Reading has become a passion of mine. It wasn't something I carried with me from childhood - it started 25 years or so ago when I began reading books on the Civil War to go with my then-current hobby of Civil War reenacting. From there, it morphed into a general interest on books dealing with aspects of first U.S., then world history. Several years back, I began reading biographies of the the presidents (I'm currently idling for a while before looking for something good on LBJ) and a couple years ago, in a break with my usual preference for non-fiction, I began reading Stephen KIng's body of work, beginning with Carrie. Beyond these two tracks, I general like browsing the history or current affairs sections of Barnes and Noble, and just looking for something which catches my eye. My bookshelves at home are filled with a very eclectic mix of subjects ranging from the Sacco and Vanzetti case, to the day-care center sexual abuse witch hunts of the the 1980s, to both secular and religious examinations of the life of Jesus Christ and early Christianity.
For some of these I've taken the time to write short reviews, for others just a short line or two. In either event, these are all highly recommended reads.
Read these books!
A Night to Remember
Walter Lord
Henry Holt, 1955
I picked up A Night to Remember for the first time in my junior high school library when I was in 7th grade, and have been an avid Titanic aficionado ever since. A cruise on the Titanic's surviving sister, Olympic, as a young man began Lord's own interest in the disaster of 1912. Over the years he met and corresponded with many surviving passengers and crew. While not the first book on the disaster, it was the first to capture the public's imagination in a large way (it was made into a very good film in 1958). His emphasis on the small details and personal stories, as well as the obligatory spectacle and Titanic-as-metaphor references, captured my imagination as a 13-year old and still proves, through the eyes of a slightly older man today, to remain the single best, most intimate narrative description of the event. At just under 200 pages, it is an easy read and is so engrossing many readers find themselves pushing through in a single session.
The Assassination of the Archduke:
Sarajevo 1914 and the Romance that Changed the World
Greg King & Sue Woolmans
St. Martins, 2013
Despite what its title might imply, this isn't a pulpy historical romance. The relationship between Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, does form the basis for the narrative, but the book is about so much more than just their courtship and marriage. It offers an glimpse into life in one of the oldest courts in Europe in the years before and after the turn of the 20th century. It paints a full picture of Franz Ferdinand, Sophie and their children, elevating them above their usual status as the answer to an historical trivia question. In an irony the book paints clearly, Franz Ferdinand was much more pragmatic than his uncle, the Emperor, and far less prone to war mongering than many others in power during that time in Austria-Hungary. Had he lived to assume the throne, we would not have been as anxious to go to war with Serbia, and might even have slowly paved the way for the Empire to change into a consitutional monarchy. The book concludes with an account of the lives of their children and descendants to the present day. It was interesting to learn, in particular, that their sons spent time in the Nazi camp at Dachau during WWII.
102 Minutes:
The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn
McMillan, 2006
102 Minutes is a narrative of the events which transpired inside the towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, from the time the north tower was struck by a hijacked airliner until the south tower collapsed, 102 minutes later. The story is told via the accounts of dozens of those inside the towers, including a number who perished that day. Despite the fact that the conclusion of the book is obvious, the authors are able to make this suspenseful and utterly engrossing. They manage to take a day of enormous events and distill it down into individual acts of heroism and sacrifice, survival and tragedy, and good luck and bad. Reading the book, you realize how for many that day the difference between life and death often turned on the smallest, most mundane of decisions.
The Complete History of
Jack the Ripper
Philip Sugden
Robinson, 2006 Edition
Despite its sensationalistic cover, Sugden's book is an admirably complete and fact-based accounting of the murders which occurred in Whitechapel in late summer and early autumn of 1888. It is a long book, which occasionally goes on at length about topics not immediately pertinent to the crimes. However, it does a fantastic job of presenting the entire case in an objective way - it tears down more than 130 years of mythmaking, conspiracy allegations, and lies, and gets to the heart of the matter: in 1888 a serial killer stalked the poorest area of the world's greatest city. He slaughtered six women, and was never identified. Sugden does have a suspect he favors, but he saves him for the final chapter, and honestly sets forth the weaknesses associated with his case. The book paints a vivid picture of what these murders did to London's East End and what life was like for the people that had to live through these awful events which were carried out literally in their own back yards. Its strongest and most lasting contribution is its discussion of the 6 victims - Martha Tabrum, Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Liz Stride, Cate Eddowes and Mary Kelly. It is surprising how much we know about the lives of these women before they became historical footnotes - almost all were married, most had children, and all were driven out of their familial relationships in whole or in part because of their addiction to alcohol. They were forced into lives, to one degree or another, dependent upon selling themselves in order to survive. Sugden gives these women a small amount of dignity in death that they probably never had in life.
A warning to the squeamish - the book does include post-mortem photos of the victims. Five are just of the woman's face, and apart from Eddowes' they are not particularly graphic. The crime-scene photo of Mary Kelly, however, is one of the most gruesome photos I've seen.
'Salems Lot
Stephen King
Doubleday, 1975
I generally don't read fiction. I know that there are probably many wonderful fiction books out there that I would love, but I have found over and over again that the old adage is true - truth is stranger (and certainly more interesting, to me) than fiction. Years ago, I read a few books by King, including 'Salems Lot. I had the occasion to read it again recently, and was, again, amazed by it.
The book tells the story of vampires descending upon a small Maine community in the 1970s. Kings' vampires aren't the modern variety - moody, young things who stare longingly into motion picture cameras. Kings' are more traditional - they are agents of an ancient evil. They are loathsome, vile undead monsters in the service of a master who himself is ancient.
Though the cultural references are out of date (who out there remembers Red Sox second baseman Doug Griffin?), King's depiction of small-town New England life still resonates today - beneath the Norman Rockwell veneer lay secrets, rivalries and jealousies.
