This is a wonderful book. It has the evil banker, the corrupt sheriff, the camaraderie of outcasts, a manic killer, and a nice little love story and t...moreThis is a wonderful book. It has the evil banker, the corrupt sheriff, the camaraderie of outcasts, a manic killer, and a nice little love story and the vast plains of North Dakota and Montana. I love historical novels that portray an era with lots of detail. That this book was also a mystery was just an added bonus.
I have always loved going to annual thresher shows here in the Midwest, watching men (rarely women) lovingly fire up huge boilers on old tractors that would be used to power monster threshing machines. A substantial amount of manual labor was still required to collect the cut wheat from the reapers, haul it to the thresher, fork it on to the belts, bag up the grain, and then burn the huge piles of straw chaff.
Burning became part of an economic problem as farmers, during the boom years, abandoned livestock and other crops for King Wheat. As they planted fence row to fence row they had little use for wheat’s by-products and this led to fields cleared of stubble or any kind of ground cover. (I recommend the The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan for a sobering account of effects of this detrimental process.)
Charlie runs away from his alcoholic father’s farm where he has been maltreated. He becomes a “bindlestiff,” one of the men who followed the thresher machines with his belongings in a “bindle” or backpack which included a bedroll and whatever other meager belongings the migrant worker might have. On his way to locate the threshers (usually just by walking toward the smoke from straw fires in the distance), he passes a strange sight, an odd looking man pitching straw from a pile on to the ground. Thinking nothing of it, he continues on. The reader knows he has witnessed the burial of Mabel, another of a serial killer’s victims.
During a spectacular contest that pitted “a Garr-Scott 18-50 double-simple steam engine pulling a six-bottom John Deere plow against a Reeves undermounted complex 15-45 (said to be highly underrated) pulling an eight-bottom plow of Reeves manufacture, made for the specific tractor,” --I love that kind of detail-- Mabel’s body is disinterred (the new plows cut deeper than the older ones.) The coincidence of Charlie running away and Mabel’s death are too much for Tom Hollander, the local sheriff, who sets out to find him by following the thresher crews as they move across the plains of Wyoming and Montana. Charlie is taken in by Avery, an itinerant machinist who leads a group called the Ark, which follows the crews fixing machines and providing sanctuary for social outcasts. Charlie discovers he has a true talent for braising, fixing, and running the huge machines.
Meanwhile, the Windmill Man, meanders throughout the area,indiscriminately killing and assuming identities, a veritable psychopath, assuming he is is doing God’s work. ”The search and the season wore on. People worked, made money, ate bountiful meals, nursed aching muscles, made babies, incurred horrible injuries, went to church, loved the land sowed, reaped, and harvested. And here and there, one at a time, a few people disappeared.”
I loved passages like the following that displayed an intimate knowledge (or lots of research) into the idiosyncrasies of individual brands of machines that make me long for the thresher shows every year where old men will talk lovingly of these huge monster smoke-belching machines. “The Gaar is know for getting very last kernel out of the wheat. That’s why they have the rooster for their label You know, no dropped kernels left for the hungry bird? But that also means it’s sort of like a cow. Every now and then, you have to stop and just let it chew.”
An excellent combination of history, sociology, and mystery. I received this book as an advanced reader copy. That it was was free affected my opinion not a whit.(less)
This book has a kazillion ratings and reviews so I doubt there is little I can add. I found the story and dialog to be quite believable. As someone wh...moreThis book has a kazillion ratings and reviews so I doubt there is little I can add. I found the story and dialog to be quite believable. As someone who came of age during the sixties I well remember the battles, both physical and verbal, between the “separate-but-equal” crowd and those pushing hard for civil rights. We lived in a suburb of Philadelphia and my mother had a lady come in once a week to do the cleaning. I happened to be home from school one day - it must have been a holiday or something - and at lunch I took my bowl of soup and crackers into the dining room with my book (reading, not TV, is the foundation of anti-social behavior) while my mother and the cleaning lady (it still is irksome to use that term) ate in the kitchen. My mother later told me the lady said it was the first time she had ever sat at the same table to eat something with a white woman. (My mother had issues of her own, but they had more to do with educational elitism than race per se, witness her early antipathy to our adoption of several mixed-race children whom she perceived to be a less than stellar intellect. This was in the early seventies when cross-racial adoption was still a rarity.)
Much as I despise religion, I have to give it credit for providing the impetus (at least in the north, but also in some churches in the south) for the civil rights movement. It was distinctly a religious crusade, fostered by the National of Islam under Elijah Mohammed (the so-called Black Muslims,) some Catholic priests like the Berrigans (much to the dismay of their bishops) and many Protestant ministers. Bombings of churches could only lend more credibility to the marchers.
I was attending a Quaker school and remember hearing stories about one family in the Meeting that adamantly refused to permit letting blacks into the Meeting. This was in the fifties. Since Quakers have to do everything by consensus, they could essential block black membership. The issue remained unresolved until the family saw the proverbial handwriting on the wall and moved away.
I read many of the reviews and comments on Amazon and was struck by a couple who thought the book demeaned black maids. I found just the contrary, that if any group was degraded, it was the clique of white girls who, with only a few exceptions, didn’t do anything of worth and cared mostly for clothes, boyfriends, and whether a black ass had sat on their white toilet seat. Some African American readers felt the black maids were demeaned by the book. I find many of these comments quite interesting because I don't think the book is about black maids at all. I think it's about a vapid white culture that is concerned with appearances and boys, and make-up and whether their precious behinds will be soiled by sitting on a toilet that might have been used by a black person. For me, the book ridiculed that white culture and showed how one person made an attempt to cross over and understand the other culture's point of view, but it remains the perception of the white culture at the time so by necessity, the view of black dialect and actions must be a flawed one.
