FOLLOW the RIVER (audiobook) by James Alexander Thom

Published by Tantor Audio in 2010.
Book originally published in 1981 by Ballantine Books.
Read by David Drummond.
Duration: 16 hours, 10 minutes.
Unabridged.

As the American frontier pushed ever-Westward during the Colonial Era, there were multiple major conflicts between the new White settlers and the various Indian groups. The last, and the biggest, was the war that Americans know as the French and Indian War (1754-1763). It was truly a global war involving not only France and England, but also a variety of countries around the world such as Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Russia and the Mughal Empire in India.

The war began as a power struggle between French and English colonists along with their Native American allies. Technically, a young Virginia militia leader named George Washington started the war when he tried to remove French Canadians who were building a trading post in what is now western Pennsylvania. The entire frontier was soon at war and little settlements on the extreme frontier, like Drapers Meadows, Virginia, were exposed - even if they had only the faintest idea there was a war going on.

In 1755, a group of Shawnee warriors attacked Drapers Meadows, a settlement of just a few families and killed or kidnapped about half of the inhabitants and took them to a large Shawnee town near the Ohio River in what is now northeastern Kentucky. One of the victims was Mary Draper Ingles (pronounced Ingalls) and this novel is the fictionalized story of her capture (along with her children), her life among the Shawnee and her escape with a fellow female captive who spoke mostly German. Mary had watched as she was taken to the Shawnee village and she realized that all she had to do was simply follow the river system back to her home. If only it were that simple. It turned into a 42 day walk back to an English frontier cabin across some of the roughest terrain in the Appalachians. They left in mid-October and arrived on December 1, 1755.

Photo by DWD

Their escape covered more than 500 miles and crossed an estimated 145 rivers or creeks, with little or no food. Oftentimes, they had to get soaked in water, climb cliffs or rockfalls and starved as they walked and the temperatures dropped. This terrain is difficult nowadays with modern equipment. Their accomplishment is astonishing when you consider their physical condition and almost complete lack of tools, equipment, nutrition and warm clothing. This book was thoroughly researched by the author who walked as much as their route as he possibly could. You can tell - the landscape is as much a character in the book as any single character.

Follow the River is an amazing book. It is not a happy book - how can it be when it is full of suffering, violence, death and tragedy? But, James Alexander Thom told the story so well that I felt like I was along for the whole tragic trip. It is sobering and compelling. It is all the more tragic when you consider that she left her children behind with the Shawnee because there was no way that they could survive this extremely difficult trek.

The audiobook was read by David Drummond. He does an excellent job with the accents throughout the book (the area was quite international considering how hard it was to get there) and the rest of the book overall. I do think it was a bit odd to chose a man to read the book considering that most of the dialogue of the book is spoken by women. A great deal of the book also deals with the internal thoughts of Mary.

This was a re-read for me, although it had been 26 years between readings. I remembered it as an excellent book and I am pleased to say that I still think it is excellent.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Follow the River by James Alexander Thom. 

THE RECKONING: A NOVEL (audiobook) by John Grisham

Could Have Been Something Special. Instead, This Book Is a Hot Mess.

Published by Random House Audio in October of 2018.
Read by Michael Beck.
Duration: 17 hours, 36 minutes.
Unabridged.

Pete Banning was a decorated World War II veteran and had been home less than a year in 1946 when he took his pistol to town and shot and killed his church's minister. The question everyone had was why this Mississippi-born-and-bred hero would do such a thing.

The Reckoning features romance, betrayal, racial injustice, an execution by electric chair, hit-and-run guerrilla warfare against Imperial Japan, the Bataan Death March, two court cases, a family member committed to an insane asylum, a murder, a suicide, explosions, war crimes, a submarine sinking a ship and marital infidelity. The amazing thing is that, after all of that, this book is a tedious mess - something to be endured more than enjoyed.

The problem with this book is that Grisham spends hour after hour after hour giving excruciatingly detailed backstories all about the Banning's whirlwind romance of his wife, how his farm worked, his sister's pink house, a hotel in Memphis and the in-laws lackluster lives.

The World War II section of the book is actually quite good. But, it just doesn't fit in with the rest of the book and is actually not needed to make the rest of the book work. It's almost like Grisham had two books written - one a Southern Gothic mystery and the other a World War II action-adventure and he just stuck them together. Too bad - he writes a pretty good war story.

This book is a hot mess. As I am writing this review, this book is the #2 on Amazon's best-seller list and #3 on the New York Times list. The only reason that it is there is because of the author's name - not the quality of this book.

I listened to the audiobook, read by Michael Beck. Beck has a pleasing voice, but this book would work against any narrator. It desperately needed hours of text edited out of the book.

