Six-word Review: Well-written story of hardship and courage.
As I watch the news and listen to my fellow Americans complain about inflation, governmentSix-word Review: Well-written story of hardship and courage.
As I watch the news and listen to my fellow Americans complain about inflation, government, and all the other stuff they are unhappy about, I sometimes think about telling them it's too bad they couldn't experience the dust bowl and the Depression so they could now appreciate what they do have.
Short of teleportation, reading this book would help anyone appreciate how lucky we are to have what we have. Through its focus on the individual struggles of many of those who lived in the dust bowl, the story avoids the generalizations and justifications that so many overview histories contain.
Egan follows a number of families and individuals through their arrival in the area that is now the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and the areas of Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado that were at the heart of the dust bowl. He shows how the false boom in grain prices caused by WW I and the unusual amount of rain in a drought-prone area occurring at the same time created an optimistic view that was unsustainable in the long run.
What really created the dust bowl, though, was the raping of the grasslands that had supported millions of bison and other wildlife as well as the native Indian tribes for centuries. Nature had developed a grass blanket that could survive years of drought and would support the bison who grazed and moved on. The so-called nesters or homesteaders who came and plowed up the grassland to plant wheat and corn destroyed the grasses that would hold the soil down in the area's dry and windy basic climate.
When prices fell, the farmers plowed up more land to grow more crops. Then the drought hit accompanied by the usual high winds. The result was dust storms that covered everything and entered everywhere not only destroying the environment but also impacting the health of those who lived there.
The book is not a linear chronicle so much as a series of vignettes drawn from the records of the time including one particular diary of a Nebraska farmer whose life was literally destroyed by the situation. It's hard to read these stories without feeling sad while also admiring the courage of those who toughed it out.
I wish I could promise a happy ending but as the epilogue points out, farming is now mostly a corporate endeavor, the area of the dust bowl has not fully recovered some 80 years later, and the Ogallala aquifer, created after the last ice age, is being drained to water crops and could totally disappear in the next decade or so.
This is a wonderful record of personal pain and perseverance but left me with a sense that the lessons that we should have learned from the way we treated the land in the early 20th century are still being ignored not only in the Dust Bowl area but in many other places also.
I highly recommend this book as an introduction to the problems ignoring mother nature can result in.
Six -word Review: Great book, well researched, and written.
I am a fan of Erik Larson and have read most of his books. I am also a history buff and enjSix -word Review: Great book, well researched, and written.
I am a fan of Erik Larson and have read most of his books. I am also a history buff and enjoy reading history books even if they are textbook-like. What I most enjoy about Larson's books is that they read like a novel. They also focus on the people, not just the events.
This particular offering is one of his better efforts as he explores the first year of WW II and Churchill's time as Prime Minister. What separates this book from others written about The Blitz, Churchill, and England's courageous behavior in the dark days of 1940-41 is the emphasis on those intimates surrounding Churchill.
Larson weaves the activities and thoughts of these folks around the events of the time and Churchill himself. The major characters include Churchill’s 17-year-old daughter, Mary; his private secretary, John “Jock” Colville, Winston’s only son, the profligate, Randolph, and long-suffering wife, Pamela, Frederick Lindemann, Churchill’s prime science adviser, Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of air production, and many of his staff including bodyguard Walter Thompson.
Larson also weaves in the experiences and thoughts of ordinary Britons as captured in their diaries and letters which rounds out the total story of a lone Nation rescuing Western civilization from the edge of the abyss and leaving it free to continue to fight. The book does not ignore the Nazis, either, especially Joseph Goebbels and Air Marshall Hermann Goring who are continually astounded by Churchill's and the English people's unwillingness to recognize the hopelessness of their situation and sue for peace. Churchill's wooing of FDR with almost daily cables emphasizes Churchill's belief that Hitler can only be defeated if the United States is fully committed to the conflict.
In my opinion, this is a page-turner as exciting and suspenseful as any fictional thriller. The book ends in the spring of 1941 just as Germany turns its attention to Russia and thereby ends the blitz. There is a satisfying epilogue that chronicles what happened to many of the characters after May 1941....more
Six-word Review: U.S. Ambassador's family in pre-war Germany.
This book is up there with his others like "The Wake" and "Devil in the White City".
The Six-word Review: U.S. Ambassador's family in pre-war Germany.
This book is up there with his others like "The Wake" and "Devil in the White City".
