When Did Globalization Start?

 Hansen, Valerie.  The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World - and Globalization 

           Began.  New York: Scribner, 2020.  ISBN: 9781501194108

When you think of the year 1000 of the common era (whether you think CE or AD is up to you), what pops up in your mind?  Is it Vikings sailing west?  Cathedrals being built in France?  Trade in China?  For Valerie Hansen, she thought is connections, specifically trade, global trade!  In The Year 1000, Valerie Hansen takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the world beginning around year 1000 of the common era and up until about 1450.  She chose the year 1000 since that is around when the Vikings stopped by North America and trade could theoretically be made around the world - from Asia to America and back again.  

Valarie Hansen opens The Year 1000 with an overview of the world, briefly discussing Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas along with her argument for globalization beginning in 1000.  She then proceeds to discuss the Viking voyages to Newfoundland and elsewhere in the Americas and the impact this had on trade.  The third chapter of the book covers the trade routes that existed in the Americas among the local groups.  Hansen then returns to the Vikings, but in Europe this time with their search for slaves and treasure in the east, especial among the Rus while also covering trade on the continent and with outside countries.  The reader then travels south to Africa with its slave trade, its trade in gold, and in other commodities.   From Africa, the reader travels to Central Asia with the Silk Road that connected Europe and Africa with the Far East.  Religion and trade played a major role in Central Asia economies.  Next, Hansen explores the sea routes from the Middle East and Africa to India, then Indonesia,and ending at China.  In the last chapter, Hansen explores Chain and the role it played in global trade during this whole time frame.  

Throughout The Year 1000, Valarie Hansen seeks to persuade the reader that globalization started much earlier than the 1500's - the time when most scholars agree global trade began.  She provides ample evidence that trade, extensive trade was happening 500 years earlier.  Whether the reader agrees whit her argument or not,  The Year 1000 is an interesting and informative read.

The Airpower Fallacy

 Gladwell, Malcom.  The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the 

          Second World War.  New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2021.  ISBN: 978-0-316-29661-8

After the Great War (also known as World War I), air enthusiasts around the world worked on how to make air power more relevant on the battlefield.  They dreamed that fleets of bombers could stream over static battle lines to strike targets in the rear, like cavalry of  old had done; furthermore, they believed this could be a war winning strategy.   They just needed the right machines, the right ordnance, and the right men to make their dream a reality.  In The Bomber Mafia, Malcom Gladwell indulges his interest in the bombers of World War II to lay out some of the stories of the people involved in this utopian ideal.

In the opening of the book, Malcom Gladwell cheerfully admits that The Bomber Mafia began as a series of podcasts that were retrofitted into print.  This origin explains the layout of the book.  Gladwell opens the book with a change in command for the Twenty-First Bomber Command at Tinian Atoll from General Haywood Hansell to General Curtis LeMay.  Gladwell then discusses the Dutch genius named Carl Norden with his "analog computer" bombsight that could accurately drop a bomb on the target.  Gladwell then transitions to the dream of the Army Air Corp as a separate service that could win a war all by itself.  This dream took shape at Maxwell Field in Montgomery (AL), the home of the Air Corp Tactical School.  The stratigic plan was to take out the resources and infrastructure (bridges, railroads, mines, factories, and ports) of a country so that the enemy could no longer wage war.   The creation of a bomber fleet made up of B-17 Fortresses and later B-29 Superfortresses for the Army Air Corp was the result. After the US entered World War II, the Army Air Corp based bombers in England to carry out their plan to bomb Germany into submission.  That did not happen as planned since the Norden bombsight could not deliver on its promise due to mechanical issues and pilot training problems.  Then there was the bombing war in the Pacific.  After bases were established on the Marianas Islands, the B-29s were in range of the Japanese homeland.  But weather, unknown obstacles (such as the heretofore undiscovered jet stream), and inaccurate attacks led to a change in tactics, from precision bombing to simply burning everything down.  The plan changed from precision bombing to just burn everything down. The change in command from General Hansell to General LeMay marked this change in attitudes and tactics.  General LeMay authorized the use of napalm and then the atomic bomb.

