The question this book attempts to address is why do those on the right resent and reject government? The author, a Berkeley historian and sociologist, decided to try and discern the answer from deep in the south, in a hard-right state, very poor and the most polluted in the country - Louisiana. The state is 49th of 50 on quality of life measurements and receives a striking 44% of its budget from the federal government. Although it has served the petrochemical and oil industries by not regulating them, Louisiana's reward is a horribly polluted environment. The author moved to Lake Charles, La. and spent five years trying to understand the members of the Tea Party and what she calls the Great Paradox. Why do people that the government helps, or wish to help, hate it?
Although they are impoverished and live in 'Cancer Alley', the Cajuns of southwest Louisiana put God and family first and do not wish to see their taxes (they hardly pay any) go to "non-working, non-deserving people". There is no one in their world - the local churches, the state of Louisiana, the companies there, Rush Limbaugh or Fox News - who does anything to question the certainties of this bias.
The author discusses the concept of 'line cutters'. As the aging white population pursues the ever elusive American dream, it is not globalization and technology that are the enemies, the creators of income inequality, it is those who have cut ahead. They are blacks, women, immigrants and anyone else the government has helped. One of the leading cutters, in the eyes of the Tea party folk in Louisiana, is President Obama.
"For the Tea Party around the country, the shifting moral qualifications for the American Dream had turned them into strangers in their own land, afraid, resentful, displaced, and dismissed..."
This book is one of those recommended to the stunned, informed elite last November, to help understand the election. In that regard, it is good and helpful. I have lost all touch with the blue collar world that has seen its wages stifled for the last forty years. The concerns and anxieties articulated here are real and it is easy to be personally sympathetic. The plight of the Cajuns is compounded by the amazing environmental abuse inflicted on them. Thus, I am not inclined to conclude they are ill-informed or overly tribal. They are victims. One person said "Pollution is a sacrifice we make for capitalism." What an appalling conclusion to come to. In this story, it is the huge oil and petrochemical companies that have been given a free ride that are to blame. Their handmaiden, former Governor Bobby Jindal, reduced what little oversight the state imposed, cut taxes for industry, reduced social services and stood by while the polluters laid it on. This book is only 241 pages and a relatively easy read.
4.28.2017
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Dahl
This is another borrowing from the library of Eloise Anne Fairchild, my wonderful granddaughter. Charlie Bucket lived close by the Wonka Chocolate Factory when its proprietor, Willy, announced that the five children who found the Golden Tickets would receive a special tour. One day, Charlie found a dollar in the snow, purchased a candy bar and found a Golden Ticket. Charlie and his Grandpa Joe showed up on the appointed day. Oh the sights they saw: a chocolate waterfall, a field of gum, Oompa-Loompa workers, the fudge room, the chocolate river, and gobstoppers. Some of the children could not control themselves and greedily ate in the factory. Augustus floated away and into a pipe. Violet ballooned into a fat blueberry. Veruca was bratty and selfish and 100 squirrels carried her away to the garbage chute. Mike was so enamored with TV watching that he flew himself into the Wonka TV transporter. Only Charlie Bucket was left, and Willy declared him the winner. Because Willly liked Charlie the best, he told him that as soon as he was old enough, the factory was his. Willy gave the Chocolate Factory to Charlie.
Earthly Remains, Leon - B +
This is the 26th book in the Guido Brunetti series that the now almost 75-year-old Donna Leon started in 1992. I seldom notice dedications, but here the expatriate American dedicates the book to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She then goes on to tell the most unique tale in the series that may or may not even involve a crime. There are certainly rising hints of a misdeed. She explores the geography and history of the lagoon and some corporate evil-doing along the way. It's great book by an enlightened author who loves Venice, its people, customs and history. Great series get better with age.
The Devil's Feast, Carter - B
This, the third in the series, is set, as was the second, in London in the 1840's. The first and best of the three was set in the Raj. The take-away in this novel is the background of and establishment of the Reform Club and its trendsetting kitchen. It was the first significant non-Tory club and a political compromise between the Radicals and the Whigs, who eventually went on to be the Liberals. Most of the time in the novel is spent on the workings of the kitchen and its real life creator and legendary chef, Alexis Soyer, of Paris. In the second book, I compared Avery and Blake to Watson and Holmes. Blake as Holmes continues to peek through. As I've said before, when a historian takes up the pen of a novelist, the results are usually enlightening.
4.23.2017
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, Frankopan - B
This is a history of the world viewed from the perspective of the lands between the Mediterranean and the Himalayas. As the Oxford scholar author points out, this is the home of most civilizations and religions. The rise of Europe was neither inevitable, nor pre-ordained and most western historians fail to focus on the lands around the Black and Caspian Seas, the original center of the world.
Persia was the first great empire and creator of laws and civilization. It was conquered by Alexander the Great, whose successors ruled in the east for three centuries and began organizing the foundation of a trading system along the Silk Road.* The Chinese engaged from the east and the Romans entered from the west. It was the wealth of Egypt and its trading as far east as India that propelled the greatness and wealth of Rome. The draw of the east was so compelling that Rome moved its capital to Constantinople. "The ancient world was much more sophisticated and interlinked than we sometimes like to think."
Many and various religions competed in the area. "Religions rose and fell as they spread across Eurasia, fighting each other for audiences, loyalty and moral authority." Buddhism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism were the dominant ones. Christianity, pioneered throughout the Roman Empire by Constantine, was to eventually succeed in the east, not through conquest, but by acceptance. The rulers of Persia felt comfortable with and promoted religious tolerance. Indeed by the seventh century, it appeared as if Christianity was ready to dominate the east.
In the century before the rise of Islam, the known world saw devastation everywhere. "The scale of death was unimaginable." From China to the Mediterranean, "Bubonic plague brought catastrophe, despair and death". Then, there was a major war between the Roman and Persian Empires. In southwest Arabia, a trend toward monotheism was building and in 610, a trader named Muhammad received inspiration from Allah. As the world struggled with the consequences of plague and war, he offered spiritual salvation that brought with it economic rewards. Expanding the religion through the sword, Islam quickly conquered Arabia and Persia. Its expansion was aided by Christians and Jews because from their perspective, "it looked inclusive and conciliatory, and offered hope of calming tensions." Within a century, Islam spread from Arabia to Spain and China. The wealth that flowed to the center led to the construction of one of the great cities of the world. It was called the city of peace - Baghdad. The new-found prosperity of the Arab world led to innovation, urbanization, advances in medicine and mathematics and an upgrading of the quality of life, while in poverty stricken Europe, life went on with little change. Europe was an intellectual backwater restricted by a fundamentalist religion. "The Islamic conquests created a new world order, an economic giant, bolstered by self -confidence, broadmindedness and a passionate zeal for progress"
In the later centuries of the millennium, the steppes increasingly influenced the civilized world. The Rus traded furs and slaves and, in the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks and other nomads were on the move. The Seljuks became rulers in Baghdad. Turmoil threatened Jerusalem and the faltering rulers in Constantinople asked for help from the west. Thus, began the Crusader era. In the summer of 1099, Jerusalem fell along with Antioch, Tyre and Tripoli. "Over the next two centuries, enormous effort went into holding the territories conquered in the First Crusade. Serving the King of Jerusalem meant serving God. The road to Jerusalem became the road to heaven." Additionally, the Muslim naval domination of the eastern Mediterranean was broken by the Italian city-states, of which Venice was foremost. They traded with and supplied the Crusaders. Venice was granted special trading privileges in the Byzantine Empire and there was a general increase in trading volumes between Europe and the Muslim world. The Crusader era began to end in 1187, when Saladin retook Jerusalem, and in 1204, when the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople.
Into this world where religions and empires wrestled for hegemony came the greatest disruption in recorded history - the Mongols. The contemporary world described them as it did the Huns centuries before. They were wild animals wearing the skins of dogs and mice. "Although the Mongols seemed to be chaotic, bloodthirsty and unreliable, their rise was not the result of a lack of order, but precisely the opposite: ruthless planning, streamlined organization and a clear set of strategic directives were the key to establishing the largest land empire in history." In half-a-century, they conquered China, India, the steppes, Russia and as far west as Palestine and Poland. They did wreak havoc wherever they went. But only initially. Soon, the rules, trading systems and governing procedures laid down by the Mongols led to a vast increase in trade and increase in wealth throughout the world. The significant movement of peoples around the world in the 13th and 14th centuries fostered an environment in which another great disrupter would once again emerge- the Black Death. From China to Ireland, millions upon millions died. However as society rebuilt after the plague, there were increases in wealth and prosperity in both Europe and Asia.
From Europe, there was exploration that led the Portuguese east into Asia and the Spanish west to the New World. Armed with superior weapons, the Europeans plundered America, Africa and Asia and built the foundation for the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Soon, the British and the Dutch joined the action. The wealth created in Europe increased demand for luxury goods throughout the Middle East and Asia and led to a rising tide of wealth around the world. "Continents were now connected to each other, linked by flows of silver."
The British East India Company, which traded with and eventually occupied the sub-continent had a significant impact on the history of the Silk Road. With their Russian rivals, they played 'The Great Game' throughout the area. The Russians moved aggressively into central Asia. Only Persia and the Ottoman Empire could hold them off. The Russian interest in Persia was so great and so anxiety inducing to the British, that the author posits that the Triple Entente was an attempt to befriend Russia and turn its gaze toward Europe. Then, World War I destroyed the finances of all it's European participants. "The experience of war had been shattering; it made control of the Silk Road and its riches more important than ever."
In May of 1908, one of the most important events in world history happened in Persia when British drillers found "the motherlode, striking oil and sending black gold into the air." Earlier the Shah, in desperate need of funds, had handed the oil over to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, thus beginning a tension that would eventually explode in the form of Islamic fundamentalism. The British then asked the Arabs to support them in the war against the Ottomans and promised them independence. The British reneged, split the Middle East with the French, promised the Zionists Palestine and further planted seeds of fissures to come. A little bit further south, the Americans joined the party when they set up the Arabian American Oil Company. Relying on a system that put monarchs on thrones, the western system 'managing' the Middle East's oil wealth held through WWII. It was successful in the early days of the Cold War, but fell apart over Arab nationalism and US support of Israel. Twice in the 1970's OPEC brought the west to its knees with supply boycotts and price increases. And in 1979, the Iranian Revolution placed the most important oil power firmly in the anti-western camp. The fuel that ran the modern world and all of its attendant wealth and power was on its own. The US intervened aggressively in 1991 and disastrously in 2003.
The region's natural resources are leading to a rebirth of the world's center. Pipelines and railroads criss-cross the area. Airports and cities are rising from the steppe. "The Chinese government is building networks carefully and deliberately to connect to minerals, energy sources and access to cities, harbors and oceans." IPhones are manufactured in western China. Yale, Columbia and NYU have campuses in the Persian Gulf. The US has 'pivoted' its foreign policy to Asia. President Xi has spoken of 'One Belt, One Road'. Hopefully, a new Silk Road is in the offing.
In the preface to this book, the author points out his coming of age realization that the Eurocentric view of the world often taught is, in fact, not quite correct. He is, of course, not plowing any new ground on that front. Nor does he stick to his core themes, as he spends chapter after chapter going far and wide discussing Europe and even the US at length. Any well-read person knows that the history of the world is one of trade, migration and a vast sea of people, ideas, and religions mingling and evolving from one end of the Eurasian land mass to the other and that before the discovery of the New World. What the author has done, in my opinion, is put it together better, particularly in the first millennium, than many of the other books that I've read.
*The phrase was coined by a 19th century German history professor.
Persia was the first great empire and creator of laws and civilization. It was conquered by Alexander the Great, whose successors ruled in the east for three centuries and began organizing the foundation of a trading system along the Silk Road.* The Chinese engaged from the east and the Romans entered from the west. It was the wealth of Egypt and its trading as far east as India that propelled the greatness and wealth of Rome. The draw of the east was so compelling that Rome moved its capital to Constantinople. "The ancient world was much more sophisticated and interlinked than we sometimes like to think."
Many and various religions competed in the area. "Religions rose and fell as they spread across Eurasia, fighting each other for audiences, loyalty and moral authority." Buddhism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism were the dominant ones. Christianity, pioneered throughout the Roman Empire by Constantine, was to eventually succeed in the east, not through conquest, but by acceptance. The rulers of Persia felt comfortable with and promoted religious tolerance. Indeed by the seventh century, it appeared as if Christianity was ready to dominate the east.
In the century before the rise of Islam, the known world saw devastation everywhere. "The scale of death was unimaginable." From China to the Mediterranean, "Bubonic plague brought catastrophe, despair and death". Then, there was a major war between the Roman and Persian Empires. In southwest Arabia, a trend toward monotheism was building and in 610, a trader named Muhammad received inspiration from Allah. As the world struggled with the consequences of plague and war, he offered spiritual salvation that brought with it economic rewards. Expanding the religion through the sword, Islam quickly conquered Arabia and Persia. Its expansion was aided by Christians and Jews because from their perspective, "it looked inclusive and conciliatory, and offered hope of calming tensions." Within a century, Islam spread from Arabia to Spain and China. The wealth that flowed to the center led to the construction of one of the great cities of the world. It was called the city of peace - Baghdad. The new-found prosperity of the Arab world led to innovation, urbanization, advances in medicine and mathematics and an upgrading of the quality of life, while in poverty stricken Europe, life went on with little change. Europe was an intellectual backwater restricted by a fundamentalist religion. "The Islamic conquests created a new world order, an economic giant, bolstered by self -confidence, broadmindedness and a passionate zeal for progress"
In the later centuries of the millennium, the steppes increasingly influenced the civilized world. The Rus traded furs and slaves and, in the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks and other nomads were on the move. The Seljuks became rulers in Baghdad. Turmoil threatened Jerusalem and the faltering rulers in Constantinople asked for help from the west. Thus, began the Crusader era. In the summer of 1099, Jerusalem fell along with Antioch, Tyre and Tripoli. "Over the next two centuries, enormous effort went into holding the territories conquered in the First Crusade. Serving the King of Jerusalem meant serving God. The road to Jerusalem became the road to heaven." Additionally, the Muslim naval domination of the eastern Mediterranean was broken by the Italian city-states, of which Venice was foremost. They traded with and supplied the Crusaders. Venice was granted special trading privileges in the Byzantine Empire and there was a general increase in trading volumes between Europe and the Muslim world. The Crusader era began to end in 1187, when Saladin retook Jerusalem, and in 1204, when the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople.