I loved the scene where Abilene is trying to potty-train Mae Mobley and is in a quandary because the child needs to see how adults do it, yet Abilene is terrified to use the bathroom in the white house rather than the colored one built for her in the garage. So she shows her the colored one which Mae Mobley Leefolt then wants to use all the time, to her white mother’s horror.
Yes, there are some anachronistic events, yes, the dialect seems forced sometimes. So what. Outstanding book that reveals the tensions of being black and a decadent and dying white culture in the United States during a period of cultural upheaval.(less)
Goodreads freebie (Thanks!) This is the third book in a series about Gaius Ruso. I have not read the others - normally I prefer to read a series in or...moreGoodreads freebie (Thanks!) This is the third book in a series about Gaius Ruso. I have not read the others - normally I prefer to read a series in order -- but this one can be read without having read the others.
Gaius Ruso is a medical officer with the Roman Legion serving in Britain when he receives an obscure message ostensibly from his brother, Lucius, demanding that he return to Roma at once. Easier said than done, since the voyage home required more than a month of sea and overland travel. Stranger yet, when he arrives home, his brother denies having sent the message and in fact regrets his arrival since Roman law prohibited seizing the land and property of anyone serving in the army. Lucius had imprudently made some loan and repayment agreements with Serverus who now declares the repayment had never been made and is foreclosing on their property. Ruso, attempts to set things right, but during a meeting with Serverus, the latter falls over dead from poison, claiming "the bitch" has killed him.
Tilla, the barbarian and Ruso's lover, tends to steal the show on occasion, and she is certainly the most interesting character. She appears the more enlightened, hardly the "barbarian," given the Roman predilection for tying people to posts for entertainment and watching wild animals eat them. Nevertheless, we don't see Tilla much -- at least in this book -- in her native surroundings so it's hard to judge.
If I have one complaint, it's that the book did not have enough period detail, something I really like in historical fiction. Many people find it tedious; I do not. On the other hand, little tidbits like, shoving one's feet into "indoor sandals," and "by law, all the household slaves who had been under the same roof as a murdered master should be put to death for failing to save him, even if they could not possibly have helped," and one way to keep a household under control was by executing the relatives. Hmmm, that one has possibilities.(less)
One of the reviewers on Amazon complained that this book had little to do with gardening. Good grief!
I think Le Carre has made the transition from Co...moreOne of the reviewers on Amazon complained that this book had little to do with gardening. Good grief!
I think Le Carre has made the transition from Cold War spy novels to contemporary issue thrillers quite handsomely. In this book, he really goes after the pharmaceutical companies, accusing them not only of unethical practices using Africans as guinea pigs, but also suggests they would kill anyone whom might deign to challenge their unholy hegemony.
It's also truly a great love story. The relationship of trust and reliance that emerges gradually through the course of the novel between Tessa and Justin is really wonderful. Unusual perhaps; striking, nevertheless.
This is a tale of grand corruption on an international scale but also a celebration (albeit tragic) of the idealistic individual. But I warn you, it's a dark tale.(less)
Halpert was a B-17 navigator who flew thirty-five missions out of England over Germany. Navigators, for some unfathomable reason, had a desk that was...moreHalpert was a B-17 navigator who flew thirty-five missions out of England over Germany. Navigators, for some unfathomable reason, had a desk that was only a few inches off the floor, which meant they spent most of their time on their knees during the flights. Halpert vividly describes his "dread" -- he, too, used the word to describe how they felt about missions ( see my review of Bloody Skies A 15th Aaf B-17 Combat Crew How They Lived and Died-- and the intricate relationships of the crew members, who totally relied on each other to return safely.
There were always accidents: bombs that fell on top of the plane below (McGuire has a photo of just such an incident), mid-air collisions between friends while trying to form up before crossing the Channel, and horrifying crashes while trying to lift overloaded planes into the air. Any engine failure on takeoff inevitably resulted in a massive conflagration.
I suspect many of the incidents recounted by Halpert in the novel probably really took place. For example, one of the planes reported a stow-away. The bundled him into some blankets and found an extra oxygen bottle, but the man, a clerk, decked out in his Class A uniform, waited until they reached a high altitude and stepped out of the plane through the waist gunner's opening -- without a parachute. They later learned one of his close friends had been killed on a mission.
Given the extraordinarily high casualty rate among aircrews, the only analogy that springs to mind is soldiers in World War I climbing out of their trenches into the face of enemy machine guns to recapture a few square yards of mud.
**spoiler alert** Cornwell, best known for his Sharpe series, which takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, has an interest in early Arthurian history...more**spoiler alert** Cornwell, best known for his Sharpe series, which takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, has an interest in early Arthurian history as well and has written several books related to that legend (I haven’t read any yet). He has also written a book about Stonehenge, and his most recent, Archer’s Tale (I was able to snag an advanced reader’s copy) takes place during the 14th century. A young archer, son of a priest and a serving woman, is orphaned during a French raid on his father’s village. His father had brought a lance to the village where he was priest, and one of the reasons for the raid was to steal the lance, which reputedly had reliquary powers. Young Thomas swears revenge.
