Let me begin by stating Don Winslow is a superb crime novelist who has offered a number of excellent novels to his ever expanding readership. Winslow’s mastery of his genre was evident in his Cartel Trilogy made up of THE POWER OF THE DOG, THE CARTEL, AND THE BORDER. He followed this up with THE FORCE and BROKEN and now has introduced a new novel, CITY ON FIRE, an exceptional work of mob fiction, which introduces Danny Ryan who is caught between two criminal New England Empires, one Irish, one Italian. Winslow explores the themes of loyalty, betrayal, vengeance, and honor as he offers his unique storytelling genius to his fans.
In his latest novel Winslow begins with a playful scene at the beach, a beautiful woman walks out of the ocean with a bathing suit that accentuates her anatomy. At this point the reader has no conception of what this person’s anatomy will have on the course of the novel. Danny Ryan’s wife responds to his roving eye in comical fashion, and we are introduced to our main character’s life story. Danny’s role is a carefully crafted one as he is placed at the vortex of organized crime in Providence, Rhode Island in an area referred to as Dogtown. Two families one Italian-the Moretti’s and one Irish-the Murphy’s competitors in the past have made their peace and have come to agreement on how their mob activities will be conducted.
(Providence, Rhode Island Police Chief after gang murder)
Danny, perhaps the only character in the novel that has somewhat of a moral compass is very unhappy with his situation as he is part of the muscle that the Murphy’s provide and is married to Terri, the daughter of the head of the Italian mob and owes his union card to his father-in-law. Danny would rather be on a fishing boat than scaring people when debts are due or conduct the vengeance that mob life periodically calls to fulfill. Both families have a number of sons who are friends until Liam Murphy, known to suffer from a lack of intelligence and timing insults Paulie Moretti’s girlfriend. The beatdown that follows looks as if it will touch off a gang war between the families. Soon payback comes as one of the Irish boys is murdered. Pasco Ferri who runs all of New England for the mob emerges as an interesting character as the relationship between the Murphy’s and Moretti’s deteriorates. For Danny, caught in the middle because of his family obligations, marriage, and friends the situation is very disconcerting.
Winslow has constructed what seems like a typical story involving different organized crime factions with violence, family loyalty, and dreams for the future. The author also produces a number of interesting characters that enhances the novel. Madeline McKay, a name chosen to further her career as a show girl and take advantage of her stunning looks emerges as a dominant character. Her mini-biography is fascinating, but most importantly we learn halfway through the novel she is Danny’s mother. Along the way we meet Solly Weiss, a well connected Jewish jeweler with strong mob and political connections, Manny Maniscalo, known as the undergarment king of the world, Sal Antonucci who carries out the Moretti’s dirty work, Philip Jardine a corrupt FBI agent among many.
The novel evolves through parallel tracks. First, Danny Ryan and his relationship with his mother and the mob. Second, the war between Peter Moretti and the Murphy family. Third, the internal conflict within the Moretti family and Sal Antonucci and his crew. Lastly, the full scale gang war that develops that permeates the entire novel.
Richard Lipez observes in his recent Washington Post book review accurately characterizes Winslow’s effort that “does for Rhode Island what David Chase’s ‘The Sopranos’ did for New Jersey.” Providence,
(Author, Don Winslow)
Rhode Island is the center of the mob action, but organized crime in the region must answer to Boston and New York. In true Winslow fashion the depiction of the stupidity of one character sets off a series of escalating power moves, betrayals and bloody murders fostering a gang war for control the docks, drug trade and other sources of income for a number of unsavory characters. The book exposes the racism and misogyny of the 1980s in New England and juxtaposes how organized crime acted in the by gone days of the 1950s and 60s as opposed to the new generation of mobsters that exist in the 1980s.
Winslow recreates gangland history at its best and though the author has stated he is retiring from writing he will deliver two more installments of this genre in the next two years. If this is true it is a loss as Winslow’s earlier “Cartel Trilogy” is the best recreation of the Mexican drug trade, and his new trilogy should be on par for mob books like the works of Mario Puzo, Martin Scorsese, and David Chase. Whatever the case maybe I look forward to the screenplay which is sure to come and the next novel depicting Danny Ryan’s quest for a normal life.
If you are following the war in Ukraine you are constantly bombarded with news stories concerning sanctions against Russia and Russian president Vladimir Putin’s oligarchs. Frozen bank accounts, offshore investigations, the seizure of yachts, homes, the inability to access money or transfer funds, in addition to the loss of real estate, a soccer team and who knows what else are daily headlines. The target of these actions are men who Vladimir Putin made rich by fleecing Russian mineral wealth, real estate, communications networks, weapons manufacturing, banking, highjacking the legal system, and of course the Russian people. These men, many of which are former KGB operatives along with Putin, looted their country siphoning off billions of dollars out of state enterprises and moving their wealth to the west forming a second wave of oligarchs replacing those who accumulated extreme wealth under Boris Yeltsin.
The west’s rationale for sanctioning Putin’s oligarchs is clear – destroy their wealth and lifestyle and they would pressure Putin to end his “special military operation” in Ukraine. It is clear that the strategy has failed to move Putin to change course as the genocide in Ukraine continues. Many wonder who these oligarchs are, how did they acquire their wealth, and what is their relationship with the Russian President. Catherine Belton, an award winning journalist whose specialty was investigative reporting on Moscow has written PUTIN’S PEOPLE: HOW THE KGB TOOK BACK RUSSIA AND THEN TOOK ON THE WEST, an exceptional expose based on years of her own reporting and contacts in Russia and the west.
As Daniel Beer writes in his May 26, 2020, article in The Guardian, Belton is a renowned business journalist who spent years covering Russia for the Financial Times, Belton follows the money. She has an unrivalled command of the labyrinthine history of share schemes, refinancing packages, mergers, shell companies, and offshore accounts that lay bare the stealthy capture of the post-Soviet economy and state institutions by a coterie of former KGB officers, or siloviki. Belton combines this financial history with testimony from a dazzling array of Kremlin insiders, diplomats, intelligence officers, prosecutors, mobsters and oligarchs. The result reads at times like a John le Carré novel.”** Belton’s approach and final product will amaze the reader for its depth of analysis and the disturbing picture she creates.
(Vladimir Putin was appointed prime minister in August 1999 before taking over from Boris Yeltsin as president on 31 December)
Belton’s theme is clear and direct – Putin justifies bringing all levers of power including ending elections for governors, bringing the court system under the will of the Kremlin, taking over and reorienting the media towards the needs of the state, and destroying certain oligarchs and private companies in the name of stability, all to end the chaos of the 1990s that existed under Boris Yeltsin. But, behind the patriotic fervor he encouraged a system whereby “Putin and the KGB ran the economy through a network of loyal allies now monopolized power and introduced a new system in which state positions were used as vehicles for self-enrichment. It was very different from the anti-capitalist, anti-bourgeois principles of the Soviet state they had once served.”
The author dissects a number of important questions. First, how did Vladimir Putin, a KGB operative in Dresden when the Berlin Wall collapsed end up the authoritarian presence in Moscow that exists today? Second, who are the men who he manipulated allowing them to accumulate vast amounts of wealth and if they crossed him wound up in the Gulag? Third, what mechanisms did Putin, and his coterie of sycophants employ to bring about the unequal and illegal distribution of wealth in Russia? Fourth, why has the Russian leadership and their oligarchs been so successful in hiding their wealth in the west and penetrating the western political apparatus? Lastly, what have been and are currently the implications for the system of “state capitalism,” or “state feudalism” that now exists in Russia?
