"The American Sea has been and will continue to be a gift to humankind. It brings beauty into our lives and invigorates the human spirit. It gives us food, moderates our climate, removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and puts oxygen into the same. There is a kind of nourishing energy out in the gulf that doesn't pump from a well."
Interestingly, it is, on average, only a mile deep. There are nearly 200 estuaries ringing its shores. The mild temperatures assured that the shoreline in Florida was rich in wildlife, a perennial store of food for the indigenous peoples. "The Indians were tall in stature because they were rich in food." The natives lived in total harmony with nature. "The European conquest introduced a future of imprudent relationships with nature." It is believed that over 350,000 aboriginals populated the Gulf coast. The unwelcome Spanish incursions of the 16th century "planted genocidal time bombs that helped clear the way for future colonization." The Spanish were replaced by the French, then the English, and the Americans. The indigenous population was no more.
The purchase of Louisiana in 1803 and Florida in 1819 ceded most of the Gulf coast to the US. The admission of Texas a few decades later finished the process. Mapping the ever-changing coastline of inlets, bays, marshes and deltas was a job that occupied the government for most of the century. Fishing became the Gulf's primary occupation and Pensacola was its capital. Fishing off Florida's coast was so popular that it ignited a tourism boom. Of all the Gulf fish, it was the tarpon that attracted Americans as well known as Grover Cleveland, TR, Edison, Ford and Ted Williams. It was six feet long and often over 100 pounds. Hemingway and Zane Grey wrote about it and railroads were built to transport people south to catch it.
However, it was not the attractions around nor the fish within, but the fuel below the Gulf that brought it to its pivotal role in the American economy. The 1901 the Spindletop gusher that ushered in the petroleum era in America occurred just a couple of dozen miles from the Gulf. Soon thereafter, the first ever water rigs appeared. Just after WW2, the first over-the-horizon rig drilled off the Louisiana coast.
The Florida coast has been protected by mangrove trees living comfortably between sea and fresh water for eons. The post-war era saw a vast immigration to the coast, one that cleared away the mangroves and replaced them with canals, breakwaters and cement seawalls. The sunbelt was attracting people and the onslaught of the Gulf's natural ways was underway. Pollution, meaningful and massive, followed the population increases and most importantly, the industrialization of the estuaries. Throughout the Gulf, and in particular at the mouth of the Mississippi, the waste, nitrates and pollution of two-thirds of the nation flowed into, and poisoned the Gulf of Mexico. A vast dead zone the size of New Jersey was discovered as early as the eighties. Throughout the region, pushback by private entities and pieces of local, state and federal governments are trying to turn the environmental depredation tide. "Fortunately, every estuarine bay and river has at least one organized group defending its ecological integrity. Multiple concerns are doing the same for the larger gulf."
This book is very well-done, and at 531 pages, pretty long. I can clearly state that if you want to know everything possible about the Gulf, this book is for you.
5.23.2018
Tiger Woods, Benedict and Keteyian - B +
Every aspect of Tiger's story requires us to reach for superlatives to discuss his golf. Phenomenal, greatest of all time, unsurpassed, extraordinary, remarkable, exceptional, astonishing, and on and on - his golf career included the most dominating decade of any athlete in any sport at any time. He was bigger than Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan. He drove the television ratings of the PGA ahead of the NFL. A young golfer of color took a sedate sport played by the few and made it more popular than America's secular religion. Incomprehensible. It was, and still is, Tigermania.
Yet, his personal story is terribly sad. His parents created a person barely capable of functioning. He grew up friendless, never learned how to talk to or treat colleagues, teammates or coaches, blew off his high school/college girlfriend when told to do so by his folks. He told sophomoric, moronic, off-color jokes in attempts to relate to women. He eventually took control of his life in his early twenties. He found some space for privacy and established an important relationship with Joanna Jagoda, a woman who had a settling effect on his life. But she moved on to law school and out of the limelight. He found friendship and camaraderie in Las Vegas with the rich and famous, particularly Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. For the high rollers in sin city, discretion was part of the appeal. Another part of the appeal was the endless buffet of available and attractive women. Las Vegas provided privacy and a release from the high-pressured life of being Tiger. However, it was at home at Isleworth where the aspirational role model for his life lived happily, with a beautiful wife and two kids. Mark O'Meara was Tiger's friend, neighbor, and mentor. Mark and Alicia provided Tiger his home away from home. In 2004, he married Elin Nordegren. However, being married to a gorgeous woman was not enough for Tiger's narcissistic personality. Las Vegas beckoned and Tiger continued years of endless serial philandering that exceeded that of his father's. As Tiger grew older, one aspect of his life remained mired in the past and that was his complete lack of human understanding and empathy. After insulting then president Bill Clinton by declining a White House invitation, he later asked Clinton to make an appearance at an event in California. The ex-president duffer asked for an 18-hole round in exchange; Tiger ignored him on the course, walked off greens chatting on his cellphone while Clinton was putting, and generally treated Bill Clinton like crap. Jerk is an inadequate descriptor. After Earl died in 2006, an unhinged Tiger went off to take SEALS training rather than prepare for the US Open. He later won the British and crushed it for the balance of the year. His golf kept getting better, but his personal life was on the brink. He escaped exposure of an affair with a waitress in the 'Enquirer' in exchange for an interview in 'Men's Fitness.' His daughter Sam was born in early 2007. Years of weight-lifting and very physical golfing led to medical problems that peaked in 2008, when he won the US Open with no ACL and two stress fractures. Painkillers became part of his life, while the great golf and good times in Las Vegas continued. His son Charlie was born early in 2009. His womanizing was getting worse and worse and he actually lost a major, after leading going into the final day. Thanksgiving weekend of 2009 was when the world that Tiger had created fell apart. Elin, and soon everyone, learned of his multiple transgressions.
After 45 days at a sex addiction clinic, he made a televised apology to the world at PGA headquarters. He then played well in the 2010 Masters, but seemed uncomfortable. Hank Haney, his coach of many years, walked away. Elin finalized their divorce over the summer. He and his caddie, Steve Williams, had a nasty falling out in the fall. And the injuries started piling up. He missed most of 2011, but had a very solid stretch in 2012 and 2013 and regained his number one ranking after winning a few tournaments. His personal life was shaping up after he and Lindsey Vonn got together. Back surgery in 2014 was followed by some absolutely horrible golf the following year and the end of the relationship with Vonn. In the summer 2015, his once only friend on the tour was inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame before the British Open. Mark O'Meara twice specifically asked Tiger to come. Although he was in St. Andrews, Woods did not join the other almost two dozen tour players who attended the ceremony. He spent most of 2016 recovering from two more back surgeries. A year later, he had back fusion surgery that was followed by an arrest after he nearly overdosed on painkillers. Tiger has put his medications behind him, is free of pain and has played some competitive rounds of golf this year. There are reports that he may even be a better man. Let's hope he is.
Yet, his personal story is terribly sad. His parents created a person barely capable of functioning. He grew up friendless, never learned how to talk to or treat colleagues, teammates or coaches, blew off his high school/college girlfriend when told to do so by his folks. He told sophomoric, moronic, off-color jokes in attempts to relate to women. He eventually took control of his life in his early twenties. He found some space for privacy and established an important relationship with Joanna Jagoda, a woman who had a settling effect on his life. But she moved on to law school and out of the limelight. He found friendship and camaraderie in Las Vegas with the rich and famous, particularly Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. For the high rollers in sin city, discretion was part of the appeal. Another part of the appeal was the endless buffet of available and attractive women. Las Vegas provided privacy and a release from the high-pressured life of being Tiger. However, it was at home at Isleworth where the aspirational role model for his life lived happily, with a beautiful wife and two kids. Mark O'Meara was Tiger's friend, neighbor, and mentor. Mark and Alicia provided Tiger his home away from home. In 2004, he married Elin Nordegren. However, being married to a gorgeous woman was not enough for Tiger's narcissistic personality. Las Vegas beckoned and Tiger continued years of endless serial philandering that exceeded that of his father's. As Tiger grew older, one aspect of his life remained mired in the past and that was his complete lack of human understanding and empathy. After insulting then president Bill Clinton by declining a White House invitation, he later asked Clinton to make an appearance at an event in California. The ex-president duffer asked for an 18-hole round in exchange; Tiger ignored him on the course, walked off greens chatting on his cellphone while Clinton was putting, and generally treated Bill Clinton like crap. Jerk is an inadequate descriptor. After Earl died in 2006, an unhinged Tiger went off to take SEALS training rather than prepare for the US Open. He later won the British and crushed it for the balance of the year. His golf kept getting better, but his personal life was on the brink. He escaped exposure of an affair with a waitress in the 'Enquirer' in exchange for an interview in 'Men's Fitness.' His daughter Sam was born in early 2007. Years of weight-lifting and very physical golfing led to medical problems that peaked in 2008, when he won the US Open with no ACL and two stress fractures. Painkillers became part of his life, while the great golf and good times in Las Vegas continued. His son Charlie was born early in 2009. His womanizing was getting worse and worse and he actually lost a major, after leading going into the final day. Thanksgiving weekend of 2009 was when the world that Tiger had created fell apart. Elin, and soon everyone, learned of his multiple transgressions.
After 45 days at a sex addiction clinic, he made a televised apology to the world at PGA headquarters. He then played well in the 2010 Masters, but seemed uncomfortable. Hank Haney, his coach of many years, walked away. Elin finalized their divorce over the summer. He and his caddie, Steve Williams, had a nasty falling out in the fall. And the injuries started piling up. He missed most of 2011, but had a very solid stretch in 2012 and 2013 and regained his number one ranking after winning a few tournaments. His personal life was shaping up after he and Lindsey Vonn got together. Back surgery in 2014 was followed by some absolutely horrible golf the following year and the end of the relationship with Vonn. In the summer 2015, his once only friend on the tour was inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame before the British Open. Mark O'Meara twice specifically asked Tiger to come. Although he was in St. Andrews, Woods did not join the other almost two dozen tour players who attended the ceremony. He spent most of 2016 recovering from two more back surgeries. A year later, he had back fusion surgery that was followed by an arrest after he nearly overdosed on painkillers. Tiger has put his medications behind him, is free of pain and has played some competitive rounds of golf this year. There are reports that he may even be a better man. Let's hope he is.
The Flight Attendant, Bohjalian - C
The first nine-tenths of this novel is about the trial and travails of Cassie, a woman who drinks herself into blackouts, pretty much sleeps with whoever is at hand and lies to everyone in her life. Her family, colleagues, union and lawyer do their best to keep her on an even keel after she wakes up in a Dubai hotel with a dead man. The first implausible plot twist is followed by a few more on a way to an unforgettable conclusion. For me, it doesn't even rate a look-see at the beach.
5.10.2018
Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Evolution, Purdum - B +
They are America's most successful song writers, winners of 34 Tonys, 15 Oscars, 2 Pulitzers, 2 Grammys and 2 Emmys. They were very skilled businessmen who controlled their product and maximized their revenue. The created Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific and The Sound of Music. "Oklahoma! was the first musical to fully integrate song, story and dance in the service of a realistic narrative and character development, revolutionizing the Broadway theater forever." They were also the producers for other works such as Annie Get Your Gun and I Remember Mama. In October, 1957, their 90-minute live television presentation of Cinderella preempted Ed Sullivan and was watched by 107 million people, two-thirds of the country's population. Walking through Disney World today, one of the theme songs in the background is Surrey With the Fringe on Top. They created the modern musical; their songs permeate our culture.
Ockie Hammesrstein had it easy. He was born into the business, seamlessly slid into a job, and began producing and creating in the 1920's. He had middling success until he teamed up with Jerome Kern and created Showboat in 1926. He tried his hand in Hollywood and felt he was over the hill, done for and a has been by the early '40's. Richard Rodgers grew up in a prosperous musical house and was writing musicals with Lorenz Hart while still a teenager. They had a run of successful shows in NY and London, and in the late '30's, they created hit after hit including I'd Rather Be Right, starring George M. Cohan, On Your Toes, featuring a George Balanchine ballet, and Pal Joey, which brought a new depth of character development to a musical, and featured Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. However, Hart's drinking brought an end to their collaborations.
The play Green Grow The Lilacs was written in France by a young man trying to recreate his youth in Indian Territory. It had a brief run in NY in the early '30's but had made an impression on both Rodgers and Hammerstein, who decided in 1942 to do it together. It took Hammerstein three weeks to write Oh What A Beautiful Mornin and ten minutes for Rodgers to bang out the tune. They created, raised money, hired the cast and the director, arranged for the orchestration and took it on the road. Oklahoma! premiered on March 31, 1943 and was an instant sensation. It ran for a little over five years. It was the most successful musical ever and perfectly matched the mood of a nation fighting a war to build a better world. Seventy-five years later, it still stirs the soul.
They worked together on a redo of State Fair before adapting a turn of the century Hungarian drama called Liliom, which they turned into Carousel. Backed by the same creative teams, it previewed out of town and was severely panned in Boston. Reworked and cut by almost a third, it opened April 19, 1945 to rapturous reviews. It featured You'll Never Walk Alone and If I Loved You. It was Dick Rodgers favorite of them all.
