Of the books I read in 2021these are the ones that stand out in my mind as the year comes to an end.
Non-fiction
Robert
E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost
Cause, Ty Seidule (2020)
Ty
Seidule grew up idolizing the Lost Cause and Robert E. Lee. The
infatuation lasted until somewhere in his Army career when he began
looking at the Confederate symbols and traditions embedded in
American life and the institutions he served. This memoir provides
extensive detail about how those symbols and traditions became part
of the the American story rather than evidence of treason. Writing
as a retired general with 40 years of service, Seidule contrasts the
idealized history of his southern hometowns and the Antebellum South
against
the
brutal reality of slavery and the lingering consequences of racism
into the the following centuries. He does the same with his alma
mater, Washington and Lee University, which he describes as “the
shrine of the Lost Cause” and the Army which continues
to glorify Confederates up to the present day. He notes especially
how the myth of Robert E. Lee is woven into the atmosphere of the US
Military Academy at West Point where Seidule served as history
professor in the years prior to his retirement. That chapter is
particularly interesting in that Seidule details the hostility in the
decades following the Civil War (memorialized in those years as the
“War of Rebellion”) toward the graduates who betrayed their oath
of allegiance to the US when they served the Confederacy and shows
how that hostility faded into accepting treason as less than
consequential. Seidule also shows that, contrary to the traditional
biographies, Lee’s choice was not
ordained
by family
and geography.
The Lee family was far from wholly secessionist and many of his
fellow Virginians serving in the US Army remained
loyal.
If you are a Southerner who grew up steeped in Confederate
traditions and cannot understand why that history is no longer
acceptable, Robert E.
Lee and Me provides
a well-documented examination of why that change is taking place.
Spying
on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide,
Tony Horwitz (2019)
In the mid 1850s, as the US was
fracturing through the years leading to secession and civil war,
Frederick Law Olmstead traveled through the South looking to explore
the growing divisions with the leading men of the region with the
hope of finding some common understanding that would bridge the
divide. His travels were documented in a series of articles
published by the New York Times and offer a picture of a nation at
odds with itself. His journals also reveal his appreciation and
understanding of landscape that later informed his later career as a
pioneering landscape architect. Author Tony Horwitz follows
Olmstead’s routes in 2016 with much the same intent: to look
across the divide that separates Americans in the second decade of
the 20th
century. Like his predecessor, Horwitz examines the American South
in some detail, spending much time meeting and talking with people
very different from himself. He writes with empathy and
understanding, willing to hear out what others think and believe
without judgment. He often disapproves
of what he sees and hears but follows their logic and context to see
where the ideas come from. He also quotes liberally from Olmstead’s
writings and is especially cognizant of Olmstead’s attention to the
details of nature and humans’ interactions with their environment.
Spying on the South
fascinating,
both as history and a snapshot of modern America and the link between
the two.
How
the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy and the Continuing
Fight for the Soul of America,
Heather Cox Richardson (2020)
An
illuminating history of the enduring paradox of American history,
where the liberty and equality for all espoused in the nation’s
founding documents is based on the subordination of some. While the
Declaration of Independence asserts that “all men are created
equal” that equality is limited to white males and is based on the
denial of equality for certain classes of people: women, Blacks and
other minorities. The paradox flourished in the early 19th
century as southern planters and their political allies asserted the
superiority of their slave labor system and ultimately refused to
accept election results in 1860 that threatened the survival of that
system. Along the way, southern oligarchs accorded
some
privileges for lower class whites who were warned that any change in
the system would come at their expense Although the South lost the
military conflict and the federal government made serious efforts
toward supporting equality and political participation of the newly
freed slaves, the trope continued into the west under the guise of
the hard-working independent westerner and hostility toward
foreigners and labor organizers who would redistribute the wealth in
their own interests. It waned considerably after the New Deal and
WW2 when Americans saw the value of active government but found new
momentum during the Civil Rights era and blossomed under Ronald
Reagan and Movement Conservatism. Richardson’s analysis is
thorough and well-argued and points to the conclusion that Abraham
Lincoln’s declaration of a “new birth of freedom” at Gettysburg
remains unfulfilled more than 150 years later.
Paper
Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy The Nazis,
Jeffery H. Jackson (2020)
Riveting
story of Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, avant-garde French artists
and lovers living on the occupied Channel Island of Jersey off the
French coast during WW2. Although the Channel Islands were British
territory, proximity to France enabled
German troops to occupy the islands in
1940. Schwob and Malherbe had relocated to Jersey after actively
participating in the robust and iconoclastic artistic movements that
emerge in France after the first World War. The two women were
openly lovers in that environment and and
developed
an intimate, gender-fluid body of work that was well ahead of its
time although
not widely recognized beyond their artistic community. Their life on
Jersey removed them from that milieu to a more isolated life. Once
war broke out and German troops took control of the island, they
began their resistance by leaving small notes, leaflets and
photmontages in German (Suzanne was a fluent German speaker)
addressed to rank and file German soldiers questioning the war,
mocking Nazi leaders and urging mutiny. They were not the only
resisters on the island but they were fortunate to have the wealth
and privacy to conduct their campaign and made effective use of their
tresources to challenge the occupation for four years until caught by
the Germans. Imprisoned for almost a year and condemned to death for
their activities, Schwob and Malherbe took full responsibility for
their work and managed to confound the Germans with their
matter-of-fact acceptance of their fate, refusing even to ask for
clemency, which was granted over their refusal, as the war was coming
to its inevitable end in the spring of 1945. Author Jeffery Jackson
presents a lively account of the two women drawn from a variety of
sources, clearly linking their resistance activities to their art and
their interpersonal relationship. Although history has tended to
recognize Schwob as the primary artist, Jackson describes a full
partnership and collaboration that made their work so effective. The
cover quotes historian Douglas Brinkley describing “every page”
of Paper Bullets as
“gripping”. This book lives up to that praise.
