Ideas and Information for Readers nd September 2012 “Our 22 Year” Dear Friends, Reviews in This Issue LEADERSHIP Our country, and many cities, states, and other institutions are in crisis. These crises, Hemingway’s Boat (Hendrickson) Still the Best Hope it seems, developed and fed by numerous stress points, require enlightened management to take over and (Prager) Mission to Paris carry out effective solutions. But where are the leaders? Does it strike you that there is a dearth of leader - (Furst) The Coldest Night ship in America? There are countless books on leadership and management and the principles are well- (Olmstead) The Cold Dish known. To be effective, leaders must be unifiers, not dividers. They must be tuned into their constit uencies (Johnson) The Age of Doubt and be able to deal with the important issues without polarization and rancor. They must be courageous, (Camilleri) A Dublin Student Doctor unselfish, not hold themselves above the fray, and be able to engender a spirit of cooperation and together - (Taylor) The Innocent ness. They must build and nurture a culture, an environment of integrity and trust. But you know all of (Baldacci) Boomerang this. So, will the leaders please step forward? And will they be recognized when they appear? (Lewis) Death Without Company “FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO LEAD, READ” (Johnson) was the title of a piece by John Coleman Kindness Goes Unpunished Harvard Business Review (Johnson) in the blog network. The National Endowment for the Arts has found that Dorchester Terrace (Perry) reading has declined among every group of adult Americans and for the first time in American history, Why Capitalism? (Meltzer) less than half of the U.S. adult population is reading literature. The article notes that this is bad news for The Last Storyteller (Delaney) leadership, since deep, broad reading habits are often a defining characteristic of good leaders, serving as The Amateur (Klein) a catalyst for insight, innovation, empathy, and personal effectiveness. Common sense (there’s that rare A Pocket History of Ireland (McCullough) The Fallen Angel quality again) suggests that the leadership benefits of reading are many, such as improved intelligence, (Silva) Birdseye sharper insight, development of abstract reasoning skills, better commun i cation skills, improved creativity, (Kurlansky) The Chessman and a deeper psychological orientation to effectively understand and manage the human factors. (Burton) MINDING MANNERS Agent Garbo (Talty) We are regularly reminded of the breakdown of manners, protocols, niceties, House of Stone (Shadid) and decencies in our society. Many of the little rules that add decorum, civility, and sophistication to our The Chaperone (Moriarty) society, to say nothing of providing structure and defining limitations, have crumbled. Don’ts don’t The Road to Serfdom (Hayek) seem to mean don’t anymore! Do’s prevail and it’s all just fine because you are, of course, “doing Evensong S (Firestone) your own thing!” Dressing for dinner, speaking the language correctly, opening car doors for ladies, Empires of the Sea E (Crowley) removing hats indoors, and practicing good table manners, to name a few, should be recognized, Gone Girl N (Flynn) perhaps saving a few good souls from the number of those who have dropped their guards and Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf Goodman I slipped into the abyss of mediocrity. L TYING OUR OWN HANDS The Death of Common (Mnookin) City of Women Sense, Life Without Lawyers We heard lawyer/author Philip Howard ( (Gillham) E The Orchardist ) speak not too long ago about how America has tied itself in knots with (Coplin) The Sins of the Father H a deluge of laws, regulations, and legislation. Every conceivable aspect of life has seemingly attracted (Archer) The Admirals T the attention of bureaucrats and legislators to the point where such things as common sense and (Borneman) discretion are pushed aside. It is relatively easy to legislate, to add regulations, but exponentially Features N harder to eliminate laws and regulations previously enacted and which have run the course. Govern - • Jane’s Selections E ment agencies attract a constituency over time and any attempts to roll them back as circumstances • TRE Favorites… of Yesteryear E change are met with howls of protest. Thus, the beast grows and grows and the noose is drawn • Origins of Words and Phrases • Building Your Working Vocabulary W tighter. Here’s a vote for lightening the load, for cutting out or cutting back, for regular audits to • Ambrose Bierce… On Politics T gauge need and relevance, all to allow some room for common sense. • Mystery Writer Craig Johnson

E SEPTEMBER—THE SECOND NEW YEAR September marks a pivotal point in the • The Words We Use… And Misuse B • Pronunciation for the Careful Speaker . calendar, marking it a candidate for a second New Year. Summer is over, vacations are complete,

business fires up again, schools reopen, football season is here, and the pace accelerates as the Fall • Erin Go Bragh (Ireland Forever) . season begins and we look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. The rhythm changes and there’s • …and more

. a “reawakening” as we move into the Fall. We’ll always happily recall sitting in the cocktail lounge

G at the St. Regis Hotel in New York on September 1st a few years ago, listening to the piano player THE QUA RTERLY N turn out a medley of “September” songs to usher in the season—“September in the Rain,” “September PUBLICATION I Morn,” “September,” “September Song,” and many more. A Happy Fall season to you!

D FOR READERS Sincerely,

A Subscribers-Only Password: BY READE RS

E ORWELL Until December 2012 for September 2012 R Volume XXII Issue 3 Stephen H. Ackerman, Publisher www.the-readers-exchange.com

1 ©2012 The Readers Exchange BOOK REVIEWS

TITLE Reviews and Ratings: Book reviews are written by the Publisher (SHA) or by one of the Contributing AUTHOR, NO. OF PAGES, Editors and attributed accordingly. The 0-10 rating system was developed to provide some sense of YEAR OF PUBLICATION, the level of satisfaction of a book compared with other books. This is not a sophisticated evaluation. PUBLISHER AND RATING The rating is based on writing, storytelling ability, and the overall impact of each reading experience.

HEMINGWAY’S BOAT: This is a major triumph, a big book seven years in the making about a towering artistry, a EVERYTHING HE LOVED IN towering charisma, and a towering meanness. No wonder Hemingway (1899-1961) is the most LIFE, AND LOST, 1934-1961 written about American author, no wonder his literature won both Pulitzer and Nobel prizes, no PAUL HENDRICKSON wonder his books birthed three blockbuster movies starring no less than Tyrone Power, Errol (2011, 531pp, Flynn, Ava Gardner, Gary Cooper, Ingrid Berman, and Spencer Tracy, no wonder his books Knopf) (including the most reviled by critics) were gigantic best sellers. What more is not known 10 about the man? Why such a massive book about so worked-over a controversial writer? Paul Hendrickson—a lapsed priest, former journalist, and now distinguished professor of creative writing (University of Pennsylvania)—found the lost key to the enigmatic Ernest Hemingway— Pilar , his specially made fishing boat, worked in the Gulf Stream from 1934 to the early 1950s. Pilar’s existence as a deep-sea, working boat provides a new-found insight into what made Hemingway tick, and why Hendrickson can write a successful book about Hemingway’s years when he was in early and then full-blown decline, not even covering Hemingway’s glamor years, The Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms, his many triumphs of his 20s (his literary masterpieces Boat and his Michigan-set short stories, and, of course, his celebrated taking of Paris by storm). answers what nobody else has been able to—how could a man be so flawed, so mean, and yet so great at the same time? Hendrickson argues that Hemingway was horribly tortured by insomnia and depression (and their handmaiden, alcoholism), and the demons were always lurking— hence, so many meannesses, so many fights, so much licentiousness, so much homo phobia, so much boastfulness. He was at his worst when writing and, if it is humanly possible, even worse in his post-writing let downs. Hendrickson shows that the demons could be exorcised only on Pilar, only in the deep, limitless Gulf Stream, only when he was deep-sea fishing for big fish— Pilar, marlin and tuna. Just the prospect of going out on or savoring the day’s trip, allowed Hemingway to sleep, to work, and, most important, to be a decent human being. Implicit through - Pilar, out the book is that during the late 1930’s when critics were savaging him and his famous style was an object of parody, gave him the inner peace to get up off the floor (he was finished in For Whom the Bell Tolls his 30’s, the critics agreed) and write his final masterpiece, (1940). This splendid biography does not redeem Ernest Hemingway, if anything it makes him an even worse person, but it shows a rare side of “Papa,” as his beloved Cubans called him, a side of Hemingway which four good women found worth marrying and which scores of people, some of them famous Pilar but many just common folk, marked their lives by the time spent on with a great and kindly Pilar man. Once is gone (and with her Cuba, the Gulf Stream, and the fishing), Hendrickson’s Hemingway is consigned to his demons, which spiral into paranoia, then Mayo Clinic shock treatments, and then the shotgun in the Ketchum, ID house. (Contributing Editor William Lilley, III, Washington D.C.) THE ORCHARDIST This excellent debut novel is set in the early 1900s in rural Washington State and centers on AMANDA COPLIN William Talmadge, a loner who has carefully tended his orchards of plums, apples, and apricots (2012, 426pp, for decades. Talmadge had lost his father when he was nine, his mother three years after she Harper) moved them to Washington in 1857, and his sister, Elsbeth vanished five years after that, leaving 9 him with overbearing feelings of guilt and an orchard to run by himself, and his only real friend, a midwife and natural healer, Caroline Middey. His uneventful, quiet life tending the orchard is changed, however, when two runaway, starving, and pregnant teenage girls, Jane and Della, show up at his orchard. These girls, pregnant by a drug-addicted, violent, brothel owner from whom they have escaped, are fed and protected by Talmadge, but are afraid and keep their 2 Continued on page 3 BOOK REVIEWS