As Belton methodically answers these questions she places events and actions in the context of Russian history and examines the different personalities and actions of Putin and his St. Petersburg KGB, and how they were able to overturn the corrupt oligarchical system which claimed to be mostly progressive under the reign of Boris Yeltsin.
The key component to Belton’s narrative centers around Leningrad at the time the Soviet Union collapsed. Leningrad, soon renamed St. Petersburg was the home a KGB faction which had a close relationship with the East German Stasi which was aware of the risks of a communist collapse and quietly launched “Operation Luch” to prepare for a potential regime change, particularly recruiting agents for a possible unification of Germany. Putin, then stationed in Dresden was part of the process that smuggled millions of dollars out of East Germany to maintain their operations and create techniques that would become the model for Putin’s later Kleptocracy.
(Russia’s cabinet members observe a minute of silence in September 2004 after the Beslan school siege, in which militants killed more than 330 people)
Belton follows Putin’s biography pointing out the significant role played by Anatoly Sobchak, a key reformer on the Leningrad City Council who would be elected mayor, then enamored with Putin made him Deputy Mayor. From this position Putin and his KGB compatriots had a base of power and the tools to implement their plan to replace Yeltsin’s oligarchs, men who took advantage of the collapse of the Soviet Union to line their own pockets and indirectly steal state assets. Billions were siphoned from Soviet coffers – a process overseen by the KGB. Front companies and banks were created to house this wealth and no matter what occurred, the 1991 coup, the raping of Russia under Yeltsin, the corruption of the Yeltsin family, and finally the choice by Yeltsin to first choose Putin as his Prime Minister, then resigning early so his protégé could be elected Prime Minister in his own right in 1999 – all linked to the KGB, men from the Soviet and post-Soviet period.
Belton’s detail is to be admired as she traces how Putin exercised power and destroyed men like Mikhail Khodorkovsky who was emblematic of former Komsomol officials who early on were cultivated by KGB progressives who would acquire enormous wealth under Yeltsin but would be destroyed by Putin. The modus operandi to go after these oligarchs was charging them with personal and business tax evasion resulting in the seizure of their companies and dividing their assets between the St. Petersburg KGB types and organized crime who worked hand and glove with Putin in the past. The agenda for Putin and these KGB loyalists was their belief that conflict with the west was not over with the collapse of the Soviet Union, so they created vehicles to funnel billions of dollars into the west to finance KGB intelligence operations against the United States and its allies.
(Talks resumed this month, five years after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a bid to end the fighting)
The privatization of state enterprises under Yeltsin using “loans for share,” and auction gimmicks quickly transformed ownership of the country’s wealth and created a class of oligarchs. Men such as Khodorkovsky controlled Yukos Oil, Vladimir Potanin controlled Norlisk Nickel, Boris Berezovsky controlled Sibnet Oil to name a few who reaped the benefits of the new system that controlled over 50% of the country’s wealth, but once Putin arrived they had to kow tow to his whims and goals. These men would become the target of the KGB who sought revenge because of their desire to control the country’s riches. The St. Petersburg KGB forged relationships during the early 1990s through an elaborate system of barter and export deals that involved organized crime creating a model of how Putin’s Russia would be ruled in the 21st century.
Belton outlines how Putin and his cronies were able to become President pointing to a number of issues that Russia faced in the late 1990s. First, Yeltsin and his family were crooks. Second, the war in Chechnya which Yeltsin unleashed and Putin would use to raise his popularity for the 2000 election. Third, The economy was on a roller coaster where market reforms led to a lowering of the standard of living for the Russian people. With fears of a coup, the Yeltsin family decided they needed a strong KGB type who they could rely on to protect them from prosecution – that man was Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin would resign early to facilitate Putin’s popularity and election victory.
Belton excels in describing the machinations of how Putin was able to consolidate power including a discussion of domestic terrorism blamed on Chechen terrorists. This tactic appealed to the Russian people, but there is a great deal of evidence that FSB agents were behind the attacks creating the climate for Putin to crack down and re invade Chechnya.
Once in power Belton delves into Putin’s goal of creating an authoritarian system that he would control with an iron fist and how he accumulated billions in personal wealth which necessitated his own oligarchical system whereby fronts were created to limit any trace of wealth back to him. Foreign bank accounts, real estate, a domestic banking system symbolized by Rossiya Bank, state control of the energy sector, threats, violence were all tools that were employed.
(US intelligence services say that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election)
There were those in the west that hoped to work with Putin in the early 2000s, but the influence of the St. Petersburg security men outweighed all other considerations. Their world view was steeped in the logic of the Cold war, an ideology that would mold Putin. They sought to restore Russia’s might and saw the United States as the main obstacle to achieving this. For them, the economy was to be harnessed as a weapon first to restore the power of the Russian state – and themselves as leaders of the KGB and then against the west.
What saved Putin and the Russian economy from the outset was the rapid increase in the price of oil. The leading Russian oil company was Gazprom, and the St. Petersburg KGB soon took over decision making. Putin’s goal was to use possible oil and natural gas shutdowns as a vehicle to be employed in foreign policy as he did to Ukraine in 2004 and is currently doing so to Poland and Bulgaria. More and more Putin evolved into a Tsar and he and his men would build a Russian fortress, presenting the country as under siege from an external threat.
Belton is correct that the key turning point was the 2003 trial of Khodorkovsky, his imprisonment, and exile to the Gulag for nine years. It opened the way for Putin’s KGB men to take control of the country’s economy and created a precedent for the country’s judiciary to be an extension of Putin’s “security men.” It also sent a message to other oligarchs that if they did not cooperate with shielding Putin’s wealth, laundering his money and protecting his power they could be next. The west did not realize that it was the beginning of the state takeover of the entire legal and political system leading to the accumulation of wealth that would be turned against them. Throughout the process the hypocrisy of the west is evident as Belton points out the role and desires of western energy companies wanting to get their piece of the action with the Yukos and later Gazprom sell offs. Further western hypocrisy is evident with oligarch investments in western real estate and banking, in addition to the role played by western banks such as Deutsche Bank, the Bank of New York, Danske Bank and others.
(Khodorkovsky gave the first news conference after his release in Berlin)
Belton is able to unravel a process explaining how billions of Russian state assets were spirited to offshore accounts outside Russia – in 2012 alone, $49 Billion disappeared overseas. Much of the wealth was invested in real estate particularly in New York, Miami, and London. To create a mirage of legitimacy Roman Abramovich, an oligarch with strong ties to Putin was able to purchase the Chelsea Soccer Club, and others invested in large real estate holdings in the United Kingdom fostering the nickname Londongrad.*** According to Belton, by the mid-2000s the British LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) was created as the money launderer’s vehicle of choice. London would gain the reputation “as the world’s laundromat, washing hundreds of billions of pounds of dirty cash every year.” Soon an awareness developed as to the inroads the oligarchs made in the west and how they used its institutions to protect Putin’s wealth and as well as their own. Interestingly, Putin and his men correctly predicted that western greed would outweigh any sense of morality when it came to western businesses’ approach to investing in and with Russia.
