tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87825412024-03-12T05:52:54.765+01:00Sports, Cows, Politics, and Other Such OdditiesOver time my blog has changed as the amount of time I've been willing to commit to it has changed. For the last year or so, it has mostly been political musings and book reviews. The book reviews have actually generated interest with family and friends. For now, that's what will get posted here. — John PruessJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.comBlogger133125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-13640728901819310142024-03-07T04:32:00.008+01:002024-03-07T04:32:51.538+01:00Hide Your ChildrenIn the 1980s in America, homeschooling was not popular. For three of my elementary school years, I got to be homeschooled. I thought it was great. I got to learn at my pace, which was wonderful for subjects like math, science, and English. I loved that I was usually done with my school day two to three hours earlier than the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. At home, I only had to do actual schoolwork and none of the fluff or other, non-academic stuff. I remember hearing from many people that kids who were homeschooled would not be socialized. No one ever really defined that word, but between city sports leagues, church activities, and playing friends in the neighborhood, I had plenty of chances to be with other kids, not to mention the fact that the overwhelming majority of inappropriate things I learned I had learned at school.<div><br /></div><div><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/NtcAAOSwp8xkw7Eh/s-l960.jpg" width="250" /><i>Hide Your Children: Exposing the Marxists behind the Attack on America’s Kids</i> by Liz Wheeler (ISBN: 978-1-68451-391-8) provides a look at how the education system has deteriorated further since the 1980s. The book starts with an overview of just who the Marxists the subtitle is talking about and then gives specific examples of how attacks on the nuclear family, endless accusations of racism, critical theory, queer theory, and attacks on homeschool, a proxy for attacks on personal responsibility and liberty, fit into the Marxist program meant to destroy society. Each chapter gives some history of where the modern Marxist threat originated and, using specific examples, how it became more mainstream than it ever should have. The historic sections are followed by a discussion of how it is today and the threat that presents to America, a country built on the idea that it survives only if the people who inhabit it are a moral people. The book ends with a chapter providing some suggestions on how to change the tide and fight back against the Marxist wave that has overpowered our educational system since it’s much easier to change the minds of the impressionable young than older people more set in their ways. The author’s suggestions include fighting the culture war, working to ban critical theory from public institutions, homeschooling whenever possible, fighting for school choice, working against ESG and DEI, remembering that local politics have an outlandishly large impact on our lives, returning to religion, and protecting the innocence of our children. Finally, there were some appendices with the Constitution and papal encyclicals that discussed the dangers of Communism.</div><div><br /></div><div>Looking back on my time in school, I can see some of the early beginnings of what was discussed in the book. I remember having lessons on self-esteem in fifth grade. The discussions about just what constitutes a put-down are exactly the kind of thing that gets rolled into social-emotional learning in the mid-2020s. Homeschooling was a great experience for me that taught a lot about personal responsibility and putting forth the effort to better one’s own life. That was the ultimate message of the book, but it also presented a good picture of what some of the problems with the modern American education system and how much of what is taught is at odds with the liberty needed to be self-sufficient. One interesting undercurrent of the book was Wheeler’s belief that while religion was key to containing Marxism, Catholicism was the preferred route. The appendices included two very long papal encyclicals, both of which accurately described Communism as a problem, but were also inclined to support organized labor a rather fuzzy concept of how to deal with poverty. The descriptive portion of the book was its strongest and make it worth reading. The prescriptive part was fine, with ideas that were good, but left me wanting more specifics (something that would improve many books about politics). </div><div>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-57372955831441829982024-01-28T05:28:00.004+01:002024-01-28T05:28:47.947+01:00The Airmen and the HeadhuntersWorld War II history, at least in my mind, tends to focus on the European theater. Everyone talks about Hitler, the Nazis, the Germans, the Italians, the British, and the Russians. For the U.S., though, World War II was a two-front war, and the Pacific theater was just as important and ultimately brought the war to a close for the U.S. with the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. Before those bombs were dropped, though, there were many events that unfolded, many of them full of heroism, daring, and brilliance, just as it was in Europe. I also have a personal connection to the Pacific since that is where my maternal grandfather served in the U.S. Army during World War II.<div><br /></div><div><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81xrPilJ2NL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="290" /><i>The Airmen and the Headhunters: A True Story of Lost Soldiers, Heroic Tribesmen, and the Unlikeliest Rescue of World War II</i> by Judith M. Heiman (ISBN: 978-0-15-101434-7) tells a fascinating story from the Pacific. As the Allies tried to claw their way toward Japan, while a ground invasion was still a potential plan, territory in what is now Indonesia was of strategic importance to the belligerents. Japan held what was then referred to as Borneo because of its oil reserves. The Allies wanted to cut that off. During a bombing mission against Japanese forces and industry in Borneo, a few U.S. planes were shot down. The occupants of one met death, either in the wreck or at the hands of the Japanese. Two other planes, though, had survivors who avoided capture. While this was initially thanks mostly to good luck, later capture was avoided because of the efforts of the natives, some of whom were formerly formidable headhunting tribes. The case of characters involved Malaysians, various highland jungle tribes, and the Americans. Later, Australian forces joined made it to the jungle and helped the natives fight the Japanese and the Americans get home. In the six months between the downed planes and the exfiltrations, though, the natives and the Malay helped the Americans avoid detection by the Japanese. They provided the Americans with hiding places, food, and taught them some of their ways to help make survival in the jungle a little easier. It wasn’t easy and involved sickness, insects, leeches, and injury, but the downed American soldiers eventually made it back home. In fighting the Japanese and keeping them off the Americans’ trail, the natives brought back their age-old tradition of headhunting. It might not have been exactly the same since it was revitalized out of necessity, but it served its purpose and aided in keeping the Japanese out of the interior jungles.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book was really interesting. I know almost nothing about Indonesia, Malaysia, and other island nations in Asia. I had never heard about this particular bit of World War II history, but I am glad I did. It was fascinating to read about the jungles, their many potential threats, and the native people who so willingly sacrificed for the well-being of the American soldiers, especially since they might have not been so excited about doing so given the sometimes harsh history of the Dutch in that part of the world. Kind American missionaries who worked in the jungles mitigated some of the Dutch-induced problems, though, and even non-Christian natives respected the Western missionaries who had truly been good examples and good followers of Christ. There was an element of adventure in the book and some excitement in the story as the Japanese came close to capturing the Americans a couple times. Other than a quote from an old army song that included the F-word, the book was great and well worth reading for anyone interested in history.</div><div>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-73699705915668451802023-08-22T18:52:00.005+02:002023-08-22T18:52:54.994+02:00The Forgotten Founding Father<div>I don’t know that I can say that I’ve always been interested in languages, but ever since I served a mission in Russia for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and learned Russian, I’ve had an interest in languages. I took German in junior and high school, but never made any real progress. In high school, when they started teaching us about accusative and dative cases, my brain lost it. I remember doing a homework assignment dealing with those and asking my native German-speaking grandmother and my German-speaking father for help and still just having brain cramps. Learning Russian was also very difficult, but I was able to overcome my problem with cases, and it’s been fun to attempt to keep some of these language skills from earlier in my life up since then. Learning foreign languages like German and Russian also helped me understand things like English grammar and the etymology of English words a little better. As a really young kid, I remember a copy of the Merriam-Webster dictionary on our shelf and sometimes asking my mom why we never read “the big, red book.”</div><div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/9120nUnS6lL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="275" /><i>The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture</i> by Joshua Kendall (ISBN: 978-0425-24545-3) tells about how that “big, red book” came to be thanks to another person who was very interested in words and language. The book chronicles Webster’s life from boyhood to death, taking a very detailed look at the parts of his life that led to his creation of the famous dictionary, part of Webster’s desire to make America its own unique country. Somewhat unusual for his day, Webster went to college even though he came from a farmer’s family. He then pursued a career tied to literature. He wrote extensively, including many essays, letters, and pamphlets in support of American independence and then in support of a federal republic. While his writings are not as well known today as those of others like Hamilton, at the time, there were many leading Americans who believed Webster’s efforts were essential parts of swaying public opinion. Webster initially made his name by publishing a speller, a book that helped schoolchildren learn to read and write. This book provided him with a foundational income throughout his life. He also worked as a lawyer, editor, and publisher. What he realized he loved doing, though, was more similar to the speller: compiling, organizing, and ordering information. This led to his interest in dictionaries. He found flaws in extant dictionaries and decided to improve on them by publishing his own. One motivation he had for this was that he believed a uniquely American language would help create and uphold a uniquely American culture, one that was needed to help the nascent nation maintain its distance from its former imperial overlords and move forward. While his ideas on government changed over the course of his life, his belief in America did not. The dictionary took much more time and money than he thought it would, but it was eventually published and created a new standard as well as codifying much of what was then a unique American language with new words expressing the new ideas embodied by the new nation.</div><div><br /></div><div>Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and found it interesting and informational. Reading of the American Founding and those who played integral roles in those events is always interesting. I found some of the discussion of early American literature and the academic scene to be less intriguing, but understand that it helped set the stage for Webster’s work and may be a necessary part of telling his story. It seemed the author wanted to diagnose Webster with some kind of mental disorder (OCD, autism, etc.), but never really came out and said it, just approached it tangentially. That constant repetition of that theme was a little distracting. The dictionary itself is only the last quarter of the book, so there’s a lot of other material to get through, but I thought the case for Webster’s role in America becoming its own entity, separate from Great Britain, was made convincingly. Those interested in the Revolution and the Founding, not just nerdy linguistic things will find the book of interest.</div><div>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-6169109805925744942023-08-09T04:15:00.005+02:002023-08-09T04:17:04.622+02:00The Great Reset<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[We w]ill at once walk out from a session, meeting, lecture, play,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">or film as soon as [we hear] the speaker utter a lie, ideological</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">drivel, or shameless propaganda.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn</span></div><div><br /></div>There was once a guy in a small southern Utah town who made the news all over the place because he put up a sign in his front yard that declared his property a UN-free zone. Lots of people made fun of him, wondering what impact the UN could possibly have on a guy with a few acres of land in the sticks in southern Utah. Given that the UN operates some programs that provide medical aid and food to those in need or preserve cultural heritage sights, albeit in a bureaucratic and inefficient way, alongside some of truly inefficient things they do in the general assembly, at the time, I had no real opinion either way, but always felt the guy probably understood things better than I did. A decade or so later, with the international community firmly entrenched in the <a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2014/03/control-exposing-truth-about-guns.html">big-government control movement</a> and its many tentacles creeping farther and farther into our everyday lives, it seems the guy who wanted to keep the UN (and other global elites) out of his back yard was on to something.