Continued from page 2 distance. Their arrival, however, foreshadows tragic consequences, and Talmadge is left with one of the girls and a baby, leaving him with a makeshift family and setting him on a course of rescue and protection, as well as reconciliation of his own troubled life. Coplin relates this story with empathy and great restraint, matching the character of this quiet man who struggles with expressing his feelings, sending incomplete messages to those The Orchardist close to him while the reader roots for him to open up. is an eloquent, moving novel which will consume readers, a story in which outside forces threaten the life of this good hard-working man, while at the same time, offering him an opportunity to tap his reserve of compassion and goodness and to save lives while coming to terms with his own. This is a “sleeper” and an excellent effort from a first-time novelist. (SHA) On Politics Ambrose Bierce (1842-1913) was an American journalist, short story writer, and satirist. He is probably best-known The Devil’s Dictionary, The Cynic’s Word Book. for his satirical lexicon first published in book form in 1906 as His vehemence as a critic and the sardonic view of human nature that informed his work earned him the nickname “Bitter Bierce.” For your entertainment during this important election year, we’ve noted below a few pertinent The Devil’s Dictionary. AentrMies froBm ROSE BIERCE... POLITICS A strife of interest masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. ELECTOR One who enjoys the sacred privilege of voting for the man of another man’s choice. INCUMBENT A person of the liveliest interest to the outcumbents. PRESIDENCY The greased pig in the field game of American politics. REPRESENTATIVE In national politics, a member of the Lower House in this world, and without discernible hope of promotion in the next. ADMINISTRATION An ingenious abstraction in politics, designed to receive the kicks and cuffs due to the premier or president. A man of straw, proof against bad-egging and deadcatting. VOTE The instrument and symbol of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and wreck of his country. SENATE A body of elderly gentlemen charged with high duties and misdemeanors. REFERENDUM A law for submission of proposed legislation to a popular vote to learn the nonsensus of public opinion. PLEBISCITE A popular vote to ascertain the will of the sovereign. DIPLOMACY The patriotic art of lying for one’s country.

3 Erin Go Bragh” “ (Ireland Forever)

ust before leaving home for a summer trip to Ireland, I asked a good friend, Monsignor Bob Gallagher, for some advice on just how to enjoy Ireland to the fullest. He said simply that Ireland is about the Jpeople and the landscape, so make sure to engage the people and take in the beauty of the country. His advice was perfect. We engaged the Irish people on the streets, in the bars and restaurants, in the hotels and shops, and impor- tantly, the cab drivers, and found them to be friendly, engaging, humorous, helpful, and simply fun to be with. They were wonderful and when people ask for the highlight of our trip, I tell them, hands down, meeting the Irish people. Yes, it rained too, but it was never a problem, in fact, since we live in Southern California where it seldom rains, we took it as a gift! And, of course, it is “The Emerald Isle” and the country was beautiful. We loved the green of the country and the unusual landscape in the West—the Burren, the Cliffs of Moher, and the Rings of Beara and Kerry, for example. Ireland is also a land of writers: Jonathan Swift, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce (great sculpture of Joyce in the garden of the Merrion Hotel in Dublin), Oscar Wilde, (Dracula) Dublin Writers Museum Samuel Beckett, William Yeats, and Bram Stoker to name a few, and the (Charles Parnell Square) carries a highly interesting collection of manuscripts, letters, and first editions of these and other important writers. The Book of Kells While in Dublin, do not miss the Hugh Lane Museum and the Trinity College tour highlighted by and the Long Room. Here’s a sprinkling of our recent Irish reading experiences.

A DUBLIN STUDENT DOCTOR 8 concerns and attachments that will ultimately guide him to his Patrick Taylor (2011, 492pp, Forge) general practice (rather than being a specialist) in Ballybucklebo. An Irish Country This is a charming story, albeit rather long, but if you have not We reviewed Patrick Taylor’s first novel, An Irish Country Doctor, Doctor, read read that one, and perhaps others in 2007 (March issue) and readers were introduced to Dr. in his Irish Country series, first. (SHA) Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly. Set in the 1960s in the small Northern Ireland town of Ballybucklebo, Dr. O’Reilly’s practice is somewhat A POCKET HISTORY OF IRELAND 8 unorthodox in that he not only practiced medicine, but he had Joseph McCullough (2010, 245pp, Gill & McMillan) become somewhat of a psychologist, curing illnesses but also solving “other” problems his patients brought to his door. Wasn’t As you all know, doing a little research on your destinations the village doctor supposed to effectively handle a wide range of abroad—history, current events, entertainment, and the like—can problems? And isn’t there a connection between life’s problems significantly enhance your travel experience. This little (5 x 5 ¾) Irish Country Doctor, and one’s medical health? An a story book came to my attention when it was listed at #2 on the hard - The Irish Times, based on journals kept by the author in his early years of medical back fiction bestseller list in and I bought a copy practice, was a delightful, entertaining read and we loved it. In at a great bookshop in the city of Galway. The book includes A Dublin Student Doctor, Taylor turns back the clock to expose stories of some historical figures as well as the signal events in us to the young O’Reilly in the 1930s when he was a medical Ireland’s past, recalling the country’s struggles through difficult student in Dublin. He had served in the Royal Navy and, upon times and its ultimate independence from England. I was parti - release, began medical school against the wishes of his father, cularly interested in reading about the country beginning with the creating a father-son rift. The story is built around Fingal’s Great Famine in the mid-1840s through independence in 1921. medical school experiences, the arduous course work required, The potato famine, a period of mass starvation, disease, and his relationships with his fellow students and with his family, and emigration between 1845 and 1852, caused the deaths of one his budding relationship with an attractive nurse named Kitty million people and another one million emigrated, most to O’Hallorhan. This is also a story of Dublin, and Taylor paints a America. These losses resulted in a decline in Ireland’s popu - vivid portrait of 1930s Dublin and all things Irish, including the lation from about eight million to six million. In 1858, the Irish language. While dealing with patients, O’Reilly shows himself Republican Brotherhood, dedicated to the expulsion of the British to be highly sensitive about their medical and life conditions, and the foundation of an Irish republic was formed and the

4 revolts of the IRB and the Fenians raised British awareness of the favorite and perhaps his most well-known, are plays that plight of Ireland. In the 1870s-1880s Britain’s Prime Minister make for wonderful reading, containing many of his epigrams. A Woman of No Importance William Gladstone became actively involved to “pacify Ireland” In Ireland I re-read and, pen in and, working with Charles Parnell of the Home Rule party, hand, marked a number of those epigrams and byplays. Here worked diligently, but unsuccessfully to improve the lot of the are a few examples: Irish and attain home rule. These were the seeds of later efforts Lord Illingworth: The world is simply divided into two to secure home rule, the 1903 Land Act, the efforts of Prime classes—those who believe the incredible, like the public— Minister Herbert Asquith, the Home Rule bill (1918), the Easter and those who do the improbable. Rising (1916), the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921), which split Ireland Mrs. Allonby: Like yourself? into two states, the (now) Republic of Ireland and Northern Lord Illingworth: Yes; I am always astonishing myself. Ireland, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland, culminating with the 1998 Belfast Agreement. (SHA) It is the only thing that makes life worth living. THE LAST STORYTELLER 8 ______Kelvil: May I ask, Lord Illingworth, if you regard the House Frank Delaney (2012, 385pp, Random House) of Lords as a better institution than the House of Commons? The Last Storyteller is the final installment of Delaney’s “Ben Lord Illingworth: A much better institution, of course. We in Traveling McCarthy” trilogy, coming after Venetia Kelly’s the House of Lords are never in touch with public opinion. Show The Matchmaker of Kenmare and . As a reader who had That makes us a civilized body. not read the first two installments, I found myself a bit at sea ______as I made my way through the first part of the book and, had I Mrs. Allonby: Do you know, Lady Caroline, I don’t think taken note of the trilogy earlier, might have passed on the the frivolity of the wife has ever anything to do with it. More book. Nevertheless, as I read along and began to “get it” I marriages are ruined nowadays by the common sense of found this to be a very creative story and a fine piece of The Last Storyteller, the husband than by anything else. How can a woman be writing. In set in 1956 in Ireland when expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her sectarian violence was occurring, foreshadowing the troubles as if she were a perfectly rational being? in the 1960s, Ben is lamenting the loss of his estranged wife, Lady Hunstanton: My dear! Venetia Kelly, and the children he’s never met. Ben is, by occupation, a collector of Irish stories and lore, traveling the Mrs. Allonby: Man, poor, awkward, reliable, necessary countryside and studying with legendary storyteller John man belongs to a sex that has been rational for million and O’Neill, whose stories verge on the prophetic. Venetia, now millions of years. He can’t help himself. It is in his race. The married to the abusive performer, Gentleman Jack, has returned History of Woman is very different. We have always been to Ireland with his show, and Ben decides to separate her from picturesque protests against the mere existence of common her husband during a performance, escalating tensions to a sense. We saw its dangers from the first. highly dangerous level. Complications, tragedies, and surprises ensue and this story track taken with his unwitting cooperation with the IRA, his relationships with a brace of close friends, and the nature of Ireland make for a highly interesting story, but I would suggest you pass unless you’ve read the first two Epigrams books in the trilogy. (SHA) To win back my youth, Gerald, there is nothing I wouldn’t A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE do—except take exercise, get up early, or be a useful member of the community. Oscar Wilde Men marry because they are tired; women because they Irish writer Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in are curious. Both are disappointed. Dublin in 1854 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford. After writing in various forms, There is no secret of life. Life’s aim, if it has one, is he became one of London’s most popular playwrights in the simply always to be looking for temptations. There are 1890s and is perhaps remembered most for his epigrams and not nearly enough. I sometimes pass a whole day without Lady Windemere’s Fan his plays. His four social comedies, coming across a single one. It is quite dreadful. It makes A Woman of No Importance An Ideal Husband (1892), (1893), one so nervous about the future. The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), and (1895), my

