BLL Book Reviews -June 2016 Brewster Ladies Library 1822 Main Street Brewster, MA 02631 In this issue… Daniel Finds a Poem Picture Book (for 5-8 year-olds) by Micha Archer (Nori Morganstein) Latest Readings by Clive James (Kathryn Taylor) The Fight to Vote by Michael Waldman (Doug Wilcock) The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney by Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes (Jim Mills) Pacific by Simon Winchester (Don Boink) Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (Jim Mills) Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower by Henry M Paulson, Junior by Don Boink The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson (Jim Mills) The Ghost Army of World War I by Rick Byer and Elizabeth Sayles (Don Boink) Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall (Jim Mills) Exit Right by David Oppenheimer (Don Boink) Daniel Finds a Poem (Penguin Random House, 2016) Picture Book (for 5-8 year-olds)
by Micha Archer
reviewed by: Nori Morganstein, Youth Services Librarian/Assistant Director
Daniel Finds a Poem is one of the best introductions to poetry I have ever read, for children or adults. It’s about a little boy who comes across a sign for something called “Poetry in the Park.” He then of course asks the very important question, “What is poetry?” This question becomes the focal point for the whole story. A spider overhears Daniel’s question and tells Daniel that she thinks poetry “is when morning dew glistens.” Then Daniel climbs a tree and asks a squirrel what poetry is. The squirrel says, “poetry is when crisp leaves crunch.” Daniel proceeds to ask other animals in the park. He talks to a chipmunk, a frog, a turtle, a cricket, and even an owl. Finally, it’s time for Poetry in the Park, and Daniel has a poem to bring. He pieces together what all the animals told him poetry was and turns it into his own poem. The last page of the book shows Daniel stopping to watch a sunset over the pond and he says, “That looks like poetry to me.” The book addresses the idea that there isn’t always one right answer. Words like “poetry” can mean many different things to many different people. And of course more literally, the book explains that poetry is more than words. It’s what we find beautiful, compelling, and comfortable. The setup of the book is very familiar. It reads like a lot of other classic children’s books. Instead of the main character going up to different animals and asking, “Are you my mother?” or “Have you seen my hat?” he instead asks a rather deep, almost philosophical question: what is poetry? What a great book to introduce the idea of poetry, art, and creativity in general. I can see this book leading to families writing their own poems together. The real selling point to children will be the artwork. Everything is bright, colorful, and full of sunlight. The colors make me think of the illustrations in a Lois Ehlert book. The urban setting gives the story a very Ezra Jack Keats feel as well. The animals, even the cricket and the spider are drawn to look kind, soft, and friendly. I found the nighttime pictures (with the owl) to be breathtaking. The combination of bright artwork mixed with the ambiguous poetry question make for one remarkably compelling picture book. This book was impressive. It follows a familiar plot-line, yet addresses a new and thought-provoking concept. It teaches children that there isn’t always one right answer. It teaches children what poetry is or at least what poetry can be. The bright illustrations will be a major draw for kids of various ages. This is my favorite picture book of the year, so far. I highly recommend it.
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Latest Readings, by Clive James reviewed by Kathryn Taylor Clive James is a man of letters in the classic English mode, updated for today. Born in Australia in 1939, he moved to England in 1962 and stayed there. Although he had already received a bachelor’s degree in Australia, he sought entrance to Cambridge University and read English literature. He went on to have a career of writing essays and literary criticism, composing poetry and song lyrics, publishing novels and (so far, five) volumes of candid and comic memoirs. He is a noted commentator on both television and radio – and along the way he also produced a well-regarded translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Although I had heard of James, I had never read anything by him until I came upon Latest Readings, published just last year. My loss, not to have discovered him earlier, for now we do not know how much longer we will have him. Already suffering from emphysema, in 2011 he was diagnosed with leukemia. As he notes, “I could hear the clock ticking.” He then concluded, “If you don’t know when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do.” His family descended on London, packed him up with his books and installed him in a house in Cambridge where he would “live, read, and perhaps even write.” There he does read and reread widely and deeply. Yale University Press had the wisdom to suggest that he “compose a little book about whatever” he had been reading. Thus we have Latest Readings. The book is a “slender volume,” 190 pages with an introduction and 29 brief chapters, only one as long as 12 pages (“American Power”), one as short as two pages (“Speer at Spandau”), most running four to six pages. James takes pride in thinking that Samuel Johnson would have “approved my plan for the organization of this volume: there isn’t one.” The collection includes notes on new books and those he had turned to again, the trivial as well as the serious. The writers who are examined are as diverse as Shakespeare and Hemingway; Edward St. Aubyn, Evelyn Waugh, and Olivia Manning; W. G. Sebald and Anthony Powell. Chapter titles include “Phantom Flying Saucer,” “Naipaul’s Nastiness,” “Women in Hollywood,” and “Richard Wilbur’s Precept.” His sentences are wonderfully rich, full of wit, wisdom and wry twists. A delight to read. Anyone who loves to read will find in this book familiar friends as well as some new names to explore. Then you may find yourself doing what I’ve been doing since finishing the book: scouring bookstores and Amazon for more books by Clive James. And if you might be wondering how Clive James is doing in March of 2016, he is still reading and writing, with a column in the English newspaper The Guardian as recently as March 13. There is a Latin phrase, Hodie mihi cras tibi, often found on old headstones in English graveyards and roughly translated meaning “Me today, you tomorrow.” It is meant to remind anyone reading it that life is fleeting. James includes an epitaph on the page facing his Table of Contents, cras mihi or “me tomorrow,” a puckish inversion, no doubt expressing his assumption that the morrow would be his last. Yet he is still with us and we can hope he will have many tomorrows.
