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1671 reviews
Sharpe's Command by Bernard Cornwell
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
SHARPE'S COMMAND is another engaging and spellbinding novel from Bernard Cornwell from his Sharpe series, set during the Peninsular War.
Major Sharpe and his intrepid band of riflemen are tasked with meeting with 'El Héroe' and his group of partisans ostensibly fighting from a mountain hideout French forces in Spain (which at that time in early 1812 was under French occupation). El Héroe proves to be not all that he purported himself to be. He is vain, shallow, and greedy. A Spanish nobleman more interested in getting from Sharpe rifles and gold that were promised to him, along with putting Sharpe firmly under his thumb.
Sharpe was tasked by the British commander in the area (General Hill) with obtaining intelligence from El Héroe as to the disposition of French forces, as well as their intentions against the British Army firmly ensconced just across the border in Portugal. Sharpe soon discerns the true character of El Héroe and sets out with his rifleman to determine for themselves the strength of a group of French forts nearby. This is to assist General Hill with the surprise attack he has planned to bring his forces (infantry, cavalry, and artillery) to bear against the French, and so weaken their hold over that portion of the frontier with Portugal - with a view to an eventual British incursion into Spain to expel the French therefrom.
This novel gives the reader an almost visceral feel of the rigors of being a soldier in a hazardous, parched landscape and engaging in savage, close quarters combat that is often bloody and ugly. For anyone who enjoys a well-told tale, go with Sharpe's Command. It's a winner.
Major Sharpe and his intrepid band of riflemen are tasked with meeting with 'El Héroe' and his group of partisans ostensibly fighting from a mountain hideout French forces in Spain (which at that time in early 1812 was under French occupation). El Héroe proves to be not all that he purported himself to be. He is vain, shallow, and greedy. A Spanish nobleman more interested in getting from Sharpe rifles and gold that were promised to him, along with putting Sharpe firmly under his thumb.
Sharpe was tasked by the British commander in the area (General Hill) with obtaining intelligence from El Héroe as to the disposition of French forces, as well as their intentions against the British Army firmly ensconced just across the border in Portugal. Sharpe soon discerns the true character of El Héroe and sets out with his rifleman to determine for themselves the strength of a group of French forts nearby. This is to assist General Hill with the surprise attack he has planned to bring his forces (infantry, cavalry, and artillery) to bear against the French, and so weaken their hold over that portion of the frontier with Portugal - with a view to an eventual British incursion into Spain to expel the French therefrom.
This novel gives the reader an almost visceral feel of the rigors of being a soldier in a hazardous, parched landscape and engaging in savage, close quarters combat that is often bloody and ugly. For anyone who enjoys a well-told tale, go with Sharpe's Command. It's a winner.
We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence by Becky Cooper
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.25
One day several weeks ago, I was surfing the Net where I saw a brief mention of the January 1969 murder of a 23 year old woman who was a fiercely ambitious doctoral student in Harvard's Anthropology Department. This was a cold case that seemed to defy resolution. That made me to curious to see if perhaps there was a book that could shed more light on who this woman was and the circumstances surrounding her murder. I soon learned that such a book had been written and was available in my neighborhood library. So, it was that I came upon and read We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence.
The book's author (Becky Cooper) was a Harvard graduate who was told about the murder of Jane Britton and the mystery and silence enveloping it. This would become over the following decade an obsession by Cooper to learn all that was possible about Jane Britton, some of the people (former professors, fellow students of Britton, family, and close friends) who figured prominently in Jane's life, and to help re-open her murder case and, in the process, see it definitively resolved.
All in all, it was an interesting story. Cooper deserves to be commended for her thorough investigation and work in taking on such a complex case, which was not without its surprises. Plus, I learned a lot about how difficult it was for women during the 1960s to succeed in Harvard's Anthropology Department (which was mainly a white male, elitist domain), earn tenure, and thrive at Harvard itself. Britton's story was representative of the struggles women in academia in the U.S. had to contend with during her lifetime - be they students or professors.
The book's author (Becky Cooper) was a Harvard graduate who was told about the murder of Jane Britton and the mystery and silence enveloping it. This would become over the following decade an obsession by Cooper to learn all that was possible about Jane Britton, some of the people (former professors, fellow students of Britton, family, and close friends) who figured prominently in Jane's life, and to help re-open her murder case and, in the process, see it definitively resolved.
