NIGHT OF THE ASSASSINS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF HITLER’S PLOT TO KILL FDR, CHURCHILL, AND STALIN by Howard Blum

September 21, 2024September 21, 2024szfreiberger Nazi Germany, World War II Leave a comment

Many believe that the most important World War II conference between Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin D. Roosevelt took place at Yalta. For those who despise Roosevelt it was at Yalta that the president was duped by the Soviet leader which would lead directly to the Cold War following the president’s death. Obviously, Yalta was of prime importance when one examines the post-war period, but in fact according to historian Keith Eubanks in his landmark study, SUMMIT AT TEHRAN, the agreements reached at Yalta and much of the postwar settlement were fashioned by the Tehran discussions.

Since Teheran was the first meeting of the “Big Three” coming at a time when it was becoming increasingly clear that the Germans were going to lose the war, anything the Nazis could do to prevent the allied leaders from developing plans to bring the war to a conclusion and what the post-war world would look like was imperative. For Adolf Hitler, if his commandos could disrupt the conference of perhaps kill allied leadership, new heads of state might be willing to develop more reasonable policies toward Germany other than the goal of “unconditional surrender” announced by Roosevelt at the Casablanca Conference on January 24, 1943. In Howard Blum’s NIGHT OF THE ASSASSINS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF HITLER’S PLOT TO KILL FDR, CHURCHILL, AND STALIN the author explores events and decision making surrounding the Nazi plan to assassinate allied leaders – code named Operation Long Jump. Blum’s effort is not a work of counterfactual history discussing what might have occurred had the Nazi plan been carried out, but an interesting historical monograph that unwraps how close the Nazis came to success.

(Walter Schellenberg as an SS-Oberführer in 1943)

Blum’s work reads like an engrossing spy thriller, when in fact it is a true story. It reads like a well written novel, but in reality it is a narrative history at its best. The monograph itself is presented on parallel lines. First is the competition between SS General Walter Schellenberg who headed Section 6 of the Reich Security Office (RSHA), and Michael Reilly, the Secret Service agent who was the head of President Roosevelt’s security detail. The author, having examined the pertinent documentation, delves into the mindset of both figures and the strategies they developed in order to achieve their goals. For Schellenberg it was to decapitate allied leadership, and for Reilly to thwart any assassination attempts and keep the “Big Three” safe. The second thread that Blum catalogues are the measures taken to protect Roosevelt and his allied compatriots and Nazi covert plans over a two year period to offset the fact that the war seemed lost by killing the “Big Three” and hoping that replacement leaders would be more amenable. Third, are the character studies of each of the important personages in the story. From Schellenberg and his commando operatives, allied and Nazi spies, to Reilly.

Blum’s commitment to detail is the highlight of the narrative. For example, the removal of tons of seized opium from smugglers stored in the basement of the Treasury building in Washington to create a safe space for Roosevelt after December 7, 1941, or the use of Al Capone’s automobile that was outfitted with amazing safety features for the time to protect the president. Other examples include Churchill’s capacity to ingest brandy and scotch and his lax approach for his own security. Blum delves deeply into the spy craft that was employed highlighting agents, double agents, recruitment of commandos, training for the assassination missions and other aspects of intelligence dexterity.

The author does a useful job discussing the competition within the Nazi bureaucracy exemplified by the relationship between General Schellenberg head of Section 6 of SS intelligence, and the head of Abwehr, the military espionage branch of the Wehrmacht, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. Another example of this competition is highlighted by the Abwehr commando training program centered at Lake Quenz headed by Major Rudolph von Holten-Pflug produced jealousy on the part of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS who ordered Captain Otto Skorzeny to create an SS version of Lake Quenz. It would be Skorzeny who had rescued Benito Mussolini from Allied control who would train the commandos and lead them into Teheran to assassinate their targets. Other key players include Franz Mayr and Roman Gamotha, German spies who had been dropped into Iran in 1940, one of which turned out to be a double agent; Julius Berthold Schilze-Holthus, a Nazi diplomat stationed in Teheran; Nasr Khan who led the Qashqai Tribe’s military arm who allied with the Germans; Lili Sanjari, Roman Gamotha’s secretary and Franz Mayr’s mistress among many other characters.

(Michael Reilly and FDR)

At various times it appears that Schellenberg’s plot would be successful. By November 1943, all the pieces he put into place had come together. Abwehr and SD agents had successfully gone undercover in Iran early in the war. Two agents remained active, one in Teheran, and the other in the tribal hill country. In previous operations commandos had parachuted into Iran and established the procedures for aerial insertion missions with the necessary equipment to carry out the plot. Further, the alliance with Nasr Khan remained firm. Lastly, Hitler had complete confidence that Otto Skorzeny, the very tactician who had supervised the training and execution for previous missions into Iran, could carry out a successful assassination mission.

It is interesting to explore how Reilly and the American secret service tried to keep the President and his entourage safe. Reilly had to deal with a stubborn president who enjoyed certain peccadillos of life that he was wanting to give up. Further, plans seemed to change almost on a dime especially as negotiations with Stalin to choose the site of the meeting constantly ran into roadblocks. Other aspects of the trip to Tehran after it was finally chosen were that Roosevelt, Churchill, and Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-Shek would first meet in Cairo which created more headaches for Reilly and company.

(Otto Skorzeny in 1943)

The role played by the Russians is consequential for a country that was occupied by both the Soviet Union and the United States. During the war, Iran became a major transshipment route for American Lend-Lease aid to the Soviets, and thousands of American, British, and Russian troops controlled the major cities and ports, particularly Tehran. Blum shows the ruthless nature of the Soviet precautions as Soviet intelligence and secret police agents of the NKVD, the forerunner of the infamous KGB, began a massive sweep of Tehran to arrest any German national or potential sympathizer when the first hint of a conspiracy is heard. For Reilly, the role of Soviet intelligence was concerning with their nest of secret agents and posers in Teheran, and how he could work with his Soviet counterparts to ensure the safety of the “Big Three.” Reilly’s concerns were also evident when Stalin offered to have the American delegation moved to the Soviet compound in the city. The rationale was clear, the American embassy was just outside the city and would require a short car ride each day for the president creating an interesting target. A move to the Soviet compound would include Russian eavesdropping devices placed throughout where the American delegation would be staying – certainly, a dilemma for the Americans. Interestingly, Roosevelt was not keen staying at the British compound located near the Russians either.

Blum uses Russian archival sources only made public in the last twenty years along with an ample collection of other primary and secondary sources as he weaves a fast-paced story of how Nazi intelligence services and special commando units tried to infiltrate an assassination team into Iran. It is a story that would make Ken Follett, Robert Ludlum, and Ian Fleming proud. In the end the Germans would come closer to a successful suicide mission that is generally believed. Except for the usual difficulties of controlling foreign intelligence operatives-greed, stupidity, and bad luck, the Nazis might have gotten their commandos within lethal proximity to the “Big Three” and conducted a successful war altering mission.

If you would like to read an updated version of the story see Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch’s THE NAZI CONSPIRACY: THE SECRET PLOT TO KILL ROOSEVELT, STALIN, AND CHURCHILL.

THE ACHILLES TRAP: SADDAM HUSSEIN, THE CIA, AND THE ORIGINS OF AMERICA’S INVASION OF IRAQ by Steve Coll

September 17, 2024szfreiberger Iraq, Middle Eastern History, War in Iraq, War on Terror Leave a comment

(Saddam Hussein)

For years, the United States was involved in a complex relationship with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s the Reagan administration provided Baghdad with licenses to acquire certain implements of war, provided intelligence as to Iranian positions, and at the same time engaged with Iran with weapons for hostages. The United States employed Saddam as a counterweight to Teheran from 1979 onward. Later, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Washington completely altered its policies and organized a coalition to remove Iraq from Kuwait. However, before the war commenced the United States gave false signals to Saddam before he invaded Kuwait which he seemingly misread. Throughout the 1990s the United States backed a series of possible scenarios to overthrow Saddam, but none was successful.

Fast forward to 2003, the second Bush administration under the influence of neoconservatives fostered policies to invade Iraq remove Saddam and achieving control of Iraqi oil and reorienting the balance of power in the Middle East. It is clear today that the result of that policy was to elevate Iran’s regional influence as the Iraq counterweight was removed. The errors fostered by the Bush administration have been a disaster for Washington’s role in the region. How this all came about is the subject of Pulitzer Prize winning author Steve Coll’s latest book, THE ACHILLES TRAP: SADDAM HUSSEIN, THE CIA, AND THE ORIGINS OF AMERICA’S INVASION OF IRAQ.

