Donald J. Farinacci's Blog: History's Difference-Makers, page 2

Review of "Thank You For Your Service" by David Finkel (Sarah Crichton Books, 2013),reviewed by Donald J. Farinacci, Author of books of political and military history, www.donaldjfarinacci.com.

David Finkel has scored another non-fiction triumph with his sequel to "The Good Soldiers", entitled "Thank You For Your Service." In this series of true individual stories, which taken together read like a novel, the soldiers are home from Iraq bearing deep wounds, and in need of intense treatment & rehab in one or more of the centers run by either the VA or private organizations. The condition of the returning injured soldiers from Iraq or Afghanistan hits their families with the new trauma of coping with the near-wreck of a human being who left for war a strong, capable and well-balanced man or woman. Finkel follows about a half dozen soldiers, most of them suffering from P.T.S.D. or T.B.I.(traumatic brain injury),and their spouses, through a stark and riviting journey into the labyrinth of well-meaning but sometimes dysfunctional rehab programs, from which the soldier does not always emerge whole. Kaplan's superbly crafted story lines carry us, together with his subjects, along the bumpy road to healing--strewn with obstacles such as frightening nightmares, deep depression, personality disintegration, suicide, domestic violence, severe memory loss, attention disorders, loneliness, divorce and alienation from friends and family. As Finkel re-creates actual dialogue between the soldiers or veterans and their spouses and caregivers, one feels like an intrusive eavesdropper; but this is a fleeting sensation only, easily eclipsed by the realization that the reader is experiencing the verbal artistry of one of the greatest depictions ever, of the invisible wounds of war.

The Kennedy Legacy

With the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy fast approaching, the literary and entertainment worlds need to take a deep breath. Are 140 books on JFK, now available on Amazon.com, really necessary? Will we really add to our useful body of knowledge from the dozen or so new or rereleased docudramas and documentary films to be seen on television, or available on Netflix, between now and November 22nd?
Yes, the Kennedy presidency was remarkable in many ways but let's resist the temptation to deify the man and fantasize his administration. Let's not let hype preempt historical perspective. In the foreword to my work of historical fiction, "1961 -- Sliding Toward Armageddon", I tried to bring some sense of balance to the JFK mythology, in writing: "As you will discover, the voice of John F. Kennedy suffuses the story you are about to read. It is wholly integral to the narrative. A book about the events of 1961 would hardly be complete without the unique voice of that era...it's a story of misstep, misdeed and blunder, ultimately redeemed by courage and wisdom."
Donald J. Farinacci
September 1, 2013

The Most Pivotal Singular Event Of The 20th Century

One could argue that WWII was the most significant event of the 20th Century and that may be so. But to me that was an era and a seven year occurrence, as opposed to a singular event. I consider the most pivotal single event of the 20th Century to be the Kennedy Assassination. As the countdown continues to November 22, 2013, the 50th anniversary of the assassination, I will dedicate four blogs in each of the next four consecutive months to the presidency of John F. Kennedy and the impact of his life and death upon America and the world.
John F. Kennedy served as President of the United States for less than three years but his lasting imprint was far out of proportion to his relatively short term of office. I will attempt to capture the poignancy and drama of the Kennedy years, described by one historian as "Years of thunder, day of tears."
D.J.Farinacci
July 28, 2013.

History's Difference Makers: Ike and McCarthy

Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of the Army- McCarthy hearings. It is also the year I plan to publish my new work of historical non-fiction, "A House Divided, The Story of Ike and McCarthy." Right now I'm just enjoying the ride, writing and editing this work in progress. I have changed the title three times since I began drafting in early Spring,finally choosing "A House Divided" after finding in my research a 1954 quote from Adlai Stevenson that "a party divided, half Eisenhower and half McCarthy,can never achieve unity." But Stevenson's quote did more than give me a title. More importantly, it allowed me to focus on and hone one of the main themes of my book, that a nation polarized by bitter and divisive moral disputes will gradually have its vitality eroded and become a lesser force for good for its own people and for the world. We are afflicted with such a malady in 2013 America just as we were in 1953 and 1861.
D.J.Farinacci
7/19/13

History's Difference-Makers: The 50th Anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination.

The assassination of President John F.Kennedy on November 22, 1963 was the pivotal moment for America of the 20th Century. But what about Pearl Harbor, the Depression, dropping the A-bomb on Hiroshima and passage of the civil rights laws?, one might ask. These were momentous events to be sure but none of them carried the power to embed itself in the national consciousness with such force as to radically change it forever. When the second and fatal shot from Oswald's Italian-made rifle shattered the brain of America's young president,it destroyed along with it America's age of innocence and unbridled optimism. The violent protests of the 60s, the Watergate-inspired disillusionment and cyncism of the 70s, the material excess and hedonism of the 80s and the radical alienation from each other of America's two great political parties beginning in the 90s, were all unlikely to have occurred had Oswald's killing shot been just a couple of inches wide. Camelot was either over or we learned at that horrible instant that it never really existed.
Recently I have absorbed myself in books about the Kennedy Assassination. I heartily recommend Don DeLillo's "Libra", Stephen King's "11/22/63" and O'Reilly and Dugard's "Killing Kennedy". My own "1961, Sliding Toward Armageddon" sets the stage for what happened two years later.

History's Difference-Makers

Memorial Day always captures my mind and heart. Fellow author and friend, Jack London, mentioned Malmedy on Facebook today and now I can't halt that flight of imagination to the Ardennes in the brutal December of 1944 when German machine gunners mowed down hundreds of captured American GIs in cold blood. A continent away and six years later I touch down in late November 1950 at Chosin Reservoir where U.S. Army Task Force Faith is so decimated by hordes of Chinese infantry that a mere 500 frozen and frost bitten survivors stagger their way to Hagaru-ri.
Then on to Shiloh, Chicamaugua and Gettysburg for battles so bloody the mind recoils at the carnage.
Then fast-forward to Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945 for scenes no less vividly painted in blood. And a flight of consciousness to Ia Drang in 1965 where a surrounded 1st Air Cav desperately struggles for survival. Gary Owen.
I must make a landing so I can count the numbers totalling the price of freedom. No. It is too great a price to bear. But, I am required to pay homage to a silent army of the spirit marching silently and invisibly down through history--apparitions of timeless valor.
DJFarinacci, 5/23/13.

History's Difference-Makers

1961:
From the first glimmering light of 1961 to its last flickering flame, the fulcrum upon which all the tumult of the Cold War seemed to rotate was a place rather than an idea. That place was Berlin, a city that signified many things: a symbol of triumph and tragedy--of final victory by the allies over Hitler's Germany in WWII, the destruction of Hitler's evil regime; the spiritual capital of the German homeland; an island of freedom in a sea of tyranny to the freedom-loving peoples of the world; and to President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, the major battleground of the Cold War---their Stalingrad, Waterloo and Gettysburg all wrapped into one.
DJFarinacci, author of "1961, Sliding Toward Armageddon" (www.donaldjfarinacci.com)