Date
Title
Comments
Undaunted
Courage:
Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West
by Stephen E. Ambrose
This was an awesome book. Ambrose is a historian by training who writes
for popular consumption. Meaning you get an excellently researched book,
that has footnotes, without the pedantic plodding that history is often
stereotyped with, largely stemming from the boring survey books so many
are forced to read as part of a required college class. More importantly
though is that Ambrose is an amazing writer, he can really tell a tale.
He understands the key necessity of primary sources and that history is
the anecdotes of someone else's experience. His story, the history, comes
to life with the appropriate background and first hand accounts that bring
to life the times of which he writes. This is the amazing story of the
Lewis and Clark expedition. It is a story that Ambrose is passionate about,
having spent countless hours walking the trail himself with his family
in addition to pouring over the journals themselves. The resulting work
is a fascinating view of the world of Lewis and Clark and the incredible
journey they took. Like any good historian Ambrose creates the world view
from which the characters and the story takes place. This provides the
contextual understanding of Jefferson and Lewis's motivation and generates
what I consider to be one of history's true joys, the "a-ha"
insight into a historical event that gives real meaning to your knowledge.
The fulfillment of the "get thee understanding". This is the
meat of knowing that hangs on the bones of fact.
For example I found it insightful regarding the modus operandi and attitude
of the Virginia Tobacco plantations, versus say that of the German farmers
further south. The descriptions of the various native American's and their
cultures that the expedition encountered was amazing. I thought it striking
that grizzly bears were so common in the Rockies. And lastly I was shocked
that Meriwether Lewis committed suicide while traveling from St. Louis
to D.C.
Read this book!
Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
by Alfred Lansing
The title says it all, Endurance. The name of the boat the sailed taken from Shackleton's family motto, "By endurance we conquer".
What a story! Ernest Shackleton what a man. Since the south pole had already been "discovered", in 1914 Shackelton decided to dog sled across the continent of Antarctica! Unfortunately upon reaching the east coast his ship became locked in the ice eventually completely demolished by the ice flow. Cast out they lived on a floating ice pack for ten months! When they were down to one small berg they abandoned the ice and sailed in very small lifeboats to a barren rock Elephant Island. Here 21 stayed behind and Shackleton and 6 others sailed in a 22 foot lifeboat over 800 miles to the whaling port of St. George! Talk about endurance, the word pales in the accomplishment of these men. And mostly in the fortitude of will that one man Shackleton had.
Some enlightening aspects:
The men on Elephant Island so desperate for cigarettes they smoked the inside packing of their boots.
Sea Biscuits on the voyage to St. George's Island, "You stare at them for Breakfast, you suck on them for lunch and eat them for dinner".
Shackleton dirty, stinky and having just climbed over impassible mountains knocking on the door of the whaling postmasters door was asked "Who the hell are you?" and replying:
"My Name is Shackleton".
I highly recommend this white-knuckle, bone crunching, gut-wrenching adventure story that you will not be able to put down and will enthrall you. I was so excited I also bought the complete photo record.
Also the documentary is amazing, Hurly the ships photographer took quite a bit of actual footage.
Enigma
by Robert Harris
Robert Harris literary theme thus far in his career (three books) seems to be to take some pivotal event in modern history and slowly reveal it over the course of a tightly related murder investigation. What made Fatherland fascinating was that he also threw in the twist of "what if Hitler hadn't lost the war". His description of a modern day Germany centered on monolithic monuments that were logical extensions of Hitler's propensity for the awe inspiring event. Harris's characters were realistically drawn and the mystery of the murder was taut and interesting. I wont give away the historical revelation, but I feel that by far this is his best book.
