI models are unpredictable and develop a wide range of undesirable or strange behaviors." They could be deleterious to humanity. The defenses are the responsibility of the creating company and the government. Anthropic has written a constitution for Claude that it believes will be able to train Claude not to act against its constitution. Also, diagnostic tools can be developed to assess whether mistakes are being made. Coordination and transparency among all in the business are necessary, as is legislation that directly incentivizes proper outcomes. New York and California have already passed transparency legislation. The risks are real, and we need to band together to protect ourselves.

        The second risk is an individual who uses AI to do evil. For example, AI will enable an individual to create a bioweapon. In fact, biology is the area with the highest risks by far. The defense against this is the creator company's putting guardrails on their systems, government action to help measure and monitor risks, and enhanced sensors to detect anything deleterious to life.

         Equally concerning would be nefarious conduct by an entity larger than an individual, such as an autocracy. Autonomous weapons, extensive surveillance, and pervasive propaganda are the likely categories. China "has hands down the clearest path to an AI-enabled path to a totalitarian nightmare." AI-intensive democracies can counter an autocratic state, and in our instance, "should not be selling chips, chip-making tools, or data centers to the CCP." We should also support democratic allies in their fight to hold off bad actors.

         If the business of AI continues to grow rapidly, it will have consequences in the labor market greater than any prior disruption. AI could eliminate half of the white-collar workforce's entry-level jobs, and it is already doing a considerable amount of the work on farms. Again, the AI companies, the government, and philanthropies will need to coordinate their responses to alleviate the dislocation.

       The last challenge is the unknown unknowns, which are difficult to anticipate. There is a possibility that the world will make a century's worth of progress in a decade.

        It is the author's hope and expectation that humanity will have "the strength and wisdom needed to prevail." His more optimistic Machines of Loving Grace will be posted soon.

Quicksand: America's Pursuit Of Power In The Middle East, Wawro - B++ Part I

         A century ago, the Arab world admired America above all the great European powers. Today, "almost every regime in the Middle East deplores our meddling in politics and culture." This book studies the US's entry into the Middle East, our impact on the region, and the global tremors that crack outward from that impact.

          The "languid and aristocratic" Arthur Balfour was considered a dreamy romantic, extremely lazy, and "lamentably ignorant." There were roughly ten times more Arabs than Jews in Palestine, which Balfour believed was populated largely by Turks. In November 1917, the Balfour Declaration promised "to facilitate the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people," while also stating that nothing should prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities. Britain believed that the Zionists might be able to help them defend the Suez Canal. Zionist propagandists popularized the phrase that Palestine was "a land without people for a people without land."  Jews from Europe and money from America poured into Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s. After the Nazi takeover of Germany, 250,000 came from Germany and Austria. "Nazism, more than any other single factor, made the Holy Land Jewish." Fearing Arab anger and instability, Britain sharply restricted Jewish immigration. During the war and afterward, Britain faced rising Jewish terrorism, while some Arabs allied with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. At war's end, Palestine was a powder keg ready to explode. 

        If Palestine was a pestilential dead-end, Saudi Arabia was "a death-inducing wasteland." It became a country controlled by Ibn Saud in the 1930s, and in 1938, the American oil companies he had invited to search for oil found enormous deposits. Saudi Arabia had some of the world's greatest oil reserves, and its reserves would eventually dwarf those of many other countries. The US became the Saudi protector and beneficent friend. Throughout the Middle East, a system of living that had survived for millennia was replaced by an oil-extraction industry filled with foreigners and non-believers. An American characterized the Saudis as "a tenth-century society in the midst of a convulsive leap into the twentieth." Throughout the 1950s, Saudi wealth exploded, and an endless number of American companies went there to build highways, schools, cities, and a massive oil infrastructure. Notwithstanding the mutually beneficial relationship, each side viewed the other warily. Ibn Saud made clear to Churchill and Roosevelt that Arabia could never tolerate the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.  

          The end of the war saw a torrent of Europe's surviving Jews head to Palestine, with safety and survival on their minds. "The American public—saddened by Jewish suffering and largely unaware of Arab claims in Palestine—eagerly embraced the Zionist propaganda that appeared in every major newspaper." The Democratic administration was fully supportive, and domestic politics mattered, particularly the importance of Jewish voters in New York. America soon realized that this was a crisis with no black-and-white solution. "Appeasing the Arabs would harm Truman at home; appeasing the Jews would harm him abroad. That was the American security dilemma felt keenly by Truman in 1948," and ever since. The Israeli's quickly defeated the Arabs with the longest-lasting consequence being the displacement of roughly 700,000 Palestinians who became refugees. Some Americans warned of the potential rise of "fanatical Islamist regimes." The Palestine problem helped eliminate the possibility of moderation in the Arab world and became a rallying cry for generations of anti-American and anti-Israeli Muslims. US "policy defined in the war of 1948 and its messy aftermath would henceforth channel and distort American strategy in the Middle East." 

