An Era of Darkness - The British Empire in India (Shashi Tharoor, 2016)

(291 pp)

The author argued during a speech at Oxford in 2015 that the British domination of India was deeply negative for India in pretty much every way.  The lecture ended up becoming very popular online - reportedly rapidly exceeding three million views on one site - and is now revised into book form.  Pretty clearly it struck a chord.  I know almost nothing of Indian politics but it sounds like a nationalist strain has emerged there in recent years (not equating this with nationalist strains elsewhere as I don't know if/how comparable) (Modi).

My untutored impression of the matter has always been that yes of course the Brits took advantage of the situation in India in various ways, and generally acted as racists - but that's sort of how things were done back then.  And I also have a vague impression that the Brits also were looking out for the Indians in many respects and seeking to make things better.  White man's burden sort of thing, I suppose.

This author makes a pretty compelling case that his viewpoint is more accurate (Brit influence almost entirely negative).

A few thoughts:

1.  Author makes interesting comparisons between India and England at the time of England's entry into east India - including India's relative economic strength, its long history compared to England's - and then offers comparisons between the two as a couple centuries roll by - with England consistently drawing off resources and interfering with whatever might have been the ordinary course of Indian economic development.  I don't know if the author's data is accurate or useful, but it's thought-provoking for sure.  Of course we don't exactly know how India would have developed with less or no interference - but its performance in the 21st century suggests it would have worked its way forward just fine.

2.  India paying for its own exploitation - essentially billed for all costs of running the country, etc.

3.  So many Englishmen making their fortunes in India.  This seems telling.

4.  Especially after the 1857 rising (or mutiny, as Brits would call it) - divide and conquer became a more conscious policy - emphasizing differences especially as between Hindu and Muslim (but also Sikh etc.).  Of course there were plenty of divisions independent of the Brit influence (including caste), but it's hard to believe that the situation wasn't antagonized; let alone the uncontrollable run-up that led to the Partition.

5.  Terrible famines.  Though not since Brits left.

6.  Brit's widespread presence and control not the result of a long-term strategic plan.  A business sets about making profit in a risky new market in 18th century, and learns how to take control of territories in support of the business plan.  Then the perimeter of the territory needs to be controlled, as well as the perimeter of the perimeter - the usual expansion rationale.  Then the crown takes over from the business after 1857.  One thing leads to the next in terms of territorial control, economic measures, etc.

7.  Assuming Brit influence was consistently malign - why didn't India rise up?  I think the explanation I usually see makes sense - that the Brits could tip the balance in various power struggles at the early stages and then - once in place - pick off control of additional states/territories by essentially cutting deals with the leadership.  Author argues this was pretty lucrative for the Brits and for the compliant local leaders, pretty negative for everyone else.

[Interesting that places like Peru and Mexico had similar experiences - an opening appears when the ruling party in disarray, rivals are rising, and a small force with advanced weaponry - and yes, no small measure of courage and/or greed - can then tip the balance and obtain outsized influence.]

Interesting throughout.  The author doesn't duck a fundamental question - the "so what" - even if Brit influence was deeply negative, India has been independent since 1947 and has adopted plenty of not-optimal policies in its own right - why burn energy looking back?  I think the usual answer applies - foundation myths are powerful in any country, and must be viewed critically if/as countries seek to move forward.

The Millionaire and the Bard - Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio (Andrea Mays, 2015)

(281 pages)

Surprisingly similar to this just-read book.  In both cases the author tries to make a book-length story out of something that should be much shorter.  And the stories are somewhat similar - seeking earliest copies of some of the most famous, and best, literature in the world.  With way too much time spent on the details of the chase - when more information about the historical setting would have been far more useful.

The Quaritch book store in London (which I'd never heard of previously) even figures in both stories.

Henry Folger made his money as a senior executive with John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil companies.  Somehow he got the collecting bug - but unlike many wealthy collectors in those days, he specialized.  And ended up with a colossal haul of Shakespeare materials.

The most interesting part was the explanation about why Shakespeare himself hadn't bothered putting the works into formal written format; the source materials that the two compilers - both knew Shakespeare well - could have worked from in coming up with the First Folio.  The printing process.  Paper was expensive!  Shakespeare not so widely known for some time, then becomes much more recognized as 18th century passes.  Samuel Johnson a big fan.

Biographical information on Folger, of course, including details about his disposition of the collection.  Mrs. Folger a key player throughout.

Now I need to visit the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Guard of Honor (James Gould Cozzens, 1948)

(631 pp)

Saw a couple highly favorable references so thought I'd give it a try.  I liked it.

