THEY WANT to KILL AMERICANS: THE MILITIAS, TERRORISTS, and DERANGED IDEOLOGY of the TRUMP INSURGENCY (audiobook) by Malcolm Nance

 

Published by Macmillan Audio in July of 2022.

Read by Ari Fliakos.
Duration: 10 hours, 30 minutes.
Unabridged.

Malcolm Nance served for 20 years in the U.S. Navy in cryptology. His work led him to work in intelligence and counter-terrorism. Since his retirement from the military he has worked an additional 20 years as a consultant to the military, as a college lecturer on the topic of counter-terrorism, and as the head of a think tank.

Nance applied what he knows about terrorism to the January 6 Riot and comes up with a series of disturbing conclusions.

Nance is concerned that the most extreme elements of the MAGA movement have gone beyond rhetoric and casual flirtation with militia movements and have actively engaged with them. This book was published in July of 2022 but yesterday (November 29, 2022) two leaders of the Oath Keepers militia were found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their actions at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Why was a fringe militia group in Washington, D.C. on that date? In the trial it was established that one of the reasons they were there was to provide security for speakers and VIPs at the Trump rally that immediately preceded the attack on the Capitol.

Nance's point would be that it should be a major point of concern when politicians move from official security to armed thugs who are not answerable to official authority. They become a private army.

Roger Stone in a golf cart with his Oathkeeper security forces.
Click on the picture to get a larger image and read the shoulder
patch of the man at the wheel of the cart. Do you want your
President's advisors to hang out with violent, organized gangs?
What does that mean for our political future?

Roger Stone has been a Republican campaign strategist since the days of Richard Nixon. He is an infamous dirty trickster. He was an advisor to former President Trump - close enough that he received an official Presidential pardon from Trump when Stone was convicted of lying to Congress. Roger Stone met with the Oathkeepers and the Proud Boys multiple times before the election. It is well-documented because Stone was participating in a documentary. He was quite open about using violence to overturn the results of the election and he was clearly hanging out taking selfies and posing for photos with two violent militia groups in the days before January 6.

This book provides a handy guide to the militia movement in the United States. He provides recent histories, ideologies, relative strengths, and connections to the GOP establishment. Some of them are shockingly well connected.  It is sobering and more than a little depressing to see how low the GOP has sunk. Can you imagine Ronald Reagan even acknowledging the existence of a group like the Proud Boys, let alone letting them speak with his advisors and telling them to, "Stand back and stand by" in a national televised debate. The Proud Boys were encouraged, not dissuaded. 

Some might argue that groups like the Proud Boys are really a response to Antifa. It is not an unreasonable argument. Antifa is a real thing and they can be violent street brawlers. The difference is that Antifa is not serving as bodyguards for Democrat politicians. They are not serving as Joe Biden's off-the-books muscle. 

This book is unlikely to change the mind of your hard-core MAGA uncle, but it does offer a sobering analysis of the situation the American republic finds itself in. It is good to have a long and hard look at this side of our political situation. This is a depressing and important work.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THEY WANT to KILL AMERICANS: THE MILITIAS, TERRORISTS, and DERANGED IDEOLOGY of the TRUMP INSURGENCY (audiobook) by Malcolm Nance.

IF THIS ISN'T NICE, WHAT IS? (EVEN MORE) EXPANDED THIRD EDITION: THE GRADUATION SPEECHES and OTHER WORDS to LIVE BY by Kurt Vonnegut

 

Published in 2020 by Seven Stories Press.
Edited by Dan Wakefield.
Introduction by Dan Wakefield.

Many of the well-known quotes from Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) were not actually in his novels - they came from speeches he gave (mostly) in the latter half of his career. Vonnegut became quite a popular deliverer of graduation speeches. And why not? He was witty, irreverent and sometimes came up with a great quote like this one: "Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody want to maintain it." (p. 230)

The title of this book comes from a story that Vonnegut has included in other essays. Vonnegut had two uncles who responded very differently to his World War II experiences. His Uncle Dan congratulated Vonnegut for having gone to war as a boy and come back as a man. 

His Uncle Alex was a different sort of man. The kind of man who encouraged everyone to notice the good things of life as they happen around us. "...when life was most agreeable - and it could be just a pitcher of lemonade in the shade - he would say, 'If this isn't nice, what is?'" He goes on to note, "If he hadn't said that so regularly, maybe five or six times a month we might not have paused to notice how rewarding life can be sometimes." (p. 135)

An illustration from the book
and the inspiration for the cover.

The book has several of Vonnegut's unique illustrations with their own distinctive Vonnegut style. The book is printed with multiple colors and is literally one of the most attractive looking paperback books I have held in my hands. 

The quality of speeches is all over the place. If you read a lot of Vonnegut, you are used to him rambling along in a seemingly pointless way with any number of weird observations and then he suddenly he drops a profound thought. Some of these are very much that way. Some are strong throughout and some are kind of weak. Having said that, this collection could serve as a fine introduction to a reader who is starting to read Vonnegut's essays. 