What becomes clear from Coll’s account is that there was more to Saddam than American politicians and spies could understand – even when the stakes were so high in dealing with him be it trying to uncover his nuclear capabilities, the sellout of the Kurds in northern Iraq, the invasion of Kuwait, and the final cat and mouse game that led to the Second Gulf War. Coll’s research consisted of numerous interviews of the participants in this historical relationship in addition to the availability of Saddam’s secret treasure trove of over 2000 hours of tape recordings of leadership meetings – private discussions – meeting minutes- intelligence files – and other materials. It allows us to see Saddam in new ways, “what drove him in his struggle with Washington, and to understand how and why American thinking about him was often wrong, distorted, or incomplete.” The result is an incisive monograph that details events and decision making in a readable format providing a review of Iraqi American relations since the 1970s. Coll pulls no punches in his analysis, and it is an important contribution to the many works that deal with this topic.

From the outset Coll introduces Saddam’s fears of the Iranian Revolution, his hatred for the Ayatollah Khomeini, his obsession with Israel’s nuclear capability, and his need to develop atomic weapons. He introduces Jafar Dhia Jafar, a British educated physicist who would become the intellectual leader of Iraq’s atomic bomb program who plays a vital role throughout the book as Saddam’s Oppenheimer. Coll’s discussion of the Iran-Iraq war focuses on the motivations of each side and the key role played by American intelligence, weaponry, and licensing. It was clear under the Reagan administration that it wanted to work with Saddam but as we did so we misread his goals. Further Washington’s support for Baghdad fostered deep misunderstand on Saddam’s part as to what they could get away with without American opposition which is the major theme of the book. Throughout the narrative Coll explains the inability of Iraqi and American officials to understand each other from Washington’s refusal to allow Iraq to buy gun silencers to the nuclear policies of both countries.

Coll does a masterful job presenting the background information for Saddam and his family. The relationships within the family exemplified by Saddam’s erratic and murderous son Uday and his brother Qusay, or his son-in-law Kemal Hussein are very important in understanding how Saddam ruled and the impact of his relatives on Iraqi society. Each individual is the subject of important biographical information that include Tarik Aziz, Saddam’s pseudo Foreign Minister, Nizar Hamdoon, close to Saddam who was his liaison to the United States and Iraq’s UN envoy, Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as “chemical Ali,” who carried out many of Saddam’s most despicable policies, Ahmad Chalabi, a duplicitous character who lied his way to influence CIA policies toward Saddam, and Samir Vincent, an Iraqi-American who worked on the Oils-For-Food negotiations to revive a diplomatic solution between Baghdad and Washington, among others.

US Vice President Dick Cheney (L) and US

(Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld)

The author raises the question as to why Saddam would risk an invasion when he was aware that he lacked a nuclear option. He would eventually agree to the return of UN inspectors, but it would be too late. The problem as correctly points out is that a decade of an American containment policy had conditioned Saddam to doubt the prospect of a land invasion. Further, since 1991 had threatened military action, but did little. Further he could not fathom why an invasion would take place when he suspected the CIA and other agencies knew he lacked nuclear weapons – an important miscalculation as the Bush administration was bet on war by late 2002, and the task of US intelligence was to find a causus belli to justify an invasion.

Coll is on firm grounds as he describes the many attempts to overthrow Saddam. It is clear that the first Bush administration wanted Saddam to be replaced but refused to engage in assassination. After the first Gulf War, Washington decided not to march to Baghdad and remove him for fear of upsetting the regional balance of power. During the Clinton administration there were many CIA plots involving Saddam’s overthrow from Chalabi’s conspiracies, supporting Wafiq al-Sarranai, an officer close to Saddam, Ayad Allawi, the head of the Iraqi National Accord who led the opposition to Saddam and was an enemy of Chalabi, to members of his dysfunctional family, particularly his demented son Uday.

U.S. Offers $25 Million For Saddam Hussein's Capture

(Saddam with sons, Uday and Qusay)

A major part of the narrative involves western attempts to uncover and end Saddam’s nuclear program. Coll takes the reader through the “shell game” involving United Nations and the International Atomic Agency’s inspectors to locate evidence of Saddam’s nuclear program. A number of important individuals are discussed including Swedish diplomat Hans Blix, and Rolf Ekeus, the Director-General of the IAEA, David McKay, an American inspector and a host of others. The details of the “cat and mouse” game conducted by the Iraqis is detailed as is the internal dynamic of investigators and their disagreements, including the role of the CIA and American intelligence. They would soon discover that Saddam had a sophisticated bomb program for at least five years without being discovered and Saddam’s capacity to build a bomb was also unknown during that period. It is clear that by the mid-1990s there were no nuclear weapons, but there were biological agents mounted on missiles.

Coll takes the reader through the two Gulf wars, the use of chemical weapons against his enemies, the attacks on Kurdistan, the attempts to remove him from power , all topics that have been dealt with by others, but not in the detail and the perspectives that the author presents. All of this leads to the decision to go to war in 2003 and finally remove Saddam from power and use a new Iraq, dominated by the United States to control the Middle East and its oil resources. In developing this aspect of the book as he does throughout Coll focuses on how Saddam misread American actions and policies toward him. This misreading and/or misunderstandings in the end resulted in his death and a quagmire for the United States that lasted for a decade and even today the United States has difficulties with ISIS terrorists ensconced in Iraq, and a Shia dominated government that our policies helped bring to power.

Coll pulls no punches as he discusses aspects of his topic. A useful example is the relationship between neoconservatives who served during the Reagan administration and Ahmad Chalabi. Coll describes “neocons” as “a loose network of like-minded internationalists who advocated for an assertive post-Cold War foreign policy that would advance American power by expanding democracy by challenging tyranny all around the world.” They sought to undermine the Soviet Union and Saddam advocating human and civil rights as a moral imperative. They would attract the likes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and others who were men who liked ideas on questions as what to do about Iraq. The result was Saddam’s actions invigorated a domestic alliance of American hawk’s laser focused on removing the Iraqi dictator. Chalabi who saw himself as an Iraqi Charles De Gaulle had no following in Iraq and fed numerous lies and conspiracies to the CIA and others and received millions in return – this was the “neocon” darling! Men like Paul Wolfowitz, Zalmay Khalilzad, Richard Perle, and Richard Armitage pushed for war when they realized Bill Clinton would not engage in regime change. American generals thought their ideas were “crackpot.”

George W. Bush’s cabinet read like a “who’s who” of “neocons” with Cheney as Vice President, Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, and Wolfowitz as Deputy Secretary of Defense, all backed Chalabi’s “rolling insurgency” plan to overthrow Saddam. Secretary of State Colin Powell who opposed these ideas offered “smart sanctions” – restrict trade directly related to WMD and avoid policies that hurt children and the general Iraqi populations. He felt the military option was not in the best interest of the United States, though he did not rule it out.

(Saddam captured in Tikrit, Iraq)

The question is why did Saddam want to keep the myth of weapons alive when facing steep economic sanctions and threats of war? Coll is clear in his study of Saddam that for the Iraqi dictator a “mutually assured destruction” strategy would offset his fear of an Israeli nuclear attack, an ego which was such that it would provide him with greater security internally and externally, and his misunderstanding of Washington’s capacity to stop him.

Coll’s story presents the long and mutually confusing relationship between the United States and Iraq. It ranges from Saddam’s rise to dictatorial power in 1979, soon after which he started a covert nuclear program, to the 2003 invasion, and his execution in 2006. Along the way we experience a dark chapter in US foreign relations highlighted by the Reagan administration’s turning a blind eye to Saddam’s use of WMD against Iranian soldiers, and under the Bush administration Kurdish villagers, along with CIA policies that enhanced Saddam’s paranoia which led him to defeatist policies as he misread the United States, who at times he perceived to be an ally. All in all, it resulted in what the second Bush administration made, in hindsight across ideological lines a terrible geopolitical mistake which we are still paying for.

What sets Coll’s narrative apart from other authors is his knowledge of Iraqi planning and Saddam’s mindset as it was clear that Bush had made up his mind for “preemptive war”. Coll’s account of the Bush administration’s actions, views, and planning has been detailed by others, but it is his deep dive into Iraqi strategy and the views of Iraqi planners that distinguishes his work.

Charlie Savage in his August 29, 2024, article in the New York Review of Books entitled “A Terrible Mistake” perfectly encapsulates the importance of Coll’s work; “Beyond its value as a history and reappraisal of events, what lessons does this tale of ceaseless misconceptions and miscalculations hold for today? If Iraq was a trap, it was one that a succession of American policymakers clearly did not understand they were getting the country into until extricating it cleanly was nigh impossible. Coll gestures toward the difficulty of understanding dictatorial rulers whose regimes are hard for American intelligence agencies to penetrate and whose own pathologies may also make it hard for them to see the US clearly:

One recurring theme is the trouble American decision-makers had in assessing Saddam’s resentments and managing his inconsistencies. It is a theme that resonates in our present age of authoritarian rulers, when the world’s stressed democracies seek to grasp the often unpredictable decision-making of cloistered rulers, such as Vladimir Putin, or to influence other closed dictatorships, such as North Korea’s.”