The totem of the book is an old house which has stood watch over the town for decades. It is, appropriately, filled with mystery and legends of its own, even before the arrival of book's antagonist.
Simply put - this is a scary story, made all the moreso by King's ability to take the most outrageous situations and make them believable in familiar surroundings. As I was reading it, I found myself looking over my shoulder when I would take our dogs out to walk after dark.
Manson:
The Life and Times of Carles Manson
Jeff Guinn
Simon & Schuster, 2013
I wasn't even 2 years old when the Tate-LaBianca killings took place. For my generation, Charles Manson has always stood as the bogeyman of the 1960s - peace, love, and insanity.
Guinn's coup in writing this book was in securing interviews with his sister and his cousin. Together with other sources from his childhood, their testimony paints an image of a boy who was a manipulative taker from the very beginning - miswired at birth, he was destined to wind up in prison no matter what the circumstances of his life. Manson has himself always blamed his mother and his upbringing for his problems; don't believe him.
The book follows Manson from his roots in West Virginia, through several prisons, to California. In San Francisco, he found the perfect feeding ground for his particular type of malevolent, self-serving philosophies. In L.A., he found the music scene, where he hoped to score hit records, and he found frustration, confusion, and disappointment, which all led to visions of race war, and murder.
Manson's "family" was a cult, and nothing more. However, unlike other cult leaders (Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc.), it appears very likely that Manson himself didn't believe half of what he was preaching. His message became darker and more urgent the more it seemed as if his cult would begin breaking apart.
The seven victims of the famous murders of 1969 are given their due as individuals. Likewise are many of Manson's followers - but for him, most would likely have lived quiet, unassuming lives within the limits of the law. While not absolving them of an ounce of guilt for their crimes, one is forced to wonder what good is served by still keeping some of them, Leslie Van Houten in particular, behind bars.
If the hippies were trying to create an Eden of peace and love and harmony. Charles Manson was the inevitable serpent in their garden.
The works of Erik Larson
Erik Larson is one of the most gifted non-fiction writers working today (Nathaniel Philbrick is another, and I'll probably have an entry on his works before long). I do not know how Larson chooses his varied subjects, but I'll wager his system is a lot like the one I use when deciding what to read - something strikes him as interesting, and he pursues it.
I have read four of Larson's books, and I am looking forward to reading the rest, as well as any he comes out with in the future.
Isaac's Storm
Random House, 2011
This account of the devastating Galveston hurricane of 1900 is gripping and heavy with personal accounts which are moving and, on one occasion, brought me to tears. Incredibly, Larson even manages to make the seemingly arcane subject of meteorology and storm tracking seem like high adventure.
Devil in the White City
Random House, 2004
The White City is Chicago's 1893 Worlds' Fair, and the Devil is H.H. Holmes, often credited with being America's first identified serial killer. Larson describes the herculean efforts it took to make the Fair a reality, and the unintended consequence it had of providing a fertile hunting ground for Holmes' vile habits.
In the Garden of Beasts
Random House, 2011
Dead Wake
Random House, 2015
This account of the experiences of America's first ambassador to Nazi Germany, and those of his family, in the the 1930s, is one of the finest books I have ever read. Larson takes us along on their journey from not knowing what to make of Hitler and his regime to slowly coming to understand the wicked forces which were beginning to be unleashed. .
Published mere weeks before the 100th anniversary of the event, Larson offers a fresh account of the sinking of the Lusitania. His story centers on the experiences of the passengers and crew, the German sailors who faced life-threatening dangers each day merely by serving in the u-boat fleet, and the larger political and war-time considerations which informed and motivated actors on both sides of the Atlantic before, during and after this tragedy.
America and Iran:
A History
1720 to the Present
John Ghazvinian
Knopf, 2021
The author has given us an almost magisterial account of the relationship between our nation and Iran which is illuminating both in fact and in spirit. I learned more important history in this book than any other I've read recently. In my essay on the Kennedy assassination, I note that our problems with Iran since the hostage crisis in 1979 stem from our actions to overthrown their popular prime minister in 1953. That doesn't tell the half of it.
The Coddling of the American Mind:
How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt
Penguin, 2019
Without coming across as scolds, and with great compassion for the afflicted, the authors describe and offer sensible remedies to the intellectual and emotional fragility which besets too many of the younger generation.
The Betrayal:
The 1919 Word Series and the Birth of Modern Baseball
Charles Fountain
Oxford, 2015
A modern examination of the gambling scandal which rocked baseball and the country, placing it fully in the context of its time.
We Believe the Children:
A Moral Panic in the 1980s
Richard Beck
PublicAffairs, 2015
Daycare centers as the locus of Satanic child sexual abuse cults? Yes, this was a top news story in the mid-80s and this book gives a thoughtful recounting and analysis of the paranoia which created this witch-hunt and the damage it did.
The End of Gender:
Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in our Society
Dr. Deborah Soh
Threshold, 2020
The author is empathetic and caring - she wants all people to live their best lives, to be true to who they are and to be free from harassment and abuse. However, she rejects attempts to upend our understanding of fundamental biological truths in a misguided effort at "equity", and she worries for young people and their parents who are often the victims of ill-informed, anti-intellectual activists.
The Lindbergh Kidnapping:
Suspect Number 1, The Man Who Got Away
Lisa Pearlman
Regent Press, 2020
At times speculative, you nevertheless come away with a new perspective on Charles Lindbergh the man. Did he, as the author contends, knowingly play a role in the death of his own child? Possibly. I think so, based on this book and others I've read. But, whatever the true nature of the crime, Lucky Lindy was a cold, cruel man.