September Booknotes

"The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is." - R. G. Collingwood

Nonfiction: History, Science

Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo

“In July 1916 a lone Great White left its usual deep-ocean habitat and headed in the direction of the New Jersey shoreline. There, near the towns of Beach Haven and Spring Lake-and, incredibly, a farming community eleven miles inland-the most ferocious and unpredictable of predators began a deadly rampage: the first shark attacks on swimmers in U.S. history.”

Meanwhile … twenty-four children in New York City died in in one single day from infantile paralysis (Polio – no vaccine then.). Meanwhile … 19,000 British soldiers were killed in the first day at the Battle of the Somme. Concurrently, four men were killed in a fraction of a second by a shark. Yet, the American public was more terrified and enraged because of one rogue great white than any other tragic current event. It is a mystery of our existence why some things grip our attention, while others do not.*

While not directly responsible for inspiring the movie Jaws, the Chief Brody character referred to the 1916 shark attacks as he tried to convince the mayor to close the beaches. The reactions of the people in 1970s Jaws are very similar to the actual reactions of the 1916 people.  I recommend watching Jaws for no other reason than for insight into how people react to unexpected events.

This was a well-written book and conveys the context of the times as well as scientific information about sharks. 

*NOTE: Similarly mysterious, how a person can say, “I don’t like to talk about politics,” after ICE murders people on the street in plain view, they watch law abiding, legal immigrants and American citizens physically assaulted and arrested without due process, the U.S. military bombs a school full of children, etc. Yet, they are suddenly outspokenly “political” about grocery prices?!

Nonfiction: Freedom of Speech, Politics, History

A Death in Malta: An Assassination and a Family's Quest for Justice by Paul Caruana Galizia

“Oil always rises to the water's surface; justice is inevitable.” - Maltese proverb

Located off the southern coast of Italy, Malta is a picturesque island, but that image is deceiving. Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was the lone voice speaking out against government corruption. She was a wife and mother of three sons; her youngest son is the author. 

Galizia’s lone voice was silenced with a car bomb. After hearing the explosion, her son ran down the street, and saw his mother’s body parts scattered on the street. This is an honest and, yes, tough book to read – all because it’s true, it's what happened.

Galizia wrote about the need for governmental honesty and truth because Malta was, and still is, a corrupt nation. Malta scores 49 out of 100 on the Corruption Perceptions Index. This score places Malta well below the European Union average. International monitors still classify the country as a high-risk jurisdiction for corruption.

As a journalist and blogger, Galizia criticized the rampant government corruption and named participants. Rather than reacting to her criticism with protest and petitions, many Maltese people were silent. Rather than confronting the corruption, the Maltese people just accepted it until, gradually, Galizia’s writing awakened their civic spirit. 

After her murder, every day, people would put flowers and photos of her at an unofficial memorial and every night the authorities would send in street cleaners to sweep it all away. And then, of course, the corruption Galizia had been writing about was, finally, publicly revealed – she was correct. The government was indeed irredeemably corrupt and the participants were finally held accountable. 

Her son, the author, Paul, has given his mother a new and even more lasting monument: a book that is unforgettable and honest. A Death in Malta is also a monument to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Nonfiction: History, World War II, Holocaust

The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto: The True Story of Five Courageous Young Women Who Sparked an Uprising by Elizabeth Hyman

This is a well-researched and footnoted historical account including a bibliography, a glossary, and an index. While most of history focuses on men, The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto focuses on “five young, courageous Polish Jewish women - known as “the girls” by the leadership of the resistance and “bandits” by their Nazi oppressors - who were central to the Jewish resistance as fighters, commanders, couriers, and smugglers.”

• Zivia Lubetkin, the most senior female member of the Jewish Fighting Organization Command Staff in Warsaw and a reluctant legend in her own time, who was immortalized by her code name, "Celina."
• Vladka Meed, who smuggled dynamite into and illegal literature out of the Warsaw Ghetto in preparation for the uprising.
• Dr. Idina “Inka” Blady-Schweiger, a young medical student who became a reluctant angel of mercy.
• Tema Schneiderman, a tall, beautiful and fearless young woman who volunteered for smuggling and rescue missions across Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe.
• Tossia Altman, a heroic courier with a poetic soul, who helped bring arms into the Warsaw Ghetto, fought in the Uprising, and ferried communiques to the outside world.

Even with all the documentation, this is an emotionally heavy book. I know, in a general sense, about the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime because I completed a teacher training course at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.** But this if the first time I have read the firsthand accounts of what Jewish people in Poland endured. It’s not an easy read, but it’s an important one.

One of the most compelling aspects of the book is how it explores the internal divisions within the Jewish community during this time. The differing responses - armed resistance, passive endurance, or attempts to delay suffering through wealth - add layers of complexity to an already devastating historical moment. It challenges the idea of a single narrative and instead presents a spectrum of human responses to unimaginable circumstances.

Above all, this book is a tribute to the women who risked and often gave their lives in resistance. It’s hard not to feel that the history of their contributions has been overlooked for far too long. The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto is an excellent work of historical research that may not appeal to a casual reader, but I found it well worth the effort.

**NOTE: This is a related picture book I reread. Author Karen Hesse read a short article about cats outfoxing the Gestapo at the train station in Warsaw during WWII. It inspired her to write this stirring account of a Jewish girl's involvement in the Resistance. 

To learn more about teaching children about the Holocaust see, "Confronting the Ovens": Commemorating the Holocaust Through Children's Eyes

Nonfiction: True Crime

The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery by Bill James, Rachel McCarthy James

Publisher’s Description: “Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth. Some of these cases, like the infamous Villasca, Iowa, murders, received national attention. But few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station.

Applying the same know-how he (Bill James) brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal. In turn, they uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America.”