Into this world where religions and empires wrestled for hegemony came the greatest disruption in recorded history - the Mongols. The contemporary world described them as it did the Huns centuries before. They were wild animals wearing the skins of dogs and mice. "Although the Mongols seemed to be chaotic, bloodthirsty and unreliable, their rise was not the result of a lack of order, but precisely the opposite: ruthless planning, streamlined organization and a clear set of strategic directives were the key to establishing the largest land empire in history." In half-a-century, they conquered China, India, the steppes, Russia and as far west as Palestine and Poland. They did wreak havoc wherever they went. But only initially. Soon, the rules, trading systems and governing procedures laid down by the Mongols led to a vast increase in trade and increase in wealth throughout the world. The significant movement of peoples around the world in the 13th and 14th centuries fostered an environment in which another great disrupter would once again emerge- the Black Death. From China to Ireland, millions upon millions died. However as society rebuilt after the plague, there were increases in wealth and prosperity in both Europe and Asia.
From Europe, there was exploration that led the Portuguese east into Asia and the Spanish west to the New World. Armed with superior weapons, the Europeans plundered America, Africa and Asia and built the foundation for the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Soon, the British and the Dutch joined the action. The wealth created in Europe increased demand for luxury goods throughout the Middle East and Asia and led to a rising tide of wealth around the world. "Continents were now connected to each other, linked by flows of silver."
The British East India Company, which traded with and eventually occupied the sub-continent had a significant impact on the history of the Silk Road. With their Russian rivals, they played 'The Great Game' throughout the area. The Russians moved aggressively into central Asia. Only Persia and the Ottoman Empire could hold them off. The Russian interest in Persia was so great and so anxiety inducing to the British, that the author posits that the Triple Entente was an attempt to befriend Russia and turn its gaze toward Europe. Then, World War I destroyed the finances of all it's European participants. "The experience of war had been shattering; it made control of the Silk Road and its riches more important than ever."
In May of 1908, one of the most important events in world history happened in Persia when British drillers found "the motherlode, striking oil and sending black gold into the air." Earlier the Shah, in desperate need of funds, had handed the oil over to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, thus beginning a tension that would eventually explode in the form of Islamic fundamentalism. The British then asked the Arabs to support them in the war against the Ottomans and promised them independence. The British reneged, split the Middle East with the French, promised the Zionists Palestine and further planted seeds of fissures to come. A little bit further south, the Americans joined the party when they set up the Arabian American Oil Company. Relying on a system that put monarchs on thrones, the western system 'managing' the Middle East's oil wealth held through WWII. It was successful in the early days of the Cold War, but fell apart over Arab nationalism and US support of Israel. Twice in the 1970's OPEC brought the west to its knees with supply boycotts and price increases. And in 1979, the Iranian Revolution placed the most important oil power firmly in the anti-western camp. The fuel that ran the modern world and all of its attendant wealth and power was on its own. The US intervened aggressively in 1991 and disastrously in 2003.
The region's natural resources are leading to a rebirth of the world's center. Pipelines and railroads criss-cross the area. Airports and cities are rising from the steppe. "The Chinese government is building networks carefully and deliberately to connect to minerals, energy sources and access to cities, harbors and oceans." IPhones are manufactured in western China. Yale, Columbia and NYU have campuses in the Persian Gulf. The US has 'pivoted' its foreign policy to Asia. President Xi has spoken of 'One Belt, One Road'. Hopefully, a new Silk Road is in the offing.
In the preface to this book, the author points out his coming of age realization that the Eurocentric view of the world often taught is, in fact, not quite correct. He is, of course, not plowing any new ground on that front. Nor does he stick to his core themes, as he spends chapter after chapter going far and wide discussing Europe and even the US at length. Any well-read person knows that the history of the world is one of trade, migration and a vast sea of people, ideas, and religions mingling and evolving from one end of the Eurasian land mass to the other and that before the discovery of the New World. What the author has done, in my opinion, is put it together better, particularly in the first millennium, than many of the other books that I've read.
*The phrase was coined by a 19th century German history professor.
A Great Reckoning, Penny - B +
In the latest in this well-written, insightful, if not brilliant series, Gamache comes out of retirement to become Commander of the Academy Surete. His mission is to clean up the last bastion of the old-boys corruption and cruelty network. He fires half of the staff, but keeps on the evil 'Duke' and brings in his former best friend, and now failed and disgraced former Superintendent Michel Brebeuf. Armand's path to a new and improved Academy is not apparent with these two on board. The 'Duke' is soon murdered and everyone is under suspicion. The parallel story involves a hundred-year-old orienteering map from Three Pines and the four students Armand has tasked to study the map and to try and 'solve' it. The map allows the author to go back in history and explore, with extraordinary passion, the agony of being the mother of sons at war. This is probably the best in the series.
4.06.2017
City of Dreams: The 400 Year Epic History of Immigrant New York, Anbinder - A*
The first federal Superintendent of Immigrants for NY Harbor was appointed in 1890. For most of NY's history, anyone could enter the British colonies or the young United States. Around the turn of the 19th century, medical check-ups, with possible quarantine on Staten Island was the first attempt to supervise the flow. Later, in 1855, a reception center was established at Castle Garden in the Battery. Over time, convicts, prostitutes, Chinese contract laborers, idiots, paupers, and polygamists were barred. On January 1, 1892, Ellis Island was opened. It could process 15,000 people per day. It would be the point of welcome for 15 million Americans before it closed in the 1950's. They all came with dreams.
The Dutch came to New Amsterdam in 1624. Trade in furs was the city's first business. Over the 60 years of Dutch rule, six thousand immigrants, many indentured servants, came to the New World. The colony became New York in 1664. It would take until the early 18th century for NY to be Anglicized and for there to be more English than Dutch speakers. The English and later Scotch immigrants were of a higher caliber than those that went to many of the other colonies. They were not indentured servants and often were businessmen from London. Anglicization was accompanied by a vast and diverse flow of immigrants from throughout Europe. Tolerance was a watchword. A visitor observed that residents "seemed not concerned what religion their neighbor is of, or whether hee hath any or none". Only Papists and Jews were not free to openly live their faiths.
The last census before the Revolution showed 22,000 people in NY in 1771. Thousands fled before the British arrived in August, 1776. In the end there were only 5,000 residents left in the city. Tories rallied to the city and by Yorktown, there were 33,000 in NY. Evacuation Day came on November 25, 1783. Only after Waterloo, though, did British immigration to NY pick back up. It took until 1824, the 200th anniversary of New Amsterdam, for the population to exceed 100,000. From that point on, NY added 100,000 people per decade. Even before the famine, the Irish were the largest group of immigrants to the city. Unskilled laborers were the dominant percentage of the Irish immigrants. In 1845, 36% of the residents were foreign born and of those, there were more Irish than all the other nationalities combined. A decade later, there more foreign born than native. The famine caused 1.5 million people to leave Ireland and two-thirds of them came to NY. "The famine Irish were the most impoverished immigrants to ever arrive in the US and the least prepared for life in NY." They were totally lacking in any skills and many did not speak English.
Although at times it seemed to be an Irish metropolis, between 1852-4, the city was flooded with Germans. There were 120,000 German New Yorkers on the eve of the Civil War. The residents of Kleindeutschland were skilled laborers and not day workers. They and the Irish found common political cause in the 1850's with their opposition to temperance and nativist movements. Both immigrant groups were indifferent to abolition and opposed to Lincoln, who did not carry the city. Notwithstanding their position, they believed in the US and rallied to the flag. The Irish in particular hoped that supporting the Union would show their commitment to America and overcome prejudice. The famous 69th regiment was part of the Irish Brigade, and after Antietam and Fredericksburg, their casualties were so high that they began to believe they were being sacrificed for the northern cause. The announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation followed. In the spring 1863, the Union defeat at Chancellorsville necessitated Lincoln's announcement of a draft*. On the 13th of July, the city's Irish led the 4 day draft riots that remain the most significant outbreak of civil violence in American history. The city's lack of enthusiasm for the war was again reflected in the 1864 elections. Lincoln garnered one-third of NY's vote and significantly less of the Irish. Notwithstanding the politics of the war, the city celebrated victory and deeply mourned the 16th President.
After the war, the proportion of German and Irish immigrants arriving in NY dropped to 53% in 1875, 43% in 1885 and 22% in 1895. The Statue of Liberty rose in NY harbor in 1887 and, because of the poem by Emma Lazarus - "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" - it came to symbolize a welcoming of immigrants to America. In the 1880's, fleeing pogroms, the Jews of the Russian Empire came, and a decade later, the Italians would outnumber all else who came. On the eve of WW1, Jews and Italians outnumbered Irish and German immigrants by a ratio of 9:1. "Hunger, political oppression, and a lack of economic opportunity drove most of the immigrants to the United States, just as these same factors had pushed the Irish and Germans to America before them." Racial hatred, violence and poverty were the primary motivating factors for eastern Europe's Jews. For the four million Italians who arrived between 1880 and 1914, grinding poverty was the impetus. Ellis Island was the welcoming point from 1892 onward. The processing at Ellis Island was the most important step in the progress of the immigrants and the story remembered and retold for life.
Like the Germans and Irish before them, it was to the Lower East Side that the Jews and Italians went. It was almost always the first step in America. Many of the immigrants to America came in serial fashion; i.e. one, followed by another and eventually, the rest of the family. However, the Jews came as families and thus, there were more women and children, leading to tremendous crowding on the Lower East Side. Up until the 1892 banning of garment work in the tenements, the crowding was compounded by all those working at home. The garment workers and peddlers desired more and moved up to become cigar makers, butchers, bakers and painters. They began to move to Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. By 1920, 1.6 million Jews lived in NY, three-quarters of them in Brooklyn and the Bronx. "Yet until their dying day, the city's eastern European Jewish immigrants considered their years on the Lower East Side their formative American experience."
Across the Bowery to the west was 'Little Italy'. There, and in east Harlem, the Italians began the upward climb from punishing poverty and overcrowded tenements just as the Jews and Irish had before them. However, because trans-Atlantic crossings were now cheap and fast, many Italians would work in the warm weather and return to Italy in the winter. As they became assimilated, they too moved to the outer boroughs, and because they apparently cared much more about what they ate than their predecessors, the boroughs provided an opportunity to tend gardens and grow fresh vegetables, thus ameliorating some of the pains of being in the city.
Reform in the lives of NY's immigrants started with Jacob Riis' 'How the Other Half Lived', a book filled with photographs raising the premise that it was the horrid conditions of the tenements, and not their occupants, that were behind the poverty, violence and depravity of the slums. Housing codes were passed, various groups started settlement houses, hospitals were built, parks were squeezed into the neighborhoods, unions were formed, and after the tragedy of the Triangle Waist Company fire in 1911, the Progressives acted to improve working conditions in New York State. Unfortunately, nativist principles and the 'otherness' of the recent arrivals along with a post-war outbreak of anarchy, led to the National Origins Act of 1924 which reduced by 95% immigration from eastern and southern Europe. It was one of the most significant laws ever passed in America. Immigration was capped at 150,000 and a country of origin system was enacted. The 'huddled masses' were barred. "Over the course of the next forty years, until Congress repealed the act, immigrants would play a diminishing role in New York." Immigration was so sparse that Ellis Island was closed in 1954.
Immigration in the 50's picked up when hundreds of thousands of Americans from Puerto Rico came to NY. Meanwhile the quota system was increasingly attacked and actually was touted by the communists as a symbol of American hypocrisy. The 1965 Hart-Celler Act imposed a quota of 150,000 for the western hemisphere and 170,000 for the eastern. Family members of citizens were exempt and further exceptions were made for those fleeing communism, thus, in both instances, significantly increasing the number of Asians entering the country. In NY, Dominican, Chinese and West Indians dominated the new wave. Of the three, the Chinese story is most similar to those of their predecessors. Many were illegal, smuggled into the country as part of an extensive and elaborate system. Fujianese succeeded Cantonese and spread out throughout the city. They worked in restaurants and hard as it is to believe, they did piece work at home, like the Jews a hundred years earlier and re-established NY's garment industry. The Dominicans and West Indians were quicker to the outer boroughs and now dominate Brooklyn and Queens#. As it has for almost four centuries, the city continues to change, evolve and process people like a great machine from dreams to becoming Americans.
"Today, 3.2 million of NY's 8.5 million residents, 37 percent of the total, are immigrants." That's the same percentage as in 1900. For the record, the percentage in 1851 was 55%, the all-time high. "Today's immigrants are no different from previous generations of newcomers." Many are suspected and feared. The author, grandson of Jewish immigrants, points out that every single argument made today against Muslims was made for a hundred years about the Irish Catholics. Fear of the new and unknown is part of our tradition. That said, "New York is the promised land, looking green, fat, luscious and joyous from the outside; the promised land flowing with milk and honey." I hope it never changes.