Clive James
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The Fight to Vote by Michael Waldman reviewed by Doug Wilcock Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center at the NYU School of Law, has written a very timely book, The Fight to Vote, that details the history of voting rights and of voter suppression, as well as current efforts to reform or suppress the right to vote. As early as the pre-Revolutionary era voter suppression was an issue. William Blackstone, an English jurist, advocated disenfranchising the poor because they are " in so mean a situation that they are esteemed to have no will of their own." By revolutionary times sentiments had shifted, especially regarding those who served in the military. George Washington, on arriving in Massachusetts in 1775 to take command of the troops, was surprised to learn that New England soldiers elected their officers and that these same soldiers expected the same right once the revolution was won. From this point forward there were laws put in place that expanded voting rights, although not to women or to slaves. Waldman takes the reader through what he describes as the ebb and flow of voting rights. In 1824 John Quincy Adams was elected as President despite Andrew Jackson's winning both the popular vote and the electoral college vote. Adams won in the House of Representatives where each state cast one vote. In reaction to this, by 1828 all states but two had given voters, and not state legislatures, the power to choose presidential electors. By 1850 twenty-two states and territories allowed non-citizens to vote. But there were countervailing sentiments that later led to legislative action. John Calhoun of South Carolina, a states rights advocate, saw the natural rights approach of the Declaration of Independence as sentimentalism. His skepticism of equality and democracy, mixed with racial hatred, would prove to be a toxic brew that sat well with those who desired to suppress the vote. Those voter suppressors would first swing into action following the Civil War when blacks were first enfranchised. Among the first to suppress votes was California whose 1879 constitution declared that no native of China could vote. California defended this by stating that it did not violate the fifteenth Amendment prohibiting discrimination based on race because this was place of birth, not race. Surprisingly, the court did not overturn the reasoning. Mississippi took action by requiring voter registration, a literacy test, and a poll tax. This became the template for voter suppression. The expansion of voting rights included the seventeenth Amendment providing direct election of Senators, the nineteenth Amendment that gave women the right to vote, the twenty-sixth Amendment that lowered the voting age to eighteen, the Soldiers Voting Act of 1942 that eliminated the poll tax for soldiers voting absentee, and the Voting Rights Act that came out of the Selma march. It took the Supreme Court longer to be interested in voting rights. In 1946 the court had refused to rule in an Illinois redistricting case where the smallest Congressional district had one-eighth the number of voters that the largest had. But, beginning in the 1950's, it first invalidated Alabama's redistricting, finding that it disenfranchised black voters, and then used the fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause to settle a Tennessee case in which the state had not redistricted since 1901. Within one year of the decision nineteen state legislatures were reapportioned. There were trends away from enfranchisement, trends that are very real today. In a backlash to a 1963 decision, Reynolds v. Sims, in which the court ruled that House districts must have roughly equal populations and that one person, one vote applied to state legislatures, Sen. Everett Dirksen proposed a constitutional amendment in which district lines could be drawn using measures other than population if a citizen referendum so decided. The motto for those supporting Dirksen was "Let the people decide." Waldman takes us through the various state efforts to suppress voting. While he clearly abhors such efforts he finds some solace in the countervailing efforts to resist suppression. He also sees an opportunity to bring voting rights up to date using available technology. For example, he details a National Popular Vote Plan. This plan, using ideas from behavioral economics, would enroll everyone turning eighteen, making all eighteen year olds eligible voters unless they opt out. Michael Waldman has written an interesting, important book. Issues that we grapple with today are described with reference to their historical antecedents. The reader will recognize that these roots go back to the founding of the republic. The passions that animated those roots animate today's politics. Michael Waldman has shown us a way that those passions can be harnessed to give each individual not only the right to vote but also the right to have her or his vote count equally with all other voters. This reviewer recommends this book to anyone wishing to understand the history of voting rights and the contemporary issues that surround those rights.