This is the most detail-orientated book I have ever read! One of the authors, Bill James, is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician – and this book relies heavily upon his ability as a historian and statistician! Since it is so detailed and retrospective, there are some jumps between events which necessitate a retelling of facts to relate them to another crime. A few times I found this to be tedious but, in the end, worthwhile reading. 

It was interesting to learn how unprofessional law enforcement was in the past! There were several men lynched or wrongly convicted for the serial killer’s crimes. James makes a point to explain how the book isn’t about lynching, but rather a historical fact directly related to the social context of the times which allowed the “man from the train” to continue killing families. 

A fascinating book!

Nonfiction: American History

Newcomers: The Story of Anthony and Grietje and the Founding of New York by Alan Mikhail

“For centuries, much of colonial American history was portrayed as Puritan purity, a story that relied on banishing from the narratives of America much of the messy violence and maligned figures that formed it.”

Newcomers can be described as “revisionist” history. Historical revisionism occurs when a historian or researcher challenges traditional or accepted views of a historical event. This happens when new evidence, documents, or perspectives come to light that change how the past is understood. Unlike the Puritan tale of colonization for “freedom of religion” we were all taught in elementary school – a push factor -, most Europeans came to the American colonies to make money – a pull factor.

Using archival sources, Dr. Mikhail describes the lives of an unorthodox married couple who were among the first settlers in what is now New York. Their rags-to-riches story illustrates the unorthodox nature of our first colonists.

Publisher’s Description: “A man thought to be Muslim from Morocco and a German barmaid are hardly the image we have of America’s founders. In Newcomers, Alan Mikhail upends the traditional story of American beginnings through the tale of Anthony “the Turk” and Grietje Reyniers. Married in Amsterdam, they arrived in 1630s Dutch New Amsterdam, hoping to forge a new life. Always outsiders in the young colony, they battled Dutch authorities, brawled with neighbors, and seized land from Native Americans. In this revisionist portrait of the early American family, we learn of anti-Muslim sentiment through Anthony and of female defiance through Grietje. Eventually banished from Manhattan to Long Island, Anthony and Grietje farmed, prospered, and raised a family whose descendants included the Vanderbilts and President Harding.”

Newcomers provides an explanation of the push and pull factors that shaped migration to the American colonies. It also reveals the daily realities of survival during our nation’s earliest years. We can see how a corporate enterprise, Dutch West India Company, envisioned its borders being settled by dissidents and outcasts, provided they advanced and defended the claims of the company. In addition to learning more about two specific settlers, Newcomers also offers a broader window into the social and cultural dynamics of early New York.

A “must read” for American history devotees!

Fiction: Mystery

Sea Fever by Ann Cleeves

I am most familiar with Cleeves’ Vera and Shetland series. This is one of her earlier works. Even though this book is not terrible, it’s not as polished as her later books. 

George and Molly Palmer-Jones are on a bird-watching trip to Cornwall. They are retired and do occasional private detective work. When Greg, the most fanatical birder of them all is found bludgeoned and floating in the sea, George must find out why the young man has been murdered.

Although the premise of the mystery – bird watching - was interesting, I just couldn’t “get into” the characters or the mystery. Sea Fever was an “okay” read which provided me with a break from all the “heavy” nonfiction I read this month!

August Booknotes

 August Booknotes

“There are lessons to be learned from history — but generally those lessons are only known to those who read books, not to those who ban them.” - Brian Dunning

Fiction: Classic, Dystopia, Science Fiction (Banned Book Club)

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

No more childbirths… Human beings are cloned in batches… Population is strictly divided into castes… Sexual promiscuity flourishes but love is unknown…

Publisher’s Description: “Brave New World is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English author Aldous Huxley. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist.”

A drug, soma, is used to maintain social stability, and keep citizens in a state of complacent, euphoric happiness without any bad physical aftereffects. Soma replaces religion, stress, and political unrest with artificial contentment. It provides an artificial mental "holiday" from reality. The government uses soma as a tool of pacification, ensuring nobody questions the totalitarian system.

In the “brave new world”, people are husks, empty and detached, without ever realizing it. Except for John who was born on a New Mexico Reservation which was not in the “new brave world.” Before coming to the “new brave world”, he read a volume of Shakespeare, and it changed his life. He can only think, feel, and view the world through a wide lens. Then, when he is taken to the “new brave world,” he finds only depravity and it becomes too much for him to bear. 

Brave New World is both a warning and a thought-provoking work of speculative fiction. Whereas 1984 speculated on a world where people are controlled by inflicting pain, in Brave New World, people are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In 1984 the totalitarian government banned books and censored information. In Brave New World, the totalitarian government drugs people so they lose any desire to read or learn. Too extreme concepts and either could possibly become true.  Both novels are classics well worth reading.

Nonfiction: History, Politics, Government

Freak Power - Hunter S. Thompson's Campaign for Sheriff by Daniel Joseph Watkins, Bob Braudis (Foreword), Ajax Phillips (Editor)

Freak Power was written by an Aspen Museum curator, and you can tell!! Using original print materials from the campaign, photographs, and political art, this is an archive and museum exhibit in book form. 

Thompson was an American journalist and author who pioneered “gonzo journalism.” Gonzo journalism is characterized by the reporter becoming a central character in the story, immersing themselves in the events to gain firsthand experience. He spent nearly two years living and riding with the infamous Hell’s Angels motorcycle club, and exposed their gritty, rebellious lifestyle to the public in his book Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. 