I am a third generation American. My great, great-grandfather came to NY, with his wife and son in tow, sometime in the 1850's, approximately a hundred years before I was born. How is it then that the immigrant experience is such a part of my take on the world? I suspect some of it is that my parents, dutifully told the stories of those who came before. I also think that a significant part of it is that in those first hundred years, no one had made the step up from the immigrant experience, still living lives of blue collar poverty, very close to the neighborhoods they arrived in. Thus, this book resonates for me and touches upon my greatest interest and fascination with America and our history. American stories - how people came from everywhere and how they strived to achieve the dream - has always, and will always fascinate me.
*I believe my great-grandfather, David Barry, entered the Union Army in 1863. Although he may have been drafted, it is more likely that he accepted the bonuses that were behind the enlistment of the immigrants, as only citizens were eligible for the draft.
#The community my family lived in for 14 years, Cambria Heights, in Queens, is now a West Indian and Haitian enclave. Flushing, also in Queens, where I lived and worked for 7 years, is now almost exclusively Korean and Chinese. Ironically, the neighborhood in Brooklyn where I started school is still almost all working-class white ethnics.
The Dutch came to New Amsterdam in 1624. Trade in furs was the city's first business. Over the 60 years of Dutch rule, six thousand immigrants, many indentured servants, came to the New World. The colony became New York in 1664. It would take until the early 18th century for NY to be Anglicized and for there to be more English than Dutch speakers. The English and later Scotch immigrants were of a higher caliber than those that went to many of the other colonies. They were not indentured servants and often were businessmen from London. Anglicization was accompanied by a vast and diverse flow of immigrants from throughout Europe. Tolerance was a watchword. A visitor observed that residents "seemed not concerned what religion their neighbor is of, or whether hee hath any or none". Only Papists and Jews were not free to openly live their faiths.
The last census before the Revolution showed 22,000 people in NY in 1771. Thousands fled before the British arrived in August, 1776. In the end there were only 5,000 residents left in the city. Tories rallied to the city and by Yorktown, there were 33,000 in NY. Evacuation Day came on November 25, 1783. Only after Waterloo, though, did British immigration to NY pick back up. It took until 1824, the 200th anniversary of New Amsterdam, for the population to exceed 100,000. From that point on, NY added 100,000 people per decade. Even before the famine, the Irish were the largest group of immigrants to the city. Unskilled laborers were the dominant percentage of the Irish immigrants. In 1845, 36% of the residents were foreign born and of those, there were more Irish than all the other nationalities combined. A decade later, there more foreign born than native. The famine caused 1.5 million people to leave Ireland and two-thirds of them came to NY. "The famine Irish were the most impoverished immigrants to ever arrive in the US and the least prepared for life in NY." They were totally lacking in any skills and many did not speak English.
Although at times it seemed to be an Irish metropolis, between 1852-4, the city was flooded with Germans. There were 120,000 German New Yorkers on the eve of the Civil War. The residents of Kleindeutschland were skilled laborers and not day workers. They and the Irish found common political cause in the 1850's with their opposition to temperance and nativist movements. Both immigrant groups were indifferent to abolition and opposed to Lincoln, who did not carry the city. Notwithstanding their position, they believed in the US and rallied to the flag. The Irish in particular hoped that supporting the Union would show their commitment to America and overcome prejudice. The famous 69th regiment was part of the Irish Brigade, and after Antietam and Fredericksburg, their casualties were so high that they began to believe they were being sacrificed for the northern cause. The announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation followed. In the spring 1863, the Union defeat at Chancellorsville necessitated Lincoln's announcement of a draft*. On the 13th of July, the city's Irish led the 4 day draft riots that remain the most significant outbreak of civil violence in American history. The city's lack of enthusiasm for the war was again reflected in the 1864 elections. Lincoln garnered one-third of NY's vote and significantly less of the Irish. Notwithstanding the politics of the war, the city celebrated victory and deeply mourned the 16th President.
After the war, the proportion of German and Irish immigrants arriving in NY dropped to 53% in 1875, 43% in 1885 and 22% in 1895. The Statue of Liberty rose in NY harbor in 1887 and, because of the poem by Emma Lazarus - "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" - it came to symbolize a welcoming of immigrants to America. In the 1880's, fleeing pogroms, the Jews of the Russian Empire came, and a decade later, the Italians would outnumber all else who came. On the eve of WW1, Jews and Italians outnumbered Irish and German immigrants by a ratio of 9:1. "Hunger, political oppression, and a lack of economic opportunity drove most of the immigrants to the United States, just as these same factors had pushed the Irish and Germans to America before them." Racial hatred, violence and poverty were the primary motivating factors for eastern Europe's Jews. For the four million Italians who arrived between 1880 and 1914, grinding poverty was the impetus. Ellis Island was the welcoming point from 1892 onward. The processing at Ellis Island was the most important step in the progress of the immigrants and the story remembered and retold for life.
Like the Germans and Irish before them, it was to the Lower East Side that the Jews and Italians went. It was almost always the first step in America. Many of the immigrants to America came in serial fashion; i.e. one, followed by another and eventually, the rest of the family. However, the Jews came as families and thus, there were more women and children, leading to tremendous crowding on the Lower East Side. Up until the 1892 banning of garment work in the tenements, the crowding was compounded by all those working at home. The garment workers and peddlers desired more and moved up to become cigar makers, butchers, bakers and painters. They began to move to Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. By 1920, 1.6 million Jews lived in NY, three-quarters of them in Brooklyn and the Bronx. "Yet until their dying day, the city's eastern European Jewish immigrants considered their years on the Lower East Side their formative American experience."
Across the Bowery to the west was 'Little Italy'. There, and in east Harlem, the Italians began the upward climb from punishing poverty and overcrowded tenements just as the Jews and Irish had before them. However, because trans-Atlantic crossings were now cheap and fast, many Italians would work in the warm weather and return to Italy in the winter. As they became assimilated, they too moved to the outer boroughs, and because they apparently cared much more about what they ate than their predecessors, the boroughs provided an opportunity to tend gardens and grow fresh vegetables, thus ameliorating some of the pains of being in the city.
Reform in the lives of NY's immigrants started with Jacob Riis' 'How the Other Half Lived', a book filled with photographs raising the premise that it was the horrid conditions of the tenements, and not their occupants, that were behind the poverty, violence and depravity of the slums. Housing codes were passed, various groups started settlement houses, hospitals were built, parks were squeezed into the neighborhoods, unions were formed, and after the tragedy of the Triangle Waist Company fire in 1911, the Progressives acted to improve working conditions in New York State. Unfortunately, nativist principles and the 'otherness' of the recent arrivals along with a post-war outbreak of anarchy, led to the National Origins Act of 1924 which reduced by 95% immigration from eastern and southern Europe. It was one of the most significant laws ever passed in America. Immigration was capped at 150,000 and a country of origin system was enacted. The 'huddled masses' were barred. "Over the course of the next forty years, until Congress repealed the act, immigrants would play a diminishing role in New York." Immigration was so sparse that Ellis Island was closed in 1954.
Immigration in the 50's picked up when hundreds of thousands of Americans from Puerto Rico came to NY. Meanwhile the quota system was increasingly attacked and actually was touted by the communists as a symbol of American hypocrisy. The 1965 Hart-Celler Act imposed a quota of 150,000 for the western hemisphere and 170,000 for the eastern. Family members of citizens were exempt and further exceptions were made for those fleeing communism, thus, in both instances, significantly increasing the number of Asians entering the country. In NY, Dominican, Chinese and West Indians dominated the new wave. Of the three, the Chinese story is most similar to those of their predecessors. Many were illegal, smuggled into the country as part of an extensive and elaborate system. Fujianese succeeded Cantonese and spread out throughout the city. They worked in restaurants and hard as it is to believe, they did piece work at home, like the Jews a hundred years earlier and re-established NY's garment industry. The Dominicans and West Indians were quicker to the outer boroughs and now dominate Brooklyn and Queens#. As it has for almost four centuries, the city continues to change, evolve and process people like a great machine from dreams to becoming Americans.
"Today, 3.2 million of NY's 8.5 million residents, 37 percent of the total, are immigrants." That's the same percentage as in 1900. For the record, the percentage in 1851 was 55%, the all-time high. "Today's immigrants are no different from previous generations of newcomers." Many are suspected and feared. The author, grandson of Jewish immigrants, points out that every single argument made today against Muslims was made for a hundred years about the Irish Catholics. Fear of the new and unknown is part of our tradition. That said, "New York is the promised land, looking green, fat, luscious and joyous from the outside; the promised land flowing with milk and honey." I hope it never changes.
I am a third generation American. My great, great-grandfather came to NY, with his wife and son in tow, sometime in the 1850's, approximately a hundred years before I was born. How is it then that the immigrant experience is such a part of my take on the world? I suspect some of it is that my parents, dutifully told the stories of those who came before. I also think that a significant part of it is that in those first hundred years, no one had made the step up from the immigrant experience, still living lives of blue collar poverty, very close to the neighborhoods they arrived in. Thus, this book resonates for me and touches upon my greatest interest and fascination with America and our history. American stories - how people came from everywhere and how they strived to achieve the dream - has always, and will always fascinate me.
*I believe my great-grandfather, David Barry, entered the Union Army in 1863. Although he may have been drafted, it is more likely that he accepted the bonuses that were behind the enlistment of the immigrants, as only citizens were eligible for the draft.
#The community my family lived in for 14 years, Cambria Heights, in Queens, is now a West Indian and Haitian enclave. Flushing, also in Queens, where I lived and worked for 7 years, is now almost exclusively Korean and Chinese. Ironically, the neighborhood in Brooklyn where I started school is still almost all working-class white ethnics.
The Orphan Master's Son, Johnson - B +, Inc.
This brilliant novel was published five years ago, won a Pulitzer, and was recommended to me by Greg Weiss. The first half of the book is about Jung So, who was raised in an orphanage, trained as a tunnel rat for the Army, assigned to a unit that kidnapped people off Japanese beaches and was then sent to language school. Able to understand and transcribe English, he was placed on a a fishing boat as an intelligence officer. Although the story rambles, it entices by telling of the extreme poverty, absurd philosophies and baffling primitive life of the people in North Korea. The fishing boat, some leftover Soviet wreck, has no running water, toilets or even a life raft. And the sailors don't expect those comforts. The home port has a new tin factory because the old one gave everyone botulism and of course, there is no medicine or doctors, so lots of people simply die. And they often die in the dark, because there's no electricity at night in the Hermit Kingdom. Throughout North Korea, there are loudspeakers in almost all work places and dormitories reporting on news, warning about the next American sneak attack and singing the praises of the ruling family.
Perhaps it was a personal distraction, but I got so confused in the second chapter, where the book turns from one to three narrators, that I gave up. It involves a somewhat ditzy Kim Jong Il and a truly flaky set of twists and turns. The book is invariably described as brilliant. That said, I am comforted by the 'New Yorker' review that says "the Candide-like picaresque of the first half - with its absurd but fully plausible turns of the screw - persuasively evokes life under brutal totalitarianism, the identity-switching and intrigue of the second part seem to originate in little more than the need to spin a yarn. When Johnson echoes the plot of 'Casablanca', the absurdity that characterizes life in a totalitarian state devolves into narrative improbability."
Although I elected to not finish this book, I acknowledge its brilliance and appreciate the insights into a very different, and by my assessment, very strange place.
Perhaps it was a personal distraction, but I got so confused in the second chapter, where the book turns from one to three narrators, that I gave up. It involves a somewhat ditzy Kim Jong Il and a truly flaky set of twists and turns. The book is invariably described as brilliant. That said, I am comforted by the 'New Yorker' review that says "the Candide-like picaresque of the first half - with its absurd but fully plausible turns of the screw - persuasively evokes life under brutal totalitarianism, the identity-switching and intrigue of the second part seem to originate in little more than the need to spin a yarn. When Johnson echoes the plot of 'Casablanca', the absurdity that characterizes life in a totalitarian state devolves into narrative improbability."
Although I elected to not finish this book, I acknowledge its brilliance and appreciate the insights into a very different, and by my assessment, very strange place.
Journey Into Fear, Ambler - B +
Eric Ambler was one of Britain's great mid-century authors of spy and suspense thrillers. He had an uncanny ability to write novels that were made into movies, which is how I stumbled across this 1940 masterpiece set in Istanbul, the Aegean, Athens, and Genoa. Graham (Joseph Cotten in the film) is a British naval engineer who attracts the murderous intentions of the Germans. His local contact and the police chief, Col. Haki (Orson Welles) decide to send him home on an Italian freighter, rather than the Orient Express. Unfortunately, the German killer, as well as his boss, is also aboard. Their plan is to assassinate Graham in Genoa when he leaves the ship. Somewhat implausibly, he slays a bunch of bad guys in a pretty weak finale. The story is somewhat dated, but Ambler had a mastery of the English language.
The Last American CEO, Vines and Cappy - C +
This brief book is about American Motors, the hodgepodge of an auto company composed of Nash, Hudson and Packard, surviving on Rambler when it acquired Jeep in 1970. A hook-up with Renault in the 70's provided it with capital to withstand a series of losses in the 80's and saddled AMC with the Renault Alliance. Before the sub-compact was hurt by warranty costs, it won a Motor Trend Car of the Year award. Joe Cappy was appointed CEO, and while AMC continued to struggle with its Renault automobiles, but began to enjoy success with the Jeep brand. Jeep had caught Chrysler's attention and in 1987, Chrysler purchased AMC. Jeep blossomed under Chrysler and today is the stalwart that continues to prop up the latest iteration of the parent company.
3.15.2017
Black Widow, Brookmyre - C
This well received thriller/mystery takes an unusual and relatively slow path on its way to explaining the death of Peter Elphinstone. We view his life and short marriage from the perspective of his wife, from the washed-up journalist tasked by the deceased's sister to try and find out what really happened and from the police officer, who was called in after his car went over a cliff. The ponderous pace was enough to dampen my interest, but the insurance scam, incestuous twist and shaky plot-lines turned this into a total waste of time.
