An Empress to be Remembered: A Review of Empress Dowager Cixi by Jung Chang

Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The economic and political rise of China since the late 1970s has been one of the key historic trends of the last several decades. What is interesting though about China’s rise is that this is not the first time China has recovered from disastrous economic and political management to become a powerhouse in international affairs. In the middle of the 19th century, China had been humiliated in a war with foreign powers, but new leadership arose to lead China out of the middle ages and into the modern era. This wonderful biography is about the most important figure responsible for China’s first move towards modernity, the Empress Dowager Cixi, and why she should be considered in the same league as other great women world leaders like Elizabeth I of England or Catherine the Great of Russia.

Cixi was one of Emperor Xianfeng’s numerous concubines, but she possessed a keen intellect and an open-mindedness that far outpaced anyone leading China at the time.  When she gives birth to the Emperor’s only legitimate male heirs, she is thrust from back of the Emperor’s harem into the forefront of the court’s favored women.  When the First Opium War and the subsequent death of the Emperor soon afterwards leads to her young child becoming the next emperor, Cixi seizes her chance to launch a palace coup, removing from power the arch conservatives who had so disastrously run the empire, and begins a near five decade rule over China that sees the modernization of the country’s economy, military, and politics.  Though there were stumbles along the way, by the time of Cixi’s untimely death in 1908, China is on the verge of becoming a constitutional monarchy with limited civil liberties and voting rights for the average Chinese citizen.  Sadly, she did not live long enough to fully implement these political reforms and that failure would lead to the political turmoil that would engulf China for the next several decades.

The Empress Dowager could not have found a better modern biographer to tell her story.  Ms. Chang has used scores of archives from China, Japan, and elsewhere to not only tell Cixi’s story, but to also dispel some of the myths that have developed since her death that has portrayed her as an arch conservative who stood in the way of China’s progress.  Ms. Chang argues that not only is this narrative false, but that Cixi was the main reason why China advanced into modernity during her rule.  Ms. Chang also offers a very sympathetic picture of the Empress Dowager.  Cixi is portrayed as being open-minded and eager for discussion and consensus amongst her advisors (up to a point) and, though she could be opposed to adopting some reforms, she could be persuaded to change her mind.  At the time of Cixi’s death, some western admirers were comparing her to other great female leaders, and Ms. Chang does not seem to dispute that.  

Ms. Chang does not airbrush Cixi’s faults though.  She does give an extensive account of Cixi’s role in the Boxer Rebellion, which led to a catastrophic war with foreign powers.  There, Ms. Chang notes how stubborn Cixi could be and how disastrous her decisions ended up being, though it did help to bolster her image amongst the people and paved the way for even greater reforms in the last years of her life.

It is a shame that more people, particularly in the West, do not know about the Empress Dowager Cixi, but this book does is a perfect biography to help raise her historical profile and introduce her to a Western audience.  It is detailed, well-researched, and does a lot to dispel certain myths about her rule.  If you are looking for a great biography about great female world leaders, I highly recommend this one to you.

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Hurdling Though Life & Fine Dining: A Review of Notes From a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi with Joshua David Stein

Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to several reality cooking shows, the working world of fine dining has gained quite the reputation as harsh place. Iron Chef and Gordon Ramsay’s shows have all shown just demanding a career being a chef can be. Unfortunately, like many professions, people of color face unique barriers to becoming chefs, not the least of which includes a prejudice that they either can’t be fine dining chefs or a belief that they can only do variations on stereotypical foods. The great benefit of this book is to directly challenge those prejudices and confront the racism that can be just beneath the surface of the fine dining industry. At the same time, Mr. Onwuachi writes a wonderful memoir that reminds the reader that, much like the author himself, it is not always a straight line to our dreams.

The descendant of both Nigerian and Jamaican lineage, Mr. Onwuachi grew up with a mother in the catering business.  Though he has known cooking from his earliest days, as this book shows, it was not straight line from there to celebrity chef.  Indeed, he was sent away to live his grandfather in Nigeria for two years and at one point in his life he was going down a dark path of selling drugs.  And yet, this winding path led him to cooking on fishing boats in the Gulf Coast, being a student at the Culinary Institute of America, and apprenticing and working at some of the finest diners in New York City.  Mr. Onwuachi, with the assistance of co-author Joshua David Stein, writes a deeply personal and reflective memoir.  While he writes in great detail how he busted his butt to get to where he is, he’s also not afraid to reflect on how some lucky breaks came at just the right moments to set him on his path.  As said before, this is a great reminder that our journey’s through life are not always glorious or straightforward.  There can be ups and downs throughout and nothing is guaranteed.  

Another valuable aspect of this book is how it calls out the racism that is just beneath the surface of the fine dining industry.  Sadly, like many industries and professions in America, there is not a great deal of diversity with some of the most famous chefs being primarily white.  Mr. Onwuachi helps reveal why that is by cataloguing each instance of either subtle or outright racist behavior he had to face.  Whether it was a potential investor telling him outright that people can only think of a black chef making fried chicken meals, as though he could not cook anything “serious”, or the abusive behavior from a head chef that was frequently racist in tone and behavior, Mr. Onwuachi directly and indirectly calls out the racism that is prevalent within the system.  While this is not the central focus of the book, it is nonetheless a valuable reminder that so much of a culture de facto segregated, even though we would like to think it is not.

The only complaint I have about this book is that it feels incomplete.  Mr. Onwuachi notes that he is a young chef, 27 by the end of the book, and he only just opened and closed his first restaurant in Washington, D.C.  So, the end of the book finds him at an in-between moment in his life and career.  He is certainly still determined to open a new restaurant in D.C., which, according to my limited internet research, he did not long after this book was published.  Still, it does leave this book at an interesting and, slightly, unsatisfying place.  I do hope there will be a follow up to this book in the future where Mr. Onwuachi writes about his life and career from this point onward.  In spite of that, the transitional ending does not diminish my overall enjoyment of this book too much and should not diminish yours either.

