Author: szfreiberger

THE DEMON OF UNREST: A SAGA OF HUBRIS, HEARTBREAK, AND HEROISM AT THE DAWN OF THE CIVIL WAR by Erik Larsen

szfreiberger American Civil War Leave a comment
Battle of Fort Sumter

(Fort Sumter)

Today we are experiencing a country that seems to possess at times an inexplicable dichotomy as people on both sides of the political spectrum rage at each other.  Many times, their commentary is not supported by facts and the mention of a “cult” fires the imagination of many.  This is not the first time in our history that we have suffered from such a political, social, and economic impasse.  If one possesses a modicum of historical knowledge you are aware that in 1814 at the Hartford Convention a secessionist movement had tremendous support in New England.  If one moves further ahead in American history we learn about a series of compromises, one in 1820, another in 1850 designed to postpone rather than heal the divergence in American society and culture.  Those efforts obviously failed as the events of the 1861-1865 period reflect. 

A key to the onset of the Civil War that culminated in 1861 were events taking place  following the election of Abraham Lincoln on November 6, 1860, that reached a crescendo when on April 11, 1861, southern militia commander P.G.T. Beauregard demanded that Major Robert Anderson, the commander of Fort Sumter surrender his fort, but Andersen refused.  In response Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter shortly after 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861.  Interestingly, Beauregard had been a student of Anderson.  What followed is known to everyone who has ever taken an American history class.  There have been countless books written about this period, the latest being Eril Larson’s THE DEMON OF UNREST: A SAGA OF HUBRIS, HEARTBREAK, AND HEROISM AT THE DAWN OF THE CIVIL WAR, a book that focuses on white elites on both sides of the political equation.  In so doing his deeply researched monograph focuses on the tragic errors, miscommunication , enlarged egos, remarkable ambitions, tragedies and betrayals that dominated the chief characters that Larsen presents. 

Portrait of Robert Anderson

(Major Robert Anderson)

The author is a master storyteller as previous bestsellers – THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE, DEAD WAKE, IN THE GARDEN OF THE BEASTS, THUNDERSTRUCK, THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, AND ISAAC’S STORMcan attest to.  In the past his books have ranged from murder during the Gilded Age, the Galveston hurricane of 1900, crime set in Edwardian London, the voyage of the Lusitania, an American family in Berlin in pre-World War II Germany, the Nazi blitz on London during World War II focusing on the Churchill Family, and now focusing on the events and personalities that led to the American Civil War.  As in all of his previous efforts Larsen’s research is impeccable, and his writing maintains the reader’s interest throughout.

Larsen’s main focus is on a few important individuals whose attitudes, wealth, and egos either drove the south toward war, or at the very least secession, and those who tried to no avail to prevent the coming fratricide.  Obviously, Abraham Lincoln plays an outsized role.  Lincoln was viewed with horror in many parts of the south, especially the home of secession, South Carolina.  Most historians, be they Allen C. Guelzo, Michael Burlingame, David Herbert Donald, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and most recently Jon Meachem and Ted Widmer believe that Lincoln’s views pertaining to race, slavery, and the south in general evolved over a period of crises.  By 1861 his position was clear – he would not interfere in the south to end slavery, but he would contain it and not allow it to spread outside of the south.  Further, he believed in negotiation, not violence to resolve the secession issue, but would not surrender any federal property.  Other important northern figures that Larsen explores are William Henry Seward who had a low opinion of Lincoln and believed that he should have been president and that only he had the knowledge and astuteness to end the secession crisis.  General Winfield Scott, the Commander of the Army, argued against military action to retain Fort Sumter due to the condition of the northern forces.  President James Buchanan who oversaw an administration of incompetence refused to take on the crisis and just let it ride until the next president took office.  However, the key player apart from government officials was Major Robert Anderson, the commander of Fort Sumter.  Larsen integrates his diaries and other writings into his narrative and provides insights into his loyalties and view of events.  For Larsen, Anderson is his most sympathetic character.

(Edmund Ruffin)

Larsen’s most effective theme revolves around southern “chivalry” and certain genteel behavior that was expected among gentlemen.  These gentlemen were southern because northerners did not conform to the south’s view of expected behaviors.  Chief among these figures was South Carolina Governor Frances W. Pickens; James Hammond, a South Carolina planter whose racial and economic views pertaining to slavery provided the cornerstone of the southern position.  His accomplice was Edmund Ruffin, another planter whose greatest fear was the amalgamation of whites and blacks and what he saw as the eventual emancipation of slavery.  For him it would mean the destruction of the southern way of life and utter ruin of everything he stood for.  There are other important players that include Confederate President Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard that Larsen places under the microscope and concludes that the haughtiness and sense of entitlement by southern planters/politicians make them most responsible for the fiasco that ensued.  Larsen describes the palatable arrogance of southern elites after South Carolina succeeded believing they now represented a sovereign nation and should be treated according to their new position with respect and deference.

(James H. Hammond)

Larsen never seems to miss an opportunity to provide details that the reader may never have been aware of.  For example, the role of Dorothea Dix whose reputation was elevated by her work with the mentally ill was a firm believer in the ethos put for by Hammond and Ruffin that “negroes are gay, obliging, and anything but miserable.”  Her role is enhanced when she reported on a plot to assassinate Lincoln on his way through Baltimore to reach Washington and his inauguration.  Larsen delves further into the role of Allan Pinkerton and his undercover spies to protect Lincoln one of which Kate Warne is a major force in Ted Widmer’s recent work, LINCOLN ON THE VERGE: THIRTEEN DAYS TO WASHINGTON.  Other important women Larsen incorporates include Mary Chestnut whose diary provides insights into aspects of southern society, beliefs, and politics.

The author’s coverage is extensive, and he focuses on many issues that are components to the larger decision making process.  For example, Lincolns relationship with Seward; Lincoln’s communications with his commanders, particularly Anderson and Scott.  Further, Larsen discusses attitudes in New York which was seen as an island of pro-confederate sympathy in the north.  This was due in large part because New York was home to “bankers, merchants, and shipping companies who maintained close commercial ties with southern planters and routinely issued credit secured by the planters’ holdings of enslaved blacks.”  Many New Yorkers argued that the federal government had no authority to block secession.  Another fascinating approach that Larsen takes is presenting William Howard Russell, the London Times newspaper correspondent.  Russell’s diaries offer careful analysis as he seemed to meet with many prominent figures on both sides and presents a non-American viewpoint.

The key decision that must be made is whether to resupply Fort Sumter after South Carolina demands it be turned over to the state after it seceded.  Larsen explains the evolution of Lincoln’s approach which by April 8, 1861,as  he decides to provision the fort, but with no weapons and ammunition.  The debates, personalities involved take up a quarter of the book and is well thought out and reads like a novel, which is one of Larsen’s strengths.

(Secretary of State William Seward)

According to historian Adam Goodheart;  “perhaps no other historian has ever rendered the struggle for Sumter in such authoritative detail as Larson does here. Having picked his way through a vast labyrinth of primary and secondary sources (some of them contradictory), he emerges with a narrative that strides confidently from one chapter to the next. Few historians, too, have done a better job of untangling the web of intrigues and counter-intrigues that helped provoke the eventual attack and surrender — how a few slightly different decisions by leaders on both sides could have led to dramatically different outcomes in the secession crisis, ones that might not have involved a war at all.”*

Portrait of Mary Chesnut

(Mary Chestnut)

Despite this there are a number of areas that Larsen should address.  Why do we need so much personal detail about James Hammond, the flirtations of southern women, especially Mary Chestnut?  Where is the face of slavery and blacks in particular?  The role of Frederick Douglass and abolitionists in general gets short shrift.  However, the strengths of the book greatly outweigh any deficiencies – it is an excellent read and a strong addition to the ever expanding bibliography of the outbreak of the Civil War.

*Adam Goodheart. “Erik Larson vividly captures the struggle for Fort Sumter,” Washington Post, April 26, 2024.

Battle of Fort Sumter

(Fort Sumter)

MY BELOVED MONSTER: MASHA, THE HALF-WILD RESCUE CAT WHO RESCUED ME by Caleb Carr

szfreiberger Biography 1 Comment

Caleb Carr, with glasses and a white beard, nestles his face on his cat's head.

(Caleb Carr considered his late cat Masha, the subject of his new book, the love of his life.)

Over the years I have enjoyed Caleb Carr’s historical fiction immensely.  THE ALIENIST, THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS, and SURRENDER  reflect his commitment to his craft integrating an accurate approach to history and exceptional character development.  His latest book is a total change from what he has written previously.  MY BELOVED MONSTER: MASHA, THE HALF-WILD RESCUE CAT WHO RESCUED ME maintains his superb writing and as far as character development it continues in his latest work, this time with a feline.  Being a cat lover myself, having had deep relations with the feline species over the years, including KC who was with me and my family for over nineteen years, and our current duo of Kota and Shelby who we rescued over ten years ago, I greatly enjoyed Carr’s dual biography of Masha and Caleb.  I have learned a great deal about Carr’s life and views on society, which makes his historical novels more interesting.  But, from a cat person’s viewpoint I learned a great deal about felines through Masha’s life story, both about Masha and my own cats.

Carr’s recounting of his relationship with Masha is presented on a number of levels.  First, it provides insights into how humans and felines bonded.  I can relate to a great deal of what Carr recounts, but he adds a dimension I have never thought off – how a cat’s neurological, heredity, and species development impacts their choice of whom to bond with and try to manipulate.  Second, if you are a cat person you realize early on that they control you, not the other way around.  As Carr explains they are able to get you to do what they want easily, but once you gain their trust you can impact their behavior as opposed to controlling it.  Third, Carr’s ability to decode much of Masha’s inner world.

In a sense Carr has written a love story that is like no other.  He describes how each participant in the relationship projects their needs and how they are met.  Carr and Masha had been together for seventeen years and most of the time they were inseparable.  Masha is a Siberian Forest cat which presents its own issues that domesticated cats do not present.  Carr adopted her after her previous owner locked her in an apartment.  When they met, a cat’s intuition was on full display as somehow she knew that Carr was a perfect match, especially when she was taken home to a three story home in rural upstate New York.  She would have the best of two worlds; outside where her instincts could be tested; and inside where she could control her environment and also her relationship with Carr.