I rate this collection 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: IF THIS ISN'T NICE, WHAT IS? (EVEN MORE) EXPANDED THIRD EDITION: THE GRADUATION SPEECHES and OTHER WORDS to LIVE BY by Kurt Vonnegut.
 

STRENGTH for the FIGHT: THE LIFE and FAITH of JACKIE ROBINSON (Library of Religious Biography) (audiobook) by Gary Scott Smith

 

Published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company in October of 2022.
Read by Shamaan Casey.
Duration: 10 hours, 57 minutes.
Unabridged.

Jackie Robinson. 

He is an icon of sports. And politics. And American history.

All fans of baseball know at least the broad strokes of the story of Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) and how he integrated baseball. This book offers a detailed re-telling of that story with a twist - a look at how Jackie Robinson's faith led him to this path and helped sustain him.

Robinson's early life, his time in service during World War II and his college sports career and his relationship with his wife are all covered. The biggest single part of the book is, appropriately, the story of how he and Branch Rickey (the head of the Brooklyn Dodgers) worked together to integrate Major League Baseball in 1947. The book also looks at how Rickey's faith led him to act to make the world a more just place by acting in such a symbolic manner.

Jackie Robinson stealing home.

I am not going to go through all of the details of Robinson's life - that's what the book is for. This book covers it all pretty thoroughly right up until his death in 1972. Sometimes, it was a little slow and repetitive about how Robinson demonstrated his faith. On the whole, though, it was a good listen.

The audiobook was read by Shamaan Casey. He had a perfect voice deep solemn voice for narrating this book. The only complaint I had was that he mispronounced several people's names, including singer/civil rights activist Harry Belafonte and baseball players Orel Hershiser and Derek Jeter. I don't look at this as necessarily the fault of the reader - if you don't know the name, you don't know the name. In my mind, the producer or director of the audiobook should have caught and corrected the mistakes. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: STRENGTH for the FIGHT: THE LIFE and FAITH of JACKIE ROBINSON (Library of Religious Biography) (audiobook) by Gary Scott Smith.

THE FIRE NEXT TIME (audiobook) by James Baldwin

 

Published in 2008 by Blackstone Audio.
Originally published in 1963.

Read by Jesse L. Martin.
Duration: 2 hours, 45 minutes.
Unabridged.

James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an African-American essayist, playwright, poet and novelist. This book is a collection of two lengthy essays on race and religion in the United States. The book comes from a line from the song Mary Don't You Weep:

God gave Noah the rainbow sign
No more water, the fire next time.

The first essay is in the format of a letter to his nephew entitled "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation."  As suggested by the title, it is about America's ugly racial history, including incidents from Baldwin's life.

The second, longer essay is "Down at the Cross: A Region in my Mind." This is a discussion of religion in America, including how Christianity had been warped into a tool to prop up a social structure that kept whites on top and blacks on the bottom waiting for their justice to come in the afterlife. It includes an interesting story of a dinner he had with the head of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad at Muhammad's home. 

The author in 1964.

This is a short audiobook, but it is an intense one. It clocks in at 2 hours and 45 minutes, but feels much longer because there is not an ounce of fluff anywhere to be found. The reader is the veteran Broadway, film and movie actor Jesse L. Martin and I think he hit the right tone throughout. 

While reading this audiobook I decided to do some research on James Baldwin because I was woefully ignorant except to recognize his photograph and the time period that he wrote in. I found this video of a debate between Baldwin and William F. Buckley, one of the founders of the modern Conservative movement. It is an excellent summary of what Baldwin says in this audiobook. Buckley is a renowned debater but he gets his clock cleaned in this debate because Baldwin is so good and Buckley has chosen to defend the indefensible. 

I rate this audibook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE FIRE NEXT TIME (audiobook) by James Baldwin.

DESERT STAR (Renee Ballard /Harry Bosch mystery) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

 

Published in November of 2022.
Read by Titus Welliver, Christine Lakin, and Peter Giles.
Duration: 9 hours, 37 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

The latest Harry Bosch novel has Bosch returning to work with LAPD as a retired volunteer. Renee Ballard was offered a chance to "write her own ticket" because of her work (and very ugly internal politics) in the last novel.

With the help of a sponsor on the city council, she re-established the cold case unit. It has a shoestring of budget and she is the only full time officer in the unit. Everyone else is a volunteer with different skills - a former prosecutor who helps with search warrants, a former FBI field agent, an expert in making family connections with DNA results, an officer who retired early due to health reasons are part of the team. But, Ballard's biggest catch for the team is her sometime unofficial partner - retired LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch.

Bosch may be old (70+) but he is up on the current technology and trends and he makes a big impact right away with some new ideas to apply to old case files. It's a good thing because that sponsor from the city council wants the unit to solve a cold case from his past...

My review:

One of the things I like best about this series is the fact that Michael Connelly has decided to let Harry Bosch age. Some characters, like James Bond, don't age. That has advantages in a thriller - the character can take a punch, he can run, he can romance the pretty girl.

But, over time it doesn't make sense.