After the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Thompson was disgusted yet motivated by what he’d experienced - violently suppressed protests, corrupt politicians, and abusive cops. Thompson decided he had to do something. Back in Aspen, he found that the local police and sheriff’s departments were targeting hippies, charging them with absurd crimes, harassing them on the streets, and trying to push them out of town. Thompson realized change had to be made by people like him. The hippies, intellectuals, and freaks had remained silent long enough. The time had come to organize and capture political power. 

Thompson was an “unconventional” politician.

When his political rival kept referring to him as “my long-haired opponent”, Thompson shaved his head.

He partnered with a local artist to create “Wallposters.” These were art posters on one side and his political writings on the other side. (These became collector’s items and are expensive!)

Thompson wanted to decriminalize marijuana. He also wanted to set up a “self-policing committee among the young people so that word is put out that no heroin or speed are to be allowed in the head community… any heroin or speed dealers will be advised by this committee that they must quit or get out of town.”

Freak Power tells the detailed story of Thompson’s plan to become Sheriff and transform Aspen from a conservative mining town into a mecca for artists, nonconformists, and activists. And while he lost his campaign, many of his ideas have taken root in Aspen.

"Hunter's 1970 run for Pitkin County Sheriff began as an anti-establishment campaign where hippies and freaks were pitted against ruling conservatives. The unintended yet fortunate result was the birth of an enlightened brand of law enforcement and a unique philosophy that spans forty-five years and three generations of sheriffs and is still alive in Pitkin County today."– Joey DiSalvo, Pitkin County Sheriff

Nonfiction: Biography, History

An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln by Lois Romano

This is a fascinating biography of America’s most misunderstood First Lady. Romano makes the case that Mary Lincoln was totally overwhelmed by the many deaths of loved ones - her mother when Mary was 5 years old - son, Eddie, to TB at age four – son, Willie, at age 11 of typhoid fever – she was holding her husband’s hand when he was shot in the head at Ford’s Theater - and son, Tad, at age 18 from “respiratory and heart failure.” You would think people would have some empathy for her situation. Wrong! As a widow Mary was vilified, mocked, and shunned at a time when she most needed understanding and care. Even Abraham Lincoln’s law partner denigrated her out of spite ensuring that “history” cast her as a greedy and insane woman.

“You know, she got a raw deal.” - Bill Clinton commenting on Mary Lincoln

An Inconvenient Widow is an excellent analysis of the raw deal Mary Lincoln received. Yes, she was difficult. But she was also the target of intense 19th century misogyny, including from her last surviving son, Robert Lincoln.  He was more worried about what other people thought about him rather than providing care for his mother. Robert, along with other men, had Mary arrested, taken directly to a court, and where men judged her “insane.” Obviously, she had a very difficult relationship with her sole surviving son as he had her committed to an insane asylum. Years later Robert regretted his actions and attempted to burn all letters referring to his behavior towards his suffering mother.

Mary had both good and bad qualities including being a compulsive shopper, but there were people who exploited the bad and ignored the good to create a narrative that exalted her husband (and son) by making her a shrew. She was a loving person who, several times a week, visited Civil War casualties and was instrumental in her husband’s political successes. A complicated and grief-stricken woman, Mary was beaten down by life before the era of any good mental health treatments.

Fiction: Historical Fiction

Mule Boy by Andrew Krivak

On New Year’s Day, 1929, Ondro Prach, the 13-year-old son of Slovak immigrants in Pennsylvania coal country, began a new job in the mine as mule boy. His father died in the mine, so he knew the dangers, but he was proud of his position handling the animal that hauled cartloads of coal from shafts deep within the earth to the surface. Then the “room” he and the men on his work team were working in collapsed and their fate is sealed.

That tragic day led to Ondro’s own collapse - of his spirit, his hopes, and his self-determination. Life became one long prison sentence for him. He carried a burden of guilt and shame, so sure that he failed his fellow workers. 

He tried to overcome the tragedy but suffered from addiction, a failed marriage, and imprisonment because he refused to serve in the military during World War II. It seemed there was no hope for happiness, and he lived for decades as a self-imposed hermit.

Then, as an old man, he continued to reflect and ponder on the mine collapse and the men who didn’t survive. Unexpectantly, Ondro was sought out by the children and grandchildren of the miners who didn’t survive. They asked him about the last days and hours of their fathers’ and grandfathers' lives. Finally, he found the strength to share what the men spoke of and prayed for in the pitch black. This was the opportunity for Ondro to see lightness again; for healing to take place.

This is a very poignant novel about a child who witnesses horrors that define his remaining years. It is written in a different style in which the sentences connect continually, strung together by commas. There are no quote marks and few paragraphs. It takes some getting “used to” but it is a beautiful story.

Nonfiction: Archeology, Memoir, Travel

Stone Lands: A Journey of Darkness and Light Through Britain’s Ancient Places by Fiona Robertson

Stone Lands is a blend of two distinct but interrelated narratives. The first is the author’s personal journey as she dealt with the cancer diagnosis and eventual death of her husband, and how visiting megalithic sites helped her come to terms with this life-shattering event; the second is her detailed exploration of the wider history and significance of these sites.

Each chapter is arranged around a specific set of stones. This is coupled with a particular personal connection made by the author. The chapters also include histories of the stones’ decline and/or preservation, as well as the different types of people attracted to them: historians and archaeologists; poets and artists; tourists and sightseers; those seeking spiritual renewal.

This is not a conventional book on prehistory, and it might not be to everyone’s taste, but it is a very good book. Robertson successfully blends her personal life narrative with history and archeology.

Stone Lands also quietly reminds us that our own lives are fragile, subject to “change, decay, and loss.” At any moment, “the illusion of stability can shatter.” Yet the stones endure, even if they too are weathered by time. They can become metaphors for “strength, endurance, and hope,” and perhaps the very best qualities of humankind: the desire to create meaning that lasts beyond us.

