Just Finished Reading: A World in Disarray – American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order by Richard Haass (FP: 2017) [328pp] 

Typically, I’m VERY late to the party. Maybe if I had read this book soon after I picked it up, rather than almost 10 years later, I might have been ahead of the news cycle! However, we’re here eventually. 

The world was born refreshed (although birthed in both fire and blood) with the end of World War Two and the beginnings of the Cold War. For a significant part of the world and for a significant period of time things were, generally, stable. This meant than long-term planning and long-term profits were possible and the world entered, somewhat briefly, an era of rapid and persistent growth. As we know now this came to a grinding halt with the 1970’s oil crisis (which feels very familiar right now) and we entered a period of growing instability. When the Berlin Wall fell and, shortly after, the Soviet Union followed some expected things to calm down permanently. They did in fact (quoting Teal’c from Stargate) calm up. The orderly world many of us had been born into or grown up in started to break down. Part of this was to do with the instability in the ex-Soviet states and Russia itself. Part was caused by the rise of China and the slow (relative) decline of the US accelerated by foreign wars and other adventures. Part was caused by economic shocks and the revolutions across the Middle East and South America. Part was caused by the inability of the existing nuclear powers to prevent their proliferation to others like India, Pakistan, North Korea or Israel. Seemingly, without the military and ideological binding of the Cold War things began to spiral out of control. 

The author argues, and I somewhat agree, that at least some of the blame for this state of affairs can be laid at the feet of the United States. Without the Cold War to focus minds the US has struggled to define or decide on its place in the world. Is it enough to be a ‘shinning beacon’ to the rest? Do they need to ‘bang heads’ when other countries step out of line (as in the First Gulf War) or is it OK to support tyrants for the ‘greater’ good (which all too often aligned with American good). More to the point, with shifting political ideals and changes of party at the top could America keep a consistent policy over decades? His central argument (which I disputed) was that the world cannot achieve stability or prosperity WITHOUT US involvement. The question, as always, is what that involvement would look like.  

This was by no means a perfect book. As we know, a GREAT deal has changed in the last 10 years. As I was reading through this, I was more than a little surprised that Trump was not mentioned at all. He did eventually show up in the afterword and the author explained that the original hardback version went to his publishers as the election that Trump (unexpectedly) won was underway. What he did say was that the disarray he saw coming was accelerated in the first year or so of the first Trump administration. I do wonder what he would think now! I did find the text a little boring to be honest. Part of that was the fact that most of what he talked about I was mostly familiar with and that I (mostly) agreed with his analysis – so it contained little new information or ideas. I also thought that, despite his insider knowledge and wide experience, he was rather naive and had the all too usual American blind spots where the world is concerned (in that the rest of the world isn’t America nor does most of it want to be). Overall, though this is a pretty good, high-level, general introduction to global politics post-WW2 and especially post-Cold War as well as a sobering assessment of the future we’re pushing in to. It’s a little out of date at this point but by reading it you’ll have a fair idea of how we got ourselves into this mess. Reasonable and more on this subject to come.

Just Finished Reading: 1983 – The World at the Brink by Taylor Downing (FP: 2018) [344pp] 

1983 was another big year for me. After three attempts (yes, I know!) I finally managed to get my ass to (Lancaster) university which I started in October of that year. Unknown to me, and most of the rest of humanity, the world almost ended in nuclear fire just a month later – or so the author suggests in a very well-made argument. 

For anyone who lived through the 80’s one of the things they’ll remember if the turbulence and uncertainty around just about everything. It was not the most stable of times. With Reagan in America and Thatcher here the neo-cons were having a field day with the economy and (radical) change was most definitely in the air – except for Russia unless you were talking about the leadership. After Stalin’s death in 1953 Soviet premiers had been coming and going at alarming speed. The thing they had in common was age and their hardline agenda. When Leonid Brezhnev died (in office of course) in 1982 he was replaced by ex-KGB chief Yuri Andropov who died in 1984, to be replaced by Konstantin Chernenko who died the following year, to be replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev who presided over the end of the Soviet Union. Next exactly a stable period in global politics. 

The Soviets had over this time much bigger fish to fry. They were more than aware that a stagnating economy and massive defence spending could not long coexist. But at the same time Reagan was increasing US defence spending in eye-watering amounts. With the proposed deployment of Pershing II missiles in Europe as well as cruise missiles in the UK (I remember going on student demonstrations about them!) the Soviets were becoming terrified about a NATO first strike to decapitate their leadership before a proper response could be attempted. The only possible course of action once this became a reality was to fire first. As tensions rose on both sides – although FAR more on the Russian one – they intended to do just that. 

In deep ignorance of Soviet thinking at this time the Americans continued to ‘poke the bear’ in speeches and in regular violations of Soviet airspace which, as some of you will remember, resulted in the shooting down of Korean airline KAL 007 when it (for still mysterious reasons) entered restricted Soviet airspace on 1st September of that year. To add fuel to the fire, if such was needed, global tensions increased further with the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut on October 23rd. Premier Andropov with his KGB hat firmly in place was becoming daily more convinced that an attack was coming and all of the intelligence his agents throughout the west were feeding back seemed to confirm it. Then came the straw that almost broke the camel's back – a War Game. 

On 7th November Exercise Abel Archer 83 began. It was an exercise that NATO had run before and its primary function was to test systems and people in the event of a nuclear exchange. This year, 1983, a few new wrinkles had been added. Where possible actual world leaders were involved and code systems were changed at certain points in the exercise to simulate real conditions. The Soviets, already deeply paranoid at this point, half convinced themselves that the ‘exercise’ was simply a cover for an actual attack and took a range of precautions in response including having both fighters and nuclear armed bombers on runways ready to go and the dispersal of around 50% of its mobile nuclear missiles across the East. You can imagine what might have happened if something had gone wrong and someone, somewhere, in good faith pushed the button...  

I’d never heard of any of this before. I knew, as we all did living under the threat of instant annihilation, that the threat level fluctuated and them sometimes you could actually taste the tension in the air, but I never appreciated how close that near miss was in late 1983. It was, according to the author, closer than during the Cuban Missile Crisis partially because it was, effectively secret (or unappreciated) until much later. We dodged a bullet without even knowing. Well written and well-argued this might very well keep you up at night. It certainly enhanced my knowledge of that period of the Cold War and made me appreciate just how lucky I was FINISHING my degree with the world still intact. The only (slight) niggle I had was the authors moderately irritating habit of repeating himself a little too much for my liking. Apart from that this was a solid read and is, therefore, definitely recommended for all Cold War fans. 