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The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney by Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes reviewed by Jim Mills There is probably no major American actor who has had as long an acting career as Mickey Rooney. Born in 1920, Rooney, at the age of three, was on the vaudeville stage with his parents. In 1926 Rooney started his film career. His early years were dominated by two popular motion picture series, Mickey McGuire and Andy Hardy, where Rooney played the title roles. Born as Joseph Yule Jr., he adopted the stage name, Mickey McGuire, and then was forced to change his name to Mickey Rooney when he left the series. Rooney died in 2014 at age 93 after 90 years as a performer. Many other actors consider Rooney to be the best actor of his age. He stood out as a natural performer right from the beginning, outshining his parents at a very tender age. His role as Puck in the 1935 film version of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream followed by his combative opposition to Spencer Tracy in Boy’s Town led to his reaching Star status. He continued acting throughout his life with no major hiatus from his craft in film, radio, TV and the stage. His success on stage stood out in contrast to the very bumpy road of his life. He was married eight times and despite his lucrative career, he always seemed short on funds. His life was dominated by an unending series of affairs and by his passion for gambling. He was forced to continually keep working to support his gambling losses and his substantial alimony payments being forced, in later years, to accept almost any role. It is estimated that in his lifetime Rooney earned half a billion dollars. At his death his net worth was only $15,000. He also was drawn into many unsuccessful business investments that invariably resulted in significant losses. A good friend of his, Donald Trump, said that on several occasions he tried to advise him against these moves but was unable to deter Rooney. Rooney had a number of children from his numerous marriages but did not maintain close contact with his offspring. The number of films, TV performances and stage productions featuring Rooney was prodigious and are listed in the book’s appendix. His first wife, was the best known, Ava Gardner. When they married in 1940 he was a major star and she had just arrived in Hollywood and was still unknown. None of his marriages lasted longer than a few years except for his last. Rooney was an excellent performer and always showed up on time knowing his lines. He had a great ad libbing talent which he was frequently allowed to exercise. In his earlier films he was a great song and dance man and was frequently paired with Judy Garland. His short stature and young face allowed he to play a teenager until he was in his late twenties. Lertzman and Birnes have created a very readable biography of this famous actor. At a length of 523 pages the story of Mickey Rooney’s life provides a very interesting read. His personal conflicts and his strengths and weaknesses show how complex a individual can be. After so many years of wasting away his fortune gambling on the ponies at the Santa Anita racetrack, you would think that he would have, at some point, wised-up to his disability. It just shows how ingrained an addiction can be, whether liquor, drugs, or gambling. Rooney has left us with a legacy of his performances that will long outlive the memory of his personal foibles.