Belton’s exploration of Putin’s ideology focuses on the role of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the writings of White Russians dating back to the Russian Revolution, and recreating Russia’s imperial past. In a sense Putin sees himself as a Peter the Great figure whose country should create a Eurasian empire whose destiny was to counter the west as Putin forged a new Russian identity based on its imperial past. In addition, Putin and his KGB cohorts sought revenge for the collapse of the Soviet Union, the economic chao of the 1990s, and the threat the west presented to their overall goals.
Ukraine plays a significant role in this process and from 2004 onward would become a training ground for Russia’s undermining western unity. First, employing energy blackmail, “black cash,” then the outright invasion of Crimea took place in 2014 and the insurrection to create the Donetsk Republic. The eastern industrial region of Ukraine would endure eight years of war conducted by Russian backed separatists until the recent invasion of the entire country.
From the outset the Kremlin took over control of the Russian media from the oligarchs and developed the message that Putin was as godlike as a Tsar and saved Russia from western encirclement. As long as Russian incomes grew due to the increase in energy prices the masses did not worry about the increasing state corruption, the growing arbitrary power of the FSB, and the control of all businesses by law enforcement. Putin and his minions could jail anyone they wanted as long as the emerging middle class was happy.
Belton explores how Putin, and his cronies employ “soft power” in a frightening chapter, “Soft Power in an Iron Fist.” She describes how “black cash” was used in Eastern Ukraine, funding right wing parties in France, Italy, Hungary and elsewhere in Europe, and co opting western politicians such as Gerhard Schroeder former Chancellor of Germany, Jean-Marie Le Pen who lost the French presidential election last week, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and of course Donald Trump. This strategy was in line with Putin’s goal of pushing a populist right wing agenda as a rebellion against the western liberal establishment which he views as a threat to his position as Tsar of all Russia’s.
Putin’s interference in western elections is well known as his support for the far right throughout Europe. Former Kremlin insider Sergei Pugachev points out that Russia’s aggressive new tactics employing cyber, money though out Europe to achieve his goals “is like a dirty atomic bomb. In some ways it’s there, in some ways it’s not. Nowadays it’s much harder to trace.” PUTIN’S PEOPLE lay bare the challenge the west faces internally and now externally with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in addition to offering a remarkable explanation of how Putin’s feudalistic state came into being and how it is evolving.
For an up to date view of what these oligarchs actually believe see Catherine Belton; Greg Miller, “Cracks Emerge in Russian Elite as Tycoons Start to Bemoan Invasion,” Washington Post, April 29, 2022.
**Daniel Beer “Putin’s People by Catherine Belton review – A Groundbreaking Study that Follows the Money,” The Guardian, 6 May 2020.
***For a discussion of how the oligarchs took London see Patrick Radden Keefe, “Do Stay For Tea,” The New Yorker, March 28, 2022.
This Fall I will be teaching a course for OLLIE, part of the University of New Hampshire extension program. The class will deal with the current war in Ukraine and will explore the Collapse of the Soviet Union; Vladimir Putin: A Profile; the Expansion of NATO; and the current war in Ukraine. I am preparing a bibliography and I am posting it in case anyone might be interested.
Applebaum, Anne RED FAMINE: STALIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE
Aron, Leon YELTSIN: A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE
Ben-Ghiat, Ruth STRONGMEN: MUSSOLINI TO THE PRESENT
Belton, Catherine PUTIN’S PEOPLE: HOW THE KGB TOOK BACK RUSSIA AND THEN TOOK ON THE WEST
Browder, Bill FREEZING ORDER: A TRUE STORY OF MONEY LAUNDERING, MURDER, AND SURVIVING VLADIMIR PUTIN’S WRATH
__________. RED NOTICE: A TRUE STORY OF HIGH FINANCE, MURDER AND ONE MAN’S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
Burgis, Tom KLEPTOPIA
Colton, Timothy J. YELTSIN: A LIFE
Dawisha, Karen PUTIN’S KLEPTOCRACY
Clover, Charles BLACK WIND, WHITE SNOW: THE RISE OF RUSSIA’S NEW NATIONALSIM
D’ Anieri, Paul UKRAINE AND RUSSIA: FROM CIVILIZED DIVORCE TO UNCIVIL WAR
Feifer Gregory THE GREAT GAMBLE: THE SOVIET WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
Freeland, Chrystia THE SALE OF THE CENTURY: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Gessen, Masha THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE: THE UNLIKLEY RISE OF VLADIMIR PUTIN
____________. THE FUTURE IS HISTORY: HOW TOTALITARIANISM CLAIMED RUSSIA
____________. SURVIVING AUTOCRACY
Goldman, Marshall L. PETROSTATE: PUTIN, POWER, AND THE NEW RUSSIA
(Ukrainaian civilians fight)
Gorbachev, Mikhail MEMOIRS
Hill, Fiona THERE IS NOTHING FOR YOU HERE: FINDING OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
Hill, Fiona; Gaddy, Clifford G. MR. PUTIN: OPERATIVE IN THE KREMLIN
Judah, Ben FRAGILE EMPIRE: HOW RUSSIA FELL IN AND OUT OF LOVE WITH VLADIMIR PUTIN
Knight, Amy ORDERS TO KILL: THE PUTIN REGIME AND POLITICAL MURDER
Koffler, Rebekah PUTIN’S PLAYBOOK: RUSSIA’S SECRET PLAN TO DEFEAT AMERICA
Myers, Steven L. THE NEW TSAR: THE RISE AND REIGN OF VLADIMIR PUTIN
Plokhy, Serhii THE GATES OF EUROPE: A HISTORY OF THE UKRAINE
___________.THE LAST EMPIRE: THE FINAL DAYS OF THE SOVIET UNION
Pomerantsev, Peter NOTHING IS TRUE AND EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE
Sarotte, M. E. NOT ONE INCH: AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND THE MAKING OF THE POST-WAR STALEMATE
Service, Robert KREMLIN WINTER: RUSSIA AND THE SECOND COMING OF VLADIMIR PUTIN
Stent, Angela PUTIN’S WORLD: RUSSIA AGAINST THE WEST AND WITH THE REST
Short, Philip PUTIN* (to be published July 26, 2022)
Stent, Angela PUTIN
Snyder, Tim BLOODLANDS: EUROPE BETWEEN HITLER AND STALIN
____________. THE ROAD TO UNFREEDOM: RUSSIA, EUROPE, AMERICA
____________. ON TYRANNY
Taubman, William GORBACHEV: HIS LIFE AND TIMES
Yaffaf, Joshua BETWEEN TWO FIRES: TRUTH, AMBITION, AND COMPROMISE IN
PUTIN’S RUSSIA
Volkogonov, Dmitri AUTOPSY FOR AN EMPRE: THE SEVEN LEADERS WHO BUILT THE SOVIET REGIME
Vindman, Alexander HERE, RIGHT MATTERS: AN AMERICAN STORY
Yovanovitch, Marie LESSONS FROM THE EDGE: A MEMOIR
Zhadan, Serhiy MESOPOTAMIA
_____________. THE ORPHANAGE
Zubok, Vladisslav M. A FAILED EMPIRE: THE SOVIET UNION IN THE COLD WAR FROM STALIN TO GORBACHEV_____________. COLLAPSE: THE FALL OF THE
In a world where the war in Ukraine and economic sanctions dominate foreign policy discussions relations with Iran could have been pushed to the back burner instead they are now coming to the fore. As the Russian army continues its bloody war against Ukrainian civilians, the need to sanction Moscow’s energy industry which finances its genocide is paramount. The Biden administration is focusing on increasing the world’s supply of energy and to this end has reengaged with Iran after the Trump administration abrogated the Iran nuclear deal negotiated during the Obama administration. The odds of coming to a quick agreement with Iran is very low, in part because Russia was a signatory of the original agreement and Iran’s contorted history with the United States since the 1950s. To understand the background to the American relationship with Iran which emphasizes the viewpoints from Washington and Tehran John Ghazvinian, a former journalist, and currently the Director of the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania has filled this major gap with his new book, AMERICA AND IRAN: A HISTORY 1720 TO THE PRESENT. Written in a clear and concise style Ghazvinian provides insightful analysis, a deep understanding of the issues between Iran and the United States, and with a degree of subjectivity focuses on the motivations and actions of the major historical figures involved.