5 BOOK REVIEWS

THE CHAPERONE The Chaperone is an excellent story which some might say is a woman’s book, but I think the LAURA MORIARTY read would please all readers. Moriarty’s novel was inspired by the life of Louise Brooks (1906- (2012, 367pp, 1985) an attractive American actress who starred in 17 silent films in the 1920s-30s and, late Riverhead Books) Lulu in Hollywood in life, authored a memoir, . The book opens in 1922 with Louise at age 15 9 living with her parents in Wichita, Kansas. Louise secures a five-week summer session with the Denishawn School of Dancing in New York but, much to her chagrin, she is to be accompanied by a 36-year-old, straight-laced married woman, Cora Carlisle, as a chaperone. The highly traditional Cora, we learn later, has her own reasons for making this trip to New York, but she is not prepared for what she’s in for. Louise is disrespectful, arrogant, and does not like to be told what to do. She is a know-it-all, 15 going on 25, and self-promoting as well as self-destructive. But the story is really more about Cora, and as the author imagines this trip to New York City (and after), she fills in the reader about Cora’s life, where she came from, her life in Kansas, her marriage, and why she wanted to go to New York. For Louise, the experience at Denishawn becomes the platform for her rise to fame, and for Cora, the experiences she has in New York are transformational. Moriarty is a wonderful storyteller and the conflicts between Louise and Cora, the exposure of Cora’s life circumstances, the airing of 1920s social issues, and the nature of her return to Wichita make for a thoroughly enjoyable novel. (SHA) BOOMERANG The Big Short With the sublime (2010), about money folk like Meredith Whitney, Steve Eismann MICHAEL LEWIS and Greg Lippmann who foresaw the 2008 real estate financial crisis and profited from it, I doubted (2011, 224pp, Boomerang, Lewis could write better progeny on financial shenanigans, but he has. His latest, is W.W. Norton Co.) part economic reporting, part social and political study, and part travel writing. It is a collection 10 of vignettes woven together by Lewis as he traveled Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany, and the U.S. to tell us how the banking crisis and government debt, with bailouts sometimes too tepid, are boomeranging back on the sovereign bailers and central banks. This book was ahead of the curve on the story of European sovereign debt defaults, and leavens the tragedy of it all with dark comic and cultural flair. Paul Theroux would love the scenes of untrained Icelandic fishermen becoming overnight investment bankers, Irish property owners becoming real estate tycoons flipping obscene profits, and Greek monks leveraging questionable land titles into a property scandal with government-destroying consequences for a society that ritually avoids paying taxes. German financiers who thought they were above illogical run-ups (there was no real property price boom in Germany) are lampooned for not realizing, in their sterile society, that the lending they were doing 2003-2008 was creating a scheisse-storm among foreign borrowers that would echo back to Bonn, Frankfurt, and Berlin. Now the German banks will have to cross-guaranty it all to avoid Three Stooges , financial meltdown. Reading Lewis’ book, I thought of classic scenes where Moe bonks Larry, Larry slaps Curly, and Curly looks around but there is no one left to pass the loss to. That is where we are with the boomerang: Governments have no greater saviors, and the lending excesses have come home to roost on the richest central banks. Lewis argues that international banks and complicit governments leading whole countries to slaughter were predictable, as was the boomerang effect on sovereign creditworthiness. In 2006, an Irish professor named Morgan Kelly foresaw that the absurd rise in Irish real estate values could only end in balloon popping. His reports fell on deaf ears. An American hedge fund manager (Kyle Bass) was by 2008 openly shorting government debt. The book ends with (our own) California as the poster-child for U.S. sovereign default risk, including a mad-dash bike ride through Santa Monica with ex-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who largely failed to win economic reforms, and capsule stories of San Jose drastically reducing is civic servants while bankrupt Vallejo’s city manager operates his city with an administrative staff of one: Himself. This is the book to read on the economic crisis coming home to roost. Stay tuned for the next story of LIBOR manipulation. (Contributing Editor Rob Bunzel, Piedmont, CA)

6 BOOK REVIEWS

THE AGE OF DOUBT The Age of Doubt is the 14h of Camilleri’s brilliant Inspector Montalbano, Sicilian-based Doubt The Shape of Water ANDREA CAMILLERI mysteries. is as good as the breathtaking debut of Montalbanos— The Terra-Cotta Dog (2012, 274pp, and —and that is saying something. Doubt resonates with Camilleri’s well- Penguin) worked, base themes: Run-down, seaside Vigata police inspector Salvo Montalbano’s trials, 10 insights and delights (solving complex, twisted crimes; complicating an already complicated Doubt love life and eating Sicily’s sea-based specialties). But sparkles with a unique and captivating murder plot. The plot is so intriguing and so fast paced that I will sketch only its skeletal structure, saving the best for the reader. A violent thunderstorm damages Vigata’s streets and buildings, and so roils the sea that upscale boats (upscale for Vigata) are forced into its harbor port—particularly a world class, large yacht and a similar quality power boat. And so a web of violence and intrigue begins to enmesh Montalbano. While Montalbano thinks he is “saving” a young woman from a floating car, the yacht is towing into port a dingy holding a naked corpse with a violently disfigured face. The corpse is in Montalbano’s jurisdiction, the suspicious yacht falls to the port police’s; unnamed, higher security bureaucracies are interested Doubt in both. All three want the yacht detained in Vigata. tells how ingeniously and salaciously Montalbano detains the yacht and solves the murder (plus its related crimes). But Montalbano pays a steep price, notwithstanding the rare praise he receives from the jealous, higher bureau- cracies. His complicated love life, never satisfying, becomes far more complicated and deeply troubled. Violent and mysterious crime; bizarre, exotic sea people and their boats; ingenious, unorthodox police procedures; a gripping, unpredictable romance—this is a splendid addition to a splendid series. (Contributing Editor William Lilley, III, Washington D.C.)

THE ADMIRALS: When I was ten-year old in 1945, I knew the names of Halsey, Nimitz, King, and Leahy, the NIMITZ, HALSEY, subjects of this excellent book recounting their lives and their exploits as naval leaders during LEAHY, AND KING— the World War II era. All four were graduates of the Naval Academy and, as Leahy told a class THE FIVE-STAR esprit de of graduating Midshipmen, they had acquired some common intangibles beyond mere ADMIRALS WHO WON corps . He included loyalty to ideals, tradition, courage, and devotion. In personality and style, THE WAR AT SEA the admirals ranged from the instinctive, aggressive, combative Halsey to the brilliant, strict, WALTER R. martinet King. By the end of the war they all achieved a newly created rank of five star admiral BORNEMAN in recognition of their individual accomplishments. They witnessed (and indeed oversaw) the (2012pp, 576pp, transformation of naval warfare strategy from lines of battleships with their 16 inch guns to a Little, Brown and fleet in concentric circles with capital ships at the center. The original concept envisioned battle- Company) ships as the capital ships, but this soon evolved in World War II to place the aircraft carrier at the center position. That way when the carrier was required to turn into the wind for aircraft operations, the entire formation followed. Thus, the fleet protected the carrier and the carrier’s planes could The Admirals watch over the fleet. tells the story of the famous Doolittle raid over Tokyo in 1942. Doolittle’s B-25 bombers were loaded aboard Halsey’s carrier USS Hornet with the under - Hornet standing that if the came under attack before launching the bombers, Halsey would push all of them over the side so he could launch his own fighters to protect the carrier. The memor- able battles in the Coral Sea and at Midway, the turning point in the Pacific war, are covered with an emphasis on the command dynamics with Nimitz working to put the right men in the right positions. The wild card was Douglas MacArthur, famously mercurial and difficult to deal with. He continually pressed for a major offensive through the Southwest Pacific and back to the Philippines to make good his “I shall return” promise. He rightfully feared that Nimitz’s drive, far to the East would beat him to the shores of mainland Japan. I acquiesce to a fascination The Admirals with World War II and the Pacific campaigns in particular. was a wonderful and informing read, full of detail and background that was all new to me. (Contributing Editor William Dohrmann, Stonington, CT)

