(Weimar, Germany-where the story begins)

The author Lauren Belfer has written two excellent works of historical fiction; A FIERCE RADIANCE and THE CITY OF LIGHT.  Both center on murders related to important scientific discoveries, one deals with hydroelectric power outside Buffalo, and the other the development of penicillin during World War II.  Both novels exhibit Belfer’s capacity to intertwine fictional and non-fictional characters that create historical realism and accuracy.  Belfer’s third novel, recently released AND AFTER THE FIRE breaks new ground as she creates a story that revolves around an original cantata of Johann Sebastian Bach that incorporates the Holocaust, Jewish society and the growing anti-Semitism of 18^th, 19^{th, and 20th} century Berlin, the niece of a man haunted by his actions at the end of World War II, and a contemporary debate and mystery surrounding what should be done with the sheet music that turns up after the man who took the cantata’s sheet music after World War II commits suicide.

The novel begins in May, 1945 as two Jewish American GIs are making their way back to a military base outside Weimar when they arrive in a well preserved German town located near Buchenwald, the Nazi concentration camp.  They decide to enter what appears to be an abandoned house when one of the GIs, Henry Sachs decides to take the sheet music that is inside a piano bench.  Upon doing so a disheveled German teenage girl appears with a gun and a shooting transpires resulting in the wounding of the second GI, Peter Galinsky, and the death of the girl.

(American troops encounter Nazi savagery at Buchenwald in May, 1945)

At this point Belfer moves the story to June, 2010 in New York City where we meet Susannah Kessler, the Executive Director of the Barstow Family Foundation, where she coordinates grants designed to assist the city’s poor children.  Susannah’s life will radically change that summer as her marriage ends in divorce after she is sexually assaulted in an ally on the way home from work.  As she tries to cope with her failed marriage and the attack she learns that her Uncle Henry who had greatly impacted her life has committed suicide.  Susanna must now deal with another painful loss and learns from her Uncle’s suicide note what happened to him at the end of the war.  Her inheritance includes the sheet music he had taken which may be an original from Johann Sebastian Bach.  The note asks Susannah to determine if the sheet music is original and to do with it what she deems appropriate.  From this point on I became hooked on the storyline as Belfer introduces a number of important new characters both historical and fictitious.

We meet Wilhelm Friedemann Bach the son of the famous composer and music teacher of Sarah Itzig, who is Jewish and the daughter of Daniel Itzig, Frederick the Great’s Jew who was a financial genius who assisted the Prussian monarch as he launched his aggressive foreign policy.  What plays out among these characters and their families is the moral issue faced by German Jews of the time period- should they assimilate into the larger German society or remain committed to their Jewish identity.  This problem will result in many Jews converting to Christianity or hiding who they really are. Through Susanna we meet other important characters including Daniel Erhardt, an academic expert on Bach, Scott Schiffman, the curator of music manuscripts at the MacLean Library in New York, and Frederic Augustus Fournier, a Yale Centennial Professor who has his own agenda when it comes to the sheet music under question.  Susanna turns to each man to try and solve the riddle of the possible Bach cantata.

Belfer structures the book by alternating chapters and historical periods.  She moves easily from 18^th and 19^th century Berlin as she explores the Itzig family history and its relationship to Bach’s music, and Susanna’s quest to ascertain the legitimacy of the cantata. The role of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust are just below the surface throughout the story.  The problem is that the cantata in question contains anti-Semitic lyrics that conform to Lutheran theology and prevalent beliefs of prominent Prussians at the time.  Belfer does an excellent job discussing upper class Jewish society of the period and how they tried to cope with the developing racist ideology that surrounded them.  In addition, the author does a wonderful job capturing Berlin’s attempt at developing into a cultural center following the reign of Frederick the Great, particularly salons, but also the undercurrent of anti-Semitism of the Prussian aristocracy that is dependent upon Jewish bankers.

Belfer possesses an elegant writing style that enhances her story telling and character development.  She does a superb job explaining the structure of Bach’s music to the novice.  She breaks down his work and the cantata in question so the reader can understand its importance whether it is real, or as a historical document that lends insight into German the social and intellectual milieu of the time period covered in the novel. In conclusion, Belfer has written a wonderful book that is surely her best and I believe it will satisfy a wide audience.