Mickey Rooney Through the Years
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Pacific by Simon Winchester reviewed by Don Boink I chose this thick book because the author had written a few other books that I have enjoyed. He obviously spent a great deal of time and energy putting this one together. The subject, the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean of all, covers one third of the earth’s surface. Also it’s name does not always suite it, At times it can be anything but Pacific as I can attest to having been in it’s midst during a typhoon. The author tackles this vast area in an interesting format. He highlights a series of locations on its perimeter and also aspects of its attractions. The book cover has the subtitle - Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atomic Bombs. Brutal Dictators and Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World’s Superpowers. That neatly summarizes the contents of the book and the reading of each segment is a revelation in itself. I never knew the history of surfing and how it has become a worldwide recreation. Originally it was confined just to the royalty. Today surfboards are marvels of engineering in themselves. The world is a totally different place since the advent of the silicon chip. Computers and iPhones are now as commonplace as table salt. Social media is an entirely new phenomena that is shaping the world. One of the wonders of the world, coral reefs, are being threatened by mankind’s pollution of the oceans. These living monuments have been around for millions of years and in some areas they show signs of severe decline. One phenomenon concerning coral reefs is the many archipelagoes that inhabit the Pacific Ocean. One that’s the most famous, Bikini, was the site of the testing of the early atomic bombs. These events not only have been a tragedy for humanity, they have very directly affected the native populations which had to be removed from the area, not necessarily to a similarly conducive environment. Not content with blowing up two major cities of Japan the US government pursued the development of an even more powerful explosive: the thermonuclear bomb. The power of this bomb, when tested, exceeded all expectations. Not only was it many times more devastating than the first atom bomb, when it was exploded the wind unexpectedly changed direction and its fallout caused untold damage and misery to the already displaced natives of Bikini. In addition to the nasty consequences of this monster of science the security surrounding its development and testing was circumvented by the fact that one of the researchers was an agent of the Soviet Union. This gave the Soviets everything they needed to soon catch up with us, The attitude on the part of the US government that the country’s destiny was to move ever westward created a concern for the Japanese. Eventually this led to their grandiose adventure in trying to defeat the U.S. Navy by the surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Even then there were those in Japan who realized that this tweaking of the lion’s tail would lead to their own ultimate destruction. Now, all these years, later there’s another power in the Pacific, namely China, which also has designs on extending its influence. The violent eruption of Mount Pinatubo completely wiped out two American outposts in the Philippines, an airbase, and a naval base. Now as the Chinese have begun aggressive moves to militarize several islands in the China Sea the US finds itself at a severe disadvantage. Simon Winchester does a masterful job of gathering colorful information and putting it in a form that is enjoyable to read.
Simon Winchester
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Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari reviewed by Jim Mills Sapiens covers the evolution of mankind from a period hundred of thousands of years ago, when there were several (possibly six) different human species, to the present day. During this period Homo Sapiens managed to become dominant over the other branches of mankind soon after initial contact. Similarly, most large animals such as Mastodons and Giant Sloths disappeared soon after encountering Sapiens. Evolution is the key word here when looking at the gradual change in mankind’s fortunes as we shifted from a hunter-gatherer culture to an agricultural/herding and urban society. Apparently animal domestication started first with the wolf - dog transition initiated as much by the dog as by the human. Many of these transitions took place over thousands or even tens of thousands of years. We humans who regard a century as a substantial time period have a hard time grasping the significance of the longer time periods that encompass many thousands of animal generations. Minuscule changes from generation to generation can have a massive cumulative effect given enough time. This is true in the nature of animal modifications and also of human culture. The life we live today bears little resemblance to that of our ancestors over an interval of only two or three hundred years. The author touches on various aspects of human culture such as spoken and written language, religion, commerce and money and ends up describing the emergence of science and the modern capitalistic economy. Throughout mankind’s history there has been a steady progression in the size of human societal units from clans to tribes, nations and today’s world wide commercial and cultural contacts. The author point out that this trend has resulted in a steady decline in violent deaths, which is also the thesis of Steven Pinker’s, The Better Angels of our Nature. Harari is an Oxford trained lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Sapiens was first printed in Hebrew in 2011 and reissued in English in 2015. This reviewer feels that the author has much to say about the factors that made mankind what it is today. I would place the significance of Sapiens in the same category as two other consequential recent works, Jared Diamond’s 1997 Gun Germs and Steel and Steven Pinker's 2011 The Better Angels of Our Nature. Diamond demonstrated that the different rates of social/technological advancement around the world can be traced to inherent environmental factors existing from one region to another. Pinker showed that the overall level of violence and violent deaths has been declining steadily from pre-historic times to the present day. Harari's work describes the historical factors that have most likely produced our modern world and how various advancements took place. As he described not all so-called advancements really improved the lot of the average person. Many