The Covenant by James Michener

Michener's take on South Africa

Originally published in 1980.

Michener's historical fiction epics are always worth the time to read. The Covenant is no exception. Michener's take on South Africa and its history is an honest attempt to give some perspective on one of the more complex histories that this history teacher has encountered.

The book starts out strong (my edition was the two-volume hardback). The first volume was vintage Michener, but the second one dragged. Perhaps it was because the subject matter became more and more depressing. With the final 200 pages or so being about Apartheid, it's hard to find something to cheer about.

In a way, Michener's book seems incomplete - he hints that Apartheid could no longer stand - he gives a prediction that it would end by about the year 2000. Turns out, he was just about right, but the book feels like it does not have a proper ending.

If you are pondering a Michener book and have not read them all (personally, I only have one more of his major books to go), I recommend skipping this one and coming back to it later.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Covenant by James Michener.

Reviewed on June 1, 2008.

Hunting Badger (Jim Leaphorn/Jim Chee #14) (audiobook) by Tony Hillerman

It is better the second time around.

Published by Recorded Books

Read by George Guidall.
Duration: 5 hours, 49 minutes.
Unabridged.

I've read all of the Hillerman books so I'm re-reading them as audiobooks to ease a tedious drive to work and to re-enjoy them.

I had remembered Hunting Badger as a weak link in the series, and I was wrong. The book, as usual for this series, is set on the Navajo reservation. Joe Leaphorn is retired but gets involved anyway. The story involves the is about the armed robbery of a Ute Indian casino that results in the murder of two security guards. Throw in an anti-government militia movement and, as always, plenty of local color and you get the makings of great Leaphorn and Chee mystery.

Watching retired Lt. Joe Leaphorn work the mystery from one end and current Navajo Tribal Police (now called Navajo Nation Police) officer Jim Chee work it from another was interesting and enjoyable. The banter in the early parts of the book between Chee and Cowboy Dashee is very enjoyable. The irony of having a white rancher complain to a Navajo about the federal government taking away the lands that his family had lived on for the last 100 years was too much for me - I had to laugh out loud.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman.

Reviewed on June 1, 2008.

The Killer Angels (abridged audiobook) by Michael Shaara

A Must for any Civil War buff

Published by HighBridge Audio
Read by George Hearn
Lasts about 6 hours
Abridged

This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975.

Way back in 1989 I had to read The Killer Angels as part of a American Military History class while I was attending Indiana University. Since then I've read it 3 or 4 more times and I've recommended it to countless friends and students. Surprisingly, hearing it as an audiobook was an entirely new experience for me - it was much more powerful than I remembered.

The Killer Angels is the story of the Battle of Gettysburg told from a variety of points of view, but mostly from the points of view of Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet on the Confederate side. The Union side is largely represented by John Buford and Colonel

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
(1828-1914)

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of Maine who won the Medal of Honor for his actions on the second day of the battle.

The Killer Angels won the Pulitizer Prize in 1975 and is one of the finest pieces of fiction, let alone historical fiction, that I have ever read.

The audiobook was brilliantly read by George Hearn and uses music from Gettysburg,  the 1993 movie adaptation of the book (it is a faithful adaptation that just does not do justice to the power and tragedy of the book). This really is a beautiful production. More than once I had to stop it for the tears that came to my eyes due to the tragedy and spectacle of the battle (I am a Civil War softy - I tear up every time I watch the movie Glory as well). I do not particularly remember the soundtrack of the movie as being very moving, but it is used to great effect in the audiobook. It lasts about 6 hours and is well worth the purchase.

Highest recommendation.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This abridged audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Killer Angels.

Reviewed on June 1, 2008.

The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari

A nicely done personal history of a large, sad tale

Published in 2008 by Random House

Unfortunately, the only thing that 99.999% of the world associates with the word "Darfur" is death, hate and tragedy. Daoud Hari's small memoir,  The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur, reminds the reader that Darfur was once home to millions - a place of family, friends, play and work.

