The African Trilogy: Arrow of God (1964) By Chinua Achebe

 

The Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe is considered the second book of what has become known as The African Trilogy, independently written books which collectively create a timeline of colonialism in Nigeria.

I read and blogged the first book Things Fall Apart about a year ago.  In it, the arrival of Christian missionaries in Nigeria, is revealed as “the advance team” of colonialism.  Arrow of God represents the second act; English colonizers have arrived and established their military superiority over the country.  The conquerors then begin the groundwork of establishing “indirect rule” by anointing local villagers with government titles, largely bypassing the traditional Igbo village leadership structure. Of course, their selections are based on a loyalty test, not to the villages but to British magistrates.

In the book, Ezeulu, the Chief Priest of the six villages of the (fictional) Umuaro people, is the key protagonist.  He recognizes what is happening and resists the destruction of their way-of-life.  Yet, he also realizes his resistance is futile, the country having been militarily conquered will be completely colonized whether he likes it or not.  This is the source of the book’s title: Arrow of God, roughly and fatalistically translated from “God’s way.” So being, he sends one of his sons to missionary school to learn the way of the white man.   

This gets complicated. Ezeulu at first declines an invitation to come meet with the British Administrator, saying that he should come visit him in the village. He changes his mind the next day.  By then however, the Administrator has become seriously ill and hospitalized. In a comedy of errors, and as further proof of British arrogance, the Administrator’s subordinates, not knowing why he wanted to see Ezeulu, hold him as a prisoner for over two months. By the time the Administrator becomes well and offers to make Ezeulu a government appointed leader, the damage has been done.  Ezeulu declines.

The story ends with the Christian missionaries sabotaging Ezeulu’s power as Chief Priest with power over the planting/harvesting cycle of the village, by creating a Christian Harvest Festival to compete with/replace the traditional New Yam Festival.

The third book in The African Trilogy, No Longer at Ease, is on my reading list for later this year.

Recommendation:  Yes, an interesting primer on colonization.

Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit (2017) By Chris Matthews

 

Despite my interest in politics, I did not rush to read Chris Matthews’ biography of Bobby Kennedy when it was published on the 50-year anniversary of the Senator’s assassination. I felt at the time Matthews was too close to the Kennedy family to be objective.  On reflection, I realized John Kennedy, with brother Bobby as his campaign manager, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1952, the year before I was born. The Kennedy clan has been in the headlines my entire life, as any American my age can attest, it can be said we are all “too close” to be objective.

Without meaning, my first political act (at age 7) involved John Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign. One of my classmate’s Aunt was a precinct captain working the polling place at Crisman Elementary School where I was in second grade. When my classmates and I went out for recess Aunt Honey taught us to serenade voters with: "Kennedy, Kennedy, he’s our man. Nixon belongs in the garbage can."  A few years later, JFK’s assassination, when I was in fifth grade, was the first significant world event in my life I can recall, and like most people at the time, I can recall it in great detail.

By the time I hit high school I was a confirmed current events junkie, and what a tumultuous time it was: Freedom Marches & police dogs across the South. White flight to the suburbs across the North. The USS Pueblo. The crushing of Prague Spring when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. The Vietnam War with its patently racist draft policy. The TET offensive. The massive anti-war demonstrations which divided the country at the family level. The New Hampshire primary where Gene McCarthy garnered nearly half the vote against an incumbent President, prompting LBJ's famous “I will not seek, nor will I accept” statement. The delayed entry of Bobby Kennedy into the Presidential race. The emergence of segregationist Governor George Wallace as a political force. The assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, followed by riots across the country. The assassination of Bobby Kennedy after his decisive win in the California Primary, and the ensuing collective grief of a nation in shock. And then the Democratic National Convention riots in Chicago. All of this mind you in one horrendous year, 1968, which climaxed the exhaustive backstory of Chris Matthew’s book. 