Stone Lands, left me feeling inspired to look at the world differently, with more reverence, gratitude, and an awareness of how the world is full of wonder.

Nonfiction: Law, Government, American History

The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader by Melissa Murray

The author is the Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center, New York University, School of Law.

"It feels like we’re living in a moment where the basic premises of the Constitution–limited government, restraint on government authority, respect for rights, the prospect of citizenship–are being renegotiated in real time. These are important moments–and we all need to be equipped with the tools to engage effectively."

This book is a tool to equip people to engage effectively. It is educational, informative, and incredibly relevant to the times we are living in today. Each section of the Constitution – all seven articles and all twenty-even amendments – are presented in full. Each section includes its origin story followed by a detailed discussion of what the text means, how it has been interpreted throughout history, and why it continues to impact our daily lives. 

The annotations, historical context, and real-world examples make the Constitution come alive in a way that was both engaging and easy to follow. 

An informed citizen is essential to maintaining the rule of law and balance of power and this book does a good job explaining our Constitution. This would be an excellent textbook for Civics classes – a “class” we should all repeat throughout our lives!

July Booknotes

 

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading.” – Elizabeth Hardwick

Fiction: Speculative Fiction, Politics

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America by Albert Brooks

The year is 2030, and there is “good news” and, of course, “bad news.” The first Jewish U.S. President has been elected, but the national debt has spiraled to insurmountable depths. Cancer has been cured and the elderly are living longer but this is draining tax dollars and straining the health care system. All of this has created a civil war, of sorts, between the young and the "olds." Then, just when things could not possibly look grimmer, a devastating earthquake rocks Los Angeles, reducing the city to rubble.

Brooks relates all these events through a cast of characters:

• President Matthew Bernstein is a position in which no president wants to find themselves. 
• Kathy Bernard, in her 20s, and her father, Stewart, are faced with financial hardships, as Stewart has been forced to take low-paying jobs, after losing his job with General Motors. 
• Dr. Sam Mueller is world famous for having cured cancer but faces growing enemies in the younger generation. They vilify him because he has extended the life span of the “olds.” The repercussions cause the youth to shoulder the growing financial burden of the elderly. 
• Brad Miller is an “old. His condo was destroyed in the quake of Los Angeles, forcing him to live in a make-shift triage tent, not knowing if he'll be able to recoup the insurance money owed to him on the condo. 

The Chinese are the only government with the resources to bail out the United States and help rebuild L.A. They are unwilling to loan even another dime to the U.S., as the U.S. is already indebted to the Chinese for trillions of dollars. Instead, they make a “deal” that has enormous implications for Americans and our system of government.

2030 starts off a little slow, as central characters are established. Each one comprises a separate storyline. Brooks has decades of experience in film and television which are evident in his use of dialog. The dialog, in fact, is what moves the story, rather than the story being driven by narrative. Fortunately, Brooks also throws in some humor, to help offset the overtly tragic overtones of the story.

2030 is a speculative look into the future of America, which is somber, yet plausible.

Nonfiction: World History, Archeology

 Apocalypse: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures―A Transformative Exploration of Humanity's Resilience Through Cataclysmic Events by Lizzie Wade

Publisher’s Description: “A drought lasts for decades, a disease rips through a city, a civilization collapses. Apocalypse begins by traveling deep into the past, to when Homo sapiens went from being one of many to the only human species on the planet - the apocalypse of extinction that in some ways started it all. Global sea levels rise with devastating speed, and natural disasters shape the landscape in new ways...  the end of Old Kingdom Egypt, the collapse of the Classic Maya, the Black Death, etc.

History is long, and people have already confronted just about every apocalypse we’re facing today. But these days, archaeologists are getting better at seeing stories of survival, transformation, and even progress hidden within those histories of collapse and destruction. Apocalypse offers a new way of understanding human history, reframing it as a series of crises and cataclysms that we survived, moments of choice in an evolution of humanity that has never been predetermined or even linear… The more we learn about apocalypses past, the more hope we have that we will survive our own. It won’t be pleasant. It won’t be fair. The world will be different on the other side, and our cultures and communities, perhaps even our species, will be different too.”

Wade is a journalist who has covered archeology and anthropology for many years. Most of the chapters start with a fictional story of what the author thinks life was like for a person living during the historical period being discussed. Some readers may find the “first-person”, fictional vignettes objectionable. However, Wade does refer to archeological evidence which was analyzed by archeologists and presents their interpretation with the “first-person” vignettes.  Thanks to new archaeological tools (and Wade’s storytelling), we get a whole new look at the past and a possible future.

“Embracing apocalypse doesn’t mean resigning ourselves to the worst-case scenario or giving up on the idea of progress. It means believing that destruction can be a gateway to progress, societies can and should change … just because we’re used to something doesn’t make it right.”

Fiction: Classic, Historical Fiction (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

On Friday noon, July 20, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke …

The Bridge of San Luis Rey tells the story of Brother Juniper, who watches the “finest bridge in all Peru” break and toss “five travelers into the gulf below.” He decides “that it was high time for theology to take its place among the exact sciences,” and sets out to discover why the bridge chose this time to fall, and how it came to be that these five specific people were on it at that fateful moment.

“If there were any plan in the universe at all, if there were any pattern in a human life, surely it could be discovered mysteriously latent in those lives so suddenly cut off. Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan. And on that instant Brother Juniper made the resolve to inquire into the secret lives of those five persons.”

Brother Juniper spends six years interviewing people about the five dead people. They are the rich Dona Maria; her companion, Pepita; the orphan Esteban who was raised at a convent; the valet Uncle Pio; and the young Don Jaime. The connections between these five are vividly presented in brief vignettes.