7 BOOK REVIEWS

MISSION TO PARIS Alan Furst has achieved a well-earned reputation as the master of “the historical spy novel,” especially ALAN FURST noted for his portrayal of Eastern European peoples and places in Europe before and during World (2012, 255pp, War II, generally from the mid 1930s to the mid 1940s. Reviews of his novels often use the word Spies Random House) “atmospheric,” alluding to his gift for descriptions of time and place. We reviewed his last book, of the Balkans 8 in these pages, and gave it high marks. Set in Greece in 1940, this novel shone for its combination of plot, characters, and portrayal of tensions in that part of the world as World War II Mission to Paris, moved closer. In set primarily in Paris in the late summer of 1938, Hollywood film star Frederic Stahl (Austrian born) is in Paris to make a film for Paramount France. Germany has been waging political warfare, a PR campaign, against France to weaken French resolve and morale, dimin- ishing weakening their will to defend themselves. The high profile Stahl is soon stalked by friends of the Third Reich to be an “agent of influence” in this effort. Stahl, however, horrified by Hitler’s aggres - siveness in Eastern Europe and his treatment of the Jews, has been doing some espionage work run out of the American Embassy in Paris. All of this has placed him unwittingly, in the middle of a tug-of- war and in great danger. Despite the time and place, the evocation of romantic scenes, and a bevy of Mission to Paris extraordinary characters, did not have the narrative drive or the tensions developed in Spies of the Balkans. Read the latter first. (SHA) THE COLDEST NIGHT The Coldest Night (The Coal Black Horse) by Robert Olmstead is a love story at the beginning and end, of ROBERT OLMSTEAD two young people. In between is a vivid narrative of a young man fighting with the Marines at the frozen (2012, 304pp, Chosin Reservoir in Korea. The description of the battles, the elements, the hardships, and the young man’s Algonquin) final actions which haunt him are truly memorable. I have visited with both Army and Marine veterans of that awful battle where temperatures reached 30° below zero accom panied by gale winds. To a man, they said that they still have nightmares about their experiences. The author has really captured the terror and suffering both sides went through. Especially vivid was his description of the black night and the terrible waiting for the Chinese bugles, which usually signaled an attack. Our troops were outnumbered by the thousands and eventually the Marines and Army were reduced to units instead of divisions—but they held. The love story which opens the book is between a teenage boy and girl. The girl is the daughter of a local judge who lives on the “proper” side of the tracks. The boy is not as fortunate and the love which is shared by the two is not appreciated by the judge. I believe readers of this excellent book will long remember it for its poignant love story, what happens to each of these young people, and his splendid description of the frightening aspects of battle and war. (Jim Wellington, Scottsdale, AZ) THE INNOCENT David Baldacci has written so many best-selling, mystery thrillers that a successful Baldacci has become the DAVID BALDACCI expected book event. It is a high hurdle to keep so many rapidly produced books up to so a high stan dard. The Innocent (2012, 422pp, sails over that hurdle. It is a page tuner, one of his best. Baldacci writes in the same niche as Hachette) Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series (also big best sellers). The Baldacci-Child niche—when a successful book 9+ emerges from it—is characterized by how compellingly and believably the very tough, very lonely, and High Plains Drifter very spare hero (the classic Clint Eastwood, ) manages to save the innocent (usually the heroine innocent) from corruption, violence, and conspiracy—against staggeringly out-gunned odds. Innocent’s loner hero is Will Robie, and he is as believably tough a hero as Baldacci has thus far created. Robie is a contract killer—the unnamed agency’s best, just like James Bond—who balks at killing a helpless, poor African-American mother (she is holding her child at shooting time) after he has brilliantly killed two very bad, obviously evil foreign enemies of the U.S. It does not make sense to Robie (or the reader) why so high-a-profile contract killer would be recruited to kill a defenseless, black woman. Notwithstanding Robie’s rational decision, Robie’s handler kills the woman and tries to kill Robie, and Robie is on the run for the rest of the book as the handler’s allies try to kill him. Unwittingly, Robie sucks into his violent travails a young girl whom he saves from a shooting and a bus explosion, thereby tying her own problems (she too is an assassin’s target) to his even more daunting problems. Robie and the girl run from safe house to safe house. Very senior, as well as long-retired allies emerge from within the unnamed agency, even the White House gets involved, and Baldacci skillfully navigates Robie and the girl past sequential pitfalls and into safe harbor. For this genre, so very American, it is one of the best. (Contributing Editor William Lilley, III, Washington D.C.) 8 BOOK REVIEWS

DORCHESTER Dorchester Terrace is the 27th episode in Perry’s brilliant Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries set in London, TERRACE 1880s-1890s. This novel is one of the best in 33 years of a best-seller series of novels about murder, police ANNE PERRY procedure, wealth, government, and royalty. Each novel features two intertwined themes: One about the psycho- (2012, 333pp, logical tensions between and within classes; another about an ingenious and sordid murder that challenges Ballantine) Britain’s imperial power and its police skills. It is the dual theme, generating its own tensions, that has enabled 10 the Pitt series to have so long a successful literary life. Charlotte and Thomas Pitt, individually and together, weld this dual thematic structure into fast-paced thrillers. Pitt is the son of a gamekeeper who rose from the lowest rungs on the police ladder to become (finally, in this episode) the all-powerful commander of Britain’s Special Branch (a late 19th century British amalgam of the FBI and the CIA reporting solely to the Prime Minister). His wife Charlotte has “married down” to Thomas, casting away all her family’s trappings of high society and great wealth. Both Thomas and Charlotte are remarkable literary creations, steadfastly captivating in a long-running series that began in 1979 when Charlotte’s sister was brutally murdered and Thomas, the local beat policeman, (The Cater Street Hangman). Dorchester solved the crime All pervious episodes to have featured Thomas’s struggle as someone from the lower classes (albeit enormously skilled) to solve a crime that involves wealth, aristocracy and, often, royalty. Charlotte, once at home in this glamorous world, re-enters it to aid Thomas in Dorchester Terrace solving the crimes, often at great risk. takes a murder mystery novel that centers on the Special Branch’s efforts to thwart an assassination of a visiting Austrian Duke (a nephew of Queen Victoria) and meshes it with the ongoing test of Pitt’s psychological mettle—can someone born to the lower class solve an upper-class crisis? As Special Branch head, the test is even greater, because Pitt is the first non-aristocratic head of the elite organ ization. The two Pitts thwart the crime because they are able to link the mysterious deaths of two aristocratic women, first to each other and then to the attempted assassination. Uncovering the linkage enables the Pitts to solve the crimes and for Pitt to pass his first test as chief of the Special Branch. (Contributing Editor William Lilley, III, Washington D.C.) BUILDING YOUR Y

R WORKING VOCABULARY A

N working. O

I The key word here is There are many words that seem to fall on the fringe of an T

C average vocabulary. We think we know the meaning of these words, but when we read or hear I D them, are not quite sure. They are, therefore, not regularly used in our writing and conversation. TRE The purpose of the vocabulary section is not to stump you, but to sharpen your knowledge and use of words frequently used in books and/or heard in conversation. Here are a few such words, with abbreviated definitions and some rough pronunciation guidance.. INTERREGNUM The interval of time between the end of a sovereign’s reign and the accession of a successor. A gap in continuity. (in-terr-EGG-num) DEMIMONDE A class of woman kept by wealthy lovers or protectors. Women prostitutes considered as a group. (French) (DEM-ee-mond) OPPROBRIUM Disgrace arising from exceedingly shameful conduct, ignominy. Scornful reproach or contempt. (ah-PRO-bree-am) BONHOMIE A pleasant and affable disposition; geniality. From the French bonhomme, good- natured man. (bon-ah-ME) PARLOUS Perilous; dangerous. (PAR-less) PATINA A thin greenish layer that forms on copper or copper alloys, such as bronze, as a result of corrosion. The sheen on any surface, produced by age and use. (PAT-en-ah or pa-TEE-nah) CABRIOLE A form of furniture leg that curves outward and then narrows downward into an ornamental foot, characteristic of Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture. (KAB-ree-ol) BODACIOUS Remarkable, prodigious, audacious, gutsy. (bo-DAY-shuss) 9 BOOK REVIEWS

HOUSE OF STONE New York Times American reporter Anthony Shadid died at age 43 in February 2012, covering the conflict ANTHONY SHADID in Syria. He had an asthmatic reaction to horses being used to spirit him back to the Turkish border after a (2012,336pp, week in Syrian war zones. (A week later Marie Colvin, another celebrated American journalist, also died, The Times The Washington Post, Houghton Mifflin this time in besieged Homs, Syria.) While at and earlier at Shadid earned Harcourt) two Pulitzer prizes. He had been shot in the West Bank in 2002, and captured in 2011 in Libya and held by 9+ thugs loyal to Gadhafi. As an American who spoke Arabic, his reporting was, for over a decade, the most direct link Americans had to what Arab people were thinking and doing during our seemingly endless wars in their lands. But this book, published just after his death, is not about our wars. In 2006, Shadid took a year off from reporting, and lived in southeast Lebanon in the Bekka Valley (mostly Christian) village of Marjajoun, overlooking the Litani river valley. He was impassioned to rebuild the “house of stone” his great-grandfather Isber Samara had built in this trading village after World War I. Isber died in 1928 and had sent his children to America during the first decades of the 1900’s when lawlessness gripped the old Levant. Anthony was born two gener ations later in Oklahoma City where his grandmother, a Samara, settled after marrying into the Shadid family, also from Marjayoun. The book follows three narratives: (i) the difficult rebuilding of Isber’s house in the present day, (ii) the story of Shadid’s ancestors in Lebanon after the collapse of the Ottoman empire, and (iii) the immigrant saga of his grandparents’ journeys and their new roots in the U.S. The mosaic of the three strands is fused and, at times, the old and recent past connect, such as when Shadid’s grandmother Raeefa visits Marjayoun in the 1960’s, having left by steamer through France to the US forty years before and now returning by jet. Shadid knows his Lebanese and Syrian history well and there is wistfulness for the security and inclusion the old Ottoman empire provided Lebanon, a crossroads of the Mediterranean near-east. But the central theme is the resurrection of Isber’s old stone house and life in Post, Marjayoun in our time. In the Shadid had described Marjayoun as “dying,” causing great offense to its dwindling inhabitants. Shadid was considered either “insane” or a “CIA spy” by many locals in his quest to restore the ancestral house. He assembles a team of sometimes slackers and mostly eccentric and combative artisans to repair the house, which was abandoned after his great-grandmother Bahija died there in 1965. Squatters had taken over, and an unexploded Israeli rocket had hit the second floor. The old cemento tile, a centerpiece of Arab building art, is lovingly described, restored and replaced, as are stone arches, windows, stairways, and gar dens. Shadid’s friend Dr. Khairalla, who is dying of cancer and who once administered the now closed local hospital, is falsely accused of being an Israeli collaborator during the 2006 occupation, with only one honest supporter in town willing to help clear his name. He teaches Anthony what to plant and how to nourish the garden. His story alone is reason enough to read the book. Shadid ends with the now-tragic exhortation that, “there was more life to come in this old house.” His ashes have been spread in the restored garden at the house of stone. (Contributing Editor Rob Bunzel, Piedmont, CA) THE FALLEN ANGEL I’ve heard Daniel Silva interviews on the radio several times and he is very impressive, articulate, and DANIEL SILVA possesses deep knowledge of the subjects about which he writes in his books. His novels of international (2012, 405pp, intrigue and suspense, always current in their renderings, feature Gabriel Allon, the art restorer and master Harper) The Kill Artist, Israeli intelligence operative. Allon, first introduced by Silva in his fourth novel, has become 9 The Fallen Angel, one of the most memorable and compelling characters in con temporary fiction. In Allon is at the Vatican when he receives an urgent call from Monsignor Luigi Donati, the powerful private Secre - tary to Pope Paul VII asking him to come to St. Peter’s Basilica. He finds the broken body of a woman beneath Michelangelo’s dome, a woman, he learns who had been hired by the Vatican to investigate the provenance of the Vatican Museum holdings in antiquities. Suspected at the outset as a suicide, Allon quickly concludes that this was murder. He is asked by Donati to conduct a “private” inquiry to protect the Vatican from scandal, and he learns that the dead woman had uncovered information that threatened to expose a global criminal group that is looting and selling antiquities. But there’s much more, and Allon again is forced into highly dangerous circumstances as he walks a high-wire attempting to head off egregious acts of terrorism which brings him face-to-face with Hezbollah and a demented Imam bent on blowing up the Temple Mount. Another great adventure with Gabriel Allon, and recommended for all readers. (SHA)