Written with confidence and reflection, Mr. Onwuachi takes the reader on a journey through his life while also revealing the hurdles for young black chefs in the fine dining world.  If you are a fan of food memoirs, but have read too many by older, successful white chefs, I recommend this book to you.

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Another Hidden Gem Worth Picking Up: A Review of the Writings of James Weldon Johnson from the Library of America

James Weldon Johnson: Writings by James Weldon Johnson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been in love with the Library of America (LOA) for a long time now and there are two main reasons why. First, the uniform book designs are just gorgeous. Put a row of LOA’s books together on your shelf and they are a definite conversation start. On top of that, if you treat them well, these books will last a long time on your shelf long after your other books have yellowed and collected dust. The other reason why I love LOA books is because of their commitment to keeping great works of American literature, both well-known and lesser known, in print in perpetuity. This gives ordinary Americans a chance to discover more obscure, but wonderful, works by authors they may never have heard of, such as Henry Adams’s History of the United States During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and History of the United States During the Administrations of James Madison . This single-volume collection of the writings of James Weldon Johnson is another one of those more obscure gems that LOA has that deserves to better known.

James Weldon Johnson was an African-American polymath at the turn of the century.  He was a writer, an educator, a musical composer, a poet, an early leader of the NAACP, and a diplomat.  Sadly, I knew nothing about him until I picked up this book from LOA not too long ago.  And yet he had an impact on American politics and culture deeper than most people realize.  His novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, which is the first work included in this volume, is one of the first works in American literature to deal directly with the issues of colorism and white passing that are now more commonly discussed today.  His musical writing included the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is celebrated even today as the Black national anthem.  As the NAACP’s first executive secretary, he expanded the organizations reach into the South and initiated some of the first lawsuits against the region’s disenfranchisement of Black Americans, though Mr. Johnson would die long before those efforts would come to fruition in Brown v. Board of Education and the major civil rights laws of the 1960s.  And his work as a diplomat enabled him to write with great knowledge and insight on issues such as the U.S. occupation of Haiti (that essay is also included in this volume as well).  In many ways, James Weldon Johnson is a forerunner to both the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement.

This volume of his works is wonderful.  Along with Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is Mr. Johnson’s own memoirs, which gives an intimate view of his life from his perspective.  Mr. Johnson’s essays are some of this books highlights, particularly his essay on the U.S. occupation of Haiti, which should be more widely read today as Haiti once again descends into political chaos and Americans wonder what, if anything, should be done.  The inclusion of several of Mr. Johnson’s poems and lyrics, including the famous “Lift Every Voice”, is also a treat.  The only weak point in this volume is the inclusion of a couple of chapters Mr. Johnson wrote for a book called Black Manhattan about Black Americans in the theater around the turn of the century.  As a writer of Broadway musicals himself, Mr. Johnson was an expert on the theater and it shows in these excerpts.  However, it is also a very esoteric subject.  Only those with a keen interest in the history of American theater, and especially of Black Americans in the theater, are likely to enjoy this section.

Overall, this another hidden gem within the Library of America’s collection.  This book should be read alongside the works of W.E.B Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, and other near contemporary Black authors of the period.  If you have made your way through the works of the Harlem Renaissance, I highly recommend this volume as your next read.

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A Window Into an Unseen World: A Review of The Reason I Jump by Naomi Higashida

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Despite our advancements in medical research and technology, some conditions still remain a mystery to us. One of these conditions is autism. Even though our ability to diagnosis has increased, it has not demystified it at all. Despite all of the research and books about autism, one of the voices missing from the discussion of autism is young autistic children. There are some books written by adults who have learned to manage their autism, but this book opens a window into the life of an autistic child and reveals a level of deep reflection and empathy that might be surprising to many readers.

Written by a thirteen year old autistic Japanese boy, Mr. Higashida responds to a series of questions regrading autism and responds to them from his perspective as best as he can.  The fact as this book exists at all is astonishing as Mr. Higashida had to learn how to use a specially designed keyboard created by one of his dedicated caretakers.  Nearly every answer Mr. Higashida gives is incredibly insightful and poignant.  This is definitely a book that will help to dispel many of the misconceptions regarding autism and autistic people.

At separate intervals throughout the book, Mr. Higashida also includes a series of fictional short stories that help to illuminate aspects of autism from his perspective.  Like his answers to people’s questions, these short stories are also quite poignant, but they also include a level of imagination and creativity that may be surprising to people who have only observed autistic people from a  distance.  Not every short story lands well, his last one in particular, but they are all delightful nonetheless.

Overall, whether you know someone who is autistic or not, this is one book that will help enlighten you about this condition and gain a better understanding of autistic people.  For that reason alone, I highly recommend this book to all people interested in learning more about autism.

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Growing Up in Prison: A Review of A Question of Freedom by Dwayne Betts

A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison by Reginald Dwayne Betts

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are so many prison memoirs out there that it has easily become its own sub-genre. So, how does one distinguish their prison story from everyone else’s? In this poignant, but uneven, memoir, Mr. Betts takes us into prison as well as into the mind and heart of a teenager whose transition from boy to man happens behind bars.

One of the dirty secrets of the American justice system is how many states can charge juveniles as adults.  According to the Equal Justice Initiative, 13 states have no minimum age for adult prosecution while many states have a minimum age as young as 10, 12, or 13.  This means that a lot of juveniles get charged with adult crimes, receive adult sentences, and even get sent to adult jails.  Though he was a star student at his school, Dwayne Betts became one of these juveniles after a moment teenage madness leads him to carjack an unarmed man with a gun.  He then spends the better part of a decade, from his later teen years to his early adult years, in both juvenile detention and then adult prison. 

 

Through this memoir, Mr. Betts both gives us a window into his development during these critical years and tries to examine what it all meant and whether or not he could come out better on the other side.  Mr. Betts also thinks about whether his father’s previous incarceration had doomed him to prison as well or if this was a mistake solely on how own part.  He also gives us a window into the importance of reading in prison as it became both a means of his escape from the daily reality of prison as well as his gateway into his future career as a writer.