That is the strongest asset of this short work - it puts a human face on a large tragedy. Written in simple, elegant English and with a wry sense of humor ("Most people like me, are tall - I am six feet - and are also a little thin because of all the walking, the hard work and the dieting that is one of the many advantages of poverty."[p. 108]), this book is an extension of Hari's way of fighting back against the forces that are destroying Darfur. Rather than taking up arms, Hari decided to expose Darfur to the world by escorting journalists from Chad into Darfur in Sudan.

Daoud Hari

This was not a choice for the faint of heart. Journalists and their guides were considered to be spies by the government of Sudan. Hari and his journalists were exposed to gunfire, captured multiple times and eventually one group was captured, tortured and eventually released through the efforts of former presidential candidate and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

Before reading the book, I suggest reading "Appendix 1: A Darfur Primer" at the end of the text. It helps give his story some context.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari.

Reviewed on June 2, 2008.

Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby by James A. Ramage

This must be THE definitive book on John Singleton Mosby

Published in 1999 by University Press of Kentucky

James A. Ramage has written what must be THE definitive book on the life of John Singleton Mosby, Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby. I cannot imagine a more thoroughly written book on the topic. Ramage discusses his family history, his childhood and more.

Of course, the largest amount is written about his service in the Civil War as a partisan ranger that terrorized the Union troops arrayed against Robert E. Lee. Ramage is definitely a fan of Mosby, but he refuses to get involved in the hype that Mosby and his contemporaries sometimes engaged in concerning how effective Mosby's men were. Ramage agrees that Mosby was cost-effective, meaning that his small groups of men - usually around 120 or so - would tie down thousands of Union soldiers, but disagrees with Mosby himself that he tied down tens of thousands.

John Singleton Mosby (1833-1916)

The real strength of this biography is that Ramage covers Mosby's post-Civil War career thoroughly, including his controversial forays into politics and his government posting in Hong Kong. Ramage even includes a chapter on how Mosby has been represented in film and television, including a movie in which Mosby played himself in 1910.

This is not a book for the casual Civil War reader - there is too much specific detail and an assumption that the reader knows and understands the basics of the war. However, this book will continue to serve as the reference for all things Mosby.

I rate this biography 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby by James A. Ramage.

Reviewed on June 2, 2008.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

Caleb Carr's plodding plot mars mystery

Published in 1994.

Winner of the 1995 Anthony Award.

This is the second Caleb Carr book I've read and it will be the last. Carr follows Charles Dickens in the time period of the book and in the tradition of using 100 words to say what 15 could have said.

The plot of The Alienist is painfully slow to develop. Carr sacrifices reader interest for the sake of creating mood. He succeeds in doing both - mood is created and I nearly lost interest. I forced my self to move on, suck it up and finish and I was rewarded with a decent last 100 pages or so. But, the payoff was not early enough for all the build-up.

I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone except for the most hardcore fans of mystery, New York City, and/or Teddy Roosevelt who puts in an appearance as the Superintendent of the Board of Police Commissioners of New York City. That job title was soon after changed to Chief of Police. He held that position from 1895-1897.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
as an NYC Police Commissioner

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Alienist by Caleb Carr.

Reviewed on June 8, 2008.

Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and How She Is Changing the World by Daniel J. Kindlon, PhD

Rings true to this classroom teacher

Published in 2006 by Rodale Books.

As a classroom teacher that first came into the profession at the height of the Reviving Ophelia type of research done by Mary Pipher. I have participated in classes, seminars and training sessions about how girls are being short-changed in the classroom and in our culture. It was not until I ran across some research I was doing in my Master's Degree program some 15 years later that my eyes were opened to a new possibility: the girls are, on the whole, doing just fine. The boys, on the other hand, are falling by the wayside in heart-cringing numbers. Go to any public school and you can just about guarantee that 7 or more of the top ten will be girls. Look at the special education numbers and 7 out of 10 will be boys.

Dan Kindlon's Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and How She Is Changing the World does not address what is going on with boys, but it does look at a relatively new phenomenon - the hyper-achieving academically gifted, socially skilled, generally athletic, well-connected Alpha Girls.

What makes an Alpha Girl?

-GPA of 3.8 or higher
-Leadership role in an extracurricular activity
-Participation in that activity at least 10 or more hours per week.
-High motivation to go to college, own a home, make a lot of money, have a good reputation, study and save money for the future.
-High self-esteem based on personal dependability.