My concern about the author being too close to the Kennedy family proved to be overstated.  That closeness allowed for many insights on the family. The Kennedys were not angels, far from, neither on the policy front, nor the political front -- they definitely weren't classic liberals. Clearly, Bobby excelled at the “toughness” that is a requirement of American politics.  He held a grudge and had a vindictive streak in him.  There is a reason he was known as JFK’s enforcer.  Yet, Bobby also had a philosopher's vision of America and the World, the way it could be.

A Tiny Ripple of Hope

The book ends with Bobby’s burial. It includes excerpts from Bobby’s most famous speech, A Tiny Ripple of Hope,  given to the National Union of South African Students at the University of Cape Town exactly two years prior to his assassination. The speech provided hope and a historical perspective to problems that then plagued the world, and still do. 

Recommendation: Yes, enough time has passed. It is also a good choice for younger readers who may not quite understand America's enduring fascination with the Kennedys.

To hell with Cronje (2002 Afrikaans, 2007 English) By Ingrid Winterbach

 

To understand the novel To hell with Cronje by Ingrid Winterbach, it helps to know a little something about the Boer War(s).  When I began reading the book I knew next to nothing, so I watched this documentary on YouTube to bring me up to speed: Boer War documentary.  

In a simplification, the Boer Wars were between the descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa who were primarily farmers, and the next set of colonizers, the British. Before the war, the coastal settlements of the English had expressed little interest in the interior farmlands. That changed with the discovery of large deposits of gold in the Transvaal region.  With their superior numbers the British won using a slash and burn strategy directed not only at military targets, but also civilian. The Boers (the Dutch) however proved to be not easy to defeat, maddeningly using a guerilla fighting strategy, inflicting a high casualty cost on the invaders.

The book tells the story of two men, a botanist and a geologist, who joined the civilian Boer fighters. Their descriptions of the countryside throughout the book are fascinating and at times beautiful. When the war began turning against the Boers, they like many of the other volunteers, while adamantly anti-British, began to become disillusioned. After one particularly horrific battle, they are assigned to escort a young teen boy back to his mother’s house after he has witnessed the battle death of his older brother. On the way they get encamped with another Boer contingent who suspect they were not on assignment but are possibly deserters.

The topics covered in the book are many, including post-traumatic shock, suffered not only by the boy, but by others.  The impact of long separation from one’s family and not be able to get word to them, or from them, also plays an important subplot, as does the death of comrades who died protecting gold mines they did not own, while losing their farms to the cause.  Foremost is the internal debate between those ready to give up the war, and those who want to fight until the last death.

One of the more interesting subplots was when the botanist and geologist are caused to give descriptions of their respective fields of education (it was a mere 40 years since the publication of Charles Darwin’s explosively controversial On The Origin of Species). They were being called upon to explain evolution to men who were turning to religion to get them through the chaos of war and had known only the creation story from the Bible, which for many of them was the only book they had ever read.   

To hell with Cronje is decidedly a futility of war book. Through my read of it I had a desire to contrast it with All Quiet on the Western Front, perhaps the most anti-war book ever written.  It compares well, yet I found the extensive personal subplots in To hell with Cronje more complete, and even more frightening.

Recommendation: Yes.  Be forewarned, you will utilize the glossary in the English translation version.

A Piece of the World (2018) By Christina Baker Kline

 

When A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline was published in January of 2018, it went straight to the top of the New York Times Bestseller List, and for two good reason: the author’s proven fan base from her #1 Bestselling book Orphan Train, and legions of art museumgoers wanting to know more about one of America’s best-known artists, Andrew Wyeth. 

Kline’s book is a fictional narrative built around the young woman pictured in Wyeth’s famous painting Christina’s World.  

Christina is the daughter of a Swedish sailor named Olson who leaves the sea to settle down with a farm girl.  Her family’s linage dates back to the Salem Witch Trials, one of her ancestors was the sentencing judge. To escape the shame of that fundamentalism, her predecessors changed the spelling of their surname and moved to rural Maine.  Christina will grow up on a farm along with two brothers. As they age, Christina will begin to feel the impact of a steadily worsening unknown congenital disease that will leave her unable to walk.  She will not get better, she knows it, and she knows the farm will forever be the extent of her world.