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Reckoning by John Grisham.  My advice, pick another Grisham book to read - any other book.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: DARK DESIGNS (audiobook) by Stefan Petrucha

Published in 2016 by GraphicAudio.
Performed by a multiple performers.
Duration: approximately 6 hours.

S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors discover a dormant virus in Captain America's bloodstream while performing a newfangled ultra deep scan after an encounter with a different dangerous virus. This is not just any virus, it is an "extinction-level" virus, meaning it has the potential to wipe out the human race if it were to become an active virus.

So, Captain America is placed into a containment area so the virus won't kill off the world in case it goes active. But, giant old Nazi robots from World War II keep coming to life with Adolf Hitler's voice demanding to fight Captain America. If he doesn't show up to fight, they threaten to start killing nearby civilians. Iron Man shows up to help, but these robots are really just too much for one Avenger to handle and everyone else is busy, unreachable or just too unpredictable (you don't unleash Hulk into downtown Paris).

How can Captain America fight these robots when he is supposed to be under quarantine? What's making these robots come to life after all of these years? How long has Captain America been carrying this virus and where did he pick it up? Will S.H.I.E.L.D. be able to come up with a cure or will they have to put him into cryogenic stasis and hope for a cure in the future?

Graphic Audio's production values are always good - like an old-fashioned radio show. The actors are all good, but I especially enjoyed the performance of Richard Cutting, the actor that played Iron Man/Tony Stark. He sounds so much like Robert Downing, Jr.'s version from the Marvel movies that you would swear that Downing was performing the part himself.

The part of the story with Captain America having to be quarantined is intriguing, especially the ongoing debates with the epidemiologist that is brought in. But, the story of the Nazi "sleeper" robots is a re-hash of a previous story and, in the end, just suffers from some serious logic problems. Why would the Nazis design these robots to attack Captain America one at a time, like in a video game where the hero character fights increasingly difficult characters as he works his way up to the "big boss"? Also, the historian in me asks why Hitler wouldn't simply unleash all of these nearly unstoppable robots (I think that there are 7 of them in the two inter-related stories) onto Russian, British and American foot soldiers and take out tens of thousands of them in one fell swoop and just make Captain America a hero without an army to back him up?

Oh, well. Asking comic book stories to make sense kind of defeats the purpose of comic book stories.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: CAPTAIN AMERICA: DARK DESIGNS.

THE SOUL of AMERICA: THE BATTLE for OUR BETTER ANGELS (audiobook) by Jon Meacham

Published in 2018 by Random House Audio.
Read by Fred Sanders and the author, Jon Meacham.
Duration: 10 hours, 55 minutes.
Unabridged.

In The Soul of America, Jon Meacham takes a look at Presidential leadership from the Civil War onward, particularly the power of the President to lead the country to "do the right thing" in a time of crisis. He has a particular focus with how the President deals with people who want to abuse the rights of others. Well, to be completely honest, Meacham does not have a complete clear thesis in this book and I am not 100% sure what his overall goal was. What it turned out to be was an interesting, rambling work that looked at several crisis points in American history and how the politicians, mostly presidents, responded.

He looked at Lincoln (the source of the title), Grant during Reconstruction and the rise of the KKK, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Eisenhower, JFK and LBJ. There is a little discussion of George W. Bush and there is an implied criticism of Donald Trump at times, especially when he discusses demagogues like Huey Long and Joseph McCarthy. 

Meacham is much kinder towards Woodrow Wilson than most historians, when one considers how much he abused his authority during World War I (he acknowledges it and moves on). His look at LBJ was similarly friendly, but was much more interesting and inspiring because it focused on his work to get the Civil Rights legislation passed (and virtually ignored the Vietnam War).

The audiobook was read by Fred Sanders. He did a fine job, but I actually enjoyed the reading of the opening and closing thoughts by the author more.

LBJ and MLK discussing Civil Rights strategy - 

So, to sum up, this was an enjoyable, if muddled book. Worthy of your time.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE SOUL of AMERICA: THE BATTLE for OUR BETTER ANGELS.

COSTLY GRACE: AN EVANGELICAL MINISTER'S REDISCOVERY of FAITH, HOPE and LOVE (audiobook) by Rob Schenk

Published in 2018 by HarperAudio.
Read by the author, Rob Schenck.
Duration: 11 hours, 26 minutes.
Unabridged.

In Costly Grace, Rob Schenck tells the story of his life as a story of three conversions. His first conversion was a conversion from Judaism to Christianity as a teenager. Soon after graduating high school, he married and began to work to his certification to join the ministry. He first worked in a shelter for junkies but he found that to be a little too dangerous for his wife. Plus, he longed for something with a larger impact.