All in all, it was an interesting story. Cooper deserves to be commended for her thorough investigation and work in taking on such a complex case, which was not without its surprises. Plus, I learned a lot about how difficult it was for women during the 1960s to succeed in Harvard's Anthropology Department (which was mainly a white male, elitist domain), earn tenure, and thrive at Harvard itself. Britton's story was representative of the struggles women in academia in the U.S. had to contend with during her lifetime - be they students or professors.
U-Boat Ace: The Story of Wolfgang Luth by Jordan Vause
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.0
This book chronicles the life and wartime career of Wolfgang Luth, one of Nazi Germany's most successful submarine commanders during World War II, who was responsible for the sinking of 46 merchant ships and an Allied submarine. Luth was one of only 2 submarine commanders to be awarded Germany's highest decoration for valor in combat, the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.
The Shadow of War: A Novel of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Jeff Shaara
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
The Shadow of War: A Novel of the Cuban Missile Crisis offers the reader a fully rounded view - from the halls of power in Washington and Moscow, as well as from Cuba itself and from a university professor's family in Tallahassee, Florida -- of the nearly 2-week long Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Shaara does a deft job of putting the reader into the minds of President Kennedy, his brother Bobby the Attorney General (who also acted as a special advisor to the President who could be wholly relied upon for advice and counsel), Nikita Khrushchev the Soviet leader, and the university professor in Florida - along with some minor Russian and American characters, both real and fictional.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the one moment in the Cold War Era when we came the closest to facing nuclear annihilation. The stakes had never been higher. Reading this novel (which began by highlighting the impacts from the failure of the CIA Bay of Pigs operation against Cuba in April 1961 on the Kennedy Administration) made me even more appreciative of the poise, intelligence, and restraint President Kennedy exercised in dealing with this crisis, not allowing the hot heads like Air Force General Curtis LeMay of the Joints Chiefs of Staff have their way and bring on a full-scale war with the Soviet Union by invading Cuba to take out the offensive missiles the Soviets had surreptitiously placed there. Furthermore, in reading this novel, I gained a better appreciation for Khrushchev and the way he and President Kennedy were able to defuse and resolve the crisis. Both men showed their humane-ness and determination to keep the world safe for diversity.
I've read other novels from Jeff Shaara and this one succeeds in putting the reader back into that perilous time when it seemed that nuclear war was all but inevitable.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the one moment in the Cold War Era when we came the closest to facing nuclear annihilation. The stakes had never been higher. Reading this novel (which began by highlighting the impacts from the failure of the CIA Bay of Pigs operation against Cuba in April 1961 on the Kennedy Administration) made me even more appreciative of the poise, intelligence, and restraint President Kennedy exercised in dealing with this crisis, not allowing the hot heads like Air Force General Curtis LeMay of the Joints Chiefs of Staff have their way and bring on a full-scale war with the Soviet Union by invading Cuba to take out the offensive missiles the Soviets had surreptitiously placed there. Furthermore, in reading this novel, I gained a better appreciation for Khrushchev and the way he and President Kennedy were able to defuse and resolve the crisis. Both men showed their humane-ness and determination to keep the world safe for diversity.
I've read other novels from Jeff Shaara and this one succeeds in putting the reader back into that perilous time when it seemed that nuclear war was all but inevitable.
The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters by Susan Page
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
THE RULEBREAKER: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters provides a full and apt summation of a woman who, despite the obstacles she faced in forging a career in broadcast journalism, became, by most objective measures, a reputable and successful journalist. She was the first woman to be co-host of a nationwide morning show and the first journalist to be paid a million dollar salary in 1976 (when she was briefly paired with Harry Reasoner as a co-anchor of the ABC Evening News).
I’ve always thought well of Barbara Walters from the time I used to see the TODAY Show on my parents’ TV in the early 1970s when I was a small child getting ready for school. Morning TV for me during the week (prior to 1975 when "Good Morning America" arrived, hosted by David Hartman and Nancy Dassault) was divided between “The TODAY Show” and “Captain Kangaroo.” I remember Walters along with Hugh Downs (later replaced by Frank McGee for a time) and Frank Blair giving the news. Besides, I also thought she was a nice looking woman. And yet, in reading this biography, I learned so much about Barbara Walters that I simply did not know. The more I read The Rulebreaker, the more I learned about how steep a price Walters had to pay – both professionally and in her personal life – to be the success she was in broadcast journalism.