She will develop only one real friendship, that with a young woman named Betsy, whose family spend their summers in Maine.  When Betsy meets and marries Andrew Wyeth, he too will begin spending his summers in Maine.  Already a successful artist, Andy will need a studio to work in.  Betsy will introduce him to Christina, suggesting that he can use the third floor of the old farmhouse as his workspace.

That arrangements goes on each summer for the rest of their lives.  Wyeth, observing respectfully but not judging Christina medical condition and her farm family’s apparent poverty (they have no electricity or in-door plumbing). Some of Wyeth’s most famous paintings will be of the farm, her family and of her – including Christina’s World, which now is part of the Museum of Modern Art permanent collection.

When I finished this book, I wanted more.  There is not a movie of the book, at least not yet.  What I did find (on Amazon Prime Video) was a very good PBS documentary American Masters: Andrew Wyeth. 

Recommendation:  Definitely, book and the Wyeth documentary.

Pickwick Papers (1836) By Charles Dickens

 

Like everyone educated in an English-speaking country, I have read or been exposed to multiple works by Charles Dickens, one of if not the most prolific writers of all time.  His body of work contains several literary classics, including Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol.

In 1970 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of his death, Heron Books published his complete works in green and gold faux leather bindings.  I subscribed to that centennial publication while still in high school, and still have all 36 volumes -- of course, they are a little worse for wear, I have been moving them around with me all these years. 

Many I have read at least once, but not all.  Yesterday I finished reading the first of the two volumes of Pickwick Papers, Dicken’s first novel.  It was printed in serialization before being collected in book form in 1836.  It was an immediate commercial success. It is also completely funny – even some 185 years later.

The Pickwick Papers are the records of The Pickwick Club, named after its founder and President, Mr. Samuel Pickwick.  The club is a fictional cross between garden variety literary clubs, and a spoof of the Royal Geographic Society.  Its members travel the English countryside and make their observations of the culture and livelihood of its residents, to further the knowledge of club members and for posterity. 

If you begin Pickwick Papers taking it seriously you will soon discover that is not the point. It is entertainment and it is very funny, with a touch of knife-between-the-ribs thrown in for social commentary. 

If I may be so bold, one could call Pickwick Papers a precursor of Laurel & Hardy, and Monty Python making its movie adaptation a natural.  The 1952 version is priceless.  

1952 Movie

Recommendation:  Yes, book and movie.

The Soong Sisters (1941) By Emily Hahn

 

It would be difficult to overstate the influence the Soong sisters had on Twentieth Century China. To their parents and family friends they were Ailing, Chingling, and Meiling. To the rest of the world they were: Madame Kung, wife of the Chinese banking tycoon H.H. Kung; Madame Sun, wife of Dr. Sun Yat-sen the “father” of the post-dynastic Chinese Republic; and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of Generalisimo then President of Nationalist China.  All three stood at the side of their illustrious husbands, sometimes in front of them, not behind them.  While the book is definitely political reporting, it is also a fascinating personal family history.

Born in Shanghai during the final decades of the Manchu dynasty, China’s final imperial dynasty, the sisters were the daughters of Charlie Soong, a successful businessman and his wife.  There were also two brothers, one would eventually run the family business, the other would grow-up to be the first Finance Minister of the Republic.

While his wife confined her role to mother and homemaker in the traditional style of Chinese culture, Charlie who was educated in America, was adamant all of the children, including his daughters, would also be educated in America. He would send his daughters to Wesleyan University in Macon, Georgia.  It was founded by the Methodist Church in 1836 and was the first American university to convey degrees to women.  All of the Soong children would return to China after completing their educations.

At the time of their return China was going through massive rapidly changing political upheaval.  After overthrowing the dynasty, many factions were competing for power while Dr. Sun served for a period as a transitional figurehead.  The main factions were the Communist Party eventually headed by Mao Tse Tung; and what would become the Nationalist Party, headed by Chiang Kai-Shek, with a factional split between the north based in Beijing and the south based in Nanking. 