They then turned Michener's loosely connected Tales into the majestic South Pacific. It won every award imaginable, including the Pulitzer, and launched what the author calls the empire phase of their careers. Anna and the King of Siam became the King and I, which required more pre-Broadway cutting than any of their other works. It was also a resounding success. They finally began to allow Hollywood to film their works. They actually produced Oklahoma themselves and let the studios do Carousel and The King and I. They succeeded spectacularly with their tv production of Cinderella. To be fair, the 50's were not all magic for them as both Pipe Dream and Me and Juliet were flops and Lerner and Lowe was pushing them with My Fair Lady. Rodgers had had cancer surgery a few years back, drank too much and had a breakdown after Cinderella. He spent three months in a high-end private hospital in Manhattan. They produced the film version of South Pacific in 1958. Because they had allowed their long-time director to use ill-advised color filters throughout, the critics panned it. Rodgers thought it was "awful." But as the author points out, the material was "indestructible", a smashing success and the album sat atop the charts for a year. They followed up with Flower Drum Song which was, at best, ok, but paled compared to what Oscar's protege, Stephen Sondheim, had done with West Side Story. Their final magical transformation was to convert a 1956 German movie, Die Trapp Familie into The Sound of Music. While the show was in previews in Boston, Hammerstein, dying of stomach cancer, penned his last work, Edelweiss. The show opened in late 1959 and the New York reviewers felt it was too old fashioned. The public disagreed. The cast album and the later movie soundtrack made The Sound of Music the "best selling Broadway score of all time."
Ockie died at 65 on August 22, 1960. Rodgers would struggle to find his footing for the balance of the almost twenty years he had left. He was involved with the capstone of their career, the movie version of The Sound Of Music. The film was panned as saccharine by the NY critics, but won the Best Movie Oscar and is so revered in American society that Lady Gaga and Julie Andrews reprised songs for the Oscar show fifty years later. He tried his hand at a few things, but there was no magic left. He had a heart attack in the late 60's, that was followed up by the removal of a cancerous larynx. He died at the end of 1979 as an Oklahoma revival opened on Broadway. "As had been done for Oscar Hammerstein nineteen years earlier, the lights of the Broadway that Richard Rogers had changed forever were darkened in his honor."
In the '70's and '80's, their "wholesome, cheery land" fell out of favor. Some blamed them for America's Vietnam policies because of the western exceptionalism in South Pacific and The King And I. It was a passing fad as revivals in both NY and London returned them to their rightful place. It has been estimated that "Rodgers ranks as the most-played composer of any kind of music, ever." Hammerstein's lyrics are part of our everyday life. I grew up in a house where the 78rpm albums for Oklahoma, The King and I and South Pacific played often. I love the theater, am happy to have introduced my daughter to it and am looking forward to an Oklahoma show next week with Lauren and her daughter Eloise. What more could anyone ask of such magnificent artists than to have enriched the lives of generations.
Ockie Hammesrstein had it easy. He was born into the business, seamlessly slid into a job, and began producing and creating in the 1920's. He had middling success until he teamed up with Jerome Kern and created Showboat in 1926. He tried his hand in Hollywood and felt he was over the hill, done for and a has been by the early '40's. Richard Rodgers grew up in a prosperous musical house and was writing musicals with Lorenz Hart while still a teenager. They had a run of successful shows in NY and London, and in the late '30's, they created hit after hit including I'd Rather Be Right, starring George M. Cohan, On Your Toes, featuring a George Balanchine ballet, and Pal Joey, which brought a new depth of character development to a musical, and featured Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. However, Hart's drinking brought an end to their collaborations.
The play Green Grow The Lilacs was written in France by a young man trying to recreate his youth in Indian Territory. It had a brief run in NY in the early '30's but had made an impression on both Rodgers and Hammerstein, who decided in 1942 to do it together. It took Hammerstein three weeks to write Oh What A Beautiful Mornin and ten minutes for Rodgers to bang out the tune. They created, raised money, hired the cast and the director, arranged for the orchestration and took it on the road. Oklahoma! premiered on March 31, 1943 and was an instant sensation. It ran for a little over five years. It was the most successful musical ever and perfectly matched the mood of a nation fighting a war to build a better world. Seventy-five years later, it still stirs the soul.
They worked together on a redo of State Fair before adapting a turn of the century Hungarian drama called Liliom, which they turned into Carousel. Backed by the same creative teams, it previewed out of town and was severely panned in Boston. Reworked and cut by almost a third, it opened April 19, 1945 to rapturous reviews. It featured You'll Never Walk Alone and If I Loved You. It was Dick Rodgers favorite of them all.
They then turned Michener's loosely connected Tales into the majestic South Pacific. It won every award imaginable, including the Pulitzer, and launched what the author calls the empire phase of their careers. Anna and the King of Siam became the King and I, which required more pre-Broadway cutting than any of their other works. It was also a resounding success. They finally began to allow Hollywood to film their works. They actually produced Oklahoma themselves and let the studios do Carousel and The King and I. They succeeded spectacularly with their tv production of Cinderella. To be fair, the 50's were not all magic for them as both Pipe Dream and Me and Juliet were flops and Lerner and Lowe was pushing them with My Fair Lady. Rodgers had had cancer surgery a few years back, drank too much and had a breakdown after Cinderella. He spent three months in a high-end private hospital in Manhattan. They produced the film version of South Pacific in 1958. Because they had allowed their long-time director to use ill-advised color filters throughout, the critics panned it. Rodgers thought it was "awful." But as the author points out, the material was "indestructible", a smashing success and the album sat atop the charts for a year. They followed up with Flower Drum Song which was, at best, ok, but paled compared to what Oscar's protege, Stephen Sondheim, had done with West Side Story. Their final magical transformation was to convert a 1956 German movie, Die Trapp Familie into The Sound of Music. While the show was in previews in Boston, Hammerstein, dying of stomach cancer, penned his last work, Edelweiss. The show opened in late 1959 and the New York reviewers felt it was too old fashioned. The public disagreed. The cast album and the later movie soundtrack made The Sound of Music the "best selling Broadway score of all time."
Ockie died at 65 on August 22, 1960. Rodgers would struggle to find his footing for the balance of the almost twenty years he had left. He was involved with the capstone of their career, the movie version of The Sound Of Music. The film was panned as saccharine by the NY critics, but won the Best Movie Oscar and is so revered in American society that Lady Gaga and Julie Andrews reprised songs for the Oscar show fifty years later. He tried his hand at a few things, but there was no magic left. He had a heart attack in the late 60's, that was followed up by the removal of a cancerous larynx. He died at the end of 1979 as an Oklahoma revival opened on Broadway. "As had been done for Oscar Hammerstein nineteen years earlier, the lights of the Broadway that Richard Rogers had changed forever were darkened in his honor."
In the '70's and '80's, their "wholesome, cheery land" fell out of favor. Some blamed them for America's Vietnam policies because of the western exceptionalism in South Pacific and The King And I. It was a passing fad as revivals in both NY and London returned them to their rightful place. It has been estimated that "Rodgers ranks as the most-played composer of any kind of music, ever." Hammerstein's lyrics are part of our everyday life. I grew up in a house where the 78rpm albums for Oklahoma, The King and I and South Pacific played often. I love the theater, am happy to have introduced my daughter to it and am looking forward to an Oklahoma show next week with Lauren and her daughter Eloise. What more could anyone ask of such magnificent artists than to have enriched the lives of generations.
5.01.2018
Eat The Apple, Young - B+
Sixty years makes a difference. It is a long way in American history between 1945 and 2005, when this profane and uncertain Marine memoir begins. Recruit (fill-in-the blank), Past-me, Person thing (some of the ways the author refers to himself here) keeps wondering why the hell he volunteered for this. Ironically, he is assigned to mortars and trained at Pendleton, just like Sledge. He's off to Iraq in January 2006. You fly from California, to Maine, to Frankfurt, to Kuwait filled with fear, anxiety, self-loathing and more fear. " I feel like an animal in a trap waiting for some hunter to come put a slug between i's eyes." After being in-country for a while, they occupy part of a village. "The house is a terrarium of horror; we are being eaten alive. Our feet and hands split and puss and crust, and sleep does not come." "We pray for a barrage of mortars to wipe us away." In April, the Humvee he is in is flipped by an ied. Two of his comrades are sent away never to come back; he is concussed, confused, in the hospital and soon back on duty. After eight months in the sand, you get to go back to Camp Pendleton and merit some leave time. Drink yourself insensitive as much as you possibly can. Fuck anything that will let you, while feeling bad about your fiancee back in Indiana. By September of 2007, the battalion is back in the exact same place they left the previous year. But, it is different this time - there is little if any shooting going on. Back to the states for more drinking, fucking and fighting in bars. He volunteers for a third tour and convinces the ready-to-be-convinced psychiatric officer that he is ready to go. No sir, I don't smoke, I don't have nightmares, I don't get into bar fights, I don't drink, I don't take drugs, my family is behind my decision. No sir, I do not dream of being devoured by decaying dogs. The third time's a charm. At the HQ security detail, there's hot food, air-conditioned barracks, a swimming pool and a Burger King. "There are no more tactical firing ranges, no more sun-bleached camouflage utilities, no mud, no detainees." It's a quick 12 week tour and back to California, to do steroids with Hang Ten Tony. Barely surviving and staying out of the brig, his enlistment is up.
Unlike Sledge, Young did not have his proverbial shit together when he joined up. Sledge was half-way through college, came from normal family and knew what he was doing when he joined. Young was a crazed, angry teen from a broken family who escaped a drink and drug filled life of failure when he enlisted. Is that the reason for the difference? Was it generational? Was it the mission? I do not know. Either way, loyalty to comrade is the constant. Marines are exemplary in their commitment to each other. The author pulled his life together, married, went to Oregon State, obtained a Masters at the University of Miami and has written a helluva story here.
Unlike Sledge, Young did not have his proverbial shit together when he joined up. Sledge was half-way through college, came from normal family and knew what he was doing when he joined. Young was a crazed, angry teen from a broken family who escaped a drink and drug filled life of failure when he enlisted. Is that the reason for the difference? Was it generational? Was it the mission? I do not know. Either way, loyalty to comrade is the constant. Marines are exemplary in their commitment to each other. The author pulled his life together, married, went to Oregon State, obtained a Masters at the University of Miami and has written a helluva story here.
With The Old Guard, Sledge - A*
Thirty-six years after his experiences at Peleliu and Okinawa, E. B Sledge, by then a retired ornithology professor and PhD., published what is generally considered the finest memoir of the war in the Pacific. His story was the foundation of HBO's 'The Pacific' and the audio version of this book is voiced by Tom Hanks.
He volunteered for the Marines and arrived in 1944 in the Pacific as a Pfc. 60mm motorman and replacement in the 1st Division. On 15 September, they stepped out onto Peleliu. Whether the battle was worth the effort has been long debated. Many think it was not strategically necessary. It was the first time the Japanese utilized defense-in-depth, as opposed to fighting on the beach. The result was a Marine casualty rate twice that of Tarawa and later equalled at Iwo Jima. Day one was gut-wrenching fear, anxiety, confusion, incoming artillery, no sleep, filth and thirst. Advancing across a Japanese airfield, "bullets snapped and cracked, and tracers went by me at waist height. To be shelled by massed artillery and mortar is absolutely terrifying, but to be shelled in the open is terror compounded beyond the belief of anyone who hasn't experienced it." On the third night, an experienced officer made the observation that courage was a matter of doing your duty while afraid. There was no ever being unafraid. They were relieved on D +10 by Army soldiers, only to march around to another part of the island and continue the fight. "The war was a netherworld of horror from which escape seemed less and less likely...........Time had no meaning; life had no meaning." Added to the physical threat and emotional exhaustion was the stench. They were on a rocky atoll, surrounded by decaying corpses, accumulated human waste and rotting food. Sledge survived and on 30 October left the island. His company left with 85 of 235 unhurt. The Marines suffered 1252 dead and 5274 injured. The Army lost 542 with 2736 wounded. As for the defenders, they had 10,900 dead, and of the 312 captured, only seven were soldiers. The rest were civilians.
They were sent back to the Solomons for rest and refitting. The war in the Pacific was not non-stop and Marines had months off between action. Okinawa, only 350 miles from the home islands, was expected to be, and was, the longest and largest battle in the Pacific. It had 110,000 defenders. The Marines were advised their beach casualties would be 80-85%. At 0830 on April 1, Easter Sunday, they went ashore. Fifty-thousand men landed unopposed. Although there was heavy fighting, the 1st Marines were in the rear and not in the mix for the entire month of April. They went into action on May 1 and would stay at it for 50 days. The fighting on Okinawa is well-known for it's intensity, and compounding the tension in May was rain, lots of rain. He describes trying to dig a foxhole through a decaying maggot-infested Japanese corpse with hands deformed by malnutrition. As good as the US was at supporting its frontline troops, weeks of cold food, rotting clothes, the unburied dead and endless enemy fire took its toll. Okinawa was finally taken on 21 June. Their war was over. Company K had gone to Peleliu with 285 men. Eighty-five landed on Okinawa. Only 26 were there when the battle ended. ""War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an indelible mark on those who are forced to endure it."
This extraordinary story is highly regarded because it is so plainly and almost matter of factly written. Sledge does not deal with any big picture issues. He never mentions Pearl Harbor and barely comments on FDR's death or V-E Day. There are no histrionics or paeans to patriotism. It was about being a Marine and doing your duty. He does observe that they hated the Japanese because they had mutilated American dead. That's it. No more, no less.