This is a very readable book, which gave me full access into who Barbara Walters was: the striver (as was her father, who had been a booking agent, theatrical producer and founder of the famous Latin Quarter nightclub in New York who also made and lost fortunes, making Barbara's formative years at times unhappy and lonely), the pioneer journalist, the mentor for many women journalists who came after her, and regular person. Indeed, as Susan Page pointed out near the close of the book (whose chapter was aptly named "The End"), Barbara Walters "seemed unable to take comfort in the career she had, the life she lived. She had always been determined and competitive --- breaking ground demanded that --- but now she became increasingly angry and bitter. She was resentful and dismissive of some of the women who followed her, even the ones who paid her homage. Only Oprah seemed to be a worthy successor. None of the awards and accolades would be enough."
For anyone wanting to know about about this remarkable woman, I highly recommend reading The Rulebreaker.
I’ve always thought well of Barbara Walters from the time I used to see the TODAY Show on my parents’ TV in the early 1970s when I was a small child getting ready for school. Morning TV for me during the week (prior to 1975 when "Good Morning America" arrived, hosted by David Hartman and Nancy Dassault) was divided between “The TODAY Show” and “Captain Kangaroo.” I remember Walters along with Hugh Downs (later replaced by Frank McGee for a time) and Frank Blair giving the news. Besides, I also thought she was a nice looking woman. And yet, in reading this biography, I learned so much about Barbara Walters that I simply did not know. The more I read The Rulebreaker, the more I learned about how steep a price Walters had to pay – both professionally and in her personal life – to be the success she was in broadcast journalism.
This is a very readable book, which gave me full access into who Barbara Walters was: the striver (as was her father, who had been a booking agent, theatrical producer and founder of the famous Latin Quarter nightclub in New York who also made and lost fortunes, making Barbara's formative years at times unhappy and lonely), the pioneer journalist, the mentor for many women journalists who came after her, and regular person. Indeed, as Susan Page pointed out near the close of the book (whose chapter was aptly named "The End"), Barbara Walters "seemed unable to take comfort in the career she had, the life she lived. She had always been determined and competitive --- breaking ground demanded that --- but now she became increasingly angry and bitter. She was resentful and dismissive of some of the women who followed her, even the ones who paid her homage. Only Oprah seemed to be a worthy successor. None of the awards and accolades would be enough."
For anyone wanting to know about about this remarkable woman, I highly recommend reading The Rulebreaker.
I Am Not Your Negro: A Companion Edition to the Documentary Film Directed by Raoul Peck by James Baldwin, Raoul Peck
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO is derived from an unfinished work James Baldwin had intended, at the time of his death in 1987, to be a book in which he reflected upon the friendships he had with 3 pivotal U.S. public leaders/activists of his time: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - all of whom had been assassinated during the 1960s.
What is more: I Am Not Your Negro is also rich with Baldwin's own musings and reflections of America, its treatment of its African American citizens, the plight of African Americans, White America's reluctance to be honest about its long held fears and animus towards its African American brothers and sisters, and the ongoing and maddening conundrum that is racism in America. The following remarks from Baldwin illustrate fully the truths that he makes bare in this book:
"I sometimes feel it to be an absolute miracle
that the entire black population of the United States
of America has not long ago
succumbed to raging paranoia.
People finally say to you,
in an attempt to dismiss the social reality,
'But you're so bitter!'
Well, I may or may not be bitter,
but if I were, I would have good reasons for it:
chief among them that American blindness,
or cowardice, which allows us to pretend
that life presents no reasons for being bitter."
Read I Am Not Your Negro and be enlightened and perhaps inspired to help make a better world where people will truly be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
What is more: I Am Not Your Negro is also rich with Baldwin's own musings and reflections of America, its treatment of its African American citizens, the plight of African Americans, White America's reluctance to be honest about its long held fears and animus towards its African American brothers and sisters, and the ongoing and maddening conundrum that is racism in America. The following remarks from Baldwin illustrate fully the truths that he makes bare in this book:
"I sometimes feel it to be an absolute miracle
that the entire black population of the United States
of America has not long ago
succumbed to raging paranoia.
People finally say to you,
in an attempt to dismiss the social reality,
'But you're so bitter!'
Well, I may or may not be bitter,
but if I were, I would have good reasons for it:
chief among them that American blindness,
or cowardice, which allows us to pretend
that life presents no reasons for being bitter."