<div><br /></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://media.s-bol.com/7Wno6B6PmVyG/W7WjrlX/550x836.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="526" height="400" src="https://media.s-bol.com/7Wno6B6PmVyG/W7WjrlX/550x836.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of 21st-century Fascism </i>by Glenn Beck with Justin Haskins (ISBN: 978-1-63763-059-4) provides an overview of just what the Great Reset is. Beck and Haskins view it as an attempt by elites on the global stage to take over and subsequently control people politically and economically. They note that this is a plan that has been in the works for much longer than just since the coronavirus happened in 2020, although that served as a crisis that could be used to further many of the goals of those pushing for the Great Reset (Leftists around the world, not just Joe Biden as the title might lead one to believe). Other things that have served as a way for Klaus Schwab, George Soros, and others to further their agenda include environmentalism and the rise of national debts and inflation, which many Leftists want to combat by employing something called “modern monetary theory,” which states that national debt doesn’t really matter, only inflation does, since governments have the ability print the money they need (taxation is used to control (read: punish) people or organizations, not necessarily to raise revenue). Another economic tool of those pushing the Great Reset, which is a politically loaded term these days, although one that the book includes in direct quotations from the horses’ mouths, is environmental, social, governance (ESG), a system that the elite wants to use to evaluate business and individuals the way in essentially the same way credit scores are used, just without so much worry about credit and more worry about those more political factors. The system was designed to counteract the Right’s call for business to self-regulate and not have the government involved. With ESG involved, big investment firms can buy shares in a company and then demand that the company adhere to ESG standards, thereby causing, ostensibly, business to drive the ESG agenda and not government. Beck and Haskins finish the book with some policy prescriptions, almost all of which are calls to action on a local level in most cases: support small businesses, be politically active on the local level, don’t live lies in our personal lives.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book was an interesting read. It was written a in 2022, but is especially relevant given the rise of ESG and organizations like the World Economic Forum (WEF), which push the Great Reset. The history of the Great Reset, relevant quotations from those pushing it, not just spouting off about it (all extensively noted in endnotes), and solid explanations of just what these terms refer to and how they apply to the common man, make the book worth a read. I am not a huge fan of the book’s subtitle, although I understand it given that many of the Great Reset players have ties to Biden. Beck does note that the Great Reset is not necessarily a partisan issue as there are culprits normally associated with the American Right, too. However, he focuses on those tied in some way to Joe Biden and the U.S. Democratic machine. I think that section could’ve been a little better. Some readers may not appreciate some of the humor in some of the sections. I was kind of on the fence about some of it — it was all appropriate; I just usually appreciate a more serious tone, but I think regular Beck listeners will get it and appreciate it. In the end, I thought the actions the authors suggested we take were all very solid. They were all things that people can do. I found the extensive quotations from Russian dissident Solzhenitsyn to be powerful, especially the one asking us to not live a lie.</div><div>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-56837615855349300192023-07-15T19:03:00.001+02:002023-07-15T19:03:28.021+02:00Why I Stand<div>When I was a kid, sports on TV was a big deal. The local colleges played football seasons that were eleven or twelve games long, but less than half of those games were on TV. Only about half the people I knew had cable, so sometimes televised games weren’t even available to everyone. When something was on TV, I made the effort to watch. I liked watching BYU’s football and basketball games as well as Utah Jazz games with the occasional Oakland A’s game when they were featured on national TV. As I got older, there were more things on TV, particularly more Jazz games, and I still tried pretty hard to watch as many of those as I could. Nowadays, with work, family, and other more pressing matters, I hardly ever watch the Jazz games and watch BYU games less frequently than before. I have never been an NBA fan or a college football fan, though, and, in general, couldn’t care less about other teams or what’s happening in various leagues or conferences. I care about my favorite teams and that’s all. Every so often, something happens in the sports world, though, that makes waves and casual fans like me or even non-fans have to take notice.</div><div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-13a06/images/stencil/600w/products/5775/8075/jonathan_isaac_cover__18095.1648652328.png?c=2" width="275" /><i>Why I Stand</i> by Jonathan Isaac (ISBN: 978-1-956007-06-0) is a book that exists because of one of those moments. After the protests and riots that occurred after George Floyd’s death, many athletes used their position (“platform” being the buzzword everyone liked to use) to advocate for a message they believed in. One of the more controversial ways they did this was to kneel during the national anthem. Jonathan Isaac, a very promising NBA player, chose to buck the trend and stand during the national anthem. He stood out even more because he did not choose to wear the Black Lives Matter apparel that most others did. Like most things, his decisions in that matter were not just sudden, spur-of-the-moment thoughts. They were based on a lifetime of experiences and a large body of personal beliefs. The book recounts Isaac’s childhood, high school and college experiences and rather meteoric rise in the sport of basketball from a no-name kid playing inconsistently in high school to a top-10 NBA draft pick. It also discusses Isaac’s struggles with anxiety and belief in his own worth, which were ultimately helped more than anything by a spiritual journey that led to a firm belief in God. He writes about going to church as a kid, but not really knowing why and not applying what was being taught. Like many people, he had some negative experiences with organized religion along the way, and by the time he was playing in the NBA as a rookie, he was connected to religion in name only. A neighbor who was a church leader and a few setbacks in his basketball career provided opportunities for Isaac to re-evaluate his relationship with God, and his honest approach to that led to a conversion that led to action that ranged from feeding the poor to becoming a pastor in his church. Ultimately, those convictions led him to stand while his teammates knelt during the national anthem, but he believed that incident was just one instance of standing for truth and right and that God asks that of His followers in many other situations, too.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2017/08/dream-team.html">Charles Barkley</a>, another famous basketball player, once said in an advertisement that he was not a role model. It was a controversial advertisement because basketball players and other famous people in the spotlight are role models whether they want to be or not and whether they should be or not. I find that most of them should not be, but a guy like Jonathan Isaac is a role model by virtue of his position and his actions. His account came across and genuine and humble. He was open about his struggles and did not shy away from the fact that he made mistakes in his life and is still far from the perfection that God has commanded us to stive for. However, he has not tried to dodge hard work and responsibility at all and has put forth the effort necessary to effect change in his life for the better. His willingness to stand alone for his beliefs is admirable, no matter where someone comes down on the issues (he notes in his book that many did not agree with him, but that some teammates and others told him they found his courage and determination to be character traits worthy of respect and emulation). I thought he had well-articulated reasons for doing what he did, and I happen to agree with them, but I found the book’s message of finding one’s self-worth in Christ and in knowing that we are beloved children of God to be the main message. The byproduct of knowing those things is that one is then willing to stand for truth and right even when it’s uncomfortable. </div><div>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-23215814274834287462023-06-18T18:29:00.003+02:002024-01-28T05:02:41.171+01:00Ravished Armenia<div>My first real contact with Armenians was while serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in St. Petersburg, Russia. We regularly ran into Armenians in our efforts to preach on the streets. One of the members of the branch in Pskov was an ethnic Armenian. One of the sister missionaries in one of the districts I served in was from Armenia. It was from her that I first learned about the Armenian alphabet, which was like nothing I had ever seen before. Since then, I have had a few chances to get to know more Armenians and learn a little about the history of this small country in the Caucasus that has outsized sway around the world because of its ubiquitous and rather tight-knit diaspora. The diaspora is so large and so widespread, in part, because of the World War I time-frame <a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-forty-days-of-musa-dagh.html">killings Armenians were subjected to</a>.</div><div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://www.abrilbooks.com/media/catalog/product/b/l/blg0149_copy.jpg" WIDTH="280"/><i>Ravished Armenia: The Story of Aurora Mardiganian, the Christian Girl Who Survived the Great Massacres </i>by Aurora Mardiganian (Arshalyus Mardiganyan) is an autobiographical account of the Turkish oppression of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire starting in 1915. The Mardiganian family, relatively wealthy financiers, are warned by their shepherd that he had a dream about the Armenians’ imminent destruction, but his prediction is dismissed. Soon, though, it comes true, as the family is driven from their home, along with all the other Armenians. Occasionally, leniency is shown to those who will renounce their Christian faith and adopt Islam, but even then, the freshly converted Armenians are killed by their Turkish and Kurdish oppressors. Aurora, like most of the women and children, is driven from place to place, guarded by Turkish policemen. Those who are too slow to keep up during forced marches are dispatched quickly and usually cruelly, although Mardiganian’s account does point out a few instances of decency and humanity from guards or locals in the places the Armenians were marched. Her story, like many of those who lived during this time, is made all the more tragic because she was there to see the deaths of her father, mother, a sister, and a brother. She was sold multiple times to be a harem girl. This never worked out for the buyer because Aurora was never willing to accept Islam. It really didn’t work out for her, either, though, because her refusals were usually met with abuse and deprivation. After wandering the Ottoman Empire under the care of the Turkish police or as the property of various rich Turks, having seen so much killing, rape, and pillaging, her old shepherd friend, then working for a Turk trying to get Aurora to submit to Islam before being fully accepted into his harem, helped her escape. She stayed with friendly Kurds before eventually being helped by Americans in the region and then making her way to Russian-controlled territory and under Russian and Armenian military oversight, made her way to Tbilisi, then Russia, and then the United States.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes with Armenians will have heard of what they refer to simply as the Genocide. There are some political implications involved in using that term, but that is what the Armenians refer to it as, and it was, undoubtedly, a terrible time for them. There are not many things one can compare their suffering to, although maybe the treatment of the Bosniaks when the former Yugoslavia fell apart is a decent comparison. Aurora’s story was one of suffering and tragedy. As a memoir meant to tell of her people’s travails, there is no larger discussion of world politics at the time or even the regional situation (in short: it’s the Caucasus and the Middle East, so it’s somewhere beyond complicated). The reader just gets a relatively young girl’s take on a horrible situation. On the other hand, despite all the destruction, violence, and despair, there is hope in the book. I found the willingness she had, along with a few others, to not renounce Christ despite the often gruesome consequences extremely brave and inspiring. The will to survive and the resourcefulness displayed by those in a tight spot to do so were admirable, too. There are also lessons in the book about avoiding the totalitarian and authoritarian impulses that so often afflict those in power that lead to so much death and destruction of human life.<br />