(Tule Lake Japanese internment camp in Northern, CA during World War II)

ALLEGIANCE is an interesting novel by Kermit Roosevelt* that explores a number of issues, most important of which is the power of the presidency and the federal government during wartime.  Roosevelt, a professor of constitutional law at Pennsylvania’s Law School and a former Supreme Court clerk is eminently qualified to explore this topic and provides interesting insights into the legal arguments, interpersonal relationships, and issues of national security that still reverberate today.

The novel opens with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and its aftermath as Casewell “Cash” Harrison, a law student at Columbia University, and many of his generation contemplate their future – to join up or wait to be drafted.  Cash, a scion of rich Philadelphia society tries to balance loyalty to his country and devotion to his fiancé, Suzanne as he tries to come to grips with the Japanese attack.  He decides to enlist, disregarding the advice of his parents, Suzanne, and her father who is a federal judge, but is rejected and is classified 4-F.  Soon his life takes a major turn as he is offered a clerkship with Supreme Court Justice, Hugo Black.  Upon arriving in Washington, Cash witnesses a capitol city mobilizing for war and he suffers tremendous guilt that so many of his friends and men his age are off to war, and he is dealing with writs of certiorari or certs involving lower courts being ordered to deliver its record in a case so a higher court, in this case the Supreme Court may review it.

There seem to be a number of story lines that intersect throughout the novel.  First, Cash must balance pressure from his fiancée, her father, and his own family in Philadelphia to leave his clerkship and return home.  Second, Cash’s fears that he is being followed and spied upon which relates to the certs that Supreme Court clerks review.  Third, the issue presented in the Supreme Court case, Hirabayashi v. United States which involves whether the “military can confine citizens to their homes, and then later order them to leave those homes, to leave the states in which they have always lived.”  It involves executive power and whether the “constitution protects civilians from military authority outside an active theater of war.”  In all three story lines, Cash believes that he is in danger, and as the novel evolves his position becomes increasingly precarious.  In developing the novel Roosevelt does a fine job integrating many important historical figures such as members of the Supreme Court, Felix Frankfurter and Hugo Black in particular, Attorney General Francis Biddle, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Solicitor General Charles Fahy and Karl Bendetson, an aid to General Dewitt, the head of Japanese “relocation centers,” who was a specialist on the threat posed by enemy aliens and native fifth columns.   These figures seem to come alive as Roosevelt includes legal documents that reflect their opinions and arguments, in addition to historical vignettes about the justices.   The author also creates fictional characters, the most important of which are Cash and his fellow clerks, Gene Gressman, Clara Watson, John Hall, the liaison between the War and Justice Departments, and Colonel Bill Richards of the Anti-Federalist Society.

(Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black)

From the outset Cash thinks he is being shadowed by the FBI or others and grows concerned.  After he is beaten up he and Gressman try to flush out why the people who are after him call him a traitor.  The conclusion they reach is that there is something underhanded taking place in the way that individuals are chosen as clerks for certain justices, particularly when chosen clerks are drafted and replaced by secondary choices.  They reason that information about certs are leaked to business interests providing inside information about which cases will be heard by the court and knowledge of how the decisions will be rendered.  Obviously, if business interests have this information then they will trade stocks in a certain manner before a decision comes down.  When it appears that one of the clerks has been murdered Cash decides to forgo returning to Philadelphia and joins the Justice Department in his quest to uncover what is transpiring within the court.  Roosevelt creates another major story line as Cash moves to work under Attorney General Biddle in the Aliens Enemy Unit.

(General John L. Dewitt, in charge of Japanese internment camps)

(Documentation that negated the need to remove Japanese-American citizens to internment camps during World War II)

Cash’s work for the Aliens Enemy Unit fosters a visit to the Tule Lake Relocation Camp and crystalizes the issues that confronts the Justice Department.  Cash immediately learns that the War Department has been lying since Pearl Harbor concerning the Japanese domestic threat and they have a mole within the Justice Department and this impacts Supreme Court cases dealing with the evacuation of Japanese into camps.  Cash’s job is to justify the evacuation of the Japanese, but he cannot bring himself to do so.  This battle over the camps reflects tremendous research as the characters narrative seems to reflect the opinions of the day and members of the Supreme Court, the F.B.I. head and others reappear with their own agendas.  Cash’s dilemma is how does his work on the Alien Enemies Unit relate to the death of a Supreme Court clerk, and how does he deal with the danger of going against the War Department as he visits the Tule Lake facility a second time.  It appears that each cover-up led to a new crime, and Cash is trying to discern what is happening.

