The reemergence of the Benghazi attack as a partisan political issue, the popularity of the film “Zero Dark Thirty” and the recent bombing in Boston have refocused Americans on the issue of terror and its threat. Did the FBI and CIA miss intelligence in dealing with the Tsarnaev brothers and other questions regarding the devastation at the Boston marathon have been discussed repeatedly during our twenty four hour news cycle and the question must be asked are we doing enough in terms of protecting the Homeland. The appearance of Jeremy Scahill’s new book, Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield is very timely as it posits the argument that after 9/11 the Bush administration implemented numerous policies that aborted many civil rights that Americans cherish and created a new world view that assassinations would be a central part of our national security and the secret operations infrastructure to carry out that mission. According to the author this had tremendous consequences for the United States as our policy decisions created the opposite results in countries like Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq and ostensibly world wide as our counter terrorism decisions allowed our enemies to recruit more followers and became an even greater danger than they were before. Offshoots from the original al-Qaeda in Afghanistan emerged in Yemen under the banner, al-Qaeda Arab Peninsula (AQAP), al-Shabab in Somalia and others. It fostered new spokespersons, even American citizens like Anwar Awlaki. In 2008 when President Obama was campaigning he argued against the tactics that were developed by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, but as Scahill lays out his case, the President not only did not change any of the policies of the Bush administration that argued that “the world is a battlefield,” but the Obama administration has gone even further in implementing an enhanced version of counter terrorism that relies on targeted killing and drone strikes worldwide.
The key domestic political component in the implementation of enhanced interrogation techniques, renditions, black sites, assassinations etc. was to make sure that there would be no Congressional oversight for these policies. This was the goal of the Cheney-Rumsfeld partnership after 9/11 that was accomplished with the creation of a separate counter terror infrastructure in the Pentagon and away from the CIA. Scahill does an excellent job detailing how this was accomplished as Cheney and Rumsfeld were victorious in their “turf battles” within the Bush administration after 9/11. The result was that the Bush administration “asserted the right under US law to kill people it designated as terrorists in any country even if they were US citizens.” (78) Scahill reviews the lead up to the invasion of Iraq that has been detailed in books such as The Dark Side by Janet Mayer, The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq by George Packer, and Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas Ricks and the author reaches the same conclusions concerning Bush administration deception, lies, and a lack of strategy in all areas. The development of “enhanced interrogation” techniques to obtain information is argued pro and con, but what is important is how the Bush Justice Department developed the legal rationale for such techniques. As the separate infrastructure for counter terrorism was developed with the attendant lack of oversight the United States ignored its own laws and the Geneva Convention resulting in what the author describes as a “prophetic backlash” that would cost us dearly.
Scahill provides intricate details of events in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan. The reader is brought into US decision-making and the missions that resulted. We see the development of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) as a separate tool apart from the CIA and how it was led, funded, and carried out its killing operations. In fact the “JSOC was free to act as a spy agency and a kill/capture force rolled into one.” (171) Important figures involved in this process are presented from General Stanley McCrystal, Vice Admiral William McRaven and others who implemented counterterrorist policy, to the pseudo allies in foreign countries like General Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen, the Ethiopian military, warlords in Somalia, among many others. The victims of American policy are delineated in detail be it the massacre at Gardez in Afghanistan, al Majalah in Yemen, to targeting and killing the likes of Anwar Awlaki, and the persecution of journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye. These policies and negative outcomes did not only take place on the Bush administration watch, but were continued at a new level under the Obama administration.
According to Scahill the Obama National Security team is as guilty as the previous administration no matter how much former Vice President Cheney has “chirped” over the years how weak Obama has been in the war on terror. While Obama was receiving his Nobel Peace Prize the US was targeting AQAP in Yemen and al Shabab in Somalia. The basic difference between the two administrations is that the Obama people wanted to make the war on terror more efficient. All one has do is to look at Obama’s national security team to see that it was not going to change policy. Obama did take more responsibility than President Bush by approving certain operations, but that did not alter the overarching policy goals.
Other topics of importance that Scahill discusses include the outsourcing of the war on terror including an in depth look at the role of Blackwater (which the author has presented in his previous book, Blackwater: the Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army), the strange case of Raymond Davis, the killing of Osama Bin Laden and many others. What is unique in this work has been Scahill’s access to many of the characters he presents, the impeccable research, and the ability to put forth material in a logical and cohesive manner. From my own readings what is presented in Dirty Wars is historically accurate and his conclusions are extremely scary as we continue the war on terror in the future. I recommend this amazing narrative of the history of “targeted killing” and other policies of our government to those who are concerned about America’s reputation in the world and what kind of nation we would like to be in the years to come.