         In Iran, the UK and the US, from the 1920s on, were concerned about Stalin's desire to gain access to the oil fields the British had been developing since 1901. The Truman Doctrine helped contain Soviet influence, but did not alter Britain's very inequitable allocation of Iran's oil revenue. AIOC (Anglo-Iranian Oil Company) paid Iran a relatively small share of the profits under its concession, while American oil companies had negotiated 50-50 profit-sharing arrangements with Ryidah. In 1951, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who leaned left and had used the communists in Iran to his advantage, nationalized AIOC, and Britain boycotted Iranian oil. Eisenhower's administration supported the 1953 coup that removed the prime minister and strengthened the Shah's position. Some Shiite clergy, fearful of communism, also supported Mosaddegh's ouster. Under the revised oil arrangement, Iran received 50 percent of the consortium's profits, while the British and American companies shared the other half. The Shah's regime held for another 25 years, but some in the State Department suggested that the Shah might fold if the Soviets ever attacked, and that he would spend his life living luxuriously while pouring money into a military machine that could prove to be a paper tiger. 

           For the US, "the Egyptian dynasty of King Farouk was yet another embarrassing vestige of the British empire." The corruption and poverty were such that almost everyone not on the payroll despised Farouk and the British. The US initially tried to work with the Free Officers who overthrew Farouk in 1952, on the belief that Egypt might be molded into an American beachhead. However, Nasser would become a dictator preaching Arab nationalism with a deep antipathy toward Israel. As the Soviets increasingly turned against Israel as an imperialist puppet, they looked to Nasser for a toehold in the region. He moved closer to the USSR after the US and Britain refused to supply arms. In 1953,  Israeli forces killed over a hundred Palestinian civilians, further inflaming Arab opinion and embarrassing the Eisenhower administration. Ike was shocked but faced strong domestic political pressures. Like Truman, he acknowledged "that there were 5 million Jewish voters in the US and very few Arabs." Nasser then nationalized the Suez Canal. Britain and France clamored for Nasser's removal, while Israel continued to build up the IDF, creating a small but first-rate armed force. The Israelis accepted a secret arrangement with Britain and France to join the campaign against Egypt. On October 29, 1956, Israel attacked Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Britain and France then issued an ultimatum and entered the war under the pretext of separating the combatants and protecting the Canal. Eisenhower and Dulles were shocked at the brazen betrayal, particularly because the invasion occurred just before the US elections. Eisenhower demanded that the British and French cease fire. Khrushchev followed suit. The United States applied heavy financial pressure on Britain.  Britain and France withdrew, followed by Israel in early 1957. 

        The following decade saw Nasser aggressively pursuing Arab socialism and acquiring Soviet weapons. He worked to destabilize the region, while the US tried to work with him, then opposed him, and generally watched and fretted about communism and anti-Americanism. The Soviets were active in the Red Sea and Yemen, causing anxiety throughout Washington. They were looking to draw the Arabs closer and demonstrate the efficacy of their weapons and took steps to start a war even though the Arabs had fallen further and further behind the Israelis militarily. Fully 70 percent of Egypt's soldiers were illiterate, while Israel had a population with a much higher level of education. The Soviets warned the Syrians and Egyptians that Israel was preparing to attack. Nasser took the bait. He moved Egyptian troops into Sinai. On June 5, the Israelis launched an air attack that destroyed almost all of the Egyptian air force before breakfast. Jordan and Syria subsequently entered the war. Nasser falsely announced that the US had attacked Egypt. The IDF quickly reached the Suez Canal, took the Golan Heights from Syria, and captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan. Israel had completely defeated the Arab armies and now possessed substantial strategic depth. The war also produced another large refugee movement, with displaced Palestinians and Syrians. Israel was now in control of the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The Arabs met at Khartoum afterward and adopted the famous "three no's": no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no negotiations with Israel. Israel was now responsible for governing a large and hostile Palestinian population, a problem that has remained unresolved for decades. The US continues to weigh its need for access to oil against its philosophical and political commitment to Israel. 

