I, Claudius - From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius (Robert Graves, 1934)

(468 pages)

This title was familiar from a PBS series years ago that I never watched.

It's an interesting look at Rome in the final years of Augustus's reign, then Tiberius (not a great figure), then Caligula (an awful figure); Claudius unexpectedly declared emperor at the end of the book (Claudius the God will pick up the thread, I plan to read it).

A bit more palace intrigue than I was expecting, but probably a useful look at things that happen as authoritarian systems start to decay.

As I understand it, Graves was pretty true to the history of the times.

Livia such a strong character.

Interesting tidbit - Augustus is concerned with the lack of fertility among the higher ranks of society - too much fun, having and parenting children not honored among that set.

Tiberius relying on informers. Episodes of incredible cruelty.

A good read.

Curlew: Home - Essays & a Journey Back (Tom Montag, 2001)

Some years ago - when Mom asked what I'd like for a Christmas gift - I'd ask each year for a book about Iowa stuff.  I received these for several years, recently located them in a storage box, and now am going these gift books.

I do recall paging through Montag's book, and mostly remembering that it was the only written description of corn shelling that I could ever recall encountering - and that it wasn't a bad description, though his writing was overwrought when it came to describing how the physical labor part feels (admittedly that kind of labor does feel good or rewarding or something).  Plus he was just a once or twice per year corn sheller guy - not at the level of we all-day every-day every-summer (and sometimes in other seasons) experts.

What I didn't recall was the incredible extent to which Montag's experiences overlapped with ours. He's about 10 years older, and they were renters at the time this was written - so as I recall it our setting was a bit more "modern" in some significant ways. But nonetheless so much of this is right on target. (He does spend some time trying to sort out why he wanted to become a poet - less interested in that but ok that's his prerogative.)

Curlew is a tiny town about 30 miles or so pretty much straight west of St. Joe. Whereas we saw the West Bend elevator from the east, he was looking at it from the west.  And wandering into Algona, Humboldt, West Bend, Emmetsburg etc - all the familiar towns.

But mostly he was on the farm.

Stuff that sounded pretty familiar:

He's the oldest of nine children.

p. 18 - reading Snowbound

p. 73 - parents using a wagon hoist to lift up the front end of a wagon (no hydraulic hoist) - oats into elevator to be lifted into the bin - there were parts of this that a young kid could help with. (Dropping the pin into a wagon tongue is my very earliest memory of "helping" with farm work.  Ernest J. couldn't turn around far enough to see exactly where he was backing up.)

p. 82 - Sunday bicycle ride "around the block" (meaning the four miles around the section)

p. 87 - Sunday making a fire and roasting hot dogs; marshmallows

p. 89 - narrow highway 18, with curbs (just like 169)

p. 94 - their telephone ring was two shorts and a long (I think ours was the reverse)

p. 102 - talking about the Curlew centennial history book of 1984 (did they use St. Joe (1976) as a model?

p. 112 - oldtimers reminisce about the winter of 1936

p. 116 - hauling coal, delivering it through a little basement window

p. 136 - wringer washer in the cellar (it's not a "basement")

p. 140 - throwing baseball against the front of the barn, "playing catch with myself"

p. 146 - garbage pail in the "entryway" - this is where they always enter the house, it faces east

p. 149 - playing pinochle and 500; a sister bids nine diamonds

p. 150 - they buy The Book of Knowledge; also Encyclopedia Brittanica

p. 167 - visiting the farmstead, pretty much everything gone.  Some trees soughing.  Decaying corn crib.

p. 183 - he reads The Kid Who Batted 1.000

p. 217 - walking beans for the neighbors; cockleburrs; washing up in a pan placed on the porch outside their house

p. 218 - walking around the former farmstead again - "it's all gone, and nothing is gone"

p. 222 - BB guns; shooting a car window

p. 227 - the corn shelling description.  The sheller man arrives early. "He gets so much per bushel shelled and so much per bushel hauled." He remembers the sheller man being very particular ("always insists upon doing this part of the job himself") about linking the chains of the drag sections - EMG the same, this was an important ritual at the start of every set. "Dinner is a big meal" - sitting a spell in the shade after.  Etc.

p. 241 - rotary hoeing the corn; the blade picks up rocks

[He several times mentions the rock pile - a place to play, a place where rocks were brought in from the field, of course.]

p. 259 - butchering chickens; hot water for scalding feathers, barrel with newspapers for fire to singe off hairs

p. 287 - killing rats (after moving the feeder)

p. 307 - visiting the cemetery; a deceased sibling

p. 311 - "I don't want the sadness of the loss to be what is remembered.  I want to remember the joy of those years . . ."

Thanks, Mom & Dad!

A History of the Muslim World From its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (Michael Cook, 2024)

(846 pages)

I'm trying to better understand why Islam-dominated areas of the world - and now Islam-dominated areas of Western nations affected by immigration - seem to have issues, let's say.  This after what always seems like a rather glorious period hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

Certainly no simple answers based on this book; as with the impression from all the other Islam stuff I've read - this is a complex situation with many different actors and outcomes.