For those who have read any other prison memoirs, much of what is covered in this book should be familiar.  The daily beats of prison life and the internal wrangling are very common for this genre, though the perspective of prison life from a teenager’s point of view is unique and that unique POV helps to distinguish it from others.  However, there is some unusual pacing in this book.  The narrative moves at a plodding, glacial pace for about 90% of the book, with Mr. Betts constantly dwelling on the crime that put him in jail, life in prison, and much else.  Occasionally there is the transfer from one prison to another to break things up, including a transfer to a maximum-security prison after some bogus citations by prison guards.  Time does not seem to matter much in this portion of the book.  But the last 10% of the book suddenly pivots into hyperdrive as Mr. Betts’ release date approaches and he begins to look to the future.  I couldn’t help but feel a great deal of whiplash from the slow of the beginning to the quick pace at the end.

Overall, this is a decent memoir that is very thoughtful, but employs some unusual pacing.  It should make you question our country’s policy of charging minors as adults and can be a great supplement to books such as The Sun Does Shine and Just Mercy.

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A Final Link to the Past: A Review of Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At the dawn of the 20th century, historians, sociologists, and folklorists fanned out across the country to gather up the stories of people across America who had lived through dramatic times, particularly the Civil War. The narratives of formerly enslaved African-Americans were especially prized. In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston, not quite yet the author and oral historian people would remember her to be, interviewed an African by the name of Cudjo Lewis, who at the time was the last surviving African to be captured in Africa, sold into slavery, and shipped across the “Middle Passage” to America. Through these interviews, Ms. Hurston retells Cudjo Lewis’s life to modern readers in this fine, but short book.

The Atlantic Slave Trade was officially abolished in 1808, but that did not stop white enslavers from trying to ship new cargo loads of enslaved Africans to these shores.  The Clotilda was one of the last slave ships to make the journey, carrying over 100 Africans into slavery in America in 1860, on the very eve of the Civil War.  Cudjo Lewis, or Kossula as he was known in Africa, was one of those enslaved Africans and when Ms. Hurston began to interview in the late 1920s, he was the last survivor from that ship.  Mr. Lewis describes his life in Africa, from his tribe to his father’s esteemed position as a royal bodyguard, in idyllic terms.  In contrast, his description of the massacre of his tribe by another African tribe, which led to the beheading of his king right in front of him and his subsequent life in slavery, is horrifying.  Once he is freed by Union soldiers at the end of the Civil War, his life as a free man in the segregated South is just as tragic.  Mr. Lewis relates how nearly all of his children were murdered by white supremacy in one way or another by the dawn of the 20th century.  It is an absolutely heartbreaking story.

That said, the actual narrative of Cudjo Lewis’s life is rather short.  For a story that covers well over 60 years, Ms. Hurston manages to fit his life story into less than 100 pages, with about another 20 or so pages dedicated to some miscellaneous tales Mr. Lewis told.  Though Ms. Hurston may have been restricted by what Mr. Lewis relayed to her, and though Ms. Hurston tried to supplement his recollections with outside sources, this story goes by way too fast.  I would not have minded if Ms. Hurston had lingered on certain parts of Mr. Lewis’s narrative either with her own thoughts or with some supplemental materials.

One other thing that made this book difficult to love was Ms. Hurston’s use of dialect.  This book written early in her career, Ms. Hurston tries to capture exactly what Cudjo Lewis was saying and how he said it through the use dialect.  The idea, from my little bit of research, is that the characters like Cudjo Lewis are suppose to feel more real and alive than if Ms. Huston had tried to translate his dialect into plain language.  But, to me, dialect just makes it more difficult to understand what is being said and, thus, there were a few things I had missed that needed to be pointed out to me in the afterword by this book’s editor, Deborah G. Plant.  Ms. Hurston proved in her later novels, Moses, Man of the Mountain and Serpah on the Suwanee (which I am currently making my way through in the Library of America’s great collection of her novels & short stories) that it is possible to relay the flavor of dialect without actually writing in dialect.  To me, the use of dialect here does not make Cudjo Lewis’s story more real, it just adds an unnecessary layer of complexity.  

I must commend the editor though for including two things in particularly that make this book a little better.  First, her own afterword where she reviews some of the key points of the tale was critical.  For example, I did not fully understand what had happened to Cudjo Lewis’s children while reading his account, so the afterword helped to clear up some confusion that I had.  Second, the inclusion of Alice Walker’s essay “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston” at the back of the book was fascinating.  If you have not read that essay, then you should, even if you have already read and loved Zora Neale Hurston’s works.

Overall, this book is fine, but it is a little short and, due to Ms. Hurston’s use of dialect, difficult to read at times.  But, Cudjo Lewis’s tale is a necessary reading as a reminder of the oppressive systems created in America that enslaved and terrorized Africans and African-Americans for centuries.  This is a book not just for fans of Zora Neale Hurston, but for people who are also interested in the history of both Antebellum and Jim Crow oppression Africans and African-Americans faced during the 19th century.

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Writing History: A Review of Author in Chief by Craig Fehrman

Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote by Craig Fehrman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It has become a self-perpetuating tradition of Washington politics for politicians seeking office or leaving office to write a book about themselves, their experiences, and their values. A lot of this has been garbage and some has been good, but very few have been exceptional. This is perhaps most visible in that most perennial and expected of political books, the presidential campaign book or autobiography. But no book is ever written in a complete vacuum and the presidential book is no exception. In this wonderful book, Mr. Fehrman not only gives us the inside details of how and why president wrote their books, it also shows how presidents were affected by the literature they read and how they in turn affected American literature with their books. Thus, it is not just a history of presidential books, it is a great thumbnail sketch of American literature and publishing.