(Ayatollah Khomeini)
In tackling the American-Iranian conundrum one comes across many watershed moments and dates be it the competition between England and Russia during the 19th century through World War II better known as “the Great Game,” the emergence of the United States filling the vacuum created by London’s withdrawal from the region, the American “love affair” with Reza Pahlavi Shah beginning with the 1953 coup against Mohammad Mosaddeq, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism spear headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini, the 1979 hostage situation, the Iran-Iraq War, and the overt and covert war between the two countries that continues to this day. For scholars and the general public these issues are quite familiar, however, Ghazvinian brings a deft pen and immense knowledge in presenting a fresh approach to this historical relationship.
Ghazvinian goal was objectivity, hoping to avoid casting dispersions on either side, and dispensing with the ideological baggage that has encumbered past writings on the subject. Despite this goal, periodically he falls into the trap of bias. Having been born in Iran he conducted ten years of research and was allowed access to Iranian sources that were not available to most western scholars. One of Ghazvinian’s major themes is that the United States and Iran, at least in the 18th and 19th centuries through the end of World War I could have been natural allies. Decade after decade Iranian governments looked to the United States as a “third force” that could counteract the pressures of Britain and Russia. Presenting the early American thoughts of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, Iran perceived the United States as an anti-colonial power so there seemed to be a community of fate between the two countries that Ghazvinian successfully investigated.
(American hostages seized in Iran, 1979)
Ghazvinian explores America’s romanticized version of “Persophilia” and Washington’s impact on Iran through missionary work that provided hospitals, schools, and trade with Tehran. It is clear that the United States, despite its interest in Iran was hindered by an amateurish group of “diplomats” who were sent to Tehran during the late 19th century to promote American interests. Most had little or no foreign experience and they did little to foster a new relationship. With the 1907 Anglo-Russian Agreement, Iran could no longer play off the two competing powers against each other so Tehran invited the United States to assume the role of counterbalancing the “new” allies to the point of inviting and allowing an American citizen who would become a hero to the Iranian people, W. Morgan Shuster to take control of Iran’s convoluted finances. The author goes on to trace Iranian attitudes and hopes that were fostered by Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points and the concept of self-determination.
A second dominant theme that Ghazvinian introduces is Iran’s battle to achieve modernity and not being viewed as a backward desert kingdom that was more than a source of oil. To that end it seemed that no matter who was the Shah this issue had to be dealt with which resulted in policies that provided wealth and a lifestyle for the Pahlavi Dynasty but poverty and ignorance for the masses.
The concept that historian J.C. Hurewitz developed dealing with the Middle East that regional actors “never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity” applies to Iranian-American relations after World War II. Ghazvinian skillfully explores the leadership of Mohammad Mosaddeq and his removal from power in 1953 by the CIA and as he does in a number of instances sets straight the historical record. The issue for the United States was its fear of communism as is evidenced by the Russian refusal to withdraw from northern Iran in 1946. Supposedly the stalemate was settled when Harry Truman issued an ultimatum to Moscow, which Ghazvinian points out that there was no record of such an ultimatum. However, the fear of Russian expansion in the Persian Gulf drove American policy. In addition to this fear of the Soviet Union, Washington had to deal with British arrogance and stupidity (repeatedly referring to Tehran as Persian pip-squeaks) in trying to establish a sound relationship with the Mosaddeq government.
(Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq)
Mosaddeq was not a communist, he was an Iranian nationalist, but in the American diplomatic lexicon nationalist meant communist. The result was that the Eisenhower administration ignored reports that Mosaddeq was “a Western educated aristocrat with no reason to be attracted to socialism or communism.” Rather than listen to the advice of his own spies and bureaucrats, Eisenhower supported a policy designed to undermine Mosaddeq’s government which would lead to his overthrow and assist the return of the Shah to Tehran where despite his autocratic and megalomaniac tendencies the US would support at various levels until his overthrow in 1979.
Another major theme put forth by Ghazvinian is the role played by the 1953 coup in Iranian ideology. From the end of World War II to the arrival of the Ayatollah Khomeini the Shah was faced with three domestic enemies that wanted to curb his power or overthrow his monarchy – the Iranian left made up of a diverse group of Marxists that leaned toward the Soviet Union, the religious establishment, and a coalition of secular liberals, democrats, and progressive nationalists. Despite the diverse nature of the opposition, they all believed that the 1953 coup could be repeated at any time should the Shah’s reign end. This belief forms the background to any American-Iranian negotiation, particularly the 1979 hostage situation.
Ghazvinian cleverly compares the attitudes of the different presidents towards the Shah. For Eisenhower, named the “coup president” by historian Blanche Wiesen Cook, his policy was driven by the anti-communism of the Dulles brothers to provide the Shah with loans and military hardware. Once John F. Kennedy assumed the oval office he put pressure on the Shah to reform his reign, but once he was assassinated the Shah was relieved since Lyndon Johnson was too busy with Vietnam and appreciated an anti-communist ally who would help control rising Arab nationalism and the Persian Gulf. The key was Richard M. Nixon who developed a friendship with the Shah during the Eisenhower administration and with pressure from the likes of Henry Kissinger to honor any military requests that the Shah asked for resulted in billions for the American military-industrial complex and advanced weaponry for the Iranian army. The result was a man who believed he had card blanche from the United States resulting in violent domestic opposition against the Shah in Iran. Finally, Jimmy Carter’s human rights rhetoric scared the Shah, but he too would give in to the Shah’s demands until his overthrow.
(Iran-Iraq War)
Ghazvinian’s discussion of the rise of Khomeini and American ignorance concerning the proliferation of his ideas and support in Iran is well thought out. From exile in Iraq and later Paris the United States made no attempt to understand the reasons behind Khomeini’s rise and the conditions of poverty and oppression that existed among the Iranian masses. Washington’s blindness and tone deafness is highlighted by the appointment of former CIA Director Richard Helms as US Ambassador to Iran in 1973.
Once the Shah is overthrown Ghazvinian explains the different factions that existed in Iran and that it was not a foregone conclusion that Islamic fundamentalism would be victorious. American intelligence underestimated Khomeini’s skill as a politician, not just a religious leader. The reader is exposed to intricate details about the creation of the Islamic Republic, the hostage situation, and the Iran-Iraq War which found the US playing a double game of supporting both sides. This would lead to the Iran-Contra scandal that showed the duplicitous nature of the Reagan administration that should have ended the Reagan presidency.