In The Bomber Mafia, Malcom Gladwell has provided a very readable, broad-strokes introduction to the utopian ideal of air power.  His notes provide sources to document his statements.  However, for a more detailed look at the utility of bombing in World War II, the reader might want to explore The Bombers and the Bombed by Richard Overy (https://readinwv.blogspot.com/2015/08/ww-ii-bombing-reassessed-again.html) or other books on this topic. 

An Epic Trip into the Past and Back to the Present

 Wood, Michael.  The Story of China: The Epic History of a World Power from the Middle Kingdom

            to Mao and the China Dream.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2020.  ISBN: 978-1-4711-7601-2

China - a powerhouse now and in the past.  But how did it get to where it is today?  Who started this juggernaut rolling, who grew it to this size, and at what cost?  Join Michael Wood as he takes the reader on a epic exploration into The Story of China. 

Michael Wood opens The Story of China with the December 1899 winter solstice ceremony when the Emperor performed a ritual dating back to the Bronze Age at the Temple of Heaven for the last time.  Then, in nineteen chapters, Wood takes the reader back to the beginning of civilization in what became China and works his way forward to the present time.  Along the way the reader visits the major events that shaped China including stops at the Shang, the First Emperor, the Han, the Tang, the time of the Five Kingdoms, The Song (North and South), the Yuan/Mongols, the Ming, and returning to the time of the Qing, then into the age of the Republic, the time of Mao, and the current regime.  Along that journey are many side trips to understand the Mandate of Heaven, and discover what ordinary folks were doing, writing, and enjoying, and why societies fall apart and reform.

While the reader could rush through this title, The Story of China rewards the careful reader who takes the time read and ponder what he/she has read.  The story of China is cyclical - a kingdom/empire is founded, grows and then falls, only for a new kingdom/empire to rise from the ashes and build upon the earlier foundation.  The culture of China was formed early and is a thread that Michael Wood weaves through the whole book.  The thoughtful reader will see that certain attitudes regarding the role of the state and the importance of cultural stability underlies most of the empires despite what reformers tried to change.  Micheal Wood has written a very insightful history that so easily could have been a hagiography for the present oppressive regime. 

Thanks, St. Martin's Press, for inviting me to review this title.

Southern Myth or Southern Fact?

 Siedule, Ty.  Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause.  

         New York: St. Martin's Press, 2021.

 

Do you remember learning history, especially American history, in the late sixties/early seventies?  It was bland, black and white, with very little nuances in regard to details and very little context.  The history classes also missed most of actual history.  This is the world that formed Ty Seidule.  Robert E. Lee and Me is Ty Seidule's response to his changing awareness of what American history actually is.

Ty Seidule grew up in the South (Alexandria, VA and Monroe, GA), attended Washington and Lee University and joined the U. S. Army via ROTC.  Only later in life did he live above the Mason-Dixon line.  Later in his career, he was posted to West Point as a history professor.  He had become what he wanted to be early in life - a Southern gentleman like his idol, Robert E. Lee.  But life has a way of changing one's views on people, circumstances, and facts.  Life brings to the forefront concepts and facts that challenge long held beliefs.  Over time and distance, Siedule's views of his hometowns, alma maters, and cherished beliefs clashed with the facts he uncovered.  As a trained historian, Siedule sifted facts from fictions and was forced to change his views on the so-called Lost Cause and its pinnacle of worship, Robert E. Lee.  This change of outlook is the meat of the book.

Robert E. Lee and Me will not resonate with every reader. But, if the reader is willing to listen to Ty Seidule's story, they will learn how to nuance history and its facts for themselves so they are more equipped to make up their own mind. 

Comedy - Native American Style!

 Nesteroff, Kliph.  We Had A Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native 

          Americans & Comedy.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 2021.

 

Charlie Hill's stand-up act includes the following lines: " My people are from Wisconsin.  We used to be from New York.  We had a little real estate problem."  Kliph Nesteroff riffs off Charlie Hill's comedic life into a broad overview of Native American comedy in this book.

Kliph Nesteroff shotguns his way through Native American comedy with each short chapter providing a glimpse of a different comedian or historical period.  He introduces unknown comedians, such as Jonny Roberts, lesser known groups such as Williams and Ree or the 1491s, and brings in big guns such as Will Rogers and keeps up the examination of Charlie Hill.  He also looks into Wild West shows in the 1800's, vaudeville in the early 20th  century, Jim Thorpe on American Indians in movies, the role of whites playing American Indians on F Troop and the influence of Davy Crockett.  