He volunteered for the Marines and arrived in 1944 in the Pacific as a Pfc. 60mm motorman and replacement in the 1st Division. On 15 September, they stepped out onto Peleliu. Whether the battle was worth the effort has been long debated. Many think it was not strategically necessary. It was the first time the Japanese utilized defense-in-depth, as opposed to fighting on the beach. The result was a Marine casualty rate twice that of Tarawa and later equalled at Iwo Jima. Day one was gut-wrenching fear, anxiety, confusion, incoming artillery, no sleep, filth and thirst. Advancing across a Japanese airfield, "bullets snapped and cracked, and tracers went by me at waist height. To be shelled by massed artillery and mortar is absolutely terrifying, but to be shelled in the open is terror compounded beyond the belief of anyone who hasn't experienced it." On the third night, an experienced officer made the observation that courage was a matter of doing your duty while afraid. There was no ever being unafraid. They were relieved on D +10 by Army soldiers, only to march around to another part of the island and continue the fight. "The war was a netherworld of horror from which escape seemed less and less likely...........Time had no meaning; life had no meaning." Added to the physical threat and emotional exhaustion was the stench. They were on a rocky atoll, surrounded by decaying corpses, accumulated human waste and rotting food. Sledge survived and on 30 October left the island. His company left with 85 of 235 unhurt. The Marines suffered 1252 dead and 5274 injured. The Army lost 542 with 2736 wounded. As for the defenders, they had 10,900 dead, and of the 312 captured, only seven were soldiers. The rest were civilians.
They were sent back to the Solomons for rest and refitting. The war in the Pacific was not non-stop and Marines had months off between action. Okinawa, only 350 miles from the home islands, was expected to be, and was, the longest and largest battle in the Pacific. It had 110,000 defenders. The Marines were advised their beach casualties would be 80-85%. At 0830 on April 1, Easter Sunday, they went ashore. Fifty-thousand men landed unopposed. Although there was heavy fighting, the 1st Marines were in the rear and not in the mix for the entire month of April. They went into action on May 1 and would stay at it for 50 days. The fighting on Okinawa is well-known for it's intensity, and compounding the tension in May was rain, lots of rain. He describes trying to dig a foxhole through a decaying maggot-infested Japanese corpse with hands deformed by malnutrition. As good as the US was at supporting its frontline troops, weeks of cold food, rotting clothes, the unburied dead and endless enemy fire took its toll. Okinawa was finally taken on 21 June. Their war was over. Company K had gone to Peleliu with 285 men. Eighty-five landed on Okinawa. Only 26 were there when the battle ended. ""War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an indelible mark on those who are forced to endure it."
This extraordinary story is highly regarded because it is so plainly and almost matter of factly written. Sledge does not deal with any big picture issues. He never mentions Pearl Harbor and barely comments on FDR's death or V-E Day. There are no histrionics or paeans to patriotism. It was about being a Marine and doing your duty. He does observe that they hated the Japanese because they had mutilated American dead. That's it. No more, no less.
4.25.2018
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, Grann - B +
The Osage refer to May as the time of the flower-killing moon because new and taller plants crowd out and kill the smaller ones already budding and send their petals into the sky like confetti. The Osage of the 1920's were considered the wealthiest people in the world because every member of their tribe collected a quarterly dividend in the thousands from the oil found on their reservation decades before. The Osage had purchased their land in Oklahoma with the monies the US had given them when booting them out of Kansas. They thus had a stronger hand to play when the Territory was opened up to white men and were fortunate enough to have language placed in the state Enabling Act providing the tribe with permanent mineral rights, even if an individual Indian sold his share of the tribe's land. In May 1921, two Indians were murdered at about the same time and likely with the same .38. One of the two, Anna Brown, had a sister who had preceded her in death and a mother who died soon thereafter. It appeared as if both the sister and mother had been poisoned. In the following months more were poisoned, and eventually, a national newspaper ran a headline 'CONSPIRACY BELIEVED TO KILL RICH INDIANS'. The Indians' wealth attracted jealousy and attention. The US intervened to appoint guardians and restrict the natives' access to their own money. Anna's sister and her husband were blown to smithereens when their home was dynamited in 1923. The official death toll in the Osage Reign of Terror was now 24. Whenever someone investigated and made some progress, they were found dead soon thereafter. In 1925 Jim White, an agent of the Bureau of Investigation, an obscure federal agency, arrived in Oklahoma. He had been sent personally by J. Edgar Hoover in an attempt to save the fledgling bureau's investigation and likely, Hoover's career. White was a wizened former Texas Ranger who was able to dig deeper and fine-tune probable suspects. What he did establish within a few months, though, was that many of the whites involved with helping the Indians were, in fact, ripping them off. It has been estimated that by 1925, the local legal, advisory, and business community had siphoned off $8 million of Osage money. White's investigations pointed to Anna Brown's surviving sister, Mollie, who inherited quite a bit of mineral rights and was married to Ernest Burkhard. At that point, Mollie's two children with Burkhard were the potential recipients of a bona-fide fortune. A local businessman, and coincidentally Burkhard's uncle, William Hale, seemed to be at he center of much that was questionable, yet he was beloved by all and was known as 'The Reverend'. The Feds arrested White and Burkhard with the intent of turning Burkhard, which they did. White obtained the confession of another witness, but Hale would not admit guilt. Newspapers reported that the ensuing trial generated more interest than the previous year's 'Scopes Monkey Trial'. The first trial of William Hale ended in a hung jury; the second rightly sent him to Leavenworth for life. Hale was met at the prison by Jim White, who had tired of moving for the Bureau and welcomed the stability of the job as Warden. Hoover was able to leverage White's success into establishing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, providing it with new police powers and an extended mission. The 'G Men' were now a national legend.
The author concludes with a section on his research for the book and his discovery that there is much more to the story. The Reign of Terror was generally thought to have occurred from 1921-25 and coincided with William Hale's time in Osage Country. The author searched records far and wide and believes it started as early as 1919 and was still going on in the 30's. He names names and finds dozens more cases of Indians who were poisoned, disappeared, or were straight out murdered for their money. 'Tis another sad chapter in the plight of those who were here first and, in this instance, flat-out robbed long after the frontier was closed.
Retribution, Jacobsen - B
This is the third book by the author, and needless to say, I am hooked, as I read the first one just a bit over a month ago. Jacobsen is a Danish orthopedic surgeon and introduces us to something I had no clue about. Denmark has a substantial special forces arm, has been an enthusiastic NATO supporter, and has suffered more casualties per soldiers served, in the Middle East and Afghanistan, than any other member. So we get to visit the decades-old war on terror from a very different perspective.
The book opens up with a hypothetical attack at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen that stuns and traumatizes the nation. The action switches back and forth between Jordan, where the attacks are planned, and the city, where they are trying to figure out what happened the first time and how to avoid a second attack. The author further develops the two characters from 'Trophy', adds a few more, and plots a devilish page-turner. A very fun read.
The book opens up with a hypothetical attack at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen that stuns and traumatizes the nation. The action switches back and forth between Jordan, where the attacks are planned, and the city, where they are trying to figure out what happened the first time and how to avoid a second attack. The author further develops the two characters from 'Trophy', adds a few more, and plots a devilish page-turner. A very fun read.
Dead Man's Blues, Celestin - B
Chicago 1928: third largest city in the world and corrupt to the core. Prohibition. Louis Armstrong. Al Capone. Mayor Big Bill Thompson. Dante the Gent. A judge who is also a mob undertaker. A missing heiress. Bugs Malone. A traitor in the Outfit. Bronzeville. The Black Belt. The Yards. State's Attorneys Office. Pinkerton's. Tunney v. Dempsey. Reefer, coke and horse.
This is a tale of Chicago in all of its Roaring 20's grit, color, life and whatever the opposite of glory is. Two searches are the background for this novel. The first involves Michael and Ida, a rather unique pair of Pinkerton Detectives. They hail from New Orleans, but have been working Chicago for some time. He's a former cop and she is colored, making them an unlikely pair. But they are effective. They are hired by a wealthy drug-addled Gold Coast matron concerned about her missing daughter. The second search is by Dante, called in from NY by Capone to try and sort out how and why a party for the local Republican* pols almost ended Capone's career when they all got sick on some rot-gut champagne. The intriguing and back-stabbing in the Outfit can get pretty complex. It is, of course, no surprise when the two searches converge.
This book is the second of what is intended to be a four book series. Jazz is an integral part of it, but of no interest to me, so I've skipped the previous one set in the Big Easy. Next up is NYC in the forties and I'll likely do that. The plotting has its weak points, but the scene-setting is very good.
*Thompson was the last Republican Mayor of the city. The corruption that is at the heart of the 'Chicago Way' has always been bi-partisan.
This is a tale of Chicago in all of its Roaring 20's grit, color, life and whatever the opposite of glory is. Two searches are the background for this novel. The first involves Michael and Ida, a rather unique pair of Pinkerton Detectives. They hail from New Orleans, but have been working Chicago for some time. He's a former cop and she is colored, making them an unlikely pair. But they are effective. They are hired by a wealthy drug-addled Gold Coast matron concerned about her missing daughter. The second search is by Dante, called in from NY by Capone to try and sort out how and why a party for the local Republican* pols almost ended Capone's career when they all got sick on some rot-gut champagne. The intriguing and back-stabbing in the Outfit can get pretty complex. It is, of course, no surprise when the two searches converge.
This book is the second of what is intended to be a four book series. Jazz is an integral part of it, but of no interest to me, so I've skipped the previous one set in the Big Easy. Next up is NYC in the forties and I'll likely do that. The plotting has its weak points, but the scene-setting is very good.
*Thompson was the last Republican Mayor of the city. The corruption that is at the heart of the 'Chicago Way' has always been bi-partisan.
4.17.2018
American Wolf: A True Story Of Survival And Obsession In The West, Blakeslee -B +
This fascinating book is about the Yellowstone Wolf Project that reintroduced the gray wolf in 1995. The wolf, which had once roamed from the Arctic to Mexico City, had been eliminated from the western US in 1926*. The rangers at Yellowstone had shot the wolves in the park because of their anxiety about the safety of the elk and other herbivores. They had not understood that predator and prey had sustained the ecosystem for millennia, and without wolves, the park was soon a mess. There were so many elk that they denuded the forests, causing increased run-off that disrupted the streams and rivers. The 1995 project was opposed by local ranchers and hunters, yet has been seen as a significant success. There are now approximately 1700 wolves in the greater Yellowstone area and the ecosystem has been reestablished. One of the intriguing aspects of wolves is their social interaction, group management and bonding skills; amongst predators, wolves are the most cooperative. Although each pack has but one alpha male and female, packs can grow to astounding sizes. The 'Druids' in the early oughts had almost three dozen wolves.
Much of the book is focused on an alpha female, O-Six, who gained national fame about a decade ago because she lived in Yellowstone, was not fearful of humans, and was spotted almost daily hunting, raising her cubs and patrolling her territory. Her efforts were observed by the park's legendary ranger, Rick McIntyre, who went fifteen years in a row without missing a day, who compiled notes on the wolves of over 5 million words, and who holds the record of 891 straight days with a sighting. O-Six succeeded in helping her first four cubs reach yearling status, and everyone was happy when she became pregnant a second time, delivering five pups in 2011. The following winter, her pack faced an existential threat when 19 'Mollies' left their challenging environment in the north of the park and entered the Lamar Valley. O-Six's pack was outnumbered, she had denned and was nursing a new group of pups. She launched herself over a line of Mollies and appeared to have disappeared over a cliff; her daughter, Middle Gray, charged off in a different direction. The effort succeeded and the confused Mollies dispersed. The following winter, Wyoming allowed unlimited wolf hunting after a long contentious battle, and O-Six was one of the first wolves shot in the state in almost a century. The death of "the most famous wolf in the world" made international headlines and was on national network news.
The wolves changed the local economies. There has been some livestock depredation, but the most important impact was the dramatic reduction of the elk herd. There once had been close to twenty-thousand elk in the area, and they were used to an easy life without predators. They were easy to hunt, supported a burgeoning hunting and guiding community, and filled many a local freezer. Reduced by two-thirds and now once again wary as prey should be, the elk went further and higher into the mountains. Idaho, Montana and Wyoming all sought to cull the wolves, and there has been considerable ongoing litigation. De-listing the wolves from the Endangered Species Act has been the objective of almost all of the locals. The conflict plays right into the century-old struggle between local authorities and the federal government over the management of government lands. It even played into control of the US Senate, as Democrat Jon Tester had to adopt an anti-wolf position in 2012 to hold off a Republican challenger. The impact on the park is called a 'trophic cascade' as the normalized ecosystem has led to more beaver, rodents, birds of prey, foxes, weasels, bears and pronghorns at the expense of coyotes and elk that had grown disproportionately because the wolves were not there.
The death of O-Six changed the dynamics of what was now a national debate. Six months later, Fish and Wildlife proposed de-listing the species in the lower 48. After over a million comments, they withdrew the proposal. An attempt to sneak anti-wolf language into a budget proposal failed. The story closes with the Park Service honoring Rick McIntyre on his twentieth-year of contributions to the Wolf Project and with his lecture about O-Six and her grand-parents, 21 and 42, and their long years together. Having made the wolves of Yellowstone world famous and a national concern, perhaps Rick didn't need all his notes for a book after all. This is a beautifully told, wonderful narrative and in my opinion (concededly urban and as one who has never fired a rifle hunting), well worth a read.