My Beloved Monster

Masha had to be special as she replaced Suki, Carr’s previous cat who he also had a strong relationship with.  According to Carr cats are independent and are never responsive to punishment or negative reinforcement as forms of discipline and training.  They do not need us, but rather make use of us.  “Their loyalty depended on mutual respect and decent treatment.”   Carr carefully relates how his own life, in part, paralleled that of Masha.  At a very early age he drifted away from people and forged his closest bonds with cats.  As a boy he believed he had been a cat in a previous life and wanted to return to that life.  He grew up with an abusive father with two alcoholic parents who were somewhat violent.  Carr feared his father would kill him and he evolved into a very angry person.  He would turn to cats for compassion.  Cats taught him how “to give and receive not simply a talent for survival but compassion, affection, love, and joy.”  As the two of them bonded over the years Carr expressed surprise at their shared childhood traumas, shared physical ailments that included arthritis, neuropathy probably caused by the physical violence of their younger years.  For Carr illness added a new intensity to his connection with Masha as he wondered if he would outlive his companion.  When Carr was ill he returned to Masha who like many cats knew exactly how to care for her friend.

The number of astute observations Carr makes is astounding.  Among the many that I can relate to are  cats usually bond with just one human, not several, no matter how well socialized they might be – I have witnessed this firsthand as my wife Ronni and I share two cats, Kota and Shelby.  Interestingly, Kota gravitates to me and would spend her entire day, sleeping, playing, and just keeping me company.  Shelby is attached to Ronni and is content to stay on the right side of our bed where Ronni sleeps,  and Kota dominates the left side with me – in fact, we had to buy a king size bed to accommodate all four of us!  Many cat owners believe that cats stick around so long as food is available and that cats are aloof, at times, finicky.  In fact, what they want is attention, interaction, and play – and if they do not receive it they can become lethargic and obese as food becomes their only option. 

As Chris Bohjalian writes in his Washington Post review “what makes the book so moving is that it is not merely the saga of a great cat. Libraries are filled with books like that, some better than others. It’s the 17-year chronicle of Carr and Masha aging together, and the bond they forged in decline. (As Philip Roth observed, “Old age isn’t a battle; old age is a massacre.”) He chronicles their lives, beginning with the moment the animal shelter begs Carr to bring the young lioness home because the creature is so ferocious she unnerves the staff — “You have to take that cat!” one implores.”*  Through the struggles that life presents all of us from illness, happiness, and sadness.

Trust is the key in any relationship and cats are no exception, but the trust level between Carr and Masha reaches an incredible level.  Whether Carr is discussing his own health history or that of his feline companion their synergy amazes.  How they support each other is nothing less than extremely unusual, but if you are a cat owner and have had an injury or an illness you have experienced  the sensation of being cared for by your furry friend.  I can speak to this from knee to hernia surgeries or my wife’s knee replacements – there is always a cat present to cheer one up, indirectly lessening one’s pain.

For all of Carr’s insights into Masha’s behavior there is one area I would question – her language skills.  Carr goes a little overboard when discussing his verbal interactions with Masha, particularly the idea that she is sounding out words.  I do believe cats do understand a series of words, but to go as far as a conversation between a human and a feline I have my doubts.  In the end Carr has authored a marvelous book delving into his lifelong relationship with cats and focusing on Masha in particular.  Carr has written a love story which can only bring a smile and tears to the reader.

*Chris Bohjalian. “Libraries are full of books about great cats.  This one is special.” Washington Post , April 13, 2024.

To learn more about Caleb Carr and his latest book check out the following article from the Los Angeles Times:

‘Alienist’ author Caleb Carr — grieving his late cat — reflects on his life amid battle with cancer

Caleb Carr considered his late cat Masha, the subject of his new book, the love of his life.

By Chris Vognar

April 15, 2024 3 AM PT

My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me

By Caleb Carr
Little, Brown: 352 pages, $32

Caleb Carr visits the grave of his beloved Masha, whom he considers the love of his life, every day. “We have a little chat,” said Carr, best known for his 1994 crime novel “The Alienist,” during a video call from his home in upstate New York. It’s late at night — Carr is a longtime night owl who does most of his work after it gets dark — and the author, who now has a long white beard, is thinking about grief and dying — subjects that linger over his new nonfiction book, “My Beloved Monster,” and loom over what might be the final months of his life.

Masha, the beloved monster, was a Siberian forest cat whom Carr rescued from a shelter and built a life with in his mountainside home in Cherry Plain, N.Y. Animals, particularly cats, had long been a source of companionship and comfort for Carr, an antidote of sorts to a chaotic, abusive childhood in New York’s Lower East Side. As Carr writes in the new book, his father, the Beat poet, journalist and convicted manslaughterer Lucien Carr, had a habit of knocking his son down flights of stairs. “I began to understand that he was trying to kill me,” Carr writes. “And while I didn’t yet know about his past” — Lucien Carr stabbed David Kammerer to death in 1944, later claiming that Kammerer came on to him sexually and offering a “gay panic” defense — “I certainly recognized, from the horrifying and even gleeful expressions that would enter his face when he came after me, that he was capable of killing.”

“I have been living with the idea of death since I was a small kid because my father taught me about it,” he said. But death has become much more than an idea of late. Carr, 68, has cancer, which started in his prostate and has spread throughout his body.

“If I could be around when the book is published, that would be really nice,” he said in late January. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when, but it’s not going to be good. I always knew cancer moved fast, but boy, when it starts to move, it starts to eat you. Madness. Just madness.” “My Beloved Monster” will be released on Tuesday.

It was Masha’s death on April 5, 2022, and Carr’s subsequent despondence, that led him to write “My Beloved Monster,” which reads as a love story, a tribute and a reminder that, in some instances, the uncomplicated love of animals helps humans keep going.

A blond, long-haired beauty with a wild side who had been rescued from a cat hoarder, Masha initially greeted Carr, as he writes, with “one of the most communicative gazes I’d ever seen in a cat, a look facilitated by the structure of her face: the eyes were oriented fully forward, like a big cat’s rather than a domestic’s, and seemed to comprehend everything she was studying — especially me — only too well.” Carr writes about cats with a tender vividness that might make you see your own pets through new eyes.

As a child Carr lived in an environment where people couldn’t be trusted, with wild parties and everyday life descending into violence. He lived in a neighborhood so rife with drugs and prostitution that it provided the shooting location for the climax of Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver.” But he always had animals: dogs, gerbils, fish, rabbits and, most to the young Carr’s liking, cats. The family cats would join him in cowering from the domestic turmoil, and comfort him as he reeled from another beating. They seemed to understand him.

Carr would go on to a career as a military historian, journalist and novelist, reaching a wide audience with “The Alienist” (and its 1997 follow-up, “The Angel of Darkness”). The books put his darkness into words as he told the story of a late 19th century forensic psychiatrist on the trail of a serial killer. But he never really forgot his four-legged friends. When he met Masha, he quickly realized he had found a soulmate.

“Animals fulfill something that was damaged in all of us when we were very young and can’t be fixed by people,” Carr said. “We can go on to have relationships with people, but those wounds need a different kind of treatment than people can provide, and that causes trouble when you have to explain that very carefully to whatever girlfriend or whatever significant other you have. I never lasted as long with a woman as I did with Masha, God knows, and no woman ever did for me what she did, which sounds crazy even to me. But it’s really true.”

Carr was actually contracted to write another “Alienist” book, but the spirit did not move him. He was deep in grief and needed to get it onto the page. He began cranking out the story of his life with Masha and sent a draft to his editor, Bruce Nichols, who was also the publisher of Little, Brown before he stepped down in March. Nichols was on board with Carr’s change in direction from serial killing to cat love.

“It was clearly a passion project for him, not only because of his medical situation but because he spent his whole life with cats and this one was very special to him,” Nichols said. “If you’re a cat lover and owner, or a dog person, I think it will resonate with you. And I don’t think it matters whether you care about historical fiction or military history or any of Caleb’s past experiences. It’s sui generis. It is what it is, and it’s an amazing book.”

Carr certainly hopes to tap into the pet community (and perhaps see if any “Alienist” fans are Catster subscribers). He also hopes to win over skeptics who might doubt whether one can love and grieve a beloved animal with the intensity usually reserved for another human.

“I’m hoping that some people will learn from this, and maybe even catch themselves almost thinking of Masha as a person,” Carr said. “That’s really what we have to do as a society much more: Think of these animals as our equals. That’s what they are.”

Photo of Caleb Carr

(Author, Caleb Carr)

CITY IN RUINS by Don Winslow

szfreiberger Crime Leave a comment
The Bellagio Water Fountain Show on the Strip in Las Vegas.

(The Bellagio Water Fountain Show on the Strip in Las Vegas).

If one likes epic crime novels I imagine that you are a fan of Don Winslow.  The author of twenty-five books, seven of which were best sellers, Winslow has established himself as a master storyteller and a person with extensive knowledge of organized crime and drug cartels.  His latest, and I am sad to say his last novel is the final piece of his Danny Ryan trilogy entitled, CITY IN RUINS, a continuation of the story that has evolved through previous books; CITY ON FIRE and  CITY OF DREAMS.

In an April 1, 2024, interview with Benjamin J. Russell of the New York Times Winslow announced that he was retiring from writing crime fiction novels to devote more of his time to political activism.  Winslow who has excoriated Donald Trump in videos and social media posts believes that writing books would not allow him to reach a large enough audience to try and influence the American electorate.  However, his loyal readership will certainly miss him.

In the current work of fiction, Winslow states that the Danny Ryan trilogy which he worked on for over thirty years was like a homecoming.  Winslow left Rhode Island himself when he was a teenager and provides a searing crime novel, which travels through Providence, Rhode Island, Washington, D.C., Wall Street and Las Vegas.  In so doing Winslow details the seamier side of Las Vegas through characters who thought they had put their organized crime experiences in the past.