Just Finished Reading: Chickenhawk by Robert Mason (FP: 1983) [399pp] 

Robert Mason wanted to fly for as long as he could remember. Gaining his civilian pilot's licence as soon as he could he still wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to fly helicopters but the only way he could afford that was to be trained by the Army, so he joined up. Despite the worsening situation in SE Asia, he never expected to be sent to Vietnam. That, among other things, just showed his lack of understanding about the world. Within weeks of getting his helicopter pilot's licence he was on his way overseas with a new type of combat unit – the 1st Air Cavalry. For the next 12 months, from August 1965 to July 1966, he would fly over 1,000 combat missions delivering troops into hot LZs (Landing Zones), returning later to pick up the survivors, the wounded and the dead, he would deliver ammunition, food and other supplies to artillery units on lonely hilltops, and he would fly top brass and reporters across the jungle to ‘assess how things were going’. Apart from being an effective member of his squadron and not letting the guys down he had only one driving ambition – to survive his tour (despite everything) and return home to his wife and child. He did (no spoiler here as he wrote this book!) but as a changed man plagued by nightmares and increasing addicted to alcohol and drugs. 

This was a mistake. I had thought, going in, that this was a novel so I could add another Vietnam entry into my fictional world tour. The book turned out to be, however, a personal account of the authors experiences as part of an experimental tactical unit expected to win the war in Vietnam in a matter of months. This was, in many ways, an impressive work. Not only did the author (not a professional writer in any way) convey the reality of modern warfare – the chaos and incompetence at all levels was honestly shocking – but did so in such a way that you could almost imagine sitting in that helicopter with him throughout the narrative. No doubt he pulled his punches from time to time to reduce the grimness of the tale, but what he did end up conveying was bad enough.  

The new ‘Air Cav’ system was expected to be a true war winner. Afterall, the most powerful military in the world was fighting (if you could use that word) a bunch of guys in sandals carried AK-47s, right? How could they possibly lose? Yet much to the surprise of the top brass (although quickly understood by the men on point) not only did the Vietcong not quickly go down to defeat and despondency they not only fought back but fought back effectively – and the US military had little response except more and more troops and more and more firepower. Looking at it with 60 years of hindsight it's easier to see why they failed. Firstly, it was all (effectively) new to the Americans despite their experiences in WW2. On top of that they were trying out, with great hopes, their new lethal toys against a supposedly primitive enemy. Their (actually warranted) arrogance wouldn’t allow them to see problems before they arose or solutions once the problems morphed into an intractable mire. The author related a simple but significant fact – before flying into his first combat zone he, and other pilots and gunners, were promised body armour. This finally arrived SEVEN months into a twelve-month deployment. Apart from logistical incompetence the reason I think this happened was because no one believed that they’d still be involved in the war for 6 months, never mind in excess of 16 YEARS. This level of over confidence (or arrogance) resulted in a lot of unnecessary deaths on all sides.  

I’d read a bit about this war before, watched movies and documentaries and actually remember watching it on the nightly news growing up, but this account was a real eye-opener to the reality on the ground. If you want to be exposed to how things where ‘in country’ from a first-hand perspective this is a very good place to start. Definitely recommended and more from this combat zone to come. 

[Highest page count of the year so far: 399pp][+17pp]

Just Finished Reading: 1946 – The Making of the Modern World by Victor Sebestyen (FP: 2014) [382pp] 

The celebrations were short-lived. The war was over but the dying, the hunger, the desperation continued. Across Europe, especially so in Germany, much had been destroyed. Many houses had fallen, power where it existed at all was intermittent at best, sewers had been smashed, hospitals lay in ruins and roads were only slowly becoming passable. As if the populations of central Europe needed any additional suffering, they realised all too well that winter was coming. Meanwhile, in vast areas of the devastated Soviet Union, millions had died and millions more did not know if they would survive to see years end. In the Far East, fighting continued in China in a resurgent Civil War whilst the survivors of defeated Japan struggled with food shortages and the shame of defeat. The global war was over but things, if anything, had gotten worse for many. 

A world war may have ended in 1945 but a new world, the world we live in today, began for many in 1946. With the battered but triumphant Soviet Union taking control of its occupied territories the conditions we now know as the Cold War began to take shape. US President Truman was becoming aware that America falling back into glorious isolation was not an option as the Soviets pushed forward at every opportunity and the Europeans had little power to resist. The US also saw that it could not, and would not, simply abandon Japan to its fate especially with the Soviets and now the Chinese becoming threats to US power projection.  

In the Middle East the Jewish settlements in Palestine were advocating for more say in their future and for unrestricted Jewish immigration especially with the growing realisation of the enormity of the Holocaust. Some groups advocated for independence and were both able and willing to use violence to achieve it. The British, meanwhile, had neither the resources nor the stomach for a fight. Likewise, in India, the British were determined to leave with almost unseemly haste to save money and its shrinking Imperial reputation. Many would die in the process of creating the three nations of Israel, India and Pakistan and the consequences of those fights would still be with us more that 70 years later. 

I had a fair idea that the end of the Second World War was bad and that the recovery was both long and hard. I had little appreciation of the levels of suffering – globally – of SO many people as the political and geographical tectonic plates shifted into a world more recognisably modern. The fact that MILLIONS of people in Europe alone (mostly German) were forced from their homes at gunpoint and at very short notice, pointed towards the border and told to leave or die is enough to give anyone pause. The fact that many thousands of people were housed in the concentration camps they had so far survived in because the Allies had nowhere else to put them again gives you pause. The best thing that could be said is that at least they got better food if not always better conditions and that it was ‘temporary’. The word GRIM just doesn’t do it justice. 

World War Two may have officially ended in 1945 but the suffering continued LONG after the guns finally stopped. The results in Europe, the East, the Middle East and the Far East still live with us today in the memories of those who lived through it and the headlines we see every day. This was an awesome work of modern history. Not only did I learn a great deal (I’ve hardly touched on much of the book) but it reset some of my thinking about the aftermath of the war. I’ll definitely be reading more about the post-1945 period and more by this excellent author. I already own his work on 1956 Hungary and will be collecting his other works too. Very Highly recommended and a highlight of the year. 

I was going to be jumping ahead to the 1960's next but plans change! so, on to the 1970's....

[Highest page count of the year so far: 382pp][+9pp]

Just Finished Reading: The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley (FP: 2022) [373pp] 

Siberia, 1963. After 6 years in the gulag, prisoner K745 is starting to believe that he can survive the next 4 years of his sentence. However, when the camp administrator informs him one cold morning that a KGB officer was coming to get him, he realised that he was going to die that day. But the surprises just kept on coming. The officer gave him new clothes, food and a railway ticket. His destination was City 40 a place that he, now no longer a number but a man with a name, had never heard of. As Valery Kolkhanov got into the taxi and began his journey to his final destination he was bemused about the whole thing. What did they want him for? Why was so much effort being spent on a political prisoner? Then he saw the trees and began to see. They were dying, everything was dying and the car sped up with windows tightly closed and the ventilation switched off. The signs on either side of the road confirmed his suspicions when they warned drivers to move at their vehicles maximum speed. Only one thing could explain it – nuclear contamination on the massive scale. The briefing he received later that day was ‘off’. The map he was given made no sense. The radiation figures looked like they’d been put together by a team of incompetents. Unless of course that was the point. The ‘explanation’ of whatever happened made no sense either. The radiation levels were obviously far higher and caused by obviously other factors than the official line. The lying, although expected, seemed senseless. He might never find out the real reason for his presence, but the science couldn’t be hidden, at least not for long. Unless he wasn’t meant to survive long enough to discover the truth? 