Author: szfreiberger
COLLISION LOW CROSSERS by Nicholas Dawidoff
COLLISION LOW CROSSERS by Nicholas Dawidoff is not your typical football expose. It does not purport to provide deep insight into the strategy of the game and if it has any particular angle it tries to bring a sense of humanity to the sport. Dawidoff was embedded for a year observing the 2011 New York Jets, a team at that time that was coming off losing two American Conference Championship finals that would have taken them to the Super Bowl had they been victorious. Bill Parcell’s, a former coach and general manager has noted in describing football that “this sport is not for the well adjusted.” (11) Having played and watched football for more than a half century myself I firmly agree. I remember driving for an hour and a half with my family to watch the 1958 NFL championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants; attending a Giants-Cardinals game at Yankee Stadium two days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy; watching the Giants defeat the Broncos in the Super Bowl on a high school trip at NATO Support Headquarters in Brussels, and living each moment of each Giants game, as my wife complains as if “you owned the team.” It is obvious I am as a fan not very well adjusted which is why Dawidoff’s book was so intriguing.
The author takes the reader through the season focusing his lens on the coaches, players, front office personnel, and the player’s families. The personal stories are at times uplifting and at times very sad. Many players view the sport as a means of escaping poverty and dysfunctional families. Their stories bring out the best in human nature, and at times the worst. We meet a number of interesting characters such as Jets coach, Rex Ryan, a bombastic individual who has a very sensitive and soft side. We follow Ryan through his childhood and relationship with his twin brother Rob, also an NFL coach. We see Ryan live and die with each game, but more importantly we learn what kind of person he is as he relates in an emotional manner with everyone he interacts with on a daily basis, be it a player, coach, or fan. Football can be a nasty enterprise, after all it is a multi-billion dollar business, but Dawidoff is able to bring the reader into the locker room and we witness the character flaws, the uplifting moments of victory and as John McKay said years ago, “the agony of defeat” on a daily basis.
The structure of an NFL season through the creation and preparation of the roster is reviewed in detail. Player combines, draft preparation, signing of free agents and player competition are dissected and during the 2011 season it is made more difficult by a “lockout” perpetrated by the owners. The reader is exposed to the emotion of being “cut,” and making the final roster. However, just because a player makes the roster it is no guarantee he will be employed for the entire season. Injuries dominate game preparation, and it is rare that a player can get through an entire season without playing hurt or playing up to their potential through an entire sixteen game schedule.
Locker room relationships are paramount on any team. Some call it team chemistry and argue that you cannot win without it. In the case of the 2011 New York Jets “chemistry” slowly declined as the offense was challenged by the defense because of a weak quarterback, Mark Sanchez, and a number of selfish personalities embodied in wide receiver, Santonio Holmes. These issues could have been glossed over except for the poor decision making of Sanchez and the overall inability of the offense to score. The defense which was one of the most dominant in the National Football league grew to resent the offense and this bled over into the locker room and at times the playing field. Ryan and his coaches did their best to mitigate this problem but when fifty-three plus men spend what seems to be their entire waking hours together over a six month period the negativity of human nature usually holds forth.
As Dawidoff explores these human relationships there is one overriding theme for all involved, pain; physical and emotional discomfort that dominates the game. There have been a number of exposes that have been written delineating the “pain” issue and how medical personnel deal with it in getting football players ready to take the field. The author does not mince words and explores how players deal with their pain and how it is treated so they can play on a regular basis. Constant pain and injury also has a psychological cost and Dawidoff devotes significant coverage to this problem as one player describes “it could all go to shit so fast.” (284)
For those individuals who follow the game there is a great deal of meat in this book. We see how a professional coaching staff comes together in trying to meld fifty three men into a cohesive unit that strives to be the best it can be. We see the Darelle Revis story told in detail as is the failure of Mark Sanchez to grow as a player from the perspective of 2011 and how his situation remains somewhat the same today. But more importantly the book is not designed for the football fan but it provides a window for the general reader to engage with a sport that has become a national religion in our society. Football is a sport that in the end is very violent, hence the obsession finally with concussions, and is a sport where the average playing career lasts between three and four years, and results in financial and medical issues once a player’s career ends that are difficult to cope with. Football is a microcosm of our society and COLLISION LOW CROSSERS is an effort to humanize the sport and place it in the larger context of our culture. In the end this is a good read.