Order To Kill, Mills - B
This is the second post-Vince Flynn Mitch Rapp novel. Mills is good and almost up to the standards Flynn established. Mitch is mano a mano with his Russian counterpart, Grisha Azarov, in the wild and wooly Middle East. There's a Russian plot to dirty bomb the Saudi Arabian oilfields, thus shutting down the 'swing producer' and affording the Russians the opportunity to prosper when oil prices skyrocket. Of course, the Russians are no match for Mitch.
3.10.2017
Livia Lone, Eisler - B +
There's something about revenge novels that I completely enjoy. This is an extraordinary one - a real page-turner. Livia is a thirty-year-old cop in Seattle. She excels as a member of the Sex Crimes Unit for a special and unique reason. She was trafficked out of Thailand as a thirteen-year-old and has years of personal pain to remember. Since I recommend this to all, I will only say that she exacts a high price from those who have done her wrong. And interestingly, it appears as if a sequel is forthcoming.
3.07.2017
We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife Of Hollywood's Most Beloved Movie, Isenberg - B +
"We'll Always Have Casablanca is an attempt to capture the story of not just how this remarkable movie was made - and the indispensable role that refuges from Hitler's Europe had in making it - but to explore how and why Casablanca continues to live in our collective consciousness, as affecting to our hears and minds now as it was from the start."
'Everyone Comes To Rick's', a play penned by a young New Yorker who visited Nazi Vienna and Marseilles in 1938, introduces the characters, most of the plot and, Sam singing 'As Time Goes By', as well as Rick remembering his love affair in Paris. Hal Wallis at Warner Brothers paid a record $20,000 for the play in December, 1941. Julius and Phillip Epstein, with some help from Howard Koch, adapted the screenplay. Wallis negotiated Ingrid Bergman away from MGM and convinced Paul Henreid to play second fiddle to Bogey, who Wallis had earmarked as Rick from the beginning. Claude Rains was the only one considered for Renault. Lorre and Veidt were stars in the German cinema and Greenstreet was a recent emigre from England. Almost all of the seventy-five actors were refugees. Only three of the fourteen credited performers were born in America.
The film was released on Thanksgiving, 1942, a few weeks after the Allied invasion of North Africa. Indeed, the American capture of Casablanca was in the headlines and in January, Roosevelt and Churchill met at Casablanca. The film was an immediate success and won Oscars for best adapted screen play, director and picture. Over a decade later, Casablanca revivals began with the first showing at a Harvard art house theater. In the 60's and 70's, it garnered cult status among college students. The author travels far and wide over decades and oceans to try and explain how and why this film has resonated through the generations. One observer, who the author says reflected the thoughts of Ingrid Bergman and Phillip Epstein's son, Leslie, said, "There are better movies than Casablanca, but no other movie demonstrates America's mythological vision of itself - tough on the outside and moral within, capable of sacrifice and romance without sacrificing the individualism that conquered a continent, sticking its neck out for everybody when circumstances demand heroism. No other movie has so reflected both the moment when it was made and the psychological needs of audiences decades later." Roger Ebert once said that the best movie ever made was Citizen Kane, but his favorite movie was Casablanca. A common theme among many commentators is that it can be watched again and again and it never loses its freshness and ability to move the viewer.
As the 75th anniversary of the release of the film approaches, the author traces the film's popularity up to, and including today. I hope it continues to hold its place in the pantheon of great American films. In one of her reminiscences, Bergman stated that part of the appeal was that it was about "our war". As that war fades from consciousness, I fear the cultural reflections of it will also fade. I hope not. Marcella and I watched it today. It moves me, perhaps more as I get older and wiser than ever before. It will always be my favorite film.
'Everyone Comes To Rick's', a play penned by a young New Yorker who visited Nazi Vienna and Marseilles in 1938, introduces the characters, most of the plot and, Sam singing 'As Time Goes By', as well as Rick remembering his love affair in Paris. Hal Wallis at Warner Brothers paid a record $20,000 for the play in December, 1941. Julius and Phillip Epstein, with some help from Howard Koch, adapted the screenplay. Wallis negotiated Ingrid Bergman away from MGM and convinced Paul Henreid to play second fiddle to Bogey, who Wallis had earmarked as Rick from the beginning. Claude Rains was the only one considered for Renault. Lorre and Veidt were stars in the German cinema and Greenstreet was a recent emigre from England. Almost all of the seventy-five actors were refugees. Only three of the fourteen credited performers were born in America.
The film was released on Thanksgiving, 1942, a few weeks after the Allied invasion of North Africa. Indeed, the American capture of Casablanca was in the headlines and in January, Roosevelt and Churchill met at Casablanca. The film was an immediate success and won Oscars for best adapted screen play, director and picture. Over a decade later, Casablanca revivals began with the first showing at a Harvard art house theater. In the 60's and 70's, it garnered cult status among college students. The author travels far and wide over decades and oceans to try and explain how and why this film has resonated through the generations. One observer, who the author says reflected the thoughts of Ingrid Bergman and Phillip Epstein's son, Leslie, said, "There are better movies than Casablanca, but no other movie demonstrates America's mythological vision of itself - tough on the outside and moral within, capable of sacrifice and romance without sacrificing the individualism that conquered a continent, sticking its neck out for everybody when circumstances demand heroism. No other movie has so reflected both the moment when it was made and the psychological needs of audiences decades later." Roger Ebert once said that the best movie ever made was Citizen Kane, but his favorite movie was Casablanca. A common theme among many commentators is that it can be watched again and again and it never loses its freshness and ability to move the viewer.
As the 75th anniversary of the release of the film approaches, the author traces the film's popularity up to, and including today. I hope it continues to hold its place in the pantheon of great American films. In one of her reminiscences, Bergman stated that part of the appeal was that it was about "our war". As that war fades from consciousness, I fear the cultural reflections of it will also fade. I hope not. Marcella and I watched it today. It moves me, perhaps more as I get older and wiser than ever before. It will always be my favorite film.
The Secrets of Wishtide, Saunders - B
This is the first novel in a presumed new series about Letty Rodd, widow of a vicar and investigator for her barrister brother in Victorian England. The reviewer's comparisons to Dickens and Christie are a bit too enthusiastic, but it is a good detective story. Letty is tasked with looking into the background of another vicar's widow who is the object of affection of a scion of a wealthy family. To say that nothing is as it seems at first blush would be an understatement. Just about everyone in the first half of the book has secrets to hide, and Letty is off and running, eventually defending the young scion. It does a solid job of bringing mid-nineteenth century sensibilities to the reader's attention.
A Divided Spy, Cumming - B -
There's nothing quite like an old fashioned spy thriller with good guys (Brits) and bad guys ( Russkis) for some time by the fireplace. That said, this, the third book in a series, is not quite up to the two previous books. Kell is now out of the service, but bent on a personal mission of revenge. However, his recruit is so important that he has to inform, and bring in MI-6. Together they stop a homegrown terrorist and save the recruit from the revenge of his oligarch father-in-law. Good, but hardly great.
3.01.2017
His Final Battle: The Last Months Of Franklin Roosevelt, Lelyveld - B +
This excellent book reviews the last year-and-a-half of FDR's life, when he was focused on the Allied invasion of Europe, his own re-election and his romancing of Josef Stalin, the man he called 'Uncle Joe'. Stalin dominates the story as the President knew the war could not be won without the Russians and that they were also the key to a successful post-war settlement. The President was a man of intuition, hunches and supreme confidence in his own ability. He was convinced he could charm Stalin.
The Big Three met at Tehran in November, 1943. FDR and Stalin were together for approximately thirty hours. They agreed on a May 1944 Operation Overlord, overruling Churchill's stalling tactics, and Stalin agreed to commit to a post-war structure. Roosevelt had seen the failure of Wilson to convince America to join the League of Nations and was bound and determined to succeed where his predecessor had failed.
Early in 1944, FDR got the flu, was bedridden for over a week and lost ten pounds. Thereafter, observers began to regularly characterize him as 'tired'. The inexorable decline in his health had begun. Later in the spring, a cardiologist diagnosed FDR as suffering from acute congestive heart failure, specifically left ventricular failure. His heart was enlarged. The President was told to stop smoking, to work but two hours per day and to take a few months off. Amazingly, he did take two months off. A month long sojourn to Bernard Baruch's South Carolina estate was a state secret. Very few people knew where he was. When he returned to Washington, all cheered his well-being and fitness level, but those close to him knew he wasn't well. He himself knew he couldn't survive a fourth term, should he chose to run.
FDR had a good summer in 1944. He decided to run, saying that he couldn't ignore the orders of his Commander-in-Chief - the American people. He masterfully managed the Chicago convention from afar, and then sailed to Honolulu, where he massaged Doug MacArthur's ego and contributed to the final plans to defeat Japan. While in Honolulu, he did something that seems out of character with his opaque approach to his own disability. He wheeled himself through an amputee ward, telling the young men that he had spent twenty-three years without the use of his legs and encouraging them to rise above their handicaps. Aides said it was the closest FDR had ever come to tears.
He rallied throughout the campaign and buried Dewey in another landslide. Three days after his fourth inauguration, he set sail for Yalta. Most historians believe that although FDR was visibly failing, he accomplished all that he could have reasonably expected to at the eight day tri-lateral conference. His most important goal was to establish the UN and in this he succeeded. Stalin also agreed to declare war on Japan as soon as practicable after the defeat of Germany. Of course, the inability of Churchill and Roosevelt to further self-determination for the Poles is the issue for which FDR, in particular, has been castigated for over seventy years. The fact that Poland had been the springboard for Germany's invasion of Russia and was now occupied by the Red Army led by a dictator whose country had suffered tens of millions of casualties, never seems to enter into the criticisms.
On March 1, he sat before Congress and made his final speech. At the end of the month, he headed to Warm Springs. He died at 3 in the afternoon of the 12th of April. Senator Robert Taft, Mr. Republican, said "He dies a hero of the war, for he literally worked himself to death, in the service of the American people." This is a great book about one of our truly great presidents.
The Big Three met at Tehran in November, 1943. FDR and Stalin were together for approximately thirty hours. They agreed on a May 1944 Operation Overlord, overruling Churchill's stalling tactics, and Stalin agreed to commit to a post-war structure. Roosevelt had seen the failure of Wilson to convince America to join the League of Nations and was bound and determined to succeed where his predecessor had failed.
Early in 1944, FDR got the flu, was bedridden for over a week and lost ten pounds. Thereafter, observers began to regularly characterize him as 'tired'. The inexorable decline in his health had begun. Later in the spring, a cardiologist diagnosed FDR as suffering from acute congestive heart failure, specifically left ventricular failure. His heart was enlarged. The President was told to stop smoking, to work but two hours per day and to take a few months off. Amazingly, he did take two months off. A month long sojourn to Bernard Baruch's South Carolina estate was a state secret. Very few people knew where he was. When he returned to Washington, all cheered his well-being and fitness level, but those close to him knew he wasn't well. He himself knew he couldn't survive a fourth term, should he chose to run.
FDR had a good summer in 1944. He decided to run, saying that he couldn't ignore the orders of his Commander-in-Chief - the American people. He masterfully managed the Chicago convention from afar, and then sailed to Honolulu, where he massaged Doug MacArthur's ego and contributed to the final plans to defeat Japan. While in Honolulu, he did something that seems out of character with his opaque approach to his own disability. He wheeled himself through an amputee ward, telling the young men that he had spent twenty-three years without the use of his legs and encouraging them to rise above their handicaps. Aides said it was the closest FDR had ever come to tears.
He rallied throughout the campaign and buried Dewey in another landslide. Three days after his fourth inauguration, he set sail for Yalta. Most historians believe that although FDR was visibly failing, he accomplished all that he could have reasonably expected to at the eight day tri-lateral conference. His most important goal was to establish the UN and in this he succeeded. Stalin also agreed to declare war on Japan as soon as practicable after the defeat of Germany. Of course, the inability of Churchill and Roosevelt to further self-determination for the Poles is the issue for which FDR, in particular, has been castigated for over seventy years. The fact that Poland had been the springboard for Germany's invasion of Russia and was now occupied by the Red Army led by a dictator whose country had suffered tens of millions of casualties, never seems to enter into the criticisms.
On March 1, he sat before Congress and made his final speech. At the end of the month, he headed to Warm Springs. He died at 3 in the afternoon of the 12th of April. Senator Robert Taft, Mr. Republican, said "He dies a hero of the war, for he literally worked himself to death, in the service of the American people." This is a great book about one of our truly great presidents.
2.28.2017
Red Notice: A True Story Of High Finance, Murder, And One Man's Fight For Justice, Browder - B +
Thanks to Mike Connell and Wendell Erwin for recommending this superb book. I generally avoid stories of Russian perfidy and memoirs, but this is very well written, tells a tale that sounds like a fictional thriller and isn't filled with too many self-serving justifications. Browder is an Anglo-American investor with a deep family connection to the countries of eastern Europe. He managed to translate that connection into a ground-floor, early 90's business opportunity in Moscow. He formed Hermitage Capital in order to invest in the privatization of Russia. He was wildly successful and even managed to survive the 90% drop in Russian markets after the 1999 sovereign default. He had some luck exposing thievery at Gazprom and decided to take on the oligarchs. His interests were aligned with Putin's until 2004, when Putin imprisoned the owners of Lukoil, and the author contends, started lining his pockets with the cooperation of the oligarchs. A year later, Browder was kicked out of Russia. Next came a raid on his Moscow office and charges of tax evasion. His lawyer Serge Magnitsky died in a Moscow jail and both Browder and the deceased Magnitsky were convicted in absentia. The trial and convictions were right out of the 1930's and were deplored around the world. Interpol wouldn't arrest Browder, the European Parliament criticized the Russians and the US passed the Magnitsky Act, blacklisting the Russians behind Magnitsky's death. Browder is now a human rights activist based in his hometown of London.