Saddam Hussein Giving a Press Conference

DEAD SIMPLE by Peter James

September 5, 2024szfreiberger Mystery/Thrillers Leave a comment

The recently refurbished Brighton Police Station in John Street Brighton UK one of the largest in the country Stock Photo

(Brighton, UK Police Station)

Recently, my wife and I came across the television crime series GRACE on BritBox. The series is based on the crime novels written by Peter James who is a master of the crime genre. James’ work is much loved by crime and thriller fans for his fast-paced page-turners full of unexpected plot twists, sinister characters, and accurate portrayal of modern day policing, he has won over forty awards for his work including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award and Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger. Since we enjoyed the television series so much I decided it might be interesting to explore the novels that the series is based on. James’ has written twenty-one novels in the series, the latest published about a month ago entitled, THEY THOUGHT I WAS DEAD which focuses on Roy Grace’s wife who years before disappeared without a trace. Grace immediately launched an investigation into his missing spouse, but after years of wondering what occurred as is recounted in the television series, he made little progress.

The first book in the series, DEAD SIMPLE centers on a prank that has gone wrong. At Michael Harrison’s bachelor party his friends lock him in a coffin with only a few hours of oxygen left. A few hours later, his friends who orchestrated the prank, are involved in a tragic accident, leaving Michael’s distraught fiancée, Ashley Harper desperate for answers. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is brought in to unravel the mystery, but he soon realizes that the one man who ought to know Michael’s whereabouts is maintaining silence since Robbo, Pete, and Luke are killed in the accident with another Josh, hangs on for a few days before he will pass on. Grace can empathize with Ashley, as he is a man who is haunted by his own missing wife.

John Simm and Richie Campbell in Grace (2021)

James creates an interesting, tangled web as what appears to be a prank gone wrong turns out to be something more sinister. Mike Warren was also supposed to be part of the prank, but he was delayed and was not present. However, Warren was Michael Harrison’s partner at Double-M Properties, a real estate developer. The company was extremely successful due to Warren’s hard work with Michael living his normal lazy, womanizing life. The reason he was a partner was because he put up more money when the company was founded than Warren. The standard questions include; is it a coincidence that Warren was not present for the prank which could result in his partner’s death? Or was it because all of the participants had been victims of Harrison’s pranking in the past and this was just an innocent prank gone horribly wrong because of an accident? In following the plot line other pertinent questions emerge which the reader probably would not consider.

As James constructs his plot he leaves out no detail. His portrayal of Harrison trapped inside the coffin is searing as he is unable to communicate with the outside world and water rises in the coffin and his breathing tube disappears. In dealing with Detective Grace, James creates an interest in the paranormal which possibly could blow up in his face as the defense attorney makes fun of him in court and this carries over to Grace’s boss back at the police station. In Grace’s defense the use of a “medium” was something he turned to in the search for his wife, so he felt as a last resort in the murder case why not try it once again. Some would find integrating a “medium” into the story as overkill, but for me it is understandable.

(Peter James, author)

James’ develops his Roy Grace character carefully filling in gaps in his life and career for the reader to get to know him. Grace is a good detective who wades through a great deal of information – the Cayman Islands account Harrison shared with Warren, the false notes Grace picks up at the canceled wedding, Ashley’s relationship with Michael’s friends, among others. For Grace it is clear that the situation is more involved than a prank gone wrong.

As James develops his novel a number of characters and scenes stand out. As to the scenes, the back and forth between Harrison locked in the coffin and Davey, the son of a retired police officer, a young man who is mentally challenged is riveting. The scenes involving Ashley Harper and Vic Delany are very disturbing. The scenes involving Grace’s “team” reflect on how good policing should be approached. There are many others as James knows how to create actions and conversations which draw the reader in. As to characters Ashley Harper or Alexandra Huron or possibly Anne Hampson is fascinating as we really do not know who they are. Max Candille and John Stempe, both mediums who Grace relies upon. The relationship between Mark Warren and Michael Harrison is a key to the plot. Lastly, is Vic Delaney or Bradley Cunningham who supposedly is Ashley Harper’s uncle, lover, etc. In all cases you must read on to determine what is real and what is not.

James’ novel is rather mundane for the first one third of the story. The author then drops an explosive change to the plot which the reader would never expect, allowing the last two thirds of the book to be hard to put down. After reading DEAD SIMPLE it is obvious that James’ reputation is well deserved, and I look forward to continuing with the Grace series.

JOHN LEWIS: IN SEARCH OF THE BELOVED COMMUNITY by Ray Arsenault

August 21, 2024August 21, 2024szfreiberger American Political History, American Social History, Biography Leave a comment

(John Lewis, third from left, walks with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as they begin the Selma to Montgomery march from Brown’s Chapel Church in Selma on March 21, 1965)

If you ever wanted to know what type of man John Lewis was, all you have to do is ask someone from the other side of the political aisle what their opinion is of him. In this case I would point to someone who disagreed with Lewis about every conceivable issue – former North Carolina Congressman and Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who would respond to questions about the Georgia Congressman and Civil Rights leader – “he was my friend,” and Lewis would reciprocate those feelings. You might ask how two such disparate characters could call themselves friends – all you have to do is read Raymond Arsenault’s new biography, JOHN LEWIS: IN SEARCH OF THE BELOVED COMMUNITY to understand the unshakable integrity and believer in man’s humanity which made up the core of the former activist and progressive legislator.

Lewis believed in forgiveness and compassion as part of achieving what referred to as “the beloved community” where racial hatred would be eradicated, and we would all live in a world of fairness and equality as he was determined to replace the horrors of the past and present with his ideals. Arsenault’s biography cannot be described as a hagiography as he delves into Lewis’ life, decisions and actions carefully offering a great deal of praise, but the author does not shy away from his subject’s mistakes and faulty decisions. At a time when racial “dog whistles” dominate a significant element of the political class it is unsettling to listen to a presidential candidate demean his opponent’s racial heritage linking it to her intelligence and background. This has led to racially motivated violent rhetoric that permeates the news making it a useful exercise exploring the life of a civil rights leader who fought valiantly against these elements in our society.

(Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., stands on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., on Feb. 14, 2015. Rep. Lewis was beaten by police on the bridge on “Bloody Sunday” on March 7, 1965, during an attempted march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery)

Arsenault’s monograph begins by exploring Lewis’ rural upbringing in Pike County, Alabama. Sharecropping was the main source of income in a white dominated economic system designed to keep tenant farmers under the thumb of their landlords. Any progress his parents might have achieved was never enough to escape poverty. For Lewis, growing up in this racial and economic system formed a social and intellectual laboratory as he hated working in the cotton fields and soon became intoxicated with education where the inequality of white and black opportunities was glaring. The structure of Jim Crow society dominated. Lewis had high hopes with the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas but the “massive resistance” the southern white supremacists responded with disabused Lewis that the decision would ameliorate the situation blacks found themselves locked into.

The development of Lewis’ approach to achieving change is explored in detail and we learn the impact of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Lewis at an early age. Arsenault spends a great deal of time delving into the King-Lewis relationship from the mid-1950s civil rights struggles through King’s assassination in April 1968. The development of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which Lewis would come to lead, and King’s Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) is important as it shows the dichotomy that existed in the Civil Rights movement particularly as they split from each other in the early 1960s as Black nationalists like Stokley Carmichael and H. Rap Brown advocated violence against white supremacists took over SNCC.

No matter what aspect of Lewis’ career Arsenault discusses he presents a balanced account offering intimate details whether delving into Lewis remarkable rise within the Civil Rights movements from the late 1950s to 1970; his exceptional organizational skills, the schism that developed and seemed to dominate the movement, his four years on the Atlanta City Council through his congressional career. In recounting Lewis’ decision-making, he relates how each judgement was reached and how it affected his social gospel of the beloved community ideology.

(Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Make no mistake the book is more than an intellectual approach to Lewis’ role in the Civil Rights movement. Arsenault seems to cover all the major aspects of the Civil Rights movement from sit ins, stand ins to boycotts challenging the White supremacist governors, sheriffs and other officials in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. Places like Selma, Jackson, Montgomery, Memphis come to dominate the narrative as does the impact of peaceful and violent events on Lewis’ belief system and planning.

For Lewis it was a battle to maintain his belief in nonviolent protest as a tool to uplift his community. At times he would become frustrated after he was physically beaten or arrested, but he would always seem to veer away from anything which would contradict his core ideas, even when close friends and other leaders moved away from a total non-violent approach. He grew angry when the younger generation turned to black power and confrontation, but he always remained loyal to his core principles.

Arsenault’s portrayal does reveal a confrontational and antagonistic strain in Lewis’ personality on rare occasions. One that comes to mind is the nastiness of his Georgia congressional campaign against his friend Julian Bond and fellow activist which cost both men a deep friendship when Lewis was victorious.