BETWEEN SUMMER’S LONGING AND WINTERS END by lEIF G. W. PERSSON
Recently I was in a bookstore in Stockholm and when I inquired about Swedish mystery writers other than Henning Mankell. The owner of the store suggested I purchase BETWEEN SUMMER’S LONGING AND WINTER’S END by Leif G.W. Persson. I did just that and finished reading the book which I found interesting in terms of plot development but not as satisfactory as I would have hoped. The story revolves around a plot to kill the Swedish Prime Minister who in real life in 1986 was assassinated after attending a film in Stockholm. The Prime Minister who was assassinated was Olof Palme and to this day the assassin remains at large. Persson explores the workings of the Swedish justice system leading up to and after the supposed suicide death of John P. Krassner, an American who was writing a book that linked the fictional Prime Minister to the CIA and KGB following World War II. Thus the mystery begins presenting many strands that are woven throughout the narrative carrying the reader through the Post War period, the Cold War, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Persson’s plot organization is somewhat convoluted as it presents a confusing chronology and a story line that jumps back and forth. The characters are developed fully but I got the feeling that when the author switched characters he did not identify the new person he was introducing clearly. Since the narrative lends itself to an actual assassination the book is worth reading, despite the fact that it does not flow freely at all times. What emerges from the story is Persson’s theory of who killed Olof Palme in 1986. Not being fully versed in Swedish politics his theory sounds very plausible. In the end I am glad that I have read this work of fiction because it has spurred my interest in Swedish foreign and domestic policy, but I do not think the book lived up to my expectations.
ANTHONY EDEN: A LIFE AND REPUTATION by David Dutton
The career of Anthony Eden as British Foreign Secretary before, during and after World War II and his Prime Minister ship during the Suez crisis is fraught with many myths that historians have debated for decades. David Dutton in his monograph, ANTHONY EDEN: A LIFE AND REPUTATION has joined the debate presenting the reader with a work that is less a biography and more so an analysis of Eden’s career from the early 1930s to the debacle over Suez in 1956. The book is very well researched, though it could have used further American sources in dealing with the Anglo-American relationship that dominated English foreign policy during the period. Eden comes across as a political animal that is somewhat disingenuous in dealing with the appeasement issues of the late 1930s that resulted in his first resignation from public office. The major themes of the book include the evolution of Eden’s attitude toward the United States during World War II until his resignation in 1956; his relationship with Winston Churchill over strategy during the Second World War and his endless wait for Churchill to retire and allow him to assume the office of Prime Minister in 1955; and accepting England’s decline from being a major power after 1945. Dutton deals with many other concerns highlighted by Eden’s attitude toward Franklin Roosevelt, his hatred of Benito Mussolini, the onset of the Cold War and relations with the Soviet Union, the integration of Europe after World War II, and his obsession with Gamal Abdul Nasser. The reader is presented with many important insights into the personalities and policies involved during Eden’s long career and is left with the feeling that Eden was not quite up to the roles ordained by British politics and was chosen for his different offices in part because of a lack of talent in the British Foreign policy establishment and Eden’s public persona. The book would be very useful from an academic perspective, though there are a number of areas that the author treats that are not totally accurate; i.e.; Eden’s true attitude toward appeasement, the plight of the Poles during and after World War II, and the Suez Crisis. However, though the general reader might find the material plodding in spots if one is interested in the subject matter the book is a welcome addition the works of Robert Rhodes James and David Carleton.
ALL THE GREAT PRIZES by John Taliaferro
When I think of individuals who have had a major impact on American history after the Civil War, but about whom little known is known, two names come to mind, Henry L. Stimson and John Milton Hay. Stimson served as Secretary of War under William Howard Taft and Franklin D. Roosevelt, in addition to being Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover. Luckily we have excellent biographies that cover Stimson’s career; Geoffrey Hodgson’s THE COLONEL: THE LIFE AND WARS OF HENRY L. STIMSON, David Schwitz’s HENRY L. STIMSON: THE FIRST WISE MAN, and the classic portrayal by Elting Morrison, TURMOIL AND TROUBLE. In the case of John Hay, until now, there has not been a major biography since 1934. The book I am referring to is ALL THE GREAT PRIZES by John Taliaferro who has presented an extraordinary narrative that bookends Hay’s career as one of Abraham Lincoln’s personal secretaries, his service under Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, William McKinley, and ending as Secretary of State under Theodore Roosevelt. Taliaferro’s work encompasses all aspects of Hay’s private life and career and is an exceptional book.
