Just Finished Reading: Red Summer – The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America by Cameron McWhirter (FP: 2011) [271pp] 

After their sacrifices on the battlefields of France they thought things would change on their return. With the words of President Wilson still ringing in their ears with talk of Democracy and Self Determination as the cornerstones of a new world order, with talk of peace, prosperity and progress for all they thought things would be different, that they’d be treated with more respect and that many would, at long last, be able to cast their votes without fear of the consequences. In 1919 they realised they were wrong. Nothing had really changed. Despite filling many of the jobs lost to soldiers fighting abroad and despite fighting and dying on European battlefields – when they were actually allowed to fight – they were treated exactly the same and were expected to take up their subservient roles again as if nothing had happened. Not surprisingly, many decided that things had indeed changed – maybe not in American society but within themselves. The feeling, most especially amongst returning veterans, was that they deserved better and that they would demand batter. So began the slow, painful and often bloody awakening of Black consciousness across America – from resistance to lynching, to fighting back in the cities (both North and South) when attacked, to the founding and growth of organisations designed to help black American’s gain access to legal remedies previously denied them as well as procuring professional legal representation in court cases where life and death hung in the balance.   

I’d come across various examples of this aspect of the American experience scattered through my reading of US history, but I lost count of the number of times I was honestly shocked at what went on and people's reaction to it. A few times I had to put the book down and go do something else for a while for my brain to function again. There’s only so much casual racism and targeted brutality I can cope with before my mind loses all comprehension. From 1919 into the early 1920’s I’m stunned at what black Americans had to put up with and I’m not surprised in the least that at least some of them decided that enough was enough. Some white commentators actually complained that the problem was caused by the French who had the audacity to treat black American soldiers like human beings which inevitably gave them ideas ‘above their station’. While American officers treated black soldiers who wanted to fight as simple labourers the French officers were more than willing to lead them into battle – and did so to great effect. The French could care less about their skin colour (having black soldiers themselves) but only cared if they were willing to kill the Boche.  

This detailed and very well written history was a real eye-opener for me. I kind of ‘knew’ how bad it could be being black in early 20th century America, but I had no real idea – until now. If you have a reasonably strong stomach and you can keep your anger and disgust in check this is a worthwhile if sobering read which helps to put a lot of black activism into a solid context. Black Lives Matter and its predecessors did not pop into existence out of thin air. It had LONG antecedents – even long before the focus of this book. I think that I am at least beginning to understand where some of the animosity and suspicion of American blacks comes from. This book was a real education. Highly recommended to anyone wanting to understand a still vital aspect of America. More to come from this author. 

Happy Birthday: Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford, DBE (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English actress of stage, film and television.

She came to national attention following World War II in the film adaptations of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her role as the Duchess of Brighton in The V.I.P.s (1963). In the early 1960s, she starred as Agatha Christie's character Miss Marple in a series of four George Pollock films. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961 and a Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967.

That's a *really* good metaphor.... [lol]

Just Finished Reading: The Red Eagles by David Downing (FP: 2014) [232pp] 

Europe 1945. With the European war swiftly coming to an end Premier Joseph Stalin is looking to the future and he doesn’t like what he sees. It has become obvious that the USA will, with the inevitable defeat of the Axis Powers both in Europe and Asia, become the world’s dominant power for years if not decades to come. What is worse, if such a thing can be imagined, is that they will for most of that time be the world's only nuclear power. Knowing about the bomb's existence before the American President told him was a delicious moment but that fleeting moment didn’t count for much with a radioactive Sword of Damocles very publicly dangling over the head of the Soviet Union. Their own programme was advancing at pace. People, even scientists, work wonders when their families are threatened. But there was one element that even death threats cannot conjure out of thin air – enough Uranium 235 to build enough bombs to counter the Capitalist threat. If they couldn’t make enough fast enough there was only one real alternative – they would have to steal it from the Americans. Easily said but certainly possible – except for one thing, the Americans would both know it had been taken and how many bombs could be made from it. A deception plan would be needed, and a third party needed to be blamed. If there was time for the Germans to act before the Third Reich collapsed. 

