June Booknotes

 

"These works challenge us not just to understand but to engage, to debate, and to form our own reasoned conclusions. By reading hard books, we learn that truth is not always simple." – Alicia Williamson

Nonfiction: History, World War II

Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941by William L. Shirer

The author, William Shirer, also wrote the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. He began his career as a print journalist and was eventually recruited by the CBS radio network as one of its European correspondents. Shirer’s career transition happens at the same time as the rapid transition of public information and propaganda from print to radio which greatly impacted this moment in history.

Because he is an “embedded” reporter, Shirer witnesses the rise of Nazi Germany up close and personal. He watches Hitler and Chamberlain chatting on a balcony below his own before they negotiate the betrayal of Czechoslovakia. He reports directly outside the same Compiègne railroad car where Germany gets its revenge by forcing France’s surrender exactly where Germany had laid down its arms in 1918. Shirer even predicts the invasion of Poland as Hitler's next move while the French and British government officials hesitate to respond to Hitler’s threats. When he learns that Poland still has calvary on horseback and few airplanes, Shirer accurately predicts the dominance of air power covering a motorized blitzkrieg along country roads as the key to military success.

As a reporter, Shirer has access to some of the Nazi leaders. He grasps the subtle signals and mannerisms he observes in Göring, Goebbels, Himmler, Streicher, Generals Halder and Brauchitsch as well as the personal quirks and volatility of Hitler. Shirer makes quick and accurate assessments of almost every person he meets.

While he describes the German people as ambivalent and “dull”, it is important to remember that the only Germans who freely offered him their opinions were probably Nazis. Germans knew better than to utter any criticism of Hitler or Nazi ideology to a foreign reporter. If any such criticism was overheard, they would have been arrested by the Gestapo and would have landed in front of the “Volksgericht”, and from there they would have been shipped to the nearest concentration camp.

I have always wondered why Hitler did not invade England in the summer of 1940. Shirer’s account of events as they unfolded has given me a better understanding of Hitler’s indecision. Shirer goes on to explain his understanding of how the British strategy might unfold at the end of 1940 when it was the only country standing against Hitler. He understood how Hitler underestimated the character and will of the British people. Shirer also understood how important it was for Churchill to bring the might of the United States military into the European war.

At 600+ pages this is a lengthy book! However, since it is a diary, I could read one or several entries and put the book down and easily pick it up later. Reading a diary at the epicenter of world events is not technically an objective history. It is a subjective recording of personal events, experiences, and thoughts during intense historical events. Berlin Diary is Shirer’s real time narrative. Its pages are full of uncertainty, urgency, and illustrate a reporter’s drive to provide the most accurate information in an environment of hostility and censorship.  

I had a hard time putting Berlin Diary down without reading just one more captivating entry. Indeed, reading this 80-year-old diary brings an immediacy to the early stages of the war. Many things we see and hear today are echoes of the past!

Nonfiction: Science, Health, History

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green

NOTE: Since my Great-Grandfather Marek Niemiec died from Tuberculosis, I wanted to learn more.

Publisher’s Description: “Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.
In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 million people every year.
In Everything is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.”

Green is not a doctor, and this is not a medical book. While there is medical information, I found the historical context and relevance to current times fascinating!  This is a heartfelt, researched, and humane book on a disease that still has a massive impact, even though we in the United States avert our eyes. The health disparities that Green spotlights are staggering.

This book is especially relevant in the context of the current massive cuts to development aid and medical research. And, as COVID demonstrated, diseases have no borders. Everything Is Tuberculosis leads me to believe we may be headed back to my Great-Grandfather’s time when there was no cure and no effective treatment for Tuberculosis.
“And so we have entered a strange era of human history: A preventable, curable infectious disease remains our deadliest. That's the world we are currently choosing.”

Nonfiction: History, Food
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage

NOTE: This was my “distraction” from current events this month!

A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. All were the dominant drinks of their times, influenced the course of history, and people are still drinking them today.
This was an interesting and unusual way to learn about history - drink-by-drink!
Starting with beer (Mesopotamia and Egypt); then moving on to: wine (Greece and Rome); distilled spirits, especially rum and whiskey (the Age of Exploration leading to the American battle for independence); coffee (and the rise of English coffeehouses and their impact upon commerce and triangular trade); tea (and British imperialism and empire building); and, finally, Coca-Cola (globalization and American consumerism).  

A History of the World in 6 Glasses views history from a Western point of view. It doesn’t consider the drinks of South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, nor much of Asia. For example, tea is considered only through the lens of the British empire. However, the formal Japanese tea service is arguably more interesting than a British tea party! 

Even as a Western history there's a large gap between wine production in the Roman empire and the distillation of rum in Barbados. This is more of a survey of history than a detailed one. Still, A History of the World in 6 Glasses provides plenty of interesting historical tidbits and is an enjoyable read.

Nonfiction: True Crime
Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town by Mirta Ojito

NOTE: I received this book from my friend, Linda. It was selected in 2015 by the Loudoun County (Virginia) Public School Social Sciences Department.

