East of Eden (John Steinbeck, 1952)

Trask family:  father is Civil War fraud; Adam goes into army, returns, ends up in Salinas; Charles is violent, stays on farm, dies there.  Adam’s children (Charles’) with Cathy = Aron, Caleb.  Cathy/Kate: user, eventually commits suicide.  Hamilton family:  Samuel as elder; wife is religious/hard-nosed; multiple children.  Lee:  Chinese housekeeper etc., central character.  Abra – falls in love with Aron and Caleb in turn.  Caleb dual nature; through Lee’s intervention, receives Adam’s blessing (“thou mayest”) after Adam has a stroke following Aron getting killed in WWI (after enlisting because Caleb showed him his mother).  Read at La Camarilla.

A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East 1914-1922 (David Fromkin, 1989)

Lengthy summary of World War I era in Middle East.  Ottoman Empire had loose control and was assumed weak.  Young Turks took power.  It was believed by many that Jewish interests had meaningful (almost conspiratorial power) and that gaining Jewish support was important to the war effort.  Britain had trouble defeating Ottoman armies (Gallipoli, etc.)  Britain and France are rivals, with France focused on Syria, Lebanon.  Mistaken assumptions from Kitchener and others.  Russia and “Great Game” legacy changed, but only somewhat, by Bolsheviks – they ended up imperialistic after all.  Overtures from and to Jewish leadership; Wilson supportive; end up with Balfour Declaration; left ambiguous whether it would be an independent state or British controlled; Jewish expected Trans-Jordan (now Jordan, east of Israel) would be part of their territory.  In the end, Ottoman control is gone.  Turkey is basically its own country; the Saud family is propped up in Arabia; Kurds are left scattered across Turkey, Iraq, Iran; French have interest in Syria and Lebanon; British in Iraq; also Iran; significance of oil is recognized.  Many episodes of local uprising akin to the last few decades.  Turks kill many Armenians along the way.  Turkey and Greece at war, with bad results for Greece, in 1922.  US withdrew from the peace process after letting the self-determination genie out of the bottle.

Down the Great Unknown (Edward Dolnick, 2002)

John Wesley Powell’s 1869 journey through Grand Canyon.  Christmas gift from MB Stern.  Good.  Read at La Camarilla.

Eisenhower and Churchill - The Partnership that Saved the World (James C. Humes, 2001)

Short biographies showing interactions between C and E over decades.  Read at La Camarilla.

Bosnia: A Short History (Noel Malcolm, 1996)

Bosnia as a unique place with heavier Muslim concentration than Serbia (Slav/Orthodox) or Croatia, but also significant Orthodox and Roman Catholic as powers changed over the centuries; due to location, less dominated by any of the powers.

During WWII Bosnians fought for and against both sides. Author attributes 90s situation primarily to Serbian aggression. Since 1995, the country is now Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbia/Montenegro to the east, Croatia to the west.

Raj - The Making and Unmaking of British India (Lawrence James, 2000)

Detailed discussion. Pretty amazing how a few Brits took control in late 18th century and ran things with local assistance for so long. Success here certainly made up for loss of North American colonies, but led to lots of other intrigues as Britain over time tried to exclude competitors in any area leading to India.

Congress party became active in late 19th century; British control pretty much ended during/after WWI; sectarian strife intensified as end of Raj became imminent; Jinnah with Muslim League pushes for partition; what a mess.

Author didn't care for Mountbatten.

The Golden Rule Challenge (George Lobdell, 2004)

History of POW camp in upper Midwest, mostly Algona.  Ends with discussion of Edward Kaib and crèche.  Christmas gift from EMG and HSG. Read at La Camarilla.

A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller, Jr., 1960)

I first had read this as part of a college course reading list, I believe it was an international relations course.

The story is set in an abbey in the southwestern United States. An order of monks seeks to preserve knowledge following a nuclear holocaust. The story is divided into three parts separated over thousands of years, as mankind gradually recovers knowledge and technology (with attendant challenges).

I like the book a lot. I remember sections quite vividly, for example the very last words of part I, and the too-accurate voicing of government-speak in Part III.

I read that the book has never been out of print since its initial print run. And that the author participated in bombing runs over Monte Cassino in World War II, which gave him the idea of monks preserving knowledge in the wake of destruction. It really works well.

Compare against this book, also very effective and containing many similar strands.

Europe’s Last Summer: Who Started the Great War? (David Fromkin, 2004)

I found this useful.

Fromkin explores the causes of WWI; says there were two wars (Austria starts v. Serbia, German (Moltke) starts against Russia/France). Believes Germany wanted to start the war before Russia built up strength, and needed Austria to hold Russia in the east while Germany took out France first. Austria's tiff with Serbia played into this strategy (though the assassination probably qualifies as more than a tiff, it needn't necessarily precipitate a world war).

Germany pretty much required Austria to contend with Russia, and the Serbian war became an afterthought (which I believe Austria ultimately lost).

Sharpe's Seige (Bernard Cornwell, 1987)

Another Cornwell book in which Sharpe is the hero (compare this). Also listened to this while commuting.

Convoluted plot line set in Napoleonic wars (1814) - Sharpe is working with the regular British army to launch a diversionary action near Bordeaux; American forces are involved; the leader of the British regular army is incompetent; they take a fortress but then have difficulty holding it.

The Terror Before Trafalgar (Tom Pocock, 2004)

Per title - goes through lead-up to famed British naval victory.  Napoleonic era.  Read at La Camarilla.

The Soong Dynasty (Sterling Seagrave, 1996)

Charlie Soong and children (married to Sun Yet Sen and Chiang kai Shek; T.V. Soong).  Not flattering to US policy, Chiang kai Shek.  Read at La Camarilla.

Willa Cather - Later Novels

A Lost Lady - Nebraska/Denver.  Woman married to older guy who dies.

The Professor's House - Chicago.  A professor doesn't want to move to his new home.

Death Comes for the Archbishop - Latour and Vaillant.

Shadows on the Rock - Quebec c. 1700

Lucy Gayheart - Music student moves from Nebraska to Chicago and returns after singer drowns.

Sapphira and the Slave Girl - Virginia story of slave and owner

The Last of the Mohicans (James Fenimore Cooper, 1826)

Recounts events of 1757.  There were some pretty dramatic scenes from the French and Indian War (or Seven Years War) (an interesting world war).  I liked the book quite a bit.  Magua - bad Indian.  Mohicans were good (Uncas).  Hawkeye - the laconic, skilled, backwoodsman.  British and French soldiers.

Mexico – Biography of Power (1810-1996) (Enrique Krauze)

Very interesting, helpful in getting some initial handle on Mexico.  Series of biographies of leaders:

• Benito Juarez c. 1858; contemporary with Maximilian
• Porfirio Diaz – 40 years until Revolution in 1910 – inspired “no re-election”
• Francisco Madero – mysticism; Coahuila
• Emiliano Zapata – peasant, Morelos
• Francisco Villa – north
• Lazaro Cardenas – around and active until the ‘70s; flirtation with Communism, looks out for peasants
• Miguel Aleman – 1940s – associated with corruption, business/PRI ties
• 1968 – killing of students just prior to Olympics