BOOK REVIEW: The Luxury Of Hindsight

(Originally Published 2012, Paperback Edition 327 pages)

The description 'Hitlerland' was first used by an International News Service reporter named Pierre Huss in 1935. It's an apt title for Mr. Nagorski's book. With some exceptions, it's very difficult to gauge the significance of historical events while actually living through them. Before Head-case Hitler's name became synonymous with evil, there were a wide variety of assumptions about him by not only Americans but the entire world. In the early 1920s, many thought Hitler was a political flash in the pan. Mr. Nagorski does an excellent job of showing the rise of the Nazis through the eyes of mostly American reporters and diplomats. The book lightly touches on some of the atrocities done in the Nazi's pursuit of power, but keeps its primary focus on American's impressions.

Areas that are highlighted between the early 1920s until Hitler declares war against the U.S. in 1941 are the infamous Beer Hall Putsch, Germany's forays into sexual liberation including open homosexuality, the abject poverty, the irrational discrimination against Jews, the "Night of Long Knives," the Nazi-Soviet Pact, the evolution of citizens towards embracing totalitarianism, and the wishful thinking by many isolationist Americans that Germany was not hellbent on eventually going to war. The one quirky aspect of the book is the author's focus on a few odd characters such as blowhard Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstaengl (there's a mouthful to pronounce,) and a randy, self-absorbed, American airhead named Martha Dodd. They added some color to Mr. Nagorski's work, but not much else.

Mr. Nagorski's book is an important addition to Nazi history, but it is nowhere near a thorough accounting of pre-War-World-II history or Hitler's life. It was not the author's intent. He's done an excellent job of showing the difficulty of assessing where history is heading while you're living through it. There are oodles of wonderful historical works that focus on other aspects of Nazi Germany. Naturally, William Shirer's tome 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' is on that list. I'd also highly recommend the two-volume works 'Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris" and "Hitler: 1936-1945 Nemesis" by Ian Kershaw as well as 'Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Persecution 1933-1939' and 'Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Extermination 1939-1945' by Saul Friedlander. Thankfully, Mr. Nagorski's 'Hitlerland' will not leave your stomach in knots over the Nazi's inhumane actions such as is described in Mr. Friedlander's works. However, Mr. Nagorski's book is an interesting valuable addition to an era when the world went collectively insane.

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #367)

BOOK REVIEW: Nature, Nurture, Normal, Nuts?

(Originally Published 2012, Paperback Edition 263 pages)

Despite the deceptive subtitle of the book, Ms. Koslow clearly states in her introduction that her work is not a how-to-book but more of a snapshot of today's twenty-to-thirty-year-old adults. The stories are anecdotal in an effort to highlight what the author has seen while interviewing people as well as her research into current social trends. The book is part memoir and part field study. One of her sons invented the word 'adultescent' to describe his generations mindset. I prefer the British's snappier designation 'kidults.' Ms. Koslow also shows that delayed maturity is a worldwide phenomenon.

Speaking as a 53-year-old male who has been happily married for thirty years and has two teenage sons, I view the younger generation as mimicking us Baby Boomers in resisting many aspects of adulthood. It shouldn't be surprising that Baby Boomers' resistance and insecurities to the natural aspects of aging are also delaying younger generations from maturing. It can't be all laid on our generations doorstep, but we own some of this younger generations' social phenomenon. They are simply continuing the post-World-War-II paradigm of not being willing to distinguish the difference between want and need. The author also shows that such events as a terrible job market, 9/11 and the ever-rising, astronomical costs of post-secondary education are some of the major contributing factors.

What Ms. Koslow does well is to lay out her case in an appealing, none-preachy but slightly-sarcastic manner. The book had me laughing, musing, and sometimes scared out of my friggin' gourd. It is a story about middle and upper-middle class families. The poor are ignored. All generations view other generations with an element of hubris and disdain. Ms. Koslow shows there are no magic formulas and even the best of intentions can go awry.

