History At Its Finest: A Review of Black Reconstruction by W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Reconstruction by W.E.B. Du Bois

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While the history of the American Civil War is quite well known by most Americans thanks to some amazing books and documentaries, the decade-long period immediately following it known as Reconstruction is little known and little understood by most. In fact, thanks to ahistorical mythologies like the “Lost Cause” narrative, Reconstruction has been painted as a dark period when corruption was rampant and Southern state governments, run by Freedmen and Northern carpetbaggers, ran roughshod over people’s rights. The historical record shows that this couldn’t be further from the truth, yet this insidious myth persists. Fortunately, there are also plenty of books that have been written to push back against this narrative and establish the true history of Reconstruction. While many such books have been written in recent years, nearly all of them owe an enormous debt of gratitude to this book, one of the very first systematic histories of the period to tell the story truly. What makes this a must-read for anyone interested in Reconstruction is how W.E.B. Du Bois centers Black Americans in this tale. In this book, Mr. Du Bois makes the strongest case for what has been said by others before: that Black Americans, the enslaved as well as the free, were their own greatest liberators and Reconstruction’s greatest reformers.

While W.E.B Du Bois is best known today as the author of such works as The Soul of Black Folk and one of the founders of the NAACP, he was also the first Black men in America to receive a doctorate from Harvard.  Published in 1935, this book is the culmination of some of Du Bois’s scholarly work, which he had been hitting upon at different times in his scholarly and popular articles decades before.  Starting with an examination of the condition of both enslaved Black people and their White enslavers in the Antebellum South, Du Bois takes his reader on a journey through the 20 year period that encompassed both the Civil War and Reconstruction.  At each step, he shows through critical analysis of the sources available to him at the time how Black Americans’ own actions were what drove many of the key changes of this period.  For example, with so many enslaved Black Americans escaping to Union lines and many of them as well as freedmen from the North eager to join the Union Army, their actions put pressure on Pres. Lincoln and the Union to transform their Civil War objectives from solely from preserving the Union to also pursing abolition.  Du Bois also shows how Black lawmakers during Reconstruction were the prime agents in the creation of the South’s public school system for both white and black kids after the war, a reform that would stay in place long after White Southerns had forcefully and violently suppressed political power.

Du Bois also addresses some of the criticism of this period, particularly the corruption that Black lawmakers were accused of partaking.  While not deny that there were cases of bribery and corruption, Du Bois helps to put it in the context of the time, which was an incredibly corrupt period in American history in general, and shows how oftentimes the corrupt actions of white lawmakers was far greater than anything Black lawmakers did.  Not only that, but Du Bois constantly reminds readers that Reconstruction was an extraordinarily violent time with many atrocities committed against Black Americans.  Racial terror and the undermining of America’s first attempt at multiracial democracy was the goal of groups like the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups.  Du Bois makes the argument that the Civil War never really stopped after Appomattox Courthouse, but morphed into a racial war of white supremacists targeting Black Americans.  Indeed, thinking of the racial violence through that lens and using Du Bois’s analysis, Du Bois may not have had the words for it in 1935, but readers who are even casually versed in the history of modern warfare can recognize the resemblance of the Klan’s violent tactics as similar to the Vietcong during the Vietnam War or the Taliban during the war in Afghanistan.  Sadly, as Du Bois shows, the North quickly grew weary of sustaining a military presence in the South and abandoned the project after 1876, a pattern America would follow in Vietnam and Afghanistan using similar arguments (“They got to learn to stand on their own feet eventually”) and having similarly tragic results.  Du Bois analyzes the reasons for the North’s withdrawal in 1876 and shows how it opened the door not just to the end of Reconstruction and Black Americans’s political power for decades, but also how it opens the door to the segregated America that follows soon afterwards.

One weakness of this book though lies in Du Bois’s Marxist background.  By the 1930s, Du Bois was firmly moving in a Marxist direction and he uses Marxist language and thought in his analysis throughout this book.  While this class approach to analyzing the period provides intriguing insights, I do feel as though Du Bois could stretch his Marxist analysis at times.  For example, while an alliance between Black labor and poor White labor in the South could have transformed the history of the period, I have doubts that large numbers of Americans could even conceive of society in such class conscious ways at the time.  Yes, Karl Marx was alive and organizing in Europe at the time and had written The Communist Manifesto in 1848, but his magnum opus, Das Kapital, was published in 1867 and I doubt his ideas had spread quickly enough in America at the time to have any effect.  I could be wrong, but to me Du Bois too often applied a class analysis that Black and White Americans would not have recognized during this period.

Overall, though this book is nearly 90 years old now, Du Bois’s strong analysis and exceptional historical writing provides a gold standard by which all other histories of Reconstruction should be judged.  Library of America has once again done an enormous service to American literary history by publishing this seminal work once again.  I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American history in general and Reconstruction in particular.