This was, to say the least, an intriguing work of fiction! I’ve been watching a long running series of YouTube History videos on the end of the European war, so I had lots of background information sloshing around my brain cells which helped fill in some of the background details. The plot was very clever, and I really liked the inevitable problems that arose – no plan surviving contact with the enemy (AKA reality) - as well as to how they were believably handled. As always (broken record time!) good characterisation was key to my enjoyment and here we had that in spades with the Russians, Germans and Americans all being well drawn and, mostly, likable. The only character we were supposed to dislike – and I did – ended up satisfactorily dead which was good. The romance elements actually made sense (normally I skip over those bits) and I didn’t have a single eye-rolling moment which is a pleasant change. Pacing was good and despite being rather short gripped enough to feel longer – in a good way. I actually don’t think I can fault this in a single way, and I consequently enjoyed it a great deal. More from this author to come. A solid above average read. Recommended.  

Just Finished Reading: Divided – Why We’re Living in an Age of Walls by Tim Marshall (FP: 2018) [288pp] 

Walls, be they metaphorical, electronic or physical, seem to be THE topic presently. From the ‘Great Firewall of China’ to the ‘southern Border’ in the US, from the wall separating Israel from the Palestinians to the barriers between India and Pakistan, from the walls being erected on the borders of the European Union and calls for stricter interior controls and the rejection of the free movement of people by the UK in the Brexit vote, talk of walls – the need for more, bigger, wider, deeper – and protests against them has rarely been louder. But why? And why now? 

Walls have a LONG and chequered history. Normally they are built to keep people out, to restrict access to an area or country, to control who comes in. Sometimes they are the opposite – the Berlin Wall being the poster child for this sort of thing – and are designed to keep a population IN. All have failed to one degree or another – although the Berlin Wall was amongst the most successful certainly in modern times. Despite the catalogue of failure, the wall builders rarely give up and instead look for better walls full of gadgets, drones, cameras, and if you’re really serious of keeping people out, men with guns, mines and dogs trained to kill. Yet, people still come, people still get through – or escape. The problem with walls is that there’s often a wall around or through them – be it a ladder, a tunnel, a balloon or simply a bribe at the gate. Most rational wall builders know this. Walls will slow the movement of people, not stop it. Walls are an additional cost – monetary, psychological, emotional – to people looking to relocate. Often the additional cost is worth paying and the cost to be builders to prevent this can be eye-wateringly large. Is it even worth it? 

The issue here, as the author points out, is less practical than emotional. Walls might not make us safe, but they make us feel safer. Or at least that’s the idea. But living inside a wall also makes people feel besieged and under (at least potential) attack. They may feel (at least temporarily) safer but at the cost of increased anxiety. In many ways its completely understandable. We seem to be living in a particularly uncertain time. Ironically, it might have been the falling of one wall – in Berlin – that eventually led to so many of us either cowering behind our new walls or calling for them to be built. The Cold War – however potentially existential it was – provided at least the illusion of stability. Generally speaking, people knew what to expect from their own side and that of the ‘other’. The future, bleak though it might be, was a known quantity. Today we live in a much more complex multi-polar world where the future can be barely imagined (bleak though it is expected to be) much less planned for. The entirely natural instinct is to burrow in, hunker down and protect what you have – in other words, to start building walls or build existing walls all the higher. 

Taking a world tour of wall building – both existing and planned – the author shows (to a surprising extent I thought) the extent to wall building in regional hotspots and along contended and contentious border areas. Most of these walls I’d barely heard of as most talk, at least in the western media is about America’s southern border with Mexico. That is, sadly, not the only one, not the biggest or most expensive or most complex one. With global migration increasing due to conflict, climate pressure and other factors the numbers of people pressing up against walls across the world can only increase. The question for everyone, not just our politicians, is what we can, should, and will do about it. Bigger walls or a more managed and rational process. One way or another we’re going to find out. Definitely recommended, although it might depress you more than a little bit. Much more to come from this author. 

Happy Birthday: Audrey Kathleen Hepburn (née Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Hollywood cinema and was inducted into the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List.