John
Quincy Adams: American Visionary,
Fred Kaplan (2014)
An
impressively detailed biography of America’s sixth president. JQ
Adams didn’t get much attention in the history I learned as a
child, I got a bit of appreciation of him in my college diplomatic
history of the US course but can’t say I was in any way
knowledgeable about him beyond that and the disputed 1824 election
that made him president for a single term. Fred Kaplan rectifies
that deficiency with a thoroughly documented history of Adams’
life. Kaplan presents Adams as a man whose destiny was set by his
birth but also a man who rose to the occasion during a life of public
service. Adams was a dedicated diarist throughout his entire life,
beginning at age 14 when he accompanied his father to Paris when the
latter
served as an American representative there during the Revolution.
The diary entries, along with his prolific correspondence, provide an
unvarnished view of Adams’ hopes, fears, beliefs and tribulations
the early years of the American Constitutional experiment. Adams
life was unique in many ways and while he is remembered as the sixth
president, those years rate only 38 pages out of 570 total. I come
away from this history thinking of Adams as a cross between two other
one-term presidents: James Buchanan and Jimmy Carter. Like
Buchanan, Adams brought a wealth of experience to the office,
although Adams’ tenure is not regarded as the disaster that
Buchanan made of his time in office. Like Carter, Adams left office
poorly regarded but earned a reputation for integrity and service in
his post-presidential years. Aside from the depth of his research,
Kaplan presents the story in an easy to read style that always left
me looking forward to the next chapter whenever I had to put I down.
The
Gun, The Ship and the Pen: Warfare Constitutions, and the Making of
the Modern World,
Linda
Colley
(2021)
Although
the United States has one of the world’s oldest constitutions, it
was hardly the first and certainly not the last. Linda Colley
explores the rise of the constitutional era that began in the late
18th
century, starting with Corsica and ending with
the Japanese Constitution of 1889, a period that continues to
influence aspiring nation builders into the modern era. She notes
that the nature of warfare that emerged in the late 18th
century involved both large land armies and powerful navies, both
expensive and difficult propositions. Constitutions provided rulers
with the ability to raise revenue and call on citizens/subjects for
service. At the same time citizen/subjects could assert some claim
to their own rights in return for their treasure and blood. Some
constitutions, as in the US, were formal affairs while others, like
the system of government for Pitcairn Island were drafted by
outsiders. In all cases, constitutions formalized powers and rights
but in to widely varying degrees. Constitutions were also a means of
defense—a nation with a formal governing document could assert its
legitimacy and independence in a world of predatory great power
colonialism. Some were more successful than others. Hawai’i
managed this feat for decades but in the end still fell victim to US
annexation. Linda Colley presents all this in a lively and thorough
history that makes easy reading of what would otherwise be a rather
obscure and dry topic.
The
Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and he Forging
of American Science,
John
Tresch
(2021)
This biography of Edgar Allan
Poe puts him in the middle of the philosophical and scientific
debates of the early 19th
century. In this telling much of Poe’s work reflects the emerging
knowledge and discoveries that expanded human understanding beyond
the traditional religious/mystical beliefs that were accepted wisdom
in earlier times. Not only did Poe incorporate much of this emerging
knowledge in his stories and poems, he also engaged fully in the
scientific debates during a time when the difference between learned
scientist and well-informed amateur was ill-defined. Author
John Tresch illustrates Poe’s active participation in scientific
discussions with
extensive citations from and analyses of his works and notes that
while Poe respected the scientific method of observation and
measurement, he also advocated using imagination and creativity as an
important element of scientific discovery. Among the ideas that Poe
theorized or advocated were the nebular theory of star formation, the
impact of industrialization on the earth and an early version of the
big bang theory—all refined and more fully developed by scientists
in the century following Poe’s death. While recognizing Poe’s
personal shortcomings that have tarnished Poe’s reputation,
Tresch’s biography balances that narrative with much evidence that
Poe was well-regarded by many and recognized as a talented genius
even by his enemies during his lifetime.