(Rosa Parks on a Montgomery bus in 1955)

Perhaps Arsenault’s most interesting chapters include Lewis’ evaluation of the Kennedy brothers who came late to the game of protecting civil rights workers. At the outset, Lewis had great hopes for John F. Kennedy, however he would be disappointed as the politics of Southern Democrats got in the way. With the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which the Supreme Court would undermine in 2013, Lewis felt more optimistic, particularly with the metamorphosis of Robert Kennedy, especially after Dr. King was assassinated. There are chapters dealing with the Freedom Riders, important historical figures like Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, James Lawson, Andrew Young, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Farmer, Bayard Rustin, along with the Bull Conners, Sheriff Clark, Governors John Patterson and Lester Maddox among many that lend a sense of what it was like to deal with and live through such a tumultuous period in American history.

In the last third of the book, Arsenault describes the Republican resurgence under Gingrich, Reagan and the Bushes which made it difficult for Lewis to navigate the House of Representatives as any liberal agenda was dead on arrival on the House floor. At times he grew upset for the lack of progress that resulted in few if any legislative victories. He had high hopes for the election of Barack Obama, but it was not to be due to Republican obstructionism and in many cases outright racism. The arrival of Donald Trump took his frustration to new levels as events in Charlottesville, Va, a Muslim ban, hideous commentary concerning immigrants, and the actions of Mitch McConnell in the Senate made the achievement of a “beloved community” impossible. Before his death, Lewis would witness a Republican party taking America backwards trying successfully in many cases to undo fifty years of progress made under Democratic leadership – something against which he had repeatedly warned. What separated Lewis from most of his Congressional colleagues was his historical perspective. He could not accept the racism of the Trump administration which returned him to the dark days of the 1960s culminating in the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

(Robert Kennedy’s speech in Indianapolis, IN following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.)

In light of Donald Trump’s racial attacks against Kamala Harris, Lewis’ life story seems apropos in light of where we are as a society and how far, or perhaps not as far we have come after the Civil Rights movement. If there is one area that Arsenault could have explored more was learning about the people who knew Lewis the longest and what these relationships actually meant to him. However, Arsenault’s book is well written, researched based on documents and interviews, and has produced a thoughtful and measured account of Lewis’ life and work which continued even as he contracted pancreatic cancer and worked until ten days before his death in 2020 as he visited Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC.

(Tear gas fills the air as state troopers, on orders from Gov. George Wallace, break up a march in Selma on March 7, 1965, on what is known as “Bloody Sunday”)

SOUTHERN MAN by Greg Iles

August 7, 2024August 8, 2024szfreiberger Mystery/Thrillers Leave a comment

(1320 John A Quitman Blvd, Natchez, MS 39120, USA)

A 963 page novel that weighs quite a bit is a tall task for any reader. Can it maintain your interest? Is it worth the time and effort involved in digesting it? Apart from the fact that the publisher, William Morrow, Inc. has employed the cheapest paper possible in the production process leading to torn pages and other issues the answer is a resounding yes. The book I am alluding to is Greg Iles’ latest Cage Penn novel, SOUTHERN MAN. The effort continues the story of Mr. Penn that cemented his character portrait in Iles’ NATCHEZ BURNING trilogy and CEMETERY ROAD. Once again set in what Phil Ochs used to sing about in “Here’s to the state of Mississippi” in the 1960s, the cities of Natchez and Bienville emerge as the dominant localities for another Iles’ epic.

Iles’ casts a wide net in his story. We renewed our acquaintance with Penn fifteen years following the conclusion of the previous novel. The author does a marvelous job of bringing the reader up to speed and filling in the gaps of what occurred during the previous decade or two. This allows the book to be read as a standard–alone; but it is more satisfying if you have read the previous stories. We find Penn with a prosthetic leg as his mother is dying of cancer, and his daughter Annie, a civil rights attorney, wounded at a concert that was a demonstration against police violence after a 12 year old black boy is killed by police in Memphis. Further, Penn is obsessed with learning how his father died in the infamous Parchman Prison and how he had hoped to rescue him from the gang violence and corruption that existed all the way to Jackson, the state capital.

The storyline is very timely as issues of third party candidates, dissatisfaction with Donald Trump, racial hatred and violence fostered by white supremacists, and the fears for the loss of democracy are all present. A civil war is a possibility as a “supposed” radical black group refuses to accept the murders, illegal police actions, and the “good old boy network” that seems to still dominate the south decides to fight back. Another storyline centers on a former Army Special Operations Sergeant, Robert E. Lee White who gained notoriety as part of the team that captured and killed Abu Nasir, an al-Qaeda leader in a 2008 raid in Afghanistan. Lee, dubbed the “TikTok candidate” has energized the youth of America and other age groups and hopes to be elected president over the Democratic and Republican candidates.

(Mississippi lynching)

The story pits black vs. white, states rights vs. federal power, and the survival of democracy pitted against a fascist threat. As Iles proceeds his historical knowledge from 1960s rock n’ roll, the civil rights movement, to political crusades is impeccable. Ile’s inventive mind has placed America on the eve of a possible civil war and anarchy and contains many of the elements of our current political and racial state of affairs.

Iles offers an alternative scenario for the 2024 election relying on white anger and white panic. The story begins with a rock concert serving as the basis for a demonstration against police violence. The venue is Missionary Hill and after a noise complaint Tenisaw County Sheriff deputies mishandle the situation resulting in the killing of close to thirty people, women and children among them, all black. Known as the Mission Hill Massacre, Iles set the stage for the violence, paranoia, and political opportunity that follows.

At this point we learn that at age 38 Penn was diagnosed with myeloma, an obscure blood disorder that his mother, Peggy Cage has just passed from which impacts his behavior throughout the novel. Though Penn dominates the novel, other characters play important roles. One of the key actors is Robert E. Lee White, a man who on the surface is a war hero, successful podcast radio host, and an aspiring politician who hopes to use the massacre at Mission Hill as the starting point of his political campaign. Iles carefully teases the reader as to what White’s plans are to enhance his candidacy, however his true colors emerge as the story progresses. High on his list of tactics include assassination, befriending Penn and his daughter Annie. Further, he manipulates Charles Dufort, probably the richest man in Mississippi, Donny Kilmer, an extremely violent redneck, Sheriff Buck Tarleton, militia leader Shotwell Barlow, Martyn Black, a gamer and drone operator who happens to be White’s cousin, and most importantly the racial situation in southwest Mississippi.

White has an important personal problem he must overcome. First, he is gay and his former lover Charlot Dufort, the son of a wealthy father who refuses to help him out of drug and gambling induced debt. Second, Tommy Russo, the leading organized crime figure in Bienville and Natchez is also a loan shark that has Charlot in his crosshairs. Three, Corey Evers, his right hand man and lover who witnesses White’s sexual liaison with Sophie Dufort, the daughter of Charles Dufort. If the public learns of White’s past sexual proclivities his campaign is finished.

(Author, Greg Iles)

A number of characters stand in White’s way apart from Penn. His daughter, Annie Penn, a civil rights lawyer at first trusts White then she witnesses his true colors. Marshall McEwan, the owner and editor of the Natchez Daily newspaper, the Watchmen. Andrew McKinny, a black historian who wants to restore Penn’s home, Pencarrow, as a monument to slavery and how it affected blacks during the 19^th century. Dan Kelly, a former Delta Special Forces operative and close friend of Penn. Kenrick Washington, a black veteran, town guide, and college student who emerges as a hero at Mission Hill.. Nadine Sullivan, bookstore owner, former attorney who might be in a relationship with Penn. All play important roles in the novel.

Iles’ uses White’s strategy as one story line. The second rests upon the violence that has been taking over Bienville since the massacre. Third, the attempts of the Poker Club and white supremacists to take over county government and strip Bienville, run by blacks of their governmental powers. Former southern plantation mansions are being burnt to the ground including Pencarrow, the home Penn purchased for his dying mother. The question is who was responsible. Was it black radicals bent on revenge calling themselves “the Bastard Sons of the Confederacy,” or was it a false flag operation by white supremacists supported by the Sheriff’s office or the members of the Poker Club, made up of the political elite in the area. Third, Iles constructs a mini novel within the larger story. He successfully integrates the background history of southwest Mississippi during the pre-Civil War era. Applying the research conducted by Peggy Cage the last years of her life as she tries to determine the truth of her family’s lineage. She is able to link Barlow’s and Pencarrow with her family through diary entries, interviews and other primary materials which will result in undercutting what Penn and his mother believed their entire lives. Penn always wondered about the 1861 lynchings that killed 50 slaves and tortured many more only a few miles from his childhood home-was he in some way related to the men who committed these murders? Iles creates numerous twists and turns and is able to expertly tie all of these threads together in creating an amazing tale.