factors brought about the agricultural revolution ten thousand years ago but there are strong indications that the agricultural life was a much harder life than that of the preceding Hunter-Gatherers. This change allowed a vast expansion in the number of human beings on the planet and led to urban living and eventually to the industrial revolution but the average medieval farmer’s life was certainly a desolate prospect. The change, with the resultant increase in human population, meant that mankind could not return to the simpler Hunter-Gatherer lifestyle. (An aside: In a New Yorker cartoon two women are watching a cave man painting animal figures on the cave’s wall. One says to the other, “You see, I have had to be both hunter and gatherer.”) This reviewer found Sapiens to be a fascinating study which the author has made eminently readable and understandable. The ideas that Harari advances seem to be logical explanations for the forces that have shaped our world. The creation of that world will remain a subject of inquiry for some time to come as science and archeology reveal more and more about our past. Biology enables, Culture forbids.” ― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind “History is something that very few people have been doing while everyone else was ploughing fields and carrying water buckets.” ― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind “Immediately after birth the calf is separated from its mother and locked inside a tiny cage not much bigger than the calf’s own body. There the calf spends its entire life – about four months on average. It never leaves its cage, nor is it allowed to play with other calves or even walk – all so that its muscles will not grow strong. Soft muscles mean a soft and juicy steak. The first time the calf has a chance to walk, stretch its muscles and touch other calves is on its way to the slaughterhouse. In evolutionary terms, cattle represent one of the most successful animal species ever to exist. At the same time, they are some of the most miserable animals on the planet.” ― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
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Dealing with China - an Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower by Henry M Paulson, Junior reviewed by Don Boink This is a fantastic book written by a man who has had a great deal of influence on the way China has progressed from a backward nation to become, in a few short years, the number two economic superpower. First as head of the financial giant Goldman-Sachs Paulson played a pivotal role in opening China to private enterprise. Then as he became the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States he created the SED, or Strategic Economic Dialogue, that has facilitated communications and negotiation with what is now the world’s second-largest economy. After giving a talk to a large group of American economists he was asked by one: “why have you helped the Chinese so much when they might very well become our enemy?”. His reply was typical Paulson. “Because I’d rather be talking to China’s top men and getting to know them. They do not want to be our enemy. That would be stupid. They did not get where they are today by being stupid”. It is interesting to read his account of how some of China’s mega industries were brought public. The intricacies of conducting an IPO ( Initial Public Offering), are mind-boggling. The Chinese were totally new to the capitalistic system. Paulson and his team also led them through the steps of setting up a world-class banking system. Not everything went along smoothly. There was violent opposition from some quarters regarding some of the” how tos” . The previous Chinese planned economy was totally different. The key players that Paulson dealt with were in the highest echelon of political (Communist) power. He was able to adjust to their sensitivities and customs in explaining the fine points of financial structures and practices. Air and water pollution is a severe problem in China due to the heavy industries need for electrical energy. The growth of the economy has lifted millions of workers out of poverty and improved health care and retirement benefits. So there is both good and bad. Paulson is a staunch environmentalist and served once as president of the Nature Conservancy. He and his wife together established a chapter of the Conservancy in China and promoted the setting aside of huge areas of one of the western provinces as a conservation area. Overall this book is an intimate look at the nuts and bolts of an amazing growth story.
The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson reviewed by Jim Mills Bill Bryson has made a career of making humorous observations on his life’s experiences. He first burst onto the literary scene in 1999 with his A Walk in the Woods describing his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. Having lived in Britain for many years Bryson, twenty years ago, described his life there in Notes from a Small Island. In his new book, The Road to Little Dribbling, Bryson continues in the same vein, updating his views on Great Britain and his travels around the country. The author can be critical of Britain and the British at times, but he also demonstrates a deep love for his adopted home. Recently he went so far as to acquire British citizenship (his wife of several decades is British). Bryson, however, saves his strongest comments for the country and state of his birth. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, the author points out the lack of interest and knowledge that many Americans display concerning the rest of the World, the plainness of his home state and the lack of persons of note born there (Herbert Hoover, John Wayne, Johnny Carson, Glenn Miller and Bill Bryson excepted). His recent journey started in Bognor Regis on the English Channel and extended to Cape Wrath in the far north of Scotland. One recurring comment concerns the unbelievable richness of ancient structures distributed all across the country, including pre-historic ruins, castles, abbeys, bridges, cathedrals, museums, palaces and many stately homes. Viewing even a small percent of these sites could occupy the better part of a lifetime. Bryson is not in Iowa anymore. This reviewer has read many of Bryson’s works and recommends most of them, including his travels in Australia (In a Sunburned Country), his travels in America (I’m a Stranger Here Myself), his memoir of his childhood (The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid), and A Short History of Nearly Everything to cover everything else. Bryon is an acquired taste but one worth acquiring.