DonWinslowRollover.jpg

Danny Ryan seems to have achieved everything that life could offer, a respected businessman and a multi-millionaire.  However, his past has produced numerous enemies, a past that included being an Irish mob soldier, and a fugitive from the federal government.  Now, he craves normalcy, however his business plans rub Las Vegas power brokers the wrong way, and an FBI agent bent on revenge sees an opportunity to bring him down.

For Ryan, his prime concern is safety, and safety creates the need for power.  Ryan has power owning hotels and other business interests.  However, a number of threats emerge at the outset of the novel as Congress has created the Gambling Impact Study Commission designed to investigate the impact of gaming on the American people.  Ryan’s fear, along with other power brokers, is that the federal government would gain the power to impact the profitability of his holdings, investigate the seamier sign of his wealth, and possibly imprison him.  These other power brokers, Vern Winegard and Barry Levine were also a threat to Ryan’s position, wealth, and self-image.  Though they met monthly to discuss common issues, Winegard who was about to purchase a prime property on the Strip that Ryan coveted, and Levine who owned three mega hotels across from Ryan’s are major obstacles.  In reality, no matter how hard Winslow tries to normalize Ryan as a legitimate businessman, a loving father, and a generous person who treats those around him well, he can’t seem to break away from the fact that Ryan cannot escape his mobster past.

Winslow constructs his plot lines very carefully. First, we have the Ryan-Winegard competition for control of certain properties on the “Strip” which would allow one of them to dominate the hotel-casino business.  Second, is the role of organized crime as both Ryan and Winegard have a past that does not want to let them go.  Third, centers around Chris Columbo, a mobbed up individual who stole from his bosses, disappears, then reappears ten years later.  Fourth, a trial involving Peter Moretti, another mob figure who killed his mother and stepfather.  Fifth, the revenge sought by FBI Sub Director for Organized Crime, Regina Moneta who blames Ryan for the murder of her FBI boyfriend a decade ago.  Sixth, the ambition of Camilla Cooper, an evangelical Christian who sits on the Nevada Gaming Control Board who sees bringing down Danny Ryan as a step to gaining the governor’s mansion.  How Ryan navigates these threats and certain other situations provide the core of the novel.

Winslow is an expert at creating characters and their backgrounds which immediately spark interest in the reader.  In addition to those previously mentioned there are other important people.  Abe Stern, a 93 year old billionaire who wants no part of Vegas but decides to assist Ryan with his travails.  Stern’s son Josh also plays a vital role.  Dr. Eden Landau, a psychiatrist that Ryan falls in love with. Madeleine, Ryan’s mother who lived with Marty Ryan Dan’s father, likes to see herself as a wonderful grandmother but is heavily involved with the mob over the decades.  Marie Bouchard, the Nevada prosecutor after Peter Moretti and his lawyer Bruce Bascomb.  There are a number of organized crime “types,” throughout be it Ryan’s organization or that of Alfred “Allie Boy” Licata, an old mob boss banned from Las Vegas who years before killed Abe Stern’s brothers and his crew.

Winslow describes Las Vegas and the characters he develops accurately in terms of the historical reality of the “Strip.”  He writes; “Enough isn’t a concept in Las Vegas, an over-the-top town where too much isn’t enough, success is success, and more is always better.”  As one follows the story line each character subscribes to this credo.  Ryan tries to stay clean through most of the novel, but his old enemies keep circling. He does what he can to prevent the power struggle he has unleashed from turning violent, but through a series of miscalculations, bullets start flying, endangering not only his gambling empire but his life and the lives of those he loves.

Years ago, when Winslow first read Aeschylus, he recognized that the Greek father of literary tragedies had explored every major theme found in modern crime fiction, from murder, vengeance, and corruption to power, justice and redemption. He became obsessed, he said recently, with the idea of retelling the ancient stories in a modern-crime fiction trilogy.  In an ode to Greek tragedy Winslow refers to Virgil’s epic poem, “The Aeneid” throughout the novel and the quotes he uses to divide sections of the novel fit perfectly.

While CITY IN RUINS can be read as a standalone, readers would be best served by reading the trilogy from the outset. With his compelling characters, his vivid prose, and his exploration of universal themes, Winslow has produced a masterpiece of modern crime fiction which will not disappoint returning readers or any new audience.

City of Lights: In dramatic contrast, today's main strip in Las Vegas is vibrantly illuminated by hotels and casinos as far as the eye can see

(Las Vegas Strip today)

THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah

szfreiberger Historical Fiction Leave a comment
vietnam nurse reflections

The Vietnam War has sparked numerous arguments over the roles of diverse groups and vocations.  One that has been dominant is the role of nurses, particularly women.  How many served in what capacity, their experiences dealing with combat, and interactions with wounded soldiers all come to mind.  There have been a few works of non-fiction that stand out in the discussion of nurses during the war, they include; AMERICAN DAUGHTER GONE TO WAR by Winnie Smith; HEALING WOUNDS by Diane Carlson Evans; and HOME BEFORE MORNING by Lynda Van Devanter.  Recently, Kristin Hannah, the bestselling  New York Times author has published her latest novel that deals with the issues faced by American nurses during the war, entitled THE WOMEN.

Hannah’s work of fiction begins with Frances Grace McGrath, a twenty year old nursing student asking the question “why couldn’t women be heroes?” after examining the photos in her father’s study displayed on what he called his “wall of heroes.”  McGrath noticed there were no women on display, and with her brother off to fight in Vietnam she surmised that he too would soon be exhibited on the “wall.”  Tired of being primed by her parents to marry and have children, McGrath decides to enlist in the US Army Nursing Corps and join her brother in Vietnam.  Almost immediately after joining up she learns that her brother has been killed in a helicopter accident, with the Pentagon offering few if any details about how he died.

Hannah’s work returns the reader to a time in American history where faith in government was decreasing daily and people took to the streets because of war – sounds familiar.  The book chronicles the evolution of Francis McGrath from an inexperienced nurse who was raised with the values of the 1950s to an independent women who found her calling in the surgical ward in Vietnam.  Hannah’s description of operating rooms, triage, the friendships and love she found, the impact on the Vietnamese people and American GIs rings true.  McGrath would soon learn that the rules of “polite society” that she left in Cornado Island, California was unimportant in Southeast Asia.  The only way she felt she could survive was develop a “hard shell” to protect her heart.  She quickly learned to focus, tune out the noise and napalm to help the wounded in pre-Op, Post-Op, and try to recover each day from what she experienced by returning to her “hootch” and commiserate with her fellow nurses.

Photo of Lt. Cmdr. Dorothy Ryan, a Navy nurse, checks on a Marine aboard the Repose in 1966.

(Lt. Cmdr. Dorothy Ryan, a Navy nurse, checks on a Marine aboard the Repose in 1966).

The horrors of war are on full display in THE WOMEN.  The descriptions of injured soldiers and Vietnamese peasants are raw and for McGrath it reminded her of her brother’s death.  Hannah’s approach to the daily existence of Vietnamese peasants is accurate as she describes the effects of napalm, agent orange, the destruction of their fields, and the loss of their men.

As the novel evolves you can discern McGrath becoming more and more disillusioned with the conduct of the war and the slaughter of the Vietnamese by American bombing.  Despite these feelings McGrath will reup for a second tour as she believes that nursing in Vietnam was now her calling.

There are a number of important storylines to the novel.  First and foremost is McGrath’s growth as a person, then her world crashing down upon her return to the United States, the loss of loved ones, and the betrayal she felt fostered by others.  Her experiences in a field hospital in Pleiku made her an exceptional nurse and achieved a competency that she believed she could never attain.  But the war created demons, particularly as everyone she loved seemed to perish in the war or lied to her.  Soon she would develop an emptiness that called for alcohol, pills, and rage, especially when she returned home and was spat upon by anti-war demonstrators and the fact that even her father did not recognize her experiences in a war zone and society in general held the belief that women did not fight in Vietnam.

Hannah creates a support system for McGrath through the friendship of fellow surgical nurses; Ethel Flint from a Charlottesville, Va. farm and Barb Johnson, a black nurse from a one stoplight town in Georgia.  The bonds of friendship, emotional support, and general love for each other made the war and post-war situation almost palatable.  This relationship and other aspects of the book take the reader on an emotional rollercoaster which is common in Hannah’s other novels.  Here, at times it is a bit overblown as McGrath passes from one crisis to another suffering from PTSD, and an inability to face the truth about her feelings and relationships.

Second Lieutenant Kathleen M. Sullivan treats a Vietnamese child during Operation MED CAP, a U.S. Air Force civic action program in which a team of doctors, nurses, and aides travel to Vietnamese villages, treat the sick and teach villagers the basics of sanitation and cleanliness. Date 1967 Current location National Archives and Records Administration, College Park Link back to Institution infobox template Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S)

(Air Force 2nd. Lt. Kathleen Sullivan comforts a Vietnamese child as part of the military’s Medical Civic Action Program, MEDCAP, which assisted people in villages).

The book is a time capsule of the 1960s through 1970s in American history.  As a historian who has taught and studied the war for decades I found the book factual, emotional, with an accurate representation of the scars that afflicted American society at the time.  From McGrath’s experiences one sees the elements of the lies and horrors of war which I am certain still haunt thousands of Americans.  With the current situation in Gaza and the demonstrations across college campuses I found myself back in the 1966-1974 period with the Tet Offensive, anti-war demonstrations, POWS, Kent State, and it is not a comfortable feeling.

Hannah knows how to pull every emotional string a reader can feel, especially for those of the Vietnam generation.  At times, McGrath’s personal chronology seems a bit much as she experiences so much tragedy, misinformation about life, a rejection by her family, and an inability to deal with her demons. The many plot twists that Hannah creates for McGrath are analogous to what many veterans experienced when they returned home.  Hannah does not offer anything new about the war and its aftermath, but she places women at the center of her novel, playing a significant role saving the lives of American soldiers.  This is an important story which needed to be told to a wide readership, which Hannah has accomplished very well.

