Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Four from the O.S.S!

Rogak, Lisa.  Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the O.S.S.  New York: 
        St. Martin's Press, 2025.  ISBN: 9781250275592. 

How much do you know about the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II predecessor to the CIA? Want to learn more, then join Lisa Rogak as she twines the tales of four women who worked in the Morale Operations branch of the OSS.
 
Lisa Rogak opens with background chapters on each of the four women in Propaganda Girls - Elizabeth "Betty" McDonald, Jane Smith-Hutton, Barbara "Zuzka" Lauwers, and Marlene Dietrich.  The background chapters lay the groundwork and motivation of why each woman volunteered to be part of the OSS's black propaganda operation.  The next several rounds of chapters laid out the various jobs they held and how each of these jobs whether in Washington D.C., in India, China, Italy, or France managed to aid the Allied cause while raising havoc with the Axis forces.  For example, Zuzka had toilet paper created with the image of Hitler's face and the German phrase "Use this side" airdropped behind enemy lines.  She also used POWs to sneak behind German lines in Italy with pamphlets saying that the war was over and Kesselring was in charge.  Betty used her skills as a newspaper reporter to create newsletters dropped on Japan and behind the lines in China to create division in the enemy population.  Jane used her hard-earned knowledge the Japanese language and culture to hold "rumor mill" sessions that proposed various rumors to be spread by spies and to create black propaganda items.  Marlene was involved  radio broadcasts from London that were beamed to Allied troops, but picked up the Germans as well.  She was also in the MUZAK Project which had popular American songs sung in German by German artists.  Marlene recorded 12 songs, some with special lyrics, for the program.  Years later, all 12 songs were released as an album.  Finally, Lisa Rognak covers the lives and careers of all four women after the end of the war.

So, if you are looking for a readable, well-documented account of some of the women who worked for the OSS, pick up Propaganda Girls and settle in for the ride.



Sunday, November 17, 2024

Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs Revisited

Clavin, Tom.  Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West.  
          New York: St. Martin's Press, 2024.  ISBN: 9781250282408

The Wild West!  Cowboys and Indians!  Rustlers and train robbers!  All the stuff of Hollywood movies, right?  Well maybe, but often not.  As Tom Clavin illustrates so well in Bandit Heaven,  Hollywood got a lot wrong when screen writers and directors take history and put it on the big screen, particularly in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).  So to get a glimpse behind the tinsel, dive in with Tom Clavin.
 
Tom Clavin opens the book with an 1899 Wild Bunch train robbery, laying out how it was planned and how it occurred in the Prologue.  The book itself is laid out in three acts.  Act I - Heaven on Earth - provides the background and setting for Brown's Hole, Hole-in-th-Wall, and Robbers Roost and the early outlaws.  The reader learns about the cattle and horse rustling business and the conflict between cattle barons and homesteaders and sheep herders.  Act II - Leader of the Pack - introduces Robert Leroy Parker born on April 13, 1866, a Friday, to British Mormon immigrants in Utah.  He grew up working with livestock and drifted into rustling and the outlaw life where he later acquired the nickname Butch Cassidy.  He was joined on the outlaw trail by Elzy Lay, an Ohio boy, Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, from Pennsylvania, who became the Sundance Kid, and Harvey Alexander Logan from Iowa, also know as "Kid Curry."  Then there the women like Ethel Place and the sisters Josie and Ann Bassett who sometimes accompanied the gang.  Act III - The Lawman Trail - discusses the strange evolution of law in the west and the role of vigilantism and the Pinkerton Detective Agency.  These chapters also highlight individuals such as Charlie Siringo, Joseph Shelby LeFors, John T. Pope, and others who chased outlaws, infiltrated union organizations, solved murders, and brought in fugitives from justice.  Act IV - Fall From Heaven - covers the end of the outlaw life.  As more folks settled the West and telegraphs spread alongside the railroads, it became harder for outlaws to disappear after a robbery.  Bank note numbers would be circulated around the country and folks were getting nabbed in strange locations when they tried to spend their ill-gotten gains.  Also, the bandits did themselves no favors when a group visited Fort Worth (TX) for a wedding and had a group photo taken which got used as advertising by the store.  That photo would lead to the arrest and or death of a number of the Wild Bunch.  This slow closing of the noose led Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid and Ethel Place to move way south to Argentina where they managed to set up a ranch until their past and old ways caught up with them and closed the book on some of the most famous outlaws of the Wild West.
 
So if you have an interest in the "true" Wild West of outlaws and rustlers, pick up Tom Clavin's Bandit Heaven and indulge yourself.  You will not regret it! 

Monday, November 11, 2024

Don't Want to Watch the Movie?

Hughes, Emily C.  Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You're Too 
        Scared to Watch.  Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2024.  ISBN: 9781683694250
 
Do you like watching horror movies?  If you answered yes, you might want to skip this book.  However, if you answered No, this book may be for you!  Especially if you have friends who like watching horror movies and you are feeling left out.  Emily Hughes in Horror for Weenies offers a guidebook to influential horror movies from the 1960s to 2010s.
 
Emily Hughes opens with a essay on why horror matters and why people enjoy watching horror movies.  She follows that up with a brief history of horror movies before the 1960s before getting into the meat of the book - twenty-five films with short overviews, a plot synopsis, and fun facts to tell at parties.  She starts Horror in Upheaval (The 1960s and 1970s) with Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, The Wicker Man, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Carrie, and  ends with Halloween.  In Doom and Boom (The 1980s and 1990s), she includes The Shining, Poltergeist, The Thing, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Fly, Hellraiser, Candyman, Scream, and The Blair Witch Project.  Then in Toward the Unknown (The 2000s and 2010s), she provides The Ring, 28 Days Later, Saw, The Conjuring, The Babadook, It Follows, Get Out, and Hereditary  with their time in the spotlight.  She finishes up with a list of horror resources for the reader.