(Attorney General Francis Biddle)

Roosevelt has written a novel about an important subject however at times the development of the story leads to some stilted dialogue, and over description of certain scenes and characters that make the plot seem overblown.  At times the plot is difficult to follow and should have been a bit tighter to avoid confusion on the part of the reader.  The book has a great deal of potential because of the nature of the subject matter, but the story is somewhat uneven and could have been streamlined.  For those who want a realistic presentation of the difficulties the government faced, from a legal and moral perspective in dealing with Japanese internment during World War II Roosevelt’s work will be satisfactory, but keep in mind there will be some obstacles to overcome, but in the end they may be well worth it.

*Kermit Roosevelt is the great-great- grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt and the great-grandson of Kermit Roosevelt, the main CIA operative in the Middle East that overthrew the Iranian government in 1953 and placed the Shah on the throne-depicted in his book COUNTERCOUP.  Further his great-grandfather was probably involved with placing Gamal Abdul Nasser in power in Egypt.

(Tule Lake Japanese internment camp in Northern, CA during World War II)

As the presidential election season unfolds Republicans are faced with a candidate that calls for a major shift away from its roots that emerged in the 1980s.  During the primary season when candidates fought for the mantle of Ronald Reagan, another candidate introduced us to Trumpism.  What Trumpism purports to be is anyone’s guess, but it certainly does not conform to the ideology that was the core of Reaganism.   Thomas Mallon’s latest historical novel and ninth book, FINALE: A NOVEL OF THE REAGAN YEARS explores the last few years of the Reagan administration focusing on the Gorbachev-Reagan relationship and nuclear diplomacy, the developing Iran-Contra scandal, and the domestic politics of the period.  In doing so Mallon has conducted a tremendous amount of research that produces a novel, aside from a few fictional characters that is essentially historically accurate.  Mallon writes in a breezy manner that captures Washington’s political and social world and allows the reader to experience hard ball politics, cattiness, and all the emotions that are on display on a daily basis as the Reagan administration and its supporters and detractors strive to achieve their agenda.

FINALE is a wonderful blend of history and fiction that begins with Richard Nixon watching the 1976 Republican national convention on television offering negative comments about Nelson Rockefeller, Gerald Ford, Henry Kissinger, and Ronald Reagan.  Mallon immediately introduces us to the former president who only two years after resigning his office is calculating how to restore his reputation.  Mallon focuses a great deal of attention on Nixon as he tries to influence the nuclear diplomacy of the period through a wonderful fictional character, Anders Little, an Assistant Director, Arms Control, National Security Council, who on the one hand becomes Nixon’s mole throughout the nuclear talks at Reykjavik, Iceland, and on a personal level is trying to figure out his own sexuality.  Nixon comes across as a very solicitous husband in dealing with his wife Pat’s health who experienced two strokes over a short period of time.  But when one thinks of how Nixon treated her during most of their marriage I wonder if Mallon was trying to humanize the disgraced president or pose comic relief.

(Pamela Harriman)

Mallon does not miss a beat as his characters take verbal swipes at each other throughout the dialogue.  Nancy Reagan, who can only be described as a self-centered nasty individual who cares only for what is best for her husband.  Mrs. Reagan seems to despise a number of people, particularly her husband’s Chief of Staff, Donald Regan, former president Jimmy Carter and his family, and most everyone else except for Merv Griffin who is her confidante.  Nancy, known as “mommy,” within her small circle plans her husband’s trips, negotiations, and politics by consulting her “astrological” advisor and the description offered is extremely accurate.  Mallon’s writing drips with wit and sarcasm, particularly in describing the “gaze,” that appears each time she looks over at her “Ronnie.”  Her rivalry with Pamela Harriman, the wife of former Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Averill Harriman who recently passed away, is fascinating as two powerful women with different agendas describe each other in a rather petty fashion, and it appears that each has their own enemies list.  Richard Nixon’s petty hatreds are also present for all to observe as he rehashes his past enemies list.