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #366)

BOOK REVIEW: Buffoonish Brits

(Published 1981, Paperback Edition 557 pages)

Back in the early twentieth century, Mr. Wodehouse's works were not considered "serious" literature. The three works compiled in "Life With Jeeves" are certainly not high-minded material. "The Inimitable Jeeves" (1923), "Very Good, Jeeves" (1930), and "Right Ho, Jeeves" (1933) are very heavy-handed satires. In real life, people aren't consistently this clueless. There's nothing wrong with this type of literature and it says something that almost a hundred years later, P.G. Wodehouse is still going strong while other notable writers from back then have gone the way of the Dodo.

The narrator and main protagonist of the stories is a not very bright, spineless, rich, late-20-year-old named Bertram "Bertie" Wooster. Though the works have the butler's name in it, the stories revolve around Bertie's dilemmas. His chestnuts are continually pulled out of the fire by the reliable Jeeves. The stories involve mundane things such as gambling, romance, social status and oodles of miscommunication.

The works are highly amusing and set at a leisurely pace compared to much of today's entertainment. However, the frequent use of British slang and 1920s phrases had me often grabbing my dictionary. Words such as chemmy, blighters, bally, chokey, and rummy are not words you hear or read on this side of the pond. There are a handful of colorful characters who inhabit these stories: Bertie's dictatorial Aunt Agatha, the pugnacious Aunt Dahlia, fickle Bingo Small, impish college cousins Claude & Eustace, man-child Tuppy Glossop and others. They are ALL over-exaggerations of the human condition. The stories are a delightful throwback to a time when sex and profanity were handled with creative euphemisms if at all. The story "The Ordeal of Young Tuppy" just may be the funniest sports short story I've ever read. "Life With Jeeves" is my first taste of P.G. Wodehouse's work, but it certainly won't be my last.

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #365)

BOOK REVIEW: Flying By The Seat Of His Otherworldly Pants

(Originally Published 2003, Mass Market Paperback 446)

Mr. Koontz has created a highly likable character in Odd Thomas. He is accurately described by his girlfriend, Stormy, as a combination of "brains and innocence. Wisdom and naivete. Sharp wit and genuine sweetness." The twenty-year-old is cursed with the ability of seeing and touching dead spirits. They can't speak, but do interact with Odd in various creative ways. The young man would have liked nothing better in the world than to not have this "gift." He takes measures to reduce his contact with the dead by simplifying his life as much possible. Odd lives in a medium-sized, southern California town named Pico Mundo. Only a few people know of his abilities. Odd is a short-order cook at a small eatery and is just fine and dandy with it being his world. However, the dead and mysterious entities he calls bodaches keep mucking up his self-contained world. Hence, Odd continually winds up making decisions based upon correcting injustices while trying to avoid leaving any clues to his involvement. The poor guy bumbles around and bases many of his decisions on gut feelings or suppositions. He has no special training in fighting, using  weapons or whatnot. In fact, Odd hasn't even a clue as to why he has this weird trait. It makes for an odd premise to a book, but the author pulls it off in grand style.

The story is written in the first-person narrative and takes place within a two-day period (August 14 & 15.) It is loaded with amusing wordplay, mystery, playful banter, suspense, and humor. Mr. Koontz also peppers his story with just the right amount of quirky characters. Heck, it's nearly impossible not to like a book where a dead Elvis even makes a few cameos.  "Odd Thomas" is not high-brow reading, but simply fun entertainment which kept me completely engaged throughout the story. A great summer, beach read.

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #364)

BOOK REVIEW: The Escape Artists

(Originally Published 2010, Paperback Edition 484 pages)

On page 388 in the paperback edition, the author writes, "Down to their innate molecular core, cancer cells are hyperactive, survival-endowed, scrappy, fecund, inventive copies of ourselves." No kidding, Sherlock. That seems to be putting it mildly. By this point in Dr. Mukherjee's excellent book, I had come to appreciate the near-infinite challenges of combating cancer. The author's motivation for writing "The Emperor of All Maladies" was an effort to answer many of the questions his patients have asked him about the disease. There is no simple way of describing it. The doctor felt a "biography" of cancer would give people a better understanding. Despite being a very busy, full-time oncologist, the guy pulled it off in this deservedly Pulitzer-Prize-Winning work. Many of the assumptions I had about cancer were incorrect. Dr. Mukherjee's combination of the disease's long history as well as interspersing it with a few personal stories made for a very interesting and humane work.