Fear and rage dominate the novel similarly to today’s political and racial occurrences. The murder of Mayor “Doc” Berry, seen as Bienville’s reincarnation of Martin Luther King by a redneck sheriff contributes to the emotional undercurrents of rage. The popularity of another hero, Kendrick Washington provides White with a literal target to boost his popularity. The actions of Ray Ransom, a Vietnam veteran who did time as a convict at Parchman but reformed his life by working with disadvantaged children, and friend of Penn are further characters enveloped in the racial storm throughout the novel.

The racial unrest and violence and political machinations that Iles portrays will keep the reader on the edge of their seats as he manipulates your emotions as you react to the story line with nothing getting lost in the shuffle. The book is terrifying because of its plausibility as Iles captures the tinderbox that is America today. It is an expertly crafted political and racial thriller which reverberates with our current world, and you should not let the book’s length deter you – it is quite a ride and worth getting aboard.

(Natchez, MS Plantation)

SKIES OF THUNDER: THE DEADLY WORLD WAR II MISSION OVER THE ROOF OF THE WORLD by Caroline Alexander

July 23, 2024July 23, 2024szfreiberger World War II Leave a comment

(Flying “the Hump” in World War II. The Curtiss C-46 Commando was a mainstay for those operations, conducted over the Himalayan foothills where there was no emergency landing strip.)

The term “Over the Hump” is a concept that seems lost to history. When applied properly it embodies the American effort to supply the Nationalist Chinese weapons and supplies to combat the Japanese army which by 1942 invaded Burma and captured and cut off the only ground route into China. The only way to offset Japanese progress was to supply the Nationalist Chinese by air flying over the Himalayas from India.

In her latest book, Caroline Alexander the bestselling author of THE ENDURANCE: SHACKELTON’S LEGENDARY ATLANTIC EXPEDITION and THE BOUNTY: THE TRUE STORY OF THE MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY among other works has written an exceptionally detailed narrative and analysis of the American effort to thwart the Japanese describing the dangerous flights by inexperienced pilots over the Himalayas, discussing the diplomatic agenda of the United States, England, and China, along with insightful personality studies of men like General “Vinegar” Joe Stilwell, the American officer in charge of aid to China, General Chiang Kai-Shek the leader of Nationalist China, and Claire Lee Chennault, the American officer who commanded the “Flying Tigers.” The book entitled, SKIES OF THUNDER: THE DEADLY WORLD WAR II MISSION OVER THE ROOF OF THE WORLD focuses on the newly created infrastructure for the mission, training of pilots, and the hazardous flights they engaged in. Further, Alexander delves into the allied strategy of the China-Burma Theater (C.B.I.) which was complicated by the conflicting political and military interests of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and their unreliable ally, Chiang Kai-Shek.

(Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell (1883-1946) eating field rations on Christmas morning, 1943)

For Alexander, the C.B.I. was the war’s “most complicated theater” and was driven by competing interests and contradictions that exposed the fault line between the allies. For many, C.B.I. translated to “confusion, beyond imagination.”

Alexander’s riveting new work begins with the allied defeat in Burma in April 1942 sealing off the ground corridor linking India and China. This would an “ariel Burma road” to supply Chiang’s troops and allied forces. According to Alexander’s research some 600 planes and 1700 American airmen would be lost flying over Burmese jungles and mountains.

Although the supply effort was deemed a military operation, its primary goal was political, not military, a result of President Roosevelt’s desire to retain the support and boost the moral of Chiang Kai-Shek and his government and ensure a close relationship between the United States and China as Washington wanted the Nationalists to become a major player in the post-war world. The British as Alexander develops throughout the monograph were not as supportive of FDR’s raison detre and actively worked to undermine the American approach. The tension “between the practical and symbolic purpose of the Hump operation was to persist throughout the war” – a dominant theme of Alexander’s work.

(Stilwell with Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang’s wife, Soong Mei-ling, in 1942)

Early on Alexander introduces her argument that a united front to defeat Japan would be difficult to achieve. First, Chiang hated the Chinese Communist Party because they were the only group he was unable “to buy off, absorb, liquidate, or suppress…” Second, they were the only party that was gaining popular support. Third, Chiang believed the Chinese people were incapable of governing themselves. Lastly, and most importantly the Chinese army’s military strength was not applied against Japan despite American aid and encouragement and was held back due to Chiang’s belief of the coming civil war against the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong. In all areas, negotiation, his relationship with Stilwell, and his belief in his own destiny Chiang was the major impediment to try and defeat Japan.

Alexander’s book is well sourced and researched. She carefully explains the Japanese seizure of Burma entering Rangoon in March 1942. The chaos that resulted was due to British General Archibald Wavell’s belief that the Japanese would never invade Burma through Rangoon. Alexander carefully recounts the horrors Burmese refugees suffered trying to escape the Japanese invasion through monsoons that fostered torrential rains and muddy roads.

A strength of the author is her focus on the major players in the conflict, exploring the pilot’s experiences, and the results of American efforts. Prominent figures like General “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell are examined carefully. His relationship with Chiang Kai-Shek was terrible which impacted US policy, Stilwell’s relationship with General George C. Marshall, and President Roosevelt are keys to Alexander’s analysis. In the end Stilwell’s off-putting personality, ego, and strong beliefs would lead to his recall from China in 1944 due to Chiang’s request. Marshall’s description of Stilwell as being “his own worst enemy….his pathological tactlessness and rudeness was a major factor in the troubles he had in China.” The role of Claire Lee Chennault is also vital to the story of who would contribute to the conflict and the confusion that vexed the C.B.I. theater. Over the course of the war, Chennault’s own propaganda machine increased his reputation and the air assets he commanded. He would gain great notoriety in the United States, but in the end according to the author his contribution to the success of the Burma theater is debatable. Alexander’s criticism of Roosevelt is warranted as his view of Chiang was unrealistic. His belief in his own powers of persuasion were misguided as was his evaluation and ignorance of the key logistical facts of supplying Chiang’s forces. His approach would be very detrimental to the men who built the facilities and the pilots who carried out the Burma mission. Roosevelt’s belief and promises in the amount of tonnage of supplies that could be delivered were impracticable.

(Claire Lee Chennault)

Other prominent figures that are discussed include Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, the British commander in Burma who did not get along with Stilwell and also demanded his replacement. General Henery “Hap” Arnold, the commander of the US Air Force, British General Orde Charles Wingate, 1^st Air Commander Philip Cochran, General William Slim, General Frank Merrill, among others who receive extensive coverage.

To Alexander’s credit her focus is not only on influential figures. Her descriptions of the many pilots and the weather, topography, equipment failures are exceptional. Descriptions of the environmental hazards faced by pilots are fully warranted. Weather was the most onerous aspect of flying over the Himalayas. Monsoons, ice formations, thunderstorms, jungles, mountain peaks, deserts, sandstorms all had to be overcome. Further, training could be spotty. Many pilots lacked the experience needed to confront and overcome all of the obstacles in flying and delivering their cargo. With Chiang threatening to leave the war many pilots were rushed into situations for which they were unprepared. Many of the pilots lacked any combat experience and were psychologically and mentally ill equipped to deal with the dangers they faced. The result was misreading instrument failures, the situation they found themselves confronted with, the performance of their aircraft etc. resulting in bailing out when not necessary, crashing their planes when conditions did not fully explain what had occurred. Alexander’s account puts the reader in the cockpit with pilots as they had to cope with balancing their own survival and completing their missions.

To sum up Alexander does a wonderful job telling the story of the men who risked their lives dealing with brutal terrain and horrific weather conditions to keep China in World War II. While Alexander devotes a great deal of time explaining strategic and political issues, her interest lies primarily on the variations of individual human personalities. The author tells, through clear and engaging narrative, the story of the pilots in the planes to the level of campaign overview, sometimes really from 30,000 feet.

(Aerial reconnaissance photograph of the Sittang Bridge in southern Burma, which was destroyed in the face of the advancing Japanese on 23 February 1942)

Perhaps historian Elizabth D. Samet describes Alexander’s effort the best; “Ultimately, and rightly, the pilots — intrepid as “sailors of old” crossing “unknown oceans” — are the core of the book. Demeaned as “Hump drivers,” ostensible noncombatants at the bottom of the aviation hierarchy, they flew an inadequately charted route over baffling terrain, its surreality intensified by their frequent refusal to wear oxygen masks.

Alexander adroitly explicates technical concepts — flight mechanics, de-icing, night vision — but is at her best rendering pilots’ fear. Besides terrain, its sources included weather, enemy aircraft, insufficient training, night missions and “short rations of fuel” on the return leg. At least a pilot could depend on his plane, the beloved Douglas C-47 Skytrain, until the introduction of unreliable or unsound higher-capacity models turned the machines themselves into another source of terror.

Readers thrilled by sagas of flight will marvel at the logistics required to transport a stunning 650,000 tons of cargo by air, the audacity required to fly the Hump, the search-and-rescue operations necessitated by its hazards and the experimental use of aviation involved in the Allied recapture of Burma in 1944.