Won Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1948.

Story takes places over three days; almost all of the action takes place at a fictional Florida base for the Army Air Forces (I think this preceded a separate Air Force?)  Quite a few characters, but focus on just a few and the character development is strong.

Beyond just the story-telling, I think this is useful in giving a glimpse of how the military might have felt on a domestic base in 1942 (in that respect sometimes made me think of this excellent novel); the way that career Army fellows interacted with one another (with the combat vets in particular bonded closely); the contrasting way that civilian types in the Army operated as among themselves and with the career guys - effective, respected, but just not as closely tied in.  Early 1940s army was full of draftees or enlistees - in this respect the story line mostly involves professional public relations and media types (which I learned was the author's role in the war).  Glimpses of the unwritten rules among the military types as they cope with issues and decisions.

"Bus" Beal is the general in charge - correctly views himself as a "flyboy" - never to be an all-star administrative-general type, but also the kind of person that is needed to win wars.  Most of the story line involves Captain Hicks and Colonel Ross - civilians.  Issues arise at a Florida base when a contingent of Negro flyers and support folks arrive, with Washington DC intending that this will become a showcase unit.

Amanda Turck.  Beal's wing-man - Benny Carricker.  Mrs. Ross; Mrs. Beal; Lippa; Captain Wiley (Southerner with combat experience); Jo Jo Nichols; Colonel Mowbray; etc.

The Lost Book of Moses - The Hunt for the World's Oldest Bible (Chanan Tigay, 2016)

Entertaining and useful - but for my taste, way longer than it needed to be. (332 pages)

Book focuses on Moses Wilhelm Shapira, who in 1883 showed up in London with what he claimed was the world's oldest Bible scroll.  Rejected as a fraud - but when the Dead Sea Scrolls are found some 70 years later, the authenticity issue is reopened.  But by then no one knows where Shapira's scrolls ended up.

Shapira as an unlikely antiquities vendor - based in Jerusalem in second half of 19th century.  Problems with his sales of Moabite pottery.  His shop in the old city is a mecca for tourists - tourism being rather a new idea in Jerusalem in those days.

The author gets into long discussions of his detective work in trying to track down the scrolls - well-written, clever - but really who cares?  (I guess it did give some insight into how these artifacts - accumulated starting in 19th century - end up more or less lost or findable, as the case may be, in museum boxes - the fate of so much stuff, apparently.)

An interesting angle:  the discussions, if short, about the history of the Bible - Shapira's heyday overlaps with the first scholarly analysis of the development of the Old Testament.  Interesting to think that, until this time, so much rock-solid belief that e.g. the 10 Commandments were written on tablets by finger of God, etc.  Religion changes a lot if one considers that the foundational texts might be affected by the hand of man (similar strands with Mormon texts, also Islam).

Jerusalem's history so interesting - like so much of that part of the world, conquerors sweep through from time to time over the millennia - so in that sense, lots of conflict.  But when Shapira is active - 19th century - Jerusalem is coming off a period of relative neglect - no sign of the three-way fight among Christians, Jews, Islam that - here in 21st century - one would assume has been going on for centuries.  But to get started on that topic, I'd recommend this book.

The Fixer (Bernard Malamud, 1966)

A ne'er-do-well "fixer" (someone who makes a living, sort of, as a handyman or doing small repairs) reluctantly moves from the shtetl - embarrassed that wife left him, looking for change - to Kiev.  Early 20th century.  Fixer uneducated but finds an interest in reading, picks up quite a bit of learning here and there (Spinoza).  Chain of circumstances leads him to reside and work, under a false name, in an area forbidden to Jews.  Christian child is murdered with multiple stab wounds; the fixer is arrested for ritual murder.

Malamud wins Pulitzer Prize for fiction for this novel.  I liked it.  Consistent with discussion of anti-Semitism in Russia as discussed in this review of the Romanov dynasty.  Belief in things like the forged "Protocols" even among the supposedly educated upper classes - in the 20th century.

I read that Malamud considered writing a novel about the Dreyfus affair (novel form here; history focus here) - certainly plenty of overlapping elements - but settled on this instead.  Prejudice, maltreatment in prison, entrenched institutional forces, false witnesses, emerging community support.  (Malamud's novel is based, pretty closely as I understand it, on a true story.)

Author has an interesting way of describing what the protagonist felt while imprisoned for a prolonged period awaiting indictment and trial.  Wife visits him in prison.  Father-in-law (Shmuel).  Conversations with an honest investigator, and later with his lawyer - author uses these as devices to lay out some history on Russian pogroms.