As is usual for me, I picked this up because it looked interesting, different and would add to my non-UK/US located reading. I’m glad I did. Almost from the outset I was honestly gripped by the excellent narrative. I had thought initially that we would be spending most of our time in the gulag itself, but it was not to be, and I was almost as surprised as Valery was when we shifted to a nuclear disaster area. Seen primarily through the eyes of the main character (who was a brilliant invention) we get insights into both Soviet nuclear science and political incompetence/indifference to its results. In many ways Kolkhanov already considers himself dead and so can view the events that unfold at City 40 with almost Stoic indifference (or so it seems) but as he forms a friendship with the KGB officer in charge (another interestingly complex character) and slowly discovers what is really going on he can’t stop himself from getting involved no matter the threats or danger involved. 

I REALLY liked this. It's a very interesting story (at least part based on fact) that’s FULL of fascinatingly real characters – and you know by now that I’m a sucker for good/great characterisation. As I said before, Kolkhanov is a great character. You believe that he’s a SOVIET citizen with everything that implies (cynicism, fatalism, disgust). He’s also knowledgeable, curious, sensitive and, where required, both focused and lethal. One of the things that made me laugh, and love him all the more, was when he ordered an octopus for his lab just to see if they’d send him one (which they did). His relationship with ‘Albert’ was laugh out loud funny and he turned out to be one of my favourite sub-characters in the book. Although this does cover quite a lot of serious subject matter, I think that most readers will be able to cope with it. Definitely hightly recommended but you might want to pick up a Geiger counter when you turn the last page! A great way to start the reviewing year! 

Just Finished Reading: Red Moon Rising – Sputnik and the Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age by Matthew Brzezinski (FP: 2007) [278pp] 

I have long thought that the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik (which just means satellite in Russian) was a carefully planned event to both embarrass the United States and prove that the Soviet Union was light-years ahead in an emerging technology. There is some truth to that but, as I learnt in this fascinating book, there was much, much more going on here. 

After the war in Europe came to an end in 1945 both the Soviets and the West (both the Brits and the Americans) grabbed as many German scientists & technicians as possible to speed up their own missile programmes. Oddly both sides of the Iron Curtain failed to invest either the time or the money to make this a quick reality. The US was more interested in the closing the non-existent ‘bomber gap’ and the Soviets just didn’t have the resources to maintain their enormous military, race ahead with nuclear weapon development AND build a functioning rocket force. With knowledge of the ever-expanding US bomber force in the shape of the SAC (Strategic Air Command) the Russians knew that it would be impossible to out-build them for decades. Their embryonic rockets however where barely functional and would crash or blow up just as often as they would fly a few hundred miles down range (the American’s were having similar issues some of which were VERY public). It was Khruschev who decided, much to the annoyance and protests of his generals, that the ONLY way that the Soviets could possibly compete was better and, more importantly, bigger rockets. The pressure was on to build a rocket big enough and reliable enough to launch the (comparatively) huge nuclear weapons at intercontinental distances.  

After much work and MANY failures, the Russians finally managed to launch two consecutive missiles that landed roughly where they were aimed. But there was a problem – the heatshield responsible for protecting the warhead on re-entry repeatedly failed to work. The missile was essentially useless. But what if, the Chief Engineer mused, the ‘warhead’ didn’t need to come back down? This is the idea he sold to Khruschev – show the Americans what they COULD do without actually having the ability to DO it. On October 4th 1957 they did exactly that and the Space Age blazed a trail across the night sky. 

This was, to be honest, a fascinating and gripping read of the early Cold War. I did have SOME idea of the story going in but had no idea that the circumstances on both sides of the Iron Curtain were so complicated and so messy – almost random in nature. The political situations in both the Soviet and American establishments came as something of a shock to me as I had imagined that both sides had at least SOME stability and plan for forging ahead (with their technology or economy). The in-fighting – often quite vicious – on BOTH sides was quite the revelation. But I think the thing that really stuck out for me was the historical context. What I wasn’t aware of – or at least hadn’t made the connection – was the fact that during this time we had the Suez Crisis where France, Britain and Israel tried to take control of the Suez Canal from Egypt MUCH to the annoyance of the US, we had the Hungarian Uprising and the subsequent violent suppression by Soviet tanks (it was only reading this book where I realised that the political upheavals of the time inside the Soviet Union where related to Khruschev’s “Secret Speech” where he denounced Stalin much to the shock of just about everyone else), and in the US we had the fallout of Brown Vs The Board of Education and the military enforcing desegregation – much to the political capital of the Soviets. It was a BUSY time! 

I’m not going to go through everything here, but needless to say I found it both very interesting indeed and highly educational. Split roughly 50-50 between the Soviets and the US this really embedded the very early Space Race in its historical and political context. It also opened several new lines of enquiry that I’ll be following up – eventually! Definitely recommended for anyone interested in the Cold War, space technology, the 1950’s or just looking for a damned good read. Another highlight of the year.  

Just Finished Reading: Churchill’s Cold War – How the Iron Curtain Speech Shaped the Post War World by Phillip White (FP: 2012) [232pp] 

It came as quite the surprise. After steering Britain to victory in the European war, Churchill and his Conservative Party fully expected to win the snap election in 1945. It had been 10 years since the last election and the decision to go to the polls early was a calculated one. Churchill was still basking in the glow of a war won and was keen to finish the job (not least the still on-going war in Asia). But it was not to be. Not only were the Conservatives beaten, but the election returned the Labour Party in a landslide. Churchill’s wife, Clementine, tried to soften the blow by calling it a ‘blessing in disguise’. After some weeks rest in Italy Churchill had begun to agree with her – but he was far from done. Fading away into a well-earned retirement was not the way Winston wanted to end his astounding career. Plus, he had work to do. After the defeat of Germany, a new (or maybe old) dangerous adversary had emerged onto the world stage: The Soviet Union. As yet, preoccupied as they were with the last stages of the War, few it seemed recognised the dangers ahead. But when Winston spoke, most especially with the memory of his ignored warnings of Hitler’s Germany still very much present, people around the world listened. But how to get the word out to the widest possible and most influential people. Although an icon, Winston was now a private citizen.  