Army nurses, 93rd Evacuation Hospital, Long Binh, Vietnam, 1968. B.J. (Greenway) Rasmussen Collection, Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation, Inc.

(U.S. Army nurses at the 93rd Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh, near Saigon, in 1968, work to stabilize a patient. Nurses in Vietnam often faced not only intense demands for patient care but also the threat of attacks on close-by military facilities and even the hospitals themselves).

DEVIL MAKES THREE by Ben Fountain

szfreiberger Historical Fiction Leave a comment

(Jean-Bertrand Aristide, centre, a former Catholic priest, won Haiti’s first free election in 1990 – he was removed in a coup in 1991)

The images out of Haiti that appear on the nightly news each day are horrible.  Starving children, gang violence, lack of government control, and a society still reeling from recent earthquakes seem almost normal.  Haiti is afflicted by constant gang wars fighting for control of Haitian cities, villages, and neighborhoods.  It is important that a new novel that highlights these difficulties has been released.  Ben Fountain’s fourth work, DEVIL MAKES THREE takes place in the early 1990s with Haitian instability at its height as a violent coup de’ état led to the overthrow of President Jean-Betrand Aristide’s government.  The novel tells a fascinating story which is fictional, however, the background commentary lays out the terror of the daily existence of the Haitian people.

Fountain develops his novel focusing on American expat Matt Amaker who is forced to abandon his beachfront scuba business because of the chaos that dominates the Caribbean country.  Amaker will team up with his friend Alix Variel, a member of a prominent Haitian family, and a partner in the defunct scuba business to pursue priceless treasures rumored to be buried on historical shipwrecks off a remote section of Haiti’s southern coast.  Admirers of the work of Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene and John Le Carrie should see similarities in Fountain’s approach as he develops this deeply humane political thriller.

JeanDo Washington Post

The novel opens with the 1991 coup in full swing.  The coup resulted from the first democratic election in Haiti’s history as Aristide, a populist Catholic priest was elected president of Haiti.  Aristide, a member of the National Front for Change and Democracy party, was one of the only church figures to speak out against the repression that existed under the dictatorships of the Duvalier family.  Aristide’s populist Lavalas movement which advocated the use of legislation and popular mobilization as vehicles for economic reform , an end to corruption, and justice for victims of the Haitian military and the Tonton Macoutes, (a Haitian paramilitary and secret police force created in 1959 by dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier) earned 67.5% of the popular vote.  Since Aristide’s program threatened the power of some of the Haitian elite, many of which were supporters of the Duvalier’s and the Haitian military it is not surprising that his election was soon negated. The coup took place on September 28, 1991, and was led by General Raoul Ceras and the Haitian army. The military immediately targeted pro-Aristide officials, rural and peasant organizations, neighborhood and community associations, and trade unions.  The press and radio stations were soon silenced.  Because of human rights abuses over 14,000 Haitian refugees arrived at Guantanamo seeking asylum.

As Fountain’s novel evolves the reign of terror of the Haitian military and gangs seem to permeate each scene.  As he proceeds Fountain provides an insightful description of Haitian politics and society with poverty, corruption, and violence on full display. 

Fountain introduces a number of important and interesting characters as the novel progresses.  Alix who convinces Matt to move to Haiti from the United States to set up a scuba business on land owned by his family and led by its matriarch Lena Varie plays a significant role.  Audrey O’Donnell aka. Shelly Graves is a “clandestine service trainee” who arrived during the coup as an assistant political attaché as her CIA cover.  Graves will fall in love with Alix creating a rather unusual relationship.  There is Tommy Rittenhouse who runs the Kokiyaj Beach Resort; Dr. Jean-Hubert Laroque who operates his family’s hospital which has existed in Haiti for generations; Misha Variel, a Ph. D candidate in French literature at Brown University who Matt adores; General Romeo Concers, second in command during the coup; Sonia Delambre, the mistress of Colonel Rene Delvas and a CIA asset; Charles Durham “CD” Nelms who helped finance the treasure hunting scheme and then abandoned Matt and Alix; and a host of other characters that remind one of Conrad, Greene, and Le Carrie.

The role of the CIA is important as Chief of Station Lorenz and his people grew concerned that Matt and Alix would discover gold and silver which would be seized by the Haitian army and used to stabilize its dictatorial regime.  This scenario was complex because Shelly and Alix’s affair will end, and she is distraught.  An undercurrent throughout is the role of the US government as people wonder if newly elected President Bill Clinton will allow boat people into the United States, a departure from the policies of the Bush administration.  Fountain integrates American duplicity, support for corporate interests, and in effect the exploitation of the Haitian people on a daily basis.

Employing Matt’s expertise, Fountain leads the reader through the deep exploration of the Haitian coast in search of treasure located in Anse Serrat. Matt is convinced there are bronze cannons, gold, and silver inside a shipwrecked Spanish galleon.  Fountain describes the intricacies of mapping the site, the types of tools used and other equipment in minute detail.  If you are a scuba aficionado, this book is for you!  In addition, Fountain describes flora, coral, and aquatic life as Matt’s team uncovers evidence of the Philippvs crest on one of the canons.

There are many layers to Fountain’s story.  There is the everyday existence of the Haitian people.  Starvation, poor or no medical care, murders and political assassination along with the seizure of private property by coup leaders, and little or no income for families who live in uninhabitable homes pervade the novel. The importance of vodou also dominates the story through constant references and the role of Duvie, a Vodou priest who tries to educate Matt and others of the importance Vodou plays in the lives of ordinary Haitians.

 As the novel evolves it is clear that coup leaders like General Concers are obsessed with the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage and want Matt to locate the shipwrecked Santa Maria which would enhance his regime’s reputation.  This places Matt, Alix, and others in a precarious position as Concers requests are more like demands with consequences if they are not met.  At the same time Shelly, who thinks she knows everything through her sources, works to install a government that favors American interests.

Francine Prose writes in her New York Times review and succinctly gets to the core of Fountain’s novel writing, “Not only a skillful author, but a brave one, Fountain is drawn to difficult subjects. An earlier novel, the award-winning BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK featured a damaged veteran of the Iraq war who was promoted, by the news media, as a conquering hero. It takes courage to set an extremely complicated work of fiction in Haiti, to write across the lines of class, color, gender, ideology and nationality. And it’s nervy to blow the whistle on how the C.I.A. has engineered regime changes worldwide, often with disastrous results.

Joseph Raoul Cédras (@PresidentCedras) / X

(General Raoul Cedras, Haitian military dictator)

Over 500 pages long, the novel has its slow spots. Some readers may be more interested than I was in the specs of diving equipment. Others may question why so much of the book is devoted to Matt and Alix’s harebrained plan to solve their money woes by finding sunken treasure off the Haitian coast. When a fabulously awful character, Davis, seems to wander in from an Elmore Leonard novel — ‘Someone needed to slap a warning on his forehead: Contents Under Pressure’— you can’t help wondering why Matt and Alix (neither of them fools) believe they can do business with him or with the rich, sketchy owner of the ship from which they dive in search of gold. But it all makes perfect sense when we realize that, during a time of lawlessness, a historically significant and potentially lucrative treasure hunt is just another ScubaRave, on steroids.

Given the thrum of political anxiety that keeps many of us awake at night, some readers might think: The last thing I need right now is a novel about a crisis that has worsened over time in one of the world’s poorest nations. I understand the sentiment, but I was grateful for the old-fashioned pleasure of immersion in a long book with engaging characters, a sense of history and place, and a multifaceted vision of people trying to figure out what to do when the world around them is changing.”*

  • Francine Prose, “Treasure and Trouble,” New York Times Book Review, October 15, 2023, p. 18.
Housing stacked Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Port-au-Prince Stock Photo

(Port Au Prince circa 1992)

THE INTERNATIONALISTS: THE FIGHT TO RESTORE AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY AFTER TRUMP by Alexander Ward

szfreiberger American Diplomatic History Leave a comment
biden reaction to powell presentation on iraq at united nati

Today Ukraine burns and Republicans in the House of Representatives dither.  The Speaker, Mike Johnson has emerged as a puppet of Donald J. Trump and refuses to bring to the House floor a bill passed by the Senate that would provide funding for the Kyiv government which would assist in preventing any further Russian gains on the battlefield.  This seems to be part of Trump’s election strategy of not allowing any “Biden Political Wins” in addition to his commentary that when he resumes his presidency after the November election he would either withdraw from NATO and/or refuse to honor Article 5 of the NATO charter.  He has further stated that if a NATO state were attacked his decision would be based on whether that country had “paid its bills.”  In addition, the former president has encouraged Russian President Putin to attack any country of his choosing.  This is where Mr. Trump stands today, but it is not much different from the attitude he espoused during his four years in the White House.

When Joseph Biden assumed the presidency in January 2021 he sought to undo the damage that the Trump administration had done to NATO and relations with our allies in general.  The process of returning US foreign policy to its traditional post-World War II strategy, as the Biden administration was confronted with the growing isolationist wing of the Republican party is the main topic of Alexander Ward’s new book, THE INTERNATIONALISTS: THE FIGHT TO RESTORE AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY AFTER TRUMP.  The post-war strategy as developed by Jake Sullivan, Biden’s National Security advisor would evolve into a new approach that centered on a “return to fundamentals: a healthy middle class powered by a humming industrial base, a humility about what the US military alone can accomplish, a solid cadre of allies, attention to the most existential threats, and a refresh of the tenets that sustain American democracy…an old road map to a new future.”

(National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan)

Ward, a national security reporter for Politico relies on interviews with the most important decision makers in the Biden administration and its allies and his own incisive analysis to offer the definitive account of American foreign policy from the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan to the current war in Ukraine initiated by Moscow.  It reads as a first draft of history and its subject matter is of the utmost importance as Biden and his team were able to stabilize and reconstruct what Trump had damaged.  What is clear is that should Trump regain the presidency all the work of the Biden administration will have been for nought, and America’s national security will clearly be endangered.