*Wolves have apparently always been active in northern Minnesota and the UP of Michigan.
Much of the book is focused on an alpha female, O-Six, who gained national fame about a decade ago because she lived in Yellowstone, was not fearful of humans, and was spotted almost daily hunting, raising her cubs and patrolling her territory. Her efforts were observed by the park's legendary ranger, Rick McIntyre, who went fifteen years in a row without missing a day, who compiled notes on the wolves of over 5 million words, and who holds the record of 891 straight days with a sighting. O-Six succeeded in helping her first four cubs reach yearling status, and everyone was happy when she became pregnant a second time, delivering five pups in 2011. The following winter, her pack faced an existential threat when 19 'Mollies' left their challenging environment in the north of the park and entered the Lamar Valley. O-Six's pack was outnumbered, she had denned and was nursing a new group of pups. She launched herself over a line of Mollies and appeared to have disappeared over a cliff; her daughter, Middle Gray, charged off in a different direction. The effort succeeded and the confused Mollies dispersed. The following winter, Wyoming allowed unlimited wolf hunting after a long contentious battle, and O-Six was one of the first wolves shot in the state in almost a century. The death of "the most famous wolf in the world" made international headlines and was on national network news.
The wolves changed the local economies. There has been some livestock depredation, but the most important impact was the dramatic reduction of the elk herd. There once had been close to twenty-thousand elk in the area, and they were used to an easy life without predators. They were easy to hunt, supported a burgeoning hunting and guiding community, and filled many a local freezer. Reduced by two-thirds and now once again wary as prey should be, the elk went further and higher into the mountains. Idaho, Montana and Wyoming all sought to cull the wolves, and there has been considerable ongoing litigation. De-listing the wolves from the Endangered Species Act has been the objective of almost all of the locals. The conflict plays right into the century-old struggle between local authorities and the federal government over the management of government lands. It even played into control of the US Senate, as Democrat Jon Tester had to adopt an anti-wolf position in 2012 to hold off a Republican challenger. The impact on the park is called a 'trophic cascade' as the normalized ecosystem has led to more beaver, rodents, birds of prey, foxes, weasels, bears and pronghorns at the expense of coyotes and elk that had grown disproportionately because the wolves were not there.
The death of O-Six changed the dynamics of what was now a national debate. Six months later, Fish and Wildlife proposed de-listing the species in the lower 48. After over a million comments, they withdrew the proposal. An attempt to sneak anti-wolf language into a budget proposal failed. The story closes with the Park Service honoring Rick McIntyre on his twentieth-year of contributions to the Wolf Project and with his lecture about O-Six and her grand-parents, 21 and 42, and their long years together. Having made the wolves of Yellowstone world famous and a national concern, perhaps Rick didn't need all his notes for a book after all. This is a beautifully told, wonderful narrative and in my opinion (concededly urban and as one who has never fired a rifle hunting), well worth a read.
*Wolves have apparently always been active in northern Minnesota and the UP of Michigan.
Resurrection Bay, Viksic - B-
This is a pretty solid mystery set in Melbourne, and since I do not think I've read a novel set in Australia in ages, that is a good thing. The protagonist is a late-30's security consultant who just happens to be deaf. He was six when he lost his hearing due to a case of meningitis. His ex is a gorgeous Aborigine who helps him out when one of his buddies and business associates is murdered. There is a bit of exploration of the plight of indigenous people, as well as deaf issues, thus making this a cut above the usual stuff I knock off in a day. But, just a cut.
Race To Judgement, Block - B
The author of this novel has a rather unique perspective on the events he portrays. He is a federal trial judge in the Eastern District of NY (EDNY), better known as Brooklyn. He tells the story of a very well-educated black trial lawyer who opposes the tyrannical goings on in the Brooklyn DA's office. His knowledge of the borough, its buildings and geography, and the ins and outs of the criminal justice system is sublime. He explores the fault line between Brooklyn's black community and the police, as well as the connivance between the city's establishment and Brooklyn's vast Hasidic community. There are a couple of fascinating trials and a DA's race, all based on actual facts. It's a very nicely done read, a bit weak on plot and character, but absolutely great on the law.
4.10.2018
Adenauer: The Father of the New Germany, Williams - B -
Konrad Adenauer was born to Catholic parents in Cologne in 1876. His upbringing was very strict and traditional. At 21, he completed university in Bonn, and after a four-year apprenticeship, became a lawyer. In 1906, he married Emma Weyer. Three years later, his first child was born and he entered politics, becoming the Deputy Mayor of Cologne. Tragedy struck the young family when Emma was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1912. Nonetheless, Adenauer performed well throughout the war, during which Cologne was a major supply depot and support area for the Army, and was rewarded with election to the mayoralty in 1917.
The end of the war brought chaos, revolution and an occupation by the British. Adenauer played his hand well and rose to national prominence in the new Weimar Republic. At issue throughout the 1920's was France's desire to occupy the Rhineland and create a buffer between herself and the Prussians. When reparation payments faltered, France occupied the Ruhr valley. The Germans and the Allies debated endlessly about security and disarmament throughout the decade. The Germans wanted autonomy and the French assurances. Finally, in 1926, the British left Cologne; the French stayed in the Ruhr for four more years. Adenauer had worked closely with the British, but made a churlish speech upon their departure, forever earning their enmity. As the Depression took its toll, the Nazis rose to power and Adenauer was at least modestly complicit in accepting them as an antidote to the communists. That said, he offended Hitler and by March 1933, the fifty-seven-year-old was unemployed and without a penny to his name.
Afraid for his life, he took refuge in a Benedictine Abbey. His second wife, Gussi, remained in Cologne with their children. There then ensued three years of avoiding the Gestapo's attention and attempting to obtain some restitution from Cologne for his dismissal. In 1937, he received a payment from the city and a pension and was able to buy a home in Rhondorf, south of Cologne, where he and his family would live for the next thirty years. The Adenauer's settled into a comfortable retirement and no longer merited Nazi attention. After the failure of the Stauffenberg Plot in 1944, all the usual suspects, including Adenauer, were rounded up. With sons in the military, he was reprieved, survived the war and was asked by the Americans to resume as mayor, which he did in May 1945.
Cologne was in the British Zone and Adenauer was soon sacked. Free of responsibility, he had the time to participate in the founding of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Germany's center-right political party. He also began to reach out to the French to discuss his thoughts on their security needs, the centerpiece of which was the establishment of a Germany with a political focus on its non-Prussian heritage as well as the economic integration of the two countries. The Federal Republic of Germany was created in May, 1949. He was elected Chancellor of West Germany, an occupied nation with limited sovereignty. A few years later, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman of France proposed a Franco-German coal and steel integration that led to the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty in 1951. Soon the Allied occupation ended, a financial settlement with Israel was reached, and full independence and participation in NATO were accomplished. Approaching eighty, he had brought W. Germany back into the concert of nations. His last years in office were dominated by Berlin and Khrushchev's desire to stir the pot; he ultimately fell in October, 1963 for deciding to side with de Gaulle's opposition to Britain's joining the EEC. In retirement, he tried but failed to influence the policies of his successor, published his memoirs, and visited Israel and Spain. He died in April, 1967 and is buried at his home.
How the biography of a man voted in 2003 as the greatest German of all time, a man whose career started when TR was in the White House and whose funeral was attended by LBJ could be so boring is hard to fathom. Clearly, he was a bit stiff and colorless, but he lived through some of the most momentous times in German history and was almost always on the right side of history. His anti-communist instincts rivaled Churchill's. I think Wikipedia prevails in a head-to-head competition here.
The end of the war brought chaos, revolution and an occupation by the British. Adenauer played his hand well and rose to national prominence in the new Weimar Republic. At issue throughout the 1920's was France's desire to occupy the Rhineland and create a buffer between herself and the Prussians. When reparation payments faltered, France occupied the Ruhr valley. The Germans and the Allies debated endlessly about security and disarmament throughout the decade. The Germans wanted autonomy and the French assurances. Finally, in 1926, the British left Cologne; the French stayed in the Ruhr for four more years. Adenauer had worked closely with the British, but made a churlish speech upon their departure, forever earning their enmity. As the Depression took its toll, the Nazis rose to power and Adenauer was at least modestly complicit in accepting them as an antidote to the communists. That said, he offended Hitler and by March 1933, the fifty-seven-year-old was unemployed and without a penny to his name.
Afraid for his life, he took refuge in a Benedictine Abbey. His second wife, Gussi, remained in Cologne with their children. There then ensued three years of avoiding the Gestapo's attention and attempting to obtain some restitution from Cologne for his dismissal. In 1937, he received a payment from the city and a pension and was able to buy a home in Rhondorf, south of Cologne, where he and his family would live for the next thirty years. The Adenauer's settled into a comfortable retirement and no longer merited Nazi attention. After the failure of the Stauffenberg Plot in 1944, all the usual suspects, including Adenauer, were rounded up. With sons in the military, he was reprieved, survived the war and was asked by the Americans to resume as mayor, which he did in May 1945.
Cologne was in the British Zone and Adenauer was soon sacked. Free of responsibility, he had the time to participate in the founding of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Germany's center-right political party. He also began to reach out to the French to discuss his thoughts on their security needs, the centerpiece of which was the establishment of a Germany with a political focus on its non-Prussian heritage as well as the economic integration of the two countries. The Federal Republic of Germany was created in May, 1949. He was elected Chancellor of West Germany, an occupied nation with limited sovereignty. A few years later, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman of France proposed a Franco-German coal and steel integration that led to the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty in 1951. Soon the Allied occupation ended, a financial settlement with Israel was reached, and full independence and participation in NATO were accomplished. Approaching eighty, he had brought W. Germany back into the concert of nations. His last years in office were dominated by Berlin and Khrushchev's desire to stir the pot; he ultimately fell in October, 1963 for deciding to side with de Gaulle's opposition to Britain's joining the EEC. In retirement, he tried but failed to influence the policies of his successor, published his memoirs, and visited Israel and Spain. He died in April, 1967 and is buried at his home.
How the biography of a man voted in 2003 as the greatest German of all time, a man whose career started when TR was in the White House and whose funeral was attended by LBJ could be so boring is hard to fathom. Clearly, he was a bit stiff and colorless, but he lived through some of the most momentous times in German history and was almost always on the right side of history. His anti-communist instincts rivaled Churchill's. I think Wikipedia prevails in a head-to-head competition here.
The Guns Of Navarone, Maclean - B-
I was a 12-year-old when I saw this in a theater with my father. It, along with two other films I saw when I was becoming something other than a child, is forever seared in my memory, thus making it difficult to read this novel. It clearly lacks the immediacy of his debut, 'HMS Ulysses'. But it is a very well-written story, telling a good tale and defining interesting characters: Mallory—Gregory Peck—is a peerless leader, a man among men, and Andrea—Anthony Quinn—is a skillful, avenging Greek superman. Their struggles getting onto the island of Navarone and in touch with the local resistance take up well over half the book, and my recollection is that significantly less time was spent on that in the film. From there, the book and the movie diverge even more. Maclean was not the screenwriter and, as is often the case, the storyline goes off in a different direction. Of course, they succeed in their mission. However, I am left with the quandary of what to do about the other Maclean novels I optimistically downloaded, as this, and I suspect they, are just good, not great tales.
Greeks Bearing Gifts, Kerr - B
After thirteen novels in the Bernie Gunther series, it seems as if the author is getting better at historical background and weaker at mystery plotting. Here, we find Gunther in Athens working as a claims adjuster for Munich Re, trying to ascertain if a specific lost boat merits a payment. Along the way, we are treated to a lengthy exposé of Nazi atrocities, particularly in Salonica, and an interesting discourse on West Germany's return to respectability in the 1950's. We know that W. Germany was a necessary bulwark against the USSR and much was forgiven and forgotten because of that. The author is very harsh in his comments of Adenauer's policies ending denazification.
4.02.2018
Destined For War: Can America And China Escape The Thucydides's Trap, Allison - A*
"It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable." Thus wrote Thucydides about the Peloponnesian War 2500 years ago. The author's project at Harvard's Kennedy School identified sixteen examples of a power rising to challenge the established order and a dozen of them ended in war. Thus, this is a book about the impact of a rising China on the US and the global order and how to avoid the trap. It was the prime issue in a conversation that Obama and Xi had in Palm Springs, CA in 2015.
At some stage in the last few years, China surpassed the US economically. We are in second place after 150 years of being number one. China is close to catching us militarily in Asia and more importantly, wields and will continue to wield extraordinary economic power. We have declined to participate in the TPP, while their One Belt One Road projects throughout Eurasia are already twelve times the size of the Marshall Plan.
The author explores the rivalries between Athens/Sparta, Hapsburg Empire/France, Holland/England, Germany/France, and Japan/US. The common themes are entitlement, decline, fear, hubris and honor—all leading to war. He then turns to the granddaddy of them all: Germany/Britain. The UK's ministers were most concerned about Germany's 'capabilities' for it was not Wilhelm's occasional bellicosity, but rather the military's potential that caused fear for the well-being of the Empire. And it was not the German army or growing economy that frightened Great Britain, but its Navy. A challenge to the supremacy of the Royal Navy was a threat aimed at the heart of Great Britain. Germany had overtaken Britain economically in a mere generation; it had happened literally overnight. Both sides knew there were risks but neither was able to avoid the conflict. I will interject here though, that it was a time when total war was still considered a viable option as part of a nation's foreign policy agenda.