Read I Am Not Your Negro and be enlightened and perhaps inspired to help make a better world where people will truly be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography by Philip Roth
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography encapsulates 3 phases of the life of Philip Roth, who became one of America's pre-eminent novelists in the late 1960s with the publication of the best-seller Portnoy's Complaint and remained on that lofty perch until his death in 2018, age 85.
I enjoyed reading about the first 2 phases of Roth's autobiography which described his childhood, adolescence (capturing the essence of what life was like for a Jewish boy growing up in Newark, New Jersey from the late 1930s into the early 1950s), and his time as an undergraduate at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, followed by his stint at the University of Chicago (on a fellowship), where he earned an M.A., engaged in some teaching, dropped out of a doctoral program, and began developing his skills as a writer. I felt that Roth largely followed the path of the traditional autobiography by laying bare essential truths about himself to the reader.
But when I began reading the third phase of Roth's autobiography, I felt that he had tired of the undertaking and showed a reluctance to share more about himself. Roth had brought the reader up to the late 1960s, when, following a divorce from his first wife (who came from a very troubled background and proved a trial for Roth to deal with - that is, until she died in an auto accident in NYC), had taken up with another gentile woman, and was just hitting his stride as a novelist. I was expecting that he would take the reader into the following 2 decades of his life, shedding more light about how the impact of his growing fame as a writer impacted his life and relationships. Alas, that was not to be.
Nevertheless, The Facts was an interesting book to read because it gave me some additional insight into Philip Roth that I didn't have before.
I enjoyed reading about the first 2 phases of Roth's autobiography which described his childhood, adolescence (capturing the essence of what life was like for a Jewish boy growing up in Newark, New Jersey from the late 1930s into the early 1950s), and his time as an undergraduate at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, followed by his stint at the University of Chicago (on a fellowship), where he earned an M.A., engaged in some teaching, dropped out of a doctoral program, and began developing his skills as a writer. I felt that Roth largely followed the path of the traditional autobiography by laying bare essential truths about himself to the reader.
But when I began reading the third phase of Roth's autobiography, I felt that he had tired of the undertaking and showed a reluctance to share more about himself. Roth had brought the reader up to the late 1960s, when, following a divorce from his first wife (who came from a very troubled background and proved a trial for Roth to deal with - that is, until she died in an auto accident in NYC), had taken up with another gentile woman, and was just hitting his stride as a novelist. I was expecting that he would take the reader into the following 2 decades of his life, shedding more light about how the impact of his growing fame as a writer impacted his life and relationships. Alas, that was not to be.
Nevertheless, The Facts was an interesting book to read because it gave me some additional insight into Philip Roth that I didn't have before.
James Baldwin: A Biography by David Leeming
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was one of the foremost writers and thinkers of the 20th century. He first came to my attention in the autumn of 1979, when, I, then a 10th grader, was assigned to read one of his novels, Go Tell It on the Mountain, in English class. In the intervening years, he has seldom been far from my thoughts of literature's role in society, confronting and speaking the truth about the ongoing corrosive impacts of racism in the U.S. and worldwide, challenging that racism, Baldwin's battle for Black identity, and his lifelong struggles to "end the racial nightmare and achieve our country." Yet, in all that time, I had never sought out a biography about this richly talented writer and social gadfly. That is, until I picked up this book from the local library a short time ago.
Baldwin was born in Harlem, which at the time of his birth, was a largely mixed area of New York City, with fairly even numbers of African Americans and whites living side by side. He never knew his real father. But when his mother married David Baldwin, a laborer (with whom she would give birth to 8 other children), Baldwin fully accepted him as his father, though theirs was not an easy relationship. The elder Baldwin had come up to New York from the South, with a deep distrust of white people. He struggled to find a place for himself and his family in society, and went on to serve as a preacher with his own church. For Baldwin, his father came to typify the psychologically damaged and embittered African American man whom the larger society denigrated and marginalized at every turn, and sought to destroy should he become a threat to what was regarded as "the normal order of things" in Jim Crow America.
From early childhood, Baldwin was recognized by some of his teachers (including the first African American principal in New York City at his first school) as having a talent for writing, and he was encouraged to write. Baldwin would also develop into a voracious reader, with Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin being among his favorite books as a preteen. It was at this time that he made the acquaintance of Orilla "Bill" Miller, a young white woman schoolteacher from the Midwest who would come to play a significant influence in Baldwin's life, taking him to see plays, movies, and encouraging his writing talent. Baldwin himself gave Miller partial credit in that he "never really managed to hate white people."