He became a pastor with a church but still felt that wasn't enough. He participated in joint missions in Mexico to help those that live in the garbage dumps and scrounge them for food and recyclables. After one of his trips he found that his twin brother (also a pastor) had become involved in Operation Rescue, the anti-abortion movement that encouraged protesters to block the entrances to abortion clinics and use non-violent resistance to stop women from getting an abortion. Eventually, the police would show up and start arresting people and it would become a big spectacle that would make the news.

Schenck was persuaded to attend a protest. This was his second conversion. He promised his wife that he wouldn't get arrested - he was just going to observe. But, the lure of the action was too much and he ended up getting arrested. He was hooked. He loved the idea of taking direct action in the name of the Lord.

He became a top figure in the anti-abortion movement. He confronted public figures for their support (twice he ended up being held for questioning for confronting Bill Clinton). He carried actual aborted fetuses to rallies to show people what they were really talking about when they discussed abortions. He became very familiar with the process of being arrested for the cause.

And the cause was also becoming an influential force in Republican politics.  Schenk worked with all the major players. At this time, he began to seriously study the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran minister who was placed in a concentration camp for his constant questioning of Nazi authorities. Eventually, he was executed by  the Nazis just days before the end of World War II. His studies of Bonhoeffer made him question what he was doing as a Christian.  He began to question the cozy relationship he had with the powers that be in Washington. His questions led him to conclude that his fellow evangelicals were wrong in their unlimited support of the NRA and gun rights, especially after two abortion providers were assassinated.

But, he was most moved by the reaction of several Amish families after a school shooting in an Amish school by a non-Amish man. This is a very powerful section of the book. He begins to openly question how one can be pro-life and pro-gun. Should Christians trust a pistol at their side more than the God who says they should "fear not" and trust only Him? How many other things had he not considered? This is his third conversion.

This third conversion made him look at the close relationship between church and the GOP that he had been advocating since Ronald Reagan first ran for President in 1980. Was the church selling its soul for access to political power? Were basic Christian tenets being forgotten for the opportunity to use the government's power rather than depend on God and his people? Was the price of access to the pinnacle of power too high, especially in the Age of Trump?

Costly Grace is an interesting trip down memory lane for me in a lot of ways. I very much remember Operation Rescue and the mass abortion clinic protests. I also happened to stumble upon a documentary made about him ("The Armor of Light") that struck me and made me do some thinking. Ironically, I didn't remember that he was the subject of this documentary until he described one of the scenes in this book.

Rob Schenck reads his own audiobook and does a good job with it. The book is a little slow at times, but I found the discussion of his third conversion to be well worth the wait. Easily the best part of the book. I know that Rob Schenck and I would not agree on everything, but I also know that it would be a respectful and meaningful discussion. Very thought-provoking book.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: COSTLY GRACE: AN EVANGELICAL MINISTER'S REDISCOVERY of FAITH, HOPE and LOVE.

THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION in AMERICAN HISTORY by Robert Somerlott

Published in 1998 by Enslow Publishers, Inc.

How many books have been written about Abraham Lincoln? NPR claims more than 15,000 - more than anyone except Jesus Christ. This book enters an already crowded field with only one distinct thing going for it - it is aimed at middle school students. That means, I need to review this book with that fact in mind.

To Somerlott's credit, he generally hits the reading level of middle school students and he does keep his focus on the threats to Lincoln and Lincoln's lackadaisical attitude towards his own personal security. It's not always gripping reading, but it is generally accurate and includes a lot of illustrations and some primary sources in special pull-out sections.

The only quibble I have with the book is the rather simplistic way it deals with Lincoln's attitude toward slavery and African American civil rights. Lincoln was politically liberal on this topic for his day, but the cherrypicked quote provided on page 18 makes Lincoln sound more like Martin Luther King than the man who had an ever-evolving opinion (becoming more liberal) on racial matters.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION in AMERICAN HISTORY by Robert Somerlott.

BRETT ENTERS the SQUARE CIRCLE (Brett Cornell #5) by David D'Aguanno

Published by David D. D'Aguanno in 2018.
Read by Travis Henry Carter.
Duration: 8 hours, 32 minutes.
Unabridged.

Brett Cornell is a private detective in Rhode Island. He's big, he's fearless and he knows how to fight. He is full of smart comments, opinions about orange juice and is quite sure that he is the most amazing lover of all time. He is cunning. He is unscrupulous and will certainly pad his bill to eke out as much money as he possibly can from his clients. And, he's not much for education. 