He covers such topics as leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, Pap smears, mammograms, carcinogens, mastectomies, chemotherapy, the Jimmy Fund, stem-cell research and end-of-life care. Sometimes, the scientists and doctors working on finding cures were their own worst enemies. Egos, politics, ethics, greed, and arrogance played (and still plays) a big part. Cigarette companies correctly come under some especially harsh treatment by the author. If you are interested in a more in-depth history of the odious tobacco industry, I suggest you read the superb "Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris" by Richard Kluger.

At its core, the book is a celebration of scientific discoveries as well as inventiveness and the many people who have spent their lives tackling cancer. At times, the author's book had me optimistic and, at other times, slitting my wrists seemed the way to go. Never far in the background is the knowledge that legions of innocent people are taking dirt naps because of cancer. "The Emperor of All Maladies" is very well written, highly informative, great history and I wished it had been around when some of my extended family members developed cancer. Do yourself and your family a favor and read the darned thing.

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #363)

BOOK REVIEW: Deer Politics

(Originally Published 2009, Paperback Edition 224 pages)

The book is less about the hidden life of deer and more about her rationalization for feeding the ones that live on her large track of undeveloped land. There are interesting very sporadic pieces of trivia about the elegant mammal, but also a great deal of conjecture by the author. Ms. Thomas comes across as a somewhat eccentric, "tree-hugging" wildlife enthusiast who supports hunting but also believes human arrogance does a great deal of harm to nature. She takes umbrage with the other works pertaining to deer as nothing more than how-to books on killing the suckers. I agree. "The Hidden Life of Deer" has its heart in the right place, but there is simply not a lot of meat between the covers of this thing.

The book is more a journal about one year of her observing deer near their home in New Hampshire and interspersed with personal stories about her previous encounters with turkeys, black bears, bobcats, mice, rats etc. Some of the sections about how much corn she fed them, which groups ate first and so forth almost put me into a coma. It wouldn't have hurt if the book had had some witty wordplay, but it's likely not her forte. What kept me reading was the fact that the author lives about a hundred miles from my town in Maine. I could relate to the environment she described. Clearly, the ole gal loves nature and is continually surprised by new discoveries she observes. We should be grateful that there are people like Ms. Thomas that view the world with such wonder and try to make readers look as well as respect the natural beauty around us. Sadly, "The Hidden Life of Deer" falls short in her objective.  

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #362)

BOOK REVIEW: The Upside Of Youthful Impatience

(Originally Published 1968, Mass Market Paperback 424 pages)

Ms. Moody's memoir covers from her birth in 1940 and up to 1964. Published in 1968, the young lady does a very commendable job of describing her life living in Mississippi during Jim Crow. Her story is penned in a straight-forward manner with no flowery prose. The author's style fits very well with the harshness of being black in a state that is one of the major armpits of our country when it comes to human rights. There are moments of levity, but mostly it has a tone of anger, angst and youthful self-righteousness. Despite Ms. Moody being extremely smart, athletic, beautiful, driven and strong-willed, the idiotic handicap of being black made her achievements even more impressive. Without question, she was the exception and not the rule for black advancement. African-Americans under Jim Crow had very little access to a good education, jobs, civil rights and lived in constant fear of whites.

The memoir is broken up into four major sections: her childhood, high school, college, and participation in the Civil Rights movement. Reading about her childhood helps to understand who and why she evolved into a Civil Rights stalwart. Every day this head strong young lady put her life on the line by simply trying to be viewed as an equal. She was one of the three people who famously sat at a Woolworth's whites-only lunch counter and were assaulted by yahoos from the shallow end of the gene pool.

Much like today's movement for equal rights for gays, it always the impatient youth who force change in our society. Older people who have built a life for themselves fear they will lose what they've attained if they publicly support such movements. The young adults, just starting out in life, have little to risk in material matters, but their passion for justice puts them in harms way. Ms. Moody's actions came at great personal cost for not just her but also her family who pleaded for her to stop, friends and basically all blacks. She was a woman of immense courage who shows that one person can make a difference. It is a gripping read about a woman's indomitable spirit to help correct an immoral system.

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #361)