Though Ghazvinian breezy history is immensely readable it becomes biased as he delves into the post 1988 Iranian-American relations. The author discusses efforts by George H. W. Bush and Barack Obama to reset the relationship between Teheran and Washington ultimately to be thwarted by disinterest after the Soviet Union collapsed and the role of the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu whose bombast was designed to block any Iranian-American rapprochement. At times slipping into partiality, Ghazvinian downplays the bombast of the Iranian government and its avoidance of the nuclear issue, its role in Lebanon with its ally Hezbollah, and arming Hamas in the West Bank. I realize the many flaws and general stupidity of Bush’s neocon gang, but the soft presentation of Iran under Mahmoud Ahmadinjad also leaves a lot to be desired.
Despite some areas that could be developed further, Ghazvinian has produced a needed reappraisal of his subject and the quality of the writing makes the book an easy read for the general public which makes it a valuable contribution despite some shortcomings.
The preparation and presentation of good historical fiction is an art form. The ability to engage in the necessary research and apply what is uncovered in a fictional format that represents accurate history is a challenge. Blending the lives of historical figures with fictional ones can create fascinating stories that should absorb the reader’s attention. One of the most important practitioners of this art is Kate Quinn whose previous historical novels include; THE ALICE NETWORK, THE HUNTRESS, AND THE ROSE CODE all of which have attracted a wide audience and critical acclaim. Her latest effort, THE DIAMOND EYE will surely gain the same notoriety and praise as her previous work.
The central character in THE DIAMOND EYE is Lyudmila Pavlichenko (Mila) who during World War II transformed herself from a studious girl who loved history into a deadly sniper whose nickname was “lady death.” Quinn is able to take her remarkable story and develop it into an amazing novel that reflects heroism and the transformation of her subject from motherhood to becoming a soldier.
The question that overlays Quinn’s novel is how a library researcher, a graduate student, an aspiring historian, and mother becomes a deadly sniper? Along with providing the answer to this query, Quinn develops Mila’s character and sense of self very slowly. Her growth and confidence carefully evolve as she masters the intricacies of science, weather, logistics, and math that are a part of each shot a sniper must consider.
(Eleanor Roosevelt)
An important dynamic in the novel is how Mila finally stands up to her husband Alexei who she married at fifteen, got pregnant, and raises her son Slavka. Alexei wants no part of his family and abandons them to reappear as a surgeon on the southern front in the great patriotic war against the Nazis. Mila will fall in love with her commanding officer Alexei (Lyonya) Kitsenko and believes they will have a wonderful life should they survive the war.
Along her journey Mila must overcome a number of fears and obstacles. First, as the only woman sniper in a company of men she fears being raped. Second, most officers believe that women should not be soldiers, less so a sniper. Third, she misses her son Slavka who is being raised by her parents. Fourth, dealing with an obnoxious, misogynistic husband who will not easily grant her a divorce. Lastly, overcoming her fear and then acceptance of death, including her own. As the novel progresses these issues all come to the fore.
Quinn has created a dual plotline as she develops her story. From the outset Quinn strongly hints that her story is more than just recounting the life of a woman sniper with over 300 kills. As Mila’s reputation proceeds her, against her will, the Soviet propaganda machine sees her story as an opportunity to foster publicity for the war effort particularly as it relates to the disposition of the Russian people and how they are perceived by the United States. In 1942 Mila will be dispatched from the fighting in Sevastopol to the United States where she will meet Eleanor Roosevelt, a character Quinn makes excellent use of with her diary commentary about the war and her husband. The trip has its highs and lows, as Mila unexpectedly develops a friendship with Eleanor and tries to influence American policy.
While in Washington it seems that a “Marksman” is following Mila who he hopes to scapegoat as an assassin of President Roosevelt. The “Marksman” will conduct the deed and arrange a scenario for Mila to be blamed thereby ruining the allied alliance and removing a president that isolationists and conservatives abhor.
As in all her novels Quinn’s writing is spot on and is able to humanize Mila by showing how she and Kostia, her sniper partner use humor, along with a healthy amount of vodka to cope with their risk-taking to survive in the hostile environment of warfare. Her relationship with Kostia is extremely important as are Quinn’s insights into the training, preparation, and implementation of the tasks that are the raison detre of being a sniper.
Quinn integrates a number of characters of which the members of her sniper command stand out, particularly Vartanov, an old ranger from Crimea who could move through trees likea ghost who Mila comes across and will join her group despite his age. He is an asset because of his knowledge of the terrain, and he is “dead on” shot. Olena Ivanova Paily also stands out as the nurse who befriends Mila and treats her in a field hospital after she is wounded twice and encourages her to pursue a life apart from killing Nazis.
Kate Quinn is a superb storyteller, and she perfectly captures Mila’s spirit and personality both on and off the battlefield. Quinn provides an important chapter entitled “Author’s Note” at the end of the book that provides a great deal of insight and information regarding Mila and how she structures her novel. This is an important book especially since the fighting takes place in the Ukraine, Crimea to be exact, and shows like today how civilians with no military experience can make a difference in combat.
At a time when the 1619 Project, terms like critical race theory and cancel culture are in vogue a novel that explores the depths of American racism is very prescient. The novel in question is Brendan Slocomb’s first literary entry, THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY which centers on the idea that black classical musicians seem to be an anomaly particular a talented violin soloist in American society. Slocumb’s effort strikes a nerve as it drives home its theme of the lack of opportunity for blacks in high brow musical culture and how members of society react to people of color who have the talent but not the opportunity to pursue a career performing classical music because of the attitude of an elitist aristocratic club that dominates this field.
It is always rewarding when an author’s first novel exceeds expectations. Slocumb’s work reflects his own struggle to live his life and play the music he loved, when often stymied for the reasons he states were incomprehensible. The novel centers around an amazing character, Rayquan (Ray) McMillan, a poor young black man from North Carolina who is blessed with classical music talent and an ability to convey it through the strings of his violin. He is an individual who is confronted with racist attitudes and actions almost at every turn and is able to overcome the roadblocks placed in front of him by the force of his convictions and personality. It is a story of family dysfunction, greed, highlighted by an individuals’ fight to maintain his dignity and pursue his love of music when confronted by the inequities of American society.
The story begins as Ray is preparing to compete in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the world’s most prestigious and difficult classical music competition judged by the top musicians in the world. Almost immediately a significant impediment emerges as after spending time in New York with girl friend Nicole he flies back to his home in Charlotte and discovers that his violin has been stolen. The violin is not just any musical instrument, but a Stradivarius valued at $10 million. Ray is at a loss. First the violin was a gift from his deceased grandmother Nora, secondly it is the only violin he believes that he can play and win the competition.
(Brendan Slocumb, author)
The plot revolves around the theft, but more so is a commentary about American society. Slocumb does a superb job developing the background to the crime tracing the evolution of how the violin came into the possession of Grandma Nora’s great grandfather, Pop Pop who was a slave on a Georgia plantation and was freed following the Civil War when his master, and possibly his father gave him the violin. When the FBI is brought in to investigate two suspects immediately come to the fore. First, the Marks family, descendants of the Georgia slave owners who claim the violin belongs to them as Pop Pop or Leon as he was known as a slave stole the instrument. Second, Ray’s own family, particular his mother and Uncle who believe the violin belongs to the entire family and should be sold with the proceeds divided up between five family members.