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<font size="1">This work, including all text, photographs, and other original work, is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a> and is copyrighted © MMXXI John Pruess.</font>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-89379322025362371832023-06-17T23:13:00.003+02:002023-06-17T23:13:39.643+02:00Avenue of Spies<div>France is famous for artwork, food, seaside rivieras, skiing, and the architecture and monuments of Paris. France is on almost everyone’s list of places to visit. Most people think it’d be cool to see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, or spend time in Normandy or on the Mediterranean French Riviera. Not everyone thinks snails are something they should try, but crêpes are on everyone’s list. France also has an interesting reputation as being a country of cowards and wimps. There are lots of jokes about French surrender in battle. Some of this comes from a collaborationist government during World War II. Despite the Nazi collaborators, there were many in France who joined the resistance and fought against Germany in open armed rebellion as well as in all kinds of underground activity.</div>
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<div><img align="right" alt="Book cover." 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" /><i>Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family’s Heroic Resistance in Nazi-occupied Paris</i> by Alex Kershaw (ISBN: 978-0-8041-4004-1) is one story of underground activity during the Nazi occupation of France. It is about an American, Dr. Sumner Jackson, his Swiss-born wife, Toquette, and their son, Phillip, who lived on the same street as many of the leaders of the occupying Germans, but aided the French resistance and paid the ultimate price for that patriotic effort. Jackson was a surgeon at an American hospital in France and used both his residence and the hospital as venues for fighting the Germans. Toquette and Phillip were also happy to be involved. Phillip couldn’t do much as a teenager, but understood what his parents were involved in. The house was used as a place to pass documents and information, the hospital was used to make Allied soldiers disappear once they had been adequately treated. Many were able to escape to neutral Spain and then back to England. The Nazis were next door and across the street and in houses all along the street, but the Jackson family was able to aid the resistance for quite some time before eventually being rounded up with other patriotic Frenchmen and sent to concentration camps in Germany. The entire family survived the camps. Toquette was extricated from one by the Swedes (reminded me a tiny bit of Raoul <a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2023/03/wallenberg.html">Wallenberg</a>) and the Red Cross. Sumner and Phillip survived their camp experience, in large part thanks to Dr. Jackson’s abilities as a doctor and being able to barter those services for easier assignments for his son. However, they were being transported away from Germany on a transport ship that was bombed by the English. The ship was destroyed. Phillip was able to swim away and was rescued by German fishermen before they realized that he wasn’t German. His father, though, who had a chance to not board the ship when the Germans, at the behest of the Red Cross, asked for all French speakers to step out of line, but decided to board anyway out of a sense of duty to the sick and injured men he was aiding as a doctor, did not survive the bombing. Phillip’s last war-time activity was as a member of the British Army, translating, searching for, and testifying against German war criminals. He was eventually re-united with his mother in France.</div>
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<div>I found the book to be pretty good. Like many history books that focus on one very specific event or one person, it seemed like there were parts of the book that were added simply to fill a page requirement. Overall, though, the story was interesting, and the historical details about those involved, both French and German, were worth reading and learning about. I am always impressed by those who were willing to take risks to do what was right during World War II. Especially toward the end of the war, as Germany lost territory, men, and influence, any anti-German conduct was immediately punishable by death. The Jackson family’s readiness to take on those risks essentially without asking any questions speaks volumes about their moral fiber and presents an example worth emulating. </div><div><br /></div><div><table>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-68452780725410821302023-06-06T17:06:00.001+02:002023-06-06T17:06:24.998+02:00Heir to the EmpireI remember going to a friend’s house as a kid and seeing some Star Wars books on his family’s bookshelves. I remember being confused by that since I knew there were only three movies, and the titles on the spines of these books had nothing to do with the movies except the “Star Wars” part. I did not understand at all that there was an entire fictional world that nerds had created beyond the original three movies. It really didn’t interest me, so I didn’t think much of it until more recently, when some people in my family got into Star Wars and re-opened the question of what is now referred to as something like the “expanded universe” (Star Wars nerds somewhere will happily tell me I’ve used incorrect terminology, I’m sure). As I became acquainted with <i><a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2019/01/star-wars-new-dawn.html">Star Wars Rebels</a></i>, I was introduced to a villain named Thrawn, who was a great bad guy in the animated series, and I didn’t know that he had actually existed for a long time in some of those books I saw at that friend’s house.<div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://www.jedinews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/TELCSW-Heir-to-the-Empire-Cover.jpg" width="250" /><div><i>Heir to the Empire</i> by Timothy Zahn (ISBN: 978-0-593-35876-4) is the first in a trilogy (seems writers and publishers have long found trilogies to be very marketable) featuring a blue-skinned, red-eyed humanoid alien as the brains behind what is left of the Empire after Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion had conquered the Empire in the movies. Thrawn is written as an incredibly smart military and political genius who not only knows the art of war and diplomacy, but is also a student of culture, particularly the arts. He uses this knowledge to help him understand his enemies and stay one step ahead of them. The book also includes movie favorites like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa, Lando Calrissian, and others. They have their own adventures fighting off remnants of the Empire (commanded by Thrawn), dealing with pirates (the underworld always being a Star Wars staple), and fighting with new enemies like the ape-like Rukh or the human Mara Jade. Rukh and his species are ruthless killers, but not quite up to the task of defeating Wookies, and Leia ends up making an uneasy truce with one of the aliens since they are all loyal to Darth Vader and Leia is his daughter. Luke Skywalker, Han, Lando, and the famous droids R2-D2 and C-3PO are captures by Mara Jade and other pirates, spend time negotiating with them, and eventually get away by banding together with the pirates to fight off Imperial forces aided by an imposter Jedi. The last big event in the book is Thrawn’s forces attempting to attack a freight depot and make off with hundreds of ships for his depleted Imperial navy. With Luke Skywalker’s aid, that attack is more or less thwarted, but since the books is the first in a series, it feels very much left open and unresolved.</div><div><br /></div><div>I thought the book was OK. Other Star Wars books I’ve read, like the <a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2018/11/ahsoka.html">Ahsoka</a> book, were better. I found that this one simply didn’t hold my attention. To me, that’s saying something because I came in already thinking Thrawn was a pretty cool character. Maybe it’s because there were other storylines? I was also seriously underwhelmed with the writing. I thought it was to repetitive and cliché. One does not need to hear about the same facial expression every time a character thinks or does the same thing. The reader gets it after the first couple times. I thought that maybe a different way of saying things or some different words could’ve been used. I know it’s painfully obvious when a writer has been using a thesaurus, but a little variety couldn’t hurt. I think I wasn’t too impressed with the sections about the old Star Wars characters. This story would’ve been better had it been all new, not the writer’s take on characters that every person has their own ideas about. Fans who are all in will likely like the book, but for us who just kind of hover on the edges of Star Wars fandom, it was forgettable.</div><div><br /><table>
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</div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-19493529987398290382023-04-20T23:09:00.003+02:002023-04-20T23:09:24.567+02:00Up from SlaveryHistory has always been interesting to me, but like most people, there are parts of history that have a greater pull than others. The Revolutionary War and the Founding have always been favorites of mine along with World War II. I received two coffee table books as a kid from my grandparents, one about the Revolutionary War and one about the Civil War. These were quality books made by National Geographic, back before that organization went political. Along with some sound commentary, there were plenty of maps, graphics, and pictures that held a young boy’s attention long enough to foster an interest in these two seminal events in the history of the United States.<div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Up-From-Slavery-HOME_vArtboard-51__36232.1549733023.386.513.jpg" width="225" /><i>Up from Slavery</i> by Booker T. Washington (ISBN: 978-0-9997797-3-6) tells of the famous educator’s life from his early boyhood as a slave to his rise as a professor and principal (these days we’d probably say president) of the Tuskegee Institute. The book was short on the childhood section, understandably so, since he was so quite young when slavery ended and had spent his days like all the other slaves: working. Once freed, he and his family struggled like many to find work that would pay the bills, but they succeeded, and his mom encouraged an innate love for learning that eventually led to Washington’s heading off to the Hampton School. A popular place with newly freed blacks trying to improve their lot, the school didn’t have a lot of room, but Booker so impressed the lady in charge of admissions when he was asked to clean some of the school rooms, that he made it in. He didn’t squander a single opportunity, graduated, and then set about to provide opportunities for others. What that led to was his founding the Tuskegee Institute. The greater section of the book is spent chronicling how the school came about, its struggles and successes, and its growth and Washington’s efforts to promote the school and secure the funding needed to keep it on its own two feet. He worked hard no matter what he was involved in, whether teaching, overseeing the school, working in his own home with animals and in his garden, or fundraising. He was also a well-known and in-demand orator, invited to speak at functions, fairs, and other public events. Throughout the book, he spends significant time noting that service, hard work, fulfilling one’s duties, giving things one’s best shot, and honesty are the keys to success and happiness in life. He also touches on the question of race and racism, but only as a reality that is in the background and that mostly stays there when one develops the abovementioned qualities and masters skills that others require, such as the brickmaking, animal husbandry, sewing, architecture, dairy farming, and others that his school taught in addition to academic subjects.</div><div><br /></div><div>While very much aware of Booker T. Washington and his accomplishments because I don’t remember a class or unit on American history in school that didn’t include him (as he said, if one works hard and does something that others find useful, one will have earned respect and likely at least some recognition), the book was interesting to read because there was more to his life’s philosophy than the education that he is most famous for. Washington was a hard worker who believed in taking the bull by the horns and not allowing life, fate, other people (including other people’s choices), or whatever other thing people blame their failures on control him. He believed others had a better chance to be successful if they were educated both academically and in life skills and professional knowledge. He dedicated his life to making that happen, noting along the way that he was most fulfilled when helping and serving others. I enjoyed reading his take on race and racism — he largely ignored it. He was a former slave, but had no time for holding grudges and found that a straightforward approach that did not insult Southerners, but found a way to lift them up, helped the most. The relations between the blacks and whites in Tuskegee were good in his opinion, so the proof is in the pudding as far as his approach is concerned. Finally, Washington continually gave credit for his success to God, which is always refreshing. Both historically and morally, the book was great and well worth the time.</div><div> <table>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-31702828520246957392023-04-05T19:50:00.001+02:002023-04-05T19:50:41.973+02:00Profiles in CorruptionModern-day politicians (and by “modern-day” I have pretty much anyone elected after 1900 in mind) are famous for being spineless rags that twist whatever way the wind and for being willing to adopt pretty much any position for the right sum of money (usually a lot lower than one would think it should be). One of my favorite examples of this is Louisiana’s former U.S. representative, William Jefferson, who took a ton of bribes and was caught when federal investigators found $90,000 wrapped up in aluminum foil in his freezer. Both of America’s major political parties are susceptible to this major fault. In books and movies, corruption has a little bit of a glamorous or adventurous feel to it, often tied to the mob or opulent, fast-lane living. The truth certainly includes some of that, but is mostly full of boring paperwork that lawyers and accountants deal with in an attempt to cover the trail between politicians and the dirty money they use to enrich themselves, their friends, and their families.<div><br />