Published in 1927, The Bridge of San Luis Rey is from a different era of literature, when it was possible to be both the biggest selling book of the year and win the Pulitzer Prize. I think it was worthy of both honors. This is a story with universal appeal told through beautiful writing. Nearly 100 years after it was written, this tale is still moving and insightful today,

“There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”

Audiobook Fiction: Classic, Humor (Reread)

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

NOTE: If possible, listen to the audiobook! I tried the print version but the audiobook reader, Barrett Whitener, does an excellent job with the varied and unique New Orleans dialects and accents. The dialogue in this comedic farce is funny, but when it is spoken aloud it becomes hilarious.

Set in New Orleans in the 1960s, A Confederacy of Dunces follows the fortunes of 30-year-old Ignatius J. Reilly, a lazy scholar of medievalism who still lives with his mother, Irene. Ignatius is unemployed and spends most of his days in his bedroom contemplating (rarely writing) his” literary opus.” 

There are several characters in this book who make small entrances and exits before circling back to enter the story repeatedly. The cast of characters are memorable: 

• the cantankerous Claude Robichaux, who believes everyone to be a communist; 
• the police officer, Mancuso, who is the butt of all jokes at his precinct; 
• and the put-upon mother, Irene, who seeks solace in the wine she hides in the oven. 

But none compare to the pompous Ignatius, always pontificating about a world he believes has lost its standards while overlooking his own gluttony and idleness. Asked by Officer Mancuso about his lack of employment, Ignatius replies, conceitedly: “When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.”

Listening to A Confederacy of Dunces is a welcome, humorous break from reality. 

Nonfiction: True Crime

London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe

Publisher’s Description: “In the early morning of November 29th, 2019, surveillance cameras at the headquarters of MI6, Britain’s spy agency, captured video of a young man pacing back and forth on a high balcony of Riverwalk, a luxury tower on the opposite bank of the river Thames. At 2:24 AM he jumped into the river.

In a quiet London neighborhood several miles away, Rachelle Brettler was worried about her son. Zac had told her that he had gone to stay with a friend, but then he did not come home. Days later, a police car pulled up and two officers relayed the dreadful news: her son was dead.

In their unbearable grief, Rachelle and her husband, Matthew, struggled to understand what had happened to Zac. He had his troubles, but in no way seemed suicidal. As they would soon discover, however, there was a lot they did not know about their son. Only after his death did they learn that he had adopted a fictitious alter-ego: Zac Ismailov, son of a Russian oligarch and heir to a great fortune. Under this guise, Zac had become entangled with a slippery London businessman named Akbar Shamji, and a murderous gangster known as “Indian Dave.” As the Brettlers set about investigating their son’s death, they were pulled into a different and more dangerous London than the one they’d always known and came to believe that something much more nefarious than a suicide had claimed Zac’s life. But to their immense frustration, Scotland Yard seemed unable—or unwilling—to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

London Falling isn’t just an investigation of an inexplicable death. It is also about how a family tried to solve a double mystery: HOW did their son die and WHO was he really. This secondary investigation probes the nature of parental love and the challenges of being a parent. 

“The truth about parenthood, he concludes, is that it abruptly catapults us into a permanent relationship with a stranger.”

Fiction: Mystery

The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher

I really like books with late-in-life characters such as Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove and Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. This book was “right up my alley” and was un-putdownable!

“… how on earth had it come to this; how was she looking at care homes for the elderly when she still felt twenty years old inside, still believed she could do headstands, and when there was still so much that she wanted to do with her life – like swim the English Channel or ride across plains with proper cowboys, learn the trumpet or walk the Camino de Santiago with all her belongings on her back. How might she do these things now? Where had the time gone? What was left of her one, brief life?”

Florrie Butterfield is 87, has one leg, and lives in Babbington Hall, an “old folks’ home.” She believes there can't be any more adventures or surprises in life to experience. Yet one summer evening, there’s a strange and shocking event at Babbington Hall. Florrie is suspicious; is this really an accident? Or is she being lied to? Is she, in fact, living alongside a potential murderer? In search of the truth, Florrie begins to look back on her own life, with all its desires and regrets. She must confront her own secret and, at last, forgive herself. With the help of her new friend, Stanhope, Florrie learns that you’re never too old to have the life you’ve always dreamed of. 

The Night in Question is about the solving of a mystery… sort of. Mostly though, it’s a celebration of the different stages of our lives. It’s a reflection on the nature of the various sorts of loves one may be fortunate enough to encounter throughout a lifetime. It’s a reminder to grab hold of life and make the most of it. It’s the gift of friendship and love that may surprise us at a time when we least expect it. The Night in Question is an emotionally engaging novel which is both a mystery and a meditation on love, friendship, and the power of forgiveness.

Two Books About Aspen

These two books were on the coffee table of the condo we were staying at during our recent visit to Aspen, Colorado. I read them and recommend them to anyone who travels there or is interested in learning about the history of this unique American town.

Nonfiction: American History 

Aspen Journey: Past to Present by Susan Dalton, Anthony Kinne (Illustrator), Judy Haas (Editor)

Aspen Journey tells the story of the transformation of a pure and pristine valley into Aspen, Colorado, a town that is like no other place! Beginning with the Utes and then moving through the silver boom (1879-1893), the quiet years (1893-1936), the revival years (1936-1970) and, finally, modern Aspen. The book includes an eclectic assortment of graphics, including antique prints, historical photos, memorabilia, and vintage postcards. It is a large coffee table book. 

This is a great book for visitors! Due to the plethora of illustrations, it is “easy” reading, just right for relaxing after a day of hiking. 