Brett begins by running into a series of rough cops at a bar. These are violent officers who throw their weight around with everyone - especially with know-it-all loudmouths like Brett. Soon enough, Brett ends up being challenged to participate in a charity fight with the biggest bruiser cop of the bunch - except that everyone knows that this fight will be for real.

In the meantime, Brett has been hired to find a missing woman who is suspected of having run off to Florida with his client's husband. It's the middle of winter in Rhode Island - who wouldn't want to take a working vacation to Florida? But, things get more and more complicated the more Brett investigates...

The audiobook was read by Travis Henry Carter who delivered a fantastic performance. He performed lots of accents and male and female characters with a lot of skill.

However, I found Brett's long-winded expositions to be wearisome. He is a memorable character, but not one that I would ever choose to spend any time with. The book is told in first person and Brett takes a long time to tell any story. He can be amusing, especially in his profound ignorance (he thinks Tampa is in Arizona, for example), but he just plain old wore me out.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

Note: I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher so that I could write an honest review.

SUGAR MONEY: A NOVEL by Jane Harris

Published by Arcade Publishing in 2018.

Set on the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Grenada in 1765, Sugar Money is the story of two brothers. Lucien is thirteen years old and his older brother Emile is in his twenties and they are both slaves on Martinique. They are owned by a group of French monks who were forced off of Granada during the world-wide war commonly known as the French and Indian War in the United States. When the monks escaped Granada they left more than 40 slaves behind. Lucien and Emile are sent to Granada to organize an escape to Martinique - not an escape to freedom, just an escape to better working conditions and continued slavery.

The strength of this book is in it's descriptions. The descriptions of slave life on Granada and of the environs are top notch. Unfortunately, the story doesn't really pan out to be anything more than a "non-event" in my mind. There's a lot of build up for an underwhelming finish. Because of this, I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Sugar Money by Jane Harris.

Note: I was sent a free Advance Reading Copy of this book as a part of the Amazon Vine Program so that I could write an honest review.

SUICIDE of THE WEST: HOW the REBIRTH of POPULISM, NATIONALISM, and IDENTITY POLITICS IS DESTROYING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY (audiobook) by Jonah Goldberg

Published by Random House Audio in 2018.
Read by the author, Jonah Goldberg.
Duration: 16 hours, 1 minute.
Unabridged.

Jonah Goldberg, noted political commentator and an editor at the conservative political magazine National Review, takes a long time to set up his argument that modern West culture and its economic system, as it developed under the Enlightenment, is unique and worthy of preservation. He goes on an in-depth look at the conditions that brought about the Enlightenment and makes some reasonable conclusions - certainly nothing that was earth-shaking. But, he makes them in easily understandable terms because this is not a poli-sci or an economics textbook - this is the political version on an evangelistic tract trying to sell the citizens of The West, particularly Americans, that their political and economic culture is worthy of saving, even if it is imperfect.

In Suicide of the West, Goldberg notes that the vast majority of human history has been the story of dictatorships (history in the formal sense, that is, the part that we have been able to record in written form in some way or another over the last 5,000 years or so). Some of those dictatorships have been formal dynasties, some mere military strongmen. He looks at why and how governments formed through the lens of both John Locke and Thomas Hobbes and notes how they were both correct, in their own ways. 

But, the modern West is really based on the ideas that Locke described and the Enlightenment movement used those ideas to re-think government and emphasize the rights of the individual, even if it inconveniences or irritates the majority. Sometimes these new political system were formally discussed and created (as in the United States Constitution) and sometimes as a matter of cultural evolution (which at least partially explains the British system). I particularly enjoyed his discussion of how the capitalist economic system and Western political models developed together.

Once he establishes why the Enlightenment was so unique, he then looks at several threats to American political culture in our current climate, paying special attention to Donald Trump. Jonah Goldberg, like me, is a "Never Trump" Republican (I call myself a "Republican in exile") who finds himself in a quandary in regards to Trump. While Goldberg and I don't always agree on why, we do both agree that Trump is not a valid choice and is certainly not a Republican. I will not distill his arguments here because he has made them known many times in his opinion pieces.

The audiobook was read by the author and he did a great job of making it a very lively reading, filling it with intonations and areas of special emphasis that only the author can give.

I found this to be an intriguing book, definitely one of the more enjoyable audiobooks I have listened to in the last two or three months. Highly Recommended.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here:  SUICIDE of THE WEST: HOW the REBIRTH of POPULISM, NATIONALISM, and IDENTITY POLITICS IS DESTROYING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY by Jonah Goldberg.

DOUBLE TAP (Paul Madriani #8) by Steve Martini

Originally published in 2005.