2.27.2017
Racing The Devil, Todd - B
This series is as good as it gets, in taking the reader to a different time and place: rural England immediately after the Great War. It is a quiet time of despair as all struggle with the consequences of the violence. Our lead character is, of course, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge. He wrestles with his ghosts from the trenches, as do all who survived the western front. This book is specifically about survivors, and one in particular who happens to be a deserter and ultimately, a serial killer. Rutledge works the case as hard as any we've seen. He persists and pulls together the pieces to convict his man on a pretty long investigation in the southeast of the country.
2.22.2017
The Vanquished: Why The First World War Failed To End, Gerwarth - B
"Europe's violent transition from world war to chaotic peace is the subject of this book." The focus is on the losing side: the Romanov, Hapsburg, Ottoman and Hohenzollern Empires, as well as Greece and Italy. "Post-war Europe...was the most violent place on the planet." The author compares the devastation of 1918-23 to the Thirty Years War as millions died in the continuing armed conflict. The wars were inter-sectional battles within old empires, civil wars and revolutions. From Finland south to Turkey, war continued; Europe remained in flames.
The failure of Russia's war led to the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty. The decision of Kerensky's government to continue fighting smoothed the way for Lenin and Russia's withdrawal from hostilities by the end of 1917. Two days after the 1918 Armistice was signed by Germany and the Entente powers, the Russians launched an attack in an attempt to recover some of what they had lost at Brest-Litovsk. "For most of 1919 and 1920 the western borderlands experienced a three-way struggle involving the Bolsheviks, the Whites and a host of nationalist movements.." The incredibly brutal war trickled to an end in 1922 as the heart of the former Russian Empire lay in ruins. Between the revolution and the establishment of the USSR in 1922, an estimated 10 million people had died in Russia.
Revolution came to Germany when the Kaiser abdicated in November, 1918. However, in elections the following January, the forces of moderation prevailed, as they did in Austria in February. In Bulgaria and in Constantinople, centrists took control. The hope of all the defeated powers was for a moderate peace. "Liberal democracy, which had failed to come into existence in 1848, had finally emerged triumphant."
The communists attempted putsches in Berlin, Munich, Spain, Italy, and Hungary. In Germany, the centrist Weimar Republic held them off. Elsewhere, right-wing forces violently put down the Reds. Europe's first red scare had passed, although a very real fear of Bolshevism would dominate Europe for decades.
The Paris Peace Conference focused on the lands of the defeated powers. "As the continental empires disintegrated, ten new nation states emerged from the ruins: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Turkey. " As the conference took place, there was endless fighting in the lands of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire as various nationalities asserted their statehood. The Poles and Russia fought a war from 1919-21. The losing Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Ottomans did not negotiate in Paris. Terms were dictated on a take it or leave it basis. Very few of Wilson's Fourteen Points, particularly the concept of national self-determination, found their way into the treaties imposed by the Allies. Many of the new states, in particular Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia, were nationality smash-ups that guaranteed future conflicts. "Although Europe's territorial reorganization in 1918-19 actually halved the total number of people deemed minorities,.....the new successor states initially had no legal framework in place to secure their rights."
The last scene of violence and genocide was in Anatolia, the Turkish heartland, whose Aegean coast had substantial Greek Christian minorities. Greece decided a land-grab should be its reward for siding with the Allies. The Greeks advanced east from Smyrna (Izmir today) and for three years committed atrocities against the majority Muslim population. In 1922, the Turks evicted them. Over a million Anatolian Christians left for Greece and approximately 400,000 Muslims in Greece moved to Turkey.
To a great extent, the fighting after the war presaged the disaster that would follow twenty-years later. Europe's reprieve was brief.
The failure of Russia's war led to the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty. The decision of Kerensky's government to continue fighting smoothed the way for Lenin and Russia's withdrawal from hostilities by the end of 1917. Two days after the 1918 Armistice was signed by Germany and the Entente powers, the Russians launched an attack in an attempt to recover some of what they had lost at Brest-Litovsk. "For most of 1919 and 1920 the western borderlands experienced a three-way struggle involving the Bolsheviks, the Whites and a host of nationalist movements.." The incredibly brutal war trickled to an end in 1922 as the heart of the former Russian Empire lay in ruins. Between the revolution and the establishment of the USSR in 1922, an estimated 10 million people had died in Russia.
Revolution came to Germany when the Kaiser abdicated in November, 1918. However, in elections the following January, the forces of moderation prevailed, as they did in Austria in February. In Bulgaria and in Constantinople, centrists took control. The hope of all the defeated powers was for a moderate peace. "Liberal democracy, which had failed to come into existence in 1848, had finally emerged triumphant."
The communists attempted putsches in Berlin, Munich, Spain, Italy, and Hungary. In Germany, the centrist Weimar Republic held them off. Elsewhere, right-wing forces violently put down the Reds. Europe's first red scare had passed, although a very real fear of Bolshevism would dominate Europe for decades.
The Paris Peace Conference focused on the lands of the defeated powers. "As the continental empires disintegrated, ten new nation states emerged from the ruins: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Turkey. " As the conference took place, there was endless fighting in the lands of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire as various nationalities asserted their statehood. The Poles and Russia fought a war from 1919-21. The losing Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Ottomans did not negotiate in Paris. Terms were dictated on a take it or leave it basis. Very few of Wilson's Fourteen Points, particularly the concept of national self-determination, found their way into the treaties imposed by the Allies. Many of the new states, in particular Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia, were nationality smash-ups that guaranteed future conflicts. "Although Europe's territorial reorganization in 1918-19 actually halved the total number of people deemed minorities,.....the new successor states initially had no legal framework in place to secure their rights."
The last scene of violence and genocide was in Anatolia, the Turkish heartland, whose Aegean coast had substantial Greek Christian minorities. Greece decided a land-grab should be its reward for siding with the Allies. The Greeks advanced east from Smyrna (Izmir today) and for three years committed atrocities against the majority Muslim population. In 1922, the Turks evicted them. Over a million Anatolian Christians left for Greece and approximately 400,000 Muslims in Greece moved to Turkey.
To a great extent, the fighting after the war presaged the disaster that would follow twenty-years later. Europe's reprieve was brief.
2.13.2017
The Trespasser, French - B
Tana French is the author of 'The Dublin Murder Squad' series, of which this is the sixth entry. Unlike any police procedural series that I've come across in the last thirty years, this one isn't keyed into continuing characters. So, unlike the '87th precinct' series or the Adam Dalgleish stories, these tales are about the process and the place, Dublin.
Here, our lead 'D' is the only woman currently in the squad, is of mixed race and who feels as if the world is stacked against her. She and her partner catch a case and immediately conclude that there may be some police corruption a few layers deep. The two most senior men in the squad obsequiously offer their help. Are they trying to help or hinder?
Antoinette Conway cannot figure out what to do with Breslin and McCann and runs the case with one eye on the facts and one on the two older men. They stymie her, insult her and ostracize her, but she forges ahead, unearths a very surprising set of facts, and catches her perpetrator. The novel is bit long, but well-paced, and great on Dublin street talk.
Here, our lead 'D' is the only woman currently in the squad, is of mixed race and who feels as if the world is stacked against her. She and her partner catch a case and immediately conclude that there may be some police corruption a few layers deep. The two most senior men in the squad obsequiously offer their help. Are they trying to help or hinder?
Antoinette Conway cannot figure out what to do with Breslin and McCann and runs the case with one eye on the facts and one on the two older men. They stymie her, insult her and ostracize her, but she forges ahead, unearths a very surprising set of facts, and catches her perpetrator. The novel is bit long, but well-paced, and great on Dublin street talk.
2.11.2017
The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West, Cozzens - B
This is the history of what inevitably had to happen as millions poured into the US from Europe. The pre-ordained outcome, though, remains a shame and a painful read. The author is a noted historian, and, here he tells the woeful tale of the three decades from the middle of the Civil War to the closing of the frontier in 1890. He opens with the 1863 meeting of ten Indian chiefs with Lincoln at the White House. The Cheyenne Lean Bear represented the Indians. Lincoln pledged peace and gave each Indian a medal. A year later, Lean Bear approached men under the command of Col. John Chivington in Colorado with the medal in his hand. At thirty yards, the militia opened fire and killed him before slaughtering many of his tribe.
Cozzens states that this is his attempt to set the record straight. For eighty years, the Indians were portrayed in history and pop culture as vicious evildoers fighting the all American pioneers and soldiers. Then, since 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' in 1970, the story has been entirely about the noble savage as victim. "A deeper understanding of all parties to the conflict, better addresses the many myths, misconceptions, and falsehoods surrounding the Indian Wars."
The Great Plains were perceived to be a vast, uninhabitable wasteland that Americans only needed to pass through on the way to the coast. They were inhabited mostly by tribes that had come from the east. In no way were the Indians unified or united. They spent much of their time fighting each other. Within each tribe, there were peace and war factions. Into their homeland in the 1840's, 50's and 60's came a trickle and then a torrent of migrants. The government's strategic goal became settling Indians on reservations and keeping them away from settlers and wagon trains. The end of the Civil War saw William T. Sherman in charge of the US Army on the frontier. The army he had to preserve the peace was totally incapable of doing so. It was small and squeezed smaller each year by Congress. The pay was horrible and the training non-existent. The citizen-soldier of the Civil War was no more. The US Army consisted of lowlife drunks, often incapable of riding a horse or shooting a rifle.
The first fighting in the post-war era was in the Bighorn territories. White men rushed in after gold. However, the Lakota Sioux, under Red Cloud, put up a fierce resistance and wiped out the invading columns. A hurried treaty ceded them much of today's South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. The US then tried to set up a comprehensive treaty system called the Medicine Lodge Treaty. The Indians did not understand what they agreed to, and the US was duplicitous at best. Sherman knew the treaty meant only a slight deferment of hostilities. When the inevitable atrocities by both sides escalated, Sherman ordered the newly-arrived Phil Sheridan to drive the Cheyenne and Arapaho from Kansas. By the summer of 1869, the tribes had been decimated or decided to move north and join forces with the Lakota Sioux. When Grant took office, he initiated a peace policy and replaced many Indian Bureau commissioners with Quakers and reliable military officers. Peace held in the north, although it must be admitted that there were few white intrusions on the northern plains. The Comanches and Texans continued to war with each other, but in the early 1870's they reached an uneasy and tentative peace.
Peace eventually ended because of the slaughter of the buffalo. Buffalo hides became valuable and, in the first half of the decade, almost four million buffalo hides were shipped east. On the reservations, the Indians drank to excess, lost their skills and were frequently cheated. This toxic mix blew up into the Red River War in 1874. Within a year, the tribes of the southern plains were conquered. The Comanche, Kiowa and Arapaho would raid no more. Further west, the Army faced the best-armed and most skillful guerrilla warriors they ever would fight - the Apaches. Some Apaches accepted reservation life, but many refused. Among those who continued to roam was a mercurial medicine man named Geronimo.
In the north, different Sioux bands under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were busy pushing the Crow further into the mountains and off the plains. They dominated the western reaches of the Dakotas and both the Wyoming and Montana territories. They viewed the white man as a nuisance off to the east. That all changed with the ambitions of the Northern Pacific Railway to pierce their lands. The Indians were able to stave off the railway, but could not stop the gold miners entering the Black Hills. The US was faced with a treaty that promised the Black Hills to the Sioux forever. The Sioux were willing to sell the Black Hills, but not at the price proffered. President Grant decided to evict them by force. The Indian Bureau manufactured tales of Indian perfidy in order to whip up public opinion. The 1876 campaign against the Sioux would lead to the most famous event in the history of the American West. Under General Terry, the army moved west into Bighorn territory. The 7th Cavalry was commanded the volatile George Armstrong Custer, who regularly sent anonymous dispatches to the NY Herald, attempting to further burgeon his reputation. On Sunday, June 25th, Custer divided his forces and retained 221 men under his command. By 5:30 PM, they were no more. Although the Sioux and Cheyenne had won a battle, they would pay a heavy price, for as never before, America was united against Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and the Lakota Sioux. The Army destroyed the Northern Cheyenne the following winter and pushed the remaining Sioux into northern Montana. Harassed and starved, the Sioux gave up: Crazy Horse surrendered in May of 1877 and Sitting Bull went to Canada. A few years later, a weary and hungry Sitting Bull surrendered to the US Army. The Great Sioux War was over.
Further west, the Nez Perce, the Utes and the Apache all fell. In 1886, for the third and final time, Geronimo surrendered. The 1880's saw the final act of US treachery on the northern plains, when the government approved of white homesteading on the Sioux reservation. The Rosebud, Pine Ridge and Wounded Knee reservations saw the last Indian insurrections, which the Army easily put down. "The Indian Wars for the American West were over."
One of the most difficult aspects of reading this book has been the almost universal duplicity of the white men who dealt with the Indians. General Crook may hold prominence for saying he never made a promise to an Indian that he kept. Promises were meaningless to the Americans who repeatedly killed defenseless women and children. The most effective tactic the Army developed was the winter dawn attack on a sleeping campsite. All were fair game. There was no discernment about who was the enemy on those mornings. The Indians were deceived and mistreated into surrendering and joining the reservations. Once there, they were more often than not starved by unscrupulous agents and traders. An elderly Sioux, who had witnessed the 1851 Treaty of Ft. Laramie and the 1890 slaughter at Wounded Knee, said "The government made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it." It is not a story to be proud of.