Meanwhile across the Atlantic in the American Midwest the President of Westminster College in Fulton Missouri was looking for a signature speaker to restart his establishments credentials after the war. A friend, almost off-handedly, suggested Churchill. Intrigued by the idea but convinced that he was shooting at the Moon he made enquiries and called on friends across the nation to help. Help came in the form of an endorsement from another President – Harry S Truman. After a series of meetings and cross-correspondence between notables, an invitation was finally sent to the great man himself. Churchill, naturally, received countless invitations to speak and, just as naturally, rejected most of them. This one was different. Not only did it contain a hand-written note from Truman, but it almost seemed like Fate itself. Here was the opportunity to give the speech of a lifetime and at a forum that would, no doubt, attract the word’s press. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up. He accepted and the rest, as they say, is historic. 

I knew OF the famous speech given in Fulton in 1946 but had no real idea of the background to it nor the effort it took to make it happen. On seeing this book in my Indie Bookshop some time ago I jumped at the chance to find out. You would think that the details of setting up such an event would be mundane and boring. The author shows that they were nothing of the sort – from arraigning accommodation, lists of who to invite, extra phone lines and much more for the press, as well as simply having enough food for the thousands of people expected to be in-town just to see the spectacle – the stress levels of all involved must have been epic. Switching alternately between Britain and the US (along with context of global events especially in Eastern Europe and Greece) the author highlighted the speech [which got its own chapter] for its importance as a turning point in the relationship between the West and the Soviets. Indeed, the knock-on effects of Churchill’s warning arguably including the implementation of the Marshall Plan to revitalise Europe and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).  

This was a (largely) laser focused look at a niche event that had a profound and lasting effect on modern geopolitics. Well written with lots of interesting details this is a valuable examination of the power of Churchill oratory skills. Recommended to anyone interested in the man himself or in the beginning of the Cold War. More to come.  

Just Finished Reading: The Shortest History of The Soviet Union by Sheila Fitzpatrick (FP: 2022) [230pp] 

I remember, back in the very early 80’s, sitting in an A Level Law class when the teacher asked us all a question. She was a typical Middle Class ex-hippy, and I liked her a lot. She asked us if we were worried in any way by the fact that the Soviets were pointing nukes at us and that we could all be dead with a few minutes notice. After a few others had expressed their opinions, I said that sure we KNEW that we all could be dead by the push of a button somewhere in Moscow, but it wasn’t anything to lose a night's sleep over. Such is the callowness of youth I guess... But there was something else too. I had been born into the Cold War, grew up in it and ‘matured’ in it. When the Soviet Union dissolved completely in December 1991, I had spent a little over 30 years with the possibility of nuclear annihilation always present. After a while you just get used to it. 

Spending almost half of my life with the Soviet Union as an ever-present force in the world has made me moderately obsessed about the Cold War world in particular, but with an almost equal fascination with the 1917 Revolution that started it all off. I’ve mentioned before here that we had a student teacher who covered the Revolution in GREAT depth for about 6 weeks one term, and it was DEEPLY ingrained into my brain for decades afterwards. It's a very interesting story and has helped to shape the world ever since. Obviously, as you might imagine, that’s exactly where this excellent fast paced history started its journey.  

With a successful Revolution under his belt, Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks consolidated the hold on Mother Russia – after a brutal Civil War and much upheaval – with Plans and a rather unhealthy dollop of misplaced Marxist ideology. Needless to say, this was rather less successful than hoped and Lenin’s successor – Stalin – decided that only drastic measures would do. What followed was, by any measure, brutal resulting in millions of dead – peasants, workers, soldiers and intellectuals. It’s hardly surprising that the initial attack of the Wehrmacht in 1941 (Operation Barbarossa) was SO successful as there were so few talented people left to oppose it. 

The death of Stalin in March 1953 changed everything and the sigh of relief across the USSR must have been quite something to experience. When Nikita Khrushchev finally took the position of premier in 1958 things had already begun to relax and the Soviet economy entered its era of extended growth. It was, albeit briefly, a good time to be a Communist. I was too young to remember the Khrushchev era (or the Cuban Missile Crisis he gave to the world), but I do remember Leonid Brezhnev who was Premier until November 1982. I remember that, at times, the Cold War got VERY cold indeed and the RAF was intercepting Russian bombers probing our air-defence system on a regular basis. Things were, to say the least, tense.  

But by then the writing was already on the wall – both figuratively and no doubt in reality. The Soviet economy was in terminal decline and frequent changes of leaders from Yuri Andropov to Konstantin Chernenko (who only last a year in post!), to Mikhail Gorbachev (who EVERYONE remembers as the guy who ended it all almost by accident) didn’t really help. It was certainly an exciting time watching the collapse of the ‘Evil Empire’ in real-time on the nightly news. I remember a friend of mine suggesting that we book a flight to Berlin to *be there* as the Wall came down. Practicalities prevented that from happening, but we did think about it for a while whilst watching the BBC News. 

As a leading authority on the topic, it comes as no surprise that the author has produced a gripping and informative book the Soviet Union. I enjoyed it immensely and it’ll definitely be on my ‘Best Books of the Year List’ early in 2026. If you’re too young to remember what it was like to live in a world of two deeply opposed ideological nuclear powers with their fingers hovering over RED buttons this is definitely for you. Those who did experience living with the frisson of global destruction at any moment will find it equally interesting to see behind the Iron Curtain and begin to understand what was really happening beyond the headlines and propaganda (from both sides). Highly recommended and much more to come both from this EXCELLENT series of books and on the Cold War in all its variety.    

Just Finished Reading: Icemen – A History of the Artic and Its Explorers by Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan (FP: 1998) [180pp] 

It is no real exaggeration to call it an obsession. For several centuries now Europeans and, more recently Americans, have become fascinated with the Artic – AKA the North Pole. First it was the idea, largely a fantasy until Global Warming made it an increasing reality, of the Northwest Passage across the top of the world. Rumours of an ice-free ocean at the Pole warmed by a sun always above the horizon but enclosed behind a wall of ice drove explorers on, often to their deaths or disappearance. Many tried and the lucky ones returned to tell their tales of hardship and failure. 

Technology seemed to come to the aid of explorers everywhere with the invention of balloons and, later, rigid airships. Able to accomplish much with somewhat reduced risk – although crashing into the ice (or worse the Artic Ocean) was a real possibility – these allowed improved mapping of the region and were swiftly followed by heavier-than-air craft to break further records and more than a few bones and bank accounts. As technology advanced even further it was the submarine that allowed humans to glide under the ice and surface even at the Pole itself. The Cold War had found its very own cold home. 

Of course, technology all too often meant military technology from long-range nuclear bombers to ballistic missiles. The only early ‘defence’ was early warning and the best place for those early warning stations was the Artic. Much was learned from building, supplying and maintaining outposts in some of the most hostile places on Earth. 

The pull of the Artic wastes has a long and often fascinating history. Despite the comparative brevity of the book the authors pack a LOT of information here along with a host of brave and often very strange people who helped write that history – and themselves in to it. I was particularly interested in the weird battle between Allied and German weather stations during WW2 scattered throughout the region each giving their owners vital information with which to plan their attacks. Hopefully more on THAT topic at some point! 