While clearly not trying to be openly critical of feminist researchers Carol Gilligan and Mary Pipher, Kindlon's findings blow giant holes in the universal applicability of their theories, although he does admit that changes in American culture may well be what accounts for the differences. He also notes that the differences between previous research and his research may well be due to the fact that men and women talk about themselves differently - men often do not recognize to their own shortcomings as well as do women, especially young men. So a perceived drop of self-esteem on the part of women could very well be an unrealistic level of self-esteem among their male counterparts (pp. 96-7).

So, what is an Alpha Girl like? Well, I had a surplus of them in my classes this last year (I was teaching a lot of college track classes) and I can tell you that Kindlon hits them right on the head when he describes them as "hybrids" and girls that speak the language of boys. They understand boys well and boys understand them. They are stll, however, all girl. They compete, they prepare, they write poetry and they are generally the highest achievers in any classroom. Generally, Alpha Girls have had an involved father (but not always). Kindlon notes that, on average, fathers spend a lot more time with their kids than in decades past, and he theorizes that this interaction has helped socialize their girls a little differently.

Kindlon's book occasionally wanders of-course, with a foray into suppositions about chemical imbalances in the environment creating more macho girls and less macho boys being responsible for some of our cultural changes (he mentions the "metrosexuals" [p. 175] as a new phenomenon. This history teacher will tell you that we've had "metrosexuals" many times in history - I suggest that they are more a product of leisure and disposable income than chemicals. Think of Ancient Rome and the court of Louis XVI as prime examples of metrosexuality in the past). The discussions of lesbian experimentation (pp. 228-32) doesn't really keep with the main theme of the book since it is not limited to the Alpha Girl phenomenon.

On the whole, the book is interesting, seems well-researched and fits with my own classroom experiences.

Other books I recommend on boys and girls in school are:

-Boys and Girls Learn Differently!: A Guide for Teachers and Parents and The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life by Michael Gurian.

-The WAR AGAINST BOYS: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men by Christina Hoff Sommers

-Keeping Black Boys Out of Special Education by Jawanza Kunjufu

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on June 9, 2008.

Vexille (anime) DVD

Pretty good sci-fi movie

Released in 2007.

I am not much of an anime fan, but I do like a good sci-fi show and Vexille was pretty good.

The animation of everything that was non-human was fantastic (in my newbie-to-anime eyes). The metallic structures were perfect. The sunsets, explosions, splatters, etc. were wonderfully done. The human faces (and to some extent, the body movements) were not as good - but that is understandable. We humans spend so much time actively looking at faces and body language as compared to cars, sunsets and explosions, that the art cannot stand up to that type of detail.

The story is pretty strong, although you need to pay attention. Japan has sealed itself off from the world because the rest of the world has decided that cyborg technology is a danger to the human race. Japan has embraced this technology, however. The story is interesting, but sometimes they over-narrate and sometimes there's not enough narration. I got a bit confused when due to the two main female characters' (Vexille and Maria) similarity to one another.

Nonetheless, I liked it. Recommended for sci-fi fans.

I rate this DVD 4 stars out of 5.

This movie can be found on Amazon.com here: Vexille.

Reviewed on June 10, 2008.

One Man's Law by John Clarkson

Over-testosteronized and just bad.

Published in 1994 by Berkley

First things first. I am a fan of good action stories. David Morrell - great. Robert Parker - Very good. This book. Ugh.

It's as though John Clarkson sat down after watching an A-Team marathon and decided what he needed in order to write this book was a little more cartoonish violence, a lot more sex, long descriptions of S&M sessions and a James Bond girl.

One Man's Law was too much for me. I can't tell you how many cars exploded from being shot in the gas tanks. The lead female character is aloof and built like a fashion model. Don't worry - Devlin will get in her pants over and over again! The bad guys have hundreds of guns an unlimited supply of money and some are even trained killers. Don't worry - Devlin and his Samoan-stereotype sidekick will just run fast, kick and punch harder and shoot accurately on the run while hundreds of bullets zing harmlessly by (if Devlin does get hit, it will only be a flesh wound and he'll heal quickly thanks to a quick rubdown and some more sex).