So if you need a refresher on one of these movies or just want to find out why these movies are important in the horror genre, pick up a copy and read Horror for Weenies!  Just remember to keep the lights on!
 
 

 


Sunday, November 3, 2024

SAS Leading the Charge!

Lewis, Damien.  Forged In Hell: The Gripping True Story of the Special Forces Heroes who Broke 
         the Nazi Stranglehold.  New York: Citadel Press/Kensington Publishing, 2024.  ISBN 
        9780806542706
 
What do you know about the Special Air Service (SAS)?  Do you know how they ran wild in North Africa behind enemy lines destroying airfields, attempting to capture Rommel, and generally creating havoc?  But what would they do after North Africa was captured?  The after part is what Forged in Hell seeks to tell, at least in part.
 
After an attention grabbing introduction,  Damien Lewis takes the reader to a small eastern Mediterranean village of Azzib where the 1st SAS under Colonel "Paddy" Mayne was training for a particular task - scale a Sicilian cliff in the dead of night to take out guns that would threaten the Operation Husky invasion  fleet.  That was accomplished methodically and with few casualties among the SAS.  After a few days of rest they were invited to invade the town of Augusta which they managed despite not knowing all of the defenses they would encounter.  That invasion was a close-run affair that they survived due to their training and good luck.  Their luck ran out on their next adventure when they helped spearhead the invasion of Italy proper.  The landed on the wrong beach at Bagnara which turned out to be a blessing, but then they got pinned down by German forces as they advanced up the ridge line.  Height means sight, and what could be seen could be and would be shelled.  Thankfully more forces arrived and the Germans pulled back.  After this the 1st SAS ran several small operations behind enemy lines trying to help prisoners escape.  But then they were called on for a quick dash and grab operation at Termoli.  The SAS and other forces were to grab Termoli on the east coast of Italy by sea behind enemy lines and hold it until the British forces could cross the Biferno River and break open the Viktor Line.  Well the SAS and the British Commandos succeeded in seizing Termoli and some of the bridges but before British forces could cross in force, nature intervened with flooding rains that washed out the bridges leaving the SAS and their companions trapped and under siege by elite German paratrooper and panzer divisions,  Here is where the SAS emphasis on training paid off.  Despite extremely heavy losses, the SAS and the Commandos held until bridges were built and British tanks crossed over to relieve them.  Their next stop - England for more training and another invasion.  But that is the tale for another book!

If you are interested in small unit actions, the SAS, and/or the invasions of Sicily and Italy from a British point of view, Damien Lewis's Forged in Hell is a must read.  He carefully tells the story with respect and proper documentation that lets the reader in on the viewpoint and emotions of the participants.  Do take the time to read this exciting tale of heroism in combat! 

                    
        

 
 

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Virus vs Bacteria!

Zeldovich, Lina.  The Living Medicine: How a Miraculous Healing Therapy was Nearly Lost -- 
         and  Why It Will Save Humanity When Antibiotics Fail.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 
        2024.  ISBN: 9781250283382
 
So what is a living medicine? And why would you want to take it?  In this title, it is a phage or more properly a bacteriophage which is a virus that attacks specific bacteria.  They are found anywhere there is bacteria and they "eat" that bacteria and leave other bacteria alone.  Plus they can work when antibiotics fail.  That is part of the point Lina Zeldovich  is making in The Living Medicine, part medical discovery, part historical account and part biography.
 
Lina Zeldovich opens the book with a description of the present day and the problem with antibiotic resistant bacteria.  She then jumps back to World War I and the search for cures to infectious diseases such as dysentery, cholera, and typhus.  They had vaccines, but those took time to prepare.  Giorgi Eliava was a doctor in Georgia (the country) who was working on cholera in Tbilisi when he accidentily discovered phages that were eating cholera bacteria in the samples he was testing, not that his microscope was powerful enough to see them, but he could see the results.  Around the same time Felix d'Herelle at the Pasteur Institute in Paris encountered similar action in regard to dysentery.  After the war Eliaya and d'Herelle got together in Paris and worked on refining the process of manufacturing phages that would kill various infectious diseases.  In the 1920's and 1930's they worked on creating institutes in Tbilisi (Soviet Republic of Georgia) and Paris.  Other folks started their own businesses doing the same in other parts of the world.  But capitalism killed phages in the US since there was no governmental regulation and the public did not trust the manufactures.  In the Soviet Union, phage research continued under government scrutiny and sort of thrived.  Phages played a part in saving Stalingrad from the German invasion by preventing a cholera outbreak.  But then there came the end of the Soviet Union and disintegration of many institutions which included the library of phages collected from all over the Soviet Union.  But with the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, scientists and the FDA in the United States are more willing to try other means.  So do not be surprised if you get treated with phages in the near future. 

If you are looking for an engaging book dealing with history, science, and medicine, pick up Lina Zeldovich's The Living Medicine!  Your time will be rewarded!
 

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Mountain Man Icon

Drury, Bob, and Tom Clavin.  Throne of Grace: A Mountain Man, an Epic Adventure, and the 
         Bloody Conquest of the American West.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2024.  ISBN:  
         9781250285836  

How much do you know about the Mountain Men?  I mean the men who in the early 1800's who ventured west from St. Louis (MO) to trap beavers for their pelts.  Men such as Jim Bridger lauded by Johnny Horton  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SmZy_b-qlU) among others.  But among this company of men, Jedediah Smith stands out.  He stands out for his bravery, his fortitude, his knowledge and his honesty.  Throne of Grace is his story told in the context of history.