Born into an aristocratic family in Ixelles, Brussels, Hepburn spent parts of her childhood in Belgium, England and the Netherlands. She attended boarding school in Kent, England from 1936 to 1939. With the outbreak of World War II, she returned to the Netherlands. During the war, Hepburn studied ballet at the Arnhem Conservatory and by 1944, she performed ballet to raise money to support the Dutch resistance. Hepburn studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam beginning in 1945 and with Marie Rambert in London from 1948. She began performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions and then had minor appearances in several films. Hepburn rose to stardom in the romantic comedy Roman Holiday (1953) alongside Gregory Peck, for which she was the first actress to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. That year, she also won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine.

Hepburn went on to star in a number of successful films such as Sabrina (1954), in which Humphrey Bogart and William Holden compete for her affection; Funny Face (1957), a musical in which she sang her own parts; the drama The Nun's Story (1959); the romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961); the thriller-romance Charade (1963), opposite Cary Grant; and the musical My Fair Lady (1964). In 1967, she starred in the thriller Wait Until Dark, receiving Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. After that, Hepburn only occasionally appeared in films, one being Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery. Her last recorded performances were in the 1990 documentary television series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming. In 1994, Hepburn's contributions to a spoken-word recording titled Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales earned her a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children. She stands as one of few entertainers who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards.

Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th be With You - Always....

I know we Brits do so like talking about the weather... But, JEEZE.... It's been raining, with a few short dry intervals - usually no longer that 2-3 days with the (very) occasional dry week - for about 12 MONTHS now. It's getting *silly*. The 2nd half of last year was the wettest since 1890... and its STILL raining.... I think we're LONGING for a bit of dry, even a drought would be a nice change at this point! 

Just Couldn’t Finish Reading: Biomimicry – Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M Benyus (FP: 1997) [297pp] 

My first (and hopefully last!) DNF of the Year. This was really quite disappointing as I’d been looking forward to reading this for a while. Biomimicry – using lessons from nature to improve or even design from the ground up better machines or processes – is a great way to short-cut the design process. Afterall, nature has been perfecting its processes for a LONG time. So, I was expecting things on solar cells and stuff (which are actually pictured on the cover) and much else besides. It started out OK and I actually enjoyed (mostly) the first chapter on farming except for the nagging feeling that the ideas being discussed just wouldn’t work in the real world!  

But what really turned me off – or rather made me increasingly reluctant to pick this up and engage further – were two things. Firstly, I felt that the author stayed far too long in the weeds – even if that was quite appropriate in the farming section – rather than discussing the ideas and fundamental underpinning of the viewpoint. Second, I found that the age of the book – which to be honest isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things – meant that her enthusiasm over a bit of technology was often redundant because it had either been shown to be a bad idea, had been superseded by something else or had been adopted as a standard and so had faded into the background.  

So, after 120 pages, I gave in and the DNF guillotine came down. Back in the day I’d give a book 50 pages before I’d DNF it (although sometimes it was a LOT less than that!). I think 120 pages is giving it a good go, so I’m not feeling guilty in any way, just disappointed. On to bigger and better things...      

...and so ends Book Month here at SaLT. I hope that you liked at least some of my posts. Now it's back to (ab)normal - except for a sight detour coming soon - until October. I see a whole WORLD of possibilities.

Just Finished Reading: The Late Monsieur Gallet by Georges Simenon (FP: 1931) [155pp] 

It was just a matter of luck – good or bad he had yet to decide. The King of Spain was visiting Paris, passing through really, and Inspector Maigret was the only one available for this rather seedy and seemingly straightforward case. At least it would get him out of the office and away from the sweltering city streets. On arrival at the scene of the crime – the Hotel de la Loire in Sancerre – his initial assessment was that something distinctly ‘odd’ had occurred. The victim, a travelling salesman and a regular at the hotel, had been shot AND stabbed without anyone seeing or hearing any kind of confrontation. Maigret considered, for a few moments, the possibility that it was a suicide, but the absence of the gun quashed that idea. So, murder it was. Then, almost immediately, things moved from simply odd to downright strange. When the Inspectors requests for information came back any kind of certainty had vanished. The dead man's name was a false one, as was his profession. He had, in fact, been leading a double life for years unknown to his family. But who leads such a life to stay in a hotel room and, seemingly, do nothing. There was no other woman involved, that was certain. So why the deception and why would anyone want to kill him for it? It would seem that the late Monsieur Gallet would need to answer quite a few questions before the investigation was over. It was such a shame that he was quite dead... 