262 pp in this edition.

Incarnations - A History of India in Fifty Lives (Sunil Khilnani, 2016)

The author observes that India is often discussed in terms of groups and areas - that with few exceptions, we hear little about individuals.  So he sets out to write a book consisting entirely of short biographies of 50 individuals that he considers highly important in Indian history.  (Not all are Indian.)

I saw some favorable reviews; also a fair amount of criticism - how do you select the "right" 50? How to properly describe each in a few pages?  No doubt there are flaws.  But for an uninformed reader like me, I think this book is highly useful.  If nothing else it reinforces that India is really large, and really complicated, and has a history that is really long.

Geography, religion, caste, race, distance, language, etc.  "Diverse" doesn't begin to capture it - in some ways it seems almost impossible that India is even a single country (and one that probably should have been formed with Pakistan).

[Was thinking that the U.S. has many of the same potentially divisive factors but also many unifying principles not applicable to India - a far shorter history; everyone arrived as immigrants so expressly or implicitly "signed on" to the American project at some level; everyone learns English (so far); somehow our shared secular religion (in "America" as an idea), or perhaps just all the prosperity, or some combination, seems to override, for the most part, allegiance to particular religions that creates divisions elsewhere.  Etc.]

Not going to try to summarize 50 bios!  Mixture of religious, literary, artistic, political, figures from across the country; I tried to focus on those from the south.

Read the book - good baseline info!

Also:  would enjoy feedback from anyone that knows something about these 50.

The Last Samurai (Helen DeWitt, 2000)

Unusual for me; I voluntarily selected current/modern fiction.  This one was based on recommendations I had spotted from at least two sources I trusted, or thought I could.  I also saw that this book shows up on "best novel" lists.

But I didn't like it very much.  530 pages and I didn't dog ear a single one.

I was constantly thinking that the author is saying "look at me, see how clever I am!"  Which I found annoying (or maybe threatening, she clearly does know lots and lots of stuff).

Ludo - main character - is a child genius.  His mother - Sibylla - clearly highly intelligent but for some reason (sort of explained) prefers to work as a typist.  So they live in poverty.

We know who Ludo's father is, but he doesn't.  Much of the plot revolves around his efforts to find a father.

Title of the book refers to the movie, The Seven Samurai, which Sibylla (and in turn Ludo) watch constantly, and turn to for guidance, or something.

The Wright Brothers (David McCullough, 2015)

Book club selection (via Emily; session held 9 April, 2017).

I have under-appreciated, or perhaps just not paid enough attention to, Wilbur and Orville.  Quick/easy retelling of their achievements; I liked it.

Also a useful next step to this history of ballooning - very close in time.

Incredible teamwork between the two; each was brilliant, practical, hardworking - a potent combination.  Almost unbelievable how they could move from bicycle shop to flying; how one of their employees could come up with a lightweight gas engine pretty much from scratch!  Conservative Midwest family; author gives good background on their father and sister.

Three ideas I found interesting:

1.  I hadn't thought about how uniquely difficult "learning to fly" would be.  WB recognized that the previous aviation pioneers were not in the air enough to learn adequately - very few flights, very short duration, perhaps only minutes in the air in total - how to learn to handle flying, including inevitable difficulties such as cross-winds and the like?  How to spend enough time in the air - in those early phases where the plane wasn't properly designed, and the pilot was utterly inexperienced - without getting killed or seriously injured?  WB spent time gliding at low altitude; spent time tethered; Kitty Hawk was an ideal spot because it allowed relatively soft "in-sand" landings; etc.  (Kind of reminded me of Humphrey Davy figuring out anesthesia - how to safely learn?)

2.  Reiterates Matt Ridley's discussion of how tinkerers can lead science.  WB were theoreticians for sure, but seems like their practical/tinkerer side was more important.

3.  Reiterates Ridley's question (in same book as linked above) about inventions - i.e., how much difference does any one specific inventor make?  Ridley says "not much" - and that could well be the case here - as impressive as W and O's achievements, all of a sudden there were a raft of similar achievers coming along right behind (which Ridley explains is pretty typical) - the book doesn't address whether the close followers were derivative of WB's work, or making it on their own.

Civilization & Capitalism, 15th - 18th Century - The Perspective of the World (Fernand Braudel, 1979)

Started this book in 2012 and left off for whatever reason.  Resumed this year, but I still don't really get it.  Interesting information throughout on an anecdotal level, but I don't have enough knowledge to grasp what he's saying about "world economies" and the like.