Hay’s intellectual development is explored in a very insightful manner through his relationship with Abraham Lincoln. The author notes that “through his own experience Hay came to know Lincoln. Through Lincoln he began to know himself.” (37) Taliaferro provides the usual storyline and explanations in describing the course of the Civil War. We see the issues with General George McClellan, through Hay’s eyes ; the rationale and passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, as well as Lincoln’s travails with John C. Fremont, Salmon P. Chase and others. In exploring Hay’s relationship with Lincoln the author reaches the same conclusion as others that Hay became “if not a surrogate son, then a younger man who stirred a higher form of paternal nurturing that Lincoln, despite his best intentions, did not successfully bestow on either of his surviving children.” (54) Hay had observed Lincoln at his best and worst and developed into a sounding board to be trusted, employed in a number of sensitive missions throughout the Civil War. Lincoln became a role model for Hay that would last a lifetime and following Lincoln’s assassination, he would mourn him for the rest of his life.
Taliaferro does a nice job integrating Hay’s own personal descriptive prose employing his diaries, written works, and diplomatic papers throughout the book. In pursuing biography as a tool writers must be careful not to engage in hagiography. At times Taliaferro does present an overblown portrayal of his subject as he states that when Hay returned to the United States in September, 1870 there were few men in America “who could match his understanding of foreign affairs or for that matter, politics of any provenance.” (129) In discussing Hay’s relationships with Nannie Lodge, the wife of Henry Cabot Lodge, and Lizzie Cameron who was married to a senator from Pennsylvania, Taliaferro is very careful in presenting what appears to be at least one extra-marital affair and possibly two. There are other examples that some would find to be overly subjective, but to the author’s credit they are kept to minimum.
The author’s rendering of the relationship with Henry Adams, the famous historian, is one of the highlights of the book. In describing their relationship Taliaferro states “For reasons that no one but they fully understood, and not even they articulated, Adams was the person in whose company Hay felt most himself. And Adams, the more irascible and phlegmatic of the two, recognized in Hay an admirable peer who consented to put up with him just as he was.” (177) Since Hay was a rather conservative individual politically and socially, and Adams leaned toward a much more of liberal bent in an number of areas, viewing the history of this period through their relationship and writings is certainly a treat for the reader. Hay’s friendship with Adams and his wife Clover, his relationship with Clarence King, a noted geologist, and Hay’s wife Clara was encapsulated in their own “club” entitled the “Five of Hearts,” which is described in detail. Hay’s summer retreat at Lake Sunapee, named the Fells was built and developed as a place they could sojourn to and as a place to escape the heat and humidity of Washington, DC. I was surprised to learn as close as they were and how much they supported each other emotionally and financially in the case of King, they hardly met as a group, perhaps a half a dozen times. Since Patricia O’Toole has written a fascinating book entitled THE FIVE OF HEARTS I would have expected greater contact amongst the five.
Hay was truly a “Renaissance” individual. Apart from his diplomatic career Hay was a poet and a novelist whose works include THE BREAD-WINNERS, a book that lends insight into the author’s political views as it is a tract against socialism and labor unions. Other works written by Hay include PIKE COUNTY BALLADS, CASTILIAN DAYS, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A BIOGRAPHY (10 Vols) co authored with John G. Nicolay, and a number of books of poetry. Hay also had a career as a newspaper editor at the New York Tribune as well as a writer who chronicled events from Europe. The one aspect of Hay’s life that Taliaferro could have explored further was Hay’s acquisition of wealth. Obviously a very rich man with homes on millionaires row in Cleveland, Lafayette Square in Washington, in addition to the Fells I felt that Hay’s marriage to Clara Stone, the daughter of Amasa Stone, a very wealthy industrialist should have been dealt with in greater detail. The reader is told that Hay was given certain gifts, was employed by his father-in-law, but then pursued a diplomatic career in the Hayes and Garfield administrations. Hay was a plutocrat in addition to being a man of letters and that could have been detailed further.
