News of the World in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 14, 2019 marianne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub

An old secondhand wagon slowly makes its way across the dusty, rocky roads of Texas. At the reigns sits Captain Jefferson Kidd, a 70-something veteran of two wars. In this phase of life, he makes a living by traveling from town to town with his collection of newspapers and reading the news of the world to the townspeople, spreading stories about deadly storms in London and family disputes in India. Accompanying him, though at first against her will, is Johanna, a ten year old girl who has spent An old secondhand wagon slowly makes its way across the dusty, rocky roads of Texas. At the reigns sits Captain Jefferson Kidd, a 70-something veteran of two wars. In this phase of life, he makes a living by traveling from town to town with his collection of newspapers and reading the news of the world to the townspeople, spreading stories about deadly storms in London and family disputes in India. Accompanying him, though at first against her will, is Johanna, a ten year old girl who has spent the last four years of her life as a captive, then member, of the Kiowa tribe after her parents and sister were killed in a raid. Captain Kidd has been charged to return her to her family. The wagon steadily makes its way south just as the bond between the old man and young girl steadily grows and strengthens.

It is a layered journey. There is on the surface the 400-mile journey from Wichita Falls to her relatives’ home near San Antonio. It unfolds across rough Texas trails that feature a number of treacherous obstacles; the nature of the primitive road itself and the various bandits and vagabonds trolling the roads and willing to use violence to get what they’re after. There is also the journey of these two souls who begin very much alone but eventually find companionship in one another. And finally there is Johanna’s journey from the Kiowa culture, from which she is violently taken away, back to her parents’ original culture, namely that of a Western (German) white world that requires girls to wear dresses and restraining shoes, for them to eat with forks and knives, for them to sleep in beds and live in established homes, things she has long forgotten about and instead feel strange and wrong. On top of that, she must relearn English and German, and she will probably never speak Kiowa again.

Jiles beautifully paints the 19th-century Texas world that Johanna and Captain Kidd belong to. I’d never really thought much about the country in Texas, but the descriptions of the rivers, the land and the flora (the mesquite trees in particular) made me wonder if there were maybe some older trails or roads worth checking out if I’m ever driving across central Texas. She also nimbly works in the a good amount of detail of everyday life of the 19th-century West into the storytelling, such as the specific mechanisms of a gun or a piece of riding gear. She is never overly obvious about it, making everything all the more vivid and realistic.

I was fascinated to hear of the history of children like Johanna who were captured by Native American tribes and then raised and assimilated into their culture. Like Johanna, few of these captives ever fully readjusted when reintroduced back into European societies, and I found myself deeply curious about the fates and perspectives of these people. (Jiles recommends the book The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier by Scott Zesch, a source she used for the book and in her words “a fantastic read”).

The other bits of history that intrigued me were the presence of a surprisingly large number of communities throughout Texas at this time (Spanish, African American, German, Mexican, to name a few), the highly explosive political tension in Texas in mid and late 1860s, and the general lack of law and order. The most notable bit of historical knowledge, simply because it was the Captain’s main source of income, was his own profession as a news reader. It makes sense; not all communities had access to regular newspapers, much less news from afar.

The writing is very pleasurable and descriptive, and the characters are very distinct from each other, which was enough for me to not get bored with the fact that they mostly sit squarely on either side of the “good-bad” line. I only wish a map had been included in this book as I could only look up so many rivers and towns as I followed the Captain and Johanna on their arduous and moving trip. ...more

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Apr 02, 2017 Stacey rated it really liked it

I've always been curious about people in the frontier who were captured by Native American. This book chronicles the travels of a child who is returned at age 10 after she is captured at 6. Captain Kidd, a 71 year old former soldier is hired to get her back to her family deep in Texas. It is quite an adventure. Quick read. ...more

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Oct 15, 2019 Jenny rated it liked it

Delightful tale of a logophile reading and cunningly making his way across old Texas with a recently freed German-turned-Kiowa-Indian.