<img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://dynamic.indigoimages.ca/books/0062897934.jpg?scaleup=true&width=614&maxheight=614&quality=85&lang=en" width="275" /><div><i>Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite</i> by Peter Schweizer (ISBN: 978-0-06-289790-9) examines the corruption of some of the American Left’s biggest stars: Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Bernie Sanders, President Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Eric Garcetti, and Senator Elizabeth Warren. Schweizer could’ve written a book like this about Republicans, too, but chose not to since Leftists claim they fight against big business and cronyism and are believed by a significant swath of the public. With that hypocrisy as a background, the corruption seems even worse as it’s not just corruption, but also a lot of lying. All of them are long-term public officer holders that have been involved in hardly any business activities, yet have wielded the power that comes with their offices to enrich themselves, their friends, and their families. Schweizer chronicles these politicians’ activities throughout their careers, which includes their time in local and state office as well as on the national stage. As they move up the ladder, their influence grows, and the amount of money they’re able to command in exchange for various favors grows in a corresponding manner. One of the most popular schemes was earmarking federal funding for ones’ friends and families via authority over grants and programs (all of them) or writing laws that benefit a friend’s law firm (Harris, Klobuchar) or a brother’s real estate development project (Biden). The book is full of stories of politicians claiming to be tough on crime, for example, but then not prosecuting their political allies. There are stories of politicians writing laws that make it possible for family and friends to develop property formerly off limits. In every case, the politician in question also comes out ahead. Schweizer ends by claiming that there is a certain level of responsibility for the corruption with the American voter because these politicians keep being re-elected.<br /><br /><div>
The book is a quick read and quite interesting. It’s also depressing on a certain level because these are only a few of the examples of corruption. Like Schweizer claims, everyone knows it’s a bipartisan problem, too. I thought the fact that there were so many examples made the book’s case stronger. These examples of corruption were not some one-off thing. These are embedded habits. While I tend to generally agree with Schweizer’s conclusion that we get what we vote for, one thing that depressed me throughout the book was simply the amount of public money available. A lot of this corruption would not be possible if there was not so much public money available. There are so many things the government has no business being involved in. If it was smaller, the way it should be, there would be a lot fewer opportunities for politicians to be bought. In that way, I disagree with Schweizer’s conclusion. Reduce the size of government and this problem takes care of itself to a certain degree.</div><div>
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</div></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-82246941547690041022023-03-23T22:51:00.000+01:002023-03-23T22:51:06.775+01:00Franklin & Washington<div>The Founders (I’m old enough that it was <a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2017/08/visions-of-freedom.html">the Founding Fathers</a>) of America were some amazing people. Stories of Benjamin Franklin, inventor, diplomat, statesman, and printer were a staple of what was taught as history when I was a kid. It was great stuff and inspired me to read his <i>Autobiography</i> as a teenager, and that was a great read, too. Franklin embodied much about the nascent country: innovation, progress, a desire for liberty, and the ability to chart one’s own course. <a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2012/05/george-washingtons-sacred-fire.html">Washington’s life</a> was also the stuff of legend. Surveying sounds boring as a career, but in the Revolutionary era, it was outdoorsmanship at its finest, supplemented by frontier action. Washington added to his status by being a competent military leader, fearless under fire. Finally, he was the country’s first and probably greatest president, in large part because he was a reluctant leader (those are typically the best kind).</div><div><br /><div><img align="right" src="https://bargainsleuth2010.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/franklinwashington.jpg" width="250" /><i>Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership</i> by Edward J. Larson (ISBN: 978-0-06-288016-1) takes an often detailed look at how Benjamin Franklin and George Washington worked toward common goals during the Revolutionary era, often working in concert to attain the desired outcome of a free United States. Larson provides an overview of each man’s life, which establishes that even before they knew each other, they had much in common. They were colonists, their early fortunes were tied to the western frontiers of their respective colonies, and they were involved in military and political matters. While their person routes to success were different, with Franklin rising to wealth and fame via hard work, ingenuity, and learning and exploiting the political scene, Washington had a slightly easier route that involved coming into land and marrying into a wealthy family. Ultimately, though, he, too, was a self-made man, parlaying his surveying and military skills into productive aspects of management and leadership, letting him be a successful estate owner and businessman with a strong ability to find workable compromises in otherwise explosive situations. Once both were convinced that British rule was not the way to go for the colonies, they poured their hearts and souls into independence. They believed strongly in liberty, and put their money where their mouths were, sacrificing time, money, and more to the cause of liberty. Franklin spent years abroad; Washington spent years leading the Continental Army. Once independence had been secured, both turned their attention to helping the thirteen colonies unify, something both strongly believed in. This was more time and sacrifice. They were leaders at the Constitutional Convention. Their styles there sometimes differed, but they worked toward a common goal of a unified country with a federal government strong enough to keep the states in check at times. Larson also spends a significant amount of time talking about one of the biggest differences between the two, which was their outlook on slavery. While they started life someone on the same footing there, Franklin slowly evolved to eventually come to an abolitionist viewpoint. Washington never moved from his position as a slave holder, although he was willing to go along with the anti-slavery clauses in the Constitution.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book was mostly interesting, and I found the comparison between the two storied leaders to be an interesting approach to studying the Revolutionary era. Even though their stories are well known, the biographical section was good and had some details that were at least new to me. The author claimed Franklin to be a deist, which is the popular thing to do, and while the first Franklin quote he used to prove that could possibly support that assumption, I thought the next three God-related quotes from Franklin were much more supportive of his believing in God. The author didn’t really touch on Washington’s religiosity (a good thing, too, considering that <i>George Washington’s Sacred Fire</i> thoroughly destroys any argument to the contrary on that score), which I found a little disappointing. If they really thought so differently about God, it could’ve been a good point about how men of differing fundamental beliefs still found common ground and worked together, a very appropriate lesson for today. If their beliefs were closer in nature, it could’ve been another point where these great men saw eye to eye. The slavery discussion had its interesting moments, but was too much. The point was made early in the book that these two didn’t see eye to eye on this issue, but then the reader had to read fifty pages about it. There was also a rather accusatory approach to Washington’s views (“views” being a stretch as one really only reads about his actions and not what he said about it, which, as I have read in other places, were conflicted), seemingly pointing out that Franklin came to the abolitionist side, so automatically Washington should’ve, too. In any case, the historian is not supposed to judge the actions of yesteryear’s figures by today’s standards. All modern readers know slavery is wrong, and the Constitution they helped create set up a system that allowed for the abolition of slavery to happen much faster than many would’ve preferred, so the focus should’ve been, again, on how the two managed to work together and have strong respect for each other until their dying days despite this. Both of these problems seemed like missed opportunities by the author in what was otherwise a good book about two great men.</div><div> <table>
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</div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-22289978778477582962023-03-19T16:04:00.002+01:002023-04-20T21:29:34.331+02:00Wallenberg<div>World War II is probably most famous for the atrocities of the Nazi regime in Germany. It’s other claims to fame are not much better, including the general death, mayhem, and destruction that are an inevitable part of war. While those are real, true parts of war and human nature, wars and other dire situations also bring out the best in some people. Two pieces of literature taught me that early in life. First was the <i>Winged Watchman</i>, a book about the Dutch resistance during World War II. It is based on true accounts of Dutch efforts in the war. I read and re-read it as a kid, easily placing myself in the roles of the main characters. Second was the <i>Diary of Anne Frank</i>. The family that hid her continues to have my greatest admiration. These books inculcated a sense of duty and sacrifice that are the exact opposite of the destruction the war with which the war is most commonly associated.</div>
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<div><img align="right" src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/32/a7/be/32a7beaf7bb1912524a57dce87bc74ee--true-stories-books-to-read.jpg" width="300" /></div><div><i>Wallenberg: The Incredible True Story of the Man Who Saved Thousands of Jews</i> by Kati Marton (ISBN: 978-1-61145-337-9) tells one of the positive stories from World War II, one that definitely fits the mold of duty, daring, and sacrifice. <i>Wallenberg</i> is the story of Raoul Wallenberg, a member of a wealthy Swedish dynasty, who was unafraid to use his position to augment his natural abilities to help save Jews from Nazis and Hungary’s Nazi-supported regime. Wallenberg, an orphan, did not have the usual family resources available to him, and, with his grandfather’s help, charted his own course after his early years, one that included extensive travel and schooling abroad. He later tried banking, but was unfulfilled. He worked with the Swedish foreign ministry and Western organizations toward a higher purpose in Hungary, where he devised various systems to help preserve the lives of Hungary’s Jews. He provided them with Swedish documents, sometimes as Jews were being loaded on trains to Nazi death camps. He provided Swedish-flagged housing in Budapest and met with Hungarian and Nazi dignitaries, always looking for a sympathetic ear and sometimes finding one, which lent him a little more time. As the Russians closed in on Budapest, he figured his mission was not over, but the Russians believed otherwise, especially since he got some of his money from Western organizations. They arrested him and sent him to the Soviet Union, where he languished in the Gulag until he died, having made the ultimate sacrifice in his efforts to love and serve his fellow man.</div>
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<div>The book, coming highly recommended, did not disappoint. Every part of it was interesting, even the discussion of Wallenberg’s family history and early years and some of the post-war intrigue from the Soviets. The Soviet portion of the story was actually pretty sad, especially once Stalin had died. It seemed to me that there was no real reason to hold Wallenberg any longer, but the Soviet system and leaders weren't up to releasing him, somehow viewing that as an affront to them. The story of Wallenberg's daring and sacrifice was exhilarating and inspiring. That may be the book’s largest contribution. The reader is uplifted and gets a glimpse of what it means to do the right thing when doing the right thing likely comes with a very steep cost. Wallenberg's example is one worth emulating.</div><div>