Nonfiction: American History, Memoir 

To Aspen and Back: An American Journey by Peggy Clifford, introduction by Hunter S. Thompson

Originally published in 1980, To Aspen and Back is an insightful chronicle of the transformation of Aspen, Colorado, from the 1950s through the 1970s. It is both a history and a deep examination of the social and cultural forces that at the same time shaped this “Shangri-La” in the Colorado Rockies while also threatening to destroy its ideals. 

In its 100-year history, Aspen has experienced the birth, death, and resurrection of the “American Dream.” In the 1950s Aspen began to attract “ski bums”, dreamers, and artists, but in the 1960s and 1970s Aspen also attracted others looking to make a profit appealing to and attracting the rich and famous.  

To Aspen and Back describes the cultural clashes between ranching families, early developers, and residents who were being priced out of their hometown. This conflict shaped the resort town we know today. 

Over 40 years after its publication, To Aspen and Back is not just as the history of Aspen the town but it is also a revelation of how we, as Americans, choose to pursue our versions of the “American Dream.”

"Peggy Clifford described the rise and fall of our illusions as well as anyone could. She was right in the middle of it and what she writes is true. ... As a writer, what I most appreciate in this book is the clarity and validity of her descriptions of people and times and places. ... She ties Aspen’s fate to America. ... Peggy was in the trenches. She’s the ultimate authority.” – Hunter S. Thompson

June Booknotes

 

“All I have learned, I learned from books.” - Abraham Lincoln

Nonfiction: China, Technology, Economics, Politics

Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang

The central premise of Breakneck is that even though China and the USA are in a great power struggle, they could learn much from each other.

Wang argues that the USA has fallen prey to inertia in realizing any improvements in physical infrastructure due to a litigation driven culture. He cites the fact more than half of Congress and the many of our presidents were lawyers or held a law degree. Conversely China's 24-member Politburo contains several prominent scientists and former aerospace, nuclear, or weapons engineers and General Secretary Xi Jinping has a degree in chemical engineering. This helps to explain China’s great feats of public works leading to 11 Chinese cities having a metro network larger than New York City’s and their high-speed railway service rural areas. China is “big” on infrastructure, they have twice the number of roads built since 2000 compared to the USA. 

“China, right now, is in the midst of pursuing its own Great Society, where even its poorest provinces have impressive levels of physical dynamism. Delivering the goods is part of why consent of the governed is still pretty strong in China.”

Conversely, China is not so good when it comes to people. Among the most intense chapters are the chapters on the one-child (chapter 4) and zero-Covid (chapter 5) policies. The one-child policy was initiated by misguided demographic projections and a misunderstanding of Malthusianism theory - a demographic and economic theory suggesting that human population growth tends to outpace agricultural production, leading to inevitable famine, disease, and war. Initially, second or additional children born would not be registered meaning they would not receive free education or health care. However, the policy quickly became barbarically coercive: fines, sterilizations, forced abortions, abandonments, and infanticides. All this tragedy and agony justified in the name of meeting the *numerical targets of the government's plan regardless of the inhumanity. The lesson is the engineering mindset can be inhumane and myopic.

NOTE: *Like the current administration's immigration mindset which favors quotas over humanity.

Zero-Covid, similarly, is presented as both a demonstration of China’s effective engineering state capacity (closing borders, mobilizing resources, quarantines, digital monitoring) and of its failures (suppressing the number of cases, inability to adapt to new viral variants, disregarding human suffering). During the 8-week TOTAL lock down in Shanghai, megaphones mounted on state drones called out to citizens “Repress your soul’s yearning for freedom!"  This is just one example how an inflexible “engineering” state ignores humanity. 

China is estimated to account for 45% of world output by 2030.  We could learn beneficial lessons from China but not if we focus solely on tariffs. Tariffs are not universally good or bad, but their impact depends on who is being affected – will they enhance the lives of people? When planning for manufacturing and infrastructure projects, “engineering” has the potential to improve life for people by recognizing and embracing human rights. Wang concludes with a warning that the more Western democracies don’t deliver on the needs and wishes of their people, the more tempting it is to rely on a strongman to fulfill all their wishes.

“The ultimate contest between China and the United States will not be decided by which country has the biggest factory or the highest corporate valuation. This contest will be won by the country that works best for the people living in it.”

Tandem Read –Two books about our nation’s transition from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era.

Here are key concepts shared by these two books.

Gilded Age – 1870 through 1890s, an era of prosperity for the rich and rapid technological advancement which masked deep societal problems like poverty, inequality, and political corruption.

Progressive Era – 1890s – 1920s, an era of political movement interested in furthering social and political reform, while curbing political corruption.

Socialism – an economic and political philosophy advocating for the collective or public ownership of the means of production, rather than private ownership.

Anarchy - a social and political movement, anarchism advocates for a society based on voluntary cooperation, self-determination, and mutual aid rather than coercive state control.

Nonfiction: American History

Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt's America by Eric Rauchway

The book begins with an account of the assassination of President William McKinley. He was known as the “handmaiden to American manufacturers” and for the McKinley Tariff which led to the panic of 1893. He is seen as the epitome of the Gilded Age. The assassination is described in detail, as is the capture of the assassin, the subsequent trial, and execution. 

Particularly interesting is the biography of the shooter, a native-born American named Czolgosz who insisted he was an “anarchist.” Czolgosz’s life story is based on research done by an alienist (we now know them as psychologists) named Briggs who was trying to diagnose whether Czolcosz was insane. 

However, Czolcosz’s story is only a portion of the book. Equally interesting is the description of what was happening in a broader American context. The larger picture of forces at play in 1901 and beyond included corporate coddling; progressivism vs. socialism; political smear tactics; criminal psychology; and social workers. Rauchway discusses how these forces led to Theodore Roosevelt’s rise to the presidency and the Progressive Era. 