Off to France, Thomas becomes part of Edward III’s campaign against the French (this is the beginning of the Hundred Year’s War). He’s bright and an excellent archer, so he is soon part of the Earl of Northumberland’s retinue and plays an important part in the destruction of several French fortresses. He also gains Sir Simon Jekyll as an enemy. Cornwell has done his research and, in a historical note, states that all of the battles and events are real, as are a majority of the characters . For example, the battle and destruction of Caen took place exactly as it does in the novel. He’s also included lots of fascinating detail about medieval warfare, including this description of loading the earliest cannons: “[Gunpowder:] was made from saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal, but the saltpeter was heavier than the other ingredients and always settled to the bottom of the barrels while the charcoal rose to the top so the gunners had to stir the mix thoroughly before they ladled the deadly powder into the bellies of the jars. They placed a shovelful of loam, made from water and clay soil, in the narrow part of each gun’s neck before loading the crudely sculpted stone balls that were the missiles. The loam was to seal the firing chamber so that the power of the explosion did not leak away before the powder had caught fire. Still more loam was packed about the stone balls to fill the space between the missiles and the barrels, then the gunners had to wait while the loam hardened to make a firmer seal.”
During the destruction of Caen, Thomas has the good luck to save the life of Eleanor, who turns out to be the daughter of Sir Guillaume d’Eveque, the man whose herald Thomas had seen during the destruction of his village. D’Eveque then saves Thomas’s life and reveals to him that Thomas may be one of the Vexilles, supporters of the Cathars, heretics who believed that the church was unnecessary for salvation, which came from within. Thomas’s father, a priest, was in hiding from the rest of the Vexilles, but he had stolen the lance of St. George. So despite himself, Thomas's fate seems to be inexorably drawn to retrieval of the lance that also has a connection with the Holy Grail.
Cornwell is a master at conveying a sense of time and place. The importance of the longbow (called that only later — here it is properly called just the bow) and the advantage it gave to the English becomes clear. An archer could loose 3-4 arrows in the time one crossbow quarrel could be fired, and Cornwell quotes Benjamin Franklin in the epilogue as saying the American Revolution could have been won much faster had the Americans used the bow instead of the musket, but it was easier to train someone to use a musket than to learn the technique of the longbow. Its destructive power at Crecy, the denouement of The Archer’s Tale, is vividly recounted in as bloody a scene as you can imagine.
Sherman’s march to Atlanta pales by comparison to Edward’s chevauchee, the wastage of the French countryside. Everything was destroyed in the hope that the French would leave the security of their castles and come out to fight in order to prevent more destruction. You also get a real understanding of how miserable it was to be a peasant, a plaything for armies, subject to the wrath of soldiers and the whim of knights. It was not a pleasant time.
I have ordered several books related to the Hundred Year’s War and the Cathar inquisition. A short examination reveals that Cornwell’s view of the Cathars is fanciful at best.
It's late in the war and the Nazis have begun using ME262s against the B-17s, which are helpless against these new jets. Even the P-51 escorts could d...moreIt's late in the war and the Nazis have begun using ME262s against the B-17s, which are helpless against these new jets. Even the P-51 escorts could do little against these fast enemy fighters. Usually little could be done until the 262s ran out of ammunition. Early models of the jets had been prone to engine failure. Another difficulty was that the armament was similar to that of the older fighters and was only effective within range of the B-17 machine guns. The newer models of jets carried rockets and since 24 of the rockets, could be fired at once and from outside the range of the B-17 gunners, the effect was like being shot at with a shotgun. Two German nationals who had spied for the British are sent to discover the location of the factory where the 262s are being built. They learn that the factory is cleverly camouflaged between a couple of hills. The jets are assembled using parts that are brought in by train at night, and the planes are flown out as they are completed, along what appears on reconnaissance photos to be just a road rather than a runway. The two agents, posing as railway engineers claiming to have been interested only after having seen a plane take off, are captured by the Gestapo, It is only because railway engineers are in such short supply and the local chief engineer wants to protect them, that the Gestapo chief doesn’t have them immediately shot. The British, anxious to eliminate the factory before the captured agents can be tortured into revealing that they have given away the location of the plant, argue for a low level flight of Mosquitoes (high-speed, twin-engine fighter-bombers) to attack the factory, a risky mission under the best circumstances. The weather won’t permit a raid by B-17s. This book is a light read, made more appealing by the tension between the British officers, who obviously don’t get along.
Kate Sedley has set her historical mystery in the period just before the reign of Richard III. Richard is still Duke of Gloucester. In an attempt to g...moreKate Sedley has set her historical mystery in the period just before the reign of Richard III. Richard is still Duke of Gloucester. In an attempt to get a message to one of the king’s allies, he hires Roger the Chapman (a chapman was like an itinerant peddler) to accompany Philip Underwood, who will carry the letter. Unfortunately, Philip is a former speculator and trader in dwarfs; evidently the aristocracy enjoyed having such anomalies around court, and they could be sold for considerable sums. Soon Philip is being tracked by those who would do him harm and Roger has his hands full protecting Philip’s life. To no avail. Philip is killed, and Roger must solve the crime.
It’s an enjoyable enough period piece, but my faith in Sedley’s research was challenged when I read of a carter delivering bales of hay to one of the lords. I doubt if much baling went on during Richard’s day. (less)
In 1998, the London Times noted the similarities between this novel and Catch-22, published several decades after Falstein’s autobiographical novel. H...moreIn 1998, the London Times noted the similarities between this novel and Catch-22, published several decades after Falstein’s autobiographical novel. Heller’s great book, while dealing with similar subjects, is much more comic, albeit dark comedy. Both Falstein and Heller flew B-24 missions out of Italy, so their experience was bound to be similar.
The story is narrated by Ben Isaacs, a twenty-seven-year-old (“old man”) Jew who feels obligated to get into the war. He’s assigned to the tail gunner position of a B-24. On their first mission, their plane is badly shot up and Falstein vividly captures the fear and chaotic situation of the crewmen, who become welded together in their fear and resentment for those at home who don’t have to go through hell with them. They land with no brakes, the hydraulic lines having been completely shot away, so much gas leaking out of the punctured gas tanks that they are afraid to use the radio to identify themselves as they arrive back at home base, risking being shot at by their own antiaircraft guns. The two waist gunners save the day, releasing the ripcords on their parachutes after tying them to braces and positioning them to open out the windows, which manages to abruptly slow the plane and avoiding smashing into the cliffs at the end of the runway.