Publisher’s Description: “The true story of an immigrant's murder that turned a quaint village on the Long Island shore into ground zero in the war on immigration.

In November of 2008, Marcelo Lucero, a thirty-seven-year-old undocumented Ecuadorean immigrant, was brutally attacked and murdered by a group of teenagers as he walked the streets of Patchogue, a quiet Long Island town. The teenaged attackers were out "hunting for beaners," their slur for Latinos, and Lucero was to become another victim of the anti-immigration fever spreading in the United States. But in death, Lucero's name became a symbol of everything that was wrong with our broken immigration system: porous borders, lax law enforcement, and the rise of bigotry.”

Ojito, a journalist and professor, uses firsthand interviews to go beneath the veneer of a seemingly all-American town. This allows her to tell all sides of the story, creating a portrait of Patchogue as it was struggling with fear and hate. Crucially this includes retelling the history of the town which was populated by second and third generation Italian and Irish immigrants. Finally, Ojito describes its experience with increasing immigration in recent years. All of which resulted in the Patchogue 7, a group of teenagers, going “hunting for beaners” once a week.
So why did this community end up with a group of their teenagers going “hunting for beaners?” Ojito explains, "Jeff and his friends must have felt that their entertainment of hunting 'beaners' had the tacit and implicit approval of the adults in their world."

• These teens admitted to the police that they had a history of "hunting" immigrants. One of the Patchogue 7 said, "I don't go out doing this very often, maybe only once a week."
  
• Another said, "I have been involved in beatings like this before, but no one ever used a knife. We would just beat people up."
  
• The teen who did the stabbing, and ultimately killed Marcelo Lujero asked, "Is this going to be a problem for [my] wrestling season?"

What I appreciate most about this book is that Ojito digs deeper into the crime, into the people. The result is a book that explains what drives immigrants to come to our country, how they rebuild their lives here, and the effects on the communities they settle in. It's much more nuanced that the "true crime" label would lead you to believe.

Hunting Season was a difficult but necessary book to read given our current national campaign against immigrants. Like the people of Patchogue, daily we see the ease with which our government engages in inhumane, violent, and unconstitutional behavior with the tacit and implicit approval of their “base.” We are in a sorry state indeed when we deport children with cancer, a winery manager of twenty years, and a landscaper with three United States Marine sons – NONE have committed any criminal offences in our country. Yet, all the January 6 violent insurrectionists received their due process, were convicted as criminals, and then were pardoned by a felon?! How do these actions reflect our American values?  

 “Someday, the country will recognize the true cost of its war on illegal immigration. We don’t mean dollars, though those are being squandered by the billions. The true cost is to the national identity: the sense of who we are and what we value.”

Fiction: Drama

There Shall Be No Night by Robert E. Sherwood

NOTES: The title is taken from Revelation 22:5. Sherwood also wrote The Best Years of Our Lives.

There Shall Be No Night is a play published in 1940 and chronicles the impact of the Winter War on the Valkonen family in Finland. The Winter War was a conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland that lasted from November 30, 1939, to March 12, 1940. The Soviet Union invaded Finland after failing to negotiate border changes and the establishment of a Soviet base on Finnish territory.
The Valkonen family includes Kaarlo, a Nobel prize winning scientist, his American-born wife, Miranda, and their son, Erik, a college student. The play examines their reluctant acceptance of the looming invasion and their reactions after Finland is invaded. Both Kaarlo and Erik then must serve in the military while Miranda refuses to escape to the United States and chooses to stay in Finland to defend their home. The family experiences chaos, the physical and mental demands of war, and demonstrates how hardship can lead to courage.
“When life becomes too easy for people something changes in their character, something is lost. Americans now are too lucky.” – Kaatri, Erik’s Finnish girlfriend

Drawing on his own experiences as a war correspondent, Sherwood brings the war to life, He paints a powerful and poignant picture of the devastating impacts that war has on individuals and society – a cost we are still experiencing today. There Shall Be No Night won the 1941 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, but when it premiered, it was not well received!

There Shall Be No Night was picketed by the Theatre Arts Committee (TAC) as “anti-Soviet and pro-war.” The Daily World, the newspaper of the Communist Party USA, then went on to quote Brooks Atkinson, the drama critic of the New York Times, who called it “propaganda.”

Daily World New York, New York, NY, Sun, Jul 7, 1940, page 12

There Shall Be No Night is an example of a prophetic work that was deemed “propaganda” initially but then proven true as events unfolded. Indeed, the play was part of a broader political debate in the United States and elsewhere about intervening in the European war. Sherwood was vilified for writing such a thought-provoking play about war when most people wanted escapism. Originally a pacifist, Sherwood wrote the play to urge action against aggressors like Hitler which led to accusations that he was both a "war-monger" and a "capitalist stooge".