A Chindit column crossing a river in Burma, 1943.

(A Chindit unit forging a Burmese River, 1943)

They will also have to reckon with Alexander’s hard-nosed conclusions about the C.B.I. Others who have chronicled its history concentrated on the strategic merits of this deeply imperfect theater or celebrated its pioneering use of air power.

The image that dominates the end of Alexander’s epic is “the aluminum trail” of wreckage — “the hundreds of crashed aircraft that still lie undiscovered in the jungles, valleys and fractured ranges beneath the Hump’s old route.”*

*Elisabeth D. Samet. ”The Scrappy World War II Pilots Who Took Flight for a Perilous Mission.” New York Times, May 14, 2024.

Photo Credit: PhotoQuest / Getty Images (Colorized by Palette.fm)

THE ASCENT by Stefan Hertmans

July 8, 2024July 8, 2024szfreiberger Historical Fiction Leave a comment

12la iglesia de San Nicolás (Sint-Niklaaskerk), el Campanario (Belfort) y en ultimo término la Catedral de San Bavón (Sint-Baafskathedraal) gante belgica church nicholas belfry cathedral ghent belgium

(The city of Ghent, Belgium during WWII)

Internationally acclaimed Dutch author Stefan Hertmans has written two powerful historical novels that have achieved extraordinary recognition. The first, WAR AND TURPENTINE was long listed for the Man Booker International Prize in 2017 and the second, THE CONVERT was a 2020 National Jewish Book Award finalist. His latest effort, THE ASCENT is a captivating story about family and evil that alludes to the problems that face society today.

It is a story that originated with Hertman’s own life experiences. In 1979, the author purchased a town house in the Belgium city of Ghent. It was in poor condition that dated back to the end of World War II. Though a neglected structure, Hertman was enamored with it. The house forms the basis of the novel which fits the mold of a technique known as auto fiction, a combination of autobiography and fiction that describes the author’s quest to learn about Willem Verhulst, a Flemish nationalist who during World War II was a member of the SS and sought to link Flanders and Nazi Germany. Hertmans was unaware of the checkered history of the house when he purchased it and the interaction between the real estate agent and the author lends itself to the condition of the house and why it attracted him. Years later when he sold the house he came across a memoir of the previous owner’s son, Adriaan Verhulst, a renowned professor of history and coincidentally, the author’s former teacher. Hertmans would learn that Adriaan’s father, Willem had served in the SS during World War II and committed unspeakable crimes.

The Year of Silence: Belgium’s darkest moments during WWII

(Pro-Nazi rally with speech by VNV strongman Hendrik Elias (Vlaams Nationaal Verbondat) at Grote Markt, Antwerp, on 26 September 1943)

Hertman would become obsessed with the Verhulst family resulting in an exploratory mission to tell the story of Adriaan’s father, the story of the house in which he lived, and the people who he came in contact with. Hertman’s relies on memoirs, diaries, official documents, and interviews with Willem’s three children to recreate the lives of one family as they navigated the tumultuous events of World war II under the aegis of Nazi collaboration in their midst. The result is an amazing novel that reimagines the life of a family surviving a world war that destroyed a significant part of Europe. It is a testament to the author who successfully blends history and fiction to reach its readers about the past, the role of human nature during conflict, and providing lessons for the future.

Hermans carefully lays out the national and ethnic conflict that existed in Belgium before and during the war. It centers on Flemish nationalists who wanted schools to reflect Dutch culture and those who favored the French. Willem loathes the Belgium state and hitches his wagon to Flemish nationalism. Willem was blind in one eye from childhood, and it greatly affected his socialization process while growing up and provides clues for his later behavior. Willem’s first wife, Lisa, will die of cervical cancer in 1925 in her late twenties. Two years later he will remarry Harmina Margaretha Wijers who had been Lisa’s nurse during her illness when she lived with her pastor who never accepted the “one eyed” Belgium.

Harmina who went by the name Mientje and Willem had a son Adriaan, and two daughters, Aletta, and Suzanne. Mientje was a very pious Protestant and grew suspicious of her husband’s activities and his interest in Nazism. Willem was a womanizer who had a long running affair with a woman nine years his junior named Griert Latomme. For Mientje her children were her life and she overlooked “pappi’s” faults for years. Willem would force the family to move from a comfortable middle class home in Ghent to a house provided by the Nazis in Oudburg after he had ingratiates himself with the SS and often traveled to Germany. Needless to say, Mientje despised the house.

(German soldiers parade past the Royal Palace in Brussels, 1940)

Hertmans does an excellent job describing the German occupation of Belgium and its impact on its citizens. He follows the course of the war carefully and has a firm knowledge of historical events and battles. The author intersperses chapters describing his purchase of the house and his interactions with the children and other decades after the war.

(‘Confidential agent’ Willem Verhulst and his wife Mientje in 1930)

Under the German occupation Willem is made Director of the Ghent Rediffusion Service to be used as a vehicle for Nazi propaganda. From this position Willem rose in the Nazi hierarchy to become a reliable collaborator and achieved SS rank as he cobbled together thorough lists of resistance fighters and anyone who opposed or even spoke words that the Nazis deemed treasonous. Countless people were rounded up, beaten, tortured and many would die in the extermination camps.

The marriage of Willem and Mientje made little sense. He possessed a dual personality; on the one hand he was very sweet toward his wife, but he was a womanizer and a Nazi collaborator. He did his best to keep his wife and family in the dark when it came to his activities. She was very religious and cannot fathom why their lives have taken such a drastic turn. Once he started wearing his SS uniform at home, she forbade the children to enter certain rooms that were used for Nazi visitors and held Nazi memorabilia referring to them as “the death rooms.” The issue of spousal loyalty reverberates throughout the novel. No matter how abusive he acted at times or as she learned of his Nazi activities she always tried to smooth over their relationship and keep him calm, standing by him. However, by July 1944 when Willem contemplates fleeing with the family to Hanover, Germany, she refuses to allow herself and the children to accompany him.

(Stefan Hertmans)

Hertmans does a masterful job weaving the post war history of how collaborators fled Belgium and how they were treated by the Germans and Belgians upon their return. Roughly 15,000 Flemish citizens fled with another 6,000 Walloons joining them. By integrating so much factual information into the novel it reflects the authenticity of the story as the author fictionalized certain aspects of his work.

The book is segmented into two parts. The first half surrounds Willem’s rise in the Nazi hierarchy and the deeds that would result in his arrest and imprisonment. The second half of the book focuses on the post war period as Willem languishes in prison unrepentant, writing untruths and fantasies in his diaries, while outside, Europe lies in ruins. Hermans describes the boarders who Mientje housed and their futures, and what became of Mientje and her children and the final years of their father. David McKay provides a lucid translation from the Dutch which is illustrated with photographs and other information. Hertmans combination of history and fiction is a powerful reminder that the horrors of World War II are inexhaustibly fascinating and how events that seem beyond our control can result in disaster.

WW2 - WWII German luftwaffe soldiers training with a MG 34 machine gun - probably near Ghent, Belgium Stock Photo

(WWII German Luftwaffe soldiers training with a MG 34 machine gun – probably near Ghent, Belgium)

THE YANKEE WAY: THE UNTOLD INSIDE STORY OF THE BRIAN CASHMAN ERA by Andy Martino

June 28, 2024szfreiberger baseball Leave a comment

Over the years there have been many books describing the turbulent years of New Yankee failure in the 1964-1976 and 1982-1995 periods culminating in their resurrection in the mid-90s leading to the dynasty of Jeter, Rivera, Posada, Petite, and Williams who I include as a “core five”, not “four. These books tell a familiar story with vignettes, statistics, and personality studies of the major characters. However, no book has taken the approach offered by baseball reporter and analyst Andy Martino presents in his latest book, THE YANKEE WAY: THE UNTOLD INSIDE STORY OF THE BRIAN CASHMAN ERA. The title of the book is somewhat of a misnomer as it is not a biography of the current Yankee general manager, but a fairly objective deep dive into how baseball transformed itself over the last four decades within the broader tale of the success and failures of one specific franchise. The Yankees went from a team steeped in tradition than any other team, and now they have evolved into a modern approach immersed in data and technology in addition to old-world scouting. Martino’s basic theme is capturing “how a franchise is run on the executive level during a time of dizzying change in the industry.”

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 08: General manager Brian Cashman of the New York Yankees speaks to the media after the game against the Tampa Bay Rays was postponed due to rain on July 8, 2011 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

(Brian Cashman, February 2012)

Martino points to a number of myths surrounding the organization that has been in charge of the New York Yankees for decades. Most writers point to CBS’ sale of the team in 1973 to George Steinbrenner as the beginning of the resuscitation of the franchise. Obviously, that is a watershed year for the franchise, but it was CBS under the direction of Mike Burke who laid the foundation for success as Thurman Munson, Ron Guidry, Craig Nettles, and Sparky Lyle among others were all on the roster. Another interesting point of information is the role of Gene Michael as the architect of the 1990s dynasty and mentored Brian Cashman. Everyone seems to credit the Oakland Athletics duo of Sandy Alderson and Billy Beane for implementing “Moneyball” or an analytical approach to player evaluation. Michael was doing the same thing for the Yankees taking on many roles in the organization and received little credit as he was obsessed with on base percentage among many analytical emphasis.