The final aspect in the book was an in-depth discussion of the development of psychology as a science. There was controversy over the causes and treatment of insanity. Czolcosz’s mental condition was argued over. Many alienists promoted the idea that merely claiming to be an “anarchist” was a kind of mental illness.

This book reads like an anthology of feature articles about domestic issues in U.S. politics of the time. Murdering McKinley is a varied and fascinating picture of this period in history.

Fiction: Utopia, Science Fiction

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy

This is the book that Czolcosz “studied steadily for eight years.” 

Published in 1888, Looking Backward was a best seller and translated into multiple languages. It sold for as little as 50 cents and was the most accessible book in the United States for many years. 

It is a tale of time travel when Julian West, a wealthy Bostonian, falls into a deep trance. One-hundred-thirteen years later, in the year 2000, he is “awakened” by a doctor into a utopian America. 

West discovers a world greatly changed from the Gilded Age he left and now experiences an America in which social classes do not fight one another but work together in peaceable recognition of their common interest. There is no private industry, the state owns all capital and manages all production, replacing competitive private business with a single, massive public cooperative. 

Citizens are part of an "industrial army," they have no money, and consumer goods are rationed via “credit” cards. This novel offers a revolution without bloodshed and a peaceful evolution of social thought. 

Looking Backward has no violence, - nothing to indicate Czolcosz, who studied it for eight years, was influenced by its content to shoot President McKinley. It is a utopian tale.

When it was published during the Gilded Age there were extensive slums, sweatshops, and unsafe factories. All this existed alongside the skyrocketing wealth of a handful of men. A social movement began when people realized the Gilded Age didn’t represent the pinnacle of human society.  There had to be something better – hence the transition to the Progressive Era and the book’s popularity.

Looking Backward is frequently assigned in history courses due to its depiction of the differences between capitalism and “socialism.” However, as literature, it reads more like a lecture from someone who can't stop pontificating. The plot is boring and the characters are flat. Bellamy imagines a future economy with mind-numbing detail. Yet, it remains one of the most influential utopian novels. 

Nonfiction: Survival, Interpersonal Relations, Biography

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst

This is the true tale of a couple, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, who couldn’t have been more different, yet so perfect for each other. He was solitary, and compulsive, and she was charming, and enterprising. Neither Maurice nor Maralyn wanted a conventional lifestyle, Maurice was looking for an escape, and Maralyn was looking for an adventure. They were going to sail, just the two of them, from Great Britain to New Zealand

They sold their home and lived meagerly while Maurice oversaw the construction of their sailboat, which took several years. In June 1972 they set sail to New Zealand without a radio and using only a compass and sextant to navigate. Maralyn didn’t even know how to swim.

After passing through the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean, and nine months after setting sail, a breaching whale struck their sailboat. As their sailboat was sinking, they gathered what they could into an inflatable life raft and attached dinghy, which they shared for the next 118 days...

The survival story is fascinating, and it reads almost like a novel. The physicality of their ordeal - catching sharks and birds with bare hands, fishing hooks made of safety pins, cutting eggs out of a turtle, etc. makes for some squeamish reading. But the book focuses on the most important thing that kept them going, their marriage.  The strength of their partnership was essential to their survival.  Maurice would not have survived without Maralyn; he wanted to give up but Maralyn kept him focused on their future. 

After their rescue, the press initially focused on Maralyn as the unnamed “wife” and a “small brunette” who they assumed had followed her husband rather than being the main driver behind the adventure and their survival. Maurice always corrected the reporters and flat out told them he was only alive because of Maralyn’s strength of character. 

The Bailey’s did sail again, and their marriage survived until Maralyn’s death from cancer in 2002. Maurice didn’t fare well after Maralyn was gone. Just “surviving” each day was an immense struggle on his own.

A Marriage at Sea is an unforgettable true story of extreme survival, human resourcefulness, battles with despair, and sustained hope. It's filled with details of this couple's ordeal at sea, what happened afterwards, and the years that followed. It's a fascinating read!

Fiction: Realistic Fiction, Ireland

Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan

“Really, who would care about a family like theirs? Theirs were ordinary human failings, tragedies too routine to be of note.”

This gritty novel follows the lives of an Irish immigrant family, the Green family, in a public housing estate in 1990s London. Ten-year-old Lucy Green is suspected of being responsible for the death of a three-year-old girl, Mia. Why did this tragedy occur?

We travel back ten years and learn about the members of Lucy’s family. Her grandmother Rose, the family martyr, was the only person who displayed any affection toward Lucy, but she died a few years ago. That left her grandfather, John a recluse, and her uncle Ritchie, an alcoholic. Her mother, Carmel, became pregnant with her when she was a teenager. Carmel’s boyfriend moved away and, in the 1980s Ireland, abortion was prohibited. Carmel tries unsuccessfully on her own to end her pregnancy and fails. She then goes into a deep denial about her condition. Once Rose finally realized Carmel was pregnant, they traveled to England when abortion was legal, but it is too late and Carmel was already 5 months pregnant. So the family relocated from Ireland to London to avoid scandal. After Lucy’s birth, Carmel was distant and never displayed any concern for her daughter. Grandmother Rose was Lucy’s surrogate mother until her death.

After Rose died, 10-year-old Lucy was basically ignored by her family, and she began to have behavioral issues at school. Then Mia was found dead after playing with Lucy. She was taken into police custody, and her family was subjected to scrutiny from their neighbors, the press, and law enforcement. The scrutiny and Lucy’s plight compel each of the family members to reflect on their own lives and the dysfunction within their family. Every member of the Green family made poor choices. It was one bad decision after another.