Taliaferro’s discussion of Hay’s tenure as Secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt is well conceived. We see the supposed “soft hand of diplomacy” as practiced by Hay as opposed the more overt imperialist approach as employed by the likes of Henry Cabot Lodge and his good friend, Theodore Roosevelt. Negotiations dealing with the British are framed nicely, first from the perspective of Hay’s tenure as Ambassador to the Court of St. James and then at the State Department. Issues dealing with the Alaskan Boundary dispute, the Venezuelan Crisis, and early developments in building the Panama Canal are presented based on all the relevant primary and secondary sources. It shows a competent diplomat who knows how to achieve his goals. Once Theodore Roosevelt assumes the presidency following the assassination of McKinley Hay adapts well to a more “boisterous” executive who liked to “carry the big stick.” Surprisingly Hay worked well with the former Rough Rider and is able to guide American diplomacy resulting in the Open Door Policy, setting the building of the Panama Canal in motion, and navigating the minefield that was the Russo-Japanese War. It is interesting to note that the “egoistic” Roosevelt gave Hay a tremendous amount of credit while he lived, but once his Secretary of State passed away he pursued a revisionist approach to events that gave himself what seems to be 99% of the credit for all diplomatic accomplishments.
If I had two major suggestions I would ask the author to edit more carefully and avoid the practice of overstatement. There are a number of editing issues, i.e. stating that Roosevelt’s running mate in 1904 was Albert Beveridge, in fact it was Charles W. Fairbanks, which is repeated a few times. In his introduction the Taliaferro states that America’s China policy preserved the integrity of the “Middle Kingdom”. He goes on to restate this proposition later in the book by arguing that the Open Door Policy was responsible for maintaining China as a whole. Geographically that is true but economically the spheres of influence and unequal treaties between the European powers and China dating back to the First Opium War and the 1842 Treaty of Nanking did not end, in fact the Chinese economy was still under the thumb of foreign nations for decades after Hay’s policy was announced. This policy preserved American trade which it was designed to do, but territorial, political, and economic integrity is a myth. Another example of over statement was the author’s discussion of the Franco-Prussian War which he seems to blame totally on Louis Napoleon III. Though I agree that the French Emperor deserves some of the credit for the plight of his empire due to his own incompetence, the machinations of the future German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck is mostly responsible for the events of 1870-1.
Overall the book is a fine work of narrative history. Dealing with a subject who had such an important political and diplomatic career, was also friends with the likes of Mark Twain, Henry Adams, Rudyard Kipling, and William Dean Howells among so many others cannot be other than a fascinating read. The author spent years researching and writing ALL THE GREAT PRIZES and it is reflected in the final product. It is easy to forgive any blemishes one might find and I recommend to all who would like to explore a previously unknown historical character, as following the publication of this biography John Milton Hay’s reputation will soar, to do so.
AGENT GARBO by Stefan Talty
Stephan Talty has written a work of non-fiction dealing with the allied strategy of misinformation as it relates to the onset of D Day. The book reads like a novel as the author follows the life of Juan Pujol as he transformed himself into one of, or possibly the most important spy the allies developed during World War II. Even though the reader is fully aware of the outcome of wartime events, the author keeps you on the edge of your seat as operations are planned and executed. If you want a wonderful biography written in the context of the nether world of espionage during World War II, this book will be very satisfying.
A QUESTION OF HONOR by Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud
A QUESTION OF HONOR by Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud contains a subtitle; The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II. The book itself is more than raising the reader’s consciousness as to the heroic work of Polish pilots during the war. It is a wonderful narrative that encompasses the plight of Poland that historically has been in the crosshairs of Germany and Russia resulting in its disappearance as a nation in 1795, only to reappear after World War I. The authors develop the poignant story of the Polish flyers in the context of Polish history. They tell the personal stories of these men and their role in saving the British during the Battle of Britain. They emerge as heroes until Poland became an obstacle of “Big Three” diplomacy during the war and its conclusion. There is really nothing new in terms of the duplicitous and disingenuous behavior of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the war as he tried to implement his vision of a postwar Europe by playing into the hands of Joseph Stalin. Winston Churchill emerges as a willing, if at times, reluctant cohort in FDR’s game. All the familiar topics are discussed in detail including the murder of Polish officers by the Soviet Union at the Katyn forest, the failure to assist the Polish Home Army in its attempt to throw off the Nazi yoke in Warsaw in 1944, and the failure of the British to honor and support those who had assisted them when they were in dire straits in 1940. The book is well researched and brings to its pages a story that during the war and well into the Cold War was buried for fear of upsetting the Soviet Union. This is a story that needs to be told and the truth about the plight of Poland during and after the Second World War provides insights into the behavior of the major personalities who were responsible for events.