Artists of all kinds have used their work, including books, music, paintings, etc., to speak out about social and political issues. It is difficult to remember a time when artist-activists were not an integral part of America's arts landscape. Throughout its history American writers have used their work as “propaganda” for such causes as abolition (Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852), civil rights (A Raisin in the Sun, 1959), and female subjection (The Handmaid’s Tale, 1985). All these works (and more!) were met with criticism.

Like all human beings, artists have a right to free speech and expression. When they exercise their rights, they often receive a backlash from a public that wants only escapism and pleasure. If artists speak publicly on an issue not related to their work, they are basically told to “shut up and sit down”. Don’t people realize artists have First Amendment rights in all areas of their lives?

Elin Hilderbrand is an American best-selling author of "beach reads." 

There Shall Be No Night was not initially welcomed, and its author was attacked for daring to express his views in this play. Yet, it was prophetic and still has lessons for us today especially as war in Europe continues. Sherwood, through the Valkonen family, immerses us to such a degree in the Winter War, that not only do we know about war, but, most importantly, we feel the war. This drama has moral values. It can be read as a warning. And, finally, it can also be read as a simulation of events that are occurring right now in Europe.

May Booknotes

 

“We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Nonfiction: History, World War II

Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris by Alex Kershaw

There are numerous stories of courage and self-sacrifice during the Nazi occupation of Paris during WWII, many of which have been forgotten or are unknown. This is one of them.

Sumner Jackson, an American physician and WWI veteran, his Swiss-born-naturalized-American wife, Toquette, and their son, Phillip, lived in Paris, where Dr. Jackson was head surgeon at the American Hospital. The Jacksons had the opportunity to leave Paris before the Nazis invaded but refused to do so. They realized that Sumner’s skills as a doctor and surgeon would be needed to treat the wounded and dying French soldiers.

Paris was occupied by the Nazis in June 1940. At that time, the United States was still neutral, and it appeared the American Hospital would be safe. Because of the Jackson’s love of Paris and France they decided to assist the French Resistance by hiding members of the resistance in the hospital to prevent their capture by the Nazis.

Their dangerous situation worsened when the Gestapo and the SS set up headquarters on Avenue Foch, practically next door to the Jackson’s apartment. Still, they continued to work with the Resistance. In December 1941, Hitler declared war on the United States, which made the Jacksons suspects.

Avenue of Spies is a record of what happened after Sumner, Toquette, and Phillip were arrested. They were political prisoners, were separated from one another, and suffered horribly in concentration camps. Their story is so disturbing it sounds like fiction. We know better, it is a history of the inhumane methods used by the Nazis when dealing with political opponents.

Avenue of Spies is difficult to read because it is about Americans as victims of Nazism. It describes what did and could happen when ordinary people resist fascism. Even today we can see how a “strongman” employs “revenge and retribution” against political rivals and ordinary people. I highly recommend this book.

Nonfiction: American History

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

Starting in his hometown, New Orleans, Smith leads us on a tour of monuments and landmarks-those that are honest about the past and some that are not. Smith traveled to Monticello, Whitney Planation, Angola Prison, Blandford Cemetery, Galveston Island, and New York City – which had the second-largest slave market in our country. (I did not know that!) Then he traveled to Goree Island, Senegal where Africans were loaded on ships for their trip into American slavery.

“How do you tell a story that had been told the wrong way for so long?”

The place I found most interesting was Smith’s experience at a Memorial Day ceremony in Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia. After listening to the keynote speaker from the Sons of Confederate Veterans, he noted: “I was fascinated by the conciliatory equivocation of his tone, and his desire to … assimilate the memory of the Confederacy more fully into the US military … just as those who had fought in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. It did not seem to matter that they had fought AGAINST the United States.”

“History is the story of the past, using all available facts, nostalgia is a fantasy about the past using no facts … history is about what you need to know but nostalgia is what you want to hear.”

Many people Smith spoke with repeatedly insisted that the Civil War was not about slavery. Here are just a few historical facts from the secession documents which explain why states left the Union to form a separate nation, the Confederate States of America:

Mississippi: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery.”

Louisiana: “The people of slaveholding States are bound together by the same necessity and determination to preserve African slavery.”

Texas: “The African race are rightfully held and regarded as inferior.”

Then there is the Constitution of the Confederate States, Article IV, Section 3: “The institution of slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected.”

How did a Son of the Confederate Veterans respond when asked to reckon with the fact that his ancestors fought a war to keep African Americans enslaved?  In short, he responded, “You’re asking me to agree that my great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents were monsters.” Obviously accepting historical reality would mean the deterioration of a nostalgic story that has long been part of his, and many other family lineages, and the disintegration of who they believed themselves to be. Family stories can become embedded in our identities in ways we are not fully aware of. This is why it is important to differentiate between history based on reliable and authoritative sources and nostalgia based on stories we want to believe.

“Just because something is difficult to accept doesn’t mean you shouldn’t accept it. Just because someone tells you a story doesn’t make that story true.”