Gene “Stick” Michael plays a prominent role in Martino’s monograph as he is credited with rebuilding the Yankees. First, the former light hitting shortstop had the ability to stand up to Steinbrenner. Second, he was a brilliant talent evaluator whether a player was ascending or declining. Third, Michael brought Bill Livesey aboard the Yankee brain trust. Livesey was the Yankees’ director of player development from 1980 to 1982. He then managed the Oneonta Yankees in 1983–1984. He served as the Yankees’ scouting director from 1991 to 1996, where he was instrumental in assembling the “Core Four” that led New York to multiple World Championships. Livesey developed a Red Auerbach, the Boston Celtics hall of Fame coach approach to player evaluation. Known as the “Livesey profile”, player evaluation was based on the tools that each individual exhibited at his position. This was the “secret sauce” the Yankees relied on from the 1980s considering the skill level and expectation for each position. According to Martino, “The New York Yankees have stuck with the profile system, both in drafting amateurs and identifying Major League free agents and trade targets.” Interestingly, later when Brian Cashman was General Manager he got away from the system in 2020-21 it brought in players like Gleber Torres and Luke Voit, one of which will not be re-signed at the end of the current season and the other is long gone.

(Gene “Stick” Michael)

A fascinating aspect of the book is the context of Yankee history of certain managers. Martino provides intricate details as he describes the managerial approaches since the 1920s. Though a New York Giants manager, John McGraw educated Casey Stengel who managed the Yankees from 1949-1960. Stengel’s favorite player was Billy Martin who he took under his wing as a father figure. Martin’s revolving door managerial career with the Yankees spanned the 1975-1988 period. A disciple of Martin was Buck Showalter who managed the team from 1992-1995 and brought the team to the precipice of a dynasty. This created a managerial chain that represented 130 years of baseball experience and oral tradition. Brian Cashman, who arrived as a college intern in Yankee land in 1986 and remains its General Manager today functions as a human through line across four decades.

Tom Hauck//Getty Images

(A-Rod and Jeter, 2004)

Martino does not neglect aspects of the story that many have told before. The role of George Steinbrenner is recounted in detail especially the Dave Winfield/Howard Spira controversy that led to Steinbrenner’s suspension from baseball in 1990 and during his absence Gene Michael was able to rebuild the Yankees relying on the Livesey profile and create a team that won five world championships. The tense relationship between Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter is carefully analyzed integrating psychological principles. A-Rod was an insecure person who had greater talents than Jeter, but Jeter had the championships. A-Rod wanted to be loved, Jeter kept to himself, somewhat standoffish like Joe DiMaggio, and once you crossed him as A-Rod did with his magazine comments you were out of his orbit. The brilliant and at times controversial trades that Michael arranged, for example Roberto Kelley for Paul O’Neill, are all part of the narrative. Jeter’s intransigence about shifting positions, the role of Joe Torre reflects the enormous amount of research and interviewing that the book is based on and Martino’s ability not to pull any punches in describing personal relationships that dominated the period.

(George Steinbrenner)

The first two-thirds of the book focuses on the education of Brian Cashman as a future baseball executive, his personality, and decisions he witnessed. The last third of the book zeroes in on Cashman’s role as General Manager and his successes and failures. It’s clear from his account that Cashman paid attention to those who came before him as General Manager in how he evaluated players not just by numbers but also by intangibles like character, where numerous championship-level players come up short. Cashman’s player acquisitions, which brought confrontation with Steinbrenner and his Tampa “kitchen cabinet” are all present. These decisions tended to be correct, though they’ve entailed battles along the way—for example, the decision not to re-sign Rodriguez, letting Joe Torre leave as manager, and the fight to keep superstar Aaron Judge on the roster, are all recounted in Martino’s memorable sketches.

One thing is clear from Martino’s excellent recounting of Yankee history is that Brian Cashman stands out as a future member of the Hall of Fame. Even Billy Beane, who has been credited with implementing “Moneyball” argues that Cashman has been the best General Manager in baseball history. You might not agree with that evaluation, but all baseball fans should enjoy this insider account, even if you live in Boston!

NEW COLD WARS: CHINA’S RISE, RUSSIA’S INVASION, AND AMERICA’S STRUGGLE TO DEFEND THE WEST by David Sanger

June 16, 2024szfreiberger American Diplomatic History, Chinese History, Cold War, Russian History Leave a comment

Destroyed Russian tanks and military vehicles are seen dumped in Bucha amid Russia's invasion in Ukraine,

(Destroyed Russian tanks at Bucha, Ukraine, May, 2022)

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991President George Bush Sr. announced a “new world order” as a focal point of American power. This vision was carried out in America’s moment, the defeat of Saddam Hussein forcing Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait and implementing certain policies to control the Iraqi dictator. For Bush and American policy makers these events symbolized the unipolar power structure in the world that would be dominated by the United States. A major premise fostered by the new unipolar world for American policy makers was that since the Cold War was over Russia would experience greater democracy if it could be drawn into the American orbit. Secondly, China could also be democratized if it could be integrated into the liberal economic realm led by Washington. Both suppositions have turned out to be a fantasy.

Today, the reality is clear – the Russian government has evolved into a revanchist regime led by a man who believes the worst event in Russian history was the collapse of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Putin’s main goal is to restore the glory of the Soviet Union and reassemble its empire. In the case of China under the leadership of Xi Jinping any subservience to the United States and the west would not allow China to achieve its rightful place of economic and political leadership in the world. According to the Chinese government any attempt to block Chinese growth would be a humiliation, not to be tolerated.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo prior to their talks in Beijing, China, Feb. 4, 2022.

(Putin and Xi at the Beijing Olympics, February 2022)

How did the world balance of power evolve from a unipolar world under American leadership in the post 1991 era to a multipolar power structure today where two major powers, Russia and China have begun to cooperate to offset western economic power and political influence? The answer to this question, if in fact there is one forms the basis of New York Times National Security correspondent, David E. Sanger’s latest book, NEW COLD WARS: CHINA’S RISE, RUSSIA’S INVASION, AND AMERICA’S STRUGGLE TO DEFEND THE WEST.

China’s continuing rise to economic and political influence on the world stage has been and will continue to be fueled by nationalism and a sense of past grievance. The same can be said of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a decision based on personal ego and exacerbated by Russian nationalism. For Putin, Ukraine is an illegitimate country that has always been part of Russia. Similarly, Xi argues that Taiwan is not a country and has been and will be part of China in the future. These positions by two of the world’s most powerful autocrats creates a dilemma for the United States as to how it should proceed when confronting these new perceived threats.

Putin and Xi had a common interest; “to stand up to the United States, frustrate its ambitions, and speed along what they viewed as its inevitable decline.” After the events of January 6, 2021, the bifurcation of the American political system, the ongoing drama that is Donald Trump, the right wing white supremacist movement in the United States, economic inequality, and immigration issues as the 2024 election approached, all reinforced their view that their rationale was likely to evolve in their favor. The events between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the invasion of Ukraine reflect how western leaders who accepted historian Francis Fukuyama’s analysis of 1989 that we were experiencing the end of history: “that is the end of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of western liberal democracy as the final form of human government” was totally misguided. What Sanger proposes is a dose of reality.

New photos show China’s artificial islands are highly developed military bases

(In this Oct. 25, 2022 aerial photo, buildings and communication structures are seen on the China-built artificial island at Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, South China Sea)

Sanger has written a comprehensive and insightful work of contemporary history that everyone in Congress and the national security establishment should read. He writes with a verve that seemingly offsets any subject that might appear somewhat dry. In arguing his premises his facile mind seemingly encompasses all areas related to the “new Cold War” from a discussion of the history of the microchip and semi-conductors as it relates to China’s quest for world power to the historical “Finlandization” of the Russo-Finnish border after World War II and its contribution to Vladimir Putin’s paranoia when it comes to the west. Sanger’s monograph is more than a compilation of autonomous topics concerning the quest on the part of China and Russia to overturn American world dominance. It is a work of synthesis that seems to turn over every rock in his quest to explain the background for his book’s title and where the world balance of power stands today.

Writing at a time that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has entered its third year with Putin and Xi seemingly moving closer together Sanger has done a magnificent job. Sanger’s lengthy career, impeccable knowledge of national security policy and issues, and his access to the major players on the world stage make him the perfect candidate to take on such an important topic. Sanger’s dominant theme is an explanation of how we misjudged what would happen at the end of the Cold War and trying to discern what comes next at a time of maximum peril and increasing threats.