         Weighing in at almost 900 pages, a midpoint break is the only sensible course for me. This book was published in 2015, and although well received in some corners, seems to have been largely ignored by the mainstream because of its very strong criticisms of Israel and America. Many people believe that the Arabs were  evicted from their land on a relatively flimsy pretense. However, there was an inevitability to what happened. In the late 19th century, there were 25,000 Jews in the Holy Land, and 75,000 by  1918. More poured in after the Balfour Declaration and in the ensuing two decades and those were the people who made the desert bloom, while the Arabs stood by. We must also note that every time the Arabs attacked, the Israeli's embarrassed them. The problem is intractable, and it's hard to envision any resolution.

Heather, Mullen - B+

         This novel is set in and around the Pine Barrens in the south of New Jersey, and has been labelled a mother-daughter story, although it sure looks like an excellent police procedural. Callie left town, excelled at Rutgers and in the state police drug group, and is back in a small town as Chief of Police. Her mother's DUI opens the book. Her mom is well-known as the sixteen-year-old who found the corpse of an infant on the side of the road in 1991. Callie opens the cold case and focuses on some local drug dealing. The cold case opens a plethora of interconnected and very troubling issues of sexual consent, paternity, and perhaps, inappropriate punishment, while the drug case eventually envelops the department. Another really good one.

Dissection Of A Murder, Murray - B+

         This is one helluva page-turning legal thriller set in Durham, England. Leila Reynolds is an up-and-coming barrister who has managed to overcome her blue-collar upbringing to crack the English class system. It doesn't hurt that she's very sexy, was mentored by the predatory head of Chambers, and is married to a KC, wearing the silk. She is assigned to defend a man accused of murder and is up against her husband, who is handling the prosecution. Behind the story of trial prep and drama lie multiple background themes of deprivation, infidelity, and murder that color the outcome and make this a must-read

Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, And The Descent Into Total War, Scott - A*

         "Truman and Hirohito: a former farmer and a socially awkward monarch. Upon the shoulders of this unlikely pair rested the fate of two nations and millions of lives." The unassuming and virtually unknown Truman became president on the afternoon of April 12th. Twelve days later, the Secretary of War briefed him on the Manhattan Project. Throughout the spring, planning for completion of the weapon continued, training for the delivery of the heavy bombs was conducted, and the targeting of cities analyzed.

         That spring, Japan's 44-year-old emperor sat in his palace and brooded as the city of Tokyo burned around him. The nation was being battered on every front, the war was obviously lost, and, most importantly, the people were giving up as they slowly starved to death. The very first firebombing of Tokyo in March killed 100,000, destroyed 260,000 buildings, and left a million homeless.

         Truman had to find the best way to end the war, and end it with the fewest American casualties. Gen. Marshall wanted to invade the home islands, and Adm. King preferred a blockade. Gen. LeMay thought that firebombing the cities would lead to surrender. On June 18th, the JCS recommended an invasion by 766,700 Americans, and Truman agreed. The same day, Hirohito met with the military council and told them that they needed to find a way to end the war.

         The president traveled to Potsdam, Germany, to meet Churchill and Stalin. He wanted the USSR to keep its promise to enter the war against Japan. On July 16th, at 5:30 a.m. in New Mexico, the US successfully tested the first atomic bomb. When someone observed that the war was over, Gen. Groves said, "After we drop two bombs on Japan." 

          Ongoing intelligence intercepts indicated Japan would fight and not accept unconditional surrender. Faced with the success of the bomb's test and fearing innumerable American casualties, Truman made the decision to drop the bomb at some point between July 22nd and 24th while in Potsdam. A final ultimatum, which used the phrase "the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces," not of the country itself, was ignored by Japan. The die was cast, and the focus turned from Washington and Potsdam to Tinian, the home of the 509th Composite Group.

         On August 6th, thirty-year-old Col. Paul Tibbets took off in a specially modified B-29 carrying the 9,700-pound bomb. Tibbets had flown the 8th Air Force's first raid over France three years earlier. The bombardier released the Little Boy at 9:14 a.m. The airmen could see the mushroom cloud from 400 miles away.

            The president learned of the news in the middle of his Atlantic crossing; he announced the results to the jubilant crew of the Augusta. A prepared press release was issued in Washington. It said that Japan would be totally destroyed. In Tokyo, there was confusion as the army downplayed the bomb and the emperor demanded peace. On Tinian, Fat Man was prepared for August 9th, and it was released over Nagasaki at 11:58 a.m.

         Even the news of the second bomb did not convince the cabinet to surrender, and Hirohito agreed to meet them at midnight. After two and a half more hours of debate, they finally asked the emperor his thoughts. He stood. "I have given serious thought to the situation prevailing at home and abroad and have concluded that continuing the war can only mean destruction for the nation and a prolonging of bloodshed and cruelty in the world. It goes without saying that it is unbearable for me to see the brave fighting men of Japan disarmed. It is equally unbearable that others who have rendered me devoted service should now be punished as instigators of war. Nevertheless, the time has come that we must bear the unbearable."