Later, in junior high school, Baldwin would have Countee Cullen, one of the celebrated poets of the Harlem Renaissance, as one of his teachers. Baldwin would later attribute to Cullen his latent desire to live in France - Cullen had been a teacher of French at Baldwin's junior high school, as well as an advisor to the school's English department. After high school, Baldwin applied for and was accepted into DeWitt Clinton High School, a mainly white and Jewish high school in the Bronx that instilled a desire for high achievement among its student body. While there, Baldwin struck up a friendship with Richard Avedon, who was later one of America's top photographers.
It was during his student days at DeWitt Clinton that Baldwin experienced struggles with his sexuality (he was attracted to men) and the impacts of racism in his daily life. It was the latter that would prove difficult for him to come to terms with following his graduation from high school (1941) and some of the wartime work he performed as a laborer in New Jersey, working closely with white colleagues, many of whom had come from the Deep South in search of work, who resented Baldwin for not showing what they regarded as "proper servile behavior" for an African American. Baldwin also struggled with his religious faith, which led him to become a preacher for a time. He ended up being fired from the job he had in New Jersey and returned to Harlem to work in a meat packing plant. Indeed, Baldwin would bounce around from job to job from his late teens into early adulthood, fearing that he might end up like his father (who had died in a sanatorium from tuberculosis when he was 19), eking out an aimless existence.
From Harlem, Baldwin went to Greenwich Village where he made the acquaintance of Beauford Delaney, an African American modernist painter 23 years his senior. He helped Baldwin to see that an African American man could make a living as an artist. He would serve as a mentor to Baldwin, who at that time in his life, had suffered his first nervous breakdown and had taken up drinking. The Harlem of his childhood, which was for him a "renaissance city" had metamorphosed over time in a very hard place for African Americans in which to live, with its temptations of drugs, crime, and alcohol within easy reach.
Baldwin studied acting for a short time at The New School, where he made the acquaintance of Marlon Brando, with whom he would strike up a lifelong friendship. He also had a succession of sexual relationships with men (ultimately unsatisfying emotionally) and a few with women. All the while, Baldwin kept writing. In 1945, he started a literary magazine with the help of the wife of a former DeWitt Clinton schoolmate. This was also the time when Baldwin met Richard Wright, arguably then the premier African American novelist. He encouraged Baldwin with his writing after Baldwin had shared with him a manuscript he had been working on, which would later become Go Tell It on the Mountain. Though later the two men would have a falling out, it was Wright who helped Baldwin win a Rosenwald Fellowship, which facilitated his move to Paris in 1948.
The book goes into considerable detail about Baldwin's expatriate life in France (which lasted a decade) during which Baldwin came into his own as a write, thinker, and critic. He cultivated a wide variety of people into his life, not all of whom had his best interests at heart. The author (who first met Baldwin in Turkey in 1961, where he was working as a teacher; later the 2 became lifelong friends) shares with the reader the full extent of Baldwin's involvement in the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement from the late 1950s (when Baldwin made his first visits to the segregated South; though fearful of going to the South, he felt he had to experience it first-hand to better understand the sting of overt racism/white supremacy there), his friendships with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X and on through the 1960s.
What most impressed me about James Baldwin was his unwavering commitment to social justice, to speaking truth to power, challenging the status quo through his novels and plays, and his frustrated ambition to work in films. (Baldwin was a lifelong movie fan.) This book showed me that there was much more to James Baldwin than I had previously thought.
What made me a bit sad is that, from reading the book, I don't think that Baldwin truly found the personal happiness he sought most out of life. Yet, he was at times honest enough with himself and some of his friends and associates in conceding that he wasn't always an easy person to live with. Baldwin's life was that of the artist who braved the slings and arrows society heaped upon him in his pursuit of truths that he believed could help make possible a better understanding among people - and ultimately, an enlightened humanity where racism and injustice would have no place.