What I love about this book is that it is not only about our nation's history, but it is also a personal reflection of how history affects people’s lives. At each location Smith speaks to and interviews various people - tour guides, employees, or other visitors. He simply shows that history affects each one of us, including how our ancestors may influence what we do, say, and believe today. Smith also strongly encourages us not to ignore or 'forget' history we find upsetting or inconvenient, including our own family history. I am sure this book will win an award, it is excellent! 

Hugh Fraser ("Captain Hastings") Audiobooks – Read by my all-time favorite reader, Hugh Fraser. All Agatha Christie mysteries but NOT Poirot or Miss Marple.

The absolute best thing about these audiobooks is the reader, Hugh Fraser. I listened to these before bedtime and then slept soundly. The stories do involve murders… but his voice is so calming!

Murder Is Easy by Agatha Christie

Luke Fitzwilliam, a military policeman recently returned from the far east, encounters an old lady on a train. She tells him she is off to Scotland Yard to try and stop yet another murder in her small village. Luke listens to her story but feels she is just an “old lady” and humors her with his attention. A few days later two news articles grabbed Luke’s attention. One reports the death of the old lady in a hit and run on a London street (before she gets to Scotland Yard). The other is a report of the death of a man she had mentioned. Luke begins to wonder if she was indeed telling the truth.

Luke decides he will investigate. A good friend introduces him to an acquaintance who happens to live in the same village as the old lady. Luke arrives with a cover story to explain his presence and begins to investigate.

There is a feisty girl involved, an unnecessary romance, and several grisly murders. Luke is quite easily led up several wrong paths until the murderer is finally unmasked. Not my favorite Christie mystery but with Hugh Fraser narrating the audiobook, I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless!

Spider’s Web adapted by Charles Osborne from a play by Agatha Christie

Clarissa, the wife of a Foreign Office diplomat, discovers a body in the drawing room of her house in Kent. Desperate to dispose of the body before her husband comes home with an important foreign politician, Clarissa persuades her three house guests to become accessories and accomplices. But things don’t go as planned. An unknown person has called the police to report the murder, and they arrive before the body is removed. The search for the murderer and the motive begins.

Clarissa is like a spider as she weaves webs of lies. Each time the police inspector sees through one of her lies, he persuades her to tell the truth. However, Clarissa then tells a different story each time.

One of the things I enjoy about Agatha Christie is her descriptions of people; she has a way of describing people in unflattering but amusing ways. Clarissa was initially humorous, but as the story progressed, I found her lying to be annoying. The ending was a surprise, which is probably due to the “spider’s web” of lies that preceded it!

The first part of the audiobook includes what sounds like “stage directions” – after all, this was originally written as a play. However, Hugh Fraser’s voice is so pleasant I didn’t mind listening to descriptions of the setting or characters. Once the plot was set in motion, he really breathed life into the characters.

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

‘I like a good detective story.  But, you know, they begin in the wrong place! They begin with the murder. But the murder is the end. The story begins long before that– years before sometimes– with all the causes and events that bring certain people to a certain place at a certain time on a certain day.”

That is exactly what I love about Towards Zero! Christie really sets the stage and takes her time before getting to the actual mystery portion of the story. It works well though because you are getting bits and pieces of relevant information about the characters along the way.

Publisher’s Description: “An elderly widow is murdered at a clifftop seaside house...What is the connection between a failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl, and the romantic life of a famous tennis player? To the casual observer, apparently nothing. But when a house party gathers at Gull's Point, the seaside home of an elderly widow, earlier events come to a dramatic head. It's all part of a carefully laid plan - for murder...”

Two thumbs up for Towards Zero!

Fiction: Essays, Humor

A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Written 20 years ago, A Man Without a Country is a collection of humorous and angry essays about the state of the world with an emphasis on the United States. Vonnegut was 82 years old when he wrote this book. Two years later he was dead. This book may possibly be the closest thing to his memoir. It is filled with his unique perspective on the world and sharp wit. Vonnegut is interesting, down-to-earth, and funny as he goes on rants about America, people in general, and all the things he's seen during his life.

"But I am eighty-two. Thanks a lot, you dirty rats. The last thing I ever wanted was to be alive when the three most powerful people on the whole planet would be named Bush, Dick and Colon.”

Vonnegut wrote about the purpose of humor, as a way of dealing with anxiety and fear, and helping people better face these emotions, and the world. He held up Mark Twain as a fellow humorist who found a way to help people laugh through terrible times. Yet, he acknowledged that even Twain wrote angrily about things in this country he could not possibly laugh at.

Vonnegut's political hero was the socialist Eugene Debs. But he saw no real hope for thinkers such as Debs to save the world. He thought the rich, the corporations, and the politicians just don't care about kindness, compassion, or generosity. Given our current situation, I appreciate his bleak honesty.

“The biggest truth to face now – what is probably making me unfunny now for the remainder of my life – is that I don't think people give a damn whether the planet goes or not. It seems to me as if everyone is living as members of Alcoholics Anonymous do, day by day. And a few more days will be enough. I know of very few people who are dreaming of a world for their grandchildren.”