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Reckoning with Public History: A Review of How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For almost a decade Americans have once again attempted to grapple with its history of slavery, segregation, and racism. Yet current political movements for justice are not the only ways in which Americans can do so. In many of our public historic sites attempts are made to explain this history as well. Sometimes this story is told well, other times it is not. In this combination of history and travelogue, Mr. Smith takes his reader on a journey to several places across America and one place in Africa that have a direct connection to America’s history of slavery to see how that history is presented or, in some cases, obfuscated.

Starting with Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, and ending in one of the many ports where Africans were forcibly removed from their homeland to the slave markets and plantations of America and elsewhere, Mr. Smith does a tremendous job of showing how central these places are to America’s history of slavery and, by extension, how central the history of slavery is to the development of the United States of America as a nation.  Like any book dealing honestly with this subject, this is not an easy read.  The amount of suffering and death that the system of chattel slavery incurred is staggering, disheartening, and quite counter to the story of America many of us learned in our classrooms.  And yet, illustrating this counter narrative is exactly the point of this book.  By showing how many of our public historic sites tell the story of slavery in America, and too often fail to do so, it forces the reader to seriously question the traditional story of America as the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Once that narrative is questioned, it then becomes possible to tell a more complete and honest history of our country and ask what can be done in the present to make this country what we have always been told it was.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  As a poet, Mr. Smith brings his skill with the written word to bear on a difficult topic and thus puts the reader in these places as though they were there themselves.  His interviews with tour guides and average people alike helps to illustrate just how our educational system and our public historic sites have failed to tell a full and honest story about the history of slavery in America.  And at the sites that Mr. Smith visits that obscures that history, whether by design or by accident, he does a tremendous job of setting the record straight.  Though this book is not a comprehensive examination of these public sites, this book can be the starting point for discussing how we do talk about America’s past and what can be done to improve it.  Judging by the number of politicians and “parent groups” that are currently seeking to ban books and textbooks from schools and libraries that try to tell a more honest history of America, a book like this couldn’t be more timely.

Whether you are a lifelong American history buff or new to the subject, whether you have visited all of these historic sites or none of them, this is a great book to start with when examining the full story of America’s slave past.

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October 2021 Readathon

 

Oct. 24, 11:13 a.m.

Now that I've gotten something approaching a full night's sleep, I can look back on this readathon and reflect on how successful I was.  Fortunately, Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon has a closing survey that I can use to assess my readathon: 

1. How would you assess your reading overall?  Honestly, this was one of the better readathons that I have done.  I had two major goals and two minor goals.  My major goals were to finish Dune and Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays by Robert Frost and I accomplished both of those goals.  I also had minor goals of starting to read The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee and Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang and I did start reading those, though I didn't get as far as I thought I would.  I even almost made it the full 24 hours, only bowing out at the end of hour 23.  In short, I read somewhere between 600 and 700 pages during this readathon, which is the most I have read for a readathon in a long time.
2. Did you have a strategy, and if so, did you stick to it?  Since I was reading Dune as an ebook and I didn't want to strain my eyes too much, my strategy was to flip between my books every 50 pages or so.  So, I would read about 50 pages of Dune, then I would read 50 pages of Robert Frost, then back to Dune, and so on.  I did largely stick to this and I think that was part of my success.  Rather than just power through a single book, flipping between books helped me to not get bored with one or the other, instead working towards an achievable goal before moving towards another book.  I also made it a point not to be so doctrinaire about sticking only to reading during the readathon as I went and did a few errands in the afternoon either by myself or with my wife.  This helped me to back off a little bit from time to time, give my eyes a little break, and get me some fresh air every now and then.
3. What was your favorite snack? Definitely the cheese, salami, and wheat crackers plate that I made, although the fruit plate my wife made with strawberries, blueberries, and pineapples was a very close second.
4. Did you add any new books to your TBR/wishlist after seeing what everyone else is reading?  Honestly, I was so focused on my own reading that I didn't engage with anyone else's reading on Dewey's website, or on social media.  Heck, I didn't even engage with my blog as much as I wanted to during the readathon.  I think I will need to rethink how I engage my blog and social media for the next readathon.
5. What was your favorite book or experience from this readathon?  Definitely finishing Dune.  I had just watched the new film adaptation with my wife the day before and I had started the book roughly where the movie ends (the movie out now only covers the first half of the book), so it was like finishing the movie in my head.  I have some mixed feelings about the book that I will have to work out in my review, but it was certainly the best of the reading I did for the readathon.

Oct. 24, 3:41 a.m.

I've now gotten a little reading doe for both The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee and Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang, but my body is beginning to betray me.  Though there is only about an hour left in this readathon, I think I am going to call it a night.  After I get some sleep, I'll write a postmortem for this readathon.  Good night everyone!

Oct. 24, 1:08 a.m.