         The following morning, Radio Tokyo broadcast an acceptance of terms but asked for a retention of the emperor's prerogatives. The US responded that the emperor would be "subject to" the supreme commander. The army and navy chiefs went to the palace and stated that they did not wish to surrender. There was fear in the city that junior officers would rebel and even kidnap Hirohito. On the 14th, he again told the military's leaders to surrender, and that he would address the nation by radio, stating the war was over. At that point, the senior leaders bowed to his command. The army chief asserted, "No officer in the Imperial Army will disobey the emperor's command." Hirohito recorded his speech that night. Hirohito's broadcast was made to the nation at noon on the 15th. The people of Japan had never heard his voice, as he told them they were accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Japan had lost, the war was over, and he directed the armed forces to surrender and sign all required documents presented by the Allies.

          For eight decades, the question of the necessity of bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been debated. Those opposed speak to the inhumanity of it all, and argue that Japan would have surrendered anyway. Proponents say the attack on Pearl Harbor, the brutalities inflicted on the Bataan Death March, along with their horrific occupation of much of eastern Asia for four years justified the punishment inflicted. Furthermore, there were 900,000 men preparing to defend Kyushu in the expected November 1945 invasion. The Department of War manufactured 500,000 Purple Hearts that were never awarded. I personally believe the saving of American lives and the immediate cessation of hostilities justified Truman's decision. This is a brilliant, and highly recommended, history book.

Murder At The Hotel Orient, Ranelli - B -

         This is a delightful, charming, but somewhat lengthy and complex, mystery about a couple found dead in their hotel suite in today's Vienna. The Orient is a real-life love hotel, where rooms have been rented either overnight or in four-hour blocks since late in the Habsburg era. It features Sterling Lockwood, the sexy, mysterious American concierge and keeper of secrets. She helps the police because a murder in a place where everyone pays in cash and uses aliases is uniquely challenging, and she is a suspect simply because she was the only other person with access to the suite. Sterling also does not mind keeping her own past under wraps. Everyone in the Orient's world is extraordinarily circumspect and considerably disreputable. The investigation leads to innumerable twists and turns amongst Vienna's low lives before the surprising conclusion is reached. The consensus seems to be too cute for its own good.

The Silver Fish, - B -

         This spy thriller is set in Accra, Ghana. The overarching plot line is the rivalry between the US and China for control of the oil and internet in Africa. There are two parallel stories, one involving an American journalist, Dani, and the goings-on of two CIA men, Ford and Billy. Dani is a down-and-out journalist looking for a story, and she finds it. She uncovers the corruption of a relationship between the Chinese and some Ghanaian politicians. The Yanks are trying to turn a Ghanaian double into finding out more about the Chinese construction of a closed net that would avoid all American interference. The lines cross in a confusing, very bloody, and unsatisfying finale. The author is an intelligence professional who is a bit preachy about the security services.

I Spy, Kemp - B

        This is an intriguing, very brief spy thriller focused more on motherhood than tradecraft. After her romantic partner and fellow spy was murdered, pregnant Kendall retreated to a hopefully secure hidden life raising Rosie. When faced with a murderous threat, Ken calls in her former employer, a private security firm, to help, and they usher her back to London. She settles into a normal routine until it falls apart. Fun.

The Keeper, French - B+

          This novel is extraordinary. The author's ability to use dialogue is so authentic that you feel as if you're sitting in a pub in a small western Ireland farm town. Much more importantly, she plumbs the depths of the community's closeness and the extraordinary cliquishness of the rural Irish. She attributes the people's inability to tackle personal issues directly and their tendency to do things indirectly as a consequence of being oppressed and occupied by the English for centuries. But more than anything else, French tells a tale that strikes fear in you as you watch the powerful oppress, threaten, and intimidate the ordinary folks of Ardnakelty.

        The plot features Cal Hooper, a retired cop from Chicago, Lena, young Trey Reddy, Mart, Noreen, and the characters introduced in the previous two books. A young woman dies in a coroner-ruled suicide after she felt threatened by the local laird, Tommy Moynihan. The town falls apart before truth pulls it back onto its foundation. A must-read

Sick Puppy, Hiaasen - B

        In this episode, the Florida contagion/leech/horse's ass is a lobbyist, Palmer Stoat. He has a habit of despoiling his daily world with trash, and the state with his greasy work on behalf of developers. He's also a philandering drunk with alcohol and hooker problems. He attracts the attention of a reckless young trust fund baby who loves the environment and deplores all he sees Stoat do. Twilly Spree begins to destroy Stoat's world by kidnapping his dog and hanging out with his wife, Desie.