Like Twain and Einstein before him, Vonnegut had given up on humanity. In the end, he thought he had simply grown too grumpy to be funny anymore. Let me respectfully disagree, I smiled throughout most of this short book, laughed several times, and almost fell out of my chair at his explanation as to why he did not win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Fiction: French Literature

The Stranger by Albert Camus, translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert

Publisher’s Description: “Published in 1942 by French author Albert Camus, The Stranger has long been considered a classic of twentieth-century literature. Le Monde ranks it as number one on its "100 Books of the Century" list. Through this story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on a sundrenched Algerian beach, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."

How the story begins: "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure."

Meursault, the main character, is a man without feelings and incapable of feeling remorse or indeed any emotion. Those deficiencies are evident at his mother’s death when he does not cry (not even when he is alone) and does not even seem upset. Later he agrees, without reservation, to write a letter for a friend. The letter is an invitation for his friend’s ex-girlfriend to come to his apartment so his friend can beat her up. He has no remorse for his role in the woman’s beating. His inability to feel any emotion is dramatically revealed when he shoots a stranger after an altercation on the beach. Five shots: first one, a pause, and then four more. The “four more” is what eventually gets him convicted.

“Since we're all going to die,’ it's obvious that when and how don't matter.”- Meursault

What is up with Meursault? Why doesn’t he “feel?” Maybe Meursault has Alexithymia. It is a personality condition characterized by the inability to identify and describe emotions in oneself. Individuals suffering from this dysfunction also find it difficult to distinguish and appreciate the feelings of others, which leads to a hopeless and meaningless life.

“What did other people's deaths or a mother's love matter to me; what did his God or the lives people choose or the fate they think they elect matter to me.” - Mersault

Meursault is a stranger. A stranger to himself. A stranger to others. A stranger to life. A stranger to everything. So, what is the point of this novella? Should we contemplate the existence or absence of empathy in our lives?  Will this knowledge lead us to live a better life and to help others to do the same? Does Camus want us to avoid being “a stranger?” (I would answer, “Yes!”)

I found The Stranger to be a weird, yet thought-provoking novella. It is no wonder Camus won a Nobel Prize for Literature!

Right Thing, Right Now

 

“Let’s do what we can. Let’s be a small light in a dark world.” - Ryan Holiday

Nonfiction: Philosophy, Personal Development

Right Thing, Right Now: Justice in an Unjust World by Ryan Holiday

If you are looking for a book all about Stoicism, this is not it! The author, Ryan Holiday, is a writer and a marketer who promotes Stoicism. In Right Thing, Right Now he uses historical figures to support his assertion that “everything worth pursuing in life flows from a strong sense of justice - or one’s commitment to doing the right thing, no matter how difficult. In order to be courageous, wise, and self-disciplined, one must begin with justice.” Holiday uses examples from the lives of Emily Davison, Thomas Clarkson, Harvey Milk, Martin Niemoller, Florence Nightingale, President Carter, and many more to illustrate his point.

Sometimes we may not be aware of injustice but what will we do when we are made aware? Are we willing to choose the right thing even if it means losing the “support” of others? Here is what President Truman did:

Sgt. Isaac Woodard, Jr., was a Black soldier who had just returned to the United States after fighting in World War II. On February 12, 1946, Woodard, still wearing his Army uniform, rode a Greyhound bus to return to his home in South Carolina. Woodard asked the white bus driver to stop the bus so that he could use the restroom. The bus driver reluctantly agreed, calling Woodard  “boy,” a derogatory term often used in the South to demean Black men. Woodard, who had served three years in the Pacific theater, responded, “I’m a man just like you.”

At the next town, the driver summoned the police. They removed Woodard from the bus and beat him. The police officers repeatedly and viciously poked him in his eyes, leaving him blind.

President Truman upon learning about the beating and blinding of Sergeant Isaac Woodard, Jr. said, “I had no idea it was as terrible as that. We’ve got to do something”

Two years later, in 1948, many Southern states walked out of the Democratic National Convention over Truman civil rights policies. He replied, “You can always get along without the support of people like that.”

Sergeant John Rice

Then, in 1950, Sergeant John Rice, a Native American World War II veteran, was killed in action in Korea. He was denied burial in Sioux City, Iowa due to his race. Truman was outraged and arranged for his burial with honors in Arlington cemetery and sent a plane for his family. Truman’s official statement read: “The President feels that the national appreciation of patriotic sacrifice should not be limited by race, color, or creed.”

“ … when I say all Americans, I mean ALL Americans.” – President Harry Truman

Joseph Kennedy, Sr.

What happens when we intentionally avoid choosing the “right thing?” … Joseph Kennedy, the father of President John Kennedy was the U.S ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1940, during the time of the rise of Hitler and Nazism. He was an isolationist, made false equivalencies, and argued with “whataboutisms.” He supported appeasement as Hitler invaded Austria, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Poland, Belgium, and France. During this time, he continued to discourage any potential aid from the United States to Britain, even as bombs were falling in London!