10 BOOK REVIEWS

STILL THE BEST HOPE On his radio talk show, Dennis Prager regularly reminds listeners that, in commenting on public DENNIS PRAGER clarity, agreement. affairs, he seeks to achieve rather than He is an exceptional thinker and I have high (2012, 399pp, Still the Best Hope, regard for his intellect. In subtitled “Why the World Needs American Values to Broadside) Triumph,” Prager argues persuasively that the best—really the only—answer to making a better Prologue, 10 world is the American value system. In his Prager notes that he has written the book for (1) Americans who affirm American values but need some help in identifying them and in articu lating what is distinctive about them, (2) Americans and others who may not believe there is such a thing as an American value system or believe that it is the best ever devised, and (3) non-Americans. As for the latter, it has become clear that the European attempt to create a welfare state alternative to the American model has failed and is unsustainable. Prager notes that there are three ideologies competing for the allegiance of mankind. Compe tition shapes much of the present world, and the outcome will shape humanity’s future. Those three are Islamist, Leftist, and American. “Islamist,” he says, refers to Muslims who wish to see the world governed by Sharia, Islamic law. “Leftist” refers to the values associated with the Western welfare state, secularism, and the vast array of attitudes and positions identified as Left from Karl Marx to contemporary socialist democrat parties and today’s Democratic Party in the United States. American values, or Americanism, refers to what he calls the “American Trinity” of “Liberty,” “In God We Trust,” and “E Pluribus Unum” (“Out of Many, One”). The three ideologies are not compatible which, in part, explains the current gridlock in Washington. After the Prologue Introduction, and the Prager divides the book into three parts: Leftism, Islam and Islamism, and America and its unique values. In these three parts, he carefully describes each of the three ideologies, explaining the beliefs of each, the rationale, and their vision of the future. The author notes that one of his major goals of the book was, “to present as thorough a dissection of Leftism as has been written,” believing that what was needed most was, “an overall explanation of the inherent moral and intellectual defects of Leftism, along with an explanation of why so many people believe in it Still the Best Hope despite its terrible track record.” is a razor-sharp piece of writing by a great thinker. The book should be widely read and used as a textbook in educational institutions. (SHA) Pronunciation...... FOR THE CAREFUL SPEAKER

Readers, we believe, really do care how to pronounce words as well as how to use them. Many of us mispronounce words frequently and other people do notice. The following copy was excerpted from The Big Book of Beastly Pronunciations (Charles Harrington Elster) . EBULLIENT BENEFICENT eh-BUHL-yint. BUH-nef-UH-SINT. Be careful ECSTATIC with the second syllable which EK-STAT-ik. Some speakers chef. drop the first c and say should rhyme with AGUE plague you i-STAT-ik. This is wrong. AY-gyoo (rhymes with ). ECZEMA AMBIDEXTROUS EK-suh-muh or EG-suh-muh. am-bi-DEK-strus. The word has Stress the first syllable, not four syllables. Do not add a syllable the second. and say am-bi-DEK-stur-us. BESTIAL ASTERISK BES-chuul or BEST-yuul. AS-tuh-risk. Do not say AS-ter-ik. Don’t say BEES-chuul. GIBLET URANUS JIB-let, not GIB-let. YUUR-uh-nus, not yuu-RAY-nus.

11 TRE FAVORITES… A Decade Ago …AND OTHER SELECTIONS FROM THE ARCHIVES

These favorites from of June 2002, and other older books are regularly The Readers Exchange offered to suggest that we extend our book selection process to include older works.

WINSTON CHURCHILL: A BRIEF LIFE (Piers Brendon) Browsing at Hatchards Book Store (Piccadilly) in London, this book appealed to me after reading the author’s Introduction excellent, brief in which he noted that, “Churchill is in danger of being buried under the weight of words devoted to him,” “that Churchill has been a victim of biographical excess,” and added, “the vast accumu- lation of knowledge about Churchill is in some ways an obstacle to understanding him. Comprehensiveness impedes comprehension.” The author’s avowed purpose here was to provide readers with a miniature portrait of the man by focusing on the most important events of his life and his character. I believe Brendon succeeds in this effort and has written a highly interesting and readable account of Churchill, good for those who have read little about Winston Churchill as well as those who are well read on the subject. THE POWER OF ONE (Bryce Courtenay) The Power of One is a wonderful novel about an English boy (Peekay) growing up in South Africa during World War II. We go with him on his coming-of-age experiences involving his lovable black nanny, his unstable mother, his difficulties at boarding school, his dreams and unrelenting ambition, the important relationships in his life, his spirit, and his continuing adventures, emotional and circumstantial. Peekay is carried by what he calls “the power of one,” that flame of independence and internal strength that must never be allowed to be extinguished. THE ROAD TO VERDUN (Ian Ousby) This book chronicles the battle of Verdun in 1916, where French casualties numbered 380,000 (162,000 dead), but Prologue it’s more than this. The 58-page is a simply brilliant exposition on war, Verdun, and the context within which this battle was fought. The core of this book is devoted to a history of 19th and 20th Century France, an investigation of French nationalism and character, and the history of French/German hostilities. Ousby wanted to explain to us just why the French dug in at Verdun, and emphasizes the annexation by Germany of Alsace and Lorraine after the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war. NAPOLEON (Paul Johnson) This short biography of Napoleon by acclaimed historian Paul Johnson is from the Penguin Lives series, the works of which are designed to capture the essence of important people in miniature. Johnson, I believe, does this exceptionally Napoleon well in by outlining the principal events of his life, by providing a portrait of his strengths and weaknesses, and by placing his life in historical perspective. Johnson contends that Napoleon was not an ideologue—he did not fight for a cause—but an opportunist who seized on the accident of the French Revolution and the void in its after- math to propel himself into power. Tracing his life, Johnson stamps him for what he was; a military man, a soldier and successful field general who attacked and destroyed his opponents. Johnson relegates Napoleon’s place in history to that of an aggressor, a self-centered opportunist who wreaked havoc and death during his reign. NAKED CAME I: A NOVEL OF RODIN (David Weiss) Published in 1974, this is a superb historical novel which simply brought Auguste Rodin alive for me. The book is about his life, his obsessions and intractability, his relationships with family and friends, and about Paris and the arts in the late 19th-early 20th century. His life (1841-1917) and artistic struggles coincided with those of his friends and fellow artists Manet, Degas, Fantin-Latour, Monet, Renoir, and many others, and the portrait of this The Museé Rodin era in France. in Paris (79 Rue de Varenne) should not be missed.

12 BOOK REVIEWS

EMPIRES OF THE SEA: Roger Crowley is one of the treasures of British historical writing. Like the Macauley and Trevelyan THE SIEGE OF MALTA, masters before him, he specializes in the grand sweep of history, focusing on the great men and the THE BATTLE OF great struggles that determined the course of empire. Not surprisingly, given the British Imperial past, LEPANTO, AND THE the British historian often is fascinated with empires—how they grew, how they declined, who and what City of Fortune TRE CONQUEST FOR THE was responsible. Crowley has produced two masterpieces on this large-scale topic, ( , Empires of the Sea. City CENTER OF THE WORLD June 2012) and dealt with how the insignificant and poor Venetians grew grand Empires ROGER CROWLEY and then squandered their naval empire of the 15th century; brings to life the 16th century strug- (2012, 336pp, gle between the Ottoman-Turk Empire and the Western Christendom Empire (Spain, France, Rome, and Random House) Venice) for control of the Mediterranean Sea—from Malta west. The book’s chronology is structured 10 around the great battles—Rhodes, Malta, Gibraltar, and Lepanto—and those punctuation points are used— and used brilliantly—to highlight the book’s two basic themes—the incredible barbarism, cruelty, fero- city, and fervor of the wars; and the critical roles, for triumph and for failure, played by pivotal men. On the first subject, unspeakable cruelty is the fuel for the naval engines of war, the oar-propelled galleys, and the Muslim Ottomans take first prize (the Christian West is cruel, just not as cruel). The Ottoman oarsmen are all slaves (usually captured Christians), chained to their rowing bench, clothed solely in loincloths, and sitting for months in their excrement until they weaken and then are pitched overboard. The strength and reach of the Ottoman Empire, at any one time, was directly proportionate to how many Christian slaves were available for galley work. On the second subject, the Ottoman Empire repeatedly sweeps the Medit erranean islands and sea coasts—looting, burning, and enslaving—because the Ottomans are better com manded, both at Istanbul headquarters and on the sea. The two successive Ottoman emperors, Sulieman and Selim, steal the book; they might be horribly cruel and dictatorial, but they are resolute and gifted managers of war making. The Western Christians are a sorry lot of ditherers and connivers who cannot cooperate and cannot fight. The only fighters are the heroic crusader knights, the last generation still manning Rhodes, Malta, and Cyprus, who are finally overrun and butchered. The only Western winner is the brave Don Carlos of Austria, the illegitimate brother of overly-cautious Spanish King Phillip II, who out strategizes and out fights the larger Ottoman navy at Lepanto. Don Empires Carlos’s is the West’s sole victory in more than 50 years of costly losses. is a glorious tale, full

of courage, cowardice, rogues and violence, admonishing the weak willed to avoid the strong willed,

most of all in war. (Contributing Editor William Lilley, III, Washington D.C.) ND MISUSE

THE WORDS WE USE. . . A The shape of the English language is not rigid. We often confuse meanings and develop bad word usage habits. Selecting the right word can be tricky and many words and expressions are not so much bad English as bad style. Here are a few favorites Torn Wings and Faux Pas The Elements of Style taken from (Karen Elizabeth Gordon) and (Strunk and White). BIANNUAL/BIENNIAL semiannual, Biennial Biannual, like means twice a year. means every two years. COMPOSE/COMPRISE Compose means to create, put together, assemble, and rejoices in both active and passive Comprise employment. means to include all of, encompass, embrace, or contain. EVERYONE/ EVERY ONE Everyone every one is a big, inclusive, pronoun; nods to individual items and says they all are present and under consideration. Both take a singular verb. INIMICAL/INIMITABLE Inimical has an enemy in it, whether it applies to a book, a feeling a policy, a gesture, inimical an attack, a scrap of gossip: unfriendly, hostile. Conditions that are are inimitable unfavorable, harmful, adverse. Something that is cannot be imitated. BESIDE/BESIDES Beside besides means at the side of, while means in addition to. Whether AS TO WHETHER is sufficient. Yet AS YET nearly always is as good, if not better.