With all of the distraction I had this afternoon, it took me longer than expected to complete the other major goal I had set out for myself with this readathon.  But, I have finally finished Dune by Frank Herbert.  Absolutely fascinating, but I started this book a little distracted.  I also feel like there is so much that happened between parts 2 and 3 of this book that I wouldn't have minded a little bit more.  No official biography for this book yet, but my preliminary rating is a 3.5 out of 5 stars.  Now, with the few hours I have left, I am going to try to achieve some minor goals I had set for myself at the start of this readathon.

Oct. 23, 11:40 p.m.

I haven't been updating this page as much as I had hoped as I have had to run a few errands that not only distracted me from updating this page, but also distracted me from my reading.  Fortunately, I have completed one of my major reading goals for this readathon.  That goal was to finish reading the collected poems, prose, and plays of Robert Frost from the Library of America (the green book in the picture).  This was tough as the portion I was reading was his prose and, let's be frank, his poetry is WAY more interesting than his plays or prose section.  Still, I can't deny that his poetry is quite beautiful and I can see how it has had a hold on folks for a long time.  So, while I won't have an official review out for awhile, I'm going to give this a preliminary 3.5 out of 5 stars.  Now, on to completing Dune by Frank Herbert and starting The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee.

Oct. 23, 9:51 a.m.

I am nearly five hours into this readathon.  How's it going so far?  Well, I've read about 100 pages of Robert Frost and 10% of Dune.  So, I am going a little slower than expected, but I am making good progress nonetheless.  I think I shall take a sort break to eat some breakfast, but I will continue to read Dune while I am eating.

Oct. 23 5:00 a.m.

It looks like it's time for another 24 Hour Readathon.  This one is being sponsored by Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon.  For this readathon, my goals are rather modest in comparison to previous readathons: finish Dune by Frank Herbert and Colleceted Poems, Prose, and Plays by Robert Frost.  After that, my goal is to try to get started on Vagabonds by Hao Jing Fang and The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee.  Wish me luck!

Moving Towards Zion: A Review of The Story of the Jews, Vol. 2: Belonging, 1492-1900 by Simon Schama

The Story of the Jews Volume Two: Belonging: 1492-1900 by Simon Schama

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The recent surge of anti-semitism in Europe and America has been heart breaking, especially when that anti-semitism led to violence at a Pittsburgh synagogue by a white supremacist terrorist in 2018. Sadly, Jewish history is fraught with such tragedies, even before you get to the Holocaust under the Nazis. But Jewish history is far more than these senseless tragedies. In this second volume to his planned trilogy, historian Simon Schama traces the history of the Jewish people from the Renaissance to the dawn of the 20th century, laying out in dense detail their many triumphs and tragedies and their persistence in the face of unbelievable hardships.

Starting right where he left off in volume one, Mr. Schama details how the constant attacks on the Jewish people forced them to adapt and migrate multiple times.  What is interesting is that the beginning and end of this narrative are bookended by messianic movements that led Jews to try to migrate out of Europe and into Palestine.  The earliest attempts were not always successful, but the last one detailed by Mr. Schama leads readers into the beginning of the Zionist movement, which will lead to the creation of the modern state of Israel in the 20th century.  It was fascinating to see how Jewish people could be just as susceptible to messianic movements and false messiahs in the same way that Christians of this period could.  It seems looking forward to a better world and trying to proactively bring it about is not exclusive to any single religious group.

Though the descriptions of anti-semitic assaults are difficult to read, Mr. Schama does a great job of walking his readers through it and drawing a subtle line from the attempts at forced conversions and the creation of the ghettos in the 16th century, and the nationalistic anti-semitism of 19th century Germany, which would be supercharged by the Nazis later.  Yet, in the midst of these terrible trials, Mr. Schama also paints several portraits of fascinating characters in Jewish history.  People like Shabbetai Zevi, Moses Mendelssohn, Uriah Levy, and so many others are absolutely fascinating in this book.  Also, Mr. Schama’s details about the rise of Sephardi, Ashkenazi, and Kabbalah Judaism are interesting too.

Another great aspect of this book is how Mr. Schama describes how the age of Enlightenment and the French Revolution promised to amicably assimilate Jews into the wider European culture, but it was a promise that was never fully realized.  As soon as France and other nations offered a hand, once Jewish groups tried to take it, they would find that it was almost always filled with empty promises.  The failure of the Enlightenment’s assimilation promises, combined with a new and virulent form of anti-semitism by the late 19th century, creates the historical backdrop for the forming of the Zionist movement.

However, this is not an easy book to get through.  This book is stuffed to the brim with details and stories that it implores you to read it slowly.  Skipping or speed-reading a single paragraph means that you will inevitably miss important details and get lost pretty quickly.  This is, without question, one of the densest history books I have ever read. In fact it is denser than his previous volume.  Do not start this book expecting to get through it quickly.  I did, and I ended up having to pause my reading or slow it down considerably just to get through it all.

