Dead Wake, Erik Larson

 

Dead Wake:  The last crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

Started: 12/24/2022
Completed: 12/29/2022
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: My mother

Review:

I like the way that Erik Larson writes and that is why this book gets a mild recommendation.  He did a good job of moving perspectives and coalescing disparate stories from the numerous passengers.  The problem, in my eyes, is that he didn't really address the consequence of the Lusitania being sunk.  He addressed the aftermath, but the real story, in my opinion, is how it changed the course of the US entrance into World War I.  Here, it seems almost incidental.  We get details (like Wilson golfing the next day) and a gaffe from the German PR machine, but it isn't clear that the Lusitania mattered.  Maybe it didn't (that is not what was taught in school), but I'm not clear on that score either.  As a result the book is both richly detailed and suffering from a lack of detail.  Ah well. 

Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng

 

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Started: 12/20/2022
Completed: 12/24/2022
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

The writing is good, but I was not terribly fond of where the plot went.  It is important to understand how the US government has used children to enforce "morality."  This story, however, is largely told from the children's point of view and nobody gets what they want (not the government, not the parents, and surely not the children).  In that sense the book sort of feels like a twisted pile of anxiety.  Nothing seems to work for anyone with an impending sense that there is a general heading toward the authoritarian type of government that shows up in the Handmaid's Tale.  I don't know what to say or think, but I definitely did not find this book uplifting.

The Revolutionary, Stacy Schiff

 

The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff is another biography of a founder.  I find these compelling.

Started: 12/11/2022
Completed: 12/19/2022
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

emendation -- the process of making a revision or a correction to a text.

Review:

I have never read a review of Samuel Adams and, sadly, knew him more for beer.  A three term governor of Massachusetts and signer of the Constitution.  I know a lot about John Adams, but his older cousin has escaped my notice.  This was an interesting biography and I feel like I learned a lot.  In point of fact, however, Schiff has little history with which to work as his papers were largely destroyed (by him and others) and his work was, perforce, under the radar.  I had no awareness of his involvement (purported or otherwise) in the Boston Tea Party or as the owner of the Boston Gazette.

All The Devils Are Here, Louise Penny

 

All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny is the next book in the Armand Gamash series.

Started: 12/5/2022
Completed: 12/11/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: My Parents

Review:

Once again, Penny delivers.  This book had a little more action then I like.  It also plucked at heart strings which I kind of realized from the start.  Putting Gamash in Paris can only be for some deeper look at Daniel's character.  Yes, Annie is having a baby, but that immediately felt like a pretense.  Penny did pull at heart strings and she plucked rather unendingly leaving me emotionally wrung out by the end.  That isn't all bad.

Servants of the Damned, David Enrich

 

Servants of the Damned:  Giant law firms, Donald Trump, and the corruption of justice by David Enrich

Started: 11/30/2022
Completed: 12/5/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: My wife

Review:

This book made me angry.  It is another example of too much power being concentrated in the hands of a few via monstrous wealth.  It did show me that corporations are a much larger problem then I thought.  It is not simply greed, but the dismantling of our society in the interest of corporations.  Every few minutes, I was astounded by what was being recounted.  Most of this is one law firm, Jones-Day.  It is shocking and unlikely to be typical.  Just takes my breath away and makes my head spin.