Ward begins with the understanding between individuals like Ben Rhodes, an Obama national security advisor, and Jake Sullivan, a Hillary Clinton advisor that to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 they needed to come together and create a “Shadow Foreign Policy Cabinet” to flush out a coherent foreign policy strategy which would become the basis for an infrastructure for the next presidential election.  After delving into the career path of both men and Anthony Blinken, an advisor to Joe Biden since his Senate days Ward shifts his focus to the prevailing problems that Biden would face at the outset of his presidency – Afghanistan, Israeli-Hamas conflict, the war in Ukraine, the relationship with Russia, and a number of other critical issues.

Newly confirmed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a welcome ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC on January 27, 2021.

(Secretary of State Anthony Blinken)

Overall Biden receives high marks from Ward except for the handling of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.  Relying on interviews with key players who argued for leaving a military presence in  Afghanistan and those who favored a complete withdrawal.  Biden’s position was clear from the get-go – an immediate withdrawal.  Though he was hampered by Trump’s deal with the Taliban that stated that US forces would leave by May 1, 2021, Biden reopened negotiations with the Taliban in the hopes of obtaining their cooperation to facilitate the American departure.  The Biden administration operated on the assumption that they had 18-24 months leeway before the Kabul government would collapse and the Taliban taking over.  As events played out that intelligence was faulty and way off the mark as the Taliban would reach the outskirts of Kabul within weeks of the American drawdown. 

The Biden administration argued that we built and trained a 300,000 man army over a twenty year period and now many would not fight, allowing the Taliban to quickly march on Kabul.  This created another problem in that there were at least 2500 individuals who worked for US forces over the years who would be in grave danger once the Taliban took over. The issue became SIVs (strategic immigrant visas) that were needed for the US military to transport them out of their country.  Ward examines all aspects of the crisis that ensued which I can only crudely describe as a “cluster fuck” as American policy makers oversaw chaos and Biden’s greatest fear a visual similar to the April 1975 exit from South Vietnam as the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong captured Saigon.  Biden would blame the Afghan military and its corrupt government in Kabul for the images of Afghans trying to escape the Taliban as they entered Kabul.  There is no other description of Biden rationalizations and what transpired as humiliating.  Biden firmly believed that the US would no longer commit itself to wars in the Middle East and Southwest Asia and it should use its influence and power to concentrate on the Russian and Chinese threat, but in reality Biden’s Afghan policy was “a failure of process and foresight.”

Afghans running alongside US military plane

(The chaos of US withdrawal from Afghanistan, 2021)

Ward’s examination of the Ukrainian crisis reflects a president who wanted to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia since Putin’s seizure of Crimea in 2014.  He recreates the Biden-Zelensky relationship which did not get off on a strong footing. The former Ukrainian television personality believed that Biden was not taking the Russian threat seriously enough to allow Ukraine access to the sophisticated equipment that the current war proved was needed.  Biden held back armaments and did not show the respect to Zelenskyy that the Ukrainian president believed he was entitled to.  Relations deteriorated in 2021 as the US supported the completion of Nord Stream 2, a pipeline that would circumvent Ukraine and cost Kyiv over $2 billion a year in revenue.  A Zelensky visit to Washington in September 2021 did little to improve Kyiv’s view of the Biden administration.  Insufficient military aid and Biden’s full agenda with other world problems did not move Ukraine higher on the US foreign policy agenda.  The Biden administration did so in order to rebuild relations with Germany which would benefit the most from the new pipeline because of Trump administration policies.  No matter whose feelings were hurt it was clear by October 2021 with thousands of Russians troops on its border along with a massive amount of equipment according to US intelligence Putin was about to invade.  The American response was to educate the world as to what Putin was planning and not be presented with a Russian fait accompli as they had been in 2014 over Crimea.  As General Milley told Biden “We’re looking at a significant land invasion sometime in the coming months…The plan is to take down the country of Ukraine.  It was the Russian version of shock and awe.”

In his discussion concerning Ukraine Ward focuses on President Zelensky.  Despite repeated evidence of the coming invasion from December 2021 to February 24, 2022, Zelensky, according to Biden aides, was in “la-la land” in refusing to accept how dire the situation had become.  Zelensky had convinced himself that no invasion was about to take place and the Biden administration’s public release of intelligence warning the world of Putin’s intentions was hurting the Ukrainian economy and scaring people to leave their country.  This aspect of the book is important based on the west’s public posture of support toward Zelensky after the invasion took place when reality finally sunk in.

An early theme in Biden’s presidency was that the US needed to show democracy delivered for its people and could do the same for people worldwide by “steeling the liberal world order and curbing China’s growing influence….and keeping an aggressive Russia at bay.”  The key was to rebuild relationships with European allies before it could confront Putin’s expansionism – Putin needed to know that the US and its allies were now working in concert.  Biden’s message to Putin was that “confrontation and competition where needed, cooperation where policy” was the American approach.  Once the two leaders met, Putin’s harangue about Ukraine and the fact that their people and the Russian population were one, NATO was a threat to Russian borders, and that American sanctions were not acceptable was clear.  The key as mentioned was Germany and the recalibration of NATO even if Kyiv thought it was a betrayal.

Ward’s approach to dealing with Israel and his analysis is dead on.  Biden had to overcome his past support for Israel that went back decades in the Senate and his personal relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  Biden did not want Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to be drawn into the cauldron of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as had occurred under John Kerry in the second Obama administration.  Biden argued that it took too much air out of the room and left little for other prominent issues.  The confrontation between the two sides at the outset of the administration was a precursor to the current war in Gaza.  Biden wanted to stay out of clashes in East Jerusalem and he opposed the violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.  Biden had difficulty accepting the evictions of Palestinians from the West Bank and correctly warned that Hamas could only benefit.  Under pressure from the left wing of the Democratic Party Biden finally came out and supported a two-state solution and the rights of Palestinians.

The events of October 7, 2023, proved that Netanyahu’s policies were faulty and designed to keep him in power and away from criminal prosecution.  Biden’s abhorrence of what Hamas perpetrated on that day and public support was unquestioned.  However, as Israeli disregard for Palestinian civilians in Gaza  and the actions of settlers in the West Bank brought domestic and international pressure, Biden has had to put his unequivocal support for the Jewish state behind him and come out publicly for humanitarian aid, a two state solution, and criticizing Israel that its policies were detrimental to its future security needs.

Smoke and flames rise over during the shelling near Kyiv

(Russian invasion of Ukraine, February 24, 2022)

As Ward tries to explain the underlying principles of Biden foreign policy he describes the personal and emotional platform of the president’s decision making.  The role of his son, Beau’s death from cancer at the age of 46 always played a significant role in his father’s mindset.  Biden firmly believed that the “burn pits” in Iraq contributed to his son’s death because of his service in Iraq.  Biden deeply felt his son’s demise and did not want other parents to experience what he had – this mantra is ever present in Biden’s comments in the White House, the campaign trail, and general conversation.

Ward focuses on the Biden foreign policy team’s attempt to foster a new world view and how circumstances making such course corrections make it difficult.  For the Biden team they were not blessed with the best of circumstances having to deal with Bibi Netanyahu. Vladimir Putin, and a corrupt and incompetent government in Kabul.  The book itself relies heavily on sources in the State Department and the White House, and less so the Pentagon.  The result is that the book is skewed toward staffer’s eye views and provides too much emphasis on Israel, Russia, Ukraine, and Afghanistan and  less so China, climate change , Iran, immigration and supply chain issues.

The book illustrates the strength and weaknesses of personal diplomacy which Biden relies on heavily.  His inability to influence Netanyahu, Putin, and former Afghan President Mohammad Ghani points to the need for greater reliance on a collective policy vision as personal ties are not always identical with national interests or political ones. This is clear as Biden could not influence Netanyahu’s right wing government or Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine.

Ward’s monograph is an important work of history in that it lays the groundwork for events he delves into that have continued today.  These events have proven detrimental to Palestinians, Afghanis, and Ukrainians as the war in Gaza rages on, Russian indiscriminate bombing of Ukraine continues to foster terror, and the Taliban represses those who disagree with its harsh rule, especially women.  As we move closer to the 2024 presidential election these issues will still be at the forefront of the news cycle and it will be interesting to see if Trump’s “America First “approach to international relations or Biden’s attempts to rekindle America’s place in the world will win out.  No matter the result, the issue of democracy at home and a liberal internationalist agenda abroad are at stake.

vice president joe biden

(President Biden and his son Beau)

MOSCOW X by David McCloskey

szfreiberger Mystery/Thrillers Leave a comment

(Lefortovo Prison, Moscow, Russia)

A few months ago, I was introduced to David McCloskey’s first novel, DAMASCUS STATION.  The book was a “thriller,” and though it was a fictional account that focused in large part on the Syrian Civil War, its realistic portrayal of events had characteristics of non-fiction and created a portal for the reader to view events in the Middle East through the lens of an American intelligence operative.  Further, it offered an accurate portrayal of how CIA agents operated in the field, how they were trained, and why their work is so important to American national security.  In his newest novel McCloskey, a former CIA analyst and consultant at McKinsey and Company has authored MOSCOW X another entertaining work that a former CIA operative describes as a “brilliant novel that captures the nuances of field work in hostile environments and the terror that grips every intelligence officer when confronting enemies.”

In his latest effort McCloskey creates an intricate plot that must be followed carefully.  It opens as an FSB agent on a mission from the FSB head steals an enormous sum of money  from a billionaire oligarch who preceded the FSB head.  In response to this action, the oligarch’s daughter, an SVR operative plots to recover the money and respond to threats against her family’s wealth.  The daughter is married to another FSB agent, who also happens to be in charge of $700 million of Vladimir Putin’s personal treasure.