Accidents happen too. Several crew members are maimed in a crash-landing after they ran out of fuel. Ironically, there was enough gas left in the tanks, but the fuel pumps were faulty. Had the pilot tipped the wings to run the fuel down into the main tanks they would have had enough to make it back to base. Death could be a fluke. Cosmo, the ball gunner, is killed on a milk run over Zagreb. A tiny piece of flak the size of a cigarette ricocheted off a gun and sliced through Cosmo’s jugular. He bled to death before anyone noticed. Hatred was essential to motivate the flyers, and that is difficult for them to sustain in the face of the deaths of friends and comrades. Ben visits a displaced persons camp filled with Jews who had survived or escaped Nazi concentration camps. The Jews marvel at American weapons and are jealous that Ben is able to strike back. “A man needs much more than weapons,” Ben wanted to tell them. “Hatred, like love, is a delicate thing. It must be nourished and tended; it must be fanned and kept glowing. . . You envy me my weapons and I envy you your hatred which is pure and fiery. . . .For you the essence of living is resistance — and if I could achieve that state I might indeed consider myself fortunate.”
Morale was terrible among American flyers and a British officer revealed --I assume this is a valid piece of data and not made up for the story-- that ten percent of American flyers gave information to the enemy without even being asked, an indication of the terribly low morale. “Morale? There was no such thing. The men were fighting this thing on sheer guts.”
There are just so many good mysteries out there. The Starbuck books view the Civil War through the eyes of a transplanted New Englander fighting for t...moreThere are just so many good mysteries out there. The Starbuck books view the Civil War through the eyes of a transplanted New Englander fighting for the Confederacy. This is the 4th in the series. Not being a fan of the Southern point of view, I was reluctant to pick these up, but Cornwell tells such a good tale that they are very difficult to put down. Nothing deep here, just lots of fun. Starbuck in this one has been yanked from his company — he’s a major — and assigned to the Yellowlegs, a regiment so-named because they ran away from a fight. Starbuck, unhappy with the assignment, and also a transplanted northerner, arrives at camp only to be mistaken for a drunk Lieutenant Potter, who is late in arriving at his new assignment to the Yellowlegs also (interestingly, yellowlegs was an appellation given to U.S. cavalry troops). Masquerading as Potter, Starbuck soon discovers a pattern of corruption and with the help of his friend Delancey — who happens to be a Yankee spy unbeknownst to Starbuck — turns tables on the other officers in the company who had been tormenting him, believing Starbuck to be a lowly lieutenant. The events of the novel revolve around the Battle at Sharpsburg (known as Antietam in the North), the bloodiest battle in United States history, where more than 23,000 soldiers died. McClellan does not fare well, seen rightly so, as a vacillating, reluctant, overanxious general who placed too much reliance on his Pinkerton intelligence. Lee had invaded the North with far fewer troops than McClellan had at his disposal, but McClellan insisted he was outnumbered. Starbuck and his brigade are placed in the thick of the battle (most of the characters are completely fictional — and the famous copy of order 191 is delivered to McClellan by Delancey who appears to have no basis in fact).
An example of Cornwell’s fun: Starbuck is speaking with Potter: “You’ve still got the whiskey?” “Safe in its stone bottle, wrapped in two shirts, a piece of canvas, and an unbound copy of Macaulay’s Essays. It isn’t a complete volume. I found it dangling in a Harper’s Ferry privy and the first thirty pages had already been consumed for hygienic purposes.” “Wouldn’t you rather have found his poetry?” Starbuck asked. “In a privy? No, I think not. Besides, I already have swathes of Macauley in my head, or what remains of my head,” Potter said, touching the bloody bandage over his left ear. “ ‘To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late, And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds.’ ” Potter shook his head at the appropriateness of the words. “Too good for a privy, Starbuck. My father hung the works of Roman Catholic theologians in our outhouse. It was, he said, the only thing they were fit for, but the insult misfired. I damn nearly converted to popery after reading Newman’s lectures. Father thought I was constipated till he found out what I was doing, and after that we used newspapers like every other Christian, but father always made sure that any verses of scripture were cut out before the sheets were threaded on the string.”
In a historical note at the end, Cornwell references Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietamby Stephen Sears as the best book on the battle, so I’ve added that to my reading list which continues to grow beyond an unreasonable size.
Gordianus calls himself the Finder. We would call him a gumsandal. He helps politicians uncover scandal about their opponents; he helps advocates coll...moreGordianus calls himself the Finder. We would call him a gumsandal. He helps politicians uncover scandal about their opponents; he helps advocates collect evidence of an enemy's crimes, but he is discouraged that he seems no longer able to serve truth and justice. Rome has become a city of corruption and evil. Fortunately, he has inherited a lovely farm in the country with an adequate supply of slaves to run it.
Such is the setting for Catalina's Riddle. Gordianus has forsaken Rome with its corrupt politics. When his loyalty to Cicero is appealed to ostensibly by one of Cicero's henchmen, who insists that the Finder's assistance is needed to keep tabs on Catilina's nefarious intentions, Gordianus refuses, only to discover a headless corpse in his barn a few days later. How could the body have been placed there without the knowledge of his family or slaves? He calls on his son, Eco, from Rome, for assistance. Eco has his father's uncanny ability to observe the smallest details.