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</td></tr></tbody></table></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-4970256966882539152023-03-06T22:28:00.001+01:002023-03-06T22:28:16.993+01:00Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium (So Far)Year-end synopses and other annual summaries were something that seemed to be pretty popular in the news during my teenage years and into my early adulthood. Newspapers would publish year-in-review stories and devote a page of one of their lesser-read sections to what the editorial staff considered to be the year’s top ten or so stories. Admittedly, I am somewhat sentimental in nature, affected a little by nostalgia, so these kinds of things in the papers appealed to me. Humorist Dave Barry was not one to be left behind by that trend, and one of the Sundays around New Year’s Day always featured his year-in-review columns, which were always laugh-out-loud funny and something I looked forward to.<div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9780425221655_p0_v2_s1200x630.jpg" width="300" /><i>Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium (So Far)</i> by Dave Barry (ISBN: 978-0-399-15437-9) is a compilation of those year-end columns for the first few years of the 2000s. Since those were always multi-page columns, the book is a decent length even though it doesn’t even deal with a full decade. The style of Barry’s columns relies on a couple main devices. One is to make fun of real events, and given the state of American politics, that is easy to do. Often, it seemed like he didn’t have to do a lot of writing; the material was writing itself. Another is to start by reporting a real event and then, suddenly and usually rather abruptly, turn it into something surreal or absurd. The subject of the jokes is wide ranging and includes politics, religion, sports, crime, popular culture (singers, movie stars, and generic celebrities who are famous for now real reason), and some bizarre things that make hometown papers only. As the cover to the book suggests, the Republican Party and President Bush are the subject of many jokes, but politicians at all levels find themselves in Barry’s crosshairs. Another continuing theme throughout the book is that things really are getting worse. Each year’s summary starts out with a comment about how we all hoped the year would be a good one and would improve on the past, but that, as usual, we were all disappointed with just how the latest year turned out. Given the ineptitude around us, why should we keep being so optimistic? It’s never dark humor, but there is a level of sarcasm or cynicism that often gives the jokes an edge.</div><div><br /></div><div>I actually laughed quite a bit as I read through this book, which I thought was considerably better than the other compilation of Dave Barry columns that I read a while ago, <i><a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2020/05/dave-barrys-money-secrets.html">Dave Barry’s Money Secrets</a></i>. Maybe politics, which are, in some ways, constantly changing, provide more fresh material than financial affairs, the nature of which really don’t change too much. In any case, I thought the book was funny. My guess, though, is that there is a shelf life to a book like this. I lived through the era Barry is writing about in these columns and know about the people he makes fun of and remember most of the events he picks apart from the headlines of news articles that I read. For people who either weren’t old enough to remember the early years of the third millennium or simply don’t remember it — maybe even on purpose — the content of the book is going to have a lot less relevancy. So, while I enjoyed the book and found it quite funny (and fairly balanced as far as which political party was being skewered, maybe 60-40 with Republicans taking the larger share of the abuse), I think the chances are that this book is going to appeal more to those born earlier than 1990.</div><div><br /><table>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-24878273145838581192023-03-04T22:20:00.002+01:002023-03-04T22:20:34.633+01:00Reagan and Gorbachev<div>Ronald Reagan was technically the second president in my life, Jimmy Carter being president until 1981, but I really don’t remember much about any president from my life before George H. W. Bush. In fairness to the presidents, I don’t remember a whole lot before 1989 anyway, just sporadic incidents, and some of those are somewhat nebulous memories that lack a lot of specifics. I certainly wasn’t paying attention to politics. Later in life, I started to learn about Reagan and have come to greatly admire him and much of what he did while in office as the president. I was slightly more aware of who Mikhail Gorbachev was because he was at the helm of the Soviet Union when it fell apart, and the Eastern Bloc’s downfall holds a rather prominent place in those few early memories of mine (in part because some of it was broadcast on TV and because of a strong family history tie I have to Germany that made some of those happenings seem interesting to me). I remember the Russian words <i>glasnost</i> and <i>perestroika</i> being bandied about in the American press, but was largely unaware of most of the events leading up to those policies and then to the fall of the Soviet Union.</div><div><br /><div><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781588364258_p0_v1_s1200x630.jpg" width="300" /><i>Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended</i> by Jack F. Matlock, Jr. (ISBN: 0-679-46323-2) is a very detailed, play-by-play recounting of most (all?) of the diplomatic events leading up to the end of the Cold War. Matlock was a career diplomat that served on the National Security Council. This position and his academic and diplomatic career as a specialist on Russia provided him with an insider’s perspective on the processes that led up to the end of the Cold War. The book chronicles, often in great detail, various meetings, negotiations, summits, and communications that involved leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union. The focus was, of course, on what the two countries’ leaders, Reagan and Gorbachev, did, including their preparations before their meetings, their political efforts in their home countries in order to secure the ability to push their preferred policies forward. Matlock talked about the papers prepared for Reagan and how Reagan studied them. He talked about the negotiation processes. He recounted meetings between secretaries of state and foreign ministers. Those meetings, though, and the preparations were made possible by the leaders’ efforts to put people in place that would assist them. The preparations were made because the leaders desired that, something that was not always the case with the leaders who came before them. While Matlock endeavored to explain that so-called summit meetings weren’t the most important things in the diplomatic arsenal, those are what got headlines and what, ultimately, required the most preparation and resulted in the headline deals that moved the West and the Soviets away from nuclear war and toward peace. He, therefore, spent most of the book talking about these meetings that took place in Moscow, Washington, Geneva, and Reykjavík.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book was interesting since it presented a lot of detail about the diplomacy the two leaders were involved in, but was not what I expected since it presented so much information on the processes and not as much about the two leaders themselves. I realize that they have had so many biographies written about them that new information might be difficult to present, so respect the author’s decision to explain more about how they drove the process and how their respective personalities influenced politics and people toward their ultimate goal of peace. The agreements reached were significant by any standard and led to the end of the Cold War, a seminal event in the history of the world that continues to shape today’s world. The level of detail was sometimes excessive, I thought, and it felt like I had to push through some passages. In general, though, the writing and information presented were relevant to the story and points being made, and it was kind of interesting to read about the great level of effort required on so many levels to bring a couple heads of state together. The book only cemented by opinions of these two men further. They were visionary and extremely able politicians. They made mistakes on the way, but learned from them and ultimately reached their goals (Reagan more than Gorbachev, but Gorbachev is worthy of a lot of credit since his policies led to even greater changes). In today’s world where the East and the West are set against each other, there may be something to learn from Reagan and Gorbachev’s efforts to lessen conflict in the world.</div><div> <table>
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</div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-50291389130333924882023-01-06T16:17:00.000+01:002023-01-06T16:17:16.643+01:00Assassination: Operation AnthropoidAnyone who’s ever read a spy novel is well acquainted with the idea of assassination, a technique utilized early and often in those books. The most famous form of intrigue also has a long history in real life from ancient times (2 Kings 15:10 for one example, Julius Ceasar for another) to the targeted killings of terrorists in the last few years. It seems exciting and slick in books and movies, but is usually a bit more messy in real life (targeting terrorists has resulted in a few killings of the wrong person). Unsurprisingly, assassination was also part of the arsenal employed by the warring nations in World War II, which has long been one of the eras of history that has appealed to me.<div><br /></div><div><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://www.trhknih.cz/cover/medium/b/q/4vxoveqb.png" /><i>Assassination: Operation Anthropoid: 1941–1942</i> by Michal Burian, Aleš Knížek, Jiří Rajlich, and Eduard Stehlík (ISBN: 80-7278-158-8) tells the story of one of the better-known assassinations in World War II, that of Reinhard Heydrich, the commander of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), acting governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and a principal architect of the Holocaust. The operation was conceived by Czechoslovaks in exile in the UK, but carried out by paratroop commandos in occupied Czechoslovakia in concert with local members of the resistance. Like many of the operations in occupied Czechoslovakia, most of the people involved ended up dead. Radio operators, paratroopers and soldiers, resistance members who helped the paratroopers hide, farmers who lent a place to stay or a warm meal, all of them met the same fate once the Nazis discovered that they were in any way associated with the efforts against Germany. Thankfully for the Czechoslovaks, there were enough people that were willing to risk it all, and two of the paratroopers who had undergone intensive and extensive training in the UK, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, were able to execute their plan against Heydrich. The plan was to shoot him, but that didn’t initially work, so a bomb was tossed toward his car. The explosion, which happened just outside the back of the car, didn’t kill Heydrich initially, and the attackers had to run away, chased for a short distance by their target. A week later, Heydrich succumbed to his wounds, and in the coming weeks, Nazi reprisals wiped out complete Czechoslovak towns and eventually also wiped out Gabčík and Kubiš.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book was an interesting look into one of the more important resistance moments in Czechoslovakia during World War II. I was a little surprised by the book because I thought it would be a regular book with a lot of text, but it was actually a coffee table book (I read a PDF version of the book available on the Czech Ministry of Defense’s web site) that essentially re-created what seemed to be a museum exhibition about the assassination. The book was full of pictures of artifacts and didn’t have all that much text. Still, it was easy to follow what was going on and there was lots of information. Even though Heydrich was a very important Nazi, I didn’t know a whole lot about this event, and thought this book was informative and explained the run-up and planning, the operation itself, and the sad aftermath well.</div><div> <table>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-79891148850013506232022-12-24T14:17:00.003+01:002022-12-24T14:17:46.795+01:00The Complete Far SideWhen I was a kid, newspaper comics were a highlight of the day. It was even better on Sunday, when the comics got their own section and were printed in color, and most got more space than they were usually allocated. I read most of the comics. I skipped over the soap opera-like ones like <i>Rex Morgan, M.D.</i>, and thought depressing ones that seemed to focus more on the thought processes of adults (or even worse, chronically depressed female adults, such as <i>Cathy</i>) were just wasting space. Most of them had their moments, but three, <i>Calvin and Hobbes</i>, the <i>Far Side</i>, and <i>Fox Trot</i>, were consistently funny. <i>Calvin and Hobbes</i> will forever be the king of comics thanks to its amazing story lines, strong writing that was both hilarious and a source of psychologically and emotionally rich stories, and brilliant artwork, but the <i>Far Side</i> consistently delivered a unique, quirky brand of humor where cows and dinosaurs were thrown into everyday situations that masterfully blended everyday life with the absurd.<div><i><br /></i></div><div><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2f/12/7d/2f127df4f2a764f9d394f117cf4058a8.jpg" /><i>The Complete Far Side</i> by Gary Larson (ISBN: 978-1-4494-6004-4) contains every single panel from the comic, which ran from 1979 to 1995. It is not really a book, but three books in a set. The comics are presented more or less in chronological order, so the reader can see how Larson’s style evolved during the early years. There is really not a whole lot to include in an overview of a collection of comics, and that is the case here. There is an eclectic collection of dinosaurs, cows (especially cows), squid, doctors, scientists, space aliens, chickens, dogs, and mailmen, among others. The jokes range from rather macabre stuff to funny plays on words or a surrealist or absurdist take on a famous saying or proverb. Every so often, there are pop culture references that are sometimes hard to get (at least for someone like myself who has never been big on pop culture and always has to look names and titles up when crossword puzzles reference these in clues). The drawing style is unique with the always obese-looking characters and simply drawn animals, scenery, and other settings, but it’s a classic, and having every panel in one place is nice.</div><div><br /></div><div>As expected, the set was amazing. I have two complaints about it, though. First, unlike the complete <i>Calvin and Hobbes</i> collection, the <i>Far Side</i> collection does not seem to include cover artwork from the various compilations released, so I wouldn’t really call it the “complete” collection. Second, the layout was not very well done. There was a ton of whitespace on each page, and it seemed to be that the cartoons were printed too small. Other than those things, it’s an amazing read that one cannot do while others are trying to sleep or while in public: it results in way too many laugh-out-loud moments. It’s kind of an expensive collection, even when bought as paperback instead of hardcover, it was well worth it for the laughs and nostalgia every time one opens it, even if only for a page or two of reading.</div><div> <table>