Cozzens states that this is his attempt to set the record straight. For eighty years, the Indians were portrayed in history and pop culture as vicious evildoers fighting the all American pioneers and soldiers. Then, since 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' in 1970, the story has been entirely about the noble savage as victim. "A deeper understanding of all parties to the conflict, better addresses the many myths, misconceptions, and falsehoods surrounding the Indian Wars."
The Great Plains were perceived to be a vast, uninhabitable wasteland that Americans only needed to pass through on the way to the coast. They were inhabited mostly by tribes that had come from the east. In no way were the Indians unified or united. They spent much of their time fighting each other. Within each tribe, there were peace and war factions. Into their homeland in the 1840's, 50's and 60's came a trickle and then a torrent of migrants. The government's strategic goal became settling Indians on reservations and keeping them away from settlers and wagon trains. The end of the Civil War saw William T. Sherman in charge of the US Army on the frontier. The army he had to preserve the peace was totally incapable of doing so. It was small and squeezed smaller each year by Congress. The pay was horrible and the training non-existent. The citizen-soldier of the Civil War was no more. The US Army consisted of lowlife drunks, often incapable of riding a horse or shooting a rifle.
The first fighting in the post-war era was in the Bighorn territories. White men rushed in after gold. However, the Lakota Sioux, under Red Cloud, put up a fierce resistance and wiped out the invading columns. A hurried treaty ceded them much of today's South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. The US then tried to set up a comprehensive treaty system called the Medicine Lodge Treaty. The Indians did not understand what they agreed to, and the US was duplicitous at best. Sherman knew the treaty meant only a slight deferment of hostilities. When the inevitable atrocities by both sides escalated, Sherman ordered the newly-arrived Phil Sheridan to drive the Cheyenne and Arapaho from Kansas. By the summer of 1869, the tribes had been decimated or decided to move north and join forces with the Lakota Sioux. When Grant took office, he initiated a peace policy and replaced many Indian Bureau commissioners with Quakers and reliable military officers. Peace held in the north, although it must be admitted that there were few white intrusions on the northern plains. The Comanches and Texans continued to war with each other, but in the early 1870's they reached an uneasy and tentative peace.
Peace eventually ended because of the slaughter of the buffalo. Buffalo hides became valuable and, in the first half of the decade, almost four million buffalo hides were shipped east. On the reservations, the Indians drank to excess, lost their skills and were frequently cheated. This toxic mix blew up into the Red River War in 1874. Within a year, the tribes of the southern plains were conquered. The Comanche, Kiowa and Arapaho would raid no more. Further west, the Army faced the best-armed and most skillful guerrilla warriors they ever would fight - the Apaches. Some Apaches accepted reservation life, but many refused. Among those who continued to roam was a mercurial medicine man named Geronimo.
In the north, different Sioux bands under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were busy pushing the Crow further into the mountains and off the plains. They dominated the western reaches of the Dakotas and both the Wyoming and Montana territories. They viewed the white man as a nuisance off to the east. That all changed with the ambitions of the Northern Pacific Railway to pierce their lands. The Indians were able to stave off the railway, but could not stop the gold miners entering the Black Hills. The US was faced with a treaty that promised the Black Hills to the Sioux forever. The Sioux were willing to sell the Black Hills, but not at the price proffered. President Grant decided to evict them by force. The Indian Bureau manufactured tales of Indian perfidy in order to whip up public opinion. The 1876 campaign against the Sioux would lead to the most famous event in the history of the American West. Under General Terry, the army moved west into Bighorn territory. The 7th Cavalry was commanded the volatile George Armstrong Custer, who regularly sent anonymous dispatches to the NY Herald, attempting to further burgeon his reputation. On Sunday, June 25th, Custer divided his forces and retained 221 men under his command. By 5:30 PM, they were no more. Although the Sioux and Cheyenne had won a battle, they would pay a heavy price, for as never before, America was united against Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and the Lakota Sioux. The Army destroyed the Northern Cheyenne the following winter and pushed the remaining Sioux into northern Montana. Harassed and starved, the Sioux gave up: Crazy Horse surrendered in May of 1877 and Sitting Bull went to Canada. A few years later, a weary and hungry Sitting Bull surrendered to the US Army. The Great Sioux War was over.
Further west, the Nez Perce, the Utes and the Apache all fell. In 1886, for the third and final time, Geronimo surrendered. The 1880's saw the final act of US treachery on the northern plains, when the government approved of white homesteading on the Sioux reservation. The Rosebud, Pine Ridge and Wounded Knee reservations saw the last Indian insurrections, which the Army easily put down. "The Indian Wars for the American West were over."
One of the most difficult aspects of reading this book has been the almost universal duplicity of the white men who dealt with the Indians. General Crook may hold prominence for saying he never made a promise to an Indian that he kept. Promises were meaningless to the Americans who repeatedly killed defenseless women and children. The most effective tactic the Army developed was the winter dawn attack on a sleeping campsite. All were fair game. There was no discernment about who was the enemy on those mornings. The Indians were deceived and mistreated into surrendering and joining the reservations. Once there, they were more often than not starved by unscrupulous agents and traders. An elderly Sioux, who had witnessed the 1851 Treaty of Ft. Laramie and the 1890 slaughter at Wounded Knee, said "The government made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it." It is not a story to be proud of.
An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler, Fritzsche - B
"This book is about the wartime experience of civilians, the often dubious parts they played in the war, and the ways they approached their neighbors and the groups persecuted by the Germans. The violence of the war was so extensive that people tried to contain it by separating themselves from the fate of others."
In France in 1940, war led to an exodus as millions took to the roads, and more civilians than soldiers died in the weeks before France's surrender. The overwhelming worry in French society was how long would the new order last? Vichy encouraged collaboration. In Paris, one had to live next to and with the Germans. The German occupation of France generally was considerably less terrifying than in the east. The French had to make decisions about "good" and "bad" Germans and how to manage their cooperation or collaboration.
By contrast, in Warsaw, "The keynote of the German occupation was the phrase repeated on legal notices: 'will be punished by death'. Nowhere else did the Germans use the death penalty as promiscuously as in Poland." "The victorious Nazis sought to destroy the Polish nation by tearing out the traces of Polish life in the annexed districts and by subjugating the Poles through harsh colonial-style rule in the occupied territories." The first genocide of the war was the elimination of the Polish elite.
When the author turns to Operation Barbarossa, he embarks on a challenging but enlightening discourse. Smolensk is chosen as a focal point, as it was a crossroads on the way to Moscow and a place that featured significantly in 'War and Peace'. Per the author, Tolstoy's famous novel became the must-read throughout Europe after the German invasion of Russia. Furthermore, in the fall of 1941, a Swiss Red Cross medical team spent a few months in Smolensk and one of it's members was a prolific diarist. Elsi Eichenberger's diary underscores the depth of hate, the pervasive beliefs, the detestation of Versailles, and the commitment to Hitler and Germany that pervaded the minds of the Wehrmacht men fighting to overcome Bolshevism. "Germans felt themselves to be protagonists in a racial struggle that justified merciless behavior toward the unarmed and weak and murderous action against Jews and other civilians."
Throughout France, Germany and Poland, non-Jews stood by and watched as millions were herded off death. Absorbed by their own problems, likely anti-semitic to begin with and thankful that they were still alive, the people of Europe witnessed violence, bloodshed and the treatment of their neighbors as something less than human. They took over their apartments, divided up their goods and moved on with survival.
The second half of this book is what one reviewer called a 'reflection' on the war, and whenever a book turns philosophical, it tends to lose me. Clearly, Fritsche is a noted historian and a superb wordsmith. The fact that it didn't work for me is not conclusive. It's thoughtful and very well-written.
In France in 1940, war led to an exodus as millions took to the roads, and more civilians than soldiers died in the weeks before France's surrender. The overwhelming worry in French society was how long would the new order last? Vichy encouraged collaboration. In Paris, one had to live next to and with the Germans. The German occupation of France generally was considerably less terrifying than in the east. The French had to make decisions about "good" and "bad" Germans and how to manage their cooperation or collaboration.
By contrast, in Warsaw, "The keynote of the German occupation was the phrase repeated on legal notices: 'will be punished by death'. Nowhere else did the Germans use the death penalty as promiscuously as in Poland." "The victorious Nazis sought to destroy the Polish nation by tearing out the traces of Polish life in the annexed districts and by subjugating the Poles through harsh colonial-style rule in the occupied territories." The first genocide of the war was the elimination of the Polish elite.
When the author turns to Operation Barbarossa, he embarks on a challenging but enlightening discourse. Smolensk is chosen as a focal point, as it was a crossroads on the way to Moscow and a place that featured significantly in 'War and Peace'. Per the author, Tolstoy's famous novel became the must-read throughout Europe after the German invasion of Russia. Furthermore, in the fall of 1941, a Swiss Red Cross medical team spent a few months in Smolensk and one of it's members was a prolific diarist. Elsi Eichenberger's diary underscores the depth of hate, the pervasive beliefs, the detestation of Versailles, and the commitment to Hitler and Germany that pervaded the minds of the Wehrmacht men fighting to overcome Bolshevism. "Germans felt themselves to be protagonists in a racial struggle that justified merciless behavior toward the unarmed and weak and murderous action against Jews and other civilians."
Throughout France, Germany and Poland, non-Jews stood by and watched as millions were herded off death. Absorbed by their own problems, likely anti-semitic to begin with and thankful that they were still alive, the people of Europe witnessed violence, bloodshed and the treatment of their neighbors as something less than human. They took over their apartments, divided up their goods and moved on with survival.
The second half of this book is what one reviewer called a 'reflection' on the war, and whenever a book turns philosophical, it tends to lose me. Clearly, Fritsche is a noted historian and a superb wordsmith. The fact that it didn't work for me is not conclusive. It's thoughtful and very well-written.
1.24.2017
Conclave, Harris - B
This is a novel about a Papal election, seen through the eyes of Cardinal Lomeli, the Dean of the College of Cardinals and the man in charge of the event. But before the doors are closed, he learns of the existence a last minute secret Cardinal appointed in pectore (by the heart) by the Pope. He is also advised that one of the contenders may have been dismissed by the Pope hours before the Pope's death. Going into the Sistine Chapel, the Italians, a plurality, hope to recapture the Papacy after a forty-year exile. However, they are split between traditionalists, who wistfully look back on the loss of the Latin mass, and modernists trying to propel the faith forward in a changing world. After a few votes, the Nigerian Cardinal rises and then falls after news surfaces of an indiscretion thirty-years ago. The Canadian who next has the pole position is side-lined by Lomeli himself, who has found written concerns of the late Pontiff regarding the Quebecois. In the midst of the voting, the Vatican is attacked by a car bomb and a suicide bomber. As the last minute secret Cardinal is the Bishop of Baghdad, he offers up some ideas on facing Islamist terrorism. When the Cardinal from Venice offers up some spirited right-wing responses, the conclave turns to Benitez from Baghdad and the words 'Habemus Papum' ring out. There is then what the Times reviewer called a "dramatic twist" that for me took a lot of wind out of the sails of this book. Just a bit too unimaginable/cute/bold/unbelievable.
1.22.2017
Born To Run, Springsteen - B +
Thanks to my brother, Bill, for this recommendation. I generally don't do autobiographies, but, as he pointed out, there are few tales of blue collar Catholic upbringings in metropolitan NY, like ours. And Im glad I read it. The Boss was born in 1949 and grew up in central New Jersey. His life lacked emotional and financial security because his dad was a raging, angry, Irish drunk. He hated school. He hated the church next door. He was a bitter young man. He found hope in music and committed his life to his guitar during high school. His second band, Steel Mill, had some success in the late 60's on the Jersey shore. Next came the Bruce Springsteen Band with Stevie Van Zandt. Along with some of the men who would become part of his future, Springsteen cut an album with Columbia, who had signed him as a 70's acoustic singer-songwriter. He cut a few more albums, became almost famous, and formed the E Street band. He also penned a song called 'Born To Run.'
Released in 1975, that album made Bruce Springsteen an international star. The single is a totally great rock anthem and it put a 25-year-old on the cover of Time and Newsweek. It also led to a two-year hiatus from music for Bruce as he and his manger did battle in the courts over his record contract. He released the 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' album next and began to explore the world he had just escaped from - the living from paycheck to paycheck blue collar life. He states he was inspired by country music and that he "was determined to be the enlightened, compassionate voice of reason and revenge" trying to explain and understand his parents' world". His "music would be a music of identity, a search for meaning and the future." 'The River' and 'Nebraska' followed. However, it was what came next that propelled him to iconic fame and fortune. "Born In The USA' is one of the great rock albums of all time and its lead track is Springsteen's homage to Vietnam vets. His album tour also afforded him the opportunity to channel money into charities for vets and the needy, as he continued to explore the differences between the American dream and American reality.
All memoirs suffer from being one-sided and this is no different. But, to his credit Springsteen is very introspective and speaks freely about his excruciatingly troubled life. Front and center in that story is his tortured relationship with his dad. Doug Springsteen was a classic depressed drinker who created a world of trouble for his family. The rage that Bruce grew up with is the reason he spent so much of his life on the road, running away from life, and at times, acting destructively. He eventually came to grips with his dad who drove 500 miles to see Bruce right before the birth of his first child. Doug thanked him for how good the son had been to his mother and father and apologized for how bad he had been to Bruce. With his second wife and apparent soulmate, Patti Scialfa, the Boss settled down to a life of partial domesticity in the early 90's. They have three children, and it sounds as if Bruce spent quite a bit of time at home.