The book features two main characters. William Dodd is a historian at the University of Chicago in the early 1930s, a Jeffersonian liberal, tenured and unhappy. At 64 he wanted to have an opportunity to do greater things. Martha Dodd, his daughter, was a beauty of readily apparent sexual appetite, eagerly courted by Nazis whom she admired at first and Communists whose ideas she admired for her whole life, even being accused of spying for Russia in the 50s. Much of the book is drawn from Martha's diaries which she was encouraged to keep by no less a personage than Carl Sandburg.
Franklin Roosevelt, then in his second year in office, was meanwhile having trouble filling the ambassadorship in Berlin. He was turned down more than once before finally settling on Dodd.
Dodd's was constantly wrangling with the State Department, which at that time was mostly made up of wealthy, upper-class Ivy leaguers. They ridiculed Dodd’s communications and characterized his warnings as churlish and not up to their standards so should be recalled. Many of his detractors were at least mildly anti-semitic and did not approve of Dodd's criticism of the Nazi's practices believing they could do business with Hitler. They often were more concerned with trying to collect Germany's debt than with the danger of an expansionist Reich.
What makes this narrative unique is its view of the Germany of 1933-34 through the eyes of a middle-class American family with access to Germany's leaders and often those being oppressed.
The book, as any history, bogs down in spots but over-all is a fascinating chronicle of events in Germany at the outset of Hitler's rule....more
A terrific book about a little known piece of history. I read Larson's "The Devil in the White City" and was impressed with both his research and his A terrific book about a little known piece of history. I read Larson's "The Devil in the White City" and was impressed with both his research and his writing skills. This book actually tops that one.
For years, I thought the sinking of the Lusitania played a major part in leading the U.S. into WWI. I've since learned differently but was surprised while reading this book to learn that it actually had much less effect than I thought. The Zimmerman Note and the German unlimited submarine warfare of late 1916 and early 1917 were two of the major motivations for Wilson to ask for and get a declaration of war. In fact at the time of the Lusitania tragedy, Wilson was far more interested in what was going on between himself and Edith Galt, who eventually became his second wife, than he was in the sinking of the Lusitania.
Larson does an outstanding job of interweaving the last cruise of the Lusitania with the movements of U20, the submarine that fired the fatal torpedo. He also brings many of the people on the ship to life with snippets from their letters and recollections. His descriptions of life on both the Lusitania and U20 makes the entire situation real. I was mostly impressed with the fact that as Larson points out near the end of the book, that had circumstances been just a little different, the sinking could have been avoided.
He spends an appropriate amount of time on the aftermath including the response of people on shore to the situation as well as the official reaction. The British Admiralty does not come off very well in Larson's opinion as they try to blame the disaster on the Lusitania's skipper, Captain Turner. There's enough arrogance to go around on the part of British officialdom as well as the management of the Cunard Line owners of the ship to say nothing of most of the passengers who were convinced they were safe in spite of a warning posted in a NY newspaper warning that the ship was going into a war zone.
Larson does as good a job as any historical author of bringing his research to life and humanizing people long gone. He presents facts in such a way that the reader is drawn into the narrative even though you already know the outcome.
Most sport-centered books do not grab me as they are either biographical or focused on a single season. The Boys A great book, telling a great story.
Most sport-centered books do not grab me as they are either biographical or focused on a single season. The Boys in the Boat is biographical but also historical. The author puts all the events in the context of the times. For instance, while focused on the 1936 Berlin Olympic competition, Brown also describes what was happening to minorities like the Jews and the Gypsies in Germany and how Goebbels manipulated the event to showcase the Germany, the Nazis wanted the world to see.
The story of the major character in the story, Joe Rantz, is the glue that holds the entire narrative together. While the book's sub-title features the 1936 Olympics, the bulk of the narrative involves Rantz's journey from his situation as an orphaned young boy to being a member of the the University of Washington heroic crew. He is also seen as emblematic of his 8 teammates, most of whom come from poor but hard-working families and spend a great deal of time rowing even though they are struggling to earn the funds to stay in school.
It's hard for us to realize how popular crew was as a spectator sport in the 1930s. 100,000 people turning out for the IRA regatta near Poughkeepsie, NY would be unheard of today. The description of what the crew members endure to compete and win is inspiring. Brown does a great job of describing the important races. He also makes the details of building a scull actually interesting by interweaving it with the life story and epigrams of George Pocock, perhaps the greatest boat-builder of his time.
While the fact that the U.S. crew won the race in Berlin is no surprise, the description of the race is thrilling as are the descriptions of many of the other competitions.
When I first heard about the book, I had little incentive to read it but it was lent to me by my brother-in-law who loved it. I'm glad I took his advice and got into the story. I can recommend it with no reservations as a worthwhile endeavor. Read it. You'll love it.