Jedediah Smith arrived in St. Louis (MO) in 1822, having grown up along Lake Eire in Pennsylvania and Ohio.  He joined General William Henry Ashley's fur trading expedition, and headed west up the Missouri River to explore.  But that expedition encountered trouble partway up the river with Madan Indians.  But the fighting he encountered did not deter Smith.  Nor did the hardships of winter weather in the Rocky Mountains, the close encounters with hostile forces (Native Americans, Spanish, or British), or dangerous animals which included a very close encounter with a grizzly bear.  Due to his bravery, common sense, and leadership, Jedediah Smith rose from being one of Ashley's men to a partner in charge in the Rocky Mountain area.  H set up rendezvous points in the spring for the mountain men to gather and trade their pelts for supplies.  He also led expeditions that opened up large sections of the West to  settlers traveling to Oregon and California.  He was know for mapping everything he encountered and kept multiple journals documenting his finds.  He kept this up until he decided to retire.  But he went on one last venture with his brothers leading a wagon train to Santa Fe when he had a fatal encounter with Comanches.

Bob Drury and Tom Clavin did a masterful job of documenting the life of Jedediah Smith in the context of his time using his journals and other sources to pain a picture of the West in 1820's in all its gore and glory.  Take the time to read a tale of a true Western adventure!

Sunday, October 13, 2024

The Inside Story of LEGO!

Konstanski, Daniel.  The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Story of a Design Icon.  n.p.: Unbound, 
          2024.   ISBN:  9781464234415  

Have you ever played with LEGO bricks?  Watched The LEGO Movie?  Bought a set just for yourself, not for some child in your life?  Then you are likely a LEGO fan and can appreciate the work Daniel Konstanski put into The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks!
 
In eleven chapters and 300+ pages, Konstanski takes the reader through the history of the LEGO company from its beginning as a wooden toy company to the concept of building with plastic bricks to the powerhouse company it is today.  Along the way the reader gets to see part of the patent for that first plastic brick, then follow the process on how sets are designed, storyboarded, prototyped, and manufactured.  The reader follows the evolution of the LEGO brand from sets being designed for kids to free build their imagination to sets to create familiar setting such as homes, fire stations, police stations to more exotic setting such as castles, pirates, and space travel.  Then along came Technic and Bionicle along with licensed sets such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Avengers, and the like aimed for adults as well as children.  Along side that LEGO developed its own intellectual properties with Ninjago and its related TV series and stuffed toys which led to The LEGO Movie and its spin-offs.
 
So if you are interested from hearing from the people behind the LEGO products you love, read  The Secret Life of Lego Bricks!  You will not regret it!

Friday, August 23, 2024

What makes you curious?

Mahnke, Aaron, and Harry Marks.  Cabinet of Curiosities: A Historical Tour of the Unbelievable, 
         the Unsettling, and the Bizarre.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2024.  ISBN: 9781250291202
 
Have you ever wandered through a person's personal library or living room and noticed a variety of strange objects that are displayed?  Those are often called conversation pieces in that they generate questions that lead to discussions.  Aaron Mahnke thinks of The Enlightenment Room at the British Museum as a wonder room or cabinet of curiosities   - in essence a collection of objects gathered by the British from around the globe that they saw and went "huh" about.  In Cabinet of Curiosities, Mahnke and Marks have gathered some 160 of the stories that have appeared on his podcast arranged by topic.
 
Mahnke and Marks have gathered an interesting collection of tales that makes the reader wonder, go "Huh," and/or say "What!" in this collection of short tales.  The first topic is Curious Americana with 10 tales (Time Traveler about a 124 old gentleman is one).  The second topic is Wild Coincidences with 15 tales - "Luck of the Irish about a Irish girl working on the Titanic and other ships makes the reader question the concept of luck.  The third topic is Fantastic Beasts with 12 tales - here you find tales of bears, horses,  whales, and a lock-picking orangutan.  Unbelievable Stunts is topic number four (9 tales).  Among these tales is that of Walter who seemed to attract lightening and Ernie who survived plan crashes and 9 major concussions!  Topic five is Bizarre Events with 11 tales that include the time South Carolina had an atomic bomb dropped on it and the time British Airways managed to loose a pilot mid-flight (well almost loose him)!  Strange Literature with 12 tales is topic six.  One such tale reads like a murder mystery while another dealt with a death prediction!  Topic seven is Remarkable Inventions with 9 tales that lead to the creation of Braille and a chess playing robot in 1770 among other things.  Eerie Mysteries is topic eight with 13 tales which include glider models found in Egyptian tombs and the locked-room murder of the King of Bridge.  Topic nine delves into the Baffling Origins of 10 items such at the croissant, the Pinkerton Detective Agency, or Beauty and the Beast.  Uncanny People is topic ten with 16 tales of poisoners, Chinese ladies, or folks who make music with rocks!  Topic eleven takes the reader to Peculiar Places with 8 tales of the Crypt of Civilization, hidden chambers in France, and a very windy city in Iran.  More than Human is topic twelve with 8 tales of folks doing the seeming impossible such as Carl who played the violin with his feet or folks that can remember pretty much every moment of their lives.  Topic thirteen drops the reader int Puzzling Crimes with 11 tales of forged art, fake ghosts, and con artists.  Wartime Wonders is the fourteenth and final topic with 15 tales about a game that brought the FBI to the game company's headquarters, soldiers running away from a horde of hares, and a cursed plane.

Majnke and Mark's Cabinet of Curiosities is a book to keep around and delve into when you just want something to entertain yourself without having to think too hard.  Each tale is short, entertaining, and designed to make your wonder.  And the nice thing about having these tales in written form is that Mahnke and Marks provide their sources for each story so the reader can follow up those that really catch their interest! 
 