French author; this translation from 1992.

The idea that cities in the north - Bruges etc. - were built from scratch.  Italian cities hearkened back to Rome, Byzantium, etc.

Reiterates that the Champagne fairs were a big deal; year-round; gathered from north and south;  in 12th and 13th centuries.

Lots of interesting discussion about the rise of the Dutch, the manner in which they operated their colonies, and then being overtaken by Britain.  The idea that England gained from finally "losing" its French possessions and becoming a true island.

Sections on Russia, Ottoman Empire, China, etc.

The Lost World of the Old Ones - Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest (David Roberts, 2015)

I enjoyed this - helps with bits and pieces of information on the "ancient southwest" - which we think of as a large area around Four Corners.  The author isn't a professional archaeologist - but is a heckuva rock climber and has written on many topics.  He had written a very popular/successful book on this topic a few years before - which I've not read - this one seemed like a sequel.  Picked up a variety of topics that don't fit together particularly closely - but all tied into this area.

One takeaway - still not much resolution on the depopulation that happened shortly before the Spanish showed up.  Also mysterious:  the populations in the pueblos at the time the Spanish showed up (down to now) - language and pottery patterns don't fit together cleanly - backgrounds?

The utter beauty of this stark area; the ingenuity of the ancient populations; great stuff here about the rock art in various forms.  Inaccessible granaries indicating protection of precious grains in starvation-times.  An interesting "meridian" theory about moving some of the population centers.

We have visited the general area quite a few times but haven't explored it nearly as much as we'd like.  A strange kind of beauty, captivating.

First chapter involves exploring Cedar Mesa - author spent lots of profitable time with an old-timer (Waldo) who was born and raised in the area - this quote made me think of my dad and his knowledge of the St. Joe area (other than the "vague sorrow" thing):  "The more time Greg and I spent in Waldo's company, the more we realized that he was a walking encyclopedia of local lore, or knowledge that had escaped the historians and archaeologists, of understandings that would evaporate with his passing.  Waldo knew it:  that sense of impending loss, I guessed, was at the core of the vague sorrow he seemed to carry with wherever he went, even as he told funny stories about the blatherings of self-styled "experts"."

They take a rafting trip into Desolation Canyon (named by John Wesley Powell) - author gets bummed because the trip is going too fast - just how it feels when we are hiking in Grand Canyon!  He writes:  "Twenty-nine of our eighty-five river miles were behind us.  I felt the adventure already slipping through my fingers - I wanted to make the journey last forever.  I thought of Edward Abbey [rafting through Glen Canyon] . . . "The time passes slowly," Abbey wrote, "but not slowly enough."  So true.

The Princess of Siberia - The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles (Christine Sutherland, 1984)

Decembrists (so named because their short-lived revolution was launched in December (1825)) are oft-encountered in Russia history and literature, but I never had read any detail about them.

The Decembrists were aristocrats (often military); exposed to liberal ideas via French Revolution and Napoleonic wars; anxious for drastic change in Russia but lacking organizational skills and ruthlessness - it's hard to run a revolution!  Splits develop in revolutionary groups in northern and southern Russia; things are drifting; then the Tsar suddenly dies and the Decembrists decide they need to strike during a momentary potential power vacuum.  But many don't follow through; secret police are reasonably effective; the movement entirely fails.

And the new Tsar (Nicholas I) never forgets these traitors - a few executions, most exiled to Siberia.  No amnesty until Nicholas dies about 30 years later.

While Siberian exile wasn't new, this was a fairly novel large-scale deportation.

Protagonist was the young wife of an exile - she was from a wealthy family, completely unaware of her new husband's participation in the revolution.  Yet she immediately followed him to Siberia (as did other wives) - over the Tsar's objections and threats - and she (and the other wives) managed to build interesting lives in an incredibly remote location.  Along with essential support for their husbands.  These wives were impressive - and Maria Volkonsky in fact was commonly referred to as "The Princess of Siberia."

Even after amnesty - many Decembrists remained in Siberia - where they were comfortable after spending decades.

Decembrists have very favorable reputations.

Tolstoy started a novel about them but for whatever reason didn't pull it off.

This is a useful read alongside the Romanovs book, dovetails nicely.

Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, 1986)

Book club selection (via CPG; session held February 26, 2017).

Graphic novel which I've learned is the most highly-regarded of its kind.  Pioneered the concept of caped heroes with very human flaws, complex/mixed motives, etc.