13 MYSTERY WRITER A Talent of CRAIG JOHNSON the West

THE COLD DISH (2005, 354pp, Penguin) 10 DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY (2006, 320pp, Penguin) 10 KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED (2007, 336pp, Penguin) 10

TRE Cold Dish reviewed a full seven years after its publication because it sounds the bell, in retrospect, for the multi-media emer- gence of a major mystery author talent and a classic American-style Western hero. Craig Johnson is the author, a native Westerner of 51 years who lives (so fittingly) in Ucross, Wyoming (population 25). Walt Longmire is the Western hero, many-decade sheriff of Cold Dish Death Without vast, mountainous and remote Absaroka County, Wyoming. is the forerunner to four prize-winning books ( Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, Another Man’s Moccasins and The Dark Horse A&E Channel, ) and a cable TV series hit for Longmire. All of these works are crafted beautifully; the writing, the setting, the characters and the plots are all first rate—little wonder A&E’s that the books have sold so well, that the TV show has set viewership records, and that both Johnson and Longmire have Cold Dish become cult heroes. is a splendid kickoff. Walt Longmire deftly, but gruffly, rides herd on a vast jurisdiction troubled by poverty, violence, loneliness and unrelenting bad relationships between the white residents and the Indian residents (mostly Cheyenne) living on, or near, their reservation. Longmire’s lifestyle is emblematic of his jurisdiction: A big man, lonely (a widow of three-years) living in a ramshackle half hut, half ranch house, and dedicated to preserving peace and justice in a savage land. Longmire keeps sane and steady personally and successful professionally with the unspoken but loving support of his sole deputy Victoria Moretti and his Cold Dish, sole friend Henry Standing Bear, a bar-running Native American even gruffer, tougher and bigger than Longmire. In the three solve the unhappy plot of long-distance shootings of the local white young men who brutally raped a beautiful young Cheyenne girl afflicted with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Now, many years post raping (when the revenge dish has grown cold), the young men die sequentially from extremely difficult long-distance shots by a rare Sharps .45-70 buffalo rifle. Supposedly only four men “in county” have that skill, but each is a dead end for Longmire. Longmire finally tracks the killer down; he does his duty—but the killer is an unwelcome surprise. (Contributing Editor William Lilley, III, Washington D.C.) Death Without Company Death is the second installment in the Longmire series. is aptly distilled from the often-quoted Basque Proverb: “A life without friends means death without company.” Fittingly, Basques and their Catalan culture (they still fiercely claim their independence from Spain) play a pivotal role in the mystery. Where they live in impoverished, desolate, mountainous Wyoming is not unlike the rough Pyrenees Mountains they came from, and while their Absaroka population has dwindled in size, their fierce- ness, suspiciousness, and competitiveness make them more influential than their raw numbers—by a large dimension in this episode. The fulcrum for all events—most of them violent—relates to the struggle for the deep coal-embedded methane gas found on Basque land. All the murdered and assaulted victims are Basque, Longmire’s newest deputy is part Basque, a key suspect—the former sheriff and Longmire’s long-time, former boss—is the once-husband of the book’s first victim (a Basque). How Longmire sorts through all the human tragedies driven by hatred and greed, and does so in the midst of a brutal Wyoming winter, constitutes a first-rate mystery, riding the broad back of a larger-than-life American West sheriff. (Contributing Editor William Lilley, III, Washington D.C.) Kindness Goes Unpunished is the third Longmire book, the first to be set outside Wyoming. Even though the book takes place almost entirely in Philadelphia, PA, one of the base themes is Indian-centric, Cheyenne-centric to be precise, as the plot is sustained by Henry Standing Bear’s role at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as curator-wiseman of a priceless collection of centuries-old photos of the Cheyenne, taken by the Mennonite-sect members who had moved from metro Philadelphia (the Delaware Valley is an historic base for the Quaker-like, formerly German-rooted sect) to resettle in rural, mountainous Wyoming, the complete opposite of urbanized, metropolitan Philadelphia. Sheriff Longmire goes on holiday to accompany Henry east and simultaneously spend time with his beloved sole child, Cady who is the rising star on the Philadelphia legal scene. Just as Longmire arrives in Philadelphia, Cady is viciously attacked, almost murdered, but saved at the last minute by a mysterious Good Samaritan. Kindness cleverly combines four sub plots: Cady’s difficult fight to live (she is in a coma from her brain injury); the power and resourcefulness of the Moretti clan (deep South Philadelphian Italian roots) in and around the city’s police force; the murderous machinations of a powerful Hispanic drug gang that has infiltrated the once-powerful WASP players in the legal community; and Henry Standing Bear’s connections with the living-few, part-Cheyenne Philadelphians. The book is fast paced, typical Longmire style, but this is supported by Johnson’s artistically detailed manipulation of the downtown Philadelphia scene, some feat for a Wyoming-bred man who takes great delight in telling Philadelphians that Indians are Indians, not Native-Americans, unless you know what Indian nation any Indian belongs to— e.g., Henry Standing Bear is Cheyenne. (Contributing Editor William Lilley, III, Washington D.C.)

14 BOOK REVIEWS

Birdseye BIRDSEYE: THE I happened to be reading Mark Kurlansky’s when President Obama made his foolish comment ADVENTURES OF A about entrepreneurs and achievers: “…look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own,” CURIOUS MAN and, “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help,” and, “If you’ve got a business— MARK KURLANSKY you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” This put-down of inventors, creators of busi - (2012, 230pp, nesses, product developers, researchers and entrepreneurs, all right at the heart of what makes America so Birdseye, Doubleday) exceptional, revealed a surprising lack of understanding of what makes the country what it is. a Birdseye 8 biography of Clarence (Bob) (1886-1956) makes the case for this. First of all, I was not aware ® that Birds Eye , the frozen food brand we all know so well, took its name from a person of that name! Bob Birdseye, an insatiably curious person, is considered the father of the frozen food industry as a result of his discovery of quick-freezing methods, first applied to freezing fish and then later to fruits, meat, vegetables, and poultry. Interestingly, Birdseye was well ahead of the game since it took some time for the frozen food industry to take off. There was little in the way of refrigerated transport to move the merchandise, grocery stores had not invested in refrigerated display cases and, thirdly, a somewhat reluctant public took a while to embrace frozen food. In 1929, Birdseye sold his company, General Seafood Corporation, and his patents for $22 million to the Postum Company, which later became General Foods, and which founded the Birds Eye Frozen Food Company. Birdseye essentially changed the way we produce, preserve, and distribute food forever. Kurlansky traces the adventures and family life of Birdseye and his numerous other inven- tions, including a type of light bulb, a whaling harpoon, and numerous industrial processes. (SHA)

The derivaOtion Rof wIordGs anId pNhrasSes w Oe useF in c oWnversOationR is aDn intSeres tiAng sNtudy.D The reP areH a nuRmbeAr of SsouErces S on this and Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins the explanations are often at variance. The entries below are taken from by William and Mary Morris. DE RIGUEUR de rigueur That which is (pronounced deh ree-GER) is a “must”—it is absolutely required by etiquette. Taken from the French, the phrase says that it would be unthinkable not to abide by the rules governing dress and conduct for certain de riguer occasions. When an invitation is formal, it is that formal dress be worn by both ladies and gentlemen.. SOS Many people believe SOS stands for “Save Our Ships,” “Save Our Souls,” “Stop Other Signals.” Actually, the letters have no significance whatsoever. In 1908, by international agreement, a signal made up of three dits, three dahs and three dits was adopted as the one most easily transmitted and understood. By coincidence, this signal is translatable as SOS. SOWING WILD OATS Wild oats sowing are tall weeds similar in appearance to oats but relatively worthless. So a person wild oats would be planting a worthless crop, just as a young man does when he fritters away his time in fruitless dissipation. SPARE THE ROD “Spare the rod and spoil the child” The origin of the expression, may be found in Proverbs 12:24; “He that spareth his rod hateth his child; but he that loveth him chastiseth him betimes.” SPEAK/SPEAKEASY speak speakeasy A or was a clandestine saloon during the Prohibition era, so called because it was considered discreet to speak quietly to the doorman when telling him, through a peephole, “Joe sent me.” SPUD spud The original was—and is—a sharp spade used to dig potatoes. SWAN SONG The legend that every swan sings one glorious song just before death is about as old as recorded legend goeth. The fact of the matter is that a swan never sings. But a romantic legend dies hard, especially when poets such as Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Spenser hymn it in verse. Nowadays we often refer to the last great work of a creative artist, be he poet, writer, swan song. painter, or musician, as his T.I.D. All of us at one time or another have puzzled over the curious hen tracks that doctors use in writing the prescriptions we “Sign: T.I.D.” take to the neighborhood pharmacist. When your doctor writes at the bottom of a prescription, he is telling the druggist: “Write on the label that the medicine is to be taken three times a day.” Written out in full, the Latin phrase would look Signum: Tres in die. something like this: TENDERHOOKS tenterhook A tenter is a framework on which newly woven cloth is stretched, and a is one of the hooks on tenterhooks the frame which holds the material taut. Thus, a person on is in a state of great tension or suspense, with anxiety or curiosity “stretched” to the utmost. 15 BOOK REVIEWS