Overall, this is a fascinating book, but one that is incredibly dense and begs its readers to chew on it slowly, rather than to rush through.  I look forward to reading Mr. Schama’s third volume and hope that it will be released sooner rather than later.

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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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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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Choosing the Paths of War: A Review of The Bomber Mafia by Malcom Gladwell

 

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm Gladwell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

(Full Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through the Goodreads Giveaway program. The views expressed are mine and not that of the author, publisher, or Goodreads.)

Though I have heard him on radio shows like The TED Radio Hour and have thoroughly enjoyed his insights, I have never actually read a Malcom Gladwell book. But when I read the description for this book, I knew that this would be right up my alley. Having recently finished this book, I can understand why people love his works so much. Combining history, technology, and a propulsive narrative, Mr. Gladwell explores the development of bomber technology leading up to and during World War II and meditates on the ethics and tactics at the very heart of modern war.

Starting in the period between World War I and World War II, Mr. Gladwell follows the rise and fall of “the bomber mafia”, a group of U.S. Army Air Force boosters who believed that advances in bomber tech made it possible to end wars quickly by targeting key infrastructure, or chokepoints, such as factories, bridges, etc., that would make it impossible for the enemy to effectively conduct war.  With the creation of bombers such as the B-29 Superfortress and the Norden bombsight, they believed they had a chance to prove their theories.  But when those theories turned out to be just out of their reach, less scrupulous generals such as Curtis LeMay and the invention of napalm would lead to such horrendous bombings as the fire bombing of Japan.

For World War II buffs, the general outline of the U.S. bombing campaign is already well known.  But what Mr. Gladwell does is that he also charts the intellectual progression of the Air Force’s biggest boosters as well as the technologies they relied on.  He also gives sympathetic portraits of all the key figures.  Even Gen. Curtis LeMay, who is so often portrayed as a warmonger in American history, is treated with sympathy.

Throughout it all, Mr. Gladwell also meditates on the ethics and tactics behind war.  Specifically, the ethics behind precision bombing favored by the bomber mafia and the carpet bombing favored by Gen. Curtis LeMay.  At the heart of it is this question: what is the most ethical (moral) way to wage war?  Should attempts be made to reduce casualties to an absolute minimum?  Or should you ratchet up the death and destruction in an attempt to shorten the war?  Mr. Gladwell seems to have a particular point of view on this question and he does stretch his point at times, but he doesn’t shortchange the other side’s arguments either.  So, not only is this a great short history of the advancements in bomber tech during World War II, it is also a meditation and case study on the ethics of war itself.

Overall, this was a great little history book.  It is short enough and written in such a way that a layman can enjoy, but with enough details to enlighten both laymen and history buffs.  While this won’t replace any of your histories on World War II, it is a great thought-provoking supplement that should not be missed.

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Where Do We Go Now?: A Review of Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria

Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

No event in recent history has been as disruptive to the world as the COVID-19 pandemic that, as of this writing, is still ongoing. Millions have died and millions more have been infected by this disease. In the United States, the number of deaths from COVID are comparable to the number of combat deaths during the Civil War. And the recession caused by the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns is on a par with the 2008 financial crises that we had only just recovered from. Much has been laid bare by this once in a century catastrophe, but fortunately Mr. Zakaria has written a fabulously book to guide us through this pandemic and look forward beyond our current crisis to see what the world may look like afterwards.

Best known for his book The Post-American World and his Sunday international news show on CNN, Mr. Zakaria is the right man to take a global perspective on this pandemic.  But, rather than disprove the central theses of globalization and relative American decline, Mr. Zakaria argues in this book that the pandemic proves both the necessity of globalization and America’s continued to decline.  He even goes beyond that to reveal how important quality government is to daily living, the need for two-way dialogue between experts and average citizens, and the overwhelming necessity for global cooperation.  All of these “lessons” are very well backed up by statistics and figures from an incredibly wide variety of authoritative sources.  And yet, despite all the overwhelming citations, Mr. Zakaria’s writing style is both engaging and easy-to-follow.  Both experts and laymen should be able to pick up this book and learn something.

The only drawback of this book is how outdated some of the information is.  Published in October 2020, some events have accelerated since then.  The COVID vaccine was still in development, though close to completion, when this book went to press and, of course, the 2020 U.S. presidential election and Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol had not  happened yet either.  Though this book in hindsight is quite prescient, I do hope Mr. Zakaria does update this book when it comes out in paperback.

Overall, though only slightly out of date, this is one of the best books to examine these current times and try to project into the future.  Though the pandemic has scarred nearly all of us, this book can help us make sense of this current crisis and what is necessary to build back better in the future.  I highly recommend this book to both policy wonks and laymen alike.

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Peace in a Troubled Land?: A Review of Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sectarian wars are notoriously violent and notoriously difficult to narrate due to the climate of fear that can pervade a society long after the conflict has officially ended. The Troubles, the period of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland from the lates 1960s to the late 1990s, is no exception, especially since the conflict has never been fully resolved and many of its participants are still alive. Thus, any history of this conflict is bound to be difficult to document in its entirety. This book, however, relying on interviews with both participants and victims alike, gives readers a pretty darn comprehensive history that also acts as a meditation on how fragile post-conflict societies can be without an accompanying truth and reconciliation process.