Soon Catilina shows up at Gordianus' farm allegedly for rest and relaxation, but he exhibits extraordinary interest in an old silver mine filled to overflowing with the skeletons of slaves who had been murdered when the mine was shut down The mine also happens to be located on Gnaeius Claudius' property next to Gordianus' farm, and the Claudius family are still enraged that their ancestor should have left property to Gordianus that they felt should have rightly gone to them.
Gordianus travels to Rome for his son Meto's coming of age: he will become a full citizen with the right to wear the toga. It also happens to be the time of the election, and Saylor treats us to a vivid account of how Roman elections were conducted. But Gordianus has a problem. Marcus Caelius who claims to be Cicero's secret agent pretending to work for Catilina; but his actions betray a more sincere attachment to Catilina woos him. Who is he really working for?
Saylor integrates some of the actual speeches delivered by Cicero before the Senate into the story. The historical record is mostly antagonistic to Catilina; Saylor's tale is much more ambiguous. A very good mystery in a fascinating setting.(less)
Collins has created a series of mysteries that take place in the midst of real historical events. He does considerable historical research and then pl...moreCollins has created a series of mysteries that take place in the midst of real historical events. He does considerable historical research and then places his character, Nate Heller, a Chicago-based private detective, as a composite or semi-fictional participant. Writing a novel around real events can be tricky and, for me, always problematic because I then get a compulsion to read more about what actually occurred. Fortunately, the good historical novelists will always provide an epilogue or foreword that lays out the sources and defines the historical reality. Collins has done his research, and I tracked through much of it to verify what appears at first to be speculation. The story he lays out is more than plausible.
Nate is hired to deliver a package to Huey Long, now a senator, but still a powerhouse in Louisiana. The present is sent by Seymour Weiss, a longtime Long confidant, and it contains a bullet-proof vest. Rumors are rapidly traversing Baton Rouge suggesting that Long will be assassinated. Huey has chosen to take these rumors seriously, and he hires Nate to join his bodyguard squad. Collins uses Nate's investigation into the rumors to set the stage. History records that Long was shot and killed by a deranged physician, Carl Weiss (no relation to Seymour), upset because the Long machine was spreading rumors that the Weiss family had black blood, a cardinal sin in the south of the thirties. Even at the time, there were doubts as to the veracity of this story. Weiss was killed in a hail of gunfire from the bodyguards and persistent gossip suggested that Long was killed not by Weiss but from stray bodyguard shots. In 1992, Long's body was exhumed and a well-known forensic scientist performed an autopsy should have been done at the time of his death. The result was inconclusive that Weiss had shot him. The Mutual Insurance Company released its files around the same time.
Apparently, Long had a life insurance policy with them and his wife filed a double-indemnity claim that Long had been killed by accident. They sent an investigator (played by Heller in Collins' book) and the report confirmed that Long died from bullets fired by the bodyguards. Without giving too much of the plot away, let me say that Collins presents a credible case that Long was shot deliberately by his bodyguards, that Weiss was a patsy, and the reason was that Long was opposing taking money from the New Deal government of FDR (whom Long hated). This might cut off the flow of federal funds that were being channeled into the pockets of corrupt politicians, something Long's cronies could not tolerate.
T Harry Long's biography of Huey Long is a great biography for those who long for the facts.
Many years ago I went through a stage when I read every historical novel I could get my hands on, from Gone With The Wind through all of Cecilia Holla...moreMany years ago I went through a stage when I read every historical novel I could get my hands on, from Gone With The Wind through all of Cecilia Holland's fine tales. For years since I have avoided them until I ran across a review of Hella Haasse's In A Dark Wood Wandering, Originally written in Dutch in 1949 - it was wildly popular in Holland - it was not completely translated into English until 1989. Most of the work had been completed years earlier, but the death of the translator and subsequent burial of the manuscript in a closet for years prevented its publication.
The epic story takes place in France at the time of the Hundred Years War, beginning with the reign of the mad king Charles VI. In wonderful detail the story reveals what life was like during the 14th and 15th centuries in the courts of Europe. Haasse follows the life of Charles, Duke of Orleans, through palace intrigues and the long battle for power between the duchies of Burgundy, Bourbon, Orleans and the king.
Unfortunately for France, Charles VI suffered from periods that came and went of insanity with cycles of increasing severity during which he would not recognize his kin. He would dance around, attack and occasionally kill people, generally making a nuisance of himself.
Because he still had periods of lucidity when all appeared normal, and because he eventually could recognize the onset of his periods of madness and learned to warn his courtiers, the power of the monarch fell only intermittently to his Council, dominated by his brother Louis, Duke of Orleans, and his uncle, the Duke of Burgundy, a powerful duchy that derived much of its wealth and power from its ties to England.
Louis of Orleans, and later his son Charles (the poet and our story's hero,) after Louis was murdered by the Duke of Burgundy, sought to achieve a more nationalistic role for France and to sever the connections and claims of the King of England. This chauvinistic fervor was the source of much power for Joan of Arc, born about 1412.
Of course, the English wanted most of France too, and Haasse's description of the Battle at Agincourt, brief though it is, gives a real flavor of what it must have been like to be a French knight, his horse mired in mud up to the knees, unable to move, so tightly were the knights lined up in traditional formation, as the peasant English archers inexorably marched down on them, slaughtering as they went, in a battle that redefined warfare.
