Just Finished Reading: The Forever War – America's Unending Conflict With Itself by Nick Bryant (FP: 2024) [326pp] 

The one word that kept coming up time and again during Trump's first Presidency was "unprecedented". If I had a penny for every time I heard it mentioned, well, I'd have a LOT of pennies. To be honest the only other President that came to mind in comparison was Nixon but only in part – the 'enemies list' and the dodgy political manoeuvres - and I thought that American journalists presumably knew more about American political history than I did, so... unprecedented it was. Except that they were, according to the author (who is a BBC journalist) simply wrong. 

Since its mythologised Founding, America has had its fair share of racist Presidents, imperial Presidents and countless corrupt politicians of all shades and levels. It's also had its fair share of incompetence – including staggering incompetence – along with concentration camps, sex scandals, blatant nepotism, military adventures (manufactured or otherwise), policy being influenced by super-rich oligarchs, restrictions of the Press and Free Speech, fear mongering about the 'Left' and the "Communist threat" to bring out the vote and, naturally, voter suppression and other devious anti-democratic activity. All of this isn't just a recent phenomenon though. You'll find elements of all of this, sometimes on its own and sometimes in various combinations from the very start. So... unprecedented? Not so much it seems. 

As usual I'll be open about my ignorance of much of American history. I've read a number of books on the subject (though I need to read a few good general histories to get a decent foundation before I focus in on separate events, topics or people) but nowhere near enough to even have a rough understanding of things. This quite fascinating book has given me a LOT of pointers, and I fully intend to chase some rabbits down their holes in the forthcoming year or two. I have been toying with looking at the Dark Side of American History for a while now and I think this will be a good foundational text to work up from. I knew, or knew of, some of the events/people the author referenced but only really at a superficial level. It looks like if I dig just a little deeper, a little further into the facade and beyond the propaganda created image the world is familiar with it looks like I'm going to find something quite interesting. I'm looking forward to the quest! 

This was definitely a very different slant and a very different look at American political history which, as is often the case, needed a well-informed outsider to identify some of the strangeness and the faults in the system that insiders take for granted as just 'the way we do things here'. A definite recommended read for anyone who wonders why the USA is the way it is and why things seem (and are) so messed up right now.   

Happy Birthday: Simon Scarrow (born 3 October 1962) is a British writer. Scarrow completed a master's degree at the University of East Anglia after working at the Inland Revenue, and then went into teaching as a lecturer, firstly at East Norfolk Sixth Form College, then at City College Norwich.

He is best known for his Eagles of the Empire series of Roman military fiction set in the territories of the Roman Empire, covering the second invasion of Britain and the subsequent prolonged campaign undertaken by the rump of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. As of 2025, there are 23 books in the series; the latest, Tyrant of Rome, was published in 2025.

He has written another series, Revolution, focussing on Wellington and Napoleon, the first title of which, Young Bloods, was published in 2006. The second volume, The Generals, was published on 31 May 2007 and the third volume, Fire and Sword, in January 2009. The fourth and final novel of the series was published in June 2010 and is called The Fields of Death. He began publishing a new series in 2011, entitled Gladiator.

In 2021, Scarrow authored an audiovisual walking tour for the Roman Colosseum entitled Blood and Sand on the BARDEUM mobile app.

Just finished re-Reading: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (FP: 1974) [236pp] 

In the late 1990's mankind is at war. A decade before a way of crossing vast distances had been discovered – collapsars that allowed ships dropped into them to emerge lightyears away apparently instantaneously. The whole Galaxy was open for exploration and exploitation. With an increasing fleet out exploring a troubling fact could no longer be ignored – not all of the survey or colony vessels came back or reached their targets. The military insisted on arming the ships just in time to meet the aliens. It was war! Private William Mandella has been conscripted into a new UN force to fight back. Highly educated, young and physically fit he is part of a small elite force tasked with securing the jump points to allow the fleet to find, contain and eventually destroy the alien menace. But... there's ALWAYS a but... there's a few problems to overcome. First no one has any idea what the aliens look like or what they want. Second there's the small issue of time dilation. Each mission might last a few weeks or even a few months but because of the distances involved and the time spent near light-speed time passes very differently on Earth. A mission could take a decade or two relative to the home base or, in the worst case, centuries. How do you cope with the fact that everyone you knew could be dead when you're back from deployment and everyone living speaks a different language and has no idea there's a war on? 

I read this not long after it came out – so around 50 years ago. I was impressed by how it still stood up to a read. The author certainly used his experience as a Vietnam vet to good effect. The military side of things was very well done – especially the first mission where they couldn't distinguish between the local wildlife and the aliens they were supposed to be fighting! The rest hasn't aged quite so well. The speed of change – both technological and social – was WILDLY optimistic and I did chuckle more than once at the idea of interstellar travel in the early 21st century. Equally amusing was the idea that around 25% of the global population would be homosexual by mid-century to cut down on population problems!  

This is still worth a read though. Its famous and much talked about for a reason. The use of the physics of time dilation to isolate the war fighters from the general population is a great idea and I know it wowed me back in my teens. I had forgotten just how much sex the story contained though – although almost all non-explicit and almost all 'off page'. But it WAS written in the early 70's so... Worth a read especially if you're relatively new to SF or want to hit the classics. More iconic SF to come.  

Welcome to October, we made it! As Halloween will be approaching faster than appreciated (as always) SaLT will, as usual, be dedicated to all things Monster & Horror related this month. ONE good thing about the present Timeline is that there's plenty of material to choose from....