Starting with Thomas Jefferson’s Notes from the State of Virginia, Mr. Fehrman takes us through the development of other presidents’ books, from John Adams’ unpublished legacy book to Lincoln’s collection of debate speeches, to Calvin Coolidge’s incredibly personal autobiography.  He even extends his survey to the modern era and ending with Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, though Donald Trump does get a brief mention.  It is incredible to see the different approaches each president took to writing their books.  It’s also interesting to see how as both the presidency and American publishing grew, so too did a president’s need for assistance in writing their books.  By the modern era, few presidents were writing their books themselves, if at all, and ghostwriting has become almost a necessity.  There are some exceptions such as Reagan’s Where’s the Rest of Me? And Obama’s Dreams, but most presidential books are no longer written solely by presidents.  It is a fascinating look at how presidential writing and books have dramatically changed since the founding.

What is also great about this book is how Mr. Fehrman paints a picture for us by also explaining the state of American literature and publishing throughout our history.  American literature and publishing did not exist at the time Jefferson and Adams were writing their books and Americans who could read were dependent on cheap knockoffs from Britain.  Having more than a family Bible in a house was expensive and difficult to come by for many Americans in the early years of the nation too.  Thus, not only did the state of literature and publishing affect how our presidents wrote and published, but also how presidents’ books affected American literature and publishing.  For example, Jefferson’s Notes had to be published in France first, but it also helped put America on the political and literary map.  It also had both positive and negative effects on Jefferson’s future political ambitions as both sides used quotes from the book to either support or oppose Jefferson’s candidacy in 1796 and 1800.  And, of course, Grant’s Memoirs not only set the gold standard for presidential memoirs, but also set the stage for the blockbuster books of future presidents.

Not only does Mr. Fehrman offer a great and even intimate history of presidential books, he also offers some literary criticism of those books as well.  This is perhaps the weakest part of the book, especially as he gets closer to the present.  As political books becomes more ubiquitous, it seems as though Mr. Fehrman gets more and more critical.  By the epilogue, Mr. Fehrman is calling most of the political books out there garbage and offering advice for how presidents could write better books that appeal to both history and to average readers.  Now, to be fair to Mr. Fehrman, not every politician’s book is great and some are even downright terrible (do I really have to read Josh Bolton’s terribly titled The Room Where It Happened to know that it is not a great book?), but I couldn’t help but wonder who is at fault for this.  Are politicians at fault, or is it the complicated demands of the job we are asking them to do today, or could it just be American literature has become so mass produced and mass marketed that publishing houses will print anything and average readers will pick up anything and neither will are able to separate the wheat from the chaff?  Mr. Fehrman seems to think that it is politicians’ faults, but I think the real answer is a bit more complicated than that.

Despite Mr. Fehrman’s criticisms of modern political books, it does not take away from the overall joy of this work.  Every page is engaging and fascinating, offering a little something for everyone.  I highly recommend this to anyone interested in presidential history or the history of American literature and publishing.

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The American Sphinx Speaks: A Review of Thomas Jefferson's Writings from the Library of America

Writings: Autobiography / Notes on the State of Virginia / Public and Private Papers / Addresses / Letters by Thomas Jefferson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia, is one of the more elusive Founding Father’s to pin down. Like Benjamin Franklin, he was a polymath with a deep interest in the many scientific undertakings of his age and was a consummate, though reluctant (at least according to himself), politician. At times he could be seemingly all over the place. What this book of Jefferson’s public papers and letters does is let readers peer more deeply into his mind and soul than the many biographies written of him since his death, but at the cost of creating one extremely long volume.

This book is divided into several parts including: an autobiography he wrote for his children and grandchildren; his “Summary View of the Rights of British America”, which was a prototype of the Declaration of Independence; his famous “Notes on the State of Virginia”; his public papers, letters, addresses and replies; and finally the private letters he wrote throughout his life.  By examining all of these together, one can really get the sense of Jefferson was as a person and where he stood on the key issues of the day.  Though some historians have painted Jefferson as a bit of a political opportunist and an enigma, by allowing Jefferson’s writings to speak for themselves one can see that he was a man of principle and resolve with a keen interest in advancing the sciences.  Not everything Jefferson wrote down or said will jive well with a modern audience, particularly his views on African-Americans and African colonization.  Still, for better or worse, much of America’s identity as a democratic nation comes from Jefferson’s writings and politics.

Though this volume does a great job of letting Jefferson speak for himself, it is WAY too long.  At 1600 pages, this is one of the longest books in the Library of America’s collection and is equal in size to a standard copy of the Bible.  Though I had planned on finishing this in a month, it took me over six weeks to read this book from cover to cover.  There is an opportunity though for Library of America to rectify this by splitting Jefferson’s writings into two volumes, as they have done with other presidents such as John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Theodore Roosevelt.  About half of the book is made up of Jefferson’s autobiography and public addresses and papers.  The other half are Jefferson’s private letters.  Library of America could split this into two volumes between his public and private papers and may even make more room for more of Jefferson’s private letters, which were some of the most interesting and accessible reads.  As it stands right now though, this volume is better used as a reference for lay readers rather than something to be read from cover to cover.

Like other Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson left behind a legacy of liberty, but also of contradictions.  As America continues to strive to live up to its founding ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, looking back on how the founding generation both succeeded and failed at the same endeavor will be immensely educational and hopeful.  Though some may struggle to make it through this volume, there is real value in reading and understanding the thoughts and actions of Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers.  I recommend this book to people interested in learning about Jefferson first hand and are willing to devote time and effort to do so.

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Genius and Madness: A Review of A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Throughout history, genius has oftentimes been associated with madness. Figures such as Pablo Picasso are famous in the popular imagination for this. During of the 20th century, John Nash, a mathematical genius who struggled with paranoid schizophrenia, would rise, fall, and be resurrected with a Nobel Prize in the 1990s and his life would inspire an Academy Award-winning movie. That movie was based off of this biography written just a few years after Dr. Nash’s Nobel Prize announcement and, despite being over two decades old, offers an incredibly sympathetic portrait of the man and his life. If all you know about John Nash is his famous Nash Equilibrium or the movie, you don’t know the half of it.