Baldwin was born in Harlem, which at the time of his birth, was a largely mixed area of New York City, with fairly even numbers of African Americans and whites living side by side. He never knew his real father. But when his mother married David Baldwin, a laborer (with whom she would give birth to 8 other children), Baldwin fully accepted him as his father, though theirs was not an easy relationship. The elder Baldwin had come up to New York from the South, with a deep distrust of white people. He struggled to find a place for himself and his family in society, and went on to serve as a preacher with his own church. For Baldwin, his father came to typify the psychologically damaged and embittered African American man whom the larger society denigrated and marginalized at every turn, and sought to destroy should he become a threat to what was regarded as "the normal order of things" in Jim Crow America.
From early childhood, Baldwin was recognized by some of his teachers (including the first African American principal in New York City at his first school) as having a talent for writing, and he was encouraged to write. Baldwin would also develop into a voracious reader, with Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin being among his favorite books as a preteen. It was at this time that he made the acquaintance of Orilla "Bill" Miller, a young white woman schoolteacher from the Midwest who would come to play a significant influence in Baldwin's life, taking him to see plays, movies, and encouraging his writing talent. Baldwin himself gave Miller partial credit in that he "never really managed to hate white people."
Later, in junior high school, Baldwin would have Countee Cullen, one of the celebrated poets of the Harlem Renaissance, as one of his teachers. Baldwin would later attribute to Cullen his latent desire to live in France - Cullen had been a teacher of French at Baldwin's junior high school, as well as an advisor to the school's English department. After high school, Baldwin applied for and was accepted into DeWitt Clinton High School, a mainly white and Jewish high school in the Bronx that instilled a desire for high achievement among its student body. While there, Baldwin struck up a friendship with Richard Avedon, who was later one of America's top photographers.
It was during his student days at DeWitt Clinton that Baldwin experienced struggles with his sexuality (he was attracted to men) and the impacts of racism in his daily life. It was the latter that would prove difficult for him to come to terms with following his graduation from high school (1941) and some of the wartime work he performed as a laborer in New Jersey, working closely with white colleagues, many of whom had come from the Deep South in search of work, who resented Baldwin for not showing what they regarded as "proper servile behavior" for an African American. Baldwin also struggled with his religious faith, which led him to become a preacher for a time. He ended up being fired from the job he had in New Jersey and returned to Harlem to work in a meat packing plant. Indeed, Baldwin would bounce around from job to job from his late teens into early adulthood, fearing that he might end up like his father (who had died in a sanatorium from tuberculosis when he was 19), eking out an aimless existence.
From Harlem, Baldwin went to Greenwich Village where he made the acquaintance of Beauford Delaney, an African American modernist painter 23 years his senior. He helped Baldwin to see that an African American man could make a living as an artist. He would serve as a mentor to Baldwin, who at that time in his life, had suffered his first nervous breakdown and had taken up drinking. The Harlem of his childhood, which was for him a "renaissance city" had metamorphosed over time in a very hard place for African Americans in which to live, with its temptations of drugs, crime, and alcohol within easy reach.
Baldwin studied acting for a short time at The New School, where he made the acquaintance of Marlon Brando, with whom he would strike up a lifelong friendship. He also had a succession of sexual relationships with men (ultimately unsatisfying emotionally) and a few with women. All the while, Baldwin kept writing. In 1945, he started a literary magazine with the help of the wife of a former DeWitt Clinton schoolmate. This was also the time when Baldwin met Richard Wright, arguably then the premier African American novelist. He encouraged Baldwin with his writing after Baldwin had shared with him a manuscript he had been working on, which would later become Go Tell It on the Mountain. Though later the two men would have a falling out, it was Wright who helped Baldwin win a Rosenwald Fellowship, which facilitated his move to Paris in 1948.
The book goes into considerable detail about Baldwin's expatriate life in France (which lasted a decade) during which Baldwin came into his own as a write, thinker, and critic. He cultivated a wide variety of people into his life, not all of whom had his best interests at heart. The author (who first met Baldwin in Turkey in 1961, where he was working as a teacher; later the 2 became lifelong friends) shares with the reader the full extent of Baldwin's involvement in the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement from the late 1950s (when Baldwin made his first visits to the segregated South; though fearful of going to the South, he felt he had to experience it first-hand to better understand the sting of overt racism/white supremacy there), his friendships with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X and on through the 1960s.
What most impressed me about James Baldwin was his unwavering commitment to social justice, to speaking truth to power, challenging the status quo through his novels and plays, and his frustrated ambition to work in films. (Baldwin was a lifelong movie fan.) This book showed me that there was much more to James Baldwin than I had previously thought.