          Thus the stage is set for the battle over the development of Toad Island. Aided by Skink, Twilly prevails, and we are entertained by two Russian bimbos fixed up to look like Barbies and hooked on rhino horn powder, a Rastafarian pornographer, Twilly burying Stoat's convertible under a pile of garbage, hijinks with tractors on the island that leave a few dead, the usual cast of Florida sleaze bags, and a finale on an illegal exotic game farm featuring a rhino charge that gets both the developer and the lobbyist in his way. Just another very good set of laughs.

Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War, Rogoyska - B -

         "The Hotel Lutetia is a Paris institution, the only grand hotel on the city's bohemian Left Bank." Starting in 1933, the capital cities of Europe began receiving thousands fleeing the new Nazi regime. "The roll call of those forced out of Germany in those early days reads like the guest list of a particularly distinguished university conference." Because the Lutetia is on the Left Bank, it attracted a more cerebral clientele. Authors, artists, and dancers predominated. But the French had no particular love for Germans or Jews and were not very accommodating. The hotel, on the other hand, welcomed all and was considered the "Switzerland of Paris" for its acceptance of diversity. A new French government led by Socialist Leon Blum issued identification certificates to all German refugees. However, the new optimism was short-lived because of the Spanish Civil War, the Anschluss, and Munich. The Soviets allied with Germany, and WWII began.

         The Germans arrived on June 14, 1940, and occupied all the fine hotels on the Right Bank. Soon thereafter, the Abwehr requisitioned the Lutetia and converted it into a headquarters. They conducted their counterintelligence work until early 1944, when Himmler absorbed all of their functions. The staff treated the invaders as guests and reveled in the fact that the manager hid all of the hotel's great wines from the Germans. Germany's invasion of the USSR altered the dynamics of the occupation, as the communists turned to sabotage and the city's Jews were rounded up. The year 1942 saw the French police help the Germans send away more of the city's Jews. Between 1942 and 1944, 75,000 Jews, mostly foreigners, were deported. After Stalingrad and the successful Allied bombings and invasion of Italy, it was obvious to all but die-hard Nazis that Germany would lose. After D-Day, the Germans in Paris waited, and on August 14, the last occupier left the Lutetia.

         The year after liberation, the hotel received a new kind of guest—returning displaced persons. The Ministry of Prisoners, Deportees, and Refugees began its work. When they realized how sick "the missing" were, they requisitioned the Lutetia, and it became the main repatriation center. When the first trains arrived in April 1945, the lice-ridden skeletons stepped onto the platform, and the welcomers broke down in tears. The average returnee weighed 106 pounds and needed time to recover. By the first of September, the last deportees left the Lutetia.

        The survivors struggled with momentous issues. For many, living until liberation was what drove them, and they could not make the transition. For the rest, families and friends were gone, lives were disrupted by an experience that absolutely no one else could comprehend. For those sent away by their fellow Frenchmen, de Gaulle's narrative of national resistance did not reasonate. Later in the century, France began to deal with its collaboration and acknowledged its failure. The Lutetia was remodeled in 2018, and today is once again a grand luxury hotel.

The Tree of Light and Flowers, Perry - B+

          Jane Whitefield is a happily married new mother living in the Buffalo suburbs when a sixteen-year-old runaway appears at her door. In her prior life, she helped those unjustly accused or in fear of the powerful disappear into a new life. Katie is not old enough to make it on her own, and Jane takes her in to act as a nanny to newborn May. At about the same time, the Russian mob, which has been looking for her for years, springs Magda from a women's prison and tasks her with finding Jane. We are treated to a brilliant tale of cat and mouse, and attack and counterattack. It is a fitting finale to a long-running series whose author has just passed away.