By 1942, the war against Russia had resolved itself to the outcome of one battle: that for Stalingrad. The Russians refused to budge and made the Germ...moreBy 1942, the war against Russia had resolved itself to the outcome of one battle: that for Stalingrad. The Russians refused to budge and made the Germans pay for every foot of bombed-out city. The horrible bombing and shelling by the Germans turned the city into an enormous maze of dens and hiding places, perfect for snipers. The Russians created a special group of talented snipers who managed to put fear into the German soldiers. In response, the Germans sent a sniper whose job it was to find the leader of the Russian sniper team and kill him. Robbins has written a great story around these historical events. The Battle for Stalingrad became a high-water mark of human destruction. An estimated 1,109,000 soldiers died. Civilians were not immune. “Of a prewar population in Stalingrad numbering more than 500,000, only 1,500 were alive there after the battle.” Three of the four main characters were historical figures and the sniper hunt between the two great snipers is based entirely on historical records. One of these characters was an American woman of New York Russian immigrants. How she got to Stalingrad as part of an elite sniper team is an interesting story in itself. By January 1943, the situation was bleak and the Russians offered to surrender to the Germans, but Hitler refused the terms and the battle continued. The Russians later collected enough strength to attack in force and slaughtered the German Sixth Army, leaving alive only ninety thousand out of an original three hundred thousand German soldiers. (less)
). Pelican has released a trilogy of his Berlin detective novels that feature the wise-cracking, ex-Kripo, private detective, Bernie Gunther. The firs...more). Pelican has released a trilogy of his Berlin detective novels that feature the wise-cracking, ex-Kripo, private detective, Bernie Gunther. The first, March Violets, takes place in 1936 as the Nazis are rising to power, and Kerr sets the scene masterfully. Bernie has been hired to find the contents of a safe that belonged to the daughter of Herr Six, a wealthy German manufacturer. It seems Six’s daughter and son-in-law were murdered, their house torched, and jewels worth millions of marks removed from the safe. Six wants those jewels back. Bernie’s investigation leads him to join an uneasy alliance with Hermann Goering as he finds himself caught in a powerplay between the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst. It turns out that there were really two thefts the night of the murders and that one body may even have been misidentified (no hints, but the ending has a neat twist). Bernie can only extricate himself from the web by catching the man who has the secret to the location of the stolen papers and who is hiding in the only place he thinks the enemy won’t look for him: a concentration camp. Kerr has recreated an authentic feel of what was a very dangerous time, when no one could trust anyone else and death was at the whim of the powerful. (less)
Bernie’s investigations continue in The Pale Criminal. It’s a few years later and Hitler is about to move into Czechoslovakia. He is hired to find th...more Bernie’s investigations continue in The Pale Criminal. It’s a few years later and Hitler is about to move into Czechoslovakia. He is hired to find the blackmailer of a wealthy widow who owns a large publishing firm. Her son is being treated in a fancy sanitarium (psychotherapy has been ruled illegal by the Nazis — one of their few sensible actions) for his homosexual tendencies. As that persuasion has also been made illegal, he is a prime candidate for a concentration camp, so his mother is willing to make substantial payments to keep his secret. Heydrich, head of the SD, blackmails Bernie into returning to the Kripo (the regular German police), realizing that exdetective inspector Bernie is one of the few good detectives left in Berlin, the others having been liquidated from the force in favor of political appointees. Bernie also has no political or racial ax to grind, and someone in Berlin has been methodically killing teenage Aryan girls. The Jews who were routinely accused of the earlier crimes were in jail at the time of the later killings, so they could not have been responsible. Heydrich fears that if the news gets out, a general panic will result, making it look as if he cannot keep order. The evidence soon begins to point toward the complicity of Julius Streicher, hated Nazi mob boss and Bavarian bully. The killings all have a ritualistic element and Streicher’s sensationalist newspaper Der Stürmer has printed accusations and fake pictures of Jewish ritualistic murders that bear a striking resemblance to the real killings, details of which have not been released to the media. Bernie’s theory is that Streicher wants to incite a pogrom in Berlin against the Jews by blaming them for these horrid killings. (less)
Peters, nom de plume of Edith Pargeter, and also author of the Inspector Felse series, as well as some other historical novels, situates the Brother C...morePeters, nom de plume of Edith Pargeter, and also author of the Inspector Felse series, as well as some other historical novels, situates the Brother Cadfael series during the anarchic times of King Stephen in the early twelfth century.
Cadfael is a monk at the Benedictine Abbey of Shrewsbury. He came to the cowl rather late, after service in the crusades, so he often takes a more worldly and practical approach to solving riddles than his fellow monks. He and his friend, Hugh Beringer, the under-sheriff, work together to solve murders, of which there seem to be plenty. The victim in this novel is Richard, elevenyear- old son of a wealthy lord who dies and leaves all his property to Richard. Richard was being schooled at the abbey, and despite entreaties from the boy’s grandmother to return him to her, the abbot refuses, citing the importance of Richard’s father’s wish that the boy receive a good education. The grandmother, the lady Dionysia, wants Richard’s return so she can marry him off to an old woman (she’s twenty-two) and gain ownership of some contiguous lands. Richard, certainly sly for his age, watches bemused, but disappears in the forest following a series of mishaps predicted by a hermit, reputed to be holy, who has the ear of Lady Dionysia. Nothing is as it appears.