 

Thursday, August 15, 2024

A Video Game and American History!

Olsson, Tore C.  Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past.  
        New York: St. Martin's Press, 2024.  ISBN: 9781250287700

Do you play video games?  Are you into American history?  What about a video game that is set in a particular time period in American history?  If so, Red Dead's History would be an enjoyable read as Tore C. Olsson explores 1899 America via Red Dead Redemption II.

Olsson opens with an preface that outlines the origin of the book (blame Covid since it drew him back to gaming) which developed out of a class he taught at the University of Tennessee in 2021.  Then, in the introduction, he provides a blueprint for how he approaches history in relation to the game.  He also lays out his views on the accuracy of historical events and settings found in the game.  The rest of the book covers The West, The Deep South, and Southern Appalachia and finishes with an epilogue.

In Part I: The West, Olsson has seven chapters that explore what do we mean by "The West,"  Indian Wars, trains, cowboys, gunslingers, the Pinkertons, and outlaw gangs.  In Part II: The Deep South, Olsson dives into the paradox of race relations, the transition from Old South to New South, the Ku Klux Klan, chain gangs, field work, Jim Crow, the myth of "the Lost Cause," New Orleans, and suffragists in 10 chapters.  Part III: Southern Appalachia has three chapters that explore the myth of Appalachia, the resource scrambles that have shaped Appalachia , and blood feuds in Appalachia. The epilogue has Olsson's personal reflections on the game, American history, and all the fun he had on the way.

If you have played Red Dead Redemption II, this is a book for you.  If you enjoy American history and pop culture, Olsson's analysis of the game and its juxtaposition between American history and American historical myth makes for an interesting read. 



Thursday, July 11, 2024

Russia and the world!

 Giles, Keir.  Russia's War on Everybody: And What It Means for You.  London: Bloomsbury 
         Academic, 2023.  ISBN: 9781350255081

Everyone not living in a cave has become aware of Russia's actions on the world stage.  If you are interested in some of the details of particular cases and likely reasons why, then read Gile's Russia's War on Everybody!  
 
Keir Giles in eight short chapters provides a wealth of documented information on how Russia seeks to influence people and events around the world for their benefit.  He starts by providing context on what makes Russia so different and strange in comparison to other European countries.  The next chapter examines how the concept of politics as warfare by other means plays out in the Kremlin and Russia at large.  There is a chapter discussing Russia's role in Brexit and Trump's 2016 campaign among other issues.  Then the role of the Russian military in influencing global politics comes to the fore.  Chapter 5 does a deep dive into how Russia's actions affect individual people.  Chapter 6 discusses the role of bribery, wealth, and "willing accomplices" allow Russia access and leverage.  The next to last chapter show how Russia has intertwined business, statecraft, and crime for its own benefit.  Giles finishes the book with a warning on what might come next.  He also provides a list of selected readings and documentation for his arguments.

If you are interested in understanding current geopolitics, Russia's War on Everybody would be a good title to read..

Thursday, June 27, 2024

Septuagint in Context

Gallagher, Edmon L.  Translation of the Seventy: History, Reception, and Contemporary Use of 
        the Septuagint (LXX).  n.p.: Abilene Christian University Press, 2021.  ISBN: 
        9781684269198

What do you know about the Septuagint (also call LXX)?  The Septuagint is often used to refer to a Greek language version of the Old Testament used by Jews and early Christians which is still used in some parts of the world today.  Edmon Gallagher provides a detailed examination of the origin, importance, and use made of this translation of the Bible.
 
Gallagher divides the book into three sections - Starting Points, Cannon and Text in Early Judaism and Earliest Christianity, and The Text of the Septuagint among the Fathers.  Each section has three or four chapters.
 
Section 1: Starting Points provides the history of the Septuagint and what ancient Jewish authorities and modern scholars think of the origins of LXX.  It is called the Septuagint because Ptolemy II of Egypt wanted a copy of the Jewish Law for his Alexandrian Library, but since he could not read Hebrew, he commissioned a translation team of seventy-two men. Early Christians by tradition refer to the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures as the Septuagint whereas the Jews use that only for the translation of the Pentateuch.  

Section 2: Canon and Text in Early Judaism and Earliest Christianity delves into the role the LXX played in shaping what books to include as canon in the Christian Bible.  A chapter looks at the LXX in relation to other Jewish texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Masoretic Text.  A third chapter looks at how the LXX is quoted in the New Testament.

Section 3: The Text of the Septuagint among the Fathers looks at how early Christian authors used and viewed the LXX.  There are two chapters dealing with Greek Christian Fathers including Justin Martyr, Origen, and Irenaeus among others.  Then there are two chapters for  Latin Christian Fathers - specifically one for Jerome who translated the Bible into Latin and one for Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo.

If you have an interest in Biblical scholarship or the history of Biblical translations, you ought to take the time to read this title.  Edmon Gallagher has take great care to make this title readable and interesting for all readers.

Thursday, June 20, 2024

Eywitness from Kyiv

Ponomarenko, Illia.  I Will Show You How it Was: The Story of Wartime Kyiv.  New York: 
         Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024.  ISBN: 9781639733873

The war in Ukraine was unavoidable for anyone paying attention back in 2022.  But the snippets that made it on national and local news were just that snippets, not the broader picture.  Illia Ponomarenko, a reporter for the Kyiv Independent, offers the reader a much fuller and richer experience of what was happening in Ukraine and especially Kyiv during the first months of the Russian invasion.