Ray is adamant that he will not give up his prized possession as the novel evolves. For Ray, the story reflects his own demons as he struggles with the concept of how a black person could be a violinist of his quality. Slocumb creates numerous scenes from school, work, and performing that reflect many of the author’s own life experiences dealing with racial discrimination. Slocumb carefully develops the rift between Ray and his family centering on his mother who is a selfish self-absorbed individual who uses her son’s ability as her meal ticket. Growing up she tried to block Ray’s love of music preventing him from practicing in the house and demanding that he get a job at a Popeye’s restaurant so he could buy her a 60 inch television. But for Ray, “every time the conductor raised the baton, a new joy blossomed in his chest. Each note felt special, a gift.” This special individual believed that he not only had to prove his talent to white audiences, his family, particularly his mother, but to his own race.
Slocumb creates a number of important characters that allow the novel to proceed at a smooth pace and maintain the interest of his readers. Janice Stevens, a university professor who becomes his friend and mentor. Grandma Nora teaches Ray humility and strategies to cope with the racism he confronts at every turn. The Marks family, a group of bigoted racists who see the opportunity for a big pay day. The McMillans who are nothing but hangers on hoping to cash in on Ray’s talent, and lastly, his girlfriend Nicole.
THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY takes the reader on an important journey providing insights into a field that most do not associate with racism. It is delicately presented with pathos and empathy and should garner Mr. Slocumb a great deal of admiration and success for his literary thriller. As Joshua Barone states in his New York Times review “Yet Slocumb isn’t too different from his protagonist: a natural. He easily conjures the thrill of mastering a tough musical passage and the tinnitus-like torture of everyday racism. There is a lot of work ahead as he writes his second novel, but as a teacher says to Ray, ‘precision and technique can be learned.’ After all, that’s just practice.”*
*Joshua Barone, “String Theory,” New York Times, February 27, 2022
(Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H. Bush)
As I am writing I am listening to the horrific news emanating from Ukraine. The Russian invasion that began on February 24, 2022, continues to produce atrocity after atrocity with no end in sight. By launching his “special military operation,” Vladimir Putin has ended the post-Cold War settlement in Eastern Europe in pursuit of his fantasy of an ethno-nationalistic Pan Slavic empire for Russia as he tries to recreate the old Soviet Union. His stated goal was to block the NATO threat embodied by Ukraine, a country that seeks to join the Atlantic Alliance for protection against Moscow. Putin’s actions were based on his perceived weakness of NATO countries and their lack of unity. The result, instead of pushing NATO away from his border, Putin has reinvigorated NATO and brought the west closer than it has been since World War II. Sanctions against Russia, arming Ukraine, financial aid, intelligence sharing, and humanitarian aid are all designed to help Kyiv overcome Putin’s rage as the war has not gone as he had planned. Based on the Russian President’s comments, who knows how far he will push his war of choice and how it will end. The question is how did we get to this point? What can be done to mitigate the situation? Lastly, what weapons will Putin employ as he hints about tactical nuclear weapons and chemical and biological warfare if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not capitulate.
M.E. Sarotte, a history professor at Johns Hopkins University and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations has authored the perfect book to try and understand the background of the current crisis. Her monograph, NOT ONE INCH: AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND THE MAKING OF THE POST COLD WAR STALEMATE is an excellent analysis of events, personalities, and decisions made by western European, American, and Russian leaders from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 through the resignation of Boris Yeltsin as Russian president replaced by Vladimir Putin.
(President Bill Clinton and Russian president Boris Yeltsin)
Sarotte develops a thoroughly researched book that revolves around options faced by the west once the Soviet Union collapsed. The choice was clear; either they could enable the newly independent states of Central and Eastern Europe including the Baltic states to join NATO regardless of its impact on Russia or promote cooperation with Russia’s fragile new democracy. The move that made the most sense would have slowed the decision making process and proceeding carefully considering Russian sensitivities. The west created an incremental security partnership open to European and post-Soviet states alike. Potential NATO members could gain experience in working with the west and eventually gain Article 5 protection. However, Boris Yeltsin’s decision to shed the blood of opponents in Moscow and Chechnya, the rampant inflation in Russia as it tried to transition to a market economy, bloodshed in the Balkans, and domestic political changes in the United States as Republicans took over Congress pressured the Clinton administration to push for NATO expansion all impacted the course of NATO enlargement. As all of this evolved Vladimir Putting was rising through the Russian bureaucracy.
In breaking down her analysis into three parts, Sarotte tackles the 1989-1992 period dominated by President George H. Bush, Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Her focus is on the “promise” offered by Baker that “not one inch” of former Soviet territory would be subject to NATO expansion. This formed the basis of the Russian position, and as events evolved the United States and its western allies saw loopholes in any agreement that would allow them to offer NATO membership to Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary in the first wave of NATO membership and keep open the possibilities for further members including the Baltic states, Romania, and others. Gorbachev who faced internal opposition, economic issues and other roadblocks to reform would face a coup and eventual replacement by Boris Yeltsin.
The second part of the narrative, 1993-1994 was dominated by the “Boris and Bill” show as Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin developed a strong working relationship which would eventually flounder due to events and decisions that ruined their camaraderie as the US pushed for rapid NATO enlargement. By the third part of the book, 1995-1999 the situation in Kosovo, the failed Russian economy raped by oligarchs, and Yeltsin’s uneven and unpredictable personality heightened by his drunkenness would result in Moscow and Washington failing to create lasting cooperation in the thaw after the Cold war resulting in the rise of Putin and what the world would eventually face in Ukraine.
(The odd couple: François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl link hands at the cemetery beside the battlefield of Verdun)
Sarotte covers all bases as she highlights negotiations between the west and Russia and delves into the motivations and policies of the main personalities. As she draws the reader in she offers a number of insightful comments and vignettes. Among the most interesting and almost laughable was the role played by the Lewinsky Affair and Clinton’s impeachment trial in finally expanding NATO in 1998. Sarotte’s meticulous presentation of how German unification was achieved and the withdrawal of Soviet forces from East Germany are among her strongest sections of the book, particularly the role played by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. The nuclear problem was always present in the background. Issues of Ukrainian nuclear weapons, the cost to destroy and relocate them, and Russia’s role were paramount. In addition, the evolution of the situation in Ukraine is discussed further and Sarotte offers a number of historical keys that will play out and impact Kyiv which in the end will end up being invaded by Russia in 2014 in its seizure of Crimea and the recognition by Russia of two separate self-proclaimed republics in the Donbas region.
Sarotte’s work is impeccable, and I would recommend it strongly to anyone interested in a detailed presentation of the 1989-1999 period that resulted in the arrival of Vladimir Putin as the dominating figure in the Kremlin’s approach to the west and Russian expansion. Sarotte delineates the lost opportunity for a more peaceful world with increased Russian, American and European cooperation and integration between 1989 and 1991. Unfortunately, that opportunity has been lost and it will take many years for it to reappear, if ever.