This was my second Inspector Maigret outing. Whilst the first book revolved around a fairly complex crime, this was at least on the face of things a much simpler affair. The style of the writing was quite sublime and, as I thought numerous times, VERY French! Maigret himself is a wonderful character. He doesn’t say very much and seems, from an outside perspective, not particularly bright. But his mind, the way he weighs possibilities, the way he circles back to problems, the way he asks just the right question and just the right time and to just the right person is a delight to be a part of. He’s also relentless. If something can be found out, he’ll find it! Despite being (again) a very short novel this felt much longer – and in a very good way. I expect that was because it was just so immersive. You really felt you were with the Inspector as he walked the streets of Sancerre chatting to the locals and the Hotel manager about events in the village. Of the around 8-10 main characters all of them were well drawn and believable. Although at least some of the plot depended on a historical thread running through French life and culture – which the contemporary French readership would’ve been most familiar with – I did know enough about French history to understand it. But for modern readers not familiar with those ideas it's safe to simply recognise it as a plot point and move on – it’s not central to the overall narrative. To be honest I can’t fault this book in the least. I fell into it almost from the first line and emerged a few days later as if I’d spent a few weeks in France during a hot dry summer. As you might be able to tell by now, I LOVED every minute of the experience. I may not be able to read all 75 Maigret novels (!), but I’m going to try for the first 20 or so. HIGHLY recommended to all classic crime and French literature fans.  

Translated from the French by Anthea Bell

Happy Birthday: Mary Wollstonecraft (27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationships at the time, received more attention than her writing. Today Wollstonecraft is regarded as one of the founding feminist philosophers, and feminists often cite both her life and her works as important influences.

During her brief career she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.

After two ill-fated affairs, with Henry Fuseli and Gilbert Imlay (by whom she had a daughter, Fanny Imlay), Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William Godwin, one of the forefathers of the anarchist movement. Wollstonecraft died at the age of 38 leaving behind several unfinished manuscripts. She died 11 days after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley, who became an accomplished writer and the author of Frankenstein.

Just Finished Reading: Waiting for War – Britain 1939-1940 by Barry Turner (FP: 2019) [342pp] 

Despite the expectation of many, after war was declared on Germany on 3rd September 1939 nothing happened. The expected air attacks did not occur despite an overzealous sounding of an air-alarm siren moments after the announcement. The so-called ‘Phoney War’ had begun and would last 8 months. It was a strange time for everyone. 

Most people's experience of war had ended in 1918. For those not involved in the front lines, and especially for those not living in London or on the South coast, they had practically no idea of what was going to happen next. Naturally the government sent out ‘information’ leaflets which were, as usual, not that informative. The overriding message, it seemed, was not to panic and that most things would continue pretty much as usual. Even after war was declared the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain still hoped that Hitler could see the error of his ways and come back into the family of nations. Hence the dropping of leaflets, rather than bombs, on Germany in the early months. Unsurprisingly these had very little effect. Actually, the RAF was quite keen to start dropping bombs on German targets but were constrained by Government restrictions against damaging private property (I kid you not) and angering Hitler resulting in him being pushed further from the negotiation table. 

Meanwhile, in England, wartime restrictions had come into place – including a countrywide blackout. Most of this was completely pointless and, paradoxically, caused a lot more injuries and even deaths than any enemy action did. Likewise, the evacuation of hospital patients away from the capital and the restriction of the availability of hospital beds (in anticipation of mass casualties due to bombing) caused people to miss their required procedures thereby probably hastening their deaths – and still, week after week, without any enemy action. Along with hospital patients and the elderly living in the predicted ‘danger zones’, thousands of mothers and young children were moved out into safer areas to prevent both mass casualties and mass panic during the expected bombing. It wasn’t long before people started moving back into places like London and other cities because of the many practicalities overlooked by government guidelines. 