Illia Ponomarenko opens the book with being embedded with the 72nd Mechanized Brigade on a patrol outside Kyiv in March 2022.  His remembrance of earlier times spent with this unit in the Donbas area duing 2017 and other years sets the context for the most recent Russian invasion.  Ponomarenko then takes you back to December 2021 and sets the stage letting you in on how life in Kyiv was before the war and what people were ding and thinking.  He guides the reader through the time before the invasion and then the opening days in February and March when all was confusion and chaos.  Ponomarenko, his mother, and his roommate fled to western Ukraine and stayed with Illia;s girlfriend's parents.  But after a couple of days, Ponomarenko and his roommate Ivan return to Kyiv.  Ponomarenko continues reporting for the Kyiv Independent media service visiting the front-lines when possible, but also providing background information and home-front stories as well.  He brings the book to a close in May 2022 after Kyiv has been saved.

In I Will Show You How It Was, Illia Ponomarenko provides a first-person account of the opening days of the most recent Russian invasion of Ukraine.  This title will be of interest to anyone interested in Ukraine, recent European events, or life in a war zone.  A story that everyone should read!


Thursday, June 13, 2024

Scouts, Rangers, and Secret Services in the American Civil War

 O'Donnell, Patrick K.  The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln's Special Forces, the 
          Manhunt for Mosby's Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America's Special 
         Operations.  New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2024.  ISBN: 9780802162861
 
How up are you on American Civil War History?  If you have read any histories, you have likely encountered Mosby, the Gray Ghost of Northern Virginia.  But what do you know of the Jesse Scouts?  The Blazer Scouts?  The various plots ran by the Confederate Secret Service out of Canada to burn down New York City, raise up an insurrection in the Midwest, and blow up the White House?  You didn't know about these?  Well then pick up The Unvanquished and dive into the heart of these operations!
 
 Patrick O'Donnell opens The Unvanquished with a preface and prologue linking the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and their activities to the "shadow war" conducted by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War.  He then divides the book into three broad sections - Part I: The Jesse Scouts, Part II: The Confederate Secret Service, and Part III: Sheridan's Scouts and "Come Retribution."  While the headings provide some structure, the book basically starts in what is now West Virginia when Union General John Frémont brought the Jesse Scouts (named after his wife) from Missouri  in 1862 and turned them loose to scout ahead of his forces, conduct raids behind enemy lines, and deal with local guerrillas.  Under various names the Jesse Scouts played a role until the end of the war.  In northern Virginia, John Singleton Mosby formed his Independent Ranger Company to operate behind Union lines, raid supply trains, and disrupt anything and everything that he could.  In response to the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid that aimed to kill President Jefferson Davis and burn Richmond, the Confederate Secret Service tried to burn New York, raid Northern banks from Canada, promote dissent and rebellion in the Midwest, and sow discord.  They also worked on several schemes to blow up the White House, kidnap President Lincoln and other officials, and finally to decapitate the Federal government.  
 
While Patrick O'Donnell does a wonderful job of detailing the exploits of the various Jesse Scouts, Mosby's Rangers, and various members of the Confederate Secret Service, he doe not provide any sources that show a link between the ACW "shadow warriors" and the OSS or current special Forces.  Despite that caveat, if you want juicy stories of daring Civil War exploits, The Unvanquished is the book for you!
 
 

 


Wednesday, May 22, 2024

A Flying Chinese-American W.A.S.P. in WWII

 Ankeny, Susan Tate.  American Flygirl.  New York: Citadel Press, 2024.  ISBN: 9780806542829

In World War II, the United States had a big problem.  They were growing the Army Air Corp, churning out planes by the thousands, but they needed pilots to get planes from the factories to the air units.  Male pilots were needed overseas, so was born the Women Airforce Service Pilots program which trained women to fly the military aircraft across the country.  In American Flygirl, Susan Ankeny tells the story of Hazel Ying Lee, the first female Chinese-American to obtain her pilot's license and train as a member of  W.A.S.P. 
 
Hazel Ying Lee grew up in Portland's (OR) Chinatown facing all the "normal" racism of the time, but she had a dream of flying.  In 1932, she managed to get a job running an elevator to pay for flying lessons and obtained her private pilot's license.  She later joined the Chinese Flying School to train for lying in China against the Japanese.  But when she arrived in China in 1933, she was not accepted in the Chinese Air Force.  She did manage to fly commercial aircraft and served a a security guard at a Chinese air force base.  Then in 1934, she moved back to the United States to work with the Universal Trading Corporation getting war supplies for China.
 
In December 1942, Hazel heard about an opportunity to fly.  Jackie Cochran had made a deal with General "Hap" Arnold to allow women to be trained to fly military planes in noncombat roles, specifically from factories to exit points or permanent units.  Hazel joined the fourth training class in 1943 - the first class that trained at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas.  After learning to fly the Army way, Hazel and the other member of her class joined the Ferry Command to fly military aircraft all over the country.  They flew B-17s, B-29s, P-51, P-47s, and P-40s along with A-24s.  Hazel was flying a P-63 Kingcobra from New York to Seattle in November 1944 when her plane was struck by another plane while landing in Great Falls (MT).  Both planes burst in flames and crashed.  Hazel died two days later due to her injuries.  

In American Flygirl, Susan Ankeny provides a life history of Hazel Ying Lee in historical context while also providing an interesting look at the training that Hazel and other members of W.A.S.P. received.  If you are interested flying, female aviation or the WWII home front, this is a book for you!




Friday, May 17, 2024

Diving on 12 wrecks!

Gibbins, David.  A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 
         2024.  ISBN: 9781250325372

Who is not intrigued at exploring a shipwreck?  Come on, there might be treasure!  Or at least very cool stuff, right?  Well, David Gibbins, an archeologist and diver, strongly believes that the stuff found in a shipwreck reflects the trade history and economic environment at the time the ship went down.  In A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks, he provides the reader a chance to explore that history.