The novel seems to center on arms control talks with the developing relationship between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev as the key component to producing a successful treaty.  Many familiar historical figures are present; Secretary of State George Schultz, Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger, NSC Head John Poindexter, arms negotiators like Paul Nitze and others are intermingled with a number of fictitious characters, like Anders Little and Anne Macmurray, divorced from a failed politician who has ties to the Contras in Nicaragua, as well as being an anti-nuclear activist.    Aside from the arms talks, Mallon integrates many actual historical events of the period.  The Senate vote concerning sanctions against South Africa, the Florida Senate race between Governor Bob Graham and Senator Paula Hawkins, parole hearings for John Hinckley, and constant allusions to the aids epidemic among the history of the period that is intertwined in the story.  However, the most important issue that emerges are the events leading up to the Iran-Contra scandal.

A number of the historical and fictional characters are involved with illegal aid to the Contras who are fighting the Sandinistas for control of Nicaragua.  Oliver North and company make their appearance and a few fictitious individuals will inadvertently become involved.  The history of the scandal Mallon describes follows the pattern of historical accuracy tinged with fictional dialogue.  To enhance the novel Mallon employs Christopher Hitchens, an English journalist for the Spectator, who recently passed away from cancer as a vehicle to uncover information dealing with events and as a foil for a number of characters that moves the novel forward.  In addition, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher appears to “buck up Ronnie” when things don’t go her way.

(Christopher Hitchens)

Obviously the protagonist of the novel is the Republican Party’s patron saint, Ronald Reagan.  Throughout the novel Reagan’s legacy seems to be on the line, as Nancy Reagan reminds us throughout the book.  There is a sense of panic within Reagan’s inner circle as events lead up to arms talks in Reykjavik at the same time the Iran-Contra scandal is brewing.  The reader is presented with a 40^th president who either bordering on issues is related to later Alzheimer’s or is a very effective and shrewd negotiator.  As the novel progresses it is interesting to think of Reagan as a “Teflon president,” because a number of his actions were illegal, but so soon after Nixon the country did not have the stomach to endure another impeachment process.  Reagan’s propensity to always see the positive is repeatedly used by Mallon.   As Robert Draper describes in his New York Times review, Mallon makes a virtue out of Reagan’s opacity.  “Is the principal character, as one observer in the book puts it, an idiot or an idiot savant?  Mallon all but dares us to consider him to be the former.” (NYT, September 16, 2015)

Overall, the book is a fascinating read as Mallon provides real and fictional glimpses into how historical events evolved in 1986 and 1987.  For history buffs the material will satisfy, and for general readers it is a tight and revealing portrait of personal relationships of the powerful and how they conducted themselves with so much on the line developing around them.

(The Grand Hotel, Brighton, England IRA bombing , October 12, 1984 designed to assassinate British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher)

HIGH DIVE by Jonathan Lee is an interesting historical novel that develops a number of fascinating characters as it unfolds.  The novel seems to travel on two tracks, the first are the Eriksonian identity crisis’ that evolve as each character is forced to ponder their roles in society, their life’s work, and what the future holds.  The second are the ever present problems that infect the Irish-British relationship that have gone on for centuries.  What makes the novel impactful is that behind the interaction of each character with their environment is the proposed visit of British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher to the Grand Hotel, a resort in Brighton, England in 1984, and a possible assassination attempt on her life.  The politics of the era are integrated in an accurate fashion as Thatcher’s Conservative Party record is dissected in terms of its onerous effect on Catholics in Northern Ireland and the poor of England in general.  The setting is historically accurate as Thatcher did visit Brighton in 1984 and there was an IRA assassination attempt on her life.  What Lee tries to do is explore IRA planning involving the real assassin, Patrick J. Magee and the fictitious character, Dan, who is created to be his assistant in planting the bomb with its timing device a few weeks before the visit.