What made me a bit sad is that, from reading the book, I don't think that Baldwin truly found the personal happiness he sought most out of life. Yet, he was at times honest enough with himself and some of his friends and associates in conceding that he wasn't always an easy person to live with. Baldwin's life was that of the artist who braved the slings and arrows society heaped upon him in his pursuit of truths that he believed could help make possible a better understanding among people - and ultimately, an enlightened humanity where racism and injustice would have no place.
THE MAYORS OF NEW YORK by S.J. Rozan
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
What starts out in THE MAYORS OF NEW YORK as a seemingly straightforward undertaking by PIs Lydia Chin and Bill Smith to find the teenage son of New York's first newly elected woman mayor (who had hired them for the job) turns out to be a convoluted, murky, and perilous trek across the city that uncovers a nest of crimes.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel with its bumper car twists and turns, along with its heavy emphasis on sparkling, pithy dialogue. It epitomizes what a good, exciting detective novel should be about. That is, engaging as well as entertaining.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel with its bumper car twists and turns, along with its heavy emphasis on sparkling, pithy dialogue. It epitomizes what a good, exciting detective novel should be about. That is, engaging as well as entertaining.
Peter the Great by Robert K. Massie
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
In sum, it has taken me 22 years to finish reading what was a magnum opus of a biography. This is not to suggest that I lost interest in reading Peter the Great: His Life and Work in all that time. Not at all. I confess to being a peripatetic reader, who sometimes flits about like a hummingbird from book to book. There were moments when I would put this book aside when I chanced upon another whose subject matter commanded my attention and interest. Nevertheless, I was determined to return to reading about the life of a most extraordinary man and monarch who can be said truly by his personality and force of will to have shaped the destiny of a nation.
Peter was born into a Russia that stood in the shadows of Europe. A nation held together by autocracy in the person of the Tsar, an aristocracy jealous of its privilege and power, and the Russian Orthodox Church. He ascended to the throne in 1682, age 10, as part of a joint ruling arrangement with his half brother, Ivan V, while Ivan's 25 year old sister Sophia was made regent. This was a rather precarious arrangement in which Peter's position was not altogether secure. Sophia largely excluded him from governmental affairs and one of the most powerful factions in the government, the Moscow streltsy, had killed some of Peter's supporters, and was set on maintaining an iron grip.
Peter, unlike his predecessors, grew up with wide-ranging interests which he was largely free to pursue. He "enjoyed noisy outdoor games and took especial interest in military matters, his favourite toys being arms of one sort or another. He also occupied himself with carpentry, joinery, blacksmith’s work, and printing." Furthermore, his interest in the outside world was stoked by his exposure to what was a "German colony" not far from where he lived. Peter also became fascinated with seafaring upon finding a derelict English sailboat. Though he was given an incomplete education, Peter developed a lifelong fascination with mathematics, the sciences, fortifications, and navigation.
At 17, Peter entered into an arranged marriage with Eudoxia, and they had a son, Alexis. But the marriage was more of a political act to show that Peter was capable of thinking for himself and exerting his authority. By 1698, having lost interest in his wife, Peter had her relegated to a convent. In the interim, the streltsy had staged a revolt in 1689 which Sophia tried to use to her advantage in staging a coup, thus consolidating her position on the throne. But she miscalculated and events redounded to Peter's advantage. He removed her from power and banished her into a convent. Subsequently, when the streltsy attempted another revolt in 1698 and failed, Peter compelled Sophia to become a nun. What's more: upon Ivan's death, Peter became the undisputed ruler of Russia. (He would go on to marry one of his mistresses, a Lithuanian servant girl, who he would make Tsaritsa Catherine, to whom he was devoted and she devoted to him until his death.)
Peter, at 6'8", was someone who commanded respect and inspired fear in those who were opposed to his moves in opening up Russia to the West and his modernization schemes and programs. He first travelled to Europe in the late 1690s, spending a considerable amount of time in Holland (where he learned first-hand all the rudiments of shipbuilding and navigation in a country that was then one of the leading maritime powers) and England. He also encouraged foreigners with skills he deemed essential in modernizing his nation to come to Russia, where their rights to worship were respected (provided they did not try to act in opposition to his rule) and they were accorded freedoms denied to most Russians.