The first shipwreck was found in Dover during a excavation below the road.  This boat was used to trade across the Channel during the middle of the Bronze age (about 1550 B.C.).  The next shipwreck comes from the Mediterranean coast of Turkey from the time of Tutankhamun or Nefertiti based on a gold scarab found in the wreck.  Also in the wreck were copper and tin ingots, jars of terebinth resin, glass ingots, various Cypriot dining dishes, and ivory from elephants and hippopotamus.  The third wreck was also off of Turkey, but on the Aegean coast and dated to be from the classical age of Greece.  The wreck had 196 wine amphoras and associated drinking-ware. 

Wreck number four was a cargo ship with olive oil and fish sauce from A.D. 200 during the reign of Septimius Severus off the coast of Sicily right near where the author's grandfather had landed in WWII.  Wreck number five was also off the coast of Sicily filled with prefabricated marble elements for a church sent out from Constantinople by Emperor Justinian in the 6th Century A.D.  For wreck number six, the reader travels to Indonesia to explore a wreck that could have been featured in the tales of Sinbad the Sailor.  The wreck had 57,000 Tang Dynasty Chinese bowls created for export to Abbasid Persia along with other cargo.
 
Next David Gibbins uses several Norse ships found in scattered locations to talk about the trade, explorations, and conquests made by the Vikings that culminated in the invasion of England in 1066 A.D.  Wreck number eight looks at the sinking (1545 A.D.) and recovery of The Mary Rose, King Henry the VIII's flagship.  Wreck number nine has Gibbins diving on the Mullion Pin Wreck (1667 - Santo Christo de Castello) off Cornwall and discussing the cargo lost in that wreck which included lost paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn, thousands of brass clothing pins, spices, hides, and other trade goods.
 
Wreck number ten was The Royal Anne Galley (1721) which sank off Lizards Peninsula in Cornwall while conveying the new governor of Barbados and then off to pursue pirates such as Bartholomew Roberts.   Wreck number eleven has Gibbins returning to Canada to dive on the HMS Terror which sank in 1848 as part of the John Franklin expedition disaster.  Wreck number 12 covers the story of SS Gairsoppa which was sunk in 1941 by a U-Boat while carrying 17 tons of silver from India to Great Britain.

In each chapter of A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks, David Gibbins provides the reader a chance to experience the thrill of undersea exploration while providing a context for the wreck and its place in world history.  So read this title and find out for yourself!

Thursday, May 9, 2024

Textbooks - Misinformation or Disinformation?

 Loewen, James W. and Nate Powell.  Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaption.  New York: 
            The New Press, 2024.  ISBN: 9781620977033
 
How well do you remember your elementary, junior high, and high school history textbooks?  Were you ever confused because facts did not seem to be in the right order or contradicted each other?  If so, get hold of this graphic adaptation of James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me and find out what has been missing in all those textbooks!
 
Over the course of twelve chapters Loewen dissects the problems he has identified in a variety of textbooks.  One of the first issues he raises is the sheer amount of facts that are poured into students' brains and the sheer size of the textbooks (18 most popular textbooks he examined averaged 975 pages)!  Then there is the fact that most textbooks have an agenda that is focused on telling a heroic story of American history, not a balanced telling.  The role and status of Christopher Columbus is explored in its own chapter as is the First Thanksgiving.  Loewn spends two chapters looking at the invisibility of racism and antiracism in textbooks (think Gone with the Wind, John Brown, and Abraham Lincoln).  Then there is a exploration of The Land of Opportunity trope in textbooks, a look at how the concept of the Federal government is taught, and two chapters that discuss the avoidance of the Vietnam War and the recent past in textbooks.  Loewen and Powell finish out the book by looking at how history could and should be taught in textbooks.  In the afterword, Powell discusses how he and Loewen created a format with the  author breaking the fourth wall by talking directly to the reader in a fashion that makes the reader a participant, not just an observer.  
 
If you ever questioned your school textbooks, Lies My Teacher Told Me could be the answer you are looking for!  You might not agree with everything in this book, but this is a book that everyone should read and discuss.

 

Friday, April 5, 2024

An Author on His Love of Reading Providors!

 Patterson, James, Matt Eversmann, and Chris Mooney.  The Secret Lives of Booksellers and 
         Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading.  NY: Little, Brown, and Company, 2024.  
         ISBN: 978031656734

Do you know a bookseller of a librarian?  Are you interested in learning about what booksellers or librarians do all day?  No, they do not get to sit and read all day - that is just a myth, unfortunately!  World famous author James Patterson has a great love of reading and spends a lot of time at and in bookstores and libraries.  So he and two collaborators decided to gather and share stories from booksellers and librarians.

The first section has booksellers and librarians discuss being book detective.  This involves either trying to figure out what book a patron/customer is trying to find based on what little information they have  (it was a red book on birds or it had vampires and airplanes and World War I) or trying to find a book that meets the needs/tastes/desires of the patron (I want a cozy romance set in Rome that involves baking).

The second section interviews librarians and booksellers on books.  All sorts of stories about books - their favorites, the first books they read, what books they tend to recommend, etc.  

The third section dives into booksellers and librarians reminiscing on the role that books and reading plays in their lives.  One librarian talks about how she learned about interlibrary loan when she was seventeen and working on an art project.  Another has a plan for world domination via children's literature. 
 
Section four is all about reading!  Booksellers and librarians are more interested in getting people hooked on reading and less worried about what they are reading.  Because, as one bookseller states, "a kid who reads is a kid who thinks."  Not to mention that adults who read tend to think as well.
 