John Nash Jr. was born to a middle class West Virginia family.  Always eccentric, John Nash would soon show an affinity for mathematics, which would take him to Princeton and MIT.  Dr. Nash’s contributions to mathematics includes his famous Nash Equilibrium, a key component of modern Game Theory that has had an enormous impact on economics and policy since the 1980s, as well as other theories.  However, at the pinnacle of his career, Dr. Nash’s eccentricities would devolve into madness as paranoid schizophrenia would rob him of over two decades of his life.  Miraculously, Dr. Nash would survive and be recognized for his contributions with the Nobel Prize in 1994.  Step by step, Ms. Nasar takes us through Dr. Nash’s life.  His ups and his downs, his eccentricities, his madness, are all well documented in these pages.  Indeed, Ms. Nasar offers an incredibly sympathetic picture of her subject.  Her descriptions of schizophrenia and how Dr. Nash’s particular case fits into the patterns of this particular mental illness, even how some might argue that Dr. Nash was bipolar rather than schizophrenic, are well documented.  This biography does a great deal to dispel the myths surrounding this particular mental illness.  But Ms. Nasar is never overly fawning over her subject.  She notes how arrogant Dr. Nash could be around his peers and she describes how he could be incredibly cruel and unthinking towards the people closest to him.  For those of you who only know about his marriage to Alicia Larde through the movie, know that their relationship was much more complicated than the movie makes it out to be.

Where this book is slightly deficient is in her descriptions of the mathematical theories Dr. Nash and his peers were researching.  Indeed, while she is willing to go into detail about schizophrenia and its effects, she shies away from giving a satisfactory explanation of any of the mathematics Dr. Nash and others were working on.  Not even the famous Nash Equilibrium, which won Dr. Nash the Nobel Prize, is explained well.  There are a few exceptions to this, such as Dr. Nash’s work on differential geometry and nonlinear differential equations is explained a little better, but not much.  Another issue with this book that is not the fault of Ms. Nasar is the books age.  First published in 1998, this book is almost 23 years old.  On top of that, Dr. Nash and Alicia lived another 17 years after publication, dying in a car crash together in 2015.  Thus, as good as this biography is, it is ultimately incomplete.  A new biography or at least an updated version of this book that would include a section on Dr. Nash’s later life and work would be most welcome.

Overall, this is an excellent biography.  Ms. Nasar is sympathetic in her portrait of Dr. Nash, but she never overlooks his flaws.  This does a great job of describing the ins and outs of Dr. Nash’s mental illness, but it does shy away from deeper explanations of the mathematical theories mentioned.  And as complete a life as this book represents, the last 17 years of Dr. Nash’s life and work are missing.  Whether you are a fan of the movie or just interested in great mathematical minds, this is a book worth picking up.

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A Necessary Book: A Review of How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As the Trump era comes to a close and race relations, among many other things in this country, have reached a new low, especially after the summer of Black Lives Matter protests last year, people of goodwill have been looking for ways to break the country and themselves free from America’s white supremacist past and present. One of the newest paradigms shifts in thinking about achieving racial equality in America is antiracism, yet few know what exactly this means. In this wonderful book, Dr. Kendi not only illuminates the deeper meanings and workings of antiracism, but also charts his own personal development into antiracist work.

Like the book So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, Dr. Kendi talks about racism and antiracism both from experience and from deep academic research.  His previous work, Stamped from the Beginning, would be an excellent book to read before this one, along with Ms. Oluo’s.  However, what distinguishes this book from other recent works of antiracism is both the deeper insight’s and definitions Dr. Kendi explores, but this is a book anchored in his own humanity, humility, and self-reflection.  Almost every chapter has some personal anecdote that leads into his antiracist point and many of them are critical of his own faults and failings earlier in his life.  Thus, by reflecting on his own past failings, Dr. Kendi invites his readers to explore their own past failings where they have failed to treat others, particularly BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people, with equal dignity and respect.  As Dr. Kendi explored his own development towards antiracism, I even found myself reflecting on my own failings and resolving to do better in the future.

It can be too easy for people to point out racist ideas, acts, or policies, but it is much more difficult to point to our own racist thoughts and actions and work to improve ourselves.  Dr. Kendi’s excellent, well-though out and deeply reflective work, can help all of us to do so.  There is a reason why this book has been on a lot of antiracism reading lists and I have no criticisms to give this book.  For anyone who has read So You Want To Talk About Race, Stamped from the Beginning, or other antiracism works, you must read this book next.

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October 2020 Readathon Live Blog

October 25, 11:25 a.m.

I finished my final book, Divine Self-Investment by Tripp Fuller at around 4 a.m., one hour before the end of the readathon.  But I was so exhausted from pushing myself to finish this book that I immediately went to bed without an update.  So, I didn't make it the full 24 hours, especially if you include the hours when I was traveling or in my virtual reunion meetings, but I cam pretty close.  Also, I ultimately feel like I will have to reread Divine Self-Investment at some point in the future as I feel my reading of it was affected by my exhaustion.  This was a complicated book and I am not sure how Mr. Fuller got to the conclusions that he did, so a more careful reading is called for.  But, that is the end of this readathon.  I look forward to the next one.  And next time, I will make sure that I am not interrupted and have the ENTIRE day to read.

8:47 p.m.

After another reunion event catching up with old friends from grad school and getting a small dinner, I finally completed the poetry book I was on, There Should be Flowers by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza.  I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to like this book, but it turned out to be great.  I highly recommend it to poetry lovers, particularly and trans readers out there.  Now, on to Divine Self-Investment by Tripp Fuller.

5:06 p.m.

I finally finished a book that I have been stuck on for over a month now, The Gospel as Social Revolution by Timothy Black.  It's an incredibly detailed look at why evangelical Christians should consider poverty alleviation to be central to our Gospel mission and not on the periphery.  He also examines a program in South Africa to show how evangelicals could implement such a program based on the needs of the local community.  Now that I have gotten books that I had already started reading out of the way, it's time to start some new books!