A drone photo of the palace, which sits some 18 kilometers down the coast from the popular Russian holiday town of Gelendzhik

(Drone photo of the palace, which sits some 18 kilometers down the coast from the popular Russian holiday town of Gelendzhik)

As the novel evolves, McCloskey introduces two scenarios.  First, we are introduced to Artemis Aphrodite Proctor, CIA Station Chief in Tajikistan, who succumbs to a honey trap set by the FSB and refuses recruitment resulting in her dispatch to Langley, Virginia.  The actions Proctor takes form a central part of the story.  Second, involves the wealth of Andrei Apagov, chairman of Rossiya Industrial, a Russian conglomerate swollen with the state’s most strategic assets.  Apagov’s bank is robbed of 200 gold bars by FSB Lieutenant Colonel Konstantine Konstanstinovich Chernov, a Russian nationalist whose boss, Vassily Platonovich Gusev, known as “Goose,” has ordered the seizure against an old foe.  Apagov wants his daughter Anna who is a SVR operative to investigate what has occurred before they confront President Putin who may lock them away in Siberia and steal the rest of their wealth.  It is Anna’s job to infiltrate Goose’s operation to recover the family’s assets and in doing so must use her estranged husband Vadim Kovalchuk, head of the Private Wealth Division at Bank Rossiya as bait.

These two scenarios come together and at times overlap as the espionage thriller evolves.  McCloskey creates the realistic atmosphere of spy tradecraft.  His discussion of what it was like to enter Russia as an outsider, the types of surveillance Russians employ, the tools needed to survive all seem spot on, i.e., various devices CIA and FSB “techies” can deliver; preparation for the op – plying people with vodka, creating antidotes for Russian food and drinking etc.  McClosky provides an in depth analysis as to how the FSB goes after someone it is trying to ruin as Stalin’s NKVD used to argue that “your lack of a criminal record is not to your merit.  It is our flaw.”

Apart from the characters previously mentioned, McCloskey introduces a series of personalities that are key to the story’s development.  Hortensia (Sia) Fox works at the Hynes, Dawson law firm which laundered money and protected oligarch wealth at the same time as  working for the CIA.  Maximiliano Castillo, a Mexican horse rancher whose family has worked with the CIA for decades.  Most importantly is Aphrodite Proctor who upon returning to CIA headquarters developed an operation to flip Anna or her estranged husband, Vadim as a means of gaining access to important personal information pertaining to Putin’s wealth.  McClosky carefully develops each character and their personal agendas as the plot unfolds – a plot that is emblematic of the CIA–FSB conflict that is ongoing today.

DavidMcCloskey_Author Photo.jpg

(David McCloskey, author)

There are other important characters, but the key is that as Proctor employs Sia and Max to recruit Anna for the CIA, Anna is trying to recruit Sia for the SVR.  Sia and Anna would soon realize they had a common enemy and should work together despite the fact they had different goals in mind.  They will form a key element as the CIA hopes to take advantage of internal Russian squabbles concerning money, property, and Putin’s overall wealth.

McCloskey introduces a different element in his current work that differs from DAMASCUS STATION and events pertaining to the Syrian Civil War.  The use of technology is at the forefront of the effort to gain secrets relevant to Putin’s wealth.  Different technologies are integrated into the story as CIA “techies” penetrate Vadim’s personal computer and other sites and sources which takes the plot to a new level.

The details of surveillance, arrests, threats, disinformation, and violence are all essential to the outcome of the plot.  McCloskey’s observations are relevant to today’s attitude by large swaths of the Russian population.  As Anna argues with Sia that she does not want to overthrow Putin.  She sees herself as a Russian patriot believing that Russia has always been ruled by an autocrat and that governmental system is the only way the Russian people can survive.  She argues that the Russian people seem comfortable with corruption and chaos which was the norm and she, as most Russians today have no problem with it.

McCloskey has authored another intense espionage caper mixing tradecraft and glitz to maintain the reader’s attention.  The plot is loaded with double and triple crosses and after about 100 pages you will not want to stop reading this mesmerizing tale of intrigue.

Lefortovo Prison

(Lefortovo Prison, Moscow, Russia)

THE SHOWMAN: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE INVASION THAT SHOOK THE WORLD AND MADE A LEADER OUT OF VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY by Simon Shuster

szfreiberger Biography Leave a comment
Working trip of the President of Ukraine to Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad and Cherkasy regions

(Ukrainian President Zelensky visting troops at the front)

As the war grinds on in Ukraine, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson remains adamant that he will not bring to the House floor for a vote a bi-partisan bill negotiated by Democratic and Republican senators that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and funds to deal with the crisis at our southern border.  It seems that Donald Trump has instructed the Speaker on how to proceed with the legislation because if it passed it would provide President Biden a political victory during our election season.  The fact that Ukraine is slowly running out of munitions and weapons has no impact on the MAGA world as its goal is to re-elect former President Trump and the consequences be damned.  Vladimir Putin sits in the Kremlin with that cheshire smile on his face laughing on the inside as he observes the political chaos in Congress and believes that anything that would return Trump to the White House would benefit Russia.  The result is that he will drag the war of attrition out further in the hope of achieving that goal. 

Meanwhile, frustration in Kyiv, NATO headquarters, European capitals, and Washington is reaching new heights as the Biden administration tries to cull a deal.  The man responsible for leading the Ukrainian people, President Volodymyr Zelensky tries his best to convince House and Senate members of the crisis that will ensue in Europe and the threats it will create should Russia prevail.  Zelensky is the key figure in the process and is the subject of Time magazine correspondent Simon Shuster’s new book THE SHOWMAN: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE INVASION THAT SHOOK THE WORLD AND MADE A LEADER OUT OF VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY which provides in intimate detail the story of Zelensky’s evolution from a professional comedian to a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022 and how he has tried to rally western democracies to support his cause and bring about Russia’s defeat in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

There are a number of important books concerning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukrainian history.  Most recent are those by Yaroslav Hrytsak, Serhii Plokhy, Owen Matthews, Joshua Yaffa, Paul D’Anieri, Christopher M. Smith, Jade McGlynn, Luke Harding, and Christopher Miller.  All are excellent monographs, but Shuster’s biography brings the life and actions of President Zelensky into greater focus than other authors.

Shuster offers an unparalleled look at what Zelensky, his wife Olena Zelenskaya, his two children, and the Ukrainian people experienced as the war drew closer, and the actual invasion and its consequences.  Shuster zeroes in on Zelinsky’s decision making, tactics to try and invigorate and reassure the Ukrainian people, and the impact of the strategic approach taken by the Ukrainian military leadership.  All aspects of the war are explored with many insights and airtight analysis.

Shuster does well in describing Zelensky’s rise from being an entertainer to a successful politician.  Among the important points he makes focuses on the characteristics and talents of the comedic world and the entertainment business that Zelinsky developed over the years and how he employed them in his transition to politics.  Many of the individuals who worked with him in his production company would find themselves as part of his “inner governing circle” once he assumed the presidency of Ukraine.

Local resident hugs a Ukrainian servicewoman after Russia's retreat from Kherson, in central Kherson

(The liberation of Kherson from Russian troops)

There are a number of interesting points that Shuster offers in dealing with Zelensky’s approach to Putin, the preparation of the domestic population for war, and the outbreak of war itself.  For a long time Zelensky was under the delusion that he could deal with Putin on a one to one basis.  He believed once he sat down with him he could rely on his personal persuasive talents to come to agreements with the former KGB operative.  This reflects Zelensky’s naivete when it came to Putin.  I am certain that Zelinsky was completely aware of Putin’s Pan Slavic beliefs, his mantra that Ukraine was part of Russia, not a separate country, and a modus operandi employing “little green men” in eastern Ukraine, Crimea.  Zelensky did get his face to face with Putin and negotiations in 2019 which in the end were a failure.  Prisoner swaps were agreed to but on issues of substance dating back to the Orange Revolution of 2014 there was no progress.  Putin was inflexible, arguing there were no Russian troops in the Donbas region so Zelinsky’s goal of Russian troop withdrawal before any elections could take place was a non-starter.

Zelensky firmly believed that war could be avoided and did his best to prevent a furtherance of a conflict that began in 2014.  He refused to accept American intelligence that the war was imminent.  He was overly careful in making war preparations fearing he would scare the Ukrainian people, would harm the domestic economy as Ukraine was dependent upon Russia for gas and oil and a significant amount of investment would be lost, and lastly, it would send the wrong message to Putin fostering an invasion.  Nationalists in the Ukrainian parliament opposed Zelensky’s stance arguing he was selling out to the Russians.

Ukrainian President Attends Wreath-Laying Ceremony At Tomb Of Unknown Soldier

(Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenskaya)

Shuster is correct in that Putin was a spy who believed in subterfuge as opposed to direct combat.  A prime example is Putin’s relationship with Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian media billionaire who was Zelensky’s main political opponent.  Medvedchuk’s relationship went back decades with Putin attending his wedding and was the godfather to his daughter.  In reality Medvedchuk, a member of parliament, was Putin’s surrogate whose media empire attacked Zelensky repeatedly, particularly over his Covid vaccine policies as Putin’s “Trojan Horse.”  As Zelensky’s popularity declined in 2019 and 2020 and Medvedchuk’s political party made gains in parliament, Putin came to believe that he could achieve his takeover of Ukraine by democratic means once his surrogate replaced Zelensky.  This was not to be as Zelensky confiscated Medvedchuk’s assets which Shuster argues pushed Putin toward invasion and restore what he termed the “historical unity” between Russia and Ukraine.

Many wonder why Ukraine was able to push back the invasion within a few weeks.  The key was the battle for Kyiv which was the most significant combat in Europe since World War II.  Others have reflected on the idea that Russia relied on maps that dated to 1989, the fact that troops and certain commanders did not receive their orders until two days before the invasion, the Russian military did not train enough for the type of resistance it came upon, etc.  But the keys as Shuster points out were the purchase of Bayraktars drones from Turkey which were successful against the long Russian columns of tanks, artillery, and other equipment and supplies.  The appointment of Major-General Valery Zaluzhny as commander of Ukrainian forces as unlike senior Ukrainian officers he was not trained in the Soviet model of warfare, and he implemented a more offensive approach toward the Russians in the east.  Now they could fire back, something they had been restrained from doing before Zaluzhny took command.  Lastly, American satellite intelligence proved a boon to Ukrainian defense and offensive actions.