One thing that did interest me was the issue of gasmasks. Although gas was never used it was thought that it might well be, so every adult (and child) in the country was issued with a mask and was required to carry it on them at all times. Failure to do so could get you a talking to by the police or even the issue of a fine. When it became obvious that gas wasn’t going to be an issue a growing number of people simply stopped carrying them. After a while the police & the government just had to turn a blind eye to this to save on the effort of enforcing a non-sensical rule. [Side note: for years in High school the bag I used to carry my books & stuff in was my dad's gasmask case which was quite brilliant. I loved it!] 

With the Second World War being an unprecedented event, it's hardly a shock that at least some of the government’s plans were either irrelevant or actually counterproductive. Partially it was various departments working at cross purposes or interpreting instructions in various conflicting ways. Partially, of course, it was the result of guesswork that had to be rolled back or rescinded once policy hit hard reality. Partially it seemed to be the reluctance of the Chamberlain government to accept reality – they were at war and sooner or later war-like things were going to start happening. This was an interesting insight into some of the chaos in the early months of the conflict and particularly how the ‘Phoney War’ impacted civil society. I think, for me, the thing that stood out the most was the cynicism and scepticism of the public and their willingness to break what they saw as pointless regulations. Maybe the people in that time were not as compliant as we assume they had been. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the early part of WW2 and its impact on the average person in the street.   

I think the only one of those I don't like is the Double Decker.... 

Just Finished Reading: Ghosts of Empire by George Mann (FP: 2017) [292pp] 

London, 1927. It was supposed to be a much-needed vacation, especially after the incidents in New York which very nearly ended all of their lives. But Gabriel was a man of action, a crime fighter and dedicated enemy of monsters, so visiting historic sites in London and sitting in fancy restaurants for too long was starting to bore him. Luckily their late guest provided much of interest, especially as he arrived covered in his own blood and was barely alive. Unable to tell Gabriel who attacked him or why it was clearly time to his alter-ego known simply as ‘The Ghost’ to investigate further. It wasn’t long before his friend's attackers showed their hand again in an all-out assault using esoteric magic the like of which the Ghost/Gabriel had never seen before. There was far more going on here than a simple attack, something dark, something sinister and, so it seemed, something very Russian. The Ghost couldn’t fight such a force on his own. Even his friends, as capable as they were, would not be enough. Luckily for the Ghost he was far from alone. Operating in the shadows, watching, waiting and gathering strength was an element of the British Secret Service dedicated to fighting the Empire’s supernatural enemies. After the end of the Great War and the recommencement of the ‘Great Game’ they knew that the Russian Empire would be itching to strike at the very heart of Albion itself – and Gabriel Cross, AKA The Ghost – had just walked right into the middle of it. 

This was the 4th and final book in the Ghost series. Whilst not my favourite – that was the 2nd book Ghosts of War – this was still a FUN romp in a crazy mixed-up steampunk, Lovecraftian, gothic Batmanesque world. It did start off rather slow but ramped up quickly once the action started. Some of the characters from previous novels got a bit more into the action this time – Gabriel's cop-friends wife actually got some ‘acting’/action time here and proved herself capable with the pistol – although some got trimmed back a bit – Ginny was definitely toned down as she had become quite powerful in the last book, being inhabited by a shard of an Egyptian god and all that.... The one I really missed was Astrid, the New York witch, who I really liked and wanted to see more of. I did like some of the British spies – both the boss and the girl had some depth of character to them – and the baddies were suitably BAD although maybe a little too weak. Much of the magic work was reasonable (reminding me of Dr Strange more than anything else) but much was very well done. The final ‘boss fight’ was slightly disappointing but not too much so. Overall, it was a pretty good outing and I enjoyed it. It was interesting that more attention was paid to the use of magic in the Great War than had been hinted at before but it's possible that the general public wasn’t aware of it as the information came during an exposition by the head Secret Service guy, but that would cast the conflict in a whole different light. Personally, I’m still totally intrigued by the whole idea of monsters from other dimensions living & feeding in no-man's land. That STILL sends shivers down my back! Looking forward to more novels/series from this author. More to come. Above average stuff and, therefore, recommended. At last, a FINISHED series – time to start two more!!