The Haj, Uris - B-

         This novel is a vast, sweeping, panoramic look at Palestine in the first half of the 20th century. Although there are Turks, Bedouin Arabs, Hashemites, French, Christians, and British, this is the story of the contest between the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs. We see it through the eyes of Ibrahim, Muktar of Tabah, and Gideon Asch, Secretary of a neighboring Kibbutz. In the 1920s, the Kibbutzim prospered, clearing swamps and making the desert flower while the Arabs looked on. As the war approached, the British cut off Jewish immigration out of concern over Arab opposition. After the war, Ibrahim understood that the stories of the death camps would lead to more Jews coming to Palestine, even if the British were trying to keep them out. When the UN announced the partition of Palestine in late 1947, the British announced they were leaving on May 14, 1948. The Arabs raged and declared their intention to finish Hitler's work. When the fighting began, Arab leaders encouraged their people to depart while they defeated the Israelis. Ibrahim had no desire to leave his village, but soon the violence was all around. His old friend, Gideon, helped his family escape, but Ibrahim suffered the loss of not only his home, but his identity and all of his history. The residents of Tabah were horrified by the conditions on the roads,  and the refugee camps, sinks of dependency and despair. When Ibrahim's oldest, Kemal, was killed, he was made a martyr for the cause. The camps further demoralized Ibrahim. When his daughter Nada sought to be more than another hidden Muslim woman, he committed the ultimate horror while defending the family's honor.

           This four-decade-old novel was criticized for being too pro-Israeli. It puts the onus on the Arab leadership for their people's flight and ignores the Israelis' role. I believe it aptly depicts the hatred on both sides, a hatred that will allow this eighty-year-old conflict to continue indefinitely. It has been decades since I've read a Michener or Uris treatise that covers vast topics and multiple generations. I don't think I'll be rushing back to the genre.

A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Hapsburg Empire, Wawro - B+

          "This book is about Austria-Hungary's fatal degeneration and its impact on European civilization." It charts the decline of the empire after 1866, when it lost its last major war. "Austria-Hungary's anxieties and pretension as a fading great power were a chief cause of the war, and these same qualities were also the source of its defeat."

          "Austria's weakness emanated from its quarreling, disaffected nationalities." Before the losses in wars against France in 1859 and Germany in 1866, Austria was considered a great power on par with England, France, and Russia. Afterwards, it was at best a Balkan power. The empire was too far-flung and ethnically diversified to be manageable. Franz-Joseph chose war for reasons of honor in 1859, 1866, and 1914, when he "would have been far better served by some face-saving deal short of war." Prussia's crushing victory at Koniggratz, followed by German unification, shocked Europe. The next year, the emperor consented to the dual monarchy to be known as Austria-Hungary. Hungary did not pay a proportional share of taxes and obstructed Vienna at every turn. They would not approve army budgets as the empire continued to slip as a world power. This would have massive repercussions in 1914, when the Dual Monarchy would be outgunned and outclassed by its rivals. "Hungary was dragging the Habsburg empire over a cliff."

         After Russia's humiliating defeat in Asia in 1905, it turned to the west and sought to expand its influence in the Slavic world at the expense of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. And to the south of Austria-Hungary stood Serbia, a nation desirous of uniting the ten million Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula under their flag. While Serbia flexed its muscles, Vienna refused to face the new world of massed professional militaries with modern weapons moved to the fronts on new railway systems. In 1912, Russia organized the Balkan League of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece to collectively evict Turkey from Europe and share the spoils. Austria stood by and watched their intended sphere of influence fade away. "Vienna had lost most of its freedom of movement as a great power. There was no domestic consensus on foreign policy and the budget was a billion crowns in deficit." The old emperor was as dotty as ever. Chief of Staff Conrad believed that their remaining purpose was "to go under honorably."

         The Black Hand was hoping for an opportunity to deliver a blow to Austria that would provoke war between the empire and Serbia. Knowing that Franz Ferdinand would be visiting Sarajevo in June, they trained three Bosnian Serbs to assassinate him. The archduke and his wife were killed on the 28th. The reaction in Vienna was "Krieg, Krieg, Krieg." Germany thought this was the ideal issue to provoke a wider war wherein they would deal with the Entente for good. The Kaiser, readying for his annual Nordic cruise, gave a blank check to back Austria if it went to war with Serbia. Amazingly, Conrad went on a three-week vacation with his mistress. The German Military Attaché could not even ascertain Vienna's intentions about allocating divisions between fighting Serbia and Russia. Serbia mobilized while Austria dithered. They did not mobilize until after the ultimatum they delivered was declined. Berlin was ready for war by the first week of August.

         Neither the empire nor its Chief of Staff were ready. Germany expected Vienna to defend against Serbia, and more importantly, Russia. Germany estimated it would take six weeks to defeat France, and Austria had to hold the Russians back until the Germans were finished in the west. Completely ignoring the German plans and without even telling Berlin, Conrad sent 40% of the army to Serbia after a month to deploy. Poorly trained and equipped and lacking any motivation, the empire's troops were routed in Serbia.