However, the road beckoned and he got the E Street Band back together. Along with the Stones and U2, they have dominated the world of stadium tours for the last two decades and, I suspect, have made a fortune in the process. One of my great frustrations when reading about bands and performers is the total scarcity of economic and financial information. This story is no different. In his roles as a dad and an excellent performer known to provide his audience with great live shows, Bruce Springsteen seems to have achieved success, if not rock immortality. He still lives in, and is at peace with, New Jersey.
This is the second book in a row that Ive read that has caused me to ponder my good fortune. Even though Margo Jefferson got to go to Brandeis and I was pushed to Marist, the world offered me a smoother path because I am white. I find it ironic that Springsteen would have considered me a college rah-rah. His dad had a job at Ford, way higher on the blue collar ladder than my dad's job a few miles north of him on the Hoboken docks. How is it he grew up in a house that he paints as one of despair and I grew up in a house of unlimited upside? The answer is simple. His dad was a drunk and my dad, a prince.
The Boss grew to fame in the mid-seventies, long after my coming of age listening to the Beach Boys, Beatles and Stones. I am not a student of music and step gingerly into the topic. I am fascinated that he, unlike anyone else I can think of, became the poet of the downtrodden, the minstrel of the forgotten. The Beatles had rough upbringings. Bono of U2 had a dad who worked in the Irish Post Office. Most musicians do not come from a life of privilege. Yet, to his credit, the Boss has sung the praises of those on the bottom of the ladder. His is a unique niche and a great success story. This is a fabulous book that will have you continuously searching your iPod.
Released in 1975, that album made Bruce Springsteen an international star. The single is a totally great rock anthem and it put a 25-year-old on the cover of Time and Newsweek. It also led to a two-year hiatus from music for Bruce as he and his manger did battle in the courts over his record contract. He released the 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' album next and began to explore the world he had just escaped from - the living from paycheck to paycheck blue collar life. He states he was inspired by country music and that he "was determined to be the enlightened, compassionate voice of reason and revenge" trying to explain and understand his parents' world". His "music would be a music of identity, a search for meaning and the future." 'The River' and 'Nebraska' followed. However, it was what came next that propelled him to iconic fame and fortune. "Born In The USA' is one of the great rock albums of all time and its lead track is Springsteen's homage to Vietnam vets. His album tour also afforded him the opportunity to channel money into charities for vets and the needy, as he continued to explore the differences between the American dream and American reality.
All memoirs suffer from being one-sided and this is no different. But, to his credit Springsteen is very introspective and speaks freely about his excruciatingly troubled life. Front and center in that story is his tortured relationship with his dad. Doug Springsteen was a classic depressed drinker who created a world of trouble for his family. The rage that Bruce grew up with is the reason he spent so much of his life on the road, running away from life, and at times, acting destructively. He eventually came to grips with his dad who drove 500 miles to see Bruce right before the birth of his first child. Doug thanked him for how good the son had been to his mother and father and apologized for how bad he had been to Bruce. With his second wife and apparent soulmate, Patti Scialfa, the Boss settled down to a life of partial domesticity in the early 90's. They have three children, and it sounds as if Bruce spent quite a bit of time at home.
However, the road beckoned and he got the E Street Band back together. Along with the Stones and U2, they have dominated the world of stadium tours for the last two decades and, I suspect, have made a fortune in the process. One of my great frustrations when reading about bands and performers is the total scarcity of economic and financial information. This story is no different. In his roles as a dad and an excellent performer known to provide his audience with great live shows, Bruce Springsteen seems to have achieved success, if not rock immortality. He still lives in, and is at peace with, New Jersey.
This is the second book in a row that Ive read that has caused me to ponder my good fortune. Even though Margo Jefferson got to go to Brandeis and I was pushed to Marist, the world offered me a smoother path because I am white. I find it ironic that Springsteen would have considered me a college rah-rah. His dad had a job at Ford, way higher on the blue collar ladder than my dad's job a few miles north of him on the Hoboken docks. How is it he grew up in a house that he paints as one of despair and I grew up in a house of unlimited upside? The answer is simple. His dad was a drunk and my dad, a prince.
The Boss grew to fame in the mid-seventies, long after my coming of age listening to the Beach Boys, Beatles and Stones. I am not a student of music and step gingerly into the topic. I am fascinated that he, unlike anyone else I can think of, became the poet of the downtrodden, the minstrel of the forgotten. The Beatles had rough upbringings. Bono of U2 had a dad who worked in the Irish Post Office. Most musicians do not come from a life of privilege. Yet, to his credit, the Boss has sung the praises of those on the bottom of the ladder. His is a unique niche and a great success story. This is a fabulous book that will have you continuously searching your iPod.
1.18.2017
Negroland, Jefferson - B
Negroland is where the black upper class lives and the author, a Pulitzer winner, grew up and lived at its heart. She tells of how many blacks moved north after freedom, and how those who were capable and worked hard (it didn't hurt to be light-skinned) grasped at education and moved into the professions. Her grandmothers were among them and both of her parents were privileged. Her mother graduated from the University of Chicago and her father was a noted physician. She was born in 1947 and attended the University of Chicago Lab Schools, received a superb education and was taught to be a lady. She describes her class as between the whites and blacks. They looked down on the rough and tumble world of blue collar blacks, but knew they had to be wary, very wary, around whites. She went to summer camps around the midwest, joined the Jacks and Jills ( a black social organization) and went to college at Brandeis. She lived a life of true privilege.
But to be black in America is no bargain, and although a success (she worked at the Times), she has apparently struggled with identity issues and relationships. The book loses some its oomph at the end when she goes off on tangents about who she would like to be in 'Little Women.' That said, it is very good, and certainly worth the effort for anyone who isn't familiar with the institutions, people and culture of Negroland.
Any book like this causes one to pause and reflect. I have some familiarity with the upper class through the novels of Stephen Carter, a Yale professor. I also grew up next to St. Albans in Queens, which I have since learned was a bastion of black success and privilege. I find it sad that someone who had such opportunity feels that the burden of being black outweighed the advantages she had.
But to be black in America is no bargain, and although a success (she worked at the Times), she has apparently struggled with identity issues and relationships. The book loses some its oomph at the end when she goes off on tangents about who she would like to be in 'Little Women.' That said, it is very good, and certainly worth the effort for anyone who isn't familiar with the institutions, people and culture of Negroland.
Any book like this causes one to pause and reflect. I have some familiarity with the upper class through the novels of Stephen Carter, a Yale professor. I also grew up next to St. Albans in Queens, which I have since learned was a bastion of black success and privilege. I find it sad that someone who had such opportunity feels that the burden of being black outweighed the advantages she had.
The Last Days of Night, Moore - B +
Seldom would I report on such a superb historical novel by starting at the end. But here, I shall. In the 'Author's Notes', Moore says "..the bulk of the events depicted in this book did happen and every major character did exist." "The book is a Gordian knot of verifiable truth, educated supposition, dramatic rendering, and total guesswork.The central story is the birth of electricity, and the battle royale between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison for control of the light bulb. Very interestingly, the story is told from the vantage point of young Paul Cravath, Westinghouse's lawyer. The author claims that the lack of a Cravath biography was a motivation for the writing of the book. He cites a lengthy bibliography of historical sources. However, as Moore is a noted screenwriter, I suspect that telling a great tale is the number one motive.
Edison patented the light bulb in 1878, and a decade later was battling Westinghouse over infringements to his patent. Defending Westinghouse was Cravath. The question was what had Edison patented? Was it a light bulb? Or was it incandescent light and thus, all light bulbs? The second matter between the two legends was the delivery system of electricity to the bulb. Edison was selling direct current( d/c) and Westinghouse's systems worked on alternate current ( a/c ).(One of Westinghouse's colleagues on a/c was Nikola Tesla). At issue was who would electrify the entire country, and consequently, the financial stakes were beyond enormous. Edison had more money for the battle that at one point was encapsulated in 312 different lawsuits. The general assumption was that Edison would easily prevail. Initially, Cravath intended to prove that Westinghouse's light bulbs did not infringe Edison's patent. He also tried to pursue an argument that Edison had falsified his patent application, as the filaments had been changed. The courts ruled for Edison. "Paul's strategy had been to narrow the scope of Edison's patent to a nonexistent, nonfunctioning device; in response, Edison had succeeded in broadening the scope of his patent to include practically anything that lit up." Cravath emerges the hero when he finds a solution, inspired by a meeting with Alexander Graham Bell, that will make everyone happy and everyone very, very rich. Cravath convinces the man who owns 60% of Edison General Electric, J. P. Morgan, that spending money endlessly in litigation is not in his best interests. A compromise that involves cross-selling and licenses is agreed to, America is bestowed with a mammoth leap forward, and the Westinghouse Electric Company, General Electric and Cravath, Swain and Moore all bound into the 20th century as paragons of modernity and success.
This is a great book and worth the effort of all who see this post. Since I've started the book, I've also learned that it is soon coming to a theater near you, starring Eddy Redmayne as Paul Cravath,
Edison patented the light bulb in 1878, and a decade later was battling Westinghouse over infringements to his patent. Defending Westinghouse was Cravath. The question was what had Edison patented? Was it a light bulb? Or was it incandescent light and thus, all light bulbs? The second matter between the two legends was the delivery system of electricity to the bulb. Edison was selling direct current( d/c) and Westinghouse's systems worked on alternate current ( a/c ).(One of Westinghouse's colleagues on a/c was Nikola Tesla). At issue was who would electrify the entire country, and consequently, the financial stakes were beyond enormous. Edison had more money for the battle that at one point was encapsulated in 312 different lawsuits. The general assumption was that Edison would easily prevail. Initially, Cravath intended to prove that Westinghouse's light bulbs did not infringe Edison's patent. He also tried to pursue an argument that Edison had falsified his patent application, as the filaments had been changed. The courts ruled for Edison. "Paul's strategy had been to narrow the scope of Edison's patent to a nonexistent, nonfunctioning device; in response, Edison had succeeded in broadening the scope of his patent to include practically anything that lit up." Cravath emerges the hero when he finds a solution, inspired by a meeting with Alexander Graham Bell, that will make everyone happy and everyone very, very rich. Cravath convinces the man who owns 60% of Edison General Electric, J. P. Morgan, that spending money endlessly in litigation is not in his best interests. A compromise that involves cross-selling and licenses is agreed to, America is bestowed with a mammoth leap forward, and the Westinghouse Electric Company, General Electric and Cravath, Swain and Moore all bound into the 20th century as paragons of modernity and success.
This is a great book and worth the effort of all who see this post. Since I've started the book, I've also learned that it is soon coming to a theater near you, starring Eddy Redmayne as Paul Cravath,
His Bloody Project, Burnet - B
This novel was a 2016 Man Booker finalist. The subtitle is 'Documents Relating To The Case Of Roderick Macrae - a historical thriller'. The documents are essentially Roddy Macrae's hand-written recitation of his crimes, and the press coverage of his trial. In the late summer of 1869, in the far north of Scotland, young Roddy bashed in the head of the village constable, who had been particularly unfair and unkind to his family. Apparently, the highlands of the mid-19th century were barely removed from medieval feudalism. The lords let out their lands through factors to crofters, who sound about as entitled as tenant farmers of that era in the southern US. The system was brutal, cruel and inconsistent with what we consider the rights of people in an enlightened society. Roddy's trial interestingly offered up the possibilities of an insanity defense. Of course, it didn't work and the noose was his reward. Obviously, this is a thought-provoking and well-executed book.
Razor Girl, Hiaasen - B
The girl of the title is a redhead who specializes in bumping cars from behind, leading to the bumped drivers' kidnapping. The drivers are easily captured because they are bedazzled by the image of what the razor girl is shaving when they approach her car. Seldom do I read books where I laugh so hard that I shed tears. There is a plot, but it's not important. Laughter is a wonderful tonic for whatever ails you.
Mischling, Konar - B -
This novel is an imagining of the arrival of twin girls at Auschwitz, their life in Mengele's Zoo and their first few months after their liberation. The book has been praised for its fable-like telling of such a horrible story. Stasha and Pearl are almost thirteen when they arrive at Auschwitz in the late summer of 1944. Much of the novel is about the almost mystical relationship between twins. It is as if they can read each others' mind and feel each others' pain. Mengele is depicted in all of his horrific depravity. One reviewer points out that his specific cruelties are often skipped over because they were so monstrous. The book is well done, informative and shines a light on often unspeakable events.
The Welsh Girl, Davies - C
I concluded a long time ago that WW2 novels were no match for WW2 movies, as filmmakers around the world have created and continue to create fabulous films on the topic. Similarly, the actual history itself is so extraordinary and covers so much of the human experience that the novels don't seem to have the room to roam without sometimes seeming trivial. And, in the end, this book had no attraction for me. Indeed, I felt as if I knew exactly where the plot was going, not because of foreshadowing, but because it all just seems so formulaic. The two key characters are Esther, daughter of a Welsh farmer and waitress at night in the local pub, and Hans, a truly nice young German POW imprisoned in the newly-built barracks in the late summer of 1944. The first of two worthwhile takeaways for me are the Welsh use of the local language and their hostility toward the English. One knows about the Scots' centuries-long sense of separation from the English, but I've always assumed, obviously incorrectly, that the Welsh were somewhat more incorporated into the UK. The other is the shame of surrender. The German lads had to lie in their letters home, because their families were still hopeful and didn't want to hear that their boys had surrendered.
1.09.2017
The Populist Explosion: How The Great Recession Transformed American And European Politics, Judis - B
Populism began as an American political movement in the last quarter of the 19th century when disgruntled farmers in the south and west decided to try and fight the monopoly of the railroads. It was co-opted by both the major parties* and faded from the scene by the election of 1896. One definition of populism is the people, as a noble assemblage, aligned against self-serving elites. The author prefers to make a distinction between populism of the left and right wing varieties. Left wing populists are vertical. It is the lower and middles class against the establishment. Right wing populists champion the people against the elites whom they accuse of coddling a third group, which can consist, for example, of immigrants or blacks. Fluidity describes who constitutes the people and the establishment elites at different times and places. Populism usually arises at times of great societal stress and political change. In Europe, populist parties tend to survive on the fringe in the multi-party systems that are part and parcel of European democracy. In the US, they tend to be absorbed by the two major parties or shunted to the side while the parties focus on the center.