2:42 p.m.

So my break took way longer than I expected it to, but now I am back and ready to get into my next book, The Gospel as Social Revolution by Timothy Black.

10:26 a.m.

I'm on a bit of a break right now as I am taking part in my grad school's online reunion right now.  Then I have to travel a little bit with my wife, but I'll get back to reading on the car ride.  See you soon.!

8:23 a.m.

I just finished reading my first book for the day, The Diary of Young Girl by Anne Frank.  Strangely, this my first time ever reading this book as I somehow managed to make it through public school without encountering this book in any class that I took.  I know I read some book about the Holocaust, I just don't remember what it was.  A pity it wasn't this one.

5:58 am

It's been a while since I have done a live blog of a readathon and what better time than to start with Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon in October. I just got finished with some devotional reading and now I am moving on to The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, which I have less than 100 pages to complete.    For the sake of my sanity, I will only be updating this blog when complete something or take a break of some sort.  Let the reading adventure begin!

America's Prophet: A Review of Fredrick Douglass by David Blight

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The 19th century in American history is filled with amazing historical figures, but few stand out as much as Fredrick Douglass. In this wonderful biography, Mr. Blight dives to deep into the life of the preeminent American of the 19th century and, by doing so, holds up a mirror to an America once again having to reckon with its dark racial past.

The life of Fredrick Douglass is one that many Americans already know as he wrote three different and highly praised autobiographies at various times in his life. Born into slavery, Douglass taught himself how to read, escaped from slavery, and became one of the greatest abolitionists of the period. He would go on to use his voice and his pen to denounce slavery in the South and racism in the North, recruit black soldiers for the Union effort during the Civil War, and hold the country accountable to the promises it made to former slaves during Reconstruction and long afterwards. Mr. Blight deftly navigates Douglass' career and gives a nuanced picture of the fiery American prophet. At the same time, Mr. Blight also reveals the home life that sustained and frustrated him, particularly in the latter half of his life. All the while, he doesn't look away from Douglass' faults, particularly his prejudicial language towards Native Americans and Catholics, or the compromises he would make later in life as a loyal-to-a-fault member of the Republican party. Thus, this biography gives one of the fullest pictures you are likely to find of Douglass anywhere.

The best part of this biography is how not a word is wasted even in such a large biography. At times Mr. Blight can get a wee bit preachy, but it is always in the context of Douglass' life and it never really feels out of place. Thus, this biography is not just a life of Douglass the man, but a call to America, past and present, to heed Old Man Eloquent's words and live up to its promises of liberty and justice for all as laid down in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and especially the Reconstruction amendments.

Whether this is you are new to the life of Fredrick Douglass or not, this is a necessary biography for our times on one of the most important figures in American history. I highly recommend this book to all interested in American history or in the lives of great Americans.

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Bully for America! A Review of The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the most persistent and pressing problems in recent U.S. history has been the ever widening gap between the rich and poor, the growing power of large corporations at the expense of workers, and the government's inability (or unwillingness) to address the problem seriously. Populist candidates on both the political right and left have gained a great deal of traction by criticizing our current state of affairs. As we face another election where the fate of Progressive politics for the next generation will be on the line, it is good to turn back the clock to a period in U.S. history and see how extraordinary leaders in politics and the press arose to meet a similar challenge. Fortunately, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin does all that in this excellent examination of the lives of Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the muckraking journalists of McClure's that did so much to bolster the Progressive cause of the early 20th century.

Ms. Goodwin starts with the lives of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, two men of drastically different temperaments, and how their strong friendship supported each other for much of their careers. As a longtime fan of Theodore Roosevelt, Doris Kearns Goodwin travels some rather well-trodden ground for me. With the exception of Theodore Roosevelt's second wife and longtime friend, Edith Carrow, Ms. Goodwin does not reveal much about TR that you couldn't have already found in other biographies. But when she turns to examining Taft's life, that is where this book really starts to pick up. Sadly, history has not been kind to Taft. Too often he has been overshadowed by his famous presidential predecessor, TR. But Ms. Goodwin does a tremendous job of revealing the true Taft to readers who may not be as familiar with him. The contrasting images of TR and Taft reveal that while TR was more combative, passionate, and stubborn, Taft was far more fair-minded, affable, and efficient even when he procrastinated. Indeed, Taft shines as the far more likable of the two presidents in this book. Ms. Goodwin's charting of their relationship's rise and fall is at the very heart of this book and that eventual fall is just as heartbreaking as you would expect.

While the two presidents make up the bulk of this book, another key element is the Progressive "muckraking" journalists that gathered around S.S. McClure's magazine, McClure's. The famous journalists Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, William Allen White, and Ray Stannard Baker all played a critical role in exposing the corruption of the different business trusts and political machines that had been choking the civic life out of the nation at that time. Indeed, Ms. Goodwin makes an effective case that, without McClure's and the top-notch investigative journalism it pioneered, TR would not have been nearly as successful as he became. Indeed, she strongly hints that, without McClure's, TR would not have had enough popular support to win the Republican nomination and then the presidency in his own right in 1904.

With these three moving parts, it would be a difficult juggling act for anyone. And, unfortunately, it appears at times to be too much for Ms. Goodwin too. Several times it felt as though these three storylines were disconnected from each other. This is especially true just before the beginning of McClure's golden age in the mid-1900s to the end of that time when S.S. McClure's manic mood swings and extra marital affairs would destroy the partnerships that made McClure and his journalists so successful. On top of that, the heart of this book is TR and Taft's friendship, but Ms. Goodwin rarely gives us any insight into how their relationship became so close despite the fact that these were two men of such vastly different talents and temperaments, though not entirely of politics (which might be a surprise to some). Not until the end does Ms. Goodwin really give us an image of TR and Taft as friends rather than really good office partners. But, when all three of these things do come together right around the middle of the book, when you see the muckrakers digging up and exposing corruption, TR providing the moral clarity and political leadership, and Taft faithfully executing TR's vision, the narrative is dynamite. It makes one nostalgic for a time when journalists were respected and their exposures of corruption were not only more frequent, but could make serious waves in politics.