The ending wraps itself up too quickly and too neatly - we found out about another conspirator after he's been taken out. The dialogue is stiff. The big final confrontation scene is hoaky. Can I go on? Sure, but I won't.

If you have nothing else to read except for this book, watch TV.

I rate this book 1 star out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: One Man's Law.

Reviewed on June 14, 2008.

Hiroshima: Fifty Years of Debate by Robert Young

Looks at both sides of the Atomic Bombing debate

Published in 1995 by Dillon Press

Hiroshima: Fifty Years of Debate is intended for middle and high school students. It is designed to give them both sides of the debate over whether or not the United States should have dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

It offers a short re-cap over the issues involved, including a short synposis of the war. It includes fairly comprehensive arguments from both sides and shows pictures of the results of the bombings.

I would have only added one thing to the arguments: the United States was unwilling to trust its intelligence estimates of Japan's ability to continue the war since it had bungled on the German front the year before and nearly lost everything in the Battle of the Bulge (there were 75,000 American casualties) - a battle that was considered impossible by Allied intelligence since the German's were supposed to be close to surrender by that point.

I will keep this book in my classroom library and it is recommended for students of World War II. If you are a serious reader of World War II literature, this book will offer nothing new but it is a very strong introduction to the topic. It Includes a glossary, a timeline, plenty of big pictures a lot of informative "sidebars".

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Hiroshima: Fifty Years of Debate

Reviewed on June 14, 2008.

The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas by Robert H. Frank

Entertaining but of questionable value

Published in 2007 by Basic Books.

I have read Freakonomics and Naked Economics in the past 6 months and thoroughly enjoyed them. I was hoping to get more of the same with The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas. It caught my eye because it is nearly the exact same color as Naked Economics (Hmmm, I wonder if the economic naturalists would care to speculate on products that intentionally look similar to better-known products...) and I was hoping to get some more economic enlightenment.

Sadly, the book reads a lot more like an extended session with Yahoo! Answers than anything else. It's interesting, but there are times when you have to wonder why anyone would be wondering these things and there are times when you have to wonder if he actually ran these answers by anyone else in another department at Cornell to see if the economic answer was right or if another answer was correct.

For example, he talks about Germany having a high unemployment rate as compared to the U.S. He mentions the fact that Germany has better unemployment benefits as the only factor for Germany's higher unemployment rate.

Historically, there are two reasons for the higher unemployment:

#1) Germany is still in the midst of absorbing East Germany which has a higher unemployment rate than the former West Germany.

Worthless Weimar Republic currency
just left on the streets

#2) Macroeconomics teaches that, in the short run, you can avoid a higher rate of inflation by holding back GDP growth in a variety of ways that tend to cause more unemployment (sorry economists of the world, but that's the easiest way I can explain it without causing eyes to glaze over for non-econ-minded folks). Germany is deathly afraid of high rates of inflation since runaway inflation occurred during the Weimar Republic in the Post-World War I Germany and that is seen as having been one of the things that brought Hitler to power.

I'm sure great unemployment benefits help, but that is not the only cause for the problem.

**********

It's a quick read, often light and breezy. But, there are better reads out there that do it better.

To learn more about offbeat topics and how economics applies to them, I suggest Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science (Fully Revised and Updated)  by Charles Wheelan.

To learn more about basic economics, I suggest Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: 
The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas


Reviewed on June 15, 2008.

What Would the Founders Do?: Our Questions, Their Answers by Richard Brookhiser

A fun read. Not real deep, but fun. Good vacation read for history buffs.

Published in 2006.

Richard Brookhiser got the idea for What Would the Founders Do?: Our Questions, Their Answers from the questions from his audiences when he would give a public lecture on the founders. "Richard, what would the founding fathers have said about...(illegal immigration, marijuana, the war in Iraq, etc.)? So, he collected a number of those questions, did a little research and wrote this fun little book.

Richard Brookhiser is the writer of the best overall biography of George Washington that I have read, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. This one is not the same quality, although I am giving them both the same score: 4 stars.