Starting in the late 1960s with civil rights protests by Northern Irish Catholics, Mr. Keefe shows how peaceful demonstrators were violently opposed by Northern Irish Protestants, which led to radicalization and sectarian violence for decades.  At the very heart of this history though is a mystery: the disappearance of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10, who was abducted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in December 1972.  Jean McConville’s disappearance was just one of many such incidents in this conflict that left over three thousand people dead.  It is also the story of key figures in the IRA: Gerry Adams, the IRA brigade commander turned politician; Dolours Price, one of the famous Price sisters who took part in the peaceful protests, but soon became radicalized and violent; and Brendan Hughes, one of the best known IRA street fighters of this period. Each one of these characters gets an incredible amount of attention and are presented as very nuanced characters in their own right.  

This book is divided into three parts and while Jean McConville’s disappearance takes center stage in the first and third parts, it almost completely disappears from the second part.  This is not actually a bad thing as to understand her disappearance you have to understand the history of the Troubles as well.  The mystery also serves an important function in part three as it allows the author and the reader to meditate upon the long-term consequences of a conflict that has never been fully resolved, nor has there ever been a true reconciliation process as has been seen in such societies such as post-Apartheid South Africa.  The past very much lives on in the present, so much so that former participants are still being charged and people who talk even today are at risk of being murdered.  Thus, justice has never been fully delivered in an even-handed manner.  This offers lessons for societies in the future coming out of periods of intensely violent sectarian conflict.

This was an incredible read.  The characters, history, and mystery are all written about with a level of nuance and empathy that is often lacking in many nonfiction books.  Mr. Keefe does not shy from narrating the complexities of the Troubles and is miraculously able to wrestle a comprehensive narrative into this book that is both coherent and detailed.  There are even moments of pulse-pounding action and suspense, particularly in part two.  This is not a dry history book, but one that puts you into the heart of the Troubles.  It is also not afraid to ask a fundamental question any post-conflict society must answer: what hope is there for long-lasting peace if there is little or no accompanying justice?  Both the history and this question will stick with me for a long time.

Overall, this is an outstanding book and may be one of the best nonfiction books published in awhile.  Whether you are interested in post-conflict societies in general or in the Troubles in particular, this is one book you should not fail to pick up.

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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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Crying Out for Freedom from the Other Side of American History: A Review of An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz

An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

America has a long history of promoting democracy and human rights, but also denying those basic rights to African-Americans and Latinx people. While there are a lot of histories that look at the history of both African-Americans and Latinx people as oppressed groups, nearly all of them treat each group separately. While there is great value in doing so, it does leave out the ways in which both groups supported each other’s fight for freedom and democratic rights and also implicitly perpetuates the false narrative that these two groups’ struggles are distinct from each other. In this incredible examination of American history from the point of view of both groups, Dr. Ortiz links both of their struggles for freedom and shows how America has too often been on the wrong side of history and freedom not just in America, but in its dealings with the Americas too.

As part of Beacon Press’s ReVisioning America series, which also has published such great books as An Indigenous People’s History of the United States and A Queer History of the United States for Young Readers, the goal of this book is to reexamine American history through a different lens.  Too often American history has been filtered through a predominately White POV that emphasizes our country’s many high points while only giving a superficial examination of America’s racist and oppressive past.  Dr. Ortiz tosses that White narrative out the window and focuses instead on the perspective of African-Americans and Latinx people.  The result is not the flattering picture most Americans already know.  African-Americans were enslaved for a good chunk of American history and faced exploitation, legalized segregation, and mass violence after the Civil War.  Latinx people in America, though never enslaved, also were exploited, segregated, and murdered by White Americans too, along with being deported unjustly when labor conditions were poor.  Thus, American history through this perspective is dark, oppressive, and never in keeping with the high ideals we claim to have founded this country on.  

The greatest value of this book though is not in treating African-Americans and Latinx groups as separate, but linking these two groups’ history and showing how each group at their best have supported each other’s struggles for freedom and basic human rights both at home and abroad.  Dr. Ortiz does a fantastic job of cataloging how African-Americans paid attention to and supported the revolutions in the Americas, drawing inspiration from them for their own early freedom struggles.  He also shows how Latinx people abroad supported African-American’s struggles for freedom in Antebellum America.  And once this book moves beyond the Mexican-American War and the Civil War, Dr. Ortiz catalogs the important contributions both groups made to the advancement of civil rights and labor rights in the 20th and 21st centuries.  It is fair to say that without both groups working both separately and together, American history would be tragically different.