The 700+ narrative pages may be daunting at first glance. But, for those who are interested in the combination of investigative journalism and Progressive politics, who are looking for solutions to our present predicaments by studying our past, this is a book well worth your time and effort. I highly recommend this book to fans of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive era or who desire motivation for our current political times.

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Fear of the "Other": A Review of They Called Us Enemy

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941 shook many Americans to their core. Never before had the country been attacked in such a devastating way and people were afraid. Out of that fear was borne one of the countries darkest mistakes, the internment of thousands of people Japanese descent, most of them American citizens. While the U.S. government has apologized and paid reparations to internees, it is too easy to forget how fear can drive a country to do terrible things to its own citizens. This graphic novel co-written by George Takei, the famous actor and activist, about his own experience in an American internment camp is a necessary read.

Set mostly in the 1940s, but also flashing forward into Mr. Takei's life, this book will feel very familiar to anyone who has read the March graphic novels. The artwork is smoothly drawn compared to some of the harsher lines of March, but like March the artwork is entirely black and white. At times, the black and white is a good thing, but I would've preferred this book with more color in a lot of different places. Still, for both young and old readers, the art does not get in the way of telling the story, so the smooth drawings and colors make this work.

While most of the story rightfully focuses on Mr. Takei's time in the camps with his family, as I mentioned before, it does flash forward to the present and other moments in Mr. Takei's life and career. Most of the time, this works very well, but every now and then there was a one-panel flash forward that broke the narrative and felt out of place. Most of the time, though, the flash forwards work quite effectively in showing Mr. Takei reflecting in the present what happened to him and his family in the past and how it impacted his whole life's trajectory.

As the country currently goes through a period of fear of the other, graphic novels like this one are incredibly important in warning us about not making the making the same mistakes again. Fear should not override our desire to love our neighbor and protect their rights and liberties. I highly recommend this book to fans of March, graphic novels, and Mr. Takei's life and work.

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Crossing Borders for the American Dream: A Review of The Distance Between Us

The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For many years now, people have been crossing the U.S.’s southern border, legally or illegally, in search of the American Dream. What is not always mentioned in that tale is how often the children of those who cross the border are left behind for long stretches of time. What does that do to relationships between parents and their children? And what happens when they are reunited? This memoir answers those questions as Ms. Grande chronicles her own life of poverty, abandonment, and abuse from her childhood in Mexico to her graduation from college in California.

The book starts with Ms. Grande’s mother leaving their home in Iguala, Mexico, to join her husband in the United States, “El Otro Lado.” Ms. Grande and her siblings, Mago and Carlos, live a life of poverty with their grandparents and the short spurts when their mother comes back to take care of them. When their long absent father returns and gives them a chance to go to the U.S. with them, they soon find themselves in “El Otro Lado” and given opportunities they never could’ve had in Mexico. However, they soon learn that the father they dreamed of having is nothing like the father they actually have to live with.

This was a very difficult for me to rate because it is so damn depressing. Never before has a book made me want to cry with every chapter. The circumstances that Ms. Grande and her siblings find themselves in just wrenches at your heart and there are very few moments where the mood lightens until the very end. And yet, Ms. Grande’s style is compelling. Her use of rhetorical questions throughout puts you in the mind of a child dealing with abandonment and abuse throughout her young life. It makes the ending of the book very well earned.

This is not a book to lull you to sleep. Indeed, you will want to keep some Kleenex handy for those awful tear-jerking moments, of which there are a lot. This is a book for fans of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis and other memoirs of poverty.

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"A Just and Lasting Peace... With All Nations:" A Review of Lincoln in the World

Lincoln in the World: The Making of a Statesman and the Dawn of American Power by Kevin Peraino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The U.S. Civil War is one of the epochal moments in history. The momentousness of the Civil War is clear domestically as it ended slavery and united the country more tightly than ever before. And yet, while its domestic importance is clear, few Americans also realize just how important the Civil War was in world history as the binding of the Union and the destruction of slavery would help pave the way towards America's rise to predominant power in the 20th century. There have been recent books, such as The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War by Don H. Doyle, that have tried to fill in this gap, but what also can get lost in this story is the role that President Abraham Lincoln played in guiding foreign policy during the period. Like FDR's role as Commander in Chief of World War II, too many historians have downplayed his role as Chief Diplomat and instead focused on his military leadership. This biography does an amazing job of filling in this gap while also being one of the most easily accessible Lincoln biographies currently available.

This book tracks Lincoln's career from little-known congressman to President of the United States by pitting Lincoln against five historical figures and the major foreign policy issues that divided them. It starts with an examination of Lincoln's nuanced opposition to the Mexican-American War against his Illinois law partner's support, William Herndon; the first struggles over foreign policy leadership between Lincoln and his new Secretary of State, William Seward; his struggle to avoid war with Great Britain and its prime minister, Lord Palmerston; the struggle over public opinion between Lincoln and Karl Marx; and the U.S.'s response to the invasion of Mexico by France's emperor, Napoleon III. Each one of these chapters provides a great vignette of Lincoln and his opponent and what exactly their thinking was on the key foreign policy issues of the Civil War. They are endlessly fascinating and Mr. Peraino does an excellent job of revealing Lincoln's role in everything. Though Lincoln may not appear to do much at times, Mr. Peraino points out that doing nothing, or strategic patience as it might be called, can be crucial in foreign affairs and is key to Lincoln's leadership in this arena. Lincoln, and his opposites, knew their objectives, but Lincoln appears to have had the clearest mind on how to achieve those objectives.

I will say that the Lincoln/Marx chapter is a little bit of a stretch. While Lincoln squared off with all of the other figures almost directly, Marx and Lincoln seem to be linked only indirectly, at best. However, Mr. Peraino's insight in this chapter is to show just how deftly Lincoln swayed international public opinion over the question of emancipation, something Marx wished he could do with his call to proletariat revolution, but never succeeded at doing in his lifetime. It may be the weakest of links, but Mr. Peraino makes it work.