Why? A book of this sort is just different creature than a biography. By its very nature it is a series of starts and stops (the question and answer format). This inhibits the flow of the book in many ways, but does make it good for the so-called bathroom reader. Brookhiser's sense of humor shines through, as does his genuine respect and affection for these men (the exceptionally successful ladies man Gouverneur Morris, in particular).

Gouverneur Morris

Just for fun, at the end he makes up several descriptions of the sorts of blogs the founders might have written, including 3 for that unstoppable writer Benjamin Franklin. Washington bows out but promises to read them all in a snail mail letter (if you know about him you are not surprised). My favorites, though, are Sam Adams with his blog "BeerandLiberty.com" (conspiracy theories and drinking tips) and John Adams with "TheLifeCareerOpinionsandWritingsofJohnAdamsExaminedandDefendedwithCommentsonhisContemporaries.com" which features long posts, flame wars in the comments and the warning that John makes frequent appearances as a troll on other blogs. Sounds about right to me.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: What Would the Founders Do?

Reviewed on June 19, 2008.

Just One %$#@ Speed Bump After Another . . .: More Cartoons (Speed Bump series) by Dave Coverly

The next best thing to The Far Side

Published in 2005 by ECW Press.

Speed Bump is the next best thing to The Far Side - it is one of those smart and funny comics that make you think and laugh all at the same time. If you're the kind of person that cuts out comics and sticks them up at the office, this is your type of comic.

Coverly has Just One %$#@ Speed Bump After Another broken up into themes and has a little introduction (one written by Rick Kirkman, the guy who draws "Baby Blues.") These are all clever (especially the one in which he describes a typical cartoonist's day).

Well, you'll have to excuse me now, I'm off to the scanner to make a few copies of some cartoons for the office!

I rate this collection 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Speed Bump by Dave Coverly.

Reviewed on June 20, 2008.

The Massacre at Fall Creek by Jessamyn West

A solid bit of historical fiction

Published in 1975.

For this Hoosier reviewer, The Massacre at Fall Creek is most interesting since the places involved are no more than a 45 minute drive from my house.

Jessamyn West does a great job of getting the "feel" of an 1824 frontier community - how small it was, how truly far away it was from "civilization" and how that isolation created a unique culture.

The storyline is based on a real incident in which several white men from a community to the north of Pendleton, Indiana killed two families of Indians, including their children and stole their furs. Records from those days are "iffy" at best so West has to fill in a lot of blanks as she goes along. In fact, she even uses fake names for the white men involved, although it may be that in the 33 years since her book was written additional research has revealed the names of the men.

Jessamyn West 
(1902-84)

Of course, the Indians were outraged at this treaty violation and the U.S. government decided that there was going to be a real trial and it paid for a team of prosecution and defense lawyers to conduct a real trial. A jail was built (ironically, Pendleton is the site of one of Indiana's prison facilities nowadays as well) and a trial was held for four of the five white men. The fifth white man was never captured by white authorities.

The book focuses on the love life of one of the young ladies of the settlement (her love interests intertwine in all aspects of the case), the trial and the aftermath. At times this book reads more like a romance novel, at other times like a legal thriller but it is a solid, enjoyable read about a sad, tragic moment on the Hoosier frontier.

I rate this novel 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Massacre at Fall Creek by Jessamyn West. 

Reviewed on June 27, 2008.

The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq by Rory Stewart

An informative book without an ax to grind from someone who was really there (who also knows how to write well!)

Published in 2006.

If the Iraq war interests you in any way, even if you are a partisan of the pro-war or anti-war persuasion, read The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq.

Rory Stewart was a member of the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority.) He functioned as governor of Amara province in Southern Iraq - a semi-swampland where the Tigris and Euphrates come together. His tale is a tale of success, failure, friendship, war, violence, trust and betrayal. In other words, his is a story of real people in a very difficult situation with the compounded challenges of religious, language and cultural barriers.

Here's what you learn from this book:

-Success in Iraq is best measured on a relative scale and will ultimately have to be determined by the Iraqis themselves - on their terms with their leaders.

Rory Stewart

-Iran is definitely active in Iraq, as current news from the Bush administration suggests. If Rory Stewart says Iran was involved in his province's politics, I believe him.