WHY CAPITALISM? Allan Meltzer is a Professor of Political Economy at Carnegie Mellon University and Disting - ALLAN H. MELTZER Preface Why Capitalism?, uished Visiting Scholar at The Hoover Institution. In the to he notes (2012, 143pp, that it was with a combination of “surprise and disbelief” when, in 2008, he read commentaries by Oxford) journalists about the end of capitalism, and was asked to comment. He wondered if they were 10 aware that capitalism had become the dominant form of economic organization that had spread in recent times from North America and Western Europe to Asia, Latin America, and Africa and if they were pleased by the increase in regulation that coincides with sluggish growth and persistent high unemployment. This book, he says, offers his explanation of the success of democratic capitalism and the failure of the alternatives. Meltzer notes that capitalism has three unequaled strengths: I The only system that achieves both economic growth and individual freedom. I It adapts to the diverse cultures of the world. I It works well with people as they are, not as someone would like to make them. The alternatives to capitalism, whether socialism, communism, fascism, or some religious orthodoxy, are based on some group’s utopian vision of mankind, and these utopian visions and Why orthodoxies always bring enforcement, often brutal enforcement. Meltzer’s essays in Capitalism?, dispute the notion that social justice can only be achieved by ending or severely regulating capitalism. This book and its comments on alternate forms of economic organ ization, and others like it, are sorely needed in our educational institutions today to teach our young about capitalism and arm them to fend off those advocating other systems. Meltzer presents concise, cogent arguments to show how, for all its flaws, there is no better system for providing growth and personal freedom than capitalism. (SHA) THE AMATEUR New York Times Edward Klein is a bestselling author of several books, former editor of EDWARD KLEIN Newsweek, New York Times former editor-in-chief of the magazine, and a contributing editor of (2012, 258pp, Vanity Fair. The Amateur In (a word used by former President Bill Clinton to describe President Regnery) Obama), subtitled “Barack Obama in the White House,” Klein has written a “reporter’s book,” one based on interviews with some 200 people and his transcribed notes ran almost 1,000 pages. He notes that some of the interviewees were positive about Obama and others were negative, but Introduction “the stories they told were remarkably consistent.” The says that this research tells, “the story of a man who is at bottom temperamentally unsuited to be the chief executive and commander in chief of the United States of America. Here in these interviews we come face to face with something new in American politics—The Amateur—a president who is inept in the arts of management and governance, who doesn’t learn from his mistakes, and who therefore repeats those policies that make our economy less robust and our nation less safe. We discover a man who blames all his problems on those with whom he disagrees (“Washington,” “Republicans,” “the media”), who discards old friends and supporters when they are no longer useful (Democrats, African-Americans, Jews), and who is so thin- skinned that he constantly complains about what people say and write about him. We come to know a strange kind of politician, one who derives no joy from the cut and thrust of politics, but who clings to the narcissistic life of the presidency.” Klein sets out to answer some of the critical questions about “complicated by the fact that Obama and Obama as he nears the end of his four-year term, his job his advisors have gone to elaborate lengths to hide his dark side.” Klein notes that Obama supporters claim that he has been falsely charged with being a left wing ideologue. Klein concluded that, in revolt “Obama is actually against the values of the society he was elected to lead. This is why, he has refused to embrace American exceptionalism why he has railed at the the author notes, and capitalist system, demonized the wealthy, and embraced the Occupy Wall Street movement. Many of the circumstances and events in this book will be familiar to readers who pay attention and stay current. The “new” revel ations to this reader centered on how decisions are made in the White House (and the important role of Valerie Jarrett in this regard, as well as Michelle Obama) and the manner in which the Obamas have snubbed some of their important supporters since gaining office. (SHA) 16 BOOK REVIEWS

THE ROAD Hayek wrote this historical, economic, and cultural classic during World War II, in order to warn his TO SERFDOM collea gues at the London School of Economics about the dangers of socialism. His thesis is simple, the F.A. HAYEK exposition profound. Nineteenth century economic freedom, and democratic competitive capitalism (2007, 267pp, created and deli vered more goods and services to more people than at any other time in history. (Even University of Karl Marx agreed.) Nevertheless, European intellectuals deplored capitalism’s selfishness and unequal Chicago Press) distribution of wealth. They advocated socialism—government ownership of the resources of produc- 10+ tion and distribution; they theorized a collectivist utopia through central planning. From the grave, Hayek tells us how utopian central planners proceeded toward their chimera. Hayek traces the roots of both Fascism and Communism to 19th century German socialism. A central plan works only if the government planners have the power to coerce everyone to conform. Their end justifies whatever means are necessary—thus, eliminating any moral considerations. Since the leader’s instruments of power must have no moral convictions of their own, the worst sort of people get to the top. Propaganda replaces truth. The rule of law is subverted. Class warfare is justified. Economic care replaces economic freedom. Thus, the liberals who claim to honor liberty and economic freedom instead deliver autocratic Preface dependency. In his to the 1976 edition of this seminal work, Hayek makes it clear that the same outcome can result from pursuing “social justice,” the “…extensive redistribution of income through taxation and the institution of the welfare state.” Think of Obamacare. Nancy Pelosi admitted that the Congress had no idea what was in the 2000-plus page bill they passed. They defaulted to unelected “experts,” who will now make up a planning board. Hayek: “There is in a competitive society, nobody who can exercise even a fraction of the power which a planning board would possess.” The Road to Serfdom If you want to see where this is going, read before the November election. It has only 236 pages of text—less than most “escape” novels. Hayek offers a challenge to all of us. If you are on the political right, you will find he believes conservatism does not appeal to the young and, “…by its very nature, is bound to be a defender of established privilege and lean on the power of government for the protection of privilege.” If you are a libertarian, you will find that Hayek does laissez faire; not believe in he acknowledges the necessity of limited government, e.g. to maintain competition and opportunity. Read Hayek if you think “liberal” means submission to the creed of “social justice” as a necessary qualification for acceptance in some elite intellectual milieu. Hayek defines 19th century liberalism as liberty and individual economic freedom. Twenty-first century “liberals” have corrupted the word to mean that the rewards you have earned by diligently pursuing liberty and economic freedom should be taken away and given to someone else. (Contributing Editor Hugh Evans, Los Angeles, CA)

Do YouEve r WKondenr Whyo? w Why? The entries below form By Douglas B. Smith are noted as another indication of the ever-fascinating manner in which our language was developed. A wedding ring is always worn on We say “one fell swoop” to the third finger? describe an act carried out swiftly? fell It was once believed that a vein of blood ran directly In this expression the word has nothing to do with the from the third finger voenn ath aem leofrti sh, and to the heart. verb “tfoe lf, all” but comes instead from an Anglo-Saxon fel The vein was called or the vein of love, word, meaningf efileornc. e or savage. This is the same and early writings on matrimonial procedure suggested found in the word “One fell swoop,” then, means that it would be appropriate for one’s wedding ring “a sudden and fierce act,” similar to the way a hawk to be worn on that special finger. swoops down suddenly and fiercely grabs its prey.