7 of 10
The Ghost Army of World War II by Rick Byer and Elizabeth Sayles reviewed by Don Boink World War II was the greatest event in the history of mankind. The Ghost Army describes this little-known highly imaginative and daring endeavor that helped open the way for the final drive to the heart of Germany. The idea was a wild notion of one of the more imaginative older draftees of the war. To his surprise the Pentagon planners bought it whole. The scheme they developed, Military deception has a long history going back to the Trojan Horse. In this case the sole mission was deception and not fighting. The ghost army was made up of mainly four units. 1. The 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion The largest unit with 379 men. They had an array of inflatable rubber tanks, trucks and artillery, and Jeeps to create deceptive tableau for enemy aerial reconnaissance or distant observers. Included in its ranks were many artists, especially recruited for the job. 2. The Signal Co. Special This group of 269 men carried out radio deception. Operators created phony traffic nets, impersonating radio operators from real units. They mastered the art of imitating an operators method of sending Morse code, that is learning to imitate his “hand” on the wireless keys. The listeners would be unable to detect that the real operator was long gone. 3. The 3132 Signal Service Company Special This sonic deception unit was staffed by 145 men. They played sound effects from powerful speakers mounted on half tracks, to simulate the sound of units moving and operating at night. 4. The 406th Engineer Combat Company Special Trained as fighting soldiers they provided perimeter security for the rest of the ghost army. Also their job was construction and demolition tasks including digging tank and artillery positions. They use their bulldozers to simulate tank tracks as part of the visual deception.One of the generals they worked with frequently was George Patton and his armored division. They were able on a number of occasions to deceive the Germans about where Patton was. They were constantly in danger because they worked so close to the front. One of their most perilous times was during the Battle of the Bulge when they were almost overrun by the German Panzers. Often they would play act that they were an actual division, decorating their uniforms with the logos and numbers, making believe they were generals or colonels, and visiting towns and bars giving out fake information about troop movements. This book describes their activities from the invasion of Normandy to the fall of Berlin. Several anecdotes, sketches and paintings are included. Several of the members of this group went on after the war to become famous, such as Bill Blass, for their innovative abilities. This activity is a relatively unknown aspect of the war but it served an important part in the overall success.
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Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall reviewed by Jim Mills Many factors that affect the welfare of a nation vary through the years but one overwhelming constant is the advantages or disadvantages imposed by Geography. As the author points out, the United States has fared extremely well protected on its east and west flank by major oceans. We are fortunate that the nations to the north and south of the US do not pose a threat. America is blessed by its geography. Other nations have not fared as well. Russia is well protected from attack in the far east with a many thousand mile cushion. On its western border no natural barrier separates the nation from attack. The only major geographic obstacle, the Urals lie to the east of the major Russian cities and provide no protection. In the last few centuries Russia has been invaded once by France and twice by Germany across the flat plains that link Western Europe to Russia’s largest cities, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Russia, for a major power, also has very limited naval access to the sea with few ice free ports and major bottlenecks such as the Bosphorus strait in Turkey connecting the Black and Mediterranean seas. These geographical limitations explain much of Russia president, Vladimir Putin’s, behavior concerning the Ukraine and the seizure of the Crimea with its warm water Black Sea ports. The US on the other hand has unlimited access to the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Our Geography also allows control over that key Atlantic- Pacific link, the Panama Canal. Another major geographic feature, the world highest mountain range - the Himalayas, separate the two Asian giants, China and India. This accident of geography has insured that no major land combat has erupted between the two. The same cannot be said with regards to India and Pakistan with the possibility of major combat always possible. Within Europe, with its multiple conflicted powers, geography has usually simplified armed attacks, as history has repeatedly confirmed through the centuries with national boundaries in continual flux. Japan like Great Britain has enjoyed the benefits of island isolation once the island was unified. Japan has never been successfully invaded by sea and Britain not since 1066. Korea on the other hand has been dominated by its powerful neighbors. The author ends his discussion of the effects of geographic plusses and minuses with a consideration of the Arctic Ocean. Today with global warming we have the prospect of a considerable period of ice free sailing each year providing much shorter routes compared to today. This factor may provide considerable benefit worldwide but particularly to powers bordering the Arctic like Canada and Russia. In this sense the effects of the Arctic geography are changing over a short period of time. Prisoners of Geography provides an interesting discussion of world geography and how that geography has driven human history for millennia.