Sanger begins his study by providing intimate details of how and why Putin invaded Ukraine despite American warnings and the tepid European reaction to American intelligence as Russian forces began building up around Ukraine’s borders and what they were about to perpetrate. The European reaction is couched in terms of the American invasion of Iraq and the faulty American intelligence that was disseminated pertaining to Saddam Hussein’s nuclear capabilities in 2003. For Washington policymakers it should have become increasingly clear that steering Putin in an acceptable direction, especially after he made his feelings known at the Munich Security Conference in 2007 was a pipe dream. Events in Georgia, Crimea, eastern Ukraine, the election interference of 2016 should have disabused anyone that Putin would not proceed with his personal agenda, seeing himself as another, “Peter the Great.”

President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands.

(President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands after signing a security agreement on the sidelines of the G7 in Savelletri, Italy)

In terms of President Xi the post-Clinton presidencies assumed China’s economic interests would overwhelm its other national objectives – territorial ambitions in the South China Sea, use of cyber tools to steal industrial state secrets and western “intellectual property,” and its desire for greater worldwide influence. The United States totally misread this. The west would wake up as China employed repressive technology against Hong Kong, increased its threats against Taiwan, reinforced its claims to vast areas across the South China Sea and built military bases on prefabricated islands, and tried to make as much of the world dependent upon Chinese technology. With Chinese policies at the outset of the Covid 19 outbreak, China’s reputation suffered a severe hit.

The book delves into many issues, but all are in some way related to Russia and China. The messy withdrawal from Afghanistan is recounted in detail and its impact on Russia and China. This was not the Biden administration’s finest hour, but after 20 years of US involvement in Afghanistan, Biden had experienced enough, and he was going to withdraw and ignore any advice to the contrary. Perhaps the best books on the topic are Carter Malkasian’s THE AMERICAN WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: A HISTORY; Craig Whitlock’s THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS: A SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR and David Lyon’s THE LONG WAR: THE INSIDE STORY OF AMERICA AND AFGHANISTAN SINCE 9/11. Sanger is correct as he points out that “superpowers have limits. America was relearning the lesson that it had failed to learn so many times before: that invading a nation is easier than building one.”

Another fascinating section deals with how the United States went from the world’s leading producers of microchips and semi-conductors in the 1980s to total dependency on Taiwan. It is clear from his portrayal that the supply line which affected all aspects of the US economy could be crippled by China if Beijing moved on Taiwan. It would not require a full scale invasion, but a quarantine/blockade of the island, or cutting underwater cables that linked Taiwan to the United States to accomplish its goals. The problem dates to US technology companies shifting their manufacturing processes overseas to Asia in the name of profits. The situation was exacerbated and highlighted during supply chain issues due to the outbreak of COVID 19 and the reliance on China for technology components. This would lead to the CHIPS ACT of 2022. Sanger warns the reader that it may appear the United States was moving to catch up pumping billions into the construction of modern technology facilities – but the US acted on a political timetable, the Chinese on a commercial one. The Biden administration has tried to overcome the China policies of a number of previous administrations in areas of national security, but the problem took years to emerge, and it probably will never be totally solved. What is very interesting is there is a surprising continuity between the Trump and Biden administrations when it comes to China. Biden has largely kept in place Trump’s trade war tariffs on Chinese products, increased export restrictions to impede Chinese technological advances, and increased US rhetoric regarding Taiwan.

(Taiwan-based company TSMC is bringing two major developments to north Phoenix, and it means good things for Arizona’s economy)

Sanger recounts all the major aspects of the war in Ukraine from drone warfare, to threats against the Ukrainian nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia, Putin’s megalomania, Xi’s goal of a unipolar world led by China, the role of technology creating a new kind of warfare, the “nuclear paradox” and the issues surrounding nuclear deterrence, the “Prigozhin coup,” among numerous topics. In all areas under discussion Sanger and his long time researcher Mary K. Brooks has “has crafted a cogent, revealing account of how a generation of American officials have grappled with dangerous developments in the post-Cold War era — the rise of an enduringly authoritarian China, the return of state-on-state conflict in Europe — that have produced a geopolitical mash-up of old and new…NEW COLD WARS vividly captures the view from Washington. But, as Sanger makes clear, with America no longer an unchallenged hegemon, the fate of the U.S.-led order rests more than ever on the ideas, beliefs and emotions of people far outside the Beltway. One finishes this book wishing for equally comprehensive portraits of the view from elsewhere, especially Moscow and Beijing.” *

*Justin Vogt. “Frost Warning.” New York Times, April 13, 2024.

Houses destroyed by Russian shelling are seen in Irpin

(Result of Russian shelling of Irpin, Ukraine, May, 2022)

THINK TWICE by Harlen Coben

June 8, 2024szfreiberger Mystery/Thrillers Leave a comment

(The Dakota, home of Win Lockwood)

It has been eight years since best selling author Harlen Coben released a new Myron Bolitar novel. The series began in 1995 with DEAL BREAKER introducing a wonderful storyline that centered around a former basketball star forced into retirement due to injury who reinvented himself as a sports agent. Over the years Coben has written eleven renditions of his Bolitar series that exhibited his humor, acerbic wit, and well thought out plots that have created millions of readers. To my immense joy and excitement Coben has just released his newest version of the series, THINK TWICE, which possesses all the characteristics that have made his other books in the series such a success.

Coben is a remarkable storyteller who has won numerous awards for his Bolitar series. In his current novel we are introduced to renowned basketball coach Greg Downing who has recently passed away. In fact, Bolitar had given the eulogy at his funeral. To Bolitar’s surprise two federal agents entered his office demanding to know Downing’s whereabouts, claiming he was alive since he was now a suspect in a double murder. Bolitar is stunned but soon realizes that his former adversary and client is alive.

Coben launches his plot by describing how a murder takes place and moves on to introduce a series of interesting characters which are the hallmark of Coben’s novels. First, we revisit cast members of the previous books that dominate his latest. Obviously, Bolitar takes center stage as does his friend and business partner Win Lockwood. Time has changed both men, Bolitar more so than Lockwood. We learn that the former basketball star is now married for the third time and has a biological son who plays a significant role in the storyline. Lockwood on the other hand, has aged but remains a wealthy snob who dominates any room he enters. Esperanza Diaz no longer works for Bolitar and has joined the law firm of Fisher, Friedman, and Diaz. Big Cyndi, Bolitar’s assistant in his sports/law agency, remains “Big Cydni.”

(Harlen Coben, author)

The story begins with a series of contradictions where murders keep occurring and most seem solved by the FBI. However, those involving Downing morph into a plot line that leads to a brilliant serial killer who sets up a number of murderers by creating evidence against them to cover their own tracks. A substantial portion of the novel revolves around how Bolitar, Lockwood, and others prove that Downing who went off the grid three years before for reasons Coben makes clear was not a killer, despite the FBI belief that he was. Of course, the remainder of the story centers on finding the real serial killer.

In doing so Coben’s acerbic wit is paramount. His character’s commentary is sarcastic, funny, are dead on. Remark like; “Insecure enraged men are a growth industry,” Bolitar’s father’s remarks concerning the joys of edibles that have improved his sex life after decades of marriage, and his description of a basketball pickup game is priceless along with new characters he introduces. We meet Joey the Toe, a mobster named Joseph Turant who has been convicted by the Feds for a crime he did not commit. Turant is convicted because the Feds supposedly pressured a gay individual to testify against him. Greg Downing plays one of the lead roles and is married to Bolitar’s ex-wife and raises Bolitar’s biological son named Jeremy who is introduced as a member of the US Army, but as the story evolves that is not his occupation. Emily, Bolitar’s ex. and Downing’s spouse provides insights into her relationships with both her husbands. Grace Konners, Greg Downing’s lover. Ronald Prine, a dirty Philadelphia real estate mogul. PT, a career FBI insider who helped Bolitar and Lockwood in the past, now guides them in their investigation. Terese, a journalist and Bolitar’s latest spouse, and lastly, Sadie Fisher, a dynamic lawyer who represents Downing. Then there are those who are accused of murder and are innocent, and of course the murder victims themselves.

The core of the novel are secrets, lies, and a murderous conspiracy that stretches back into the past. In true Coben fashion the reader has no clue as to who the guilty party is. The twists and turns can sometimes become confusing, but soon divergent scenes begin to make sense as Bolitar and Lockwood get closer and closer to solving the case, but as they do danger lurks in the background.

If you enjoyed Coben’s previous Bolitar yarns this one should measure up and meet your expectations, especially the ending. A great summer read – enjoy.

(The photograph can be dated to about 1910 by the automobiles at the curb, and by the presence of the Langham Apartments at 135 Central Park  West between 73rd and 74th Streets, which was completed in 1906)

Doc's Books

A window into Doc Freiberger's library

Author: szfreiberger