Joseph Kennedy wasn’t a secret Nazi, but he, like many men, wanted the problem NOT to be his. He was looking for a way NOT to care. To NOT get involved. To NOT have to risk anything.

In the end, his son, President John Kennedy was haunted by his father’s cowardice and his role in appeasing Hitler that led to World War II and the loss of his older brother who was killed in action. John Kennedy learned an important lesson from his father’s avoidance of the right thing!

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – President Kennedy

Pastor Martin Niemöller

If injustice doesn’t affect you, why bother to pursue justice for others? Will you wait to do the right thing only when the time is right for you?  … In the 1920s and early 1930s, Pastor Martin Niemöller, a German theologian and Lutheran pastor, sympathized with many Nazi ideas and supported radical right-wing political movements.

After Adolf Hitler’s interference in the Protestant Church, Niemöller then became an outspoken critic of Hitler. He was imprisoned in Nazi prisons and concentration camps during the last eight years of Nazi rule, where he nearly died.

After World War II, he was asked how he could have been so self-absorbed during the rise of Nazism, so silent when it mattered, Niemöller answered, “I am paying for that mistake now, and not me alone, but thousands of other persons like me.”  

He finally realized Germans had been complicit through their silence on the injustice perpetrated by the Nazis on "other" people  - it didn't "concern" them. Their silence resulted in the Nazi persecution, imprisonment, and murder of millions of people. He felt this was especially true of the leaders of the Protestant churches. Niemöller openly spoke about his own early complicity in Nazism and his eventual change of heart. His powerful words about guilt and responsibility still resonate today.

In addition to the fascinating stories of historical figures, Right Thing, Right Now offers you an opportunity to look at yourself. The author asks some tough questions which may lead you to believe that the circle of your life may be too narrow, your heart too cold, and your character too small to see the injustice in your community and in our world. But he then goes on to give you hope that you, too, can be "a small light in a dark world."

The right time for me to read this book was right now! It was particularly good to read as the dark cloud of radical right-wing political rhetoric and unconstitutional acts seems to be increasing without any end in sight. “Freedom is essential … but the most essential freedom is the freedom from fear. Our job is to fight to ensure justice prevails – that the vulnerable are protected and can live without fear. Because they are us and we are them”. Every one of us can be courageous in our daily lives by choosing to do the right thing, right now.

“The Stoics never claimed that living justly was easy, only that it was necessary. And that the alternative—sacrificing our principles for something lesser—was considered only by cowards and fools.”

April Booknotes

 

"The only thing you absolutely have to know is the way to the library." - Albert Einstein

Audiobook Nonfiction: Memoir, Biography

From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough

This was a fantastic audiobook which includes Lisa Marie Presley narrating her memoir, her daughter, Riley Keough, adding details to Lisa Marie’s narrative, and Julia Roberts providing the bulk of the narration.

From Here to the Great Unknown is a very open and honest memoir, based on audiotapes recorded by Lisa Marie. She had been working on her memoir for years accumulating her life story and recording it on audiotapes. In 2022, Lisa Marie asked her daughter, Riley, to help her finish her memoir. Sadly, a month later, Lisa Marie was dead.

From Here to the Great Unknown is raw and unflinching in its depiction of life as the daughter of Elvis Presley. There is no sugar-coating the hard times and poor choices of Lisa Marie and her father. You can hear Lisa Marie’s life-long grief and, at other times, emotional numbness in her voice as she describes her life. In particular, the retelling of Lisa Marie’s son, Ben's, suicide is devastating while her marriage to Michael Jackson is described with frank, almost apathetic detail.

It's not a long audiobook, but it covers everything most people will want to know and then some. This is not a celebrity memoir in the traditional gossipy sense, though. Mainly it is about the grief and trauma experienced by the daughter of “The King of Rock and Roll.” Don’t look for proposed solutions to the many difficult topics described, instead this memoir simply documents honest recognition of their existence.

It is too late to help Elvis, Michael Jackson, Lisa Marie, or her son Ben—all died too soon. But I think honest books like From Here to the Great Unknown may help to reduce the stigma around addiction and mental health. I heard Lisa Marie describing herself as a flawed person searching for human connection, resulting in a heart-rending audiobook.

Fiction: Mystery

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

The God of the Woods is about the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl in 1975. Barbara Van Laar, the daughter of the prominent Van Laar family of Albany, New York, disappeared from her cabin one morning in the summer camp founded by her family and located on the family’s estate. This mystery also includes a parallel plot about the disappearance, years previously, of Barbara’s brother. He was never found.

The God of the Woods starts out compelling and then turns into a meandering mystery. The longer the story went on, the more unfocused it seemed. There are seven different perspectives, and every time something was about to happen, the plot immediately switched to a different perspective, effectively losing momentum. When the plot returned to the original climatic event, the exciting scene had already happened off-page and it's mostly glossed over. There were also moments where I could not believe yet another character had disappeared or that some characters were acting so dumb and weak. I would sigh and roll my eyes in exasperation.