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</td></tr></tbody></table></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-81123182904716346562022-12-23T12:19:00.001+01:002022-12-23T12:19:59.248+01:00The Czech Black BookI first heard about Czechoslovakia as a kid because it was part of the Eastern Bloc, countries allied with (in some cases, maybe better described as under the control of) the Soviet Union. I cheered against the Czechs anytime they were in an international sports competition along with the U.S. like the Olympics. Later, a great uncle and aunt of mine served a mission in the post-Soviet Czech Republic, but I didn’t know my grandma’s extended family well, and that was really just a footnote in my life. When I married a Czech, I figured that, out of courtesy, if nothing else, I should learn a little more about the country. It’s proven more interesting than just that cursory look. One place I started learning about the history of the Czech Republic was with the Prague Spring.<div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/DMMAAOSwJ4hY8kf3/s-l400.jpg" /><i>The Czech Black Book</i>, edited by Robert Littell, is a collection of original source documents from the first week of the invasion. There are press releases, official announcements, and news stories that were curated in response to Russian propaganda that claimed Russia and other Warsaw Pact countries came to Czechoslovakia to help and at the request of the Czechoslovaks (the Russians called their collection the <i>White Book</i>, hence the Czech one being black). The documents from the Czechs show a much different picture. The news reports feature interviews of high-level Czechoslovaks as well as from men on the street, and the feeling is that they simply wanted to be left alone and chart their own course through history unhindered by the Russians, whom they had previously considered friends. There was often a feeling expressed that the invasion had done unrepairable damage to that relationship. The government press releases and communiqués showed a government united around the reformers in the Czechoslovak Communist Party and a total disdain for the few leaders who preferred the Russian socialist path. The Czechoslovak leaders weren’t ready to throw communism or socialism away (it reminded me of Gorbachev a little), but they certainly wanted to be able to choose their own way, and the Russians weren’t ready for their satellites to have that level of independence. Trade unions, clubs, and other organizations also called on the citizens of Czechoslovakia to resist the invaders, although not violently, but by the interesting peaceful means of ignoring them. They were to refuse to help the Russians whenever possible, to continue their everyday lives as if nothing was happening around them since strikes and other resistance would simply give the Russians the excuse they needed to escalate the action. Even when a few Czechoslovak citizens lost their lives, were arrested, or otherwise assaulted, the general population kept its cool, and the Czechoslovak leaders attributed the end of the invasion, in large part, to this reaction (or non-reaction, as the case may be) by the people. In the end, negotiations were carried out, and the invaders left, although not under the conditions that the Czechoslovaks would’ve desired.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book was interesting to read, but not at all the narrative that modern history books are. This was simply a collection of documents. It was dry in places. Overall, though, I thought that there was a story being told. The story was one of resistance and one of man’s yearning for freedom. The Czechoslovaks had tried to break away in a slight way from the Soviet version of Communism because they felt it would work better for their country. The Soviets rightly perceived that such a taste of freedom would only lead to Czechoslovakia moving further away from the Soviet sphere of influence. It was interesting to read of the Czechoslovak resistance and the relative united front presented by the people and government. At the end of the book, it was sad to see that despite this united front for freedom, the desire for liberty was crushed by the Soviets, and what the leaders and people had fought for did not come to fruition for another twenty years. It was also a warning to us because it shows what not having freedom is like and what not letting an individual country chart its own path is like. Signing away sovereignty is not something that leads to the best outcome.</div><div><br /><table>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-444544886932332152022-12-17T11:45:00.000+01:002022-12-17T11:45:13.700+01:00Русская Прага<div>I often think that my interest in many things Russian started with my time as a missionary there for the <a href="http://www.lds.org" target="_blank">Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</a>, but I sometimes think that the interest started earlier (or, to take a more Eastern approach, I was fated to be interested), when I chose to learn about Russia for a fifth-grade country report. My mission introduced me not only to Russia, but to a wider world (in part thanks to coming in contact with missionaries from Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Mongolia), and I learned that there was so much more to learn. Meeting my wife, who was from the Czech Republic, I was introduced to another fascinating people, culture, and country. Unsurprisingly, since both the Czech Republic and Russia are in Europe, there are commonalities and overlaps in their respective histories. Learning about some of those seemed like an interesting thing to do.</div><div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://cdn1.ozone.ru/multimedia/wc1000/1001088578.jpg" /><i>Русская Прага</i> (<i>Russian Prague</i>, my translation) by Natalya Ivanovna Komandorova (ISBN: 978-5-9533-3746-5) presents an overview of some of the common history between Russia and the Czech Republic. It starts in tsarist times and ends with a small section about post-Communist interaction between the two countries. The medieval links between the two countries were focused largely on trade with a little religion thrown in, typical for a time when church and state were intimately intertwined. The many interfamilial marriages and constantly changing alliances during the 1700s and 1800s resulted in some interaction between the two nations, and academic and intellectual interests were added to the subjects of correspondence. These reasons for a Russian presence in what was then Czechoslovakia exploded in the early 1900s as Russia experienced what is nowadays referred to as brain drain when the Bolsheviks came to power. Czechoslovakia, and Prague in particular, proved to be a welcoming place for Russian academics, politicians, and intellectuals who wanted to escape persecution and restrictions on their freedoms in Soviet Russia. There were links between the two countries in the post-World War II era, too, but they tended to be less positive. The Soviets worked to keep tabs on and even control the Russian diaspora. Russian-Czechoslovak relations took a hit they would never really recover from when the Soviets invaded in 1968. Modern relations between the two countries have returned to the medieval focus on trade with a significant level of distrust toward the Russians on the part of many Czechs.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book, written in Russian, was not really what I expected, and disappointing for a couple different reasons. The biggest fault I had with the book was its focus on pre-Soviet history. I thought a chapter or two would have sufficed. Instead, there were only a couple chapters that discussed ties between the two countries during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras. The post-Soviet era really only got a few pages. For a book that was published in 2009, there should’ve been a lot more on this timeframe (20 years!). I also found the section on the imperial times to be rather boring since it just seemed like short biographical sketches of various Russians that were either expatriates in or frequent travelers to the Czech lands. Finally, the book was presented from a fully Russian viewpoint. That isn’t necessarily a surprise given that the author is Russian, but a more nuanced approach would’ve served the book well. The last section, which told of the author’s travel to Czechoslovakia as a university student, was particularly disappointing. She seemed to discount the experiences of the one Czech in their group who was willing to say aloud what many of his countrymen thought about Russia post-1968. It also seemed that the result, according to the author, of the interaction between the two countries was a benefit for the Czechs, while there was almost no discussion at any time of what the Russians gained from the two countries’ relations (other than that those who went to Czechoslovakia to avoid the Soviets were benefitted). It was interesting to learn more about the ambassadors and emissaries pushing national interests in the medieval times and to see how much of a friend to liberty the pre-World War II Czechoslovak country was, but, overall, the book was relatively dry.<br />
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-5901145103137339752022-10-02T22:42:00.001+02:002022-10-02T22:42:43.424+02:00Gangs of RussiaThe 1990s are known as wild times in post-Communist Russia. I was lucky enough to be a missionary in Russia at the end of the 1990s (starting in 1999). I missed some of the craziest times, including a financial crash in 1998 that decimated the meager finances of most every-day Russians, but still got to experience some of the hallmarks of the wild 1990s. The preferred clothes of the Russian street gang member, track suit pants, a leather jacket, and a black knit hat, were still very ubiquitous, especially in the markets, where the low-level racketeering probably made many of the bootleg CD sales that young people enjoyed possible. Missionaries sometimes had run-ins with street thugs, although it’s hard to say if they were part of organized groups or not. Some missionaries who served in Pskov before I did told of having their apartment besieged by a group of young Russian thugs, and one of the missionaries hung a couple sheets tied into an impromptu rope ladder off the balcony and shimmied down in order to get down on the street and warn the sister missionaries from going to the apartment, where a missionary meeting was scheduled. Later, in the same city, a missionary companion and I had a run-in with thugs who beat us up in our own apartment building’s elevator, taking the small bit of money we had on us as their prize. Such stories were common in 1990s Russia.<div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://cornellpress-us.imgix.net/covers/9781501700248.jpg?auto=format&w=298" width="250" /><div><i>Gangs of Russia: From the Streets to the Corridors of Power</i> by Svetlana Stephenson (ISBN: 978-1-5017-0024-8) delves into street gangs in the post-Soviet Russia. Published in 2015, it relies on data gathered mostly during the first decade of the 2000s, but also talks about the 1990s. The books focuses on traditional Russian street gangs, and doesn’t worry much about independent criminals or the famed <a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-vory.html">thieves in law</a> (<i>vory v zakone</i>). The street gangs, the author reports, are like the thieves in law in that their roots go back to pre-revolutionary Russia, where the social fabric of the village commoners was often knit in part by groups of young men who spent their free time roaming the village streets, often picking fights with neighboring villages. Much like soccer hooligans, these fights weren’t always territorial in nature, but sometimes just as an outlet for steam and the kind of dangerous, on-the-edge entertainment that young men often look for. Soviet urbanization quashed much of this behavior, but glorification of anti-Soviet criminals in the 1970s and 1980s led to a comeback. Once the Soveit Union fell, there were plenty of opportunities for street gangs to make money, not just fight each other, and they rapidly moved into sectors where the state was often unable to provide security or other services that government is usually expected to provide. Markets, kiosks, street parking, prostitution, and extortion were prime territory for street gangs. As these opportunities proved lucrative, the fights returned, but now for territory and power. A few of these new criminals moved up the chain and became career criminals, commanding the guys on the streets below them, which were the types we missionaries ran into. As the 1990s have faded into the past, street gangs have had to adapt to the state becoming more powerful and things like private security firms (usually started by former gang leaders) edging into the gangs’ territories. Traditions have also changed or are threatened by the ever-increasing drug trade. Finally, a major thesis in the book is that Russian street gang members, unlike those in some other places, are able to combine the street life with regular life, including college, careers, and families. Russia has a unique culture that allows for one pursuing both angles in life as needed, which has, in a few ways, allowed for the preservation of the street gang. There was a passing of an era described, though, since the gang wars of the 1990s are done and upward mobility in gangs largely a thing of the past, so the future of Russia street gangs is one of waning and increased reliance on the drug trade, something they have traditionally eschewed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Given my personal experience with this, I found it interesting to read about. If it wasn’t for my fascination with Russia, though, I think I would’ve found this a little too dry, even if the underworld and crime were a topic of one’s interest. The book tried to draw on both statistics for Russia as a whole and some more concentrated studies in Kazan and Moscow (especially Kazan), and I thought that the Kazan focus was overwhelming. I think it could’ve left out some aspects of the organized crime situation in Russia because of Kazan’s large non-ethnic Russian population and proximity to Daghestan, where the crime situation and corruption are an entire level up from a lot of the rest of Russia. Some of the personal stories the author gathered in discussions with criminals were interesting, and I liked learning about the ability of many street gang members to live what most would call a double life, but that seemed entirely normal to them, involved in low-level crime with their friends from the street, but going to college, getting married, even holding down jobs at the same time.</div><div><br /><table>