Even though the characters frustrated me, Nolan’s intimate and intense writing ignited my empathy. I can understand why the Greens did what they did, and I found myself caring for a broken family in need of healing. This was a depressing, intriguing story which, fortunately, had a hopeful ending.

Fiction: Historical Fiction, Thriller

The Tenth Man by Graham Greene

NOTE: The last time I read anything by Graham Greene was in my English Literature Survey class in high school. I was browsing the shelves in our public library, saw this and decided it was time to become reacquainted with Mr. Greene.

The Tenth Man was written in 1944 when Greene was under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The manuscript did not make it into production and was in MGM’s archives until 1983 when it was published with an introduction by the author. In 1988 it was made into a television movie in the Hallmark Hall of Fame series is available on Prime Video. I have not watched it, yet.

During World War II, in occupied France, a German aide-de-camp and a sergeant are shot and killed by an unknown member of the Resistance. The Germans decide to retaliate by shooting one man in every ten being held in a prisoner of war (POW) camp. The prisoners are instructed to draw lots to see who will be shot. A wealthy Paris lawyer, Chavel, draws a lot.

Chavel then offers his home and his entire legacy to anyone that is willing to take his place. Amazingly a young man suffering from tuberculosis, Janvier, accepts his offer. Chavel then draws up the legal documents of transfer and then Janvier’s will so that upon his death the house and legacy are left to Janvier’s mother and sister.

Later, when he is released from the POW camp, impoverished Chavel returns to his home where Janvier's mother and sister now live. He hides his identity and becomes their servant, calling himself Charlot. Eventually, an imposter arrives at the house claiming to be Chavel … 

At first The Tenth Man seems like a simple and straightforward story, it is only 150 pages. However, is a moving tale about guilt, love, and ultimately, the value of life. This is the story of a man who gave all his worldly treasures in exchange for his life and then had to deal the unexpected consequences of his actions.

Banned Book Club Fiction: African American, Historical Fiction (Reread)

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

This is a wonderful novel about an independent Black woman, Janie Crawford in 1930s Florida. She is on a quest for self-discovery, identity, and genuine love. 

The novel begins when Janie returns to her hometown after several years away. She left years earlier with a younger, scandalous lover, but now Janie returns alone and faces the town's gossip. 

“They made burning statements with questions and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty.”

Janie then tells her best friend, Pheoby, what has transpired during her time away. She begins her life story as a preteen living with her grandmother, Nanny. Nanny arranges her first marriage to an old, rich man, Logan Killicks. Her marriage is not a loving one and Janie feels treated like property. She grows restless and leaves Logan. 

Next Janie marries ambitious Jody Starks, who eventually becomes the mayor of Eatonville, Florida. While this marriage offers her social status, Jody proves controlling, silences Janie, and is abusive. He ignores her as much as possible and builds his empire in the town. Then Jody dies and Janie meets Tea Cake Woods. 

"He drifted off to sleep, and Janie looked down on him and felt a soul-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place."

Finally, Janie finds true love with Tea Cake, a man much younger than her. Though he is poor, he treats Janie as an equal, allowing her to express her true self. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes …

"The wind came back with triple fury and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."

In 1997, Their Eyes Were Watching God was banned in a Virginia county because parents objected to Janie’s relationship with the much-younger Tea Cake. It seems surprising that the age gap between Janie and Tea Cake was their big issue - not the initial loveless, arranged marriage to an older man - not the twenty years of abuse she suffered at the hands of her second husband!!

“Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches”

This is a classic American novel expertly written about the evolution of a voiceless, impressionable teenager into a woman who finally takes control of her own destiny and speaks her mind. Throughout her evolution Janie learns the difference between societal expectations of a “stable” marriage and a true emotional connection. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a quiet, beautiful monument to a woman's strength and endurance.

Nonfiction: Literature, Politics, History

Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt

NOTE: I haven’t read any Shakespeare since college! So, I have never really thought about how many times William Shakespeare warned us about the dangers of tyrants until now! 

Macbeth, Winter’s Tale, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Henry VI, King Lear, and of course the play involving the most notorious hunchback in history, Richard III – all are explorations of the darkness of power that leads to malicious intentions and evil deeds.

These tyrants have no loyalty to country, and if they are ousted from power, they are quick to turn on their country, even embracing the nation’s enemies to punish those who would not let them be the dictator they dreamed of. 

Shakespeare’s depiction of Richard III brilliantly illustrates how tyrants view the world: “He is pathologically narcissistic and supremely arrogant. He has a grotesque sense of entitlement, never doubting that he can do whatever he chooses. He expects absolute loyalty, but he is incapable of gratitude. The feelings of others mean nothing to him. He has no natural grace, no sense of humanity, no decency. The tyrant is not merely indifferent to the law; he hates it and takes pleasure in breaking it. He hates it because it gets in his way and because it stands for a notion of the public good that he holds in contempt.”

The tyrant is utterly obsessed with winning, and any losses he may experience are always going to be blamed on those around him. He is too childish to accept his own missteps; therefore, valuable lessons are not learned that would help him to become a better leader. He never has to feel personal regret.

“The tyrant is obsessed by loyalty from his inner circle … the only people who will serve him are self-interested scoundrels … he wants flattery, confirmation, and obedience.”

This is a book about Shakespeare. It doesn't mention contemporary politics at all, not even once. Why would it? It is a book about how Shakespeare's plays explore the concept of tyranny, and of what happens in a country when flawed, selfish, foolish people use power for their own benefit. Any connection between the contents of this book and contemporary politics are entirely in the mind of the reader. Ultimately, I think Greenblatt is using Shakespeare to remind us of our duties not to let tyranny go unchecked. 

“Shakespeare believed that the tyrants and their minions would eventually fail … the best chance for the recovery of collective decency lay, he thought in the political action of ordinary citizens.”