A MAN WITHOUT A BREATH by Philip Kerr
Philip Kerr’s latest Bernie Gunther novel, A MAN WITHOUT BREATH is set in the Smolensk region of the Soviet Union in the spring of 1943. The ninth in the Gunther series the story involves the usual twists and turns of Kerr’s approach to the World War II noir, this time using the Soviet massacre of Polish officers in 1940 at the Katyn Forest as background. Kerr weaves in the NKVD, Abwehr, and German SD. Many of the characters are historical figures such as Joseph Goebbels and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. The historical background is accurate as Kerr weaves in a love interest for Gunther and a number of other subplots. On the whole the book is a good read, though not up to Kerr’s usual quality. The snappy and sarcastic Gunther is ever present, but this time is a bit too preachy. The story is believable, that an NKVD agent has wormed his way into the good offices of Field Marshall Guenther Hans von Klug and tries to block the investigation of the Katyn massacre and provide intelligence for the Soviet Union as the Battle of Kursk was about to begin. The story revolves around a series of murder investigations and if you are a fan of this series I think you will enjoy it.
A GRAVE IN GAZA by Matt Rees
In 1984 I was studying at Hebrew University and I traveled to the Gaza Strip. I was shocked at the living conditions and the poverty I was exposed to. Reading Matt Rees’ mystery A GRAVE IN GAZA brought back memories of that visit. Rees presents the second installment of his Omar Yussef mysteries. Instead of the byzantine politics of the West Bank, we are presented with a similar environment in Gaza, but it seems deadlier. The dichotomy of Palestinian culture with its emphasis on family values and caring for others is juxtaposed to the villainous nature of politics in the Gaza Strip. As in his first book Rees blends contemporary movements ranging from rival “security” factions, the smuggling of weapons into Gaza from tunnels dug under its border with Egypt, the role of the United Nations, and of course the corrupt nature of Palestinian politics.
The story itself reflects the goodness of certain characters, but it also reflects the sadness of what life has become in Gaza since 1948. People’s lives are at the mercy of political factions and they do not have much control over their daily lives. Though Israel no longer physically occupies Gaza, the rule of Hamas which interestingly Rees does not really delve into much, and the ever present fear an incident that will spark another Israeli retaliatory strike or invasion is on everyone’s mind. If you enjoy a good mystery with numerous twists and turns carried out by a politically “unsophisticated” main character, who lets on much less than he is aware of, then A GRAVE IN GAZA will be a satisfactory read.
1927 by Bill Bryson
If you are looking for a whirlwind journey through America during the summer of 1927 Bill Bryson’s ONE SUMMER, AMERICA, 1927 is for you. If you are interested in the minutiae of the period and want to be entertained by some of the most important and amazing characters of the twentieth century this is a book that will be a wonderful read. As a historian who is very familiar with most of the subject matter I found very little that was new. There are neither citations nor footnotes and the only attempt at providing the reader any source material is a chapter by chapter brief bibliography of the most important secondary sources on a particular subject. A part from this issue the book should prove to be very satisfactory to the general reader.