Valentyna Nechyporenko, 77, mourns at the grave of her 47-year-old son Ruslan, during his funeral at the cemetery in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Monday, April 18, 2022. Ruslan was killed by Russian army on March 17 while delivering humanitarian aid to his neighbours in the streets of Bucha.

(Results of Russian atrocities in Bucha)

Shuster describes the atrocities of Bucha in intimate detail, the key battle for Mariupol, the siege at the Azovstal Steel works and the fighting in Kyiv suburbs.  He describes a leader  who seemed to find himself and employ his communication talents once the invasion began.  He kept pushing for American and European weaponry which in large part was successful as the war ground on.  One of the key elements for war on Putin’s part was the weakening of NATO and blocking Ukrainian membership in the alliance.  Putin’s goals backfired as Ukrainian military needs were met by the west.  Kyiv gave up old Soviet military weapons and systems and integrated NATO equipment into its military arsenal. The more weapons that arrived and with the training of Ukrainian forces by NATO, more and more they became a western force.  Further, to Putin’s anger, Finland and Sweden joined NATO increasing NATO’s presence on its 900 mile border with Finland.  Putin’s response was vindictive bombing of civilians and threats of nuclear war.

(Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) arrive to attend a meeting on Ukraine with French President and German Chancelor at the Elysee Palace, on December 9, 2019 in Paris. – Russian president will for the first time hold formal talks with his Ukrainian counterpart over the conflict in Ukraine’s east, at a much-anticipated summit in Paris)

FRANCE-RUSSIA-GERMANY-UKRAINE-POLITICS-CONFLICT-DIPLOMACY

(Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) arrive to attend a meeting on Ukraine with French President and German Chancelor at the Elysee Palace, on December 9, 2019 in Paris. – Russian president will for the first time hold formal talks with his Ukrainian counterpart over the conflict in Ukraine’s east, at a much-anticipated summit in Paris)

Shuster has not produced a work of hagiography as is seen by his commentary on prewar policies and digs around the corrupt oligarchs in Zelensky’s orbit.  Despite this THE SHOWMAN is a portrait of a brave, inspirational, and bold leader who did not shy away from danger, visiting troops and combat areas to share in some way what his people were experiencing. Shuster, who has been reporting from Kyiv since 2009, relies a great deal on interviews with the most important players in the Ukrainian drama.  He would interview Zelensky in 2019 as a presidential candidate and was able to become part of his inner circle and shadow him for the first year of the war.  He points to Zelensky’s limited experience as a statesman who was able to gain the trust and support from the West employing “incessant repetition” of his demands through rhetoric, his personality, and commitment to his cause.  Zelensky did resort to highhandedness at times which Shuster blames on the exigency of war, not any drive toward autocracy.

Zelensky’s transformation into a wartime leader was not predictable and he evolved  turning the conflict into one the West would take ownership of.  The problem is that as the war continues it seems the West might be losing interest, or “Ukraine fatigue,” as the Republican Congress threatens further military aid, and Donald Trump may appear on the horizon as President which would play into Putin’s hands.  This fear was reaffirmed this weakened at a Trump political rally as the ex-president pontificated on NATO warning members that if they didn’t pay enough dues he would not honor Article Five of the NATO charter.  He further stated that if that were the case he would encourage Putin to do “as he damned well pleased” and even encouraged the Russian autocrat to invade westward.  In the interim the conflict is pretty much frozen on the battlefield as both sides fight for limited territory.  The problem is should Ukraine run out of certain weapons by spring it could lead to negotiations where Putin achieves most of his demands or obtains out and out military victory and the end of a free Ukraine.

President honored the memory of the Kruty Heroes

COLD CREMATORIUM: REPORTING FROM THE LAND OF AUSCHWITZ by Josef Debreczeni

szfreiberger Holocaust, World War II Leave a comment

(Rail line leading into Auschwitz)

At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, supposedly due to the war in Gaza, which is erroneous as the phenomenon was increasing long before Hamas’ brutal attack on October 7th.  At the same time, we recognize Holocaust Remembrance day which commemorates  the annihilation of Jews during World War II.  It is fitting that at this time Josef Debreczeni’s memoir of his time in “the land of Auschwitz,” COLD CREMATORIUM: REPORTING FROM THE LAND OF AUSCHWITZ has been rereleased.

Originally published in 1950 it was never translated because of the rise of McCarthyism which rejected any pro-Soviet literature; Cold War hostilities as Stalinists refused to accept the Jews as “victims of fascism” singled out for extinction; and the rise of anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe.  However, its appearance has made an important contribution to the great works of Holocaust literature as its author points out many things that have either been forgotten or overlooked.

Jonathan Freedland writes in the Forward to the book, referring to Debreczeni as a “witness, survivor, victim, and also an analyst, offering ruminations on some of the enduring questions raised by the Holocaust among them the puzzle of how arguably the most cultured nation in Europe could have led the continent’s descent into the most brutal savagery.”  Other vital insights provided by Debreczeni include a reminder that the victims of Nazi brutality did not know their imminent fate, a crucial fact in trying to comprehend how the Final Solution was possible, and that so many others certainly did.  Debreczeni reminds us that the Holocaust may have been developed in Berlin, it relied on accomplices throughout Europe – from liberal France to anti-Semitic Poland.  Many of these individuals may have suffered from “willful blindness,” as they would later deny seeing or participating in atrocities.  The author’s account of the actions perpetrated by Kapos, many of which were Jews is disturbing and for most beyond the capacity to imagine.  In a diabolical Nazi system “the best slave driver is a slave accorded a privileged position” is an accurate and scary proposition.

(They came with the things most valuable to them unaware that everything would be taken including many of their lives)

For Debreczeni many chroniclers of the Shoah do not emphasize the economic function of Auschwitz enough.  The author describes the German corporations involved to the point that many victims would have company names printed on their striped pajama type uniforms.  The brutal conditions that victims faced were laid bare.  The illicit trade between prisoners, kitchen workers, guards is ever prevalent – a life for people denied the fundamentals needed for survival – to eat, drink, bathe are all missing with disease and lice everywhere caused by a total lack of sanitation.  People were treated like animals, and for a chance at survival the same people morphed into animalistic behavior as they completely lost their identity, self-respect, and will to love.  The end result is a slow descent into madness and suicide for many who Debreczeni comes in contact with.  For those who deny the Holocaust this memoir is a stark response.

Debreczeni has written a haunting memoir, conveyed in the precise and unsentimental style of a professional journalist whose eyewitness account is of unmatched literary quality.  The author’s writing is evocative, employing irony, sarcasm, and an acerbic humor as he prods the reader into the “the Land of Auschwitz,” a place that is intellectually incomprehensible.  What sets the book apart is the reporting that the German guards were largely absent or stayed in the background.  Instead, it is the prisoners themselves who rule over each other depending on their status which forms a window into the complex organization of the camps.

The memoir begins in January 1944 with a prisoner transport where victims are oblivious as to their location and what the immediate future might bring, ending with liberation by Soviet forces in early May 1945.  Debreczeni provides precise details of who certain prisoners were and what they experienced.  For example, Mr. Mandel, a carpenter who always had a cigarette in his hand, but once they were taken away he still raises his empty fingers to his lips – he will be the first to die on the transport or the TB riddled Frenchman, a lower level Kapo in Auschwitz who developed a semblance of humanity as he warned prisoners as to what was about to happen to them.  Debreczeni holds nothing back in describing how people of varying backgrounds cooperated with the Nazis, including Jews.  A prime example is Weisz, a low brow salesclerk from Hungary, “a low-life Jew” who wielded a truncheon.  He was “power crazed, malicious, a wild beast,” who was the epitome of the Nazi system that “the best slave driver is a slave accorded a privileged position.”  Most of these types of slave drivers came from the “lower rungs” of Jewish society before the war.  Those who came from the highest levels of Jewish society were found to be helpless in the Nazi camp hierarchy.  Another is Herman, an SS guard who had been a bartender before the war and was one of the few guards who exhibited a degree of empathy as opposed to his murderous compatriots as he would drop a half smoked cigarette to the ground for a prisoner to find.   A typical power hungry individual was Sanyi Roth, a room commander for tent #28, a notorious repeat offender, serial burglar who was put in charge of the worst tent which housed murderers, robbers, and other “creatures.”  Interestingly, after Debreczeni flatters him he begins to take him under his wing.  Perhaps the most despicable person was Moric, the foremost Kapo of all camps, whose nickname was the Fuhrer of the death camps – the sole Jew who held as much power as Nazi officials.  Another individual who stands out, but in a positive fashion is Dr. Farkas, a Jewish physician who was forced to cooperate with the SS.  But at the same time was able to display compassion and medical knowledge to treat many inmates.  In fact, without his care Debreczeni would not have survived.

(The bunks at Auschwitz II-Birkenau)

The author provides an understanding of the evil the Nazis perpetrated aside from annihilation.  He describes the genius of those who developed the Final Solution.  To achieve mass death a killing infrastructure needed to be created.  A key aspect of which was the hierarchy of power which the Nazis implemented providing certain prisoners a key role in the genocide.  The Germans kept themselves invisible behind the barbed wire as “the allocation of food, the discipline, the direct supervision of work, and the first degree of terror – in sum, executive power – were in fact entrusted to slave drivers chosen randomly from among the deportees.”   For their hideous work they received certain benefits including more food, clothing, the opportunity to steal, and power over their fellow prisoners – power over life and death, which for many was intoxicating.  They all played a role in the vertical structure that resembled a military command where each person from the highest to the lowest Kapo knew their job and what would happen to them if they didn’t carry it out.  This structure also was apparent in camp hospitals like Dornhau where Doctors, medics, nurses, and other workers had specific roles in the Nazi hierarchy.

Debreczeni offers an exceptional description of the “Land of Auschwitz” which consisted of many sub-camps in addition to the more famous areas like Birkenau or lesser labor camps like Furstenstein which the author experienced personally which was typical of other work camps who held the same characteristics.  This area consisted of a castle complex which the Nazis destroyed in order to create an underground complex for a new headquarters for Hitler, should retreat be necessary and an arms factory on the site.