P.S. The American Experience Series on PBS has an hour long episode featuring this crew, "The Boys of '36". Very well done. It can be streamed at http://www.pbs.org/video/2365812690/....more
John Keegan is most likely the pre-eminent military historian in the English speaking world. One of the things I appreciate, about his writing, is he John Keegan is most likely the pre-eminent military historian in the English speaking world. One of the things I appreciate, about his writing, is he does not try to overwhelm the reader with details. Many historians seem to want to impress the reader with their research. Even Keegan's bibliography is limited to 50 books which he describes in a three page summary at the back of the book.
I thought I knew all there was to know about WWII. Wrong! I learned more about the Eastern Front between Russia and Germany than I expected to. I also was exposed to Keegan's insights on a number of events that I had the wrong idea about. Among the myths about the war that Keegan explodes are the battle for Crete, the Japanese allocation of troops to China versus the islands, Hitler's Balkan strategy, the effectiveness of carpet bombing, the contribution of the various resistance movements to the war effort, Roosevelt's war management style, the reasons for the decision to drop the atomic bomb and others. One of the most surprising conclusions is how much less energy was put into the War against Japan than against Germany. Not that I didn't know that "Germany First" was the Allies, over-all strategy but I had no idea how big the difference was in the allocation of resources and the scope of the war effort.
If you are interested in a manageable, well written, accurate history of WWII, you will find it in this book. ...more
An incredible chronicle of the events leading up to, surrounding and following the Bataan Death March, April 1942.
The protagonist in this non-fiction An incredible chronicle of the events leading up to, surrounding and following the Bataan Death March, April 1942.
The protagonist in this non-fiction chronicle is Ben Steele, a native of Billings Montana and still with us. Ben's story is interwoven with material from diaries and journals as well as other source material from those Americans, Filipinos and Japanese who were there.
Ben, developed the ability to sketch while a captive and his sketches are scattered throughout the narrative. This story is not for the faint-hearted as the descriptions of what, not only the defenders went through, but also the Japanese aggressors is the stuff of nightmares.
The authors intersperse the description of events in 1941-46 with flashbacks of Ben Steele's earlier years. They cover the impending conflict with Japan, the invasion, the Battle of Bataan, The Death March, the prisoner's life as captives at Camp O'Donnel, the Bicol peninsula, Bilibid prison and hospital, Camp Cabauantan, the hellships and the mines of Japan, all places Ben Steele survived.
The book ends with Ben as a survivor, art student, family man, and eventually an art teacher at Eastern Montana College in Billings.
The authors also added a non-essential chapter on the trial of General Homma who commanded the Japanese forces in the Philippines. They obviously sympathized with the General and try to show that he really had no idea of what was going on but was railroaded in a trial and eventually executed by firing squad. The authors are also less than admiring of General MacArthur and take many opportunities to imply he was less than a great leader.
It was that aspect of the book that moved me to rate it as a four rather than a five-star read. Not that I am an unquestioning admirer of the General but rather see both his talents and his faults. If you are interested in an excellent biography of MacArthur, I suggest reading "American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964" by William Manchester. I review it elsewhere in Goodreads....more
On the same day as the great Chicago fire, Peshtigo, Wisconsin was basically burned to the ground by a devastating conflagration. At the time, 1871, tOn the same day as the great Chicago fire, Peshtigo, Wisconsin was basically burned to the ground by a devastating conflagration. At the time, 1871, the Peshtigo area was a was a major source of lumber for the rapidly expanding U.S.
Gess and Lutz set the table with extensive background about the Peshtigo of the time. It was a good-sized town. It had a good harbor, a river large enough to move freshly felled trees, and a railroad to move the timber to Chicago to say nothing of the numerous lumber mills and the largest wood products factory in the U.S. All this economic activity brought many workers to Peshtigo.
The summer of 1871 was the driest and hottest in memory and the burning of stumps by farmers and the scrap sawdust smouldering at the mills set off the fire bells constantly. No one knows how the fire started but it was already well along when it was spotted. People tried to escape to water or clearings but the thermal effect kept the fire expanding and literally roasted many people to death.
I was glad the authors used the technique of focusing on individuals and not overplaying the horror. While not blaming individuals, they manage to show how greed contributed to the disaster. Part of the tragedy, too, is that Peshtigo had to compete with Chicago for rescue resources. The timing also led to very little about the tragedy making it to the outside world.
It was a very instructive and interesting story. I recommend it....more
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