The novel opens with Dan, a handyman-electrician type meeting Dawson McCartland, an IRA operative who tests him whether he is worthy enough for “the cause.”  Once he passes his initiation, Dan’s new life has begun as a freedom fighter for the Republican army against the British and their Protestant allies in Ulster.  The evolution of Dan’s character is extremely important first using the alias of Roy Walsh, and later in the novel as Lee explains Dan’s relationship with his mother and provides insight into what it was like to grow up dealing with the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) raids and beatings at home and on the street.  As the “Thatcher” mission is planned and implemented we witness a person who experiences doubts about his actions and who he is, and has become.  Dan interacts a great deal with Freya Finch, a nineteen year old girl, who has a crush on him, and is trying to break away from her father, but is confused about what path to take.  She is very bright and her father wants her to enroll in the university, but she is uncertain.  Her parents divorced when she was very young and has been raised by her father with whom she has a strong bond.  She spends her summers working at the hotel, but that is not enough for her.    Her father, Peter Finch, whose nickname is “Moose” runs the Grand Hotel after giving up a career in teaching and must deal with his own identity issues.  He grew up as a champion athlete and still practices his high dives in the hotel pool.  His entire life is wrapped up in the everyday details of the resort as he tries to fight off his personal demons that date back to Vivienne, the wife who left him.  A few weeks before Thatcher’s visit he has a heart attack and must reassess his life.  There are many other characters that provide the glue that holds the novel together from surfer John, IRA operatives, and the hotel staff, but it is the three mentioned that form the core of the plot.

Lee has a very distinctive approach in his writing.  He can be humorous, sarcastic, and serious all within the same few sentences of dialogue as he describes the plight of Catholics in Northern Ireland.  For example, “The whole of your life in Belfast was organized around light and dark, visibility and invisibility, silence and sound, information and secrecy, the private rubbing up against the public and making you feel tired.”  Lee repeatedly comments about the politics that infect the “the Irish problem,” as Ireland “at night was a repeated dream,” as well the everyday existence of even famous people, by his reference the birth of Prince Henry, and stating “the baby prince looked tricksy, sardonic, chubby, blotchy, and would hopefully cheer up his sad eyed mum.”  Lee also provides an interesting description and insights into how a large resort is managed and what they prepare for such an important VIP visit.  Further, Lee offers an account of the Conservative party gathering when many self-important people went about trying to impress their peers. In addition, Lee goes inside the planning of the terrorist attack, from its inception and actual implementation.  Once the bomb is placed in the hotel, it seems that the story begins to creep along at a much slower pace as Lee returns to the crisis’ that affect each major character, and at times you feel that the story should speed up and see if the attack will be successful.

(British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher)

The book is more than a recreation of an IRA terrorist planting a bomb at the Grand Hotel.  It plies the depth of class disappointment that is the core of Irish Catholic hatred of the British government, and particular the policies of the Conservative party and its Irish Protestant allies.  It is more a reflection of the daily humiliation an oppressed people must cope with and its psychological impact.  Dan is a key character who at age 24 learns he will be involved with the assassination plot.  Dan describes his past as the paras killed his father and on a number of occasions barged into his house and beat his mother, or forced him to dance a “jig” as they attacked a local pub.  These events are more than enough to put Dan over the edge and turn him into a terrorist.  Having lived in southeast London while conducting research at the Public Records Office in 1987 I witnessed the hatred of the poor against the Thatcher government as each night in this working class neighborhood, men would pour out their hearts at their local pubs.  It is easy to understand their frustration and why many turn to violence.

HIGH DIVE is a remarkable read as Lee captures the tension that existed in early 1980s Ulster.  He creates sincere characters, and a part from some pacing issues it should be a positive experience for those who put aside the time to engage the story.

(The Grand Hotel, October 12, 1984 following the IRA bombing)

(The Alamo)

The story of the Alamo is clouded in myths and counter myths.  Your personal belief is probably dependent upon your high school social studies education.  It is a story that most Americans know because of the countless books and films on the subject.  What is clear is that, it forms a major component of Texas history.  In Stephen Harrigan’s THE GATES OF THE ALAMO we are presented with a new approach to the story through the eyes of fictional characters; Edmund McGowan, a loner dedicated to botanical research; Mary Mott, a widowed innkeeper trying to keep what remains of her family together; her son Terrell, who grows and matures into manhood as the novel evolves.  This epic story has been told before, but not in this manner, a blend of astute historical research and fictional imagination that should satisfy all who are interested in the topic.