Well written, often humorous, sometimes tragic and endlessly interesting this was a delight from beginning to end. Much more to come on both Poles and the very brave people who went there to find out everything they could about some of the most inhospitable and dangerous places on the planet. Recommended if you can source a copy. 

Just Finished Reading: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (FP: 1990) [254pp] 

Vietnam, 1968. He was a coward, pure and simple. Even with the Canadian border in sight he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t leave. It would shame his family, shame his high school, shame his church, his town. There was only one thing he could do – accept the draft letter and report as ordered. He was going to Vietnam. As a basic grunt, humping through the jungles and paddy fields as part of Alpha company, he saw friends die from a sniper's bullet, a random mortar round fired into a field stinking of human shit, a booby-trapped artillery shell, from infection, from a self-inflicted wound. He watched as air support destroyed entire villages and helicopters picked up the dead and dying. He stopped being amazed by the fact that no matter the amount of ordnance they used, the bullets expended, the rockets fired or the grenades thrown, there was always more, more than you could count, more than you could imagine, more than you could carry.  

I’d heard of this author and some of his Vietnam novels – including this one – long before reading this. As a serving soldier in the infantry in that conflict he has, since his rotation back to the world, been writing about it ever since partially, he suspects, in order to remain sane. I was expecting this to be a novel so was a bit surprised that it turned out to be, sort of, a series of short stories or vignettes drawing on his personal experiences. There’s even an interesting discussion about the ‘reality’ of war stories and the question of whether you can actually tell the truth to those who haven’t experienced the surreal war experience first-hand. I’m sure that many of us have seen Vietnam war movies that seem more fantastical than real (compared to, say WW2 movies) - for example Apocalypse Now! - and its these, the author maintains, that get closest to the truth of things. The more believable, the more understandable, the story the less likely it is to have actually happened – and that’s before we get into the psychology of combat stress and false memories. Fascinating stuff. 

I think my favourite story was ‘Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong’. This was a story related to him by the Companies medic who was, briefly, working at an evacuation station deep in the jungle. It was an easy posting only interrupted by occasional helicopters carrying wounded who needed urgent medical attention prior to flying them to a full hospital. Inevitably the grunts were bored and wondered if it was possible to ‘sneak in’ a few local women. Some wise-guy suggested that the fly their girlfriends from back home instead – so one of them did just that. But things didn’t turn out quite as expected. After a few weeks 17-year-old Mary Anne Bell started asking questions – how things worked, what it was like out outside the wire, that sort of thing. So, equally bored, the grunts showed her how to field strip a M-16, set up a claymore anti-personal mine and how to shoot. Then, one day she simply disappeared – for 3 days no one saw her. When she did come back it was with a bunch of Green Berets who had taken her on patrol. Not only did she like it, she was good at it... I did laugh at that... 

This was a rather strange read at times, as you might imagine with all things Vietnam related. But it was also a very good read. Generally, the stories were of a high quality – I think the worst one was ‘only’ reasonable – and gave a lot of insight into the Vietnam ‘experience’. It wasn’t always pleasant, as you should expect from the time and place, but it was always a page turner. Definitely recommended and more to come from this author and this region/war. 

Just Finished Reading: Attack Warning Red! - How Britain Prepared for Nuclear War by Julie McDowall (FP: 2023) [212pp] 

When the Soviets developed the atomic bomb in 1949 – years ahead of expectations – Britain needed a response. So, deep inside the defence apparatus old World War Two plans were dusted off and tweaked to take into account the enhanced devastation caused by nuclear warfare. Plans for evacuation to safe areas, movement of essential workers and industries were drawn up, government bunkers and safe places for historic treasures were set aside. Then came the Soviet hydrogen bomb test. Hydrogen bombs are a very different beast to their atomic brethren. Hydrogen bombs use atomic bombs as their detonators and have no theoretical upper limit of power – as long as you have the ability to build it or deliver it on to a target. The existence of such weapons made the earlier plans completely obsolete. A handful of bombs, dropped on the west coast, could both destroy major cities and produce enough fallout that ALL of Great Britain would be contaminated to such an extent that life itself might not be possible. So, no safe zones and no evacuation. Shelter in place was the new message. Or, as the cynics no doubt said, dig you own grave as no one is coming to rescue you. 

Even the limited options available to the government aroused opposition. Some considered that ANY measure taken to survive a nuclear strike made the use of nuclear weapons more, not less, likely. Some even suggested that merely possessing nuclear weapons made the country a target and that the best defence was no defence. Understandably the government disagreed. If protection or defence was impossible then the only valid option was retaliation – the incredibly aptly named policy of MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction. If a nuclear strike was incoming the UK (and presumably its allies) would target the enemy with ITS nukes and EVERYONE would die. At first the UK tried to develop its own ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) force but failed. Then it developed nuclear armed bombers – the fabled V Force – and then, in co-operation with the Americans, settled on nuclear armed submarines with some always at sea waiting to respond. 

I was, to be honest, slightly disappointed when this book arrived from Amazon some months ago. It was, it seemed to me, both short and ‘journalistically’ chatty rather than solidly academic. But once I started reading, I was HOOKED. Not only was this a fascinating look at UK government policy during the Cold War on Nuclear War, it was interlaced with interviews of people ‘on the ground’ as well as personal recollections from the author who was, she admits, traumatised at a young age when she was allowed to watch the controversial TV recreation of a nuclear strike on the city of Sheffield – Threads. I remembered that show (at least vaguely) and agree that it was pretty harrowing even watching it as a cynical teenager. I also remembered a conversation my Law teacher had with us one day at college. She was, we all knew, a middle-class (rather posh in her way) trendy Leftie and I really liked her. She wanted to know what we thought of nuclear weapons and the possibility that it could all be over in a matter of minutes after missile launch in the Soviet Union. I think we shocked her somewhat. Not one of us was overly bothered by the fact that we had a nuclear Sword of Damocles hanging over us 24/7. I actually remember saying that yes, we recognised the reality of the situation but that it wasn’t anything to lose a night's sleep over. We couldn’t do anything about it, it was completely outside of our control and if it ever did happen it was probably a GOOD idea to die in the initial attack. 

I do ‘remember’ (possibly falsely!) several tension moments when Britain was on HIGH alert status and Russian bombers were regularly buzzing our airspace and testing just how fast out alert fighters could get to them (damned fast apparently!). I even recall (again possible false memory alert!) stories of fighters sitting on the tarmac with their engines running complete with pilot ready to go. The pilot had to be changed every 2 hours because of the stress of sitting there. As far as I know that alert status lasted around 48 hours. TENSE! 