He then turns to America's rise 120 years ago and writes at length at what can only be called warmongering by TR. In bit more than a decade, we constructed twenty-five battleships, and Teddy steamed them around the world. Concluding that there was no point in fighting us, the British Foreign Office decided that 'accommodation' made the most strategic sense.
Under Xi, China today wants "to be rich, to be powerful and to be respected." The Chinese view their past as thousands of years of success, followed by a century of western-and Japanese-imposed humiliation. The CCP was able to evict the foreigners and end the subjugation. For the last thirty-five years, the Party has propelled China to its place of economic preeminence. And in that place atop the pyramid, they take the position that Asia is to be managed by Asians, and that America's role must recede. China's military focus on denying access to their coast has already made it problematical for the US Navy to operate within a thousand miles of it. Many believe that in a conventional war, China could 'fight and win'.
Our cultural differences are massive. We are Judeo-Christian, Greco-Roman and clearly Western; they are Confucian. We view government as a necessary evil; they view it as a necessity. We cherish the individual; they, the collective. We believe in propagating democracy; they deeply resent our endless preaching. We treasure the diversity of our people; they are almost all Han Chinese. Our time horizon is the next quarter; theirs is a century. The American focus on a 'rule-based order' is offensive because the Chinese had no say in making the rules. And, they view Obama's 'pivot' as a direct threat to their security because it implies we will not respect or accept their worldview.
Red China has twice attacked a superior force. In 1950, Mao attacked the US in Korea when MacArthur approached the Yalu River. In 1969, he escalated tensions and attacked the Soviets during a border dispute on the Amur River. The author sees them willing to do so again in their expansive definition of the South China Sea, over the Korean peninsula, over a Taiwanese move to independence and over the sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands. Those are just the obvious possibilities.
Turning to the cases where the trap did not lead to war, the author analyzes four, but it is the Cold War example that resonates because Mutually Assured Destruction ruled out war, and likely should again. Add to that what some call Mutually Assured Economic Destruction because of our close ties to China, increases the hope of a peaceful resolution.
However, "[t]here is no 'solution' for the dramatic resurgence of a 5,000-year-old civilization with 1.4 billion people." Lee Kuan Yew, the late leader of Singapore, pointed out that China "will insist on being China, not an honorary member of the west." Accommodation, which is what the UK did 120 years ago when we bullied our way onto the world scene, is not appeasement and could include reducing our support for Taiwan in exchange for concessions elsewhere. Xi offered Obama an understanding at Palm Springs and he declined. Some form of detente for a generation or two could also be negotiated. Perhaps we could coordinate to combat nuclear proliferation, terrorism or climate change together. Allison's closing thought is that we need to decide what is really important to us in the western Pacific. Do we really want to go to war over Taiwan or the atolls the Chinese are building on? We need to understand China and come to grips that they are likely to be much stronger than we will be. There is no assurance that their economy will continue to grow in a straight line, but it has for quite some time. We need a long-term plan, something analogous to containment and not ad-hoc knee-jerk responses with an eye on the news cycle. Both countries should repair matters at home because neither dysfunctional 'decadent democracy' nor 'responsive authoritarianism' suppressing human nature is fit to manage the future's challenges. The author closes with Shakespeare: our destiny "lies not in our stars, but in ourselves." I believe this is a must-read and a great book. It is brief, well-written, thoughtful about the past and insightful about the future.
At some stage in the last few years, China surpassed the US economically. We are in second place after 150 years of being number one. China is close to catching us militarily in Asia and more importantly, wields and will continue to wield extraordinary economic power. We have declined to participate in the TPP, while their One Belt One Road projects throughout Eurasia are already twelve times the size of the Marshall Plan.
The author explores the rivalries between Athens/Sparta, Hapsburg Empire/France, Holland/England, Germany/France, and Japan/US. The common themes are entitlement, decline, fear, hubris and honor—all leading to war. He then turns to the granddaddy of them all: Germany/Britain. The UK's ministers were most concerned about Germany's 'capabilities' for it was not Wilhelm's occasional bellicosity, but rather the military's potential that caused fear for the well-being of the Empire. And it was not the German army or growing economy that frightened Great Britain, but its Navy. A challenge to the supremacy of the Royal Navy was a threat aimed at the heart of Great Britain. Germany had overtaken Britain economically in a mere generation; it had happened literally overnight. Both sides knew there were risks but neither was able to avoid the conflict. I will interject here though, that it was a time when total war was still considered a viable option as part of a nation's foreign policy agenda.
He then turns to America's rise 120 years ago and writes at length at what can only be called warmongering by TR. In bit more than a decade, we constructed twenty-five battleships, and Teddy steamed them around the world. Concluding that there was no point in fighting us, the British Foreign Office decided that 'accommodation' made the most strategic sense.
Under Xi, China today wants "to be rich, to be powerful and to be respected." The Chinese view their past as thousands of years of success, followed by a century of western-and Japanese-imposed humiliation. The CCP was able to evict the foreigners and end the subjugation. For the last thirty-five years, the Party has propelled China to its place of economic preeminence. And in that place atop the pyramid, they take the position that Asia is to be managed by Asians, and that America's role must recede. China's military focus on denying access to their coast has already made it problematical for the US Navy to operate within a thousand miles of it. Many believe that in a conventional war, China could 'fight and win'.
Our cultural differences are massive. We are Judeo-Christian, Greco-Roman and clearly Western; they are Confucian. We view government as a necessary evil; they view it as a necessity. We cherish the individual; they, the collective. We believe in propagating democracy; they deeply resent our endless preaching. We treasure the diversity of our people; they are almost all Han Chinese. Our time horizon is the next quarter; theirs is a century. The American focus on a 'rule-based order' is offensive because the Chinese had no say in making the rules. And, they view Obama's 'pivot' as a direct threat to their security because it implies we will not respect or accept their worldview.
Red China has twice attacked a superior force. In 1950, Mao attacked the US in Korea when MacArthur approached the Yalu River. In 1969, he escalated tensions and attacked the Soviets during a border dispute on the Amur River. The author sees them willing to do so again in their expansive definition of the South China Sea, over the Korean peninsula, over a Taiwanese move to independence and over the sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands. Those are just the obvious possibilities.
Turning to the cases where the trap did not lead to war, the author analyzes four, but it is the Cold War example that resonates because Mutually Assured Destruction ruled out war, and likely should again. Add to that what some call Mutually Assured Economic Destruction because of our close ties to China, increases the hope of a peaceful resolution.
However, "[t]here is no 'solution' for the dramatic resurgence of a 5,000-year-old civilization with 1.4 billion people." Lee Kuan Yew, the late leader of Singapore, pointed out that China "will insist on being China, not an honorary member of the west." Accommodation, which is what the UK did 120 years ago when we bullied our way onto the world scene, is not appeasement and could include reducing our support for Taiwan in exchange for concessions elsewhere. Xi offered Obama an understanding at Palm Springs and he declined. Some form of detente for a generation or two could also be negotiated. Perhaps we could coordinate to combat nuclear proliferation, terrorism or climate change together. Allison's closing thought is that we need to decide what is really important to us in the western Pacific. Do we really want to go to war over Taiwan or the atolls the Chinese are building on? We need to understand China and come to grips that they are likely to be much stronger than we will be. There is no assurance that their economy will continue to grow in a straight line, but it has for quite some time. We need a long-term plan, something analogous to containment and not ad-hoc knee-jerk responses with an eye on the news cycle. Both countries should repair matters at home because neither dysfunctional 'decadent democracy' nor 'responsive authoritarianism' suppressing human nature is fit to manage the future's challenges. The author closes with Shakespeare: our destiny "lies not in our stars, but in ourselves." I believe this is a must-read and a great book. It is brief, well-written, thoughtful about the past and insightful about the future.
When The Dead Arise, Jacobsen - B+
This fabulous novel is set in Italy and features the efforts of a young assistant prosecutor pursuing a vicious series of crimes attributable to the Camorra. Since one of the victims was her father, a general in the national police, her motive is not just ambition, but ambition spiced with revenge. The plot is complex, believable and filled with a fantastic cast of characters: an old commanding mafia don, his Albanian henchman, a mysterious assassin, a famous fashion designer, an equally famous scientist and motorbike enthusiast, a driven prosecutor and Sabrina D'Avalo, a worthy heroine. This is fun for all.
Mephisto Waltz, Tallis - C+
Max Lieberman and Oskar Reinhard are friends in 1904 Vienna. Max is a psychiatrist who helps out Oskar, a detective with the Security Office. The plot involves anarchists/socialists planning to bomb a gathering of high ranking civil servants and an archduke. The author does a nice job setting up the time and place, but fails to deliver an interesting storyline and dumbs down the whole book with constant inane asides. For example, Ferry Porsche, who apparently was a driver for the royal family, appears for a moment and Reinhard says he can't see the automobile catching on. Porsche's appearance is interesting—the comment takes away from it.
3.23.2018
HMS Ulysses, Maclean - A*
This book is the 1955 debut novel of noted WWII storyteller Alistair Maclean. I believe that much of his later material, often made into movies, had a bit more emphasis on the fiction, whereas this is based on his real life experience as a seaman on the Murmansk run. Less important than the Battle of the Atlantic or supplying the Royal Army in Africa and Europe, the convoys north were often comprised of rust buckets manned by men worn to exhaustion and in the most disagreeable weather imaginable--weather so horrific that no one ever changed and men slept fully dressed. The novel concerns the Ulysses, a light cruiser with over 700 aboard. The wind, sea and cold faced by the crew assaulted the body and mind. The ship itself, coated in 300 tons of ice, was as numbed as the men aboard it. The convoy escort left Scapa Flow on a Monday morning and by Tuesday afternoon, off the coast of Iceland, half of their ships were so battered, that they were ordered home. "What nobody had any means of guessing, was that this howling gale was still only the deadly overture...At 22:30, the Ulysses crossed the Arctic Circle. The monster struck." They spent a night fighting towering seas, 10 degrees weather and 120 mph winds. On Wednesday morning, the escorts met their convoy in the Norwegian Sea. Twenty-four hours later, the subs took out an escort carrier. The following dawn, a wolf-pack sunk 6 of the 18 merchantmen, and a German cruiser, with a radar system immeasurably better than the Royal Navy had assumed they had, holed the Ulysses, taking out all of its radar capabilities. By Saturday, a mere 36 hours from the safety of the Kola peninsula, the convoy's thirty-six ships were reduced to twelve; they had fired their last depth charges. Despair, exhaustion, starvation and fear were the orders of the day. An attack by dive bombers hits the Ulysses with a bomb and one of the planes, a Focke-Wulf Condor crashed into the ship. About the only things working on the ship were the engines. All day and into the night the bombers kept coming after the defenseless convoy. Even a German surface marauder joined the fray. On Sunday, five ships entered the harbor at Murmansk.
I believe this is one of the finest novels I have ever read. Each chapter, indeed almost each page, is superb in its telling of the hardships endured and the strength of the men enduring. I believe the dangers of a Arctic convoy will be seared in my memory for some time. There is a description of men thrown into the freezing sea to be either drowned or incinerated in a blazing oil fire that could provoke nightmares. A lifeboat is found with all aboard frozen solid and still drifting; an eighteen-year-old floods a powder magazine knowing he can't escape with the bulkheads battered closed. I am astounded at the excellence of the telling and the horror of this experience.
I believe this is one of the finest novels I have ever read. Each chapter, indeed almost each page, is superb in its telling of the hardships endured and the strength of the men enduring. I believe the dangers of a Arctic convoy will be seared in my memory for some time. There is a description of men thrown into the freezing sea to be either drowned or incinerated in a blazing oil fire that could provoke nightmares. A lifeboat is found with all aboard frozen solid and still drifting; an eighteen-year-old floods a powder magazine knowing he can't escape with the bulkheads battered closed. I am astounded at the excellence of the telling and the horror of this experience.
The Lost City Of The Monkey God, Preston - B
Rumors of the mysterious city in the deep jungle of what is now Honduras have existed since Cortez penned a letter about it in the 16th century. Over the years, various attempts have been made to find it, but usually the murderous jungle stopped all seekers. Deadly snakes, ants, flies and creatures of all sorts make the locale truly inhospitable to human inquiry. In the late 30's, an American claimed to have found the outer walls, but offered no proof and did not disclose the location. A Californian named Steve Elkins has been the motivating force behind the actual recent finding of the White City.