Soon Cadfael is forced to keep a secret from Hugh, something he is rarely called upon to do, in order to protect the lives of two others, one a murderer, the other, an escaped vassal. Typically, before the solution is discovered, the forest is littered with the bodies of murdered men. This is a good one.(less)
Sharpe’s Gold by Bernard Cornwell is another enjoyable volume in Cornwell’s Napoleonic War series featuring our hero, Richard Sharpe. I found this one...moreSharpe’s Gold by Bernard Cornwell is another enjoyable volume in Cornwell’s Napoleonic War series featuring our hero, Richard Sharpe. I found this one particularly interesting not just because it’s a good story that proposes an unusual solution for the cause of a huge explosion that destroyed the fortress at Alameda, but also because of the huge ethical dilemma that Sharpe creates for himself. To my way of thinking, Sharpe doesn’t linger long enough on the ramifications of his act, which kills hundreds, in order to release himself from the order of a superior officer so that he can fulfill the order of another, Wellington. The general had ordered Sharpe to take his company into enemy territory and steal 16,000 gold coins from the Spanish, ostensibly a British ally. Wellington insists the gold is needed to save the war for the British. Sharpe succeeds, of course, after the usual narrow escapes and plunges into manure piles and beautiful women, but I found the decision he makes to get out of his dilemma totally disturbing. (less)
This novel is set during the cataclysmic transformation that accompanied the death of the Roman Empire at the beginning of the middle ages when the Ch...moreThis novel is set during the cataclysmic transformation that accompanied the death of the Roman Empire at the beginning of the middle ages when the Christian Church stamped out the vestiges of Roam cultural and religious heritage.It was Theodosius in the late 4th century that mandated trinitarianism and struck down all pagan forms of worship. He hastened the fall of Rome by splitting the empire into two sections, leaving his inheritance to two sons, both incompetent: Honorius ruled in the West; Arcadius in Constantinople. The hostility between the two malcontents forms the backdrop for the novel which begins and ends in the year 414 A.D. although flashbacks take it back further.
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, is a prominent character. By thwarting Theodosius's demands for restitution to Jews for their destroyed property -- Theodosius protected Jews -- Ambrose began the struggle between the state and religious authority for supreme power. Ambrose and Hadrian, an ex-Roman civil administrator both view the world through restricted vision which was to become the predominant view for many centuries thereafter. These views are reflected by the drama surrounding a Roman who is arrested for ostensibly conducting archaic and illegal religious celebrations.
Yarbro writes vampire novels that are really excursions into historical fiction, emphasis on historical. She apparently does considerable research on...moreYarbro writes vampire novels that are really excursions into historical fiction, emphasis on historical. She apparently does considerable research on the period that provides the setting for Count Saint Germain, the vampire who has more Christian and human qualities than do most of the other characters. I suppose the author would argue that he got that way by experiencing so much human tragedy over the centuries. Whatever. Yarbro always delivers a satisfying read. This one is set in sixteenth-century Moscow, where Saint Germain has been sent on a diplomatic mission by King Ivstan of Poland. The czar, Ivan the Terrible, close to death and virtually mad, is very difficult to deal with, and the priests accompanying Saint Germain begin to suspect Germain of satanic powers when he “miraculously” cures one of them of what appears to be pneumonia by means other than prayer (he has learned, perhaps a little conveniently of numerous drugs over the centuries). The Czar, loving the jewels that Germain alchemically creates, rewards him with a wife - - women are badly treated in sixteenth century Russia -- much to the count’s consternation. His ways must appear somewhat peculiar and he is forced to constantly explain why he doesn’t eat or drink in public, and the thick-soled shoes that allow him to walk on his “native earth” -- I know it does seem a little silly, but no worse than science fiction -- must also look odd. The result of this match is one of the better love stories. These books remain a lot better than television and seek to provide the flavor of what it must have been like to live during the time of their setting. Assuming they do so accurately, they can be informative. The Russia of this time was pervaded by xenophobia, superstition, and viciousness. Yarbro has also written a series with Germain’s centuries-long love, Olivia, another vampire.(less)
Copperhead is the second in the Starbuck series, and the best of the three that I have read (only the fourth remains to be devoured). It's perhaps the...moreCopperhead is the second in the Starbuck series, and the best of the three that I have read (only the fourth remains to be devoured). It's perhaps the most thoughtful, as both Nate and his friend Adam are forced to confront their reasons for fighting the war.
Adam, Washington Faulconer's son and good Virginian, now a major, is so distraught by what he feels is an unjust war, that he decides to feed important information about rebel positions to the Yankees. Nate, the Bostonian, discovers that his true métier is soldiering and that the friends he has made in Faulconer's Company K — not to mention the lithe Sally Truslow — are more important to him than the allegiances of his vigorously antislavery father and brother, James, who is now on Allen Pinkerton's staff. This means, of course, that all the paths will somewhat improbably cross, but first Nate finds himself in serious jeopardy. Washington Faulconer had seen him murder one of Faulconer's other officers during battle, an episode recounted in the first volume, and despite the official verdict that the man had been killed by a Yankee shell, Faulconer is determined to see Nate punished. Nate is arrested as a spy, and is interrogated using a horrible purgative torture, but then, his innocence, recognized, is coerced into running a mission for the Confederates. McClellan's timidity in 1862 is accurately portrayed, although Pinkerton's caution and his unwillingness to credit information contrary to his judgment that the South had huge numbers of men facing McClellan, is a bit farcical.
Cornwell makes it clear that McClellan missed an important opportunity to end the war early. He could easily have beaten the small numbers of Southern forces outside Richmond but for his timidity. There's a revealing scene where McClellan and his officers survey a recently vacated Southern defensive position only to discover the artillery pieces they had been counting from afar were all "Quaker" guns, i.e., tree trunks painted black and mounted to look like real artillery guns.
McClellan is so anxious to believe the fakes had been placed there just the night before, and his officers so obsequious, that despite a French observer’s pointed comments and evidence to the contrary, they all leave selfconvinced the enemy is even stronger than they had imagined. Several battles are accurately portrayed, including Ball's Bluff and Gaines Mill, as the Northern army ponderously moved on Richmond.