There is nothing as satisfying as a Swedish noir on a cold winter’s night. I had hoped that Leif G.W. Persson’s first installment of his Evert Backstrom series, LINDA, AS IN THE LINDA MURDERS would meet that need. After reading one of Persson’s earlier works and being quite satisfied, the current instance produced nothing but disappointment. Persson, the winner of numerous crime writer’s awards begins the novel with a phone call to the Vaxjo Police Authority located in southern Sweden which would lead to a flat in town that contained a scene reflecting the rape and beating of a female victim. Immediately it became obvious that a murder had taken place and that the victim was Linda Wallin, a soon to be twenty-one year old who was due to start her third term of the police course in Vaxjo.
At issue was the fact that Wallin had been involved with another police trainee, Erik Roland Lofgren. Since Lofgren was black, the racist element in Vaxjo enjoyed writing nasty editorials in the newspapers. His race also figured in DNA testing when the perpetrator’s analysis pointed to a non-Nordic type. The question was who then was responsible for the murder?
Persson does a reasonable job developing his story line – but he draws out his work to the point that the reader can become confused by what is presented. The local police force is supplemented by members of the National Crime Force sent from Stockholm in the persons of Detective Superintendent Evert Backstrom and his investigative unit. Persson describes Backstrom as “short, fat, primitive, but when necessary he could be both sly and slow to forget things. He regarded himself as a wise man in the prime of life, an unfettered free spirit who preferred the quiet life of the city, and since a number of sufficient appetizing scantily clad ladies seemed to share the same view, he had no reason at all for complaint.”
Persson uses Backstrom as a vehicle to express his opinions about police work, journalism, and society in general. If one could imagine a cartoon character with the bubble above his head rendering expressive thoughts to himself then you have our protagonist. Backstrom’s thoughts and commentary are racist, anti-gay, and misogynistic. Despite his negative personality traits, he is an excellent investigator despite what some would describe as an unorthodox approach to crime solving.
The use of Backstrom as the lead character detracts from Persson’s writing and plot development. It is clear he is not the warm fuzzy type, but he drives his unit to solve the murder which is negatively affected by his colleague’s low opinion of him as a person. The only member of his team that he can stand to be with who he might call a friend is Deputy Inspector Jan Rogersson, an old colleague from the violent crimes division in Stockholm. Detectives like Erik Knutsson and Peter Theron are too often the victims of his nasty commentary. Other characters who play significant roles are Lilian Olsson a psychoanalyst attached to the Vaxjo Police Department, a woman Backstrom despises; Detective Superintendent Jan Lewin who is an excellent investigator; his civilian assistant Eva Svanstrom; Lars Martin Johansson, head of Operational Security who despised Backstrom; Detective Superintendent Bengt Olsson in charge of the investigation; Bengt Karlsson, a former abuser who now was a member of the Växjö Men Against Violence to Women Committee; Bengt Olsson, another Deputy Superintendent; and Bengt Mansson believed to be the killer. This leads to repeated comments that there are too many Bengt’s involved in the story by other characters!
(the author)
Persson’s novel, is in part an ode to good old fashioned police work. Backstrom’s commentary about computers and other technology employed in scientific police work is not useful nor is his repeated need to drink beer. It seems that in every scene he longs for a “lager” and can’t seem to get along without one. Backstrom’s remarks about “poofs,” dykes, tits, queers etc. gets old after a while. If they had been used sparingly perhaps it would be acceptable, but it is a constant barrage. If you like this type of character then Persson has created the perfect one. It is a shame because Backstrom as a character has potential because of his quick wit and policing skills and had Persson employed him differently it would have made for a better story.
Perhaps the best part of the book involves the post-investigative dive into the murderer’s background and the events leading to the crime. The questioning of the accused by Anna Holt of the National Crime Unit of the victim is incisive and brilliant as she led the murderer down a path that reinforced his guilt even though he refused to accept that he had perpetrated the crime. Persson’s focus on cognitive interviewing is important to the structure of the culminating investigation and provide important insights into how police solve crimes gaining the cooperation of the accused.
Persson does make a number of important points concerning police work and investigative journalism throughout the novel. First, his description of the dysfunctional relationship between National and local police cooperation or “hillbilly cops” and “city police” only hurts the investigative process. Second, the tabloid approach by the press only hinders investigations, hurts the victim’s family, and makes police work that much more difficult.
As to whether I will read another of Persson’s novels – the jury is still out. Perhaps I will give him another chance, but if I do I hope Mr. Backstrom’s character has undergone a great deal of therapy. At the outset I had hoped for a novel on par with Henning Mankell, but the one I read does not measure up to the late Swedish mystery writer’s work.
(Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and Bernard Montgomery)
In the third volume of his “liberation trilogy,” THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT: THE WAR IN WESTERN EUROPE, 1944-1945 Rick Atkinson has written a comprehensive history of the last year of the war in the west highlighted by incisive analysis, personality portraits, and clashes beyond the battlefield pitting remarkable characters against each other as they dominated allied and axis planning implementing wartime strategy. Atkinson begins his narrative with a scene at the St. Paul School in west London on May 15, 1944, where allied strategists gathered to finalize plans for the cross channel invasion of France. In this last volume of his trilogy Atkinson continues opus from Operation Overlord, through the liberation of France, the last Nazi attempt to thwart allied plans at the Battle of the Bulge, to finally entering Berlin and ending the war in Europe. In so doing Atkinson employs the same successful approach used in the first two volumes; THE ARMY AT DAWN: THE WAR IN NORTH AFRICA, 1942-1943 and THE DAY OF BATTLE: THE WAR IN SICILY AND ITALY, 1943-1944, impeccable research and total command of the material pertaining to such a broad topic.
The most important wartime characters be it Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt Dwight D. Eisenhower, Edwin Rommel, Charles De Gaulle, Adolf Hitler, Bernard Montgomery, Omar Bradley, George S. Patton and innumerable others are explored from the perspective of their successes and failures, personality flaws and strengths, and their impact on the conduct of the war. In addition, and perhaps most important, Atkinson integrates how the military; from paratroopers, infantry, pilots, those engaged in intelligence, combat engineers, and civilians dealt with their wartime experiences and how it impacted them each day.
(Generals George S. Patton, Omar Bradley, and Bernard Montgomery)
Atkinson’s command of detail is evident from the outset in a wonderful prologue as he describes how 1.5 million Americans lived in huts, prefabricated buildings and tents throughout England as they prepared for the Normandy invasion. It would cause the writer George Orwell to quip that “Britain was now occupied territory,” and road signs that read “to all GIs, please drive carefully, that child may be yours.”
Atkinson’s prose separates his narrative from many others who have authored books dealing with the last year of the war in western Europe. He is able to convey his thoughts and descriptions in a clear and concise manner even when dealing with complex military movements and strategy debates. Among his most poignant and important chapters detail the carnage that American GIs experienced on Omaha Beach, answering the questions surrounding how the Germans were caught off guard by the location of the invasion, and the Battle of the Bulge, the greatest American military intelligence failure of the war. In each instance the reader is ensconced in a world occupied by mere mortals who have to make decisions that will affect the lives of millions and redraw the post war world’s political and physical geography.
Atkinson seems able to explain all aspects of the war. Particularly interesting was the “Bocage problem,” terrain that soldiers would have to master once they broke through after the invasion. In one set of aerial photos of an eight-square-mile- swatch over 4000 hedged enclosures were visible. With little preparation or equipment to deal with the foliage it created a major impediment for soldiers to fight through and advance. The carnage of the war receives important treatment especially the fighting that resulted from Hitler’s last ditch offensive into the Ardennes Forest in December 1944. Though SS Panzers and troops were beaten back by the end of January 1945 America suffered battle losses of 105,000, including 19,246 dead. In addition to thousands more who had to cope with trench foot, frostbite, and other diseases. In the end one of ten US combat losses in WWII came from the GIs who had fought in the Ardennes.