Of course, we’re living in a time were phrases like ‘nuclear war’ or ‘World War 3’ (NOT the same thing) are being thrown around like confetti. This is, of course, simply to raise people’s anxiety levels and is, I believe, a complete and total bluff. Most especially when one nuclear power threatens another nuclear power with nukes. That’s just stupid. I even heard a so-called ‘public intellectual’ saying on TV that the UK should give Putin what he was demanding “because he has nukes”. Well, so do we and I’m pretty sure that ours will work and will go where they’re aimed. I’m not so confident about Russian nukes or whether they’ll either stay in their silos or simply blow up in them.  

This was an interesting read although a little harrowing at times as you might expect. If you’re easily upset or prone to nightmares, I might want to avoid it, but if you’re made of sterner stuff and especially if, like me, you spent your formative years living under the threat of nuclear annihilation this is definitely a book worth reading. Recommended and more on this subject to come – eventually.      

Just Finished Reading: Atoms and Ashes – From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima by Serhii Plokhy (FP: 2022) [301pp] 

It was quite a promise, the idea of turning Weapons of Mass Destruction into the engines of progress itself. Some even said that the electricity the new stations would be producing was too cheap to meter, in effect free. It was quite the promise. Dazzled by all things nuclear it was easy to forget that promises and radiation containment vessels are made to be broken. 

Growing up in England in the 1960’s I, like most of the rest of the world, had never heard of a place in the Soviet Union called Kyshtym. It appeared on few maps and none of those maps mentioned a classified nuclear facility there. The world only found out about the accident at that plant when the Soviet Union fell. In late September 1957 something went wrong there – VERY wrong – and quickly got out of control. The resulting fire and the explosions they caused spread highly radioactive debris over a large area. Never having dealt with anything like it before the response, especially in a secret obsessed society like the USSR, was far less than that required. Few died on the day, but many followed in the decades to come, vast amounts of topsoil were removed, whole villages destroyed to prevent their occupants returning to contaminated zones and countless animals were destroyed to prevent them being eaten or milked. 

The first nuclear accident I HAD heard about, although it also happened (just) before I was born was at the Windscale nuclear plant in Cumbria (128 miles north of where I was born and 72 miles north of where I went to University) on 10th October 1957. A fire which lasted 3 days in one of the reactor cores spread radioactive isotopes across the UK and into Europe. It was the worst ever recorded incident in England and one of the worst in the world (given a severity level of 5 out of a potential 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.) Downplayed at the time for political reasons – the UK was desperate to be involved in the US nuclear bomb program – the full scale of the disaster remained classified for some time. 

Things got even more interesting when the book moved into the modern era and incidents that many people reading this will remember. First up we have the Three Mile Island incident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in March 1979. This was also a level 5 event and only narrowly avoided being something MUCH worse. The near-meltdown released radioactive gasses and water vapour into the atmosphere as well as radioactive water into the nearby rivers. Luckily for the local residents (and everyone else downwind) a truly awesome tragedy was avoided. However, the costs of the clean-up and the decommissioning of the reactor are in the billions of dollars. [Side note: If you haven’t watched the 1979 movie ‘The China Syndrome’ it’ll give you some idea of what happened at Three Mile Island. Rather spookily the movie was released 12 days BEFORE the Harrisburg accident!] 

Then, of course, we move on to the poster child of all nuclear accidents: Chernobyl. Located in Ukraine (and in the new again recently whilst occupied by Russian soldiers who were crazy enough or ill-informed enough to dig tranches in the still contaminated ground around the plant) this mother of all accidents - level 7 out of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale – occurred in April 1986 and initially in secret (again) until radiation spikes were reported across Europe and the finger very obviously pointed towards the Soviets. Finally, reluctantly admitting a problem they threw everything they had to prevent an even bigger disaster. It was, for many around the world a wake-up call about the dangers of nuclear power. Whilst some pointed to the lacklustre safety protocols of Soviet industry others pointed to the failures on the Three Mile Island facility with it supposed superior design and safety environment. Unsurprisingly the approvals for new nuclear power stations across the world plummeted. As the situation within the industry began to improve everything crashed to Earth with a bump – or should that be a wave? Fukushima happened on 11th March 2011. 

Hit by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded (with little damage directly caused to the plant itself) and then hit by TWO tsunami waves – one of which exceeded 14 metres (the defensive sea wall only measured 10 metres) - a series of problems caused a fire, partial melt-down and a series of explosions across the site and ultimately another level 7 incident. The facility was state of the art and the operators highly trained yet still a disaster was only averted by some quick thinking, personnel with the dedication and (honestly) suicidal bravery to stay at their posts and luck. Again, unsurprisingly, the world reacted with dismay as yet another nuclear incident shook confidence in the technology. 

Of course, what makes it worse, if such a thing is possible, is that nuclear power is seen as THE saviour to a future energy crisis as older fossil-fuel power stations are increasingly decommissioned and the preferred greener renewable power sources are still coming online and slowly improving in efficiency. The stopgap was supposed to be filled – at least temporarily if not permanently – by nukes. BUT the approval process and building of nuclear power plants takes DECADES – time we seemingly don’t have. So, it is proposed, we need to cut back on safety protocols and cut corners on the building process to speed things up. Really? When some of the most advanced and well-maintained nuclear plants in the world fail how well are quickly thrown up and cost-cutting versions going to manage? It’s a very relevant and deeply disturbing question the author ends with. 

Told in a measured tone without any of the expected hyperbole or ‘the sky is falling’ rhetoric this is a deeply disturbing narrative about a technology that promised SO much and ended up leaving us with problems that our far descendants will be left to deal with. If you have any interest at all in the nuclear industry and want to know more about the promises being made about it ‘solving’ the ongoing Climate crisis this is definitely the book for you. But be warned, it might very well give you nightmares especially if you live downwind of a nearby nuclear station. One of the best reads of the year (so far) and, therefore, HIGHLY recommended. Much more from this author to come.    

Just Finished Reading: Play the Red Queen by Juris Jurjevics (FP: 2020) [346pp] 

Saigon, 1963. It would’ve been nice to have been on the investigation from the start but since when has the Army done anything in a straightforward manner? So, with the third American officer shot dead in broad daylight on a busy street Staff Sergeant Ellsworth Miser and Sergeant Clovis Robeson of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division are practically starting from scratch. Not that there’s much to go on. Each of the victims was a US military ‘advisor’ to the Army of South Vietnam, each was killed at fairly close range with a single shot from an automatic handgun with the killer apparently being a young girl who then escaped on the back of a motorbike. In a city of thousands of motorbikes and tens of thousands of pretty young girls riding on their backs that information was practically useless. So, where to start? There’s a basic rule in police work – if you can’t investigate the murderer then investigate the victims. The ‘random’ killings of American soldiers turned out to be nothing of the kind – they were linked, they knew each other or worked in the same department, the area of the Army responsible for the importation of American supplies into the South. It was an area awash with money. Were the officers on the take or had they refused to be corrupted? Was someone simply cleaning house prior to the much rumoured ‘coup’ that had been talked about in the local bars for months now? Was the hit-girl Viet Cong or someone closer to home? With regular in-fighting and powerplays between members of the South’s ruling ‘elite’ who could tell which death-squad was responsible for which execution or assassination? It was impossible to keep track. What made things worse, if they could get worse, was that the American ambassador was in town doing deals and making waves. His life had already been threatened and he might even be on the assassins ‘list’. Closing the case wasn’t going to be easy in a town full of refugees, undercover agents, factions and teenage killers. But orders are orders – find the girl and stop the killing... 