As the reader travels through the book, wandering off on all the detours but coming back to finish the tale, they should accumulate enough facts to come to this conclusion - Native Americans are human and like to laugh just as much as any one else.  Humor and comedy can be culture specific, but it can also reach across cultures and draw disparate people together, if only for a laugh!

 

3rd Armored Division and General Rose

 Bolger, Daniel P.  The Panzer Killers: The Untold Story of a Fighting General and His Spearhead 

          Tank Division's Charge into the Third Reich.  New York: Dutton Caliber, 2020.

If you are seeking a story about one of the least well-known American generals of World War II, The Panzer Killers will give it to you.  You will find tales of daring, tales of bravery, desperate charges, exultation, and tragedy in this tale of one general and his well-led division.  

Maurice Rose took command of  the 3rd Armored Division in Lighting Joe Collins' VII corp during the Normandy Campaign right after Operation Cobra got rolling.  Rose had worked under Patton in North Africa and Sicily before coming to England to take part in Overlord.  So he brought experience and  insight into German tactics when he was transferred from 2nd Armored Combat Command A to head the 3rd Armored Division.  Rose worked his officers to ensure that they would do what he wanted when he wanted it done.  And he did not sit behind the lines in a command post drawing lines on the map.  Instead, he and a small group would be moving from unit to unit, assessing how the attack was going, who needed more prodding, or when to halt and switch tactics.  It was dangerous to be in Rose's command group as the 3rd Armored fought their way through France, into Netherlands and Belgium.  The 3rd Armored took part in the Hurtgen Forest attack and helped stem the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge.  Then came the plunge into Germany proper.  The 3rd Armored followed the 104th Infantry across the Roer River and finally had a chance to cut loose again.  The Pershing tanks (the few that made it to Europe) proved their worth in the taking of Cologne.  The 3rd Armored crossed the Rhine at Remagen and moved out in March 1945 into the German hinterland.  In the Wild West of the last days of the war, Rose overplayed his hand.  He and his small command group was ambushed by a group of Germans and he was killed.  He was one of the few American generals killed in action during World War II.  The 3rd Armored finished the war under General Doyle Hickey.  

Daniel P. Bolger, an experienced armor commander, examines how Maurice Rose shaped the 3rd Armored Division to be a model of a well drilled fighting division.  Bolger nicely uses documentation personal stories to provide a rounded look at both the 3rd Armored Division and General Maurice Rose in action.  So, if you are looking to fill a gap in your knowledge of American fighting generals and their units, do pick up The Panzer Killers.  You will not be disappointed!

Libertarians vs Bears

Hongoltz-Hetling, Matthew.  A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an

       American Town (and Some Bears).  New York: Hachette, 2020.  ISBN: 978-1-5417-8851-0

Take a reporter, a small town in western New Hampshire (Grafton),  a libertarian utopian project (Free Town Project circa 2004-2019), mix in brooding forests, plenty of bears, and a whole mess of folks, and you have this book.  It is a tale of free wheeling, radical idealism run amuck in rural New Hampshire where oddly enough, similar concepts seemed to be part of its history.  So set back, grab a doughnut or two, plenty of beverages and dive into this world of bears, bears, and strange folk.

Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling breaks the story into three books (Verge of the Wild; Rugged Growth; and Boundless Ruins) with multiple chapters in each book.  He has an interesting cast of characters telling bits of the story what with a logical libertarian, a very strange pastor, a bear fighting firefighter, a former Moonie, plus assorted other libertarians and townsfolk.  Not to mention the bureaucracy of bears out in the woods eating doughnuts, stray cats and dogs, plus the occasional chicken.  The story winds between the present and the past in the same manner that the roads of Grafton manage between clearing and forest.  

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is the tale of a utopia gone awry as they so often do in the Northeast and the rest of America.  Grand plans are all too often crushed when reality refuses to bend to wishful thinking.  And even true believers will succumb to guilty pleasures such as paved roads, decent schools funded by local taxes, and bear patrols.  But if you are interested in reading about libertarianism in the wild and the muck-up that ensues, be sure to pick up this title and enjoy yourself!