-Lots of money was wasted in Iraq, buts lots of projects were completed.

-The Italian armed forces perform under fire according to their international reputation (not worth much since the fall of Rome in 476 AD), as do the Brits (professional.)

-The CPA did not seem to have a great game plan going in, which is a real disappointment to me since the war was planned well in advance. The CPA upper echelons seemed pretty well removed from the realities of day to day operations, even to the point of denying that Stewart and his officials were being shelled when he called his superiors to ask for help. It reminded me of some of the insanity of some of the early episodes of the TV show M*A*S*H.

-There was no clear command structure between the CPA military and the CPA civilian leadership.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq by Rory Stewart.

Reviewed on February 21, 2007.

Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution - A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First by Alister McGrath

Strong, but not for those who are not well-versed in history 

Originally published in 2007.

Let me just note that Alister McGrath has taken on a large topic (Protestantism) in Christianity's Dangerous Idea and done about as well as one can in organizing the information and presenting it in a cogent and readable fashion.

McGrath assumes that you already know a lot about history in general and about the last 500 years or so in particular. That is to be expected. If he had to explain every last detail this book it would have to have been 3,000 pages rather than the already hefty 478 pages of text plus 50+ pages of endnotes. If you are a person that has heard of the Huguenots, but are not sure if they are a native group in South Africa or a religious group in France, this book is not for you.

This is not a complete history, either. It is an overview. If you are looking for a complete history of a particular denomination, you are likely to be disappointed. Some denominations are completely overlooked (African Methodist Episcopal), some are largely overlooked (Southern Baptists) and McGrath does not even address the thornier issue of whether the Mormons are Protestant, even though they are obviously came from the Protestant tradition.

McGrath does a good job of tying the Protestant Reformation into the larger Renaissance movements of the day. He makes strong arguments for Protestantism as a supporter for democratic ideals and capitalism. His comments about the lessening of tensions between Protestantism and Catholicism due to the stronger common threat of Islam and especially secularism were well-stated and dead on correct, in my mind.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Christianity's Dangerous Idea.

Reviewed on July 12, 2008.

A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter

Not very good

Originally published in 2003.

First the positives:

The over-arching storyline of A Faint Cold Fear is really a pretty good concept of a story. I did want to know who did it so I read until the very end.

Now, the negatives:

Too many characters that are introduced just once and then continually referred to from that moment on by their first name. There are nearly 20 characters that I am supposed to remember with no reminder of what they do in the plot. Just a name and I have to go back in to the book and look up who Kevin or Richard was.

Plot items are brought in (the arrow drawn in the dirt outside the dorm window, for example) that are a big deal for about 3 pages and then are totally dropped.

Lena. Her behavior is insane. She's terrified to be touched (being the victim of a horrific rape), afraid to be out of control and yet she goes to a rave party full of drugs, gets drunk and loses control with a dangerous man who has already hurt her.

The relationship between Lena and Chief Jeffrey Tolliver is so contrived, so "fakey" that it just failed to click at any level for me. Every scene between them seemed forced.

A shotgun IS NOT a rifle. They are both long guns, but they are different. This is not specialized knowledge. Ask anyone who knows a thing about guns and they'll explain the difference. It's not hard. I can't believe no one caught that at the publishing house, either.

I also cannot believe that any college campus would let any student, even a student on a skeet-shooting team, keep their gun in their room on campus. Campuses have been gun-sensitive places for years and years. I know of a student who had to live off campus because he refused to leave his skeet guns in a designated locker at a university in Indiana in the 1980s.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: A Faint Cold Fear (Grant County Mysteries)

Reviewed on July 14, 2008.

A Persistent Peace: One Man's Struggle for a Nonviolent World by John Dear

Troubling

Published in 2008. 

Let me start this review by stating the following in clear and unequivocal terms:

I have no problem whatsoever with people who protest and demonstrate for the things they believe in, especially those who do it like Rev. John Dear, who proceeds with the understanding that there is a possibility of arrest and detention as he protests for peace and against social inequity.