Though Dr. Ortiz’s book is great, it is not perfect.  In the first few chapters, the narrative balance between both groups is tilted more towards coverage of African-Americans.  Granted, these chapters deal with pre-Civil War America, so the plight of African-Americans should take center stage at this point.  Also, once we get past the Civil War, Latinx people become a larger part of the narrative and the oppressive system of racial capitalism begins to grind both groups.  Thus, the narrative begins to balance out and Dr. Ortiz’s book starts firing on all cylinders.  Still, I wish he could’ve maintained a better narrative balance from the very beginning.

Too often the voices of African-Americans and Latinx people have been silenced or disbelieved.  The great value of a book like this is that it offers a counter-narrative to the simplistically naive story Americans are used to and acts as a clarion call for America to live up to its highest ideals of liberty and equality for all, as both African-Americans and Latinx people have been demanding from the very beginning.  Americans of all races, colors, and creeds should read this book along with other books in this series, repent, and resolve to justly apply our founding principles to all people in our country and abroad.

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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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Plodding through Communism's Fall: A Review of Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich

Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The fall of the Soviet Union is a watershed moment in the history of the 20th century and is often viewed by the West as a triumphant moment. But what about the people of the Soviet Union who lived through it? Svetlana Alexievich attempts to gives voice to the ordinary Russians and people living under the Soviets in this book and, many times, offers compelling oral testimony about what the end of communism looked like on the inside, but too often is unbearably slow and lacking in any meaningful context to help a Western reader orient themselves.

If you are living in the West, especially in the United States, before you pick up this book you should keep in mind that you are definitely not the intended audience.  This was written in Russian for Russian-speaking people.  Throughout the book there are references to Soviet political and cultural icons many of whom are incredibly obscure to a Western audience.  They are so obscure in fact that this book is littered with footnotes from the editor explaining who this person was.  Normally, footnotes are not a problem, but there are so many here that it may make it difficult for a Western reader to fully immerse themselves in this world.

Another thing to keep in mind about this book is that it is an oral history and one that is quite unlike any other oral history you may have read before.  In most oral histories, the author will interject some narrative and context behind the person who is speaking, maybe even a little biography of the person and their background.  Ms. Alexievich forgoes all of that in favor of letting the speaker completely speak for themselves.  She never mentions what questions she asked to get such responses from her subjects and only rarely jumps in with with some italicized narrative throughout the book.  Reading this book is the equivalent of reading a series of longwinded interviews with the interviewer almost entirely scrubbed out of the story.  

This refusal to inject herself into the book’s narrative can be both a blessing and a curse.  With some of her most interesting subjects, such as those who were either in the Kremlin or were apart of some of the critical moments, such as the August 1991 putsch in Moscow or the demonstrations against President Lukashenko in Belarus.  These were some of the best and most dramatic parts of this book.  However, a lot of this book does not center around these key historical events.  Thus, many of the interviews have this searching quality to it with people asking what did it all mean?  What did Soviets fight for in the Second World War if communism would just end?  Is the capitalist system that replaced it any better?  For a Russian-speaking reader, there may be some identification with these pondering, but for a Western reader with little love for the Soviet Union, not so much.  Thus again, Western readers may have trouble sympathizing with some of the subjects in this book.  

Then there are the purely ordinary Soviets just trying to live their lives in a new world.  Again some of these stories are interesting, but others are so melodramatic as to be almost a parody of life in Russia.  There are copious stories about alcohol abuse and domestic violence throughout this book and particularly in the second half.  Indeed, almost no marriage in this book doesn’t include alcoholism or domestic abuse or both.  The first few tales are interesting, but the ninth or tenth time it is told become repetitive and maudlin.  None of this is helped by the glacial space of this book.  Many of the chapters are unbearably slow, tedious reading.  This is not a book you should pick up for a quick breezy read as you should expect to sink a lot of time into reading it.

Ultimately, this book is a very mixed bag.  Some stories are incredibly fascinating and dramatic, especially the ones that link up with key historical moments.  But many other are incredibly slow, plodding stories with very little narrative meat for people to orient or attach themselves to.  If you are someone who is already familiar with this period in Russian history or already have your head soaked in the tales of ordinary modern life in Russia and the former Soviet states, you might find this book rather interesting.  However, if you’ve never learned about the fall of the Soviet Union and want to do so, read something else like The Future is History by Masha Gessen first before picking this book up.  

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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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February 2021 24in48 Readathon Live Blog

 

A Photo of Jefferson and my tea taken from my Instagram.

February 6, 2021, 1:08 a.m.

I didn't intend to truly start this readathon until the morning, but because it officially started at 12:01 a.m. EST (9:01 a.m. PST), and because I got to my reading late earlier today, I unintentionally kicked my readathon off at the same time as everyone else.  I started off by reading the first two chapters of Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin out of my Library of America edition of his early novels (see below for some links) and then read 100 pages of Jefferson while enjoying some nice Sleepytime Extra tea.  It took a little longer for me to finish all this reading than I expected, though not as long as I feared.  If I keep this pace up, I do believe I can finish Jefferson, Giovanni's Room, and The Light of the Jedi this weekend.  But will I be able to finish Felix Ever After or Children of Virtue an Vengeance (let alone start it) this weekend?  Doubt is creeping into my head.  Hopefully I can, but I am going to get some rest now and truly dive into this in the morning.