As usual I picked this up because both the blurb on the back and the distinctive cover looked ‘interesting’. I was most definitely not disappointed with my choice! This turned out to be one of my best reads of the year so far. The author writes beautifully and, having served in Vietnam for “fourteen months, nine days and two hours” knows his way around the city, the people and the culture of the region (like knowing NOT to pat a Vietnamese kid on the head!) which made the reading both highly entertaining and very informative. It was, honestly, like being there complete with the oppressive humidity, the constant sound of traffic (and distant gunfire), the regular random power cuts and knowledge that if you stayed there long enough you were going to open the wrong door, meet the wrong person or just start the wrong car and that would be that – Game Over. It’s a real shame that the author died not long after completing this novel – his third – so I can’t look forward to reading him in the years ahead. I’ll definitely be looking out for his other novel based in Vietnam though. If you’re interested in the very early phase of the Vietnam War – when the American’s were still in their ‘advisor’ phase before that started shipping in troops by the tens of thousands and carpet-bombing entire countries – including those not even involved in the war – this will intrigue you. If you just want a bloody good read and want to lose yourself in a faraway place and a very different time I can't recommend this book too highly. One thing I need to do, going forward, is to read up on the US Ambassador – Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. If he’s anything like his character in this novel, he deserves my attention! More to come on the region, the war and from this author.   

Just Finished Reading: America in Retreat – The Decline of US Leadership from WW2 to Covid-19 by Michael Pembroke (FP: 2020) [257pp] 

This was a very different read from my previous “Retreat” book. For one thing it didn’t feel anything like as partisan as the previous read. Another was the fact that this was a far more historical narrative starting with America approaching the height of its power at the end of WW2. In 1945 the US was the world's largest economy (by far), had the world’s largest military and, most importantly, was the world’s only nuclear power (until Russia detonated her first nuke on 29 August 1949). America was, by and large, the uncontested world leader - and proceeded to act like it. Within a few scant years mostly as the behest of the US a new world order would emerge from the wreckage of a devastating world war. It encompassed the birth of the United Nations and what became known as the ‘rules-based order’, and it laid the foundations for the modern world we grew up in. But then, little by little, America began to retreat.  

Interestingly, the author lays the blame for the original ‘sin’ of retreat at the feet of President Harry Truman. He was in a real way an ‘accidental’ President and never really saw himself in that role. Indeed, he was, apparently, rather unsuited to be the ‘leader of the Free World’. An early example of this, again according to the author, was his authorisation of the use of atomic weapons on Japan. This the author argues was a political rather than a military decision primarily aimed at the Russians to tell them to back off from any further involvement in East Asia. I largely agree with that assessment but need to read up more about the decision-making process that led to the bombings. But I’m starting to get into the weeds of the book too much. The argument the author makes is an interesting and persuasive one: that the initial high moral stance of the US in 1945, backed up by its immense power, was subverted first by the Cold War (which the author saw as arguably unnecessary – MORE reading required!) and then by increasing US self-interest at the expense of global stability and growth. 

There are many examples, large and small, that come to mind: the decision to make the US dollar the world’s reserve currency thereby giving the US dominant economic power, the refusal to be bound by the International Criminal Court, the meddling in other countries politics – enemy, friendly, neutral – if they were doing anything contrary to US interests, the toppling of democratically elected governments perceived to be at least theoretically antagonistic to American interests despite a very public lauding of the democratic process – the imposition of the Shah of Iran is a particularly good example of this and is still causing issues in the region today. Not forgetting, of course, the support of vicious dictatorships in South America all in the name of resisting ‘communism’ in America’s backyard. 

Overall, this was an interesting read and I found myself nodding along more than once. About the only thing that raised the odd eyebrow was the favourable contrast he made – more than once – with China over the same period. Of course, there is more than a little truth in seeing China as a positive role model – especially in its immediate sphere of influence. It’s inarguable that China has lifted many millions of its own citizens out of poverty and has for decades (at least until recently) been seen as an economic miracle despite all predictions to the contrary. Likewise, the Belt & Road initiative has provided regions that otherwise could never have afforded such things with new ports, roads, airports and other infrastructure – things that could, long term, change whole regions of the planet for the better. Naturally this isn’t out of the simple goodness of China’s heart, but still the infrastructure exists or is being built and will benefit others as well as China. So, it's not too surprising that an increasing number of countries are looking to an Eastern future rather than a Western one. Bringing this up to date, for instance, there was a significant contrast in the response of China and the US to the Covid pandemic. Whilst America denied its existence and then fought amongst itself, China was sending equipment, technicians and other support to Italy, other European countries as well as Africa and elsewhere. Again, it’s hardly surprising that heads are turning East instead of West. This was a worthwhile read and gave me a number of areas and topics to investigate further. Recommended if you want food for thought. 

 Interesting, as always....

Just Finished Reading: In the Shadows of the American Century – The Rise and Decline of US Global Power by Alfred W McCoy (FP: 2017) [256pp] 

An interesting way to look at modern US history (post-Civil War) is to see it as an Empire in the mould of the British or ancient Athenian empires – not one simply of conquest and domination but almost accidental (in the sense of not entirely deliberate).  Built through the provocation of wars and interventions from the Spanish-American war to the First and especially Second World Wars, America found itself torn from its preferred isolationist comfort zone and thrust onto the world stage as a player par excellence. It was World War 2 that made the US into a global powerhouse and the ‘arsenal of democracy’ (to say nothing of the world's richest nation by far and – briefly – the world’s only Super-power) but it was the subsequent Cold War that made the United States into an Empire in all but name. With the need to contain and, where required, combat the proxies of the ideological opposing force of Communism wherever they were found across the entire planet's surface (or beyond) the build-up of a truly staggering military force, the construction of numerous military bases around hot spots and the building of alliances for mutual defence developed into an Empire almost by default and, it seemed, almost as an afterthought. But built it was and the post-1945 world was named, without irony, the American Century. 