The farmer-led movements in the south and west called for a progressive income tax, a nationalization of the railroads, direct election of senators, crop storage financed by the Treasury and an easing of the money supply. In 1892, the People's Party presidential candidate carried five states and in 1894 four congressmen and two senators from the party were elected. They were soon co-opted by William Jennings Bryan's 'Cross of Gold' speech, which led to his first of three Democratic nominations. Similarly, three decades later, Huey Long's ideas on Share The Wealth generated a huge following that thought his confiscatory tax concepts were what was necessary to end the suffering of the people in the Depression. FDR feared that if Long ran as a third-party candidate, he could tip the election to the Republicans. He quickly passed tax reform, the Social Security Act and adopted a pugnacious populist stance. Forty years later, George Wallace began the process that led to Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Wallace took the stage as a segregationist, but gained massive traction by selling his frustration as tyranny imposed from Washington. His supporters have been analyzed and categorized as 'middle American radicals' who were neither left nor right, but felt that the middle class was being neglected because the government favored the rich and the poor at their expense.
In our recent campaign, Trump combined moderate Republicanism with anti-establishment views on foreign policy, trade and immigration. He asked why we were paying for the defense of rich countries, challenged all of our trade agreements as being one-sided and vehemently demonized America's immigrant and Muslim communities. In all regards, he was completely opposed by the Republican and Democratic establishments, but enthralling to those stuck in the middle. Trump successfully tapped into the Nixon-Wallace-Perot-Buchanan base of angry, not-well-educated, whites who felt that the elites were favoring the blacks, Muslims, Mexicans, and those outsourcing America's jobs to foreigners. For the life-long progressive, Sanders, the decision to run was based on a concern for growing income inequality. His call for free college and Medicare for all was not aimed against any third parties - only the billionaire class. Both men were propelled to the forefront because of disillusionment created by the Great Recession.
Whether left wing, rightist, European or American, populists raise complaints that point to genuine problems. Globalization in the 90's and 00's led to the export of almost 3 million jobs by American corporations. Immigrants willing to accept lower wages threaten working class natives here and throughout Europe. They also put pressure on social welfare systems. The ghettoization of Muslims in France is a source of political extremism and terrorism. The author's estimate is that neither the Trump nor Sanders movements will be permanent. The Democrats may shift to the left; the Republicans will have to manage the conflicts between their business supporters and their new white working class enthusiasts. But, Judis suggests that the current understandings between the left and right, rich and poor, labor and management will survive and our country will be little changed. He believes the prognosis for the Eurozone is negative. The inherent instability of the EU, when combined with the massive immigration to the continent from Africa and Asia, may well doom the experiment.
This book is but 150 pages. Even so, I skipped the 3 chapters on Europe because I acquired this because of a need to better understand our election results. And it helps on that front. The left/right wing distinction has been helpful to me and the lesson on parties absorbing their aggressive wings has also been instructive.
*I have always thought that the words attributed by Herbert Hoover to Andrew Mellon, "to liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmer, liquidate real estate..it will pare rottenness out of the system", if true, were the height of aristocratic arrogance. But, you have to give consideration to comments made by Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture, Julius Morton. In 1893, he said, "The intelligent, practical, and successful farmer needs no aid from the government. The ignorant, impractical, and indolent farmer deserves none." And, he was a Democrat.
The farmer-led movements in the south and west called for a progressive income tax, a nationalization of the railroads, direct election of senators, crop storage financed by the Treasury and an easing of the money supply. In 1892, the People's Party presidential candidate carried five states and in 1894 four congressmen and two senators from the party were elected. They were soon co-opted by William Jennings Bryan's 'Cross of Gold' speech, which led to his first of three Democratic nominations. Similarly, three decades later, Huey Long's ideas on Share The Wealth generated a huge following that thought his confiscatory tax concepts were what was necessary to end the suffering of the people in the Depression. FDR feared that if Long ran as a third-party candidate, he could tip the election to the Republicans. He quickly passed tax reform, the Social Security Act and adopted a pugnacious populist stance. Forty years later, George Wallace began the process that led to Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Wallace took the stage as a segregationist, but gained massive traction by selling his frustration as tyranny imposed from Washington. His supporters have been analyzed and categorized as 'middle American radicals' who were neither left nor right, but felt that the middle class was being neglected because the government favored the rich and the poor at their expense.
In our recent campaign, Trump combined moderate Republicanism with anti-establishment views on foreign policy, trade and immigration. He asked why we were paying for the defense of rich countries, challenged all of our trade agreements as being one-sided and vehemently demonized America's immigrant and Muslim communities. In all regards, he was completely opposed by the Republican and Democratic establishments, but enthralling to those stuck in the middle. Trump successfully tapped into the Nixon-Wallace-Perot-Buchanan base of angry, not-well-educated, whites who felt that the elites were favoring the blacks, Muslims, Mexicans, and those outsourcing America's jobs to foreigners. For the life-long progressive, Sanders, the decision to run was based on a concern for growing income inequality. His call for free college and Medicare for all was not aimed against any third parties - only the billionaire class. Both men were propelled to the forefront because of disillusionment created by the Great Recession.
Whether left wing, rightist, European or American, populists raise complaints that point to genuine problems. Globalization in the 90's and 00's led to the export of almost 3 million jobs by American corporations. Immigrants willing to accept lower wages threaten working class natives here and throughout Europe. They also put pressure on social welfare systems. The ghettoization of Muslims in France is a source of political extremism and terrorism. The author's estimate is that neither the Trump nor Sanders movements will be permanent. The Democrats may shift to the left; the Republicans will have to manage the conflicts between their business supporters and their new white working class enthusiasts. But, Judis suggests that the current understandings between the left and right, rich and poor, labor and management will survive and our country will be little changed. He believes the prognosis for the Eurozone is negative. The inherent instability of the EU, when combined with the massive immigration to the continent from Africa and Asia, may well doom the experiment.
This book is but 150 pages. Even so, I skipped the 3 chapters on Europe because I acquired this because of a need to better understand our election results. And it helps on that front. The left/right wing distinction has been helpful to me and the lesson on parties absorbing their aggressive wings has also been instructive.
*I have always thought that the words attributed by Herbert Hoover to Andrew Mellon, "to liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmer, liquidate real estate..it will pare rottenness out of the system", if true, were the height of aristocratic arrogance. But, you have to give consideration to comments made by Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture, Julius Morton. In 1893, he said, "The intelligent, practical, and successful farmer needs no aid from the government. The ignorant, impractical, and indolent farmer deserves none." And, he was a Democrat.
When The Music's Over, Robinson - B
This novel is the latest in the DCI Banks series. Alan Banks remains fascinating, and the author has continually proven his ability to range far and wide in the Midlands, exploring English pop culture as well as investigating crimes. One objection though. His first book in 1991 was 300 pages. This one is 479. Amazon's estimated read time is 9 hours. I doubt I took that long, but it raises a question. Does the world want 10- hour police procedurals? Banks is now promoted to Superintendent and overlooks two investigations. The first is run by Annie Cabot and involves a grooming operation preparing young woman for prostitution run by Brits of Pakistani descent. There is an in-depth discussion of the racial issues facing both sides of this coin. And, Banks runs a 50-year-old look back, involving a public figure with a penchant for attacking underage girls. All in all, Robinson is still on his game.
1.03.2017
American Heiress: The Wild Saga Of The Kidnapping, Crimes And Trial Of Patty Hearst, Toobin - B +
The seventies, particularly in the Bay area, opened up violently and with a very uncomfortable edge. San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley saw the Zodiac serial killer; indiscriminate bombings; the Zebra killers, a black group that randomly slaughtered white people; and the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapping of Patty Hearst on Jan. 29, 1974. The nineteen-year-old heiress had been drifting through life, seemingly without purpose or intent, and living with her boyfriend while taking classes at Cal. Equally at sea were the handful of members of the SLA, who mouthed revolutionary slogans. "They were shaking things up, stirring the pot, proving that the counterculture was still alive. Beyond that, they had no goals, no agenda." They turned to kidnapping as a strategy after their murder of a well-respected Oakland school official failed to ignite a revolution. Their only demand to the Hearst's was for a food program for the poor. The Hearst's complied, and successfully delivered material aid to many in northern California. The SLA communicated with the outside world via tapes, and the one about a month into the kidnapping showed a Patty Hearst who was starting to sound very comfortable with her surroundings. Eight weeks after her capture, Patty Hearst became Tania, a member of the SLA. In a video, she said "I have chosen to stay and fight". A week later, she participated in an SLA bank robbery. She had gone from victim to common criminal.
Cinque, the delusional leader and ex-con, Donald DeFreeze, decided they needed to be in LA and in early May, the nine members of the SLA moved to Los Angeles. The trio of Bill and Emily Harris and Patty, out in search of supplies, wound up in a shootout at a local store, and drew the LAPD to their hideout. While the Harrises and Patty escaped to Anaheim, the six remaining members of the SLA were surrounded by the police. "The biggest gun battle ever to take place on American soil had begun, and it was on live television." In over an hour, the police fired eighty-three tear gas canisters, fifty three hundred rounds of ammunition; the six SLA members fired back between two and three thousand rounds. The house they were in burned to the ground and all six were dead. Not a single policeman was wounded.
Bill, Emily and Patty returned to San Francisco and released a tape announcing that the SLA would fight on. Later that year, they merged with the Revolutionary Army and now were the Sacramento- based New World Liberation Front. They robbed a small bank, became convinced of their skills and went after a second bank. During an April 1975 heist, Emily shot and killed a local mother of four. They then again returned to the Bay area where the Harisses and Patty were captured in September by the FBI, which had been struggling for over a year-and-a-half to find her.
Patty had easily slipped from heiress to terrorist and, once in jail, she slipped right back. The US prosecuted her for the SLA bank robbery two months after her kidnapping. F. Lee Bailey put the now demure victim on the stand. She had spent he previous two years mouthing revolutionary slogans, threatening the pigs and completely committed to the revolution. On the stand, she testified that she had been coerced and feared for her life the entire time. During the trial, Bailey made a deal with the prosecutors for Patty to supply testimony in the Sacramento bank robbery turned felony murder case. The coercion defense flopped. Patty Hearst was guilty. She was released on bail pending appeal. She entered federal prison in May of 1978. Immediately, the Hearst's began a campaign for commutation, which Pres. Carter approved the following January. Patty was twenty-four and free. She married and moved to Connecticut. In her relentless pursuit of redemption, she urged Jimmy Carter to ask Pres. Clinton for a pardon, which she received on Bill Clinton's last day in office in 2001. "Rarely have the benefits of wealth, power and renown been as clear as they were in the aftermath of Patricia's conviction."
Toobin is a great writer, and turns this pedestrian tale of delusion and selfishness into a superb book. The most interesting aspect of the book is how - I hate to say this but - how naive and incompetent the terrorists were. Had they not killed a few people, it could have been a comedy. And Patty Hearst's commutation and pardon are flat-out unforgivable.
Cinque, the delusional leader and ex-con, Donald DeFreeze, decided they needed to be in LA and in early May, the nine members of the SLA moved to Los Angeles. The trio of Bill and Emily Harris and Patty, out in search of supplies, wound up in a shootout at a local store, and drew the LAPD to their hideout. While the Harrises and Patty escaped to Anaheim, the six remaining members of the SLA were surrounded by the police. "The biggest gun battle ever to take place on American soil had begun, and it was on live television." In over an hour, the police fired eighty-three tear gas canisters, fifty three hundred rounds of ammunition; the six SLA members fired back between two and three thousand rounds. The house they were in burned to the ground and all six were dead. Not a single policeman was wounded.
Bill, Emily and Patty returned to San Francisco and released a tape announcing that the SLA would fight on. Later that year, they merged with the Revolutionary Army and now were the Sacramento- based New World Liberation Front. They robbed a small bank, became convinced of their skills and went after a second bank. During an April 1975 heist, Emily shot and killed a local mother of four. They then again returned to the Bay area where the Harisses and Patty were captured in September by the FBI, which had been struggling for over a year-and-a-half to find her.
Patty had easily slipped from heiress to terrorist and, once in jail, she slipped right back. The US prosecuted her for the SLA bank robbery two months after her kidnapping. F. Lee Bailey put the now demure victim on the stand. She had spent he previous two years mouthing revolutionary slogans, threatening the pigs and completely committed to the revolution. On the stand, she testified that she had been coerced and feared for her life the entire time. During the trial, Bailey made a deal with the prosecutors for Patty to supply testimony in the Sacramento bank robbery turned felony murder case. The coercion defense flopped. Patty Hearst was guilty. She was released on bail pending appeal. She entered federal prison in May of 1978. Immediately, the Hearst's began a campaign for commutation, which Pres. Carter approved the following January. Patty was twenty-four and free. She married and moved to Connecticut. In her relentless pursuit of redemption, she urged Jimmy Carter to ask Pres. Clinton for a pardon, which she received on Bill Clinton's last day in office in 2001. "Rarely have the benefits of wealth, power and renown been as clear as they were in the aftermath of Patricia's conviction."
Toobin is a great writer, and turns this pedestrian tale of delusion and selfishness into a superb book. The most interesting aspect of the book is how - I hate to say this but - how naive and incompetent the terrorists were. Had they not killed a few people, it could have been a comedy. And Patty Hearst's commutation and pardon are flat-out unforgivable.
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