The Soong Sisters separately supported different factions, at times significantly stressing family relations.  Madame Sun, who was the keeper of Dr. Sun’s political legacy was an advocate of working with the Communists because they addressed the needs of the peasantry.  Madame Chiang Kai-Shek was ruthless in her support of the Nationalists, defined by her as her husband.  And Madame Kung, as oligarchs always do, supported whoever was in power. The sisters and their differing politics were well known to the Chinese public.

Detractors of the Soong sisters normally describe them this way: “one loved money, one loved power; and one loved her country.”  Clearly, Emily Hahn, the author of this book found that to be an unfair description.  All three loved China, in their own way, and it would be accurate to say they also loved each other. 

The concluding chapter of the book documents the importance of the three of them coming together to advocate for a national unity effort to counter Japan’s invasion of China, and to warn foreign interests (including the U.S.) they could help China rebuff Japan now, which they did not, or they could pay for it later, which they did on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor.

EmilyHahn was an American journalist, author, and regular contributor to the New Yorker Magazine.  She lived in Shanghai during much of the time period of the book and had social access to China’s merchant class, including the Soongs.  Her journalism claim-to-fame was her interviews with Madame Chiang Kai-Shek. Hahn is also one of the key characters in Taras Grescoe’s novel Shanghai Grand.

The Soong Sisters -- complete movie

As always, a movie was made of The Soong Sisters.  It is on YouTube with English subtitles and it is excellent.

Recommendation:  Yes, both book and movie.  Real history buffs should read The Soong Sisters and Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China (biography of Mao Tse Tung).

Breakfast of Champions (1973) By Kurt Vonnegut

 

Once you have read a few of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels, you have learned to expect the bizarre.  Classify them as science fiction, or comedy, or biting social commentary, but expect dry humor, with no sacred cows. 

Expect too the reappearance of some familiar characters.  And in Breakfast of Champions, expect Vonnegut, as the book’s author (using the pseudonym Philboy Sludge) to have first person conversations with the characters he has created, including threatening to uncreate them.

Breakfast of Champions, published in 1973, and comically illustrated with juvenile line art, is a riot.

The lead character in the book is Dwayne Hoover, owner of the Pontiac dealership in Midland City, Ohio.  He is the town’s most prominent citizen.  As such he has been asked to spearhead the opening the new Arts Center.  In that role he will accept the recommendation of Eliot Rosewater of the Rosewater Foundation (and main character in Vonnegut’s God Bless You Mr. Rosewater) on who should be the honorary guest at the ceremony.  His recommendation is Kilgore Trout, Rosewater’s favorite author. Midland City is excited to have an oft published writer for its opening even though no one in town knows anything about him.

Trout, who appears in several Vonnegut novels, writes science fiction articles.  While they are widely published, they are almost never read. Trout sells his articles to porn magazines. His stories are used as filler between photo spreads. And we aren’t talking Playboy Magazine, the magazines that buy Trout’s stories are more along the lines of Hustler, hardcore pornography lawsuits waiting to happen.  Rosewater reads them “for the articles.” 

Trout will hitchhike from New York City to Midland City to accept the honor.  His travel escapades along the way are … well, memorable.

Once in Midland, Sludge (Vonnegut) will stop by the bar at the hotel where guests are staying.  There he will observe them, and then have a conversation with his characters, wrapping the story up.

There is an additional character in the book named Wayne Hoobler.  He is a Black man who has recently been released from a correctional facility.  He idolizes and works for Dwayne Hoover.  With intentionally similar names, Wayne is economically and socially the polar opposite of Dwayne.  This works perfectly as a social commentary, though distracting from its message is Vonnegut’s frequent use of the “N” work to reflect the "reality" of the times.

Recommendation:  Not for everyone, but if you like Vonnegut’s other works, you’ll love this.