Perhaps the most insightful chapter is the last where Mr. Peraino briefly (compared to the previous chapters at least) follows the diplomatic career of his personal secretary, John Hay, that would lead him to become Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. By doing so, Mr. Peraino shows just how critical Lincoln's foreign policy legacy was in shaping the United States and its role in the world for the next half century. It made me wish for a recent biography of John Hay to pick up and read. I shall have to look into that...

At a little over 300 pages in narrative length and with simple language and anecdotes, this is also one of the most accessible biographies of Lincoln available. While painting a great picture of Lincoln as a statesman, Mr. Peraino also provides good sketches of Lincoln the man as well. For anyone who has wanted to pick up a Lincoln biography, like Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln or Lincoln by David Herbert Donald, but have been too daunted by their length and detail, this is a good book to break yourself in. I still feel that there is much more to say about Lincoln the statesman, but this book is an excellent jumping off point. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Lincoln, the U.S. Civil War, and America's rise to power.

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A Renaissance Man: A Review of Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the great geniuses of the human race. A polymath, Da Vinci's skill with the brush was beyond dispute, but he also was vastly curious about a number of different areas beyond art. Indeed, his examinations of different areas of scientific inquiry would prefigure the scientific method of Bacon and Galileo and some of his personal scientific discoveries would not be discovered by the wider world for centuries later. So, what made Da Vinci tick? Mr. Isaacson, biographer of other geniuses such as Einstein, Ben Franklin, and Steve Jobs, sets out to do just that and draw lessons for the reader in this biography.

Mr. Isaacson starts and ends this book with an appreciation of Da Vinci's wide ranging curiosities, which were vast. Some of them, as Mr. Isaacson points out, has almost nothing to do with art or... anything of practical use. Da Vinci investigated many of them to satiate his own curiosity. It's one of Da Vinci's qualities that make him both admirable and frustrating. Mr. Isaacson catalogues nearly all of Da Vinci's known works in both art and his personal notebooks. He notes that Da Vinci could easily be driven to distraction, so much so that many of his artworks were left unfinished. Not only that, but all of his personal discoveries that prefigured their later discoveries were never published. Thus, I often put down this book thinking about just how frustrating Da Vinci must have been as a person in real life.

However, if you're looking for a traditional biography that records as many details of Da Vinci's day-to-day life as possible, you might be in for a bit of a surprise. Oftentimes, Mr. Isaacson forgoes details about Da Vinci's life in favor of an appraisal of Da Vinci's art and inner mind as expressed in his personal notebooks. Indeed, the book follows a pattern of "Check out cool thing A Da Vinci did... Checkout cool thing B Da Vinci did... but they were never finished." Thus, compared to his Steve Jobs biography, this book is far less critical of Da Vinci the man. Walking away from this book, I appreciate Da Vinci's art and mind more, but don't feel like I know more about the man himself.

I also felt like Mr. Isaacson was less than objective in his appraisals. As I said before, Mr. Isaacson spends a lot of time analyzing and appreciating Da Vinci's art and he has almost nothing but praise for it. Indeed, he seems to appreciate Da Vinci's art so much that he gives little love to other contemporary Renaissance artists. This is especially true of Michelangelo, whom Mr. Isaacson compares to Da Vinci a couple of times and even writes a good chapter of the only known time the two worked on an artwork together, or rather against each other. Mr. Isaacson doesn't give much love to Michelangelo and some of his appraisals of him border on hostile. I doubt anyone who has seen both these masters' works would say one was better than the other, but Mr. Isaacson does. As someone who appreciates Michelangelo's art just as much as Leonardo's, Mr. Isaacson's disdain for him and other Renaissance artists is a little jarring.

Da Vinci was just as brilliant as he was frustrating, and Mr. Isaacson has done a commendable job bringing him and his art to life. The lessons that Mr. Isaacson draws from Da Vinci's life in the conclusion are also wise and prudent. You may not come away from this book knowing about Da Vinci's life in detail, but you will gain a better appreciation of his work and astounding mind. Don't be surprised if you find yourself trying to imitate some of Da Vinci's habits in your life after reading this book.


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A Literary Princess: The Lessons from Carrie Fisher's "The Princess Diarist"

In the past I have feared that this blog has been a a bit of an exercise in ego stroking and that no one would appreciate or care about what has been written on this blog.  Heck, I'm not even sure if my thoughts in the past have been coherent enough to be understood by others.

Thus, reading The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher's reflections on her time filming the first Star Wars has actually been a little reassuring to me.  As Jaime Herndon best put it in her recent blog on Bookriot reflecting on Ms. Fisher one year after her death, "She was outspoken, brash, and to be blunt, didn’t give a shit what you thought of her."  Her diaries and her recollections from that time are incredibly open, honest, and vulnerable.  

This is especially true of Carrie Fisher's recollections about her short affair with Harrison Ford during filming.  In her recollections, she was open and honest about what their relationship was and what it wasn't.  And her diary excerpts reveals a young woman filled with self-doubt, enamored by her co-star, but very unsure whether or not she should be pursuing this relationship at all.  She never gives any salacious or humiliating details, but she provides a window into her own heart.

When writing our personal reflections whether on film, literature, or other topics, we should all aim for such openness and honesty.  It is sad that I am only now getting to know this side of Carrie Fisher, the actress who brought one of the first strong female characters I knew in media, over a year after her death.  I can't say whether or not I will be reading any more of her works.  But her literary example of self-reflection and honesty should be one that all bloggers and memoirists should aim for. 

I know I haven't been updating this blog for a while and I apologize to everyone who has been interested in provincial scribblings.  One of my New Year's Resolutions is to write more blogs in the future.  Next week, I hope to be writing about The "S" Word: A Short History of an American Tradition... Socialism by John Nichols.  Thanks for being patient and happy New Year to all of you!