February 5, 2021: The Day Before!

It's been a few months since I have done an honest to goodness readathon and if I am ever hopeful of whittling down my TBR, then readathons are my only hope.  Fortunately, the wonder folks at the 24in48 Readathon have been working hard at organizing a great readathon and I am so happy to be joining them.

What is a readathon you ask?  A readathon is where you try read for as long as you can in a certain time frame without stopping, sort of like running a marathon (read + marathon= readathon).  One online place that is famous for organizing this is Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon.  They famously choose 24 hour period to just read non-stop during that period (their next one is on April 24).  There is also a bunch of social media done on Facebook, Instagram, Twitterm, etc. that folks can participate in as they are reading.  

The 24in48 readathon is similar in that you try to read for 24 hours straight, but they break it up over two days.  That means you can tackle your 24 hours of reading in any combination you like.  Read all day Saturday or all day Sunday?  Go for it!  12 hours on Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday?  Absolutely!  8 on Saturday, 16 on Sunday?  That works too!  Any combination of 24 hours of reading you can think of works for this particular readathon.

One thing they are doing differently this year is that they have chosen two group reads for folks to participate in, one fiction and one non-fiction.  Their non-fiction read is Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, a YA Romance starring a trans male as the protagonist.  The non-fiction read is White Negroes by Lauren Michele Jackson about cultural appropriation.  I personally plan on reading Felix Ever After myself, but no one is obligated to read these books if they want to read something else.

On top of Felix Ever After, I have a few books I either want to finish or make progress on.  First, I want to finish reading the Library of America collection Thomas Jefferson's writings that I have been working on since January 1.  This has been an interesting read, but at 1600 pages it is huge!  I had planned on finishing by the end of January, but life interceded.  I also plan on making progress on Library of America's collection of James Baldwin's early novels.  I just finished re-reading Go Tell It On the Mountain last night and I hope to have Giovanni's Room finished by the end of this readathon.

Next, I am going to finish reading Star Wars: The High Republic: The Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule.  My reading obsession originated with my love of Star Wars novels (the pre-Disney original Expanded Universe novels that is) back in high school and college, but I haven't really read many Star Wars novels since then.  However, this High Republic series sounds incredibly exciting.  I've been enjoying this book very much and I plan on finishing it this weekend.

Lastly, I plan on at least starting Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi.  This is the second book in her Legacy of Orïsha series, the first one being Children of Blood and Bone.  I read that when it first came out and I loved it!  I'm looking forward to diving back into this amazing YA fantasy world.

Of course, this is just the plan.  I have no idea if I will be able to actually do any of this.  Fortunately, like pervious readathons, I plan on live blogging this one.  Just come back to this page throughout the day tomorrow, February 6, and Sunday, February 7.  I'll be regularly adding updates to this page about my progress.  And while you're at it, be sure to check out any one of these great books or authors I have mentioned.  And if you want to join the 24in48 Readathon, head over to their website and fill out their online form.  Happy reading everyone!

Reckoning with a (Racist) Past: A Review of Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As America continues to grapple with its checkered past in the wake of recent and ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, one period that is seeing a resurgence of interest is the Reconstruction period. Between the end of the Civl War and the Compromise of 1876, America made its first tentative forays into multiracial democracy and equality. Eric Foner’s book Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877 is a critically praised history of that period worth a look. But what Dr. Gates contributes in this book is a cultural history of Reconstruction and the immediate period afterwards known as Redemption. While the racist imagery in this book can be hard to look at at times, Dr. Gates does a great job of showing the violent and propagandistic origins of many of today’s racial issues, but also how important Black artistic movements, particularly the Harlem Renaissance, were to resisting these racist narratives.

The first thing you need to know about this book is that it is not a straight narrative history.  There are not a lot of dates or explanations of key historical events during the Reconstruction and Redemption periods.  Thus the narrative can often go back and forth through time.  One minute Dr. Gates may be talking about something that happened in 1886, then move forward to something in 1903, then back to 1877.  What the reader needs to keep in mind though is that this book is structured thematically, with the first three chapters showing the origin and perpetuation of violent and racist myths about this period in this period, myths that still plague America to this day.  Each chapter also comes with a section of photographs and images from the period, much of which is incredibly difficult to look at.  It includes some of the most racist images I’ve ever seen in a book and it even includes some gruesome photographs of lynched Black Americans.  Anyone who is triggered by violent or racist imagery, be warned.