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</div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-35752185215778993442022-07-10T18:34:00.001+02:002022-07-10T18:34:15.501+02:00Iron CurtainMy whole life, Eastern Europe has been of interest to me. The Soviet Union and the countries of what was called the “Eastern bloc” were the enemies of America when I was a kid. After the fall of the Soviet Union, I got to watch those formerly oppressed peoples give democracy a try. Thanks to serving a mission in Russia and marrying a Czech woman, the interest in Eastern Europe has never really disappeared. Considering the state of Russia’s government today, not to mention the regressions made in Western societies toward authoritarianism, it seems the subject of oppressive regimes is still very germane to modern life. One thing that was always pretty clear to me, even as a kid, when I imagined people across the Soviet Union being told what their jobs were being something along the lines of graduating from high school and instead of getting a diploma, you got directed to your job, the worst one in my mind was someone whose job it was to endlessly go around an office building emptying the trash cans under everyone’s desks, was that, in most cases, it was those in power who were at fault for the lack of liberty, and not the everyday people.<div><br /></div><div><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://media.npr.org/assets/bakertaylor/covers/manually-added/iron-curtain_custom-affcef192ea813404f82260a5a347f3eef12eb26-s6-c30.jpg" width="267" /><i>Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956</i> by Anne Applebaum (ISBN: 978-1-4000-9593-3) discusses just how Communist regimes came to power in Europe following World War II. The book chronicles how the Communists came to power in Eastern Europe, focusing on Hungary, Poland, and East Germany, with a fair number of examples from Czechoslovakia and occasionally Romania. The Communists rose to power quickly in post-war Europe through a comprehensive strategy that thoroughly encompassed the lives of the people. This included the police, youth organizations, the media, political organizations, the arts, and the economies of the countries where the Soviet Union was victorious over Germany. In many cases, a combination of factors worked together to make the Communist takeover work. First, it was the Soviet Union that was in control in these areas. Even in places where there was arguable Allied control, it was the Soviets doing the day-to-day administration, so they worked to install people and organizations that were compatible with their ideas of how things should work. Second, there had already been strong support for Communist, socialist, and other Left-leaning ideologies before and during the war. This only continued after the war. Third, the activists were the ones most involved. They were also the ones who were willing to use violence to reach their goals. While most regular people were concerned about getting a job, rebuilding their homes and businesses, and helping their friends and families, activists were getting involved in politics, unions, youth and religious organizations, and the media. This helped them make sure that things were done they way they wanted. In the rare cases when there was some push-back, the activists, often with help from the police or the newly formed secret police organizations, violently quashed any dissent. Applebaum does discuss resistance a little, but this is a short section, which seems to accurately represent the proportions of active and passive support or acquiescence to the regime and resistance.</div><div><br /></div><div>I thought the book was interesting, but not quite as impressive as <i><a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2011/08/gulag-history.html">Gulag: A History</a></i>, Applebaum’s impressive earlier work. I thought the book was comprehensive, and it was nice to read about the many different areas in which the Communists operated in order to come to power. One area I thought it might have been nice to explore further was how such a small number of people could so quickly overtake these countries. Of the three abovementioned factors, the author focused on the third, the activists and Communist party members, but I was often left pondering how such a small fraction of the total populations got so much power so quickly. On the other hand, that factor is probably the most relevant to today’s political climate, especially in the West. The book should serve as a warning to those who fall to the right of socialists on the political spectrum. If they are too slow to step up their involvement and are too willing to be cowed by the Left’s willingness to resort to violence, it won’t be too long before books about “the crushing of Western Europe” or “the crushing of North America” will be possible to publish.</div><div><br /><table>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-8329240371460380002022-04-28T23:39:00.002+02:002022-04-28T23:39:17.873+02:00Red Scarf GirlAdmittedly, I don’t know a lot about China. It has certainly become much more important in the later half of my lifetime than it was in the first half. I have always wanted to visit China, especially to see the famous Great Wall, which has captivated me since I first heard about it as a little kid. Seeing some of the major sights would also be cool. Such a trip once almost happened, but real life ended up getting in the way, and I’ve had to file that away in the “Some Day” folder. I have also always known China as a Communist country even though it was Russia and Eastern Europe that seemed to grab all the Communist headlines during the first part of my life. Tiananmen Square is something I remember quite well since it was broadcast into our living room, like it was for millions around the world. China’s recent economic ascendancy has, unfortunately, been accompanied by continued restrictions on liberty that came with the introduction of Communism in that vast country.<div><br /><img align="right" src="https://i.harperapps.com/covers/9780064462082/y648.jpg" width="250" /><i>Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution</i> by Ji-li Jiang (ISBN: 978-0-06-446208-2) details one of the worst parts of China’s Communist history, the Cultural Revolution. The book, a memoir, is told from the viewpoint of the author as the events unfolded. Her family history included a well-to-do grandfather, a Muslim grandmother, and a father who had joined the Communist Party in its infancy when it was still illegal and then had a falling out with its leaders. This put her at a disadvantage when Mao began the Cultural Revolution to retain his power (power struggles seem to be a fixture of Communist regimes) since her family was not considered “red” enough. Ji-li was a true believer in Mao and the Revolution at the beginning of the book, but as things went along and friends and neighbors were denounced, goals and dreams shattered, lives ruined (or lost), and her own family affected, she came to understand that devotion to a cause or a leader should not trump one’s devotion to the truth and to one’s family. Like many Chinese, she was later disappointed when she found out that the Cultural Revolution and all the damage it had done was not really to advance Communism, but to allow Chairman Mao to hang on to power. Ji-li paints a descriptive picture of what life was like before the chaos, and it actually didn’t seem too bad. When the Cultural Revolution starts, though, things change quickly and they change drastically, as all things old are thrown out. Kids can no longer read comics, neighbors stop talking to each other and some look for ways to harm neighbors and former friends. School is changed, favoring class status instead of merit. Houses are ransacked, people imprisoned, beat, sometimes killed. Hope is lost for many. Some, like Ji-li’s father, resist heroically, never admitting to the accusations leveled falsely against him. Life eventually settles down, but it’s never the same again, and even to a young girl, it’s obvious that there were freedoms and opportunities lost.</div><div><br /></div><div>I found the book to be quite interesting and informative even though it is written as juvenile literature. For those who know more about the history of China, the experience might not be the same. I found it interesting to see so many similarities between other authoritarian regimes (I couldn’t help but remember the Taliban blowing up ancient statues in Afghanistan as I read about Chinese Red Guards destroying anything they felt like labeled “Four Olds”) and Leftist ideologies (anti-religious views and class and racial tension, for example). It was sometimes a little jarring to read simply because the author narrated from her point of the view as the events unfolded. This meant there is a lot of pro-Communist, even pro-Cultural Revolution sentiment expressed. As noted, this wanes as the story progresses, but it sometimes makes one have to stop and think as one reads. I see having to think things through and a need for analysis and evaluation as a good thing, though. Here, the analysis of the author’s experiences leads to a greater appreciation for freedom and liberty, as well as, hopefully, a greater commitment to protect those values and to be kind to those around us.</div><div> <table>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-35805389709439552682022-04-27T20:48:00.003+02:002022-04-27T20:48:59.517+02:00Red-handedCorruption has been around as long as politics have been around, which seems to be pretty much since the beginning since the Old Testament is full of politics, often of the lying, sneaking, and back-stabbing variety. As a missionary in Russia and then in a couple classes in college, though, was when I was introduced to corruption. It didn’t seem to play a large role in the American politics that I knew from the 1980s and 1990s. Russians, though, constantly complained about corruption, and textbooks and articles in college expanded my understanding of the scope of corruption all around the world. Sadly, as time has gone on, corruption has continued to expand and not retract like most hope it would.<div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://novelsreader.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/red-handed-how-american-elites-get-rich-helping-china-win.png?w=300" width="250" /><i>Red-handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win</i> by Peter Schweizer (ISBN: 978-0-06-306114-9) chronicles corruption among American elites as it pertains to China. The book shows how many facets of American society are compromised because of their deep, corrupt financial ties to China. Both major political parties (already for decades) have been selling out to China along with big business, the green lobby, the American entertainment industry, and even America’s sports leagues. While the Clintons and the Bidens headline the political corruption, the Bushes and Mitch McConnell are also exposed. Politicians and diplomats consistently use their time in office to make connections with high-ranking Chinese, then cash in on public service, brokering Chinese access to American halls of power. Some, like the Clintons, Bidens, and McConnells, don’t even bother waiting until they’re out of office. The worst part about it from an American security standpoint is that many of the deals involve dual-use technologies, defense industry, and hi-tech products that, when protected, protect America’s edge and advantage in the world. The NBA has sold out to China for the billions of dollars it can make there. In turn, players, coaches, executives, and even fans are prevented from expressing certain views. The same holds true for Hollywood, where anti-American messages are <i>de jour</i>, but the studios must walk on eggshells when it comes to China, Taiwan, and Tibet. A short section at the end talks about what can be done and passes out a little praise to the few to whom it is due. Ultimately, American political discourse is constrained, and American national interests are subjugated to a country that does not, according to the statements of its own leaders, believe in a positive-sum game, but a zero-sum game, and it’s willing to do what it takes to be the one on top.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book was very interesting and worth one’s time. Schweizer is a long-time crusader against corruption in government and has written a number of tomes on the subject, including <i><a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2020/09/clinton-cash.html">Clinton Cash</a></i>. Schweizer is not political in his writing or research: all sides are fair game, and this was particularly evident in this book. I also appreciated the look beyond politics and into the culture and business worlds, which play a major role in American life and in American politics. Politics in America would not be what they are if it wasn’t for the way those on top in the cultural and business worlds acted. The book is well researched (the scores of pages of endnotes point to this), although all the names and figures can seem a little convoluted at times. If one reads for the overarching points, this does not inhibit the reading experience. The facts and figures are there for those who want the minutiae, though. The other strong point of the book was that it explained what some of the risks are from this corruption, which helps us understand the immediacy of the concern. The prescriptions at the end seemed realistic, although maybe too little, too late.</div><div>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-58628997223312418772021-12-18T22:49:00.005+01:002021-12-18T22:49:52.709+01:00Seven Miracles That Saved America<div>Although the 1980s brought about the fall of the Soviet Union and its empire in Eastern Europe, as well as the decline of many of its proxies elsewhere in the world), that was not until the tail end of that wild decade. The first nine years had a world very clearly defined by the West, led by the United States of America, and the Communists, led by the Soviet Union. America’s special role in the world was well understood by almost everyone in the world. Later, this came to be called “American exceptionalism,” but at the time, it was simply known as “America.” This America was built on a firm foundation of inspired men from Columbus to the great president of the 1980s, Ronald Reagan. In between, there were the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, and the Greatest Generation.</div>