Bryson’s goal is an attempt to present the historical importance of the summer of 1927. This he achieves as he discusses the “many notable names of that summer—Richard Byrd, Sacco and Vanzetti, Gene Tunney, even Charles Lindbergh—[who] rarely encountered now, and most of the others [who] are never heard at all. So it is worth pausing for a moment to remember just some of the things that happened that summer: Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs. The Federal Reserve made the mistake that precipitated the stock market crash. Al Capone enjoyed his last summer of eminence. The Jazz Singerwas filmed. Television was created. Radio came of age. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed. President Coolidge chose not to run. Work began on Mount Rushmore. The Mississippi flooded as it never had before. A madman in Michigan blew up a school and killed forty-four people in the worst slaughter of children in American history. Henry Ford stopped making the Model T and promised to stop insulting Jews. And a kid from Minnesota flew across an ocean and captivated the planet in a way it had never been captivated before.” (427-8)
It was that kid from Minnesota, Charles Lindbergh who seems to be Bryson’s central character. Though the book begins with a gruesome murder on Long Island dubbed the Sash Weight Murder case involving a Mr. and Mrs. Albert Snyder whose story disappears and reappears throughout the book, a device Bryson uses with all of his characters. Once the reader’s interest is enjoined, Bryson presents one of his major themes, the history of American aviation. Through the eyes of Charles Lindbergh and other aviators the author recounts the trials, tribulations and overwhelming success of the flyers of the period. We are presented with intimate details as Lindbergh prepares and carries out his historical flight from New York’s Roosevelt Field to Paris. Bryson dissects Lindbergh’s life as tries to cope with his popularity, which he did not seek, and a personality that came across as awestruck but was much more complicated. Lindbergh’s role in the launching of the American aviation industry is not in doubt as was his hero status that soon became tainted in the 1930s as he was linked to pro-Nazi views and he pursued an extremely isolationist platform before the United States entered World War Two. The development of eugenic theory receives coverage and it is interesting to explore these extreme racial views that were widely accepted in the 1920s and juxtapose them to those of Charles Lindbergh.
The second most important character Bryson presents is that of Babe Ruth. The author’s discussion of the “Great Bambino” uncovers no new details of his life and baseball career. Bryson intertwines a history of Broadway Theater in his discussion as the owner of the New York Yankees, Jacob Ruppert purchases Ruth’s contract in 1920 from Harry Frazee, the owner of the Boston Red Sox who was more of a theater impresario and needed the money to help pay off some of his loan payments. The reader is treated to details of figures such as Al Jolson, Clara Bow, Oscar Hammerstein, the theater sensation, Show Boat and many others. It is part of Bryson’s technique to bring up a character or topic and then fit in a number of other areas of interest that he spins off from. So with Ruth we get the burgeoning entertainment industry with the first “talkie” film, The Jazz Singer, the rise and fall of prohibition, the growth of organized crime centering around Al Capone, and the race situation in America that grew increasing nativist in the United States and allowed the author to extrapolate on immigration and anarchism resulting in the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti that summer. Speaking of executions, the reader is offered a mini-biography of Robert Elliot who developed the electric chair execution process making it less tortuous for its victims. In fact, Elliot became so popular that most federal prisons competed for his services and he had the responsibility of executing most if not all of the major criminals of the era.
The summer of 1927 was also part of a period of cultural change. We learn that the Book of the Month Club came into being the year before and was soon followed in 1927 by the Literary Guild. Tabloid journalism reached new levels that summer as new magazines and newspapers appeared. America seemed to be reading much more and Bryson does not neglect the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others who influenced America’s literary culture.
The mood that existed that fateful summer of course is approached politically and economically through the lives of Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, Mayor “Big Bill Thompson of Chicago and others. We see the lassaiz-faire capitalist approach of Hoover as he responds to the disaster that befell Middle America as the Mississippi River overflowed its banks in what John Barry describes in his book, RISING TIDE: THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI FLOOD OF 1927. The reader witnesses decisions by economic leaders worldwide that will contribute to the collapse of the Stock Market shortly thereafter and the role, or lack of a role of government in policing the titans of Wall Street. In fact had Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in 1927, not a century earlier, instead of writing a book entitled DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, it may have been entitled, UNCONTROLLED LARGESS IN AMERICA. The reader is presented the expanding manufacturing industry as new appliances, entertainment vehicles, and other inventions that enhanced the home appeared.
Bryson does include some of the most outrageous occurrences of the times. My favorite was in discussing prohibition, under pressure from the Anti-Saloon League led by Wayne Wheeler the government put poison in random liquor bottles to enforce laws against drinking. Bryson quoting the book, EATING IN AMERICA “that 11,700 people died in 1927 alone from imbibing drink poisoned by the government.” (161). A further example that struck me was the acceptance of certain racial views by prominent figures of the period. Herbert Hoover was a strong believer in eugenics and even Supreme Court Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes, former president, William Howard Taft, and the liberal Louis D. Brandeis voted in favor of sterilization in Buck v. Bell.
If you are a practitioner of trivial pursuits, circa the 1920s, it would enhance your game by reading Bryson’s journey through that age. All in all I reiterate this nook is an entertaining and at times fascinating look at the period for the general reader and I am certain as with all of Bryson’s works it will be a commercial success.
Doc's Books 