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Jan 23, 2019 marianne rated it really liked it

An old second-hand wagon slowly makes its way across the dusty, rocky roads of Texas. At the reigns sits Captain Jefferson Kidd, a 70-something veteran of two wars. In this phase of life, he makes a living by traveling from town to town with his collection of newspaper and reading the news of the world to the townspeople, spreading stories about deadly storms in London and family disputes in India. Accompanying him, though at first against her will, is Johanna, a ten year old girl who has spent An old second-hand wagon slowly makes its way across the dusty, rocky roads of Texas. At the reigns sits Captain Jefferson Kidd, a 70-something veteran of two wars. In this phase of life, he makes a living by traveling from town to town with his collection of newspaper and reading the news of the world to the townspeople, spreading stories about deadly storms in London and family disputes in India. Accompanying him, though at first against her will, is Johanna, a ten year old girl who has spent the last four years of her life as a captive, then member, of the Kiowa tribe after her parents and sister were killed in a raid. Captain Kidd has been charged to return her to her family. The wagon steadily makes its way south just as the bond between the old man and young girl steadily grows and strengthens.

It is a layered journey. There is on the surface the 400-mile journey from Wichita Falls to her relative’s home near San Antonio. It unfolds across rough Texas trails that feature a number of treacherous obstacles; the nature of the primitive road itself and the various bandits and vagabonds trolling the roads and willing to use violence to get what they’re after. There is also the journey of these two souls who begin very much in a solitary space but increasingly find companionship in one another. And finally there is Johanna’s journey from the Kiowa culture, from which she is violently taken away, back to her parents’ original culture, namely that of a Western (German) white world that requires girls to wear dresses and restraining shoes, for them to eat with forks and knives, for them to sleep in beds and live in permanent, fixed homes, things she has long forgotten about and instead feel strange and wrong. On top of that, she must relearn English and German, and she will probably never speak Kiowa again.

Jiles beautifully paints the 19th-century Texas world that Johanna and Captain Kidd belong to. I’d never really thought much about the country in Texas, but the descriptions of the rivers, the land and the flora (the mesquite trees in particular) made me wonder if there were maybe some older trails or roads worth checking out if I’m ever driving across central Texas. She also nimbly works in the a good amount of detail of everyday life of the 19th-century West into the storytelling, such as the specific mechanisms of a gun or a piece of riding gear. She is too obvious about it, making everything all the more vivid and realistic.

I was fascinated to hear of the history of children like Johanna who were captured by Native American tribes and then raised and assimilated into their culture. Like Johanna, few of these captives ever fully readjusted when reintroduced back into European societies, and I found myself deeply curious about the fates and perspectives of these people. (Jiles recommends the book The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier by Scott Zesch, a source she used for the book and in her words “a fantastic read”).

The other bits of history that intrigued me were the presence of a surprisingly large number of diverse communities throughout Texas at this time (Spanish, African American, German, Mexican, to name a few), the highly explosive political tension in post-Civil war Texas in mid and late 1860s, and the general lack of law and order. The most notable bit of historical knowledge, simply because it was the Captain’s main source of income, was his own profession as a news reader. I'd never heard of such a thing, but it makes sense; not all communities had access to regular newspapers, much less news from afar.

The writing is very pleasurable and descriptive, and the characters are very distinct from each other, which was enough for me not to get bored with the fact that they mostly sit squarely on either side of the “good-bad” line. I only wish a map had been included in this book as I could only look up so many rivers and towns as I followed the Captain and Johanna on their arduous and moving trip. ...more

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Aug 11, 2017 Kay Green rated it really liked it

A lovely book set in late 1800's Texas. Captain Jefferson Kidd agrees to take a 10 year old girl who was kidnapped for 4 years by an indian tribe and rescued back to an aunt and uncle near San Antonio. It is a story of how they learn to trust each other and travel through dangerous territory for weeks. The writing is beautiful. Capt Kidd is just a perfect American hero - in his 70s, wise, compassionate, ethical to a fault and you just want to meet him and share a whiskey. I pictured Clint Eastwo ...more

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