Elkins took his first trip deep into the jungle in 1994. He realized that aimlessly hacking through the jungle was a pointless exercise. He hired the Jet Propulsion Lab to study satellite imagery and they found a walled-off valley that they labelled Target One, T1. A hurricane, which led to major economic and political failures in the banana republic, delayed action into the new century. Improvements in technology led to a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) search in 2012 that concluded that not only at T1 but also at T3, there were hundreds of acres of now-covered man-made improvements. Three years later, assisted by the Honduran military a team consisting of archaeologists, a film crew, the author (working for 'New Yorker'), a 'National Geographic' photographer, three British SAS jungle specialists and various other support personnel, helicoptered into the T1 valley. It was a lost paradise that appeared to have not been visited by humans in eons. They found a complex, sophisticated and unique city beneath the extensive foliage and, after the strong encouragement of the archaeologists, left everything untouched. The first expedition had established T1 as an important site and a quick flyover of T3 pointed to an equally important and larger city a few miles north. The Honduran government vowed to protect the sites from looters and deforestation, while international conservation organizations volunteered to raise money. A handful of the Americans, two of the British and the majority of the Honduran explorers came down with leishmaniasis, a deadly and disfiguring tropical disease. The Americans were treated at the NIH and the author was one of the lucky ones, as his disease went into remission. Some of the others were permanently disabled by the disease. In the following years, 'Leish' affected almost all of the military teams assigned to protect the site. The Honduran state has committed resources to and has staked the nation's reputation on the proper archaeological exploration of T1. Indeed, in 2016, the Honduran president extracted the first pottery from the site and renamed the valley the City of the Jaguar. It is expected to take centuries to fully explore the city assuming that disease doesn't prohibit man's ability to explore there. The author closes with the question of what happened to the original inhabitants. Since their desertion of the valley is traced to 1500, there is only one reasonable conclusion: like 90% of pre-Columbian America, they succumbed to western diseases.
Elkins took his first trip deep into the jungle in 1994. He realized that aimlessly hacking through the jungle was a pointless exercise. He hired the Jet Propulsion Lab to study satellite imagery and they found a walled-off valley that they labelled Target One, T1. A hurricane, which led to major economic and political failures in the banana republic, delayed action into the new century. Improvements in technology led to a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) search in 2012 that concluded that not only at T1 but also at T3, there were hundreds of acres of now-covered man-made improvements. Three years later, assisted by the Honduran military a team consisting of archaeologists, a film crew, the author (working for 'New Yorker'), a 'National Geographic' photographer, three British SAS jungle specialists and various other support personnel, helicoptered into the T1 valley. It was a lost paradise that appeared to have not been visited by humans in eons. They found a complex, sophisticated and unique city beneath the extensive foliage and, after the strong encouragement of the archaeologists, left everything untouched. The first expedition had established T1 as an important site and a quick flyover of T3 pointed to an equally important and larger city a few miles north. The Honduran government vowed to protect the sites from looters and deforestation, while international conservation organizations volunteered to raise money. A handful of the Americans, two of the British and the majority of the Honduran explorers came down with leishmaniasis, a deadly and disfiguring tropical disease. The Americans were treated at the NIH and the author was one of the lucky ones, as his disease went into remission. Some of the others were permanently disabled by the disease. In the following years, 'Leish' affected almost all of the military teams assigned to protect the site. The Honduran state has committed resources to and has staked the nation's reputation on the proper archaeological exploration of T1. Indeed, in 2016, the Honduran president extracted the first pottery from the site and renamed the valley the City of the Jaguar. It is expected to take centuries to fully explore the city assuming that disease doesn't prohibit man's ability to explore there. The author closes with the question of what happened to the original inhabitants. Since their desertion of the valley is traced to 1500, there is only one reasonable conclusion: like 90% of pre-Columbian America, they succumbed to western diseases.
The Ninth Hour, McDermott - B+
This novel, a NYT notable book for 2017, is about Irish Catholic nuns and women in long-ago Brooklyn. Featured are the Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor. When a young, pregnant Annie's husband does the dutch act, it is the Little Sisters who come to her rescue. She goes to work at the convent's laundry and that is pretty much where young Sally is brought up. When Sally is contemplating a vocation, Sister Lucy tells her: "If we could live without suffering, we'd find no peace in heaven." Suffering, particularly a woman's in marriage, is a constant theme. Sally decides to pass on the nunnery just before she discovers that Annie's humanity doesn't fit within the strict rules of the day. And Sally's decision to help her mother is a shocking finale to this well-crafted story.
There is no exact specification of exactly when this transpired, but my guess is it is the Brooklyn of my grandparents, vague traces of which I think I remember. Annie's best-friend, Liz Tierney, wife of a doorman at the St. Francis Hotel and mother of six, makes the wittiest and most stinging observation in the book when referring to the local parish priests. "Princes of the church - spoiled children they are. The nuns keep things running."
There is no exact specification of exactly when this transpired, but my guess is it is the Brooklyn of my grandparents, vague traces of which I think I remember. Annie's best-friend, Liz Tierney, wife of a doorman at the St. Francis Hotel and mother of six, makes the wittiest and most stinging observation in the book when referring to the local parish priests. "Princes of the church - spoiled children they are. The nuns keep things running."
3.11.2018
The One Device: The Secret History Of The iPhone, Merchant - B-
"The iPhone might actually be the pinnacle highpoint of capitalism to this point." "The iPhone isn't just a tool; it's the foundational instrument of modern life." This is the story of how the iPhone was developed to became a crucial accessory currently owned by over a billion people. Steve Jobs inventing the iPhone is as mythical as Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb. It was teams deep in the organization that did the essential skunk work. In Cupertino, a group focusing on human/computer interactions (UI - user interface) began exploring touchscreens and did so with outside help. Touchscreen technology had been developing as early as thirty-years before when it was researched at CERN in Europe, but it was the UI team at Apple that perfected it. No one could quite envision a usage beyond a possible large email reader until Jobs reversed himself and announced in late 2004 that he wanted a phone. It would take years, and there would be endless issues addressed at Apple before the creation of the iPhone. The initial work was an attempt to evolve the iPod into a phone, and along the way, the marketing team insisted on a keyboard like the Blackberry. Jobs kiboshed the key board and went all in on the touchscreen. The original iPod steel case proved to inhibit phone reception and the switch to aluminum was made. The concept of combining a phone with internet access, music and unlimited apps was something that no one in particular ever envisioned. Manufacturing was done in Asia and Samsung saved the day at a late hour with a new chip to power the phone. Google contributed their maps app on a handshake deal. Corning adapted a glass it had made fifty years earlier, for which it had never found an application, for the screen. The iPhone launched in June 2007 and, as they say, the rest is history.
There are sections of this book, mostly about the mining and manufacturing that goes into the phone that I skipped. The development process was intense and took a heavy toll on the health and personal relationships of all involved. Virtually none of the senior project managers stayed at Apple. I certainly hope they all are rich. There were two facts that I found fascinating. The iPhone has the equivalent of 3.3 billion transistors in its chips. The 1969 Apollo Guidance System had 12,300. Jobs insisted that outside developers not be allowed access to app development. Almost everyone disagreed with him and, after a slow start for iPhone sales, he relented. The app store propelled sales through the roof. Apple collects 30% of whatever the apps monetize. That is now a $40B per year business.
There are sections of this book, mostly about the mining and manufacturing that goes into the phone that I skipped. The development process was intense and took a heavy toll on the health and personal relationships of all involved. Virtually none of the senior project managers stayed at Apple. I certainly hope they all are rich. There were two facts that I found fascinating. The iPhone has the equivalent of 3.3 billion transistors in its chips. The 1969 Apollo Guidance System had 12,300. Jobs insisted that outside developers not be allowed access to app development. Almost everyone disagreed with him and, after a slow start for iPhone sales, he relented. The app store propelled sales through the roof. Apple collects 30% of whatever the apps monetize. That is now a $40B per year business.
Trophy, Jacobsen - B++
This is an absolutely fabulous Danish novel that opens with an amazing prologue. A couple are hiking in the very far north of Norway in the early spring when they are kidnapped, drugged and told they are now prey for a team of hunters. The man is given a hunting rifle with three bullets and they are told to take off. The story focuses on two people investigating the event. One is a private investigator hired by the daughter of the shooter, who discovers a CD in her father's safe after his death. The other is a policewoman looking into the suicide of a Danish soldier who served in Afghanistan and was part of the hunting team. This is a helluva read with a ton of fascinating plot twists along the way. I suspect I like the stories set in the frozen north because of my affection for Colorado in the wintertime. Thanks again, Wendell. The only reason this doesn't merit an A is that I never give the thriller/police procedurals that high a grade.
Chicago, Mamet - B+
This novel is the author's homage to his hometown. Set in the late 1920's, it features Mike and Parlow, two beat writers for the Chicago Tribune whose lives and work are very different from that of their legendary editor and owner, Robert McCormick. McCormick may have dealt with the great economic and political issues of the day, but Mike and Parlow hang out with crooked cops, mobsters, prostitutes and con men as they cover street life in the city. Their focus is the murder of Jackie Weiss, a tavern owner; the role played by his moll, Lita Grey; and why the mob went after him. The lead of Mike's article is "Jackie Weiss had died of a broken heart, it being broken by several slugs from a .45." As for Jackie's establishment, the Chez Montmartre, "it purveyed edible food, and liquor which, while not imported as advertised, was sufficiently cleansed of poisons as to not induce either dementia or blindness." There was a lot going on in Chicago, and Jackie could have gotten on the wrong side of the Irish on the north side, the Italians on the south or the IRA, which was in town running guns. Mamet's way with words is extraordinary; life in the Roaring 20's was quotable and enjoyable. A great book.
2.27.2018
The Breach: Inside The Impeachment And Trial Of William Jefferson Clinton, Baker - B-
This book is somewhat reminiscent of the Clinton presidency. That is to say, it is all over the place. Rather than start with the Starr investigation as it evolved over four-and-a-half years, it jumps right into the president's grand jury testimony before Starr in 1998 and just steamrolls into the rest of the sordid affair. There is virtually no perspective. The impeachment began in late summer 1998 when Starr sent two copies of his Report to an unprepared Congress. Twenty-years ago was the beginning of the hyper-partisan permanent news cycle that was enhanced by the burgeoning internet. The Report was released online and most of the nation knew that Bill Clinton had lied in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit deposition over his inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The public didn't seem to think this rose to the level of impeachable conduct, gave the President high approval ratings and handed the Democrats an additional five House seats in the mid-terms. Those election results led to the resignation of Newt Gingrich as Speaker. Nonetheless, a little over a month later, the House Judiciary Committee voted out four articles of impeachment. The man designated as the next Speaker, Bob Livingston of Louisiana, was outed for a number of extra-marital affairs and withdrew his name from consideration on the very day the House approved two of the four articles. Thus, on December 19, 1998, Bill Clinton joined Andrew Johnson as the second president to be impeached. On January 7th, the Senate began the first impeachment trial in 131 years. The case was virtually DOA, had a few good days and wilted after Clinton's State of the Union address and Robert Byrd's motion to dismiss. The seven term Democrat was perceived to be the conscience and historian of the Senate and was known to totally despise Clinton. The motion failed, but it signified the beginning of the end. On February 12, the perjury article received 45 votes and the obstruction 50.
I read this book because twenty years ago, I was so engrossed in work that I missed a great deal of the drama. It has been helpful in filling in a lot of blanks. Bill Clinton was a serial philanderer, congenital liar and sexual predator. Comparisons to Cleveland, Harding, Roosevelt, Kennedy or Johnson fail, as I do not believe any of them were ever accused of forcing himself on anyone and none ever carried on with a White House intern. Also, after six years in Washington, it is fair to say the president was despised in the House and Senate by virtually everyone for his lack of character and inability to keep his word. As for the Republican accusers, hypocrisy is not a strong enough word to characterize their failings. Gingrich carried on a five-year affair with a staffer that featured oral sex because intercourse would constitute cheating on his second wife, with whom he had cheated on his first wife. Two decades later, the staffer, now his 3rd spouse, became the US Vicar to the Holy See. Livingston, as mentioned above, strayed from his marriage. Hyde, the Judiciary Chair, strayed from his, as did House manager Bob Barr. The Whip, Tom Delay who tirelessly rallied for impeachment, later went to jail after a felony conviction for campaign finance fraud. Prison was also the outcome for Speaker Hastert, who tried to hush up his perverted years as a boys wrestling coach. What a wealth of Depravity and Hypocrisy marching across history's pages!
I read this book because twenty years ago, I was so engrossed in work that I missed a great deal of the drama. It has been helpful in filling in a lot of blanks. Bill Clinton was a serial philanderer, congenital liar and sexual predator. Comparisons to Cleveland, Harding, Roosevelt, Kennedy or Johnson fail, as I do not believe any of them were ever accused of forcing himself on anyone and none ever carried on with a White House intern. Also, after six years in Washington, it is fair to say the president was despised in the House and Senate by virtually everyone for his lack of character and inability to keep his word. As for the Republican accusers, hypocrisy is not a strong enough word to characterize their failings. Gingrich carried on a five-year affair with a staffer that featured oral sex because intercourse would constitute cheating on his second wife, with whom he had cheated on his first wife. Two decades later, the staffer, now his 3rd spouse, became the US Vicar to the Holy See. Livingston, as mentioned above, strayed from his marriage. Hyde, the Judiciary Chair, strayed from his, as did House manager Bob Barr. The Whip, Tom Delay who tirelessly rallied for impeachment, later went to jail after a felony conviction for campaign finance fraud. Prison was also the outcome for Speaker Hastert, who tried to hush up his perverted years as a boys wrestling coach. What a wealth of Depravity and Hypocrisy marching across history's pages!