The Dictates of Geography
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Exit Right by David Oppenheimer reviewed by Don Boink Not being happy with the behavior of the current crop of ultra right conservatives in the legislature and listening to the candidates of the Republican Party I felt it necessary to learn more about the conservative agenda. This book takes as examples four prominent conservatives who at one time were ultra liberal (communist) and then change their outlooks: Whittaker Chambers, James Burham, Ronald Reagan, Norman Podhoretz, David Horowitz, and Christopher Hitchens. A favorite expression of conservatives is that “they were liberals mugged by reality”. William Buckley, the reputed instigator of present-day conservatism famously stated: ‘we stand athwart history yelling STOP!.” The first two conservatives mentioned were Whittaker Chambers and James Burham. They were both at first committed to communism in the Trotsky mold. They soon came to reject the party and became ardent Republicans. Next was Reagan. He was a true liberal and fighter for the underdog. Eventually the president of the Screen Actors Guild and served during the Un American Activities hearings and the denouncements of Communist Party efforts to subvert Hollywood to promote class warfare. When his movie career fading he turned to TV as a host of the General Electric Theater. Increasingly he became the public-relations face of GE, directly under GE’s VP Lemuel Boulware and GE’s Pres. Ralph Cordiner. I well remember the period because an uncle of mine was a GE executive directly under Boulware. In that capacity Reagan received red carpet treatment and mingled with the elite of the big business world. This impressed him very much and he came to see the government as an overbearing encumbrance to business profits. For Reagan the New Deal of Roosevelt had become too much of a welfare program. Obviously hobnobbing with the rich and famous is more appealing than rubbing elbows with the great unwashed. Next comes Norman Podhoretz. A reasonably bright young Brooklynite who came from a tough neighborhood where Jews were intimidated by Blacks. Going through Columbia and Cambridge under the tutelage of Lionel Trilling he became the darling of the elite intellectual group in New York. As a group Jews seem to predominate in intellectual circles. As editor in charge of one of the noted periodicals called Commentary he enjoyed the contributed essays of well-known writers such as Norman Mailer, with whom he became good friends. His liberal bent was induced by his liberal tutors. This being the 60s there was great turmoil including the Vietnam war, and several student organizations, especially the protest at Columbia University in 1968. He credits an epiphany he had along the way to causing a change in his rationale about the social status of the country. He suddenly saw matters in a different light and it completely reversed his premises. One of his books “Making It” used the phrase “the dirty little secret “saying that the “the desire for money, power, fame, and social position was a driving force of intellectuals in America”. Among the early leftists most were Jewish and their sense of outrage at what occurred in the Holocaust allied them with the Blacks. Along came the black Muslims, Elijah Muhamed, and Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, and anti-Semitism. All of this was wrapped up in an affinity to Marxism and its utopian fantasy. In spite of the atrocities committed under Communism the leftists overlooked that for the most part. Gradually David Horowitz came to the realization that the Movement, so promising at first, had lost its ideals and momentum and he questioned its legitimacy. Combined with personal problems his agonizing and alienation of his friends put him in a funk for a few years of morbid reflection. He recognized that his early leftist notions were no longer tenable. As one of the originators of the ultraconservative movement he had a long career and now is turning his Commentary over to his son. Some call it nepotism. The last example is Christopher Hitchens. C. Hitchens was born in England and sent to private school at the age of eight because his mother insisted that the boys would then have access to the upper class level. Hitch, as he was called, graduated from Cambridge University in 1966. At school he joined the International Socialists and this launched his career as a political man. Thus he began as a staunch left-winger. His wit, intelligence, and general demeanor made him an attractive spokesperson. He had acquaintances and friends with many other writers and commentators in London. His success then led to an invitation to come to America and write for the leftists publication called Nation. How he progressed and what he championed is well recorded here. Then there came the time when he had an epiphany also. It was 9/11 and he found that he really was a strong believer in the U.S. Constitution. This put him on the other side of the argument and he became a staunch conservative along with the other leftists that had had changes of heart. The book is very well done and the subject persons probably well chosen as examples of converts. The author doesn’t take sides with right or left but concludes that even the most devout believers can have occasion to change the paradigm of their beliefs. All the above has very little to do with the current gaggle of conservatives in our legislature who feel that compromise is a sign of weakness and thus stonewall necessary legislation. Also using their rigid requirements of conservatism they have weeded out all of the moderate Republicans. This kind of intimidation along with ironbound pledges to not raise taxes has put the government in a bind. In addition the current refusal to consider Pres. Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court is out right mutiny. I apologize for my editorializing. 10 of 10