More importantly, to me anyway, when the character doesn't age it is saying that old characters don't have much to offer if they can't run fast and beat up a room full of bad guys. Bosch has got a bum leg, an old Jeep and is a bit of a grump. But, he is full of drive, has no bigger ambitions than solving the next murder case and has lots and lots of spare time. 

The first 80% is a top notch police procedural. Some of the best Connelly has written. The last 20% of the book is good, too, but it is marred by a nonsensical plot point (see spoiler "note" down below) that makes it seem a bit more contrived.

It is clear that Connelly has put Bosch on a timer of sorts and this is one of the last Bosch books. I can respect that - Bosch books have been coming out for the last 30 years and Connelly is 66 years old. He still has time to end the series the way he wants to rather than have it go on in substitute author limbo like has happened to so many other authors like Robert B. Parker and his Spenser and Jesse Stone novels. 

Fans of Harry Bosch should not mourn yet. This book clearly is the first part of a two part series within the series. Bosch and his half brother Mickey Haller have a case to work on.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DESERT STAR (Renee Ballard /Harry Bosch mystery) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly.

*****Spoiler note*****

Harry heads off literally across the country from L.A. to Key West to confront a suspect without a cell phone. His cell phone is stuck in a car impound lot because his car was part of a crime scene. Throughout the whole book he has been texting, emailing, filming and recording with his phone. He is not a stereotypical old guy who has no idea how to use his phone and doesn't see a use for it. 

Connelly gives an explanation, but I think that the character Harry Bosch would have picked up a burner phone, got hold of Ballard and had her pass the phone number on to others while he was flying to Florida.

TREASURE STATE: A CASSIE DEWELL NOVEL (audiobook) by C.J. Box

 

Published in 2022 by Macmillan Audio.
Read by Christina Delaine.
Duration: 9 hours, 20 minutes.
Unabridged.

Montana private investigator Cassie Dewell's latest adventures are actually two overlapping cases. One involves a hidden treasure of gold coins. Clues to the treasure were written by an unknown poet who wrote them in a poem on a dry erase board (the "daily specials" board) in a small town restaurant. Dewell is ostensibly hired by the author to see if the treasure can be found by tracing the author's literary footprint. I was immediately struck by the thought that a treasure hunt inspired by a poem story line had already been explored in the TV show Longmire. I would imagine that a great proportion of C.J. Box readers are also Longmire viewers.

The second case involves a swindler who finds lonely wealthy widows, romances them and bilks them out of some of their money with fake investments. Another private investigator from Florida had come to Montana with a lead but disappeared. Dewell picks up the case and finds more than she bargains for...

****

This was a hit and miss book for me.

Cassie Dewell has always been C.J. Box's second series when compared to his work with Joe Pickett. There are fewer Dewell novels and they tend to have more extreme plot twists like deaths of main characters, career changes, moving to different states and more. This book at least offers some stability of keeping Dewell in the same career in the same state at the end of the book. I think the future health of the series is helped by the addition of a familiar character from the C.J. Box multiverse.

The story has some weird plot holes that don't stand up if the reader thinks about them very long afterwards. If the person who has hidden the treasure truly wants to stay hidden, why even tempt a trained investigator with a staff to help her who already has a proven track record of taking down a serial killer and a corrupt police department? He even provides a clue that leads straight to the author of the treasure poem. 

Personally, I think this was an excuse for Box to introduce a bunch of author characters that Dewell interviews throughout the book. They are a diverse bunch and most are not very flattering portrayals of authors. It makes me wonder if he was getting in some digs at some authors he knows. 

The bad guy's reasons for defrauding widows is so contrived that I cannot imagine it happening. Weirdly, it's not just about the money.

C.J. Box is clearly exploring some things. I follow him on a social media platform and he puts out some conflicting thoughts on modern life out there. This book does that as well, with commentary on mask mandates expressed by characters - Dewell's wonderful son is against wearing masks and a mentally ill author is obsessed with wearing them. Box also tosses in comments about pointless nature of a college degree but then has a character that makes a point of observing that he had made it out small town Montana and benefited from the expanded view of the world his education had given him.

Downtown Bozeman, Montana

This book had a definite rural/small town vs. urban vibe. True big city dwellers (NYC, Chicago, etc.) might be surprised that Montana has any urban scene in any sense in the whole state, but I am from small town Indiana and I can guarantee any reader that the rural vs. urban vibe is a thing all over the country.

In this case, the urban dwellers are predators on small town America, but small town America is depicted in a horrible light in this book.

There is also a strange argument between the values of "pull your own self up by your bootstraps" vs. strong unions and even praise for a socialist town government in Montana nearly 100 years ago to counter the power of rich urban elites.

The reader was Christina Delaine. She is not my favorite reader - her tone is simply too disinterested for me. However, she is excellent at reading the spoken parts characters with issues, such as a character with a speech impediment and the crazed ramblings of a woman suffering from a decades-long case of PTSD after a gang rape while she was in high school. It's a glossed over plot point - almost like she was supposed to do something more in the story, but it was dropped. Too bad.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: TREASURE STATE: A CASSIE DEWELL NOVEL by C.J. Box.