17 BOOK REVIEWS

Agent Garbo AGENT GARBO is subtitled “The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent who Tricked Hitler and Saved STEPHAN TALTY D-Day.” That agent was initially a nobody, a Spanish chicken farmer who was determined to (2012, 256pp, help do in Hitler and the Germans. His name was Juan Pujol (1912-1988) who, through his own Houghton Mifflin guile, convinced the Abwehr (German intelligence) in Madrid to employ him as an agent and later Harcourt) persuaded the highly skeptical British to engage him as a double agent. Pujol was given the code 9 name “Arabel” by the Germans but MI5 rechristened him as “Garbo,” after the actress, because he struck them as “the best actor in the world.” Working first out of Madrid and later out of London with a network of fictitious spies throughout the UK and managed by a team of British Intelligence, Pujol (Garbo) was able to earn the trust and admiration of the Germans for his “invaluable” information. His signature feat of deception, as the subtitle denotes, was to help convince the Germans that the planned Allied invasion would not occur at Normandy but at Calais, thus diminishing the number of troops and equipment committed to Normandy. That this ruse was successful was unimaginable. How do you hide assembly and movements of some two million Allied troops, and thousands of ships, armaments, and supplies? And how can you convince the German High Command that, even after the Normandy invasion occurred, this was just a feint to cover the real invasion force coming elsewhere? By the time the German Army awakened, it was already too late as the Allies had established their positions and were moving toward Berlin. Talty tells the adventures of Juan Pujol with liveliness and suspense, making it fine entertainment for all readers. After the D-Day success, historian Roger Fleetwood-Hesketh said (about Pujol): “His contribution to D-Day was indeed stranger than fiction… It could not have been done without him… It was Garbo’s message… which changed the course of the battle in Normandy” and General Eisenhower said to Tommy Harris (Garbo’s “handler”), “Your work with Mr. Pujol most probably amounts to the equivalent of a whole army division” and “You have saved a lot of lives Mr. Harris.” Pujol was awarded the MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire)… and the Iron Cross by Germany! (SHA) THE CHESSMAN The Chessman opens with the discovery of the murder of C. Kenneth Gottlieb, a commissioner JEFFREY B. BURTON and soon-to-be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The killing was marked by (2011, 347pp, a single chess piece inserted into the killing wound. Special Agent Drew Cady, retired from the MacAdam Cage) FBI for the past three years, is called back to assist with this case since it was Cady who led the 8 chase for a serial killer called “The Chessman.” Had the Chessman, thought to have been killed returned or was this a copycat killer? Cady, left damaged physically and mentally by the Chessman reluctantly agrees to help, requiring him to reinvestigate the old crimes to help in solving the Gottlieb case. Since that investigation tarnished his reputation and cost him his marriage, he has a chance here to rebuild his self-esteem and improve his standing in the eyes of his fellow agents. From these beginnings, Burton weaves a complex plot which take some sharp turns, surprising and perhaps challenging the reader if you are not paying close attention. A puzzling financial component is added as the Chessman killing occur, a Madoff-life Ponzi scheme which gives the The Chessman, story a second dynamic. reviewed quite well by others (a little less so here), is a creative piece of writing with a growing sense of drama and violence. (SHA) CITY OF WOMEN David Gillham’s excellent historical novel is set in 1943 Berlin, the height of World War II, DAVID R. GILLHAM and centers on civilian German women (the men have been conscripted to the German Army) (2012, 390pp, who are coping with shortages and regular air raids from the British, a grim existence with much Einhorn) of life lived in the shadows. He introduces the reader of Sigrid Schröder, an unassuming typist in 9 the patent office who lives with, and barely tolerates her difficult hateful mother-in-law. She is stuck in a loveless marriage with her husband, Kaspar, who is fighting on the Eastern Front. Her life of just making do under tough circumstances, however is shaken, when she engages in a passionate love affair with a Jewish man involved in nefarious activities. She becomes involved with a young woman neighbor who draws her into an underground network hiding Jews from the Gestapo, and she befriends new neighbors in the apartment house, a wounded German officer and Afterword his two sisters. In an interesting entitled “What would Any of Us Do?”, Gillham notes Continued on page 19 18 Jan e’s SELECTIONS By Contributing Editor Jane Ackerman, Studio City, CA SCATTER MY ASHES AT BERGDORF GOODMAN (Sara James Mnookin) I know that SHA finds it hard to believe that every book I read will not necessarily be reviewed, so after a very slow (lazy) start this quarter, I was more than happy to receive this book from my darling daughter-in-law, Sarah. I sat right down and read it through, getting up only for cocktails and dinner. I don’t think there is a woman anywhere who is not mesmerized upon entering Bergdorf’s for the first time. It is a memorable experience because, let’s face it, it is the best! This book gives you the history of how Edwin Goodman bought out his partner, Herman Bergdorf and moved the store in 1907 to its current location at Fifth Avenue between 57th and 58th Street. With the help of Ethel Frankau, a talented dressmaker, success was on its way. Until his death in 1993, the Goodman’s lived on the top floor in a very stylish apartment and, when you entered the store, it was not unusual for Edwin Goodman to greet you at the door. The book relates personal stories of their unique employees, famous designers, and celebrities, all who could not wait to be part of Bergdorf Goodman. This is just a charming part of New York history, a beacon for all of us. The book will make a wonderful gift, but don’t forget to keep a copy for your self. It’s great!! GONE GIRL (Gillian Flynn) Gone Girl is a book about marriage, although you may want to skip it after reading the book! Amy and Nick have been married for five years and, on this day, their fifth anniversary, Nick cannot find her. He calls his twin sister, Margo, and finally the police, after which the search for her begins. It becomes apparent that Amy has left a “treasure hunt” of clues, which she has done each anniver- sary. Nick’s anxiety mounts because the husband always seems to be the first suspect, even though no body has been found. The narrative speaks from the first person and alternates between Nick and Amy, so that the reader is on to the plot as well as Amy’s psychologically sick mind. The story continues with Nick, just a day away from being arrested, on television begging Amy to come back and promising that he will be a model husband and love her forever. The ending is chilling. Many of my friends have recom- mended this book, saying, “This is one you just can’t put down.” I, on the other hand, do not recommend it. I felt it was devious, disturbing, and extremely dark and not my type of book at all!! THE SINS OF THE FATHER (Jeffrey Archer) Best-selling English author Jeffrey Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, was educated at Oxford and served five years in Britain’s House of Commons and 14 years in the House of LTorhdes .S Hiniss opfo tlhiteic Fala cthaerer er ended with his conviction and subsequent imprisonment for perjury and perOvenrltyin Tgi mthe Wcoiullr sTee ollf. justice. is the second installment of Archer’s five volume Clifton Chronicles, the sequel to The story opens with Harry Clifton assuming the identity of his friend, Tom Bradshaw, who had died on a cruise liner. When he arrives in New York, Harry is arrested as Tom Bradshaw for murder and desertion and sent to prison for a six-year sentence. While there, he meets Pat Quinn, a fellow inmate, who advises him on prison life and helps him to find work in the library. Once there, he begins a diary of daily life in prison, which Max Lloyd, the librarian, copies and prints as a book. Emma Barrington, the mother of Harry’s child and love of his life, comes to New York to see if she can find Harry and discovers the book being sold at a book signing. Emma, once having read the book, knew that only Harry could have written it and the intrigue continues. As in all of Jeffrey Archer’s books, there are numerous characters and one must pay close attention to keep track of the story. The overriding theme in this book, and maybe through the entire series, is “Who is Harry Clifton’s father?” Is it Sir Hugo Barrington (Emma’s father) or Arthur Clifton? The marriage of Harry and Emma depends on the answer to this question. So far, we don’t know the conclusion, but it is enough to keep me waiting eagerly for the third book in the series. It’s great!!

Continued from page 18 that the book arose from his desire to write about history and about “ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances.” The Berlin of 1943 was characterized by a growing sense that Germany was losing the war, by Gestapo sweeps to locate and deport all Jewish people, and, of course the bombing and the rigors of war. His protagonist, Sigrid, is an ordinary person living a passive life, only to see her circumstances change dramatically, drawn into City of perilous endeavors in which she is making one dangerous choice after the next. Women is, ultimately, a suspenseful literary effort which asks the reader “What would you do?” were you to be confronted by these extreme circumstances. (SHA)

19 BOOK REVIEWS

EVENSONG Evensong is an evening prayer service used in the Anglican (Espicopalian) church, frequently characterized BROOKS FIRESTONE Evensong, by having most of the service sung by a choral group. In his thoroughly enjoyable Brooks (2012, 304pp, Firestone chronicles his adventures (and those of his wife, Kate) as, together, they have embraced choral Guindoon Publishers) singing in their retirement years. Firestone, grandson of Harvey Firestone, founder of the Firestone Tire 8 Company, worked for the company for 12 years after graduating from Columbia University and serving in the U.S. Army. He then moved his family to the Santa Ynez Valley (CA) to found Firestone Vineyard, and later served as a Santa Barbara County Super visor and a member of the California State Assembly. He met Kate, an English clergyman’s daughter, when she was dancing with England’s Royal Ballet, and they have been married for 54 years. Now in their mid-70s, Brooks and Kate have found a shared passion in choral singing, beginning with their church in Los Olivos (CA) and the Santa Barbara Choral Society, and taking them to singing adventures around the world. The bigger story here is that of extending oneself, reinventing oneself, to make life fulfilling and satisfying in our later years. When the Choral Society joined Carmina Burana with the Santa Barbara Symphony to sing the opening chorus of for the opening of Santa Barbara’s Granada Theatre, he described it as follows: “The downbeat of Carmina Burana is a full orchestra chord, punctuated by an oversized bass drum, and the next note adds a full voiced, double forte, crashing, ‘O!’ My friends out front told me later that the audience literally jumped out of their seats on our opening shock. The bass voices played off the drum with a firm and lusty foundation; the tenors, as usual when given license, soared; the altos unfurled their full, feminine wings and richly nurtured and bonded the mix; the sopranos, as is their wont, sailed to the ceiling and rained magic; and the symphony played their hearts out. When we all came down to earth again with the quiet section, Kate and I—and I am sure the whole chorus—were in a chill of excitement.”Evensong highlights the need and the pleasure in later years of not only nurturing our relationships with family and friends, but to reaching out filling our hours with interests and activities of importance and fulfillment. (SHA)

Jane Says: “As SHA heard from our taxi driver/philosopher in Dublin (Ireland), ‘women are meant to be loved, not understood.’ Now, do you think that will sink in?”

TRE Contributing Editors Jane Ackerman (Studio City, CA) John D. Kyle (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL) Robert H. Bunzel (Piedmont, CA) Jenny Lawrence (New York, NY) William Dohrmann (Stonington, CT) William Lilley, III (Washington, D.C.) Hugh Evans (Los Angeles, CA) Elaine Lisle (Bryn Mawr, PA) James Galbraith (Pasadena, CA) Patricia Santa Cruz (Menlo Park, CA) ABOUT THE READERS EXCHANGE &

The Readers Exchange (TRE) is published to serve as a forum through which readers can exchange their thoughts about H O

books. This purpose is served in two ways. First, current book reviews are provided by the Publisher and the Contributing W

TRE T

Editors of . These reviews are brief and to-the-point, and ratings are provided to assign a relative level of satisfaction to O

S

the book. Through this medium, we hope to assist with book selection, heighten the awareness of reading for pleasure, and U B

encourage non-readers to become active readers. S C

Subscriptions— The Readers Exchange R

is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December by Stephen H. I B Ackerman. Annual subscriptions are available at the rate of $45 per year. The International rate is $55 per year. Call E (818) 769-8944 or (866) 769-8944 (toll free) for subscription information and inquiries.

The Readers Exchange, 3275 Oakdell Lane, Studio City, CA 91604 Telephone 866-769-8944 or 818-769-8944 • Fax 818-769-2367 • E-mail: [email protected] WWW.THE-READERS-EXCHANGE.COM 20