Enigma
by Robert Harris
I found this a harder book to wade through than Fatherland. I suppose this was partially due to a darker tone to the book, which maybe was imparted by the fact that much of the book take's place in the middle of the night. I am sure another aspect was that the some of the subject matter seemed a bit redundant to me, having recently finished the lengthy tome Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. I was also put off by the now familiar, having read FatherLand and Archangel previously, literary and thematic twist that Harris employs of couching the revelation of historical pogroms and monstrostisties as the cause of the books mystery. All of these three books employ this same device, so that by the end of Enigma I was not that surprised by the historical cause of the "enigma". Having said all of that, I did enjoy the book, especially the insight into the accomplishments of Bletchley Park as well as the mystery Claire's disappearance. I guess it was just not as enjoyable as Fatherland, and it was probably a mistake to tear through three of his books in so short a time period.
D-Day
June 6, 1944 :
The Climactic Battle of World War II
by Stephen E. Ambrose
I started reading this after having read Undaunted Courage, I had actually purchased it at a used bookstore several years ago hoping to read it at Yellowstone, but never got around to it. See my general comments regarding Ambrose and his style of writing, they apply to this work as well.
World War II is a subject that Ambrose knows well. His "big break" came as a biographer for General Eisenhower, the supreme commander of allied forces at D-day Ambrose was also the technical consultant for Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan.
Rich anecdotal evidence and a tapestry of understanding place you squarely in the action. The long preparation's, the tedious and detailed planning. The drawn out anticipation of the day. Finally the culmination is the detailed commencement of the attack: division by division: 1st and 29th, 82nd and 101st, beach by beach: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword, branch by branch: Air Force, Navy, Army and country by country, America, Britan, Canada.
Once again the stark revelatory insights make the the history memorable Men sinking under the weight of their own equipment as they hit the waters. Infantry making their own way to the bluffs and up the cliffs with very little organized direction and few appointed leaders, but many men of the hour. The endless flotilla of landing craft. The destructive power of the "big guns", the US Navy's 14 inch gun's and the German's 88s (millimeters).
Highly recommenced as an appreciative understanding of the human cost of war and the force of American organization.
A Novel of Fevers, Delirium & Discovery
by Amitav Ghosh
There was a lilting rhythm to this book that had a familiar resonation. The turn of the phrase, the dialog, the manner of story telling was very reminiscent of The Moors Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie a book I have read but not reviewed here yet. I don't want to make broad sweeping stereotypes regarding an Indian style, but I will at the minimum note in passing a similarity between this and the one book I have read by Rushdie.
Having said that I found this in the end an unsatisfying book. It was a book of many things, science fiction, a medical history of malaria, and a spiritual exploration of transmigration of the soul. I found it a bit slow in starting up, once going my interest was piqued regarding the mystery of the discovery of malaria and the hidden truth behind it, however my main disappointment was that the resolution to the mystery and the ending itself were poorly wrought. Barely even explained, unclearly described I was left scratching my head with a "huh?"
I don't know if I would recommend this book, I would state the caveats and let you make your own choice.
Ghost
Soldiers:
The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission.
by Hampton Sides
This is the tale of the Army Rangers rescue mission to save American
POWs, many whom were survivor's of the Bataan Death March. The POW's were
interred at Cabanatuan Prison in the Philippines, and the returning invasion
of McArthur worried the Japanese would massacre them. The author alternates
chapters between the stories of the POWs and the Rangers. The POW chapters
cover the fall of Bataan, the Death March and the interment at the Cabanatuan
Prison. The Ranger chapters briefly cover the history of the Rangers and
discusses in detail the preparations for and the raid itself. Despite
the historical topic, the book is a real page turner. The author, who
is a journalist, does a great job of creating suspense where the outcome
is known, and paints a graphic portrait of life as a POW.
One commendable thing I found about the book was the evenhandedness of
the accounts of the Japanese war crimes and atrocities. There was no attempt
made to lambast the Japanese, some effort was made to explain their acts
without presumption of being able to fully divine their intent and yet
at the same time there was no exoneration either. One of the most fascinating
themes for me in college was that of War. Why we go to war? What devices
are used by political entities to employ a countries resources, human
and otherwise in war? etc. One of my favorite quotes from the book was:
"the story of war is always the story of hate; it makes no difference
with whom one fights. The hate destroys you..." I highly recommend
this book.