The previous empire (the world spanning British) that the Americans had now overshadowed had its own century running from 1815 to 1914 – going into slow and then accelerating decline after the exhausting Great War – and it was, at least initially, thought that the pax Americana would both outlast and outshine its predecessor. But the going has been far from easy. The Soviet Union developed nuclear weapons far faster than had been anticipated and the US no longer held the monopoly on world destruction. Other countries followed and the nuclear ‘club’ has been slowly expanding ever since. Although the military might of American forces was certainly not to be trifled with – as seen in Korea – the defeat in Vietnam tarnished their reputation for decades until the lightening victory in the first Gulf War. But, as we know, subsequent conflicts in Afghanistan and Gulf War 2 televised as they were for all the world to see showed beyond doubt the America’s predominance on the field of battle was no longer a given. The American Empire must now co-exist with other rising powers, most especially China, and come to terms with being more of a first amongst equals in a multi-polar world. The question is, naturally, just how long can the US retain its present position. Even with recent setbacks, the Chinese economy is due to overtake the US sooner rather than later. Likewise, the Chinese military strength grows by the day. If those two nations ever came to blows the outcome and the winner is up for debate, and it is far from certain that the US would prevail. We are indeed living through interesting times. 

This was, to be honest, a definite highlight of the year for me. The author most certainly ‘knows his stuff’ and manages to bring together almost a century of geopolitical history into a coherent narrative that is both persuasive and a little frightening. It also throws into perspective, at least for me, the present political turmoil that the US is going through. Looking at it through the lens of an Empire in decline it makes perfect sense. Indeed, its exactly what you might have expected to see as the Roman Empire crumbled long before the barbarians arrived at their gates. A fascinating read and highly recommended for anyone wanting to both understand the history of the US and, just possibly, its future. 

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Just Finished Reading: The Quiet American by Graham Greene (FP: 1955) [180pp] 

Vietnam. English journalist Thomas Fowler prides himself on being uninvolved. He is there for two reasons, to report the ongoing struggle for dominance between French forces and the numerous forces ranged against them as well as staying as far away from home and his wife as possible. It's not much of an existence but a few opium pipes each evening, and the company of the ever-attentive Phuong (meaning Phoenix) helps to give his life a semblance of meaning. Until Pyle arrived, fresh and naïve from America. He was, everyone admitted, an unusual example. He listened more than he spoke, he sought out those with more local knowledge and he was, more than anything else the opposite of his colleagues – he was a quiet American. Of course, it was obvious from the start that he was more, much more, than someone looking for business opportunities or providing aid to locals in need of medical attention. It was obvious to everyone that Pyle was some sort of spy. It was also obvious that Pyle was completed enamoured by Phuong, much to the amusement and annoyance of Fowler. But there was the future to be considered. Fowler was being recalled to London and Phuong needed someone to look after her. Who better than Pyle? As the fighting intensified and bombs started going off in crowded streets, Pyles involvement started to come into focus. Maybe, at last, at long last, it was time for Fowler to finally become involved... 

This is my second Greene novel, and I can see why he has such a high reputation. I enjoyed Our Man in Havana because of its subtle Cold War comedy, but this Cold War outing was a completely different fish. Based in French Indochina during the final years of French Occupation this was a much darker novel with few comedic moments. Indeed, it had a quite lovely Noir feel to it and I could almost imagine Bogart as the grizzled journalist Fowler. I also loved the cynical hard-bitten world view of Fowler, which was in stark contrast to the wide-eyed, optimistic and incredibly naïve views of Pyle – someone straight from State-side with no life experience and a head full of political views picked up from a book. But I think the biggest selling point for this sleeper of a novel – published remember in 1955 – was how prescient it was. Not only does it present an impressively accurate account of why the French were losing and would eventually lose their holdings in the country, but it also skewered the naïve approach the Americans were already exhibiting at that early date regarding involvement in the region. Fowler/Greene laid out in great detail exactly what was wrong in the US view of the country and its people and exactly why their plans for Vietnam would ultimately fail – and fail in spectacular fashion. If the US Administration or Army chiefs had read and absorbed the lessons of this novel, then they never would have become involved in the fiasco that defined a generation. 

This was a very impressive, honestly prescient and often subtle novel of lost love, lost hope and to a large degree a desire for redemption and I was very impressed – indeed haunted – by it. I shall be looking out for more Greene to snag in the future. If you’ve ever wondered about the Wests, and particularly the French involvement in the region, but don’t fancy anything too heavy, this is definitely the book for you. Both subtle and profound, and definitely recommended. 

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Just Finished Reading: The End is Always Near – Apocalyptic Moments from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses by Dan Carlin (FP: 2019) [246pp] 

We seem to be being bombarded with End of the World stories at the moment – from Climate Change (or as I still like to call it Global Warming), Putin’s threats of Nuclear War or the imminent arrival of aggressive AI systems. Of course, these fears are nothing new – apart from the details – but there have been times when not only was the fear very real but the reality tried its very best to live up to it. Some of those times are covered in this unexpectedly gripping narrative. 

I say unexpected because what I *was* expecting was a history of End of the World beliefs rather than the incidents themselves. But, as I found out here, that’s not a bad thing – especially when you have an author who clearly knows his stuff and has lots of interesting ideas on the things he presents. We start with the still mysterious and hotly debated Bronze Age Collapse where early (largely unrecorded because writing was still in its early stages) European and Middle Eastern civilisation went into sudden and near total collapse for, as yet, undetermined reasons. No doubt it wasn’t from a single cause but even the proposed multiple causes still don’t fully add up. Then there’s the much-studied Fall of the Roman Empire (which prompted me to think about how you could tell if your civilisation was collapsing if you were already in the middle of it) and then one of my favourite all-encompassing disasters – The Black Death. This was responsible not only for millions of deaths across Asia, the Middle East and Europe  but radically changed the course of Western history. That’s hardly surprising considering the average death toll was somewhere between 30-50% of Europeans and in some places literally killed EVERYONE. Interesting – given the publication date – the author speculated on how well we would handle a Pandemic, even one nowhere near as devastating as the Black Death. Now of course we know the answer to that one: Badly. 

Probably the most interesting chapters for me concerned the development, use and consequences of nuclear weapons. One of the things I hadn’t heard before that the intended first target – Berlin (I may have heard this before and skimmed over it but this really got me thinking of the consequences for Europe if that’d actually happened). The reason the first (and second) bombs were in fact dropped on Japan and not Germany was that Germany capitulated a few months before the first successful nuclear test. Lucky Berlin. The author then discussed the use of the bomb and its effect on the war and, of course, on the Soviets. Again interestingly, a number of hawks in the US Administration wanted to nuke Russia immediately before they eventually got ‘The Bomb’ too. It was considered it would take them up to 20 years to do so – it didn’t - and thankfully cooler heads prevailed. It was also interesting how the very existence of nukes, even before the Soviets and other countries acquired them, changed both the power of the US Presidency and US Foreign Policy to the present day. Nukes, in effect, changed everything about the modern world. 

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this book and consider it one of the most interesting and thought provoking reads of the year. I was impressed by the authors breadth of knowledge as well as his ability to see through the historical haze and pluck fascinating ideas and theories out for closer examination. Being the person that I am, inevitably I immediately flicked to the bibliography and was delighted by both its length and depth. So, more disasters to come.... Highly recommended for those who don’t mind an apocalypse or two in their lives. 

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