But I kept reading, so that says at least this is a well-written book. There were many moments when I was totally immersed in this book, and the pages just melted away. At almost 500 pages, and with the plot shifting from the past to the present and between narration of different characters, it held my interest but at the end I was disappointed. Still, for all my complaints, I did find this to be an okay mystery and interesting enough to distract me from current events.

Fiction: Mystery, Thriller

Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins

Publisher’s Description: “When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers. As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging—an eerie and ancient house—a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.

But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why was Felicity silent?

Roaming Oxford's secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane explores the true meaning of family—and what it is to be denied one.”

There are plenty of creepy and ghostly moments in this novel. Magpie Lane is engaging to read, both in terms of its setting and characters. The centuries old Masters Lodging has a long and unsettling history, it plays a pivotal role in unfolding events. The well-developed characters drew me into the mystery since I could sense they all some secret that needed to be exposed. Felicity’s parents were especially appalling! Of course, their narcissism appalled me immensely, which is evidence of the author’s skill.

Overall, I was totally captivated by the story that unfolded. As a bonus, I also learned about the history of Oxford, a little about mathematics, and there were frequent literary and musical references that I appreciated. The ending is intriguing because it’s ambiguous, which I like. Magpie Lane was worth reading!

Nonfiction: Essays

Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love by Haruki Murakami

Super light, easy reading! Haruki Murakami wrote a series of short essays about his T-shirt collection for the Japanese men’s fashion magazine, Popeye, over the course of a year and a half, Then his essays were all collected in this short book. Photographs of his extensive and personal T-shirt collection are included. The essays and photographs reveal much about Murakami's multifaceted and wonderfully eccentric personality.

I made this quilt from some of my T-shirts.
It basically reveals that I couldn’t think of anything else to do with the T-shirts!

The essays are divided into categories, creating a flow to his random musings. I think Murakami seems to enjoy talking about how his T-shirt collecting hobby intermixes with his life and experiences. There are plenty of charming little anecdotes about his habits and interests, such as restaurants he enjoys, his extensive LP collection or his dedication to running (which he talks about at length in What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, a book I recommend).

One of my favorite running books!

While Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love is probably only of interest to avid Murakami fans, it is a cute little coffee table book that allows you to spend some time with this famous Japanese author as he shares his T-shirt stories. This was another book that gave me a much needed “break” from current events!

There is a sampling of my current T-shirt “collection.” I have reduced it down to 27.

I read this book in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed every minute!  Plus, it has made me want to document my own T-shirt "collection" – just don’t expect me to write a book about it.

Nonfiction: History, True Crime

Murder in a Mill Town: Sex, Faith, and the Crime That Captivated a Nation by Bruce Dorsey

I viewed a talk by Bruce Dorsey on C-Span and had to read his book. Dorsey became interested in this case while a history graduate student. His advisor assigned him this case for research to demonstrate how history isn’t one singular event – it has multiple ripples throughout time and culture.

Publisher’s Description: “In December 1832 a farmer found the body of a young, pregnant woman hanging near a haystack outside a New England mill town. When news spread that Methodist preacher Ephraim Avery was accused of murdering Sarah Maria Cornell, a factory worker, the case gave the public everything they found sexually charged violence, adultery, the hypocrisy of a church leader, secrecy and mystery, and suspicions of insanity. Murder in a Mill Town tells the story of how a local crime quickly turned into a national scandal that became America's first ‘trial of the century’.

After her death--after she became the country's most notorious ‘factory girl’ - Cornell's choices about work, survival, and personal freedom became enmeshed in stories that Americans told themselves about their new world of industry and women's labor and the power of religion in the early republic. Writers penned seduction tales, true-crime narratives, detective stories, political screeds, songs, poems, and melodramatic plays about the lurid scandal. As trial witnesses, ordinary people gave testimony that revealed rapidly changing times. As the controversy of Cornell's murder spread beyond the courtroom, the public eagerly devoured narratives of moral deviance, abortion, suicide, mobs, ‘fake news,’ and conspiracy politics. Long after the jury's verdict, the nation refused to let the scandal go.”

What makes this case so compelling, beyond the tensions of a married religious leader accused of murdering his pregnant lover, is its recorded details that exemplify a time of transition during the early 1800s. In the workplace, the measuring of time was transitioning from approximation by daylight to the mechanical measure through watches and clocks. Meanwhile, the more traditional barriers of gender roles were eroding as women were beginning to enter the workforce to earn their own money, and male doctors were overtaking the traditional role of female “healers” and midwives. Murder in a Mill Town describes how the rise of capitalism transformed the most intimate aspects of American life.

Somewhat tedious at times due to the attention given to detailed explanations, I still found Murder in a Mill Town to be surprisingly prophetic. As a quote attributed to Mark Twain says, “History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes.”