Cornwell has an uncanny talent for taking the reader directly into the very realistic scenes. No one reading his battle scenes could ever feel any nostalgia for that kind of carnage. Several prominent historical figures have been added, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, the later Supreme Court justice who was severely wounded early in the war. Note that most of Cornwell is available in audio book form. I must recommend the Tom Parker rendition over David Case, a.k.a Frederick Davidson. Case's somewhat effete English accent just doesn't portray Southern accents very well. (less)
The "Sunne in Splendour" refers to the coat-of-arms of Edward IV, brother of Richard III. It's also the title of a delightful historical novel by Shar...moreThe "Sunne in Splendour" refers to the coat-of-arms of Edward IV, brother of Richard III. It's also the title of a delightful historical novel by Sharon Kay Penman that I discovered while browsing in a bookstore in Pennsylvania. (One should never, ever, enter a bookstore while on vacation and in possession of a credit card, unless one has worked out on weight-lifting machines for several weeks beforehand.)
Ms. Penman has gone to great lengths to make her novel as historically accurate as possible. She explains in the afterword how she would "not place a scene at Windsor [Castle:] unless my characters were known to be at Windsor on that day, making sure that a Wednesday was actually a Wednesday, that details of medieval life were corroborated by more than one source."
Richard III has not fared well at the hands of other writers - most·notably Shakespeare -and Ms. Penman believes that it was because the Tudors, who won the eventual battle for the throne, rewrote, as victors are wont to do, the history of the participants. She therefore relied most heavily on contemporary sources, or writings committed to paper shortly after the events.
She compensated for the medieval chroniclers' penchant for exaggeration. Richard's supposed deformity is a good case in point. Superstitions common during the middle ages suggested that deformities represented evil and moral depravity. None of Richard's contemporaries ever wrote that Richard had any deformity short of a well-developed shoulder from wielding a heavy sword. Physical descriptions rendered by those who knew him fail to mention anything of the kind. "The first seeds were not sown until after Richard's death~ it was John Rous who contended that Richard's right shoulder was higher than his left. (But then he also claimed that Richard was two years in his mother's womb.)"
Thomas More was another who contributed to this myth, but he reversed the shoulders! He also gave him a withered arm, a characteristic that does not coincide with Richard's prowess on the battlefield. More's motives are clarified· in detail by Paul Murray Kendall in his excellent biography of Richard III, which makes excellent companion reading to Penman's novel. More was writing an "attack on the Realpolitik practiced by the princes of the day," and it was useful for him to portray Richard as thoroughly bad. Shakespeare gave him a withered arm, hunchback and limp.
Penman is also skeptical of the Tudor claims that Richard murdered his nephews -- she makes Buckingham the culprit. Penman rather likes Richard, and he certainly is portrayed sympathetically.
Garry Wills is one of the few people I'd really like to meet and have over for dinner, although his intelligence would make me shrivel. His writing is...moreGarry Wills is one of the few people I'd really like to meet and have over for dinner, although his intelligence would make me shrivel. His writing is so thoughtful and erudite. He never ceases to astonish me with his insights.
The Negro President exams the election of 1800 through the biographies of Thomas Pickering, the anti-slavery arch Federalist and opponent of Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and the impact the 3/5ths rule in the Constitution had on the outcome of the election. The 3/5ths rule, that counted slaves as 3/5ths of a person for purposes of representation, virtually guaranteed that the president would come from a slave-holding state especially, as in 1800, when a tie in the Electoral College forced the election into the House of Representatives. It meant that slave-holders got essentially more than one vote, i.e. 1 and 3/5th votes.
I had no idea that people like Pickering and Adams had proposed secession long before the Civil War but for reasons opposed to those that finally resulted in secession.
The implications were substantial. The extra representation gave Jefferson the election in 1800 [see my review of Bernard Weisberger's excellent book, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37...] when the tied Electoral college was thrown into the House of Representatives for decision. The difference was eight votes, precisely the advantage gained the south from the three-fifths clause. That's why Jefferson was called the “Negro” president. In his book by the same title, Garry Wills discusses the enormous impact slavery had on the mindset of our early presidents, twelve of whom owned slaves at one time or another.
In fact, a major reason for locating the new capitol in Washington, D.C., was because slave owners (all the early presidents owned slaves) would have been forced to manumit them had they remained in Philadelphia, the original capitol and a hotbed of Quaker abolitionism, for more than six months.
It's late in the war and the Nazis have begun using ME262s against the B-17s, which are helpless against these new jets. Even the P-51 escorts could d...moreIt's late in the war and the Nazis have begun using ME262s against the B-17s, which are helpless against these new jets. Even the P-51 escorts could do little against these fast enemy fighters. Usually little could be done until the 262s ran out of ammunition. Early models of the jets had been prone to engine failure. Another difficulty was that the armament was similar to that of the older fighters and was only effective within range of the B-17 machine guns. The newer models of jets carried rockets and since 24 of the rockets, could be fired at once and from outside the range of the B-17 gunners, the effect was like being shot at with a shotgun. Two German nationals who had spied for the British are sent to discover the location of the factory where the 262s are being built. They learn that the factory is cleverly camouflaged between a couple of hills. The jets are assembled using parts that are brought in by train at night, and the planes are flown out as they are completed, along what appears on reconnaissance photos to be just a road rather than a runway. The two agents, posing as railway engineers claiming to have been interested only after having seen a plane take off, are captured by the Gestapo, It is only because railway engineers are in such short supply and the local chief engineer wants to protect them, that the Gestapo chief doesn’t have them immediately shot. The British, anxious to eliminate the factory before the captured agents can be tortured into revealing that they have given away the location of the plant, argue for a low level flight of Mosquitoes (high-speed, twin-engine fighterbombers) to attack the factory, a risky mission under the best circumstances. The weather won’t permit a raid by B-17s. This book is a good, light read, made more appealing by the tension between the British officers, who obviously don’t get along. (less)
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