Manhattan Beach, Egan - B-
On the face of it, I should have loved this book. It's a NY Times Notable for 2017 and for some reviewers, a top ten book for the year. It is set in Brooklyn in the 1930's and during WWII. The story is about life on the docks and in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Yet, as is so often the case with me, highly acclaimed literature seldom resonates. Anna Kerrigan is devoted to her dad, the raffish bag man and employee of the International Longshoreman's Association. Eddie has many skills and is devoted to his wife and family, but life for those on the edge of edgy businesses in NY during the depression is full of risks. They eventually catch up with Eddie and Anna has to fend for herself when the war breaks out. Work at the Yard is tedious, but soon she is pioneering the role as the first woman diver amongst all the men. The book provides some fabulous insights into the city when it was at, perhaps, its most legendary height.
The Kremlin's Candidate, Matthews - B +
This book is the third and final volume in the 'Red Sparrow' trilogy. The ante has been upped because Egarova is now in the inner sanctum of the tsar of new Russia, but likely to be exposed soon when the Kremlin's candidate to replace the Director of the CIA is installed. All three books are great fun, although I think Matthews tends to run a bit long and adds too many chapters that are no more than diversions that lengthen the text.
2.18.2018
Meet You In Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, And The Bitter Partnership That Transformed America, Standiford - B
"Carnegie and Frick represent the American ethos of limitless possibility more forcefully than any fictional overachieving shoeshine boy or chimney sweep." The title of this book stems from an exchange between the two men in 1919. As Carnegie lay on his deathbed, he wrote a letter seeking a reconciliation with his former partner. Frick's response was, "Tell him I'll see him in Hell, where we both are going."
When the Carnegie family arrived in Pittsburgh in 1844, twelve -year-old Andrew went to work in a weaving mill. He was a clerk who soon caught the attention of management; he then went on to work for the Pennsylvania RR. By the time he was twenty-four, he was an executive managing the western division of the Pennsy. He profited from an investment in an oil company and founded Cyclops Iron Co. with his brother. He started in the steel business with the construction of the Edgar Thomson Mill. Henry Clay Frick was American-born and, through a cousin, got into the coking business. He became known as the 'King of Coke' and in 1882, signed a deal whereby he became Carnegie's exclusive supplier. When younger brother, Tom Carnegie, died, Andrew brought in Frick as a partner to run Carnegie Steel. The company became the most successful in the world.
The summer of 1892 saw an event that would lead to a falling out between the two men and go down as one of the lowest points in American labor history. The contract at the Homestead Works expired and Frick announced the company would no longer negotiate with the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. As was his practice, Carnegie was in Scotland for the summer. In preparation for what he assumed would be a long struggle, Frick hired three hundred Pinkertons. A headline in the Pittsburgh Post said : IT LOOKS LIKE WAR. Frick locked out the workers on June 30 and shut down the works. When the Pinkertons attempted to land their two barges from the Monongahela on July 6, a day long gun battle erupted. Six workers and two Pinkerton's died and scores were wounded, before the Pinkertons surrendered and were escorted out of Homestead by the sheriff of Allegheny County. Less than a week later, Homestead was occupied by the Pennsylvania National Guard. Warrants were issued for the arrests of seven of the strike leaders for murder. An anarchist from out of town strode into Frick's office and fired two shots, injuring him. Slowly, the mill came back on line with substitute workers and those who chose to accept the new terms without the union's approval. In October, twenty-seven union leaders were indicted for treason and Frick and a handful of the officers were indicted for murder. In November, the union capitulated and thousands of men returned to work. Three workers were acquitted at their murder trial and all other charges were dropped.
More than half of the states adopted laws prohibiting the hiring of private police during labor disputes. Although the majority of the nation was opposed to Carnegie and Frick, they succeeded in burying the union. Indeed, US Steel wouldn't recognize a labor union until 1937. The strike was the beginning of the end of Carnegie's and Frick's relationship, as Carnegie attempted to distance himself from the violence. The final break came in 1900 when Frick Coke and Carnegie Steel were merged and Frick walked away with $31m. Two years later, Carnegie accepted JPMorgan's offer to create USSteel and walked away with $225m. The two extremely philanthropic men died two weeks apart in 1919. The industry they had created would dominate America and the world until the 1960's. The charities they created and nurtured are still prospering today. Once again, thanks to Wendell Erwin for this recommendation.
When the Carnegie family arrived in Pittsburgh in 1844, twelve -year-old Andrew went to work in a weaving mill. He was a clerk who soon caught the attention of management; he then went on to work for the Pennsylvania RR. By the time he was twenty-four, he was an executive managing the western division of the Pennsy. He profited from an investment in an oil company and founded Cyclops Iron Co. with his brother. He started in the steel business with the construction of the Edgar Thomson Mill. Henry Clay Frick was American-born and, through a cousin, got into the coking business. He became known as the 'King of Coke' and in 1882, signed a deal whereby he became Carnegie's exclusive supplier. When younger brother, Tom Carnegie, died, Andrew brought in Frick as a partner to run Carnegie Steel. The company became the most successful in the world.
The summer of 1892 saw an event that would lead to a falling out between the two men and go down as one of the lowest points in American labor history. The contract at the Homestead Works expired and Frick announced the company would no longer negotiate with the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. As was his practice, Carnegie was in Scotland for the summer. In preparation for what he assumed would be a long struggle, Frick hired three hundred Pinkertons. A headline in the Pittsburgh Post said : IT LOOKS LIKE WAR. Frick locked out the workers on June 30 and shut down the works. When the Pinkertons attempted to land their two barges from the Monongahela on July 6, a day long gun battle erupted. Six workers and two Pinkerton's died and scores were wounded, before the Pinkertons surrendered and were escorted out of Homestead by the sheriff of Allegheny County. Less than a week later, Homestead was occupied by the Pennsylvania National Guard. Warrants were issued for the arrests of seven of the strike leaders for murder. An anarchist from out of town strode into Frick's office and fired two shots, injuring him. Slowly, the mill came back on line with substitute workers and those who chose to accept the new terms without the union's approval. In October, twenty-seven union leaders were indicted for treason and Frick and a handful of the officers were indicted for murder. In November, the union capitulated and thousands of men returned to work. Three workers were acquitted at their murder trial and all other charges were dropped.
More than half of the states adopted laws prohibiting the hiring of private police during labor disputes. Although the majority of the nation was opposed to Carnegie and Frick, they succeeded in burying the union. Indeed, US Steel wouldn't recognize a labor union until 1937. The strike was the beginning of the end of Carnegie's and Frick's relationship, as Carnegie attempted to distance himself from the violence. The final break came in 1900 when Frick Coke and Carnegie Steel were merged and Frick walked away with $31m. Two years later, Carnegie accepted JPMorgan's offer to create USSteel and walked away with $225m. The two extremely philanthropic men died two weeks apart in 1919. The industry they had created would dominate America and the world until the 1960's. The charities they created and nurtured are still prospering today. Once again, thanks to Wendell Erwin for this recommendation.
The Spy's Daughter, Brookes - B+
This, the third book in this series, confirms the author as an up-and-comer in the spy thriller genre. Following up on a name and address from the previous book, Mangan obtains a lead in Suriname that brings him to Washington, D.C., where he and Patterson unearth a plot by the Chinese to use the talents of a college student with a brilliant mind and a job at a firm that focuses on AI. Young Pearl was brought to he US by her parents as part of a long-term sleeper program. The author explores the depths of China's efforts to take on the US, as well as the total cynicism and lack of morality that drive the big spy agencies.
Bonfire, Ritter - B
This is an interesting novel that combines a legal investigation with a coming of age story. A young Chicago lawyer returns to her hometown in Indiana to work on a potential environmental case as part of a team investigating illegal contaminants in the local water supply. Returning home also involves revisiting all that she hated about growing up in a small town in the early oughts. There is a tie-in between the plastic company polluting the reservoir, the 'game' from back in the day and one of her high school friends. This is a debut novel, and as is so often the case, the author struggled with the ending.
The Shadow District, Indridason - C +
The author, Iceland's best-known crime novelist, starts a new series here featuring a detective in WWII Reykjavik. The character is interesting, but the story in this one just flops. My only worthwhile takeaway is that I've learned that Iceland was occupied by the British, then the US, and declared its independence from Denmark establishing a new republic in June, 1944.
2.11.2018
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, Egan - B
"This story takes you beneath the lakes' shimmering surface and illuminates an ongoing and unparalleled ecological unravelling of what is arguably North America's most precious natural resource." Saved from a century of industrial pollution by the Clean Water Act, the Lakes are now home to 186 nonnative species because the EPA allowed seafaring ships to dump their ballast water, thus introducing, among other species, two small mussels, the zebra and quagga. The mussels have cleansed the water, but killed native fish populations and have spread west into the Mississippi basin because of the Chicago Sanitary Canal.
Prior to the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway lock system that opened up the Lakes to traffic from the Atlantic, the Lakes were isolated by Niagara Falls and the drop of almost 800 feet from the midwest to sea level. The only breach of that defense had been the Erie Canal and it is believed that the canal was the route taken to the Lakes by the sea-lamprey, which virtually eliminated the lake trout in the 1930's and 40's. The alewife followed, and by the mid-60's, alewives were 90% of the fish mass in Lake Michigan. A solution was to stock the Lakes with Pacific silver salmon, a predator fish that would feast on the alewives and was also a fun sport fish. That worked for decades until the alewives began dying off because the mussels were eating all the plankton. Without the alewives to feed on, the salmon numbers dropped precipitously. The invasive zebra mussel, a Black Sea native that arrived in ballast discharge, was first seen in the 1980's. It clogged water intake pipes and its cousin, the quagga, cleansed all the plankton in the water leaving the Lakes, particularly Michigan, clear as a glass of water and without many fish. One suggestion to solve this problem is to preclude the 'salties' from entering the Lakes, and some have pointed out that the cost of shipping goods offloaded somewhere on the St. Lawrence would be a fraction of what we've spent protecting our waters from invaders.
Another threat to the Lakes comes from the Mississippi basin, where the Asian carp has been reproducing and marching north for decades. Because of the mid-19th century Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal, which reversed the flow of the diminutive Chicago river to the south and connected the Lakes to the Des Plaines River, there is no natural barrier to keep the carp out of the Lakes. The Corps of Engineers has placed an electric barrier just south of Chicago in an attempt to keep the carp out. No one knows if it will work indefinitely, and there is serious concern about the devastation the carp would wreak on the Lakes. Conversely, the Canal also allowed the migration of the mussels into the Mississippi basin, where they are causing the same problems that they've caused in the Lakes.
As for the future, the author offers up the hope that the native fish of the Lakes are evolving, finding new food sources and making a comeback. Specifically, both whitefish and trout are reviving. There is even a chance that science can create a gene to kill the invasive species that will not harm the water or another species. Clearly, time will tell, and since the Lakes hold 20% of the world's fresh water, one can only hope that somehow we do not continue to despoil these treasures.
Prior to the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway lock system that opened up the Lakes to traffic from the Atlantic, the Lakes were isolated by Niagara Falls and the drop of almost 800 feet from the midwest to sea level. The only breach of that defense had been the Erie Canal and it is believed that the canal was the route taken to the Lakes by the sea-lamprey, which virtually eliminated the lake trout in the 1930's and 40's. The alewife followed, and by the mid-60's, alewives were 90% of the fish mass in Lake Michigan. A solution was to stock the Lakes with Pacific silver salmon, a predator fish that would feast on the alewives and was also a fun sport fish. That worked for decades until the alewives began dying off because the mussels were eating all the plankton. Without the alewives to feed on, the salmon numbers dropped precipitously. The invasive zebra mussel, a Black Sea native that arrived in ballast discharge, was first seen in the 1980's. It clogged water intake pipes and its cousin, the quagga, cleansed all the plankton in the water leaving the Lakes, particularly Michigan, clear as a glass of water and without many fish. One suggestion to solve this problem is to preclude the 'salties' from entering the Lakes, and some have pointed out that the cost of shipping goods offloaded somewhere on the St. Lawrence would be a fraction of what we've spent protecting our waters from invaders.
Another threat to the Lakes comes from the Mississippi basin, where the Asian carp has been reproducing and marching north for decades. Because of the mid-19th century Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal, which reversed the flow of the diminutive Chicago river to the south and connected the Lakes to the Des Plaines River, there is no natural barrier to keep the carp out of the Lakes. The Corps of Engineers has placed an electric barrier just south of Chicago in an attempt to keep the carp out. No one knows if it will work indefinitely, and there is serious concern about the devastation the carp would wreak on the Lakes. Conversely, the Canal also allowed the migration of the mussels into the Mississippi basin, where they are causing the same problems that they've caused in the Lakes.
As for the future, the author offers up the hope that the native fish of the Lakes are evolving, finding new food sources and making a comeback. Specifically, both whitefish and trout are reviving. There is even a chance that science can create a gene to kill the invasive species that will not harm the water or another species. Clearly, time will tell, and since the Lakes hold 20% of the world's fresh water, one can only hope that somehow we do not continue to despoil these treasures.
The Gate Keeper, Todd - B+
This is the 20th book in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series; it is set in the week before Christmas in 1920. I have praised the authors in the past for their fine understanding of the Great War and its impact on post-war English society. Unlike many of its predecessors, this book's plot does not hinge on the war, but a matter much older, the death of a soldier in the Boer War. These stories are almost always excellent and it is fun to read a book where instead of instant communications and information, the protagonist tries to solve multiple murders in a village with a single telephone.