Nonfiction: History, True Crime

Scotland Yard: A History of the London Police Force's Most Infamous Murder Cases by Simon Read

The London Metropolitan Police, established in 1829, was the world’s first professional, centrally organized police department. The name, in case you were wondering, comes from the fact that its headquarters were built on a piece of land facing a small street called Great Scotland Yard. The Yard grew into a respected organization employing new professionals, known as detectives, who were eventually armed with revolutionary crime solving skills like fingerprinting, blood splatter analysis, and firearm ballistics.

In addition to the history of The Yard, I learned about the gory details of 19 notable cases that span the course of a century. The author utilized official case files, newspaper reports, trial transcripts, and detectives’ notes to write evocatively. He gets right to the heart of the matter, which is usually bloody and includes foggy nights as well as a cavalcade of shady characters. There are a surprising number of dismembered bodies, many discovered in trunks. And, of course, the Jack the Ripper case is discussed.

Scotland Yard describes some of the bloodiest crimes I could ever have imagined. For a nation that was not bristling with firearms, criminals found some creative ways to carve up their enemies and to dispose of the evidence. This book is perfect for fans of true crime, especially because it shows a world before modern systems were in place. It’s hard to picture a crime scene where every little detail isn’t scrutinized, or that no one is wearing gloves, testing blood types or searching a database. But what’s so great about this book is you see how and why all those forensic and detective skills evolved. A must read for fans of true crime!

Reading Across the Seas Book Club: Singapore, Contemporary Fiction

Sugarbread by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Sugarbread is the story of a 10-year-old Sikh girl, Parveen 'Pin' Kaur, living in 1990s Singapore. She grapples with growing up in the multicultural city-state while uncovering the secrets kept from her by her mother's family. The book flips back and forth between Pin's perspective and the perspective of her mother in the 1960s.

At its heart Sugarbread is a coming-of-age tale about family secrets, religion, tradition, and the mother-daughter relationship. The key to understanding Pin’s relationship with her mother and grandmother is a family tragedy from the past which still casts a shadow on the family. The author aptly portrays dysfunctional relationships in the context of the family’s traditions and customs. Within this family’s story there are important issues that afflict people around the world.

I was not familiar with the unique melting pot of people that make up Singapore. It's a multicultural place, with Chinese, Malay, Indian and other ethnic groups living together. Sugarbread is an insightful depiction of how various religions can live in proximity and harmony. Jaswal’s descriptive writing made Singapore real, with its smells, colors and the ever-present activity of people. She breathes life into the city - from the crowded markets to the sticky heat and the smells of different cuisines mixing in the air. This is a life-affirming novel.

Nonfiction: History, Conspiracy Theories

Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History by David Aaronovitch

I know people, seemingly sane, who believe in conspiracy theories. Voodoo Histories describes and then dismantles several of the most well-known Western conspiracy theories from the last 100 years. Who killed JFK, RFK, Marilyn Monroe, and Princess Diana? Were the mob, the CIA, and the Royal Family responsible? Did astronauts visit us 10,000 years ago and is the DaVinci Code true history? Did Jesus screw up faking his own death? (I hadn't heard that one before.)  All these questions and more are answered in painstaking detail.

The book starts with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and its role in launching the age of the modern conspiracy theory that is still believed today. This conspiracy theory states that Jews had planned and caused WWI as war profiteers and to disrupt world governance. Even though there was undeniable proof at the time (1919) that the book was a forgery (it was originally a French satire about Napoleon's lust for power that was later edited to implicate Jews instead), the fact that it seemed to make sense of the devastating war made it irresistible. This acceptance of shadowy theories despite proof to the contrary is a recurring theme in Voodoo Histories.

“Conspiracy theory may be one way of reclaiming power and disclaiming responsibility.”

People believe in conspiracies for a variety of reasons, namely how they help explain their worldview. People find it easier to believe in a conspiratorial social media post or meme to justify their worldview rather than researching to discover the facts themselves. Revisionist history, people believing what they want to believe, rather than what is documented also plays a role in conspiracy theories. When presented with evidence and documents, conspiracy believers refuse to accept the truth. Conspiracy theorists still believe that 9/11 was “an inside job” and that President Obama “wasn’t born in the USA.” No matter how much, even mountains of evidence, they will refuse to acknowledge the truth.

“The believer in a conspiracy theory or theories becomes, in his own mind, the one in proper communion with the underlying universe, the one who understands the true ordering of things.”

Even long after conspiracy theories are exposed as the nonsense they are, believers cannot accept the truth because it doesn't make sense the way they want it to – it doesn’t fit their worldview. Conspiracy theory believers believe because they want to believe, neither facts nor the truth matter!

Does it matter if people believe in false conspiracy theories? Do conspiracies influence politics? Aaronovitch says yes. Specifically, he says "the belief in conspiracy theories is harmful in itself. It distorts our view of history and therefore of the present and - if widespread enough - leads to disastrous decisions." This is the core theme of the book, and it is argued very well.

Persuasive and detailed, Voodoo Histories requires a great deal of concentration. It is a thorough and thoughtful book that is great for those who want to examine history and current events in a more thoughtful way. Unfortunately, those who really need this book will not give it a second glance and Aaronovitch explains why that is true too.