“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.”