The fifth and final section is talking about everything that librarians and booksellers do behinds the scenes so that the books and other items/services are easily found by the customers/patrons.  Did you know that some libraries have tools you could check out?  Or job resume services?  How about tax forms?  The list of services just grows and grows!  

Okay, the title is a bit misleading.  Not all librarians and booksellers are super heroes or keeping rare and strange artifacts safe from evil doers (see The Librarians for a fun watch).  But if you enjoy reading about why people enjoy their jobs, The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians is a good place to start!

Friday, March 29, 2024

Can You Win an Information War?

Pomerantsev, Peter.  How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist who Outwitted Hitler.   
          New York: PublicAffairs, 2024.  ISBN: 9781541774728

In an age of news silos, is it possible to reach folks?  Especially folks who only seem to listen to only one viewpoint?  Peter Pomerantsey has not given up hope.  He draws inspiration from Sefton Delmer who ran a black propaganda system during World War II that caused problems for the Nazi propaganda machine.

Sefton Delmer was born in Berlin to Australian parents.  His father was a professor in Imperial Germany and he was ten when World War I broke out.  He experienced the effects of propaganda first-hand as school friends turned on him in a matter of weeks.  His family did not get out of Germany for several years and this experience shaped his view of life and people.  He finished growing in England, got an Oxford degree and then became a journalist for the Daily Express in 1920's Germany.  He chronicled the rise of the Nazi regime, acting as an aide-de-camp to Ernest Rohm, the leader of the Nazi storm troopers at a private meeting.  Delmer accompanied Hitler on his airplane as he campaigned to become president against Hindenburg.  Delmer also gave lots of parties in Berlin that attracted a number of Nazi officials.  After World War II, broke out and France was occupied, Hitler gave a speech offering peace to Great Britain.  Sefton Delmar was selected at the BBC to provide an immediate reply that threw the Nazis for a loop.  This was what he wanted to do, using language to subvert the enemy.  But before he could get a position in the psych-ops wing of the British intelligence services, he had to persuade the powers that be that he was not a Nazi infiltrator and that he had an idea that would reach beyond the "Good German" that the current BBC programming was focusing on.  

In late1940, Delmer was posted to Lisbon by the Daily Express.  He was also to find out German plans regarding Gibraltar for the Secret Intelligence Service.  Then he got recalled to London where he resigned from the Daily Express and was placed in charge of a "Research Unit" - actually a code for "freedom radio."  Delmer had the challenge of setting up a right-wing sounding radio to influence the German public!  Finally Delmer could put his ideas into practice!  Propaganda was what was needed and that was what was delivered using language, tone, and innuendo that got the listeners to stop believing everything on the official radio broadcasts.  Delmer took the German broadcasts and spun them with sly bits of commentary that would get listeners rethinking their attitudes toward Nazi officials, the military, their neighbors, and eventually everything.  Delmar used the truth to undercut the lies and "fake news" that the official German broadcasts had regarding bombings, outcomes of battles, and survival of individuals. But, Delmer's success in floating some propaganda ideas during the war had unintended consequences after the war, specifically, the stories he spread regarding the German general's opposition to Hitler.  After the war, Delmer never knew the success he had before and during the war, but his contribution to winning the war was immense.

So if you are interested in the concept of propaganda and/or black ops during World War II, do pick up Peter Pomerantsev's How to Win An Information War!  You might even get some ideas on how to be subversive in countering today's propaganda silos. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

For the Love of Dictators

Heilbrunn, Jacob.  America Last:  The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators.
        n.p.: Liveright, 2024.  ISBN: 9781324094661
 
 
Everyone alive knows that Donald Trump seems enthralled with Putin and Ron DeSantis with Victor Orban. What about dictators is so attractive to a certain mindset?  And when did this obsession become a passion of the Conservatives?  These are some of the issues that Jacob Heilbrunn seeks to clarify in America Last.
 
Jacob Heilbrunn lays out early in the opening of the book his relationship with the conservative movement to establish his credentials for the history he reveals.  He starts with the present day where the conservatives and many Republicans seem to think that Hungary and its culture wars is the future they should pursue.  So how and when did this "homage to authoritarianism" develop?  
 
So who all has the Right praised?   "Kaiser Bill" for one was praised by Henry Louis Mencken and George Sylvester Viereck as an upholder of traditional values.  Theodore Lothrop Stoddard, Madison Grant, and H. P. Lovecraft adored Benito Mussolini, the Fascist ruler of Italy.  Ezra Pound was another vocal advocate of both Mussolini and later Adolf Hitler.  Elizabeth Dilling was a fascist supporter who accused the YMCA and the League of Women Voters as communist front organizations and college campuses as "hotbeds of radicalism."  Then there was the America First Committee that openly support Germany with the assistance of Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, the return of George Sylvester Viereck, and the funding of William Randolph Hearst.  After the war, came the era of McCarthy with the Senator hunting for "dirty Commies" everywhere while working on rehabilitating Nazi Germany.  
 
In the 1950's Henry Luce and his wife Clara Booth Luce helped lead the charge against the U.S. State Department while fawning over Nationalist China's ruler, Chiang Kaishek.  About this time William F. Buckley wandered on to the stage praising McCarthy while pushing a shift from isolationism to confronting the Communist menace through The National Review.  However, Buckley, his brother-in-law Leo Bozell, Jr., and others also looked to Franco of Spain, and Salazar of Portugal for inspiration in opposing the rise of Liberalism in America.  Then there was the Kirkpatrick doctrine which provided cover for the Right to cozy up with authoritarian governments such as Pinochet, South Africa, El Salvador, and Argentina.  