          Russian Poland protruded into the west from the body of the Russian Empire. It was south of East Prussia and north of Galicia, with Warsaw about equidistant from each. Russia surprised the Germanic allies with its rapid mobilization. Germany was encouraging Austria to attack and relieve them of potential Russian pressure. Conrad ordered his equally unready eastern army to march a hundred miles through the Galician heat and dust to reach the border. They then used fifty-year-old infantry tactics and attacked the Russians in skirmish lines. They were crushed. Although Austria prevailed in a three-day battle at Krasnik, they were ultimately overwhelmed by superior manpower, which benefited from excellent artillery support. By the end of August, the Austrian offensive was over. September saw a rout at Lemberg and Rawa-Ruska. "The war in the east was barely three weeks old and Conrad had lost a third of the Austro-Hungarian army."

         A second attempt to invade Serbia followed. It met the same fate as the August attack. Once again, the only planning was to try again and see if it worked. It did not. Ill-prepared, the army crossed the Drina from Bosnia into Serbia, ran into mountainous terrain, and were soundly defeated by battle-hardened veterans defending their homeland. Austria-Hungary was astounded and befuddled as another 40,000 men fell for naught.

         "Austro-Hungarian floundering in Galicia and the tumultuous retreat struck the Germans dumb with amazement." In a month, the empire had lost 500,000 men and seemed to have given up. The Central Powers were in deathly fear of Russia. Berlin concluded that direct assistance to Austria was necessary. The Tsar, under pressure from a reeling France and England, ordered his armies to attack Germany. After three days, the Russian attack petered out. Stymied in France, Germany decided to do more than hold back Russia; it decided to attack. The offensive was successful, and they almost reached Warsaw before they were stopped. "The monstrous war the Austrians and Germans had welcomed in July was spinning out of control, and the Central Powers, hardly on speaking terms, were in grave danger of losing it."

          Austria amassed equipment, supplies, and men to attack Serbia, which was weakening after the Balkan Wars and the previous Austrian attacks. This time, the empire's soldiers reached and occupied Belgrade. Serbia counterattacked, and the Austrian army disintegrated. The army did not retreat—it fled in complete disarray. Instead of punishing the uppity Serbs, the empire was humiliated by its lack of planning, incompetent commanders, and the massive casualties. For all intents and purposes, the Austro-Hungarian armies were finished.

         Both sides prepared to attack as soon as possible in the east. Russia had twice as many men on the front, but less than a fifth even had a rifle. They came at the Austrians relentlessly and constantly. They committed their men to frontal attacks. The empire's soldiers had no motivation to fight, walked away daily, and in one instance, 1,850 of a 2,000-man Czech unit deserted to surrender and become prisoners in one night. Most of the connected career officers, and all of the high command, relaxed in a sumptuous palace miles from the front. Conrad was known to spend hours relaxing with newspapers. Having lost a million men in 1914, Austria-Hungary lost another 800,000 defending the Carpathians in early 1915. Three-quarters of the casualties were due to illnesses caused by exposure. "Beaten too many times to count, the Dual Monarchy had lost whatever respect it commanded from its subjects and neighbors, and lost any semblance of cohesion or, for that matter, sovereignty. Its days on the earth were numbered."

         For the rest of the war, Germany oversaw the empire's efforts and continually bailed them out on every front. Austria-Hungary had a chance to leave the war in 1917-18 under Emperor Karl, but the Kaiser hauled him back in line. Wilson had initially spoken of reorganizing the empire, and then vowed to dismember it. "The monarchy had come in with a bang—vanquishing the Turks and saving Christendom—went out with a whimper. Of all the many miscalculations of this uniquely catastrophic war, Austro-Hungarian decision making in 1914 was the most reprehensible. The Great War has earned a dark place in our historical map, and Vienna, no less than Berlin, was the heart of darkness."

         Geoffrey Wawro is one of my favorite historians, and one uniquely motivated to write this story. Just before the Great War, all four of his grandparents left Galicia and sailed to Ellis Island. He tells a shocking story. The perfidy of Hungary is seldom detailed elsewhere. And the fighting saw some of the most mindless incompetence conceivable on the part of those making decisions. Whether they were in Vienna or St. Petersburg, it was delusional and idiotic to think uneducated peasants could go to war without training and equipment. These men wore civilian clothing, were often drunk, had no rifles or food, faked illness, and were left unburied. None of the masters understood what was going on and had no idea about what to do. "Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too."

Lightning Beneath The Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age, Tabor - B

         "The laying of the Atlantic Cable far exceeded anything in the annals of science and engineering and changed life around the globe." The challenges appeared insurmountable, and Cyrus Field, a NYC businessman, assembled a scientific "dream team" to tackle "cable, oceans, ships, and telegraphy," the mission-critical aspects of the project. "The cable changed life on earth, and its progeny make life probable in ours." Even today, Google, Meta, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft spend billions to build and maintain underwater cables.