Fiction
Cuyahoga,
Pete
Beatty
(2021)
A lively tale set in the frontier
towns Ohio City and Cleveland in the mid-1830s. Told mostly in the
local vernacular from the Ohio City side of the Cuyahoga
River, the story features a cast of unique characters, including a
horse and a good-natured ox, who fit well into the raw, undefined
spaces of a still developing country. Much of the focus is on the
extraordinary feats of Big Son and his quest to find a place in a
society that doesn’t quite know what to do with him. His brother
Meed (short for Medium Son) narrates the story and fills in the
detail for all the others. The two towns are rivals but also
understand their interdependence and there is much debate bridging
the river that separates them—whether it should be one bridge, two
bridges or no bridge—along with some humorous but practical
observations about the utility of coffins.
The plot twists and turns among characters and events and unfolds
imperceptibly into a surprising but not unbelievable conclusion.
The
Invisible Life of Addie LaRue,
V.E
Schwab
(2021)
Desperately
seeking escape from an arranged marriage that would consign her to
the confines of her small, early 18th
century French village, Adeline LaRue makes a deal with a “god that
answers after dark.” She gains her freedom and never-ending life
at the cost of her identity: fated to not be remembered by anyone
she meets. Adeline becomes Addie because she can no longer even
speak her given name. She exists across the succeeding centuries
free of all entanglements save for occasional visits from the dark
god who is always seeking her surrender, which she stubbornly refuses
to give, until she is unexpectedly recognized and remembered by
Henry, a young book store clerk in 21st
century New York. V.A. Schwab
builds this narrative through the centuries in parallel with the
unfolding relationship between Addie and Henry who has his own dark
secret. The historical interludes bring Addie into the present,
establishing her as a resourceful woman, able to navigate both the
advantages and tribulations of near invisibility and her ongoing
relationship with the dark god. When the stories come together in
New York, Addie is both vulnerable, wily and able to engage the dark
god on his own terms. A clever story, well-executed that compels the
reader’s interest.
Big
Girl, Small Town, Michelle
Gallen (2020)
A week in the life of Majella O’Niell
in Aghybogey, Northern Ireland. The Troubles ended a few years
before but not so long ago. It’s still a presence. Her father
disappeared during the violence and his brother died assembling an
IRA bomb. People
still get “lifted” by the security forces. Majella’s life is
mostly simple—work, her alcoholic enfeebled mother, their house in
the Catholic sector, her bedroom and the unanswered questions about
her grandmother’s murder. Work is an eight hour or longer shift to
2 AM taking orders, frying chips, talking with and reacting to
customers and the goings on outside of a
fish and chips
shop named A Salt and Battery, and interacting with co-worker Marty
(including the
occasional
post-shift shag in the storeroom). The shop gives author Michelle
Gallen ample opportunity to introduce a wide variety of characters
whose lives chronicle life in post-Troubles Northern Ireland. The
town and landscape are also well-rendered. It’s all kind of gray
and worn but still full of life despite an uncertain future. Best of
all, Majella is likable, practical, dedicated, irreverent and in one
memorable scene, strong enough to eject a drunken “lover”
threatening violence against her mother from their house. Time flows
naturally so the story feels like you are sharing Majella’s week
from inside her head.
How
Much of These Hills is Gold, C
Pham Yang (2020)
Lucy and Sam are the young (early
teen) daughters of a itinerant Chinese miner and prospector during
the California Gold Rush, about the lowest caste in that society.
Their mother, Ma, is long gone and when the father Ba dies, the two
girls abandon the hostile mining town/camp environment on a stolen
horse with their father’s remains. With that murky beginning the
story begins to emerge. Each sibling develops essential survival
skills. Younger
sibling Sam learns to pass as a boy and is proficient and clever.
Lucy is smart and practical. Once what’s left of Ba is buried, the
story shifts to an earlier time where we learn how Ba and Ma came
together and how Lucy found an education. The parents make plans, and
accumulate savings which are all lost to an angry anti-Chinese mob
when times go bad. Another time shift fills in Ba’s story,
including how he met Ma and their dark secret. A final jump in time
finds Lucy hovering on the edge of acceptability and Sam returning
form a log absence and hounded by creditors. Throughout this
odyssey, author Yang demonstrates that Lucy, Sam, Ba and Ma are
outcasts from society, at the mercy of whatever society wants from
them. The book’s epigraph says it clearly: “This land is not
your land”
The
Committed,
Viet
Thanh Nguyen
(2021)
This follow-up to Nguyen’s acclaimed
novel, The Sympathizer,
finds the nameless narrator of that novel, a confession written in a
re-education camp, writing a confession about his life as a
Vietnamese exile in Paris. Free of the re-education camp, the
narrator is still haunted by the ghosts of his victims and the French
colonialism and his uncertain place in the world. No longer the
committed cadre double agent of The
Sympathizer,
the narrator becomes part of the Vietnamese diaspora in Paris and
enters the world of “the Other”, living in France but not French.
The colonial
mentality that gripped his native land remains
a fact of life as he wrestles with the contradictions that are
readily apparent to a man “with two heads” who is able to see
both sides of any situation. Filled with subplots and well-crafted
characters, The
Committed
explores questions of identity, colonialism, racism and ideology in a
taut, engaging narrative.
Labels: books