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<img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781606417188_p0_v1_s1200x630.jpg" width="275" /><i>Seven Miracles That Saved America: Why They Matter and Why We Should Have Hope</i> (ISBN: 978-1-60641-144-5) by Chris and Ted Stewart explores singular events and unique people in American history that, had things unfolded even slightly differently, could have resulted in a vastly different America. All of these events and people hinge on such a fine line that it is easy to see that they were influenced by God. The miracles that the authors review in detail are the following: Columbus and Columbus’s discoveries, Jamestown, a summer fog during the Revolutionary War, the advent of the American Constitution, Abraham Lincoln and the battle of Gettysburg, the battle of Midway, and Ronald Reagan and how the assassination attempt against him failed by less than one inch (just a little bit more and the bullet kills him). Each one of the miracles is reviewed in detail by the authors and the scene is set through some historical fiction. At the end of each section, the authors ask some questions that invite the reader to think about what would have happened in each of these situations had things — and usually it’s quite an exhaustive list of things — turned out even slightly different. For example, with the foggy morning during the Revolutionary War that allowed American troops to withdraw and regroup without suffering losses, it really was a question of a few hours and things could have been vastly different. The same could be said about the battle of Midway. There, it really was more like minutes since one of the pilots flying and trying to locate Japanese fleet only had minutes before needing to return to base without running out of fuel. At the last possible minute, though, he spotted the Japanese ships, and that allowed the Americans to attack first, which proved critical in the battle, along with other decisions and rare direct hits during the bombing runs. The point being made is that there were just too many decisions at so many different points along the way that for those who recognize that God has a role in human existence, these events were miraculous and they resulted in an exceptional country that has long been a light on a hill.<br /><br /><div>The book was an interesting read and presented some things that I was either not very familiar with or, in the case of the foggy day during the Revolutionary War, had not heard of at all. I liked the detailed reviews of the events and people, which helped make the case that the events really were miraculous. I think the case was presented effectively. I found the concluding chapter, where the authors proposed that God’s intervention in the past likely meant God would intervene in the future to also be sound analysis, especially as it was paired with God’s discussion with Abraham about preserving the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorra as long as even a few righteous remained there. What I found to be less interesting was the historical fiction (not one of my favorite genres to begin with, admittedly) that was used as a scene setter. It seemed to me that it was there simply to make this more of a book-length affair, and I think it would have been possible to find solid, historical material to fill in a lot of the space taken by the fictionalized accounts. A shorter book would have also been acceptable as I believe the points were adequately made. In any case, it was a great reminder of America’s exceptionalism and of our individual responsibilities to help keep it that way by being part of the righteous that God is willing to preserve.</div><div>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-7601105826322501392021-08-08T16:09:00.005+02:002023-06-18T19:05:39.788+02:00Saints: No Unhallowed Hand<div>Salt Lake City, Utah, is home to an interesting state park that is currently called This Is the Place Heritage Park. I remember it as This Is the Place State Park. It is home to a grand monument to Brigham Young, the Mormon pioneers, and other explorers of the early American West. The rest of the park is a number of reconstructed early pioneer homes, outbuildings, and buildings such as a blacksmith’s shop, a general store, and other buildings typical of frontier towns. As a kid, the thing that attracted me most to the park was that they sold candy in the general store, there were farm animals to see, and there were a few things that kids could do, such as give combing wool a try (it was much more difficult than it looked). I had little appreciation for the pioneers that the park and monument were originally meant to honor (“originally” is a key word because now it’s billed as a “living history museum” and they’ve even added that old, traditional pioneer facility, the splash pad).</div><div><br /><img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://d2jc79253juilm.cloudfront.net/product-images/000/737/891/detail/saints-volume-2.png" width="250" /><i>Saints: No Unhallowed Hand</i> (ISBN: 978-1-62972-648-9) is the second volume of a multi-volume history published by the Church itself. This volume follows the Church’s exodus from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley. It tells the story of the wagon trains and hand cart companies that forged the Mormon Trail. The Church was forging into new territory as well, as Brigham Young became the second president of the Church and the second prophet of this era. In addition to trekking across the North American plains, the Church was expanding internationally, with missionaries taking the message of the restored gospel to Europe, South Africa, and the islands of the Pacific. Missionary work didn’t always go so well, and there were plenty of other locations, like Southeast Asia, where missions resulted in extremely few converts. The book also chronicles the early Church’s struggles with the American government. After the lack of concern the federal government showed the Church when Missouri’s official position was persecution, most Church members were wary of the U.S. government. Brigham Young and his successors were wary, but also saw the wisdom of working toward a reconciled position. This led to things like the Mormon Battalion and helped influence Church members’ thinking as some later struggled to accept the end of polygamy. A major theme in the book was the construction of temples. They required great sacrifice, but also resulted in great blessings. </div>
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<div>The book is written in the same way as <a href="https://johnpruess.blogspot.com/2019/10/saints-standard-of-truth.html">the first volume in the series</a>, so there were no surprises this time with formatting, style, or anything like that. I probably enjoyed reading this volume a little more than the first one because I am less familiar with the early missionary efforts and the stories of Church members across Europe and the Pacific. I thought most of the stories were good: interesting and something one can learn from. The book dealt in depth with polygamy, which was never something I struggled with, but I know it’s a question that many, both inside and outside the Church have. The book touched on the Mountain Meadow massacre in a way that I thought presented a good level of detail and the level to which Church members were involved. The stories of faith and sacrifice were what made the book a worthwhile read, though, teaching of their importance and the attendant blessings they bring to our lives.</div><div><br /><table>
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</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07977361039656541740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782541.post-51465627507690653352021-08-07T13:37:00.000+02:002021-08-07T13:37:04.721+02:00Escape and Sophie Scholl<div>I have visited concentration camps in Germany a couple times. Each time, it has seemed incomprehensible that such atrocities were actually carried out. As I have witnessed extremist ideologies gain greater acceptance throughout my lifetime, I have come to appreciate the lessons taught by the preserved concentration camps even more. They are memorials to what happens when we put aside basic individual rights and liberties. They serve as a stark warning about what happens when societies continue down the slippery slope of denying rights to others in the name of a greater good. When I first visited the concentration camps, I did not have children, but by the time of my second visit, I did. That made the lessons of the past a little more emotional since the National Socialists in Germany did not spare children from the horrors of the camps.</div><div><br /></div>
<img align="right" alt="Book cover." src="https://archive.org/services/img/escapechildrenof0000zull/full/pct:200/0/default.jpg" width="250" /><i>Escape: Children of the Holocaust</i> by Allan Zullo (ISBN: 978-0-545-09929-5) and <i>Sophie Scholl: Die Weiße Rose</i> by Achim Seiffarth (ISBN: 978-3-12-556024-6) are books written for young people (junior high kids seemed to be the target audience), but present some of the stories of Nazi Germany that are good for readers of any age to know. Zullo’s book told the story of about a dozen Jewish children and their survival of the Holocaust. The stories were varied and all captivating. They usually started with the pre-war life of the kids or, at least, their life under Hitler when it still wasn’t too crazy. This allowed for the reader to see how quickly things went downhill. Inevitably, before long, families were separated, people were in ghettos or concentration camps, and life would never be the same again as kids were forced to grow up quickly and learned that the adult world wasn’t all it was cracked up to be since it induced a lot of pain, suffering, and cruelty. The kids in Zullo’s book all displayed incredible levels of resiliency, though, scraping by and taking advantage of what was few chances and opportunities were given them, such as a truck taking workers to another camp with a sympathetic guard who was known to let one or two people at a time make a run for it. The stories, which are of those who survived, do not glass over the fact that the survivors of the ghettos and camps were in the vast minority, and it is sobering to read of all the friends and family these survivors lost. Seiffarth’s book is written for learners of German, but although relatively simply written, still does a great job presenting a fascinating story. Sophie Scholl was a young woman who went from teenager to college student during the Nazi rise to power. Originally a believer in what Hitler was doing, as she came closer to adulthood, she saw the errors intrinsic to nationalist socialism. Following the lead of her older brother, an activist in the underground resistance, her religious father, who could not abide the unfair treatment of Jews and others oppressed by the regime, and a college professor who encouraged free thinking and debate even when it was unpopular, Sophie joined the resistance, helping to distribute anti-Nazi flyers. Her efforts helped present what was an unpopular opinion to the masses, especially as she helped found resistance cells among young people in cities outside her hometown. Eventually, the Nazi regime caught up to her, her brother, others in their circle, including their professor, and they were executed.<div><br /></div>
<div><img align="left" alt="Book cover." src="https://products-images.di-static.com/image/achim-seiffarth-sophie-scholl/9783125560246-475x500-1.jpg" width="250" />As stated above, while both books are juvenile literature, they are quality works. I enjoyed trying to stretch my knowledge of German, the native language of my grandparents and other ancestors who have a story or two of their own involving the Nazi authorities. The stories in <i>Escape</i> easily kept my attention, told interesting details, and were from a variety of people, such as those from Germany proper as well as from occupied territories. This variety gave more flavor and a nice, broad overview of what are certainly not isolated incidents. I thought <i>Sophie Scholl</i> was also a nice overview that provided sufficient detail to be informative and yet not get bogged down. I had seen a movie on her a few years ago, but this book gave me some new information and was, I thought, better (I always think that about books relative to movies, though). Both of these books present an interesting and accurate picture of what life was like under the Nazis — for Jews in the first and for conscientious Germans in the other. They remind us what we should be fighting to avoid, even if it’s only a step or two in that direction, and the kind of people we should be striving to be, even if that striving leads to unpopular positions, ostracization, and, possibly, the ultimate sacrifice. Liberty — for ourselves and for others — is worth those things.</div>
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