           In 1854, Field was approached with an idea about a cable from NY to Nova Scotia, and thought that a cable from Canada to the UK made more sense. The idea gained traction in the public arena because it was believed that rapid trans-Atlantic communication would lead to a more peaceful world. Field recruited the two most capable men of the century to work with him. Samuel Morse was already a household name, but not so Lt. Matthew Maury of the US Naval Observatory. Maury was the world's leading expert on currents and ocean floor topography. He also signed on Peter Cooper, scientific genius and one of the wealthiest men in America.

           The first step was to lay cable across the 65-mile strait connecting Newfoundland to the mainland. In a gale, the cable snapped, and Field sailed home. The following year, they accomplished the laying of the cable. Knowing that the British were expert at laying cable and had the deepest pockets, Field went to London in 1856. He received significant financial support, and, of equal import, better ideas to build a cable. He returned to America and received the full support of the US government. The American and British ships began to lay cable off Ireland in August 1857. After laying 380 miles of cable, it snapped and plunged 12,500 feet to the bottom. Field immediately began to plan for an expedition the following year. On June 10, 1858, they sailed again. Six hundred and fifty miles west of Portsmouth, they encountered a hundred-year storm. Soon thereafter, the cable snapped again. Field needed all of his skills to convince his backers to give him one more chance. The third time was a charm, as they successfully transmitted from Ireland to Newfoundland in August. It was a massive accomplishment, and Cyrus Field was heralded as a hero around the world. However, within days, the transmissions stopped.

           Although many on both sides of the Atlantic still believed in the possibility of success, many did not. Competition arose, particularly in the UK and even in Russia. Samuel Morse walked away. Field's warehouse in Manhattan burned down, and then, in the panic of 1860, his business went bankrupt. The war followed, and funding dried up. But Field never, ever gave up and began to rally support on both sides of the Atlantic. Another attempt was organized in 1865 with stronger cable, better-equipped ships, and a wealth of experience in the management of the process. Once again, at the midpoint in the Atlantic, the cable broke. This time, though, the consensus was that they were close and would achieve their goal the following year. On June 30, 1866, the Great Eastern sailed with a new set of improved equipment. On July 27th, they reached Newfoundland, and the world erupted in joy.

           By the time of Field's death in 1892, there were ten trans-Atlantic cables. Today, there are more than 600 fiber-optic cables crossing the Atlantic. Ninety-eight percent of the world's data travels by cable, not satellite. As for Cyrus Field and his international fame, he died broke and mostly forgotten. This is an enlightening and absorbing story.

Lazar, Biedermann - B

           This heralded novel by a young German in his early twenties tells a story of the von Lazars, Hungarian nobility torn asunder by the 20th century. Lajos is born around the fin de siècle and joins his six-year-old sister, Ilona, in the vast, unhappy household. Before the war, their mother, Maria, quietly takes her own life. Their heartless father, Sandor, sends them to boarding school while he drinks his way through the oblivion of the Empire and his world. When the old baron dies, Lajos and his young wife, Lily, move into the manor and take control of the family's business. Success allows Lajos, Lily, and their children to buy a second home in Budapest. Fear of Hitler forces Ilona and her Jewish husband to leave Berlin and alight on the Danube as well. After the Anschluss, they manage to escape to Switzerland.

           Just before the war begins, Lajos and Lily's son, Pista, falls in love with a Jewish girl, Matilda. Matilda's mom quashes the puppy love as fast as she can. The war begins, and Lajos is summoned to the army. Most of his responsibilities are organizational, and he never even leaves home, but works in Pécs near the manor house. In 1944, he rounds up and ships off the local Jews. With the Russians approaching, the family begins to walk west. The Russians pass through on the way to Budapest, and the family returns to the manor house. That summer, Lajos and Pista go to Budapest, and Pista learns that Matilda had been shot by the Arrow Cross.

          In 1948, their house, land, and possessions become "property of the state." A few years later, after settling into office jobs and an apartment in Budapest, they are again dispossessed and moved east to a farm. In 1953, they are allowed to return to the city, but Lajos struggles to maintain any enthusiasm for life. A few years later, Pista is in love with Kati, and his younger sister, Eva, falls for revolutionary writer Akos. In late 1956, the Soviets invade. Leaving their parents in Budapest, Pista and Eva flee to Yugoslavia before their journey ends in Zurich