Peter also set out to build a navy, modernize the army, and acquire territory so that Russia would be more closely integrated with the West. Thus, Russia became involved in a long, protracted war (1700-21) with Sweden, then a great continental power controlling large swaths of Scandinavia, northern Germany, and the Baltic States. He also involved the country in a war with the Ottoman Empire in an attempt to expand Russian power and authority in the south to the Sea of Azov, the Crimea, and the Black Sea. While the war with the Ottomans resulted in some reversals for Peter, he was able to prevail -- despite heavy odds -- against the Swedes and concluded a peace treaty with them in 1721 that secured the gains he had made in acquiring much of the Baltic States and an expanse of land bordering on modern Finland. It was also during this time that Peter built a great northern city on the Neva River -- St. Petersburg, which he made the nation's capital, moving much of the governmental offices there from Moscow.
All in all, this was an engaging and fascinating story. I'm glad I stuck with it. But if I had it to do all again, I would have finished reading Peter the Great much, much, much sooner.
Peter was born into a Russia that stood in the shadows of Europe. A nation held together by autocracy in the person of the Tsar, an aristocracy jealous of its privilege and power, and the Russian Orthodox Church. He ascended to the throne in 1682, age 10, as part of a joint ruling arrangement with his half brother, Ivan V, while Ivan's 25 year old sister Sophia was made regent. This was a rather precarious arrangement in which Peter's position was not altogether secure. Sophia largely excluded him from governmental affairs and one of the most powerful factions in the government, the Moscow streltsy, had killed some of Peter's supporters, and was set on maintaining an iron grip.
Peter, unlike his predecessors, grew up with wide-ranging interests which he was largely free to pursue. He "enjoyed noisy outdoor games and took especial interest in military matters, his favourite toys being arms of one sort or another. He also occupied himself with carpentry, joinery, blacksmith’s work, and printing." Furthermore, his interest in the outside world was stoked by his exposure to what was a "German colony" not far from where he lived. Peter also became fascinated with seafaring upon finding a derelict English sailboat. Though he was given an incomplete education, Peter developed a lifelong fascination with mathematics, the sciences, fortifications, and navigation.
At 17, Peter entered into an arranged marriage with Eudoxia, and they had a son, Alexis. But the marriage was more of a political act to show that Peter was capable of thinking for himself and exerting his authority. By 1698, having lost interest in his wife, Peter had her relegated to a convent. In the interim, the streltsy had staged a revolt in 1689 which Sophia tried to use to her advantage in staging a coup, thus consolidating her position on the throne. But she miscalculated and events redounded to Peter's advantage. He removed her from power and banished her into a convent. Subsequently, when the streltsy attempted another revolt in 1698 and failed, Peter compelled Sophia to become a nun. What's more: upon Ivan's death, Peter became the undisputed ruler of Russia. (He would go on to marry one of his mistresses, a Lithuanian servant girl, who he would make Tsaritsa Catherine, to whom he was devoted and she devoted to him until his death.)
Peter, at 6'8", was someone who commanded respect and inspired fear in those who were opposed to his moves in opening up Russia to the West and his modernization schemes and programs. He first travelled to Europe in the late 1690s, spending a considerable amount of time in Holland (where he learned first-hand all the rudiments of shipbuilding and navigation in a country that was then one of the leading maritime powers) and England. He also encouraged foreigners with skills he deemed essential in modernizing his nation to come to Russia, where their rights to worship were respected (provided they did not try to act in opposition to his rule) and they were accorded freedoms denied to most Russians.
Peter also set out to build a navy, modernize the army, and acquire territory so that Russia would be more closely integrated with the West. Thus, Russia became involved in a long, protracted war (1700-21) with Sweden, then a great continental power controlling large swaths of Scandinavia, northern Germany, and the Baltic States. He also involved the country in a war with the Ottoman Empire in an attempt to expand Russian power and authority in the south to the Sea of Azov, the Crimea, and the Black Sea. While the war with the Ottomans resulted in some reversals for Peter, he was able to prevail -- despite heavy odds -- against the Swedes and concluded a peace treaty with them in 1721 that secured the gains he had made in acquiring much of the Baltic States and an expanse of land bordering on modern Finland. It was also during this time that Peter built a great northern city on the Neva River -- St. Petersburg, which he made the nation's capital, moving much of the governmental offices there from Moscow.
All in all, this was an engaging and fascinating story. I'm glad I stuck with it. But if I had it to do all again, I would have finished reading Peter the Great much, much, much sooner.