Not knowing anything about comic books or superhero genre in general; not knowing anything about this book or its characters in particular; I seldom connected with what was going on.  Part of the challenge was very basic:  trying to get used to looking at some text, then switching frame of reference to take in the related illustrations.  I found this much more difficult than "regular" reading.

Part of my bad attitude results from Hollywood overkill of this kind of thing - hasn't captured my imagination at all.

Yet the reviews for this book are thoughtful and positive.  There's something here.

And the "who watches the watchmen" quote is always of interest.

America Walks Into a Bar - A Spiritual History of Taverns and Saloons, Speakeasies and Grog Shops (Christine Sismondo, 2011)

Focusing on bars and liquor laws yields a lot of very interesting U.S. history - I found this book quite helpful; also this one.

But I can't figure out what the author is trying to do with this particular book (or what the editor was thinking, or not thinking).  This book simply rambles across most of the span of U.S. history with some occasional tethering to events in taverns, or saloons, or bars, or whatever they were called at any particular point.

This boring author even goes through a check-the-box exercise with blurbs on bar access by the main identity politics groups.

Not nearly enough discussion of the bars themselves.  Some interesting discussion about how a tavern often was the first gathering spot in new settlements (sometimes remaining that way for years - courts, politics, meetings etc. centered there).

One of the more useless books I've read recently, just blew through it quickly.

Did like the Jack London quotes - he had a way of taking the reader inside the 19th century bar culture.

Romanovs - 1613 - 1918 (Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2016)

"Larger than life" is rather an understatement with these folks (and perhaps with Russia in general).

Key dates to memorize, at least roughly:

• Ivan the Terrible (not a Romanov) - rules 1547 through 1584
• Michael I - first Romanov - rule commences 1613 
• Peter the Great rules 1682 through 1725
• Catherine the Great rules from 1762 through 1796
• Alexander I (after his father is strangled) (dealing with Napoleon) - rules from 1801 through 1825
• Alexander II - reform efforts, then repression - rules 1855 through 1881
• Nicholas II rules 1894 through 1917

I like the author's writing style, as with here, and also here.

Separate biographies of Catherine the Great and Peter the Great; also "Nicholas and Alexandra" - naturally offered more detail as to those folks; but this is a constantly interesting overview of the entire dynasty.  The author states that extensive archives were now available - not accessible to earlier biographers - the detail is rather amazing - I had no idea so many letters etc. had survived.

Discussions of early negotiations supporting disputes - continuing in 21st century - over relationship of Ukraine to Russia.

Transfers of power were really dangerous for these folks!

Descendants esp. of Catherine the Great - a real question whether there was any Romanov blood involved.  (That likely would apply to plenty of royal families.)

Success in Napoleonic wars but military/technological stagnation - obvious backwardness as 19th century advances; culminating in humiliation at Tsushima, with dire consequences.

Interesting how anti-Semitism pops up here, especially in 19th century.  Nicholas as a big fan of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Close-connectedness to Germany.

A helpful retelling of the Nicholas-Alexandra situation - incredibly isolated even from Russian nobility - I hadn't recalled that they kept the heir's hemophilia a secret.

A little less on the numerous court love affairs would have been fine by me . . . but I guess that was a big part of who these people were, and the overall court dynamics.

Consistently interesting, useful window on various events over those 300 years.

Christmas gift from PJr/NRG.

The Thing Around Your Neck (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2009)

Book club selection (via Rose; session held January 22, 2017).

Typically I avoid short stories.  And contemporary authors.  Would have been a mistake to miss this collection, however.  And perhaps I need to revisit my book selection guidelines?

Author communicates things like:  (1) challenges of the immigrant - seemingly mundane things like English usage, grocery store navigation; larger things like attitudes of locals; (2) challenges of the newly-emigrated in dealing with those-who-emigrated-just-a-few-years-earlier; (3) challenges of being female in situations where males are favored - without being preachy or annoying about it; (4) the disorder and perhaps charm of a place like Nigeria.

My favorite stories:

--story #3 - two women in a store during a riot

--story #4 - retired university professor runs into someone he thought had be3n killed in the war following Biafran independence

--story #10 - aunt/uncle arrange their niece's marriage to an American doctor (previously had emigrated from Nigeria) - she meets the doctor - not in love but sticks it out - interesting stuff about transitioning to America

--story #12 - only story set earlier in time - arrival of white men, protagonist's son becomes one of them, next generation rediscovers earlier culture - well written

Thought-provoking throughout, good.