In 1989, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Right lost a major focus.  Patrick Buchanan started the charge of the new "Old Right" back to isolationism that puts America first leading to a fight between neoconservatives and paleoconservatives that is still going strong.  He voiced strong opposition to George H. W. Bush in regard to the Gulf War, to the U.S. sending troops to Bosnia, and was warmly embraced by Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky for his stance on Jews.  Then came 9/11 and the launch of the War on Terror.  In George W. Bush, the neocons had a champion to try out their ideas in Afghanistan and then Iraq.  The ultimate failure of the neocon plans provided the opportunity for the paleocons to come roaring back in the unlikely person of Donald J. Trump who made no secret of his love of authoritarians such as Vladimir Putin.  Even Putin's invasion of Ukraine in flagrant defiance of treaties that Russia has signed has not slowed the love of dictators found in the Right today.  It is amazing/appalling how many people have fallen in love with a nostalgic picture of a time that never was.

Jacob Heilbrun provides a very detailed schooling on the love for authoritarians that seem crafted into the DNA of the conservative Right in America.  So if you want to know the background to the news stories of today, take the time to read America Last.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Running up the Score!

Bruning, John R.  Race of Aces: WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master 
        of the Sky.  New York: Hachette Books, 2020.  ISBN: 9780316508629

An Ace!  For airmen and the public, an ace is someone to look up to and admire.  They had mastered simultaneously flying and fighting and managed to bring down at least 5 enemy aircraft.  The Red Baron was a famous German ace of World War I who is best known now for fighting Snoopy.  But being an ace was no easy task since only bout 5% of all World War II fighter pilots managed to get 5 confirmed "kills."  However, in the Southwest Pacific, General Kenney inspired the Fifth Air Force to chase down WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker's record of 26 enemy planes as a way to boost morale.  This book tells the story of many who participated in the race for this crown.

John Bruning opens the book with General Kenney checking out the state of the Fifth Air Force based in New Guinea which was getting pounded by Japanese Air Force while the Japanese Army was approaching the few bases still operational.  He needed fighting spirit and better planes than the P-39 Aircobras and P-40 Warhawks he had.  What he got was the Lockheed P-38 Lightening, a twin engine fighter that could out-dive and out-run the current Japanese planes.  Then he started getting pilots such as Richard Bong, Gerald Johnson, and Tommy McGuire.  These pilots and a host of others managed to turn the tide against the Japanese, but at a cost of living in a jungle environment at the end of a very, very long supply chain.  The pilots of the Fifth Air Force strove to match and then beat Rickenbacker's record of 26 enemy planes.  This race cost lives and ended a few careers as pilots became obsessed with being the top ace. In the end, Richard Bong came out on top with 40 enemy planes shot down. Looking back, the race to be the top ace was cursed as only one top contender lived a long life after the war.  

If you have an interest in air combat or the Southwest Pacific Theater in World War II, you will want to read Race of Aces!  John Bruning brings you to the front lines of combat and provides all the thrills you desire.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Do you still read?

Reed, Shannon.  Why We Read: On Our Lifelong Love Affair With Books.  Toronto: Hanover 
         Square Press, 2023.  ISBN: 978-1-355-00796-4

Are you a reader?  Do you prefer reading to going to parties?  Do you constantly have a book or two or three that you have with you to read while waiting in line or for your meal to arrive?  If you do, than you are a kindred soul with Shannon Reed and will enjoy the tales she tells in Why We Read.
 
Shannon Reed lays out the arc of her life, especially her life with books and libraries, in short chaptersChapters such as "to Get to Go to the Library" or "To Finish a Series" or "Because I Wanted Free Pizza."  A really fun chapter was "Because Someone is Paying You to Teach a Class about Vampires" when Shannon Reed was an adjunct professor really dislikes horror!

Shannon Reed provides interesting quizzes and vignettes between the chapters of her life.  Some of these include "How I Choose a Book: A Thirteen-Step Guide," Signs You Might be a Character in a Popular Children's Book," or "The Five People You Meet When You Work in a Bookstore."  These interesting asides sometimes feel out of step with topics in other chapters, but are fun reads.

So if you like to read or are interested in why others like to read (or both!), pick up a copy of Shannon Reed's Why We Read and settle in for some quality you time!

Monday, January 1, 2024

Food and Stories from an Island!

Wei, Clarissa, and Ivy Chen.  Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation.  New 
         York: Simon Element, 2023.  ISBN: 9781982198978
 
Who does not like browsing cookbooks?  You can view all the possibilities and dream about what you can make and how things will taste.  The best cookbooks provide photos and clear instructions for the reader so that the reader can enjoy all the labor the writers imbued in the title.  And when you are reading a cookbook from a culture not your own, you need context for the recipes which  Clarissa Wei and Ivy Chen provide in Made in Taiwan!
 
Wei and Chen open the book with a history of Taiwan setting the stage for what makes Taiwan cuisine different from Chinese cuisine.  Then Wei and Chen start with the basics -  what is in the Taiwanese pantry so that the reader knows what they need to stock to make the recipes that follow while also providing substitutes.  There are recipes for breakfast, for lunch, for small suppers, and elaborate dinners, not to mention special events.  The authors also include deserts, and  recipes from the indigenous cooks of the islands.  The recipes are nicely illustrated and help provide direction for various complicated recipes.  Scattered through out the recipes are stories that reflect the culture of Taiwan and its food history.  One such story deals with hamburgers for breakfast (Little League baseball) while another talks about how turkey rice became a dish in Taiwan.  The authors do note that the recipes do reflect more Central and Southern Taiwan rather than what is found in Taipei.

If you enjoy browsing recipes or learning about cultures via their food, pick up Made in Taiwan and dig in!