(Parachutes open overhead as waves of paratroops land in Holland during operations by the 1st Allied Airborne Army.)
Atkinson’s mastery of facts and figures is to be commended, as is his ability to delve into the egos of the various military figures and the impact of personalities on the conduct of the war. The individual who stands out is British General Bernard Montgomery who commanded allied land forces for the invasion. Montgomery’s ego was such that he believed that he and only he was the smartest tactician and commander of all allied military figures. Atkinson integrates the opinions of those who dealt with him, British as well as American particularly those of Generals Eisenhower, Bradley and Bedell Smith whose characterization (by Eisenhower) of Montgomery as “a psychopath,” “egocentric,” and essentially a dishonest man” sums up how the American leadership felt about him. The British felt in kind concerning Eisenhower and General George C. Marshall as Montgomery and Field Marshall Alan Francis Brooke believed that the SHAEF commander was incompetent, and Marshall knew nothing about strategy. This aspect of the book is most important and makes one wonder how these individuals got along well enough to lead allied forces to victory.
(British General Sir Alan Brooke)
The book itself is a compendium of the most important aspects and events, some major, some not, of the war in the west amazing the reader with the author’s ability to juggle and integrate so many diverse happenings into one volume by weighing every small piece of evidence before inserting it precisely where it belongs. The conclusion of Atkinson’s trilogy elevates him to join historians such as Anthony Beevor, Max Hastings, Peter Caddick-Adams, James Holland, Stephen Ambrose, and Cornelius Ryan as the most important chroniclers of the war in western Europe.
(General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and General Omar Bradley in 1946.)
Dr. Steven Z. Freiberger, www.docs-books.com. Please keep in mind this is a partial list and by no means is comprehensive for the topic.It does provide many choices that coincide with the course.
Acheson, Dean PRESENT AT CREATION
Ambrose, Stephen D-DAY: JUNE 6, 1944-THE CLIMACTIC BATTLE OF WORLD WAR II
_______________. BAND OF BROTHERS
Atkinson, Rick THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT: THE WAR IN WESTERN EUROPE, 1944-1945
Beevor, Anthony D-DAY: THE BATTLE FOR NORMANDY
_____________. ARNHEM: THE BATTLE FOR THE BRIDGES, 1944
_____________. ARDENNES 1944: THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE
_____________. THE FALL OF BERLIN 1945
Butler, Susan ROOSEVELT AND STALIN
Caddick-Adams, Peter SAND AND STEEL: THE D-DAY INVASION AND THE LIBERATION OF FRANCE
__________________. SNOW AND STEEL: THE BATTLE OF THEBULGE, 1944-1945
Castigliola, Frank ROOSEVELTS LOST ALLIANCES: HOW PERSONAL POLITICS HELPED CAUSE THE COLD WAR
D’Este, Carlos DECISION IN NORMANDY
Eisenhower, John THE BITTER WOODS: THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE
Gaddis, John L. THE UNITED STATES AND THE ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR 1941-1947
Gardner, Lloyd C. ARCHITECTS OF ILLUSION
______________. SPHERES OF INFLUENCE
Hamilton, Nigel FDR’S FINAL ODYSSEY: D-DAY TO YALTA 1943-1945
Harbutt, Fraser J. YALTA 1945: EUROPE AND AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS
______________. THE IRON CURTAIN: CHURCHILL, AMERICA AND THE ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR
Hastings, Max OVERLORD: D DAY AND THE BATTLE FOR NORMANDY
___________. DAS REICH: THE MARCH OF THE 2ND SS PANZER DIVISION THROUGH FRANCE IN JUNE 1944
___________. ARMAGEDDON: THE BATTLE FOR GERMANY, 1944-1945
Holland, James NORMANDY ’44: D-DAY AND THE EPIC BATTLE FOR FRANCE
Keegan, John SIX ARMIES IN NORMANDY
Kelly, John SAVING STALIN: ROOSEVELT, CHURCHILL, AND STALIN AND THE COST OF ALLIED VICTORY IN EUROPE
Kershaw, Alex THE FIRST WAVE: THE D-DAY WARRIORS WHO LED THE WAY TO VICTORY IN WORLD WAR II
___________. THE LONGEST WINTER: THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE AND THE EPIC STORY OF WORLD WAR II’S MOST DECORATED PLATOON
___________. THE BEDFORD BOYS: ONE AMERICAN TOWN’S ULTIMATE D-DAY SACRIFICE
Kershaw, Ian THE END: THE DEFIANCE AND DESTRUCTION OF HITLER’S GERMANY, 1944-1945
Kershaw, Robert LANDING ON THE EDGE OF ETERNITY: TWENTY-FOUR HOURS AT OMAHA BEACH
MacDonald, Charles B. A TIME FOR TRUMPETS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE
Mastny, Vojtech THE COLD WAR AND SOVIET INSECURITY
McCullough, David TRUMAN
McManus, John C. THE DEAD AND THOSE ABOUT TO DIE: D-DAY, THE BIG RED ONE AT OMAHA BEACH
______________. THE AMERICANS AT D-DAY: THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE AT THE NORMANDY INVASION
McMeekin, Sean STALIN’S WAR: A NEW HISTORY OF WORLD WAR II
Milton, Giles SOLDIER, SAILOR, FROGMAN, SPY, AIRMAN, GANSTER, KILL OR DIE
__________. CHECKMATE IN BERLIN
Miscamble, Wilson D. FROM ROOSEVELT TO TRUMAN: POTSDAM, HIROSHIMA AND THE COLD WAR
Plokhy, S. M. YALTA: THE PRICE OF PEACE
Preston, Diana EIGHT DAYS AT YALTA: HOW CHURCHILL, ROOSEVELT, AND STALIN SHAPED THE POST-WAR WORLD
Reynolds, David FROM WORLD WAR TO COLD WAR: CHURCHILL, ROOSEVELT END THE INTERNATIONAL HISTORY OF THE 1940s
Roberts, Geoffrey STALIN’S WARS
Ruane, Kevin CHURCHILL AND THE BOMB IN WAR AND COLD WAR
Ryan, Cornelius THE LONGEST DAY
_____________. THE LAST BATTLE
_____________. A BRIDGE TOO FAR
Scarborough, Joe SAVING FREEDOM: TRUMAN, THE COLD WAR, AND THE FIGHT FOR WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Schrijvers, Peter THOSE WHO HOLD BASTOGNE
Smyser, W. R. FROM YALTA TO BERLIN THE COLD WAR STRUGGLE OVER GERMANY
Steil, Benn THE MARSHALL PLAN: THE DAWN OF THE COLD WAR
Sterne, Gary THE COVERUP AT OMAHA BEACH: MAISY BATTERY AND US RANGERS
Symonds, Craig NEPTUNE: THE ALLIED INVASION OF EUROPE AND THE D-DAY LANDINGS
Wieviorka, Oliver NORMANDY: THE LANDINGS TO THE LIBERATION OF PARIS
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