The positives of A Persistent Peace: One Man's Struggle for a Nonviolent World:

-It is written in an engaging style, most of it can be easily grasped, even by those who are uninitiated in Christian theology. His story of how he struggled with the choice of whether or not to enter the priesthood is quite well told and interesting.

-The chapters are organized by both time frames and theme so it is fairly easy to go back and find comments and stories.

The negatives:

-That being said, I do have a problem with a priest that re-interprets the Gospels (he calls his re-interpretation the "Gospel of peace") and devotes himself to the peace movement to the exclusion of all else. I am concerned with an autobiography that written by a Jesuit that mentions nuclear weapons, Dr. King and Gandhi more than Jesus Christ. On page 80, Mr. Dear comments that Gandhi is in heaven for being a non-violent protester (where is the Church's teaching about being at least a Christian, if not a Catholic? How about Jesus' comments about his being 'the way'? Throw them out, I suppose. In a similar vein he tells that president of Georgetown University, "I ask you in the name of Jesus...to end the ROTC program and close all research into nuclear weapons. If you do, I'm sure you'll get into the kingdom of heaven."(p. 109)

-His comments point to Jesus as being some sort of anti-Roman protester that was eventually killed for his protests (p. 79). Considering that Jesus was part of the largest empire on the planet at the time and considering how truly miserable the Jews were under Roman rule, Jesus says surprisingly little about the Romans.

-Dear refers to what he calls Jesus's words of invitation: "You are my beloved. I am with you. Don't be afraid. I want you to be my disciple. Follow me on the road to peace and justice to my reign. Advocate nonviolence like me, and carry on my work for me." I searched these words on the internet and the only place I can find them is on web pages featuring articles by Rev. Dear. This is troubling. It is most inappropriate to make up quotes for Jesus. It is Even more so to refer to those words as if they are authoritative and to use them to teach others without noting that they are not Biblical text.

-Rev. Dear's protests seem spectacular (they once tried to disarm a nuclear device, for example) but they are merely glitz. In one protest they block a busy intersection during George H.W. Bush's inauguration to protest families being evicted from their apartments for not being able to pay their rent. No doubt, the eviction of families is a bad thing. This protest drew attention to the problem, but it sure didn't help anyone pay their rent, or get additional training to get a better job so that they would be able to pay their rent easier, did it?

-One of the common terms for a reverend is "pastor" - a term that means shepherd. Dear's superiors continually try to move him towards the role of being a shepherd that takes care of the flock - teaches, comforts, teaches the faith, consoles. Dear does precious little of that for any extended period of time, although he seems to have done an exceptional job in New York City on 9/11 and its immediate aftermath. His lack of experience as an actual shepherd of the flock shows when he is shocked at someone asking him how to pray. He demonstrates an unwillingness to be a shepherd except when directly ordered to by his superiors. He starts to help with some worthy projects and then, soon enough, he wanders off to go protest somewhere.

-Dear complains about the Jesuit leadership throughout, claiming they are blind to the true vision. It seems to me that he is being re-directed by everyone because he is the one that is wayward. Ironically, the book is published by Loyola Press, part of the very Jesuit bureaucracy he is so disappointed in. He claims they do not support him yet they publish his book...

-He correctly chastises the Church for its cover-up in the sexual abuse scandal. But, his answer to the problem is odd - denounce the Catholic doctrine of the Just War. (p. 372) Rev. Dear, you are missing the point by focusing on the same issue all of the time.

-This book should have included an index. I am looking at an "uncorrected proof" so perhaps the final edition will include one.

Factual errors:

-In his introduction, Martin Sheen claimed the prophet Isaiah commanded us to "beat swords into plowshares and make war no more." This is not a command, but part of a larger prophecy about Judgment Day.

-Sheen also claimed that the so-called Star Wars defense plan proposed by Reagan included putting nuclear weapons in space. This is not true - it was proposed and still remains a plan for developing an anti-ballistic missile shield with lasers and intercepting missiles. We used that technology to destroy a dangerous failing satellite earlier this year.

-Dear claimed he witnessed an anti-Star Wars demonstration in New York City in 1981. That would have been amazing since it was not proposed until March of 1983.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: A Persistent Peace: One Man's Strugle for a Non-Violent World.

Reviewed on July 17, 2008.