Righteous, Ide - B-
This is the second novel in the Isaiah Quintabe series, but sadly, it is not as good as the debut. The author develops the character well, but the overall story is not as strong as the first. Isaiah is asked by his late brother's former girlfriend to help her Las Vegas-based half-sister who is in serious debt to a loan shark and being chased by Chinese triads. It's an interesting diversion but not much more.
2.04.2018
Jefferson: Architect Of American Liberty, Boles - B +
A special thanks to Wendell Erwin for not just recommending this book, but for giving me a hardcover copy with a personal dedication by the author, a professor at Rice University. Boles is a graduate of the University of Virginia and seeks a middle ground in analyzing our most complex president, doing so in the context of his times.
Peter Jefferson purchased the land that would become Monticello a decade before his son Thomas' birth in 1843. In 1760, Thomas went to Williamsburg and spent two years at the College of William and Mary. He then undertook the study of the law and was admitted in 1765. A few years later, he was elected to the Burgesses and on New Years day in 1772, he married Martha Wayles. As political matters with the UK deteriorated, Jefferson gained some notoriety for penning a manuscript known as 'A Summary View of the Rights of British America', earning himself the sobriquet 'the pen of the American Revolution.' He was sent to Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. Virginia instructed its delegates to vote for independence. Before the drafting of the Declaration, Jefferson was working on a draft constitution for Virginia in which he proposed near universal male suffrage, the banning of the slave trade and the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. He was appointed the lead writer for the committee on the Declaration and fully ninety percent of its text is his. Perhaps the most famous words ever penned were published in his handwriting on July 4, 1776. For the next three years, he worked to build Monticello and the laws and structure of the new state of Virginia. He authored 'The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom' which, although not adopted until 1786, he considered one of the most important accomplishments his life. The war came to Virginia in 1781 and by then Jefferson was Governor, a position he held for two years. At war's end, he retired from politics and public service intent on mending his financial affairs and attending to his family. However, on Sept. 6, 1782, Martha died after asking that he never remarry and impose a stepmother on her daughters. He accepted a position in the new Congress and two years later, at the age of 41, joined by his 11 year old daughter, Martha and a few slaves, he departed as minister plenipotentiary for Paris.
Jefferson spent five years in Paris working on behalf of the US and indulging his life-long curiosity and relentless pursuit of knowledge. He paid particular attention to architectural and agrarian matters, as he accumulated ideas for the improvement of Monticello. During his stay, he published 'Notes On The State Of Virginia' in which he deplored slavery, applauded the yeoman farmer and continued his arguments for religious freedom of conscience. He was absent throughout the Constitutional Convention and was only able to offer his ideas in writing, often long after the fact. In France, he saw the emerging revolution first hand before he returned to America in late 1789. He wanted to take his daughters to Virginia so they could learn the necessary skills to run an American household. Both James Hemings, a trained French chef and his sister, Sally, the girl's bilingual ladies maid, and, certainly by then, Jefferson's lover, received certain promises from Jefferson to assure their return. In Sally's instance, it was that any children she should have would be freed at their maturity.
Upon his return, he was offered and accepted the position of Secretary of State. In the first months, he brokered the deal between Madison and Hamilton that led to the assumption by the US of the states' debts in exchange for the removal of the capitol to the Potomac. Washington's first term became a battleground between Jefferson and Hamilton, who were almost always diametrically opposed on the issues facing the new nation. Longing for Monticello, he resigned at the end of 1793. He was home for the next three years, fathering his first two children with Sally, experimenting continually with the farming operation and expanding and building Monticello, which was not 'completed' until 1809. His idyll ended when he was elected Vice-President and returned to Philadelphia in March, 1797. His goal was to limit his activities to his constitutional role as president of the Senate. However, the Sedition Act of 1796 forced him to argue against the centralizing policies of the Federalists, in particular Hamilton's sponsorship of a standing army. As the election of 1800 approached, he was the leading light of the Republicans and actively pursued the presidency. In a bizarre election, he and fellow Republican, Aaron Burr tied in the electoral college. After thirty-seven votes in the House, Jefferson prevailed and became our third president. His goals were to prove he was no Jacobin radical and to stem the incredibly virulent partisanship of the day.
Although be believed in a less centralized state than many in the Federalist party, he did pursue a more active role than his predecessors by actually suggesting legislation, meeting often with his cabinet and generally, spending more time in the capital and working very hard. In some correspondence early in his term, he used the phrase "a wall of separation between Church and State." He suggested the creation of West Point as a military academy with a focus on engineering and was instrumental in establishing the Library of Congress. He prosecuted an undeclared war for four years against the Barbary pirates. The year 1803 saw both the completion of the Louisiana Purchase and the departure of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, perhaps the two most memorable events of his presidency. The following year, he was re-elected in an electoral landslide. His second term was marred by Aaron Burr's plot to raise a rebellion in the west and America's struggle to maintain a neutral stance in the latest European conflagration. Britain's harsh treatment of American shipping led to Jefferson and Congress closing American ports to European trade. The Embargo was both ineffective and unpopular. When the time came to step down, he eagerly left Washington behind and returned to Monticello.
In retirement, his focus was his farm and his family. Martha had eleven children who lived to adulthood, all residing at Monticello, and providing Jefferson with love and affection throughout his retirement. In 1812, he and John Adams reconciled and took up their legendary correspondence that would continue until their deaths in 1826 on July 4th. They exchanged 158 letters discussing religion, personal matters, their health, and politics.
The author addresses that great paradox of Jefferson and slavery. He was considered opposed to slavery, yet lived off the efforts of slaves and had a four decade relationship with Sally Hemings. The only slaves he ever freed were her children and her siblings. To some extent, a 1792 Virginia law allowing slaves freed by men in debt to be re-enslaved, and an 1806 law requiring freed slaves to leave the sate tied his hands. Jefferson could not square his beliefs with his circumstances and "believed that in God's good time, emancipation
would somehow be effected."
This is a delightful book, extremely well-written and a pleasure to read. It is always helpful to be reintroduced to the era and the Founders. I tend to prefer American history from the 1840's on, and do not regularly seek out this era. The topics of tariffs, internal improvements, the bank, impressment on the seas, and the vicious factionalism about sometimes befuddling issues all add up to a difficult read for me. But it is helpful to be reminded that these men were writing on a blank sheet of paper. They created a country and a system that, although at times troubled, remains the finest ever.
Peter Jefferson purchased the land that would become Monticello a decade before his son Thomas' birth in 1843. In 1760, Thomas went to Williamsburg and spent two years at the College of William and Mary. He then undertook the study of the law and was admitted in 1765. A few years later, he was elected to the Burgesses and on New Years day in 1772, he married Martha Wayles. As political matters with the UK deteriorated, Jefferson gained some notoriety for penning a manuscript known as 'A Summary View of the Rights of British America', earning himself the sobriquet 'the pen of the American Revolution.' He was sent to Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. Virginia instructed its delegates to vote for independence. Before the drafting of the Declaration, Jefferson was working on a draft constitution for Virginia in which he proposed near universal male suffrage, the banning of the slave trade and the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. He was appointed the lead writer for the committee on the Declaration and fully ninety percent of its text is his. Perhaps the most famous words ever penned were published in his handwriting on July 4, 1776. For the next three years, he worked to build Monticello and the laws and structure of the new state of Virginia. He authored 'The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom' which, although not adopted until 1786, he considered one of the most important accomplishments his life. The war came to Virginia in 1781 and by then Jefferson was Governor, a position he held for two years. At war's end, he retired from politics and public service intent on mending his financial affairs and attending to his family. However, on Sept. 6, 1782, Martha died after asking that he never remarry and impose a stepmother on her daughters. He accepted a position in the new Congress and two years later, at the age of 41, joined by his 11 year old daughter, Martha and a few slaves, he departed as minister plenipotentiary for Paris.
Jefferson spent five years in Paris working on behalf of the US and indulging his life-long curiosity and relentless pursuit of knowledge. He paid particular attention to architectural and agrarian matters, as he accumulated ideas for the improvement of Monticello. During his stay, he published 'Notes On The State Of Virginia' in which he deplored slavery, applauded the yeoman farmer and continued his arguments for religious freedom of conscience. He was absent throughout the Constitutional Convention and was only able to offer his ideas in writing, often long after the fact. In France, he saw the emerging revolution first hand before he returned to America in late 1789. He wanted to take his daughters to Virginia so they could learn the necessary skills to run an American household. Both James Hemings, a trained French chef and his sister, Sally, the girl's bilingual ladies maid, and, certainly by then, Jefferson's lover, received certain promises from Jefferson to assure their return. In Sally's instance, it was that any children she should have would be freed at their maturity.
Upon his return, he was offered and accepted the position of Secretary of State. In the first months, he brokered the deal between Madison and Hamilton that led to the assumption by the US of the states' debts in exchange for the removal of the capitol to the Potomac. Washington's first term became a battleground between Jefferson and Hamilton, who were almost always diametrically opposed on the issues facing the new nation. Longing for Monticello, he resigned at the end of 1793. He was home for the next three years, fathering his first two children with Sally, experimenting continually with the farming operation and expanding and building Monticello, which was not 'completed' until 1809. His idyll ended when he was elected Vice-President and returned to Philadelphia in March, 1797. His goal was to limit his activities to his constitutional role as president of the Senate. However, the Sedition Act of 1796 forced him to argue against the centralizing policies of the Federalists, in particular Hamilton's sponsorship of a standing army. As the election of 1800 approached, he was the leading light of the Republicans and actively pursued the presidency. In a bizarre election, he and fellow Republican, Aaron Burr tied in the electoral college. After thirty-seven votes in the House, Jefferson prevailed and became our third president. His goals were to prove he was no Jacobin radical and to stem the incredibly virulent partisanship of the day.
Although be believed in a less centralized state than many in the Federalist party, he did pursue a more active role than his predecessors by actually suggesting legislation, meeting often with his cabinet and generally, spending more time in the capital and working very hard. In some correspondence early in his term, he used the phrase "a wall of separation between Church and State." He suggested the creation of West Point as a military academy with a focus on engineering and was instrumental in establishing the Library of Congress. He prosecuted an undeclared war for four years against the Barbary pirates. The year 1803 saw both the completion of the Louisiana Purchase and the departure of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, perhaps the two most memorable events of his presidency. The following year, he was re-elected in an electoral landslide. His second term was marred by Aaron Burr's plot to raise a rebellion in the west and America's struggle to maintain a neutral stance in the latest European conflagration. Britain's harsh treatment of American shipping led to Jefferson and Congress closing American ports to European trade. The Embargo was both ineffective and unpopular. When the time came to step down, he eagerly left Washington behind and returned to Monticello.
In retirement, his focus was his farm and his family. Martha had eleven children who lived to adulthood, all residing at Monticello, and providing Jefferson with love and affection throughout his retirement. In 1812, he and John Adams reconciled and took up their legendary correspondence that would continue until their deaths in 1826 on July 4th. They exchanged 158 letters discussing religion, personal matters, their health, and politics.
The author addresses that great paradox of Jefferson and slavery. He was considered opposed to slavery, yet lived off the efforts of slaves and had a four decade relationship with Sally Hemings. The only slaves he ever freed were her children and her siblings. To some extent, a 1792 Virginia law allowing slaves freed by men in debt to be re-enslaved, and an 1806 law requiring freed slaves to leave the sate tied his hands. Jefferson could not square his beliefs with his circumstances and "believed that in God's good time, emancipation
would somehow be effected."
This is a delightful book, extremely well-written and a pleasure to read. It is always helpful to be reintroduced to the era and the Founders. I tend to prefer American history from the 1840's on, and do not regularly seek out this era. The topics of tariffs, internal improvements, the bank, impressment on the seas, and the vicious factionalism about sometimes befuddling issues all add up to a difficult read for me. But it is helpful to be reminded that these men were writing on a blank sheet of paper. They created a country and a system that, although at times troubled, remains the finest ever.
The Night Trade, Eisler - B +
This is the sequel to Eisler's previous novel about Livia Lone of the Seattle PD. She is an extraordinary individual, someone with a purpose and a set of values that complement her martial art skills, that are on a Jack Reacher and Lisbeth Sanders level. This book is set in Thailand, where she goes to finish off those in the trafficking business who had taken her and her sister. Once again, I really like novels where the good guys get revenge on the bad guys; this fits the bill to a tee.
The Wanted, Crais - B
This is the latest book in the superb Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series set in modern day LA. Cole, a veteran PI, receives a call from a woman who has found a very expensive Rolex in her son's bedroom. It turns out that he and two friends are responsible for a series of house burglaries in the Beverly Hills area. Matters get very sticky when Elvis realizes that someone very evil is after the young people, because one of the laptops they lifted has some very incriminating material on it. As always, this is fun, well-written and a perfectly-paced addition to the series.
The Take, Reich - C-
This not very adequate novel starts with a Saudi prince leaving the George V in Paris on his way to the airport along with a half-dozen cars and the appropriate security. A hijacking that steals his walking around money and a mysterious letter lead to a clash of security services from the US, Russia, the UK and France, chasing each other all over France, a lot of shooting, some very hi-tech hijinks and a totally implausible plot line.
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