The best part about this book is how it is all tied up neatly at the end.  The last chapter is about Black Americans’ response to the white supremacy that robbed them of their rights and lives.  As Black Americans struggled to define themselves as a people after the collapse of Reconstruction and the violent rise of white supremacy, it led to incredible instances of artistic expression.  If the Redemption period from 1876 to the early 20th century is the counter-revolution that overturned Black Americans’ gains during Reconstruction and established white supremacy across much of the South, then Dr. Gates makes a great argument for considering the Harlem Renaissance as a cultural counter counter-revolution that sought to overturn the racist imagery and mythology of the Redemption period.  Through the great works of artists and scholars such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke, and others, the racist stereotypes of Black Americans perpetuated by white supremacists became much more difficult to uphold, thus paving the way culturally for the Civil Rights Movement of the mid 20th century.

While this may not be the narrative history of Reconstruction I thought it would be, Dr. Gates nevertheless offers a valuable contribution to our understanding of this vital period of American history.  Though the racist and violent imagery may be difficult to see, I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about this period in American history that now feels more relevant than ever.

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Grimy London: A Review of The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like other serial killers, Jack the Ripper has gone down in infamy for the crimes he committed rather than for who his victims were. Indeed, the five women killed by him have unjustly been labeled as “prostitutes” and their lives mostly forgotten. In this wonderful history, Ms. Rubenhold brings the lives of these women into the light, dispels the “prostitute” reputation they have gained, explores the social history of the poor and working class in Victorian England, and questions our contemporary society’s fascination with their common demise and killer rather than their uncommon lives.

To start things off, if you are reading this book for new details about the murder and the murderer, you are reading the wrong book. Ms. Rubenhold doesn’t waste any ink on nearly any detail of these women’s murders or the hunt for their killer. Plenty of books have gone over that territory and their deaths is not at all the focus of this one. Instead, Ms. Rubenhold writes five mini-biographies of their birth and life prior to their murders. In essence, by telling their story apart from their murder, Ms. Rubenhold gives them back the lives they had before Jack the Ripper ended them. At the same time, she goes into detail about the general lives of the poor in the working class in Victorian England. Things like work houses and the lives of soldiers and chapbook sellers are all detailed exquisitely here.

Honestly, I have no real criticisms of this book. My reading rate did slow a little towards the end, but that was due more to my own interests being distracted at the end rather than to any fault of the writer. Ms. Rubenhold has written an excellent counterweight to the Jack the Ripper mythology that succeeds on many levels. Whether you are an aficionado of Jack the Ripper books, interested in late Victorian English history, or none of these things, I would highly recommend this book to you.

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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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Tragedy Upon Tragedy: A Review of Assad or We Burn the Country

Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family's Lust for Power Destroyed Syria by Sam Dagher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Of all the tragic events that became known collectively as the Arab Spring, the Syrian Civil War is perhaps the most tragic, the most well known, and the least understood. For one brief, shining moment, it appeared that a new Middle East was possible free of dictatorships and terror. Syria seemed on the brink of change only for its ruthless dictator, Bashar al-Assad, to deem survival worth any cost, event the lives of thousands of his own people, millions of refugees, and a resurgence of Islamic extremist terror groups across the region and the world. In this detailed account, Mr. Dagher takes his reader into the inner sanctum of the Assad regime, the protest movement, the international community, and the rebellion to give one of the most complete accounts of the Syrian regime, its origins, and the series of events that led to such a brutal civil war.

To fully understand the conflict, Mr. Dagher takes the reader all the way back to the origins of the modern Syrian state and the rise of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father and the dictator of Syrian from the 1970s until his death in 2000. Sadly, the roots of Syria's trouble lie in the lies and fears that make up the Assad regime from the very beginning, with a foundation soaked in blood as Haze also ruthlessly put down challenges to his rule too. All throughout, Mr. Dagher follows the Tlass clan starting with Mustafa Tlass and then his son Manaf as they assist the Assads' rise to power. Through the Tlass', and Manaf especially, we get a clearer picture of the inner workings of the regime and how duplicitous and ruthless Bashar and others were in deciding to violently suppress peaceful protestors as the Arab Spring reaches Syria. Because of Bashar's choice to stay in power at all costs, Syria soon devolves into a morass of blood and death with international powers either looking on rousing the Syrian people to further their own agendas. It's a tragedy that only gets more tragic as it goes along.

This book really helped clarify what was always a complicated topic for me. Mr. Dagher never wavers from pointing nearly all of the blame at Bashar al-Assad, but he also makes sure to point figures at all the international figures who looked on or actively assisted the Assad regime slaughter its own people. The only thing I have against this book is that the narrative begins to lose steam once (view spoiler)[Manaf defects to the West and it becomes clear that the West is not interested in using him to replace Bashar, as was his hope (hide spoiler)]. From that point on, the end seems inevitable, but the tragedies continue to pile on top of each other.

The Syrian Civil War is one of the greatest tragedies of the Arab Spring and the 21st century so far. With moral clarity and inside information, Mr. Dagher has written an account that should not be missed.

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