German corporations do not escape Debreczeni’s withering description as they paid the Nazi regime to rent slave labor and profited immensely.  Many books have been written about this subject.  For a complete list one can be found at https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/german-firms-that-used-slave-labor-during-nazi-era#google_vignette.  In Debreczeni’s case it was Sanger and Laninger who enslaved him as a tunnel digger.

There are many other elements that the author describes from the use of cigarettes as a medium of exchange which became its own underground industry.  Another medium of exchange was extracted gold crowns which many inmates did themselves to trade for food – the going rate was one crown for a weeks’ worth of soup.  The concept of the “will to live” is explored in detail with harrowing examples.  For the author, the will grew and like others he was willing to steal, fake jobs, and other strategies as a means of survival.  Debreczeni’s commentary concerning prisoner roundups is very disconcerting as prisoners were asked to volunteer for certain jobs and transport.  Many prisoners were willing to play Russian roulette to survive, most who did died, but a few would escape.

Each chapter seems more disturbing than the next and ranking the most horrifying material presented is very difficult.  Perhaps the chapters that stand out are those involving the Dornhau camp hospital which describes the Nazi approach to medical care and its sadistic treatment techniques carried out by most medical professionals.  It is this hospital that the term “cold crematorium” refers to.  Debreczeni’s recounting of the plight of his bunkmates is indescribable especially as typhus became rampant.

As Menachem Kaiser writes in his New York Times review, “How To Talk About Auschwitz,” “Debreczeni recounts his deportation to Auschwitz, and from there to a series of camps. This isn’t the sort of book you can get a sense of from a plot outline. Debreczeni suffers; he survives (or, more accurately, he does not die); he observes. His powers of observation are extraordinary. Everything he encounters in what he calls the Land of Auschwitz — the work sites, the barracks, the bodies, the corpses, the hunger, the roll call, the labor, the insanity, the fear, the despair, the strangeness, the hope, the cruelty — is captured in terrifyingly sharp detail.”

In conclusion, Debreczeni has written haunting conformation of the terror of that was the Holocaust, and the will to survive.

(Entrance to Auschwitz I)

MY FRIENDS by Hisham Matar

szfreiberger Historical Fiction, Literature Leave a comment
Muammar Gaddafi in Rome - 10 June 2009

(Libyan Dictator Muammar Qaddafi)

The history of Libya from 1969 which saw Colonel Muammar Qaddafi seize power through the 2011 Arab Spring that resulted in his demise was wrought with murder, torture, assassinations, persecution, terrorism, lack of freedom, poverty, and victimization to a cult of personality.  Those years produced many significant dates, all of which stand out for varying degrees of horror.  On April 17, 1984. a crowd of anti-Qaddafi demonstrators gathered across the street from the Libyan embassy in London.  During the demonstrations shots were fired from the embassy at demonstrators killing a London police officer and wounding 11 protestors.  On April 5, 1986, Qaddafi was deemed responsible for the terrorist attack on a West Berlin discotheque that killed three and injured 229.  Ten days later the United States retaliated striking military targets in Tripoli and Benghazi.  On December 21, 1988, two Libyan intelligence officers planted a bomb that  blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 243 passengers and 16 crew members.  On December 21, 2012, following the overthrow of Qaddafi an attack by Ansar al-Sharia on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi resulted in the death of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and 3 others and injured 10.  This would lead to a partisan  congressional investigation that Republicans used to damage Hilliary Clinton’s presidential campaign.  It is clear that during these years Libya was not a place where free thought and democracy existed, and today remains a failed state.

Libyan author Hisham Matar’s latest novel, MY FRIENDS tackles this time period focusing on the 1984 London shooting as the emotional center of the story.  The book is narrated by a Libyan exile named Khaled Abd Hady, who left Benghazi in 1983 to study English literature at Edinburgh University and remained in London for thirty-two years.  Khaled had been one of the demonstrators on that 1984 day alongside two men who would become his closest friends, Hosam Zowa, a writer who had decided to live in San Francisco with his family before moving to Paris, London and other venues, and Mustafa al Touny, a fellow student at Edinburgh.  Matar, born in New York City to Libyan parents, and winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for his memoir, THE RETURN, has authored a quiet novel that examines how the bonds of friendship are forged and fray over a lifetime.

Anti Gaddafi demonstrations outside the Libyan embassy, London 17th April 1984

(Libyan exiles demonstrating against the Qaddafi regime on April 17, 1984)

MY FRIENDS focuses on the relationship among three Libyan men whose lives intersect over more than three decades, from the mid-1980s through the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring that deposed Muammar Qaddafi after 42 years. The narrator, Khaled Abd al Hady, who left Libya to study English literature at the University of Edinburgh was inspired to pursue those studies by an enigmatic short story authored by Zowa, who vanished from the literary world after publishing a single story collection.

(It has been almost 40 years since Pc Yvonne Fletcher was murdered outside the Libyan Embassy. ‘She said, “good morning, what a beautiful day”, and five minutes later she was shot’) 

There are a number of themes that dominate the novel.  The concepts of liberation, exile, moral ambiguity, and friendship are all integrated into the story. Employing the musing of Khaled, Matar focuses on related themes asking the following; was it possible to live a happy life away from home, without one’s family?  Second, is it true that all one has to do to survive is to endure each day, and gradually, minute by minute, brick by brick, will time build a wall?  Third, What was it like to be a human being in a world where people are willing to crush each other?

These themes follow Khaled’s life for decades as he navigates the twin crises of exile and loneliness.  Matar follows the interactions of Khaled and Mustafa, following their emotional, intellectual, and political development.  Soon Hosam reappears out of nowhere which becomes the watershed moment in the novel.    We follow the lives of the three exiles in beautiful detail as Matar is an exceptional writer who knows how to construct meaningful dialogue and scenery.  Khaled will leave the university and wind up in London.  After a few years he travels to Paris to be with his friend Ranan who leaves Libya for brain surgery in Paris.  It is while he is in Paris that the man behind the desk at his hotel turns out to be Hosam rekindling their friendship.  Along with Mustafa, Hannah, Khaled’s girlfriend, and Claire, Hosam’s significant other they form an engaging group whose dialogue absorbs the reader’s attention as they lay out their personal beliefs and how it relates to events in their home country.

By 2011, the Arab Spring broke out in Tunisia and soon spread to Tahrir Square in Egypt, and Benghazi and Tripoli in Libya.  Mustafa who had been in exile for decades after witnessing the 1984 Embassy shooting cries at the possibility of ending Qaddafi’s tyranny and decides to return to Libya to fight for the emerging revolution.  Khaled, despite the urging of his friend, refuses to return and fight as he is still traumatized by the wounds suffered at the embassy shooting.  Matar creates many poignant scenes including Khaled’s father’s visit to convince him to return home, and Mustafa’s conversations with his mother as he fights for Qaddafi’s overthrow. 

muammar_qaddafi_closeup_AP111021125286.jpg

(Qaddafi’s body after being killed by Libyan revolutionaries)

Matar’s novel provides a vivid picture of Qaddafi’s rule which consisted of paranoia on the part of Libyan exiles living in Europe, and Libyan citizens who remained at home.  A tight fisted dictatorship evolved into a “cult of personality” that the Libyan people were forced to endure.  Torture, violence, harassment, loss of employment, poverty, assassinations in foreign counties were all elements of Qaddafi’s bag of tricks.  This background forms the basis of Khaled’s fear of returning home, Mustafa’s transformation into a revolutionary soldier, and Hosam’s off and on writing which is responsible for the origins of their friendship.

Other important characters are developed. Dr. Henry Walbrook, Khaled’s literature professor becomes his friend and confidant.  Mahammed Mustafa Ramada, the voice of the BBC Arabic World Service and journalist who read Hosam’s short story that fascinated and captured Khaled.  Hosam Rajab Zowa, Hosam’s father who had been a supporter of Qaddafi and believed the embassy shooting was correct.  What happens to these characters greatly impacts the lives of the three exiled friends.

Soldiers loyal to the head of Libya's Government of National Unity, Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, sit in the back of a truck in Tripoli, Libya

(Fighting between the two most powerful factions in the capital could pose significant risks today, 2023)

Matar uses Hosam to present various literary ideas.  Being a bibliophile, my favorite comments include Hosam’s remarks that “there was no point in owning a book unless one intended to reread it multiple times.”  Further, he states “to have an endless number of books sit on the shelf just because one has read them or might one day read them is absurd.”  However, I agree with his final commentary on books “like Montaigne, you believe that the very presence of books in your room cultivates you, that books are not only to be read but to be lived with.” What Hosam secretly found troubling was not the sight of a large number of books but the stability that such an acquisition assumes, which for him was very difficult to accept.

Matar brings closure to his story as the Libyan chapter of the Arab Spring takes hold.  Khaled was afraid to return to Benghazi as he feared he would not be able to reconstitute his life, which had taken so long to accomplish after three decades in exile.  He was afraid he would lose the security, emotional grounding and dependable relationships he had developed which his parents could not understand, producing a great deal of guilt.  Mustafa did not suffer from these doubts as he returned and immediately joined revolutionary forces to fight to end Qaddafi’s tyranny.  Hosam on the other hand will return to bury his father and please his mother.  He still refuses to return to his writing and he falls in love as decides he must join the fight.

As Peter Baker writes in his New York Times book review Matar focus is on  “the experience of Libyans seeking safety in exile. Matar — himself one such exile — picks apart their psyches, analyzing at a microscopic level how violence and migration have altered how they think and feel and relate to the people closest to them. He has returned to this cluster of topics as if it’s a house he’s obsessed with, examining it from different angles, sneaking inside and finding new rooms, even new wings.”  “Readers encountering Matar for the first time will find in “My Friends” a masterly literary meditation on his lifelong themes. For those who already know his work, the effect is amplified tenfold. In the dark house Matar continues to explore, the rooms are full of echoes: The further in you go, the louder they get.”*

*Peter Baker, In ‘My Friends’ an Exile Finds Himself Outside Libya, but Never Far Away, New York Times, January 10, 2024.

(Libyan Dictator Mummar Qaddafi)