Author starts with helpful background.  Arabia area to the south of the two main empires (Constantinople and Persia). Two main empires expending huge energy fighting each other at end of sixth century and into seventh. Harassed by steppe folk from the north - sometimes an ally, sometimes a dire threat.  Desert folk from the south (Arabia area) don't have anything resembling a state, a few minor kinglets; sometimes harass southern fringes of the two main empires. Two main empires occasionally coopt a local Arab-area leader to help control other tribes/clans.  Arab area does have the black rock at Mecca and various local gods but not part of the main religious strands (Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian).  Lacking political structure and major religion, exposed to these concepts by declining imperial powers.

Ishmaelites = Arabs. Connection to Abraham.

Muhammed and founding of Islam.  Never not inextricably bound up with politics, formation of state, warfare. Fighting to survive in the earliest going.  Fighting to conquer in the following decades. Religious rhetoric is often about who should rule and how - separation of church and state never existed or was even considered in so many of these areas. This seems pretty important! 

Scope of conquered (colonized) territory is astounding. As is pace of colonization - 100 years pretty much did it.

Spread of Islam, spread of Arabic language - population of Arabs compared to populations of colonized territories - how was this possible?

Lots of discussion on this. An interesting idea was a very early decision that in the colonized territories, tax revenue would be collected and soldiers would be paid from this - a path to continued central control. Rather than just giving chunks of the colonized territories to successful generals - a path to atomization, compare feudal Europe. But many other factors mentioned, and scope of centralized control over the colonies was severely limited by distance and communication challenges.

The idea that Arabs - and later Arab nomads - would be placed in the colonies and would need lots of retainers, slaves, etc. These local folks gravitated toward Islam and Arabic. The process continued. Contributed to the long-term change.

Heavy duty taxation focused on non-Muslim populations.  Heavy duty utilization of slaves.

In the early centuries - my impression from this book is that Islamic leadership expended far more energy dealing with civil wars and rebellions than with third party threats. The variations of Islam in various parts of the colonized territories (and Arabia itself) - to a greater extent than I realized - not monolithic.

Early moves into Iraq - Arabia remained special but was not a place to center the Caliphate.

Long discussions of expansion across North Africa and into Spain.  Dealing with Berbers. More than one Caliphate (Spain, Egypt, Iraq).

Moves on to discuss expansion into Iran. India.  Rise of the Turks (in waves).

As more modern times approach - a real failure to keep up with technology, trade, etc.

Author seems to have an incredible knowledge of detail here.  

Good reminder to be very humble what I can figure out about this topic.

Retracing My Footsteps in World War II (Vernon Hohenberger)

The author had given a copy of this book to my parents some years ago; I had paged through it on St. Joe visits, and was pleased to be able to take this from the St. Joe house when we siblings "divided out" things in April 2023.

It's autographed by the author!  Vernon Hohenberger farmed near us in the Luverne/Livermore area though - since he wasn't Catholic - we didn't see him regularly - in fact, very seldom.  I have a dim recall of a very pleasant human being.

The book is fascinating. Partly because I read so few, if any, first-person accounts of the war.

Hohenberger's path overlapped geographically with that of our uncle, Irvin Bormann - North Africa and Italy. But a bit earlier in time (and later). Unlike Irvin, Hohenberger survived Italy and ended up with duty elsewhere after the fall of Rome.

He belonged to the famous 34th Infantry Division - "Red Bull" - an incredibly long combat history - at page 100 he mentions 33 months overseas. Red Bull division is prominent in all the histories of the European theater in WWII.

p. 28 - vivid memories of getting into a theater to see "White Christmas" prior to getting shipped toward N. Africa.

p. 35 - artillery experiences, here in N. Africa - reminds of Irvin's artillery descriptions.

p. 45 - his description of N. Africa "Arab" scenes - again, reminds of Irvin's.

p. 47 - he mentions the soon-to-be-famous 100th Infantry - this is the successful battalion of mostly Japanese-American soldiers mostly from Hawaii - they come up later in his story - Michener covered this in his "Hawaii" novel.

p. 50 - landing at Salerno (Irvin at Naples). I believe this was autumn 1943, prior to Irvin's arrival.

p. 53 - Volturno River - just a terrible area. Lots of detail in ensuing pages about fighting around Rapido River, Cassino. Mentions Christmas 1953.  Irvin killed in action February 1, 1944.  Monte Cassino eventually bombed February 15, 1944.

Additional discussion of finally getting furloughed and a visit home; war wrapping up by the time his overdue leave was expiring - ended up with some duty with occupation troops.

Stories of getting back into civilian life - including a short time working at a store owned by Cliff and Mary Baker (yes, Uncle Daryl's parents).

This is a quick and excellent read.