Harrigan begins by introducing Terrell Mott as a ninety-one year old survivor of the Alamo and former mayor of San Antonio attending the 75^th commemoration of the battle.  From here, Harrigan takes the reader on a journey that integrates many historical and fictional characters as he constructs a fairly objective account of the events leading up to the battle, the battle itself, and what transpired after the bloodshed.  The reader is exposed to the Mexican viewpoint through historical characters such as; Colonel Juan Almonte, a member of general Santa Anna’s staff, the dictator himself, Primer Sargento Blas Angel Montoya, a member of the Mexican northern army; to fictional characters, Telesfero Villasena, a Lieutenant in an engineer battalion and Santa Anna’s map maker, and Isabella, a Mayan girl seized by Mexican officers.  Among the American settlers aside from McGowan and the Motts the story is conveyed through historical figures like; Jim Bowie, a drunkard and fortune seeker, Sam Houston, a rather two faced politician and Andrew Jackson wan bee, Stephen F. Austin, the most reasonable of the independence movement leadership, Davey Crockett, a Tennessee politician and Indian fighter, and William Barrett Travis, a young man thrust into leadership beyond his capabilities.

(Sam Houston)

One of the things that most Americans do not realize is that three-fifths of the continental United States was taken from Mexico during the Mexican War between 1846 and 1848.  The issues that led up to the war stem from American colonists who were invited by the Mexican government to settle in Texas in the 1820s.  The invitation was contingent upon settler acceptance of abiding by the catholic faith, obeying Mexican law, and not transporting slaves to the new territory.  By the 1830s the settlers began to chafe under Mexican restrictions setting the backdrop for Harrigan’s novel.

The first half of the book seems as if a storm is brewing.  The storm is Santa Anna’s goal of blunting the Texas independence movement.  As Harrigan proceeds with his story he does a commendable job; developing his characters, particularly the emergence of a strong bond between Mary Mott and Edward McGowan.  In a time period when death is predominant, two lonely people, who have suffered deep personal trauma come together to try and make sense of their surroundings. For Mary, it is the loss of her husband and daughter, and fears about losing her son.  For Edmund, it is the creation of a shell around himself because of childhood events and trying to find solace in a world of plants, a world that fills the emotional void in his life.

(Davey Crockett)

THE GATES OF THE ALAMO is historical fiction at its best.  The historical characters integrated among those created provide a realistic account of events as Harrigan leads the reader to the fall of San Antonio de Bexar and rebel control of the former Spanish mission, the Alamo.  Both the characters and the reader are aware that in a few months’ time Santa Anna will bring a large army to retake it, which dominates the second half of the novel.  The rebels do their best to make the mission an impregnable fort, but as history has shown, they failed.

Harrigan places the reader inside the Alamo as the Mexican bombardment pounds the fort.  His descriptions are extremely realistic and the plight of the Alamo’s residents is clear.  He leaves out few details, even integrating Mexican music that was designed to unsettle those imprisoned inside the Alamo, just waiting for the next cannonball.

One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is Harrigan’s recreation of character dialogue that occurs when decisions are made.  We are inside Santa Anna’s headquarters as he consults with his generals.  The reader is a witness to Travis and Crockett trying to figure a way out of their predicament, but whatever they try, is doomed to failure.

(General Santa Anna)

Harrigan’s novel is a work of fiction, but he must be applauded for the voluminous research undertaken to recreate his subject.  Obviously, there is a great deal that he has imagined, but embedded in the dialogue and narrative is a fairly accurate portrayal of events.  Further, he does a remarkable job discussing the Mexican and rebel viewpoints, and as things unfold he tries to remain as objective as possible.  Most people know how the story concludes in terms of the Alamo, but what they do not know is the fate of the key characters.  For this reason alone, Harrigan has produced an air of suspense that should hold the reader, a bonus, because the historical presentation alone makes Harrigan’s effort extremely worthwhile.

(The Alamo)