Synopsis:

A controversial CEO of a tech company is murdered in her own home. The motive is not clear, but her former bodyguard who is also her former lover is arrested for the crime. He claims that he was framed. He is accused of stalking her, he claims he was re-hired off of the books and was actually protecting her because she felt like she was being followed.

Emiliano Ruiz's case was dropped by his original attorney, but Paul Madriani and Harry Hinds pick it up only to find that it looks like a slam-dunk case for the prosecutor. Ruiz's pistol is the murder weapon. He has no proof that he was re-hired to protect the victim and he knows everything about her security system.

But, there is something about the case that convinces Madriani and Hinds that there is more here than meets the eye...

My take:

This is a so-so legal thriller. It's all a little too clandestine for my tastes and its conclusion was a "gotcha" ending. But, the backstory of Madriani's uncle that suffered from PTSD from his service in the Korean War was very powerful - all the more so when you read the last chapter of the book.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Double Tap by Steve Martini.

THE SECOND KOREAN WAR (audiobook) by Ted Halstead

Published in 2018 by Ted Halstead.
Read by Cody Banning.
Duration: 15 hours, 4 minutes.
Unabridged

Ted Halstead's The Second Korean War is a multi-country thriller in which North Korea tries a desperate gamble to force South Korea to submit to North Korean rule.

The book starts out on an military base on the far eastern part of Russia. North Korea has found out that Russia has a small nuclear "backpack" weapon (a battlefield nuke) dating from the early days of nuclear weapons that has been lost from the inventory over the years. North Korea acquires the weapon so that they can start a two-pronged effort to force South Korea to surrender and force the United States to withdraw from South Korea without fighting.

But, things don't go as smoothly as they hoped, people die and a Russian police detective starts putting things together. The question is, will he put things together fast enough?

The last thing I want to do is write out a bunch of spoilers, so I won't tell how everything breaks down. Some of the twists and turns were nicely done. I especially liked how the Russians were the good guys and honest brokers throughout. There's a lot of technology (radar-eluding planes, submarines) and geo-political intrigue in the vein of Tom Clancy. It's not as good as the best Tom Clancy, but that is a high bar. I found the North Korean plan for South Korea to be exceedingly implausible simply because of their hardheaded insistence on using a specific vehicle. I get it, the stereotype of military dictatorships is that they are ultra-orthodox and inflexible.

I listened to The Second Korean War as an audiobook. It was not a particularly good production. The reader, Cody Banning, has a clear voice - but, his rhythm is just not there. At times, it sounds like he is trying to imitate William Shatner, with odd long pauses at commas. According to my research, this is just his second audiobook, so that explains a few things. There's a lot of potential there.

The audiobook was poorly edited. Multiple times you can hear the reader clear his throat, shake papers and sometimes start over as he botched a line. Botched lines happen - but things like this are supposed to be corrected and the mistakes edited out. Also, the editor/producer should have caught the fact that Banning mis-read the word "emphatically" as "empathically" throughout the book. This is my 467th audiobook review and this one stood out for its rather poor editing. Too bad.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5, despite the production/editing work. It was a unique take on a potential Korean conflict.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here:
The Second North Korean War by Ted Halstead.

Note: I was asked to give an honest review of this audibook by the publisher in exchange for a free download of the audiobook.

KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED (Longmire #3) (audiobook) by Craig Johnson

Published by Recorded Books in 2007.
Read by George Guidall
Duration: 8 hours, 42 minutes.
Unabridged.

Walt Longmire is the Sheriff of Absaroka County in Wyoming and in Kindness Goes Unpunished he is off to Philadelphia to visit his daughter Cady. This visit comes as part of a road trip with his friend Henry Standing Bear who is presenting some photos at a museum. To add some extra fun, Walt is going to meet up with his tough-talking deputy Vic's family, since she is also from Philadelphia. Turns out they are entrenched in the police department, from top to bottom.

But, before the visit really got started, Cady is pushed off of a balcony and suffers a head injury, leaving her in a coma. Walt and Henry start investigating and soon things start to get very complicated, very fast.

This is the third book in this series, but the first one that I have read or listened to. Normally, I don't join series midway, but I felt confident that I could start with this one because I had seen two season of the TV show based on the book series so at least I would know who the characters are. I wasn't lost, but I didn't particularly enjoy the Philadelphia-based "fish out of water" aspect of this book. It was okay, but not great.

The audiobook was read by George Guidall. He has long been recognized as one of the best in the audiobook business and he does a great job with this book. But, it was just a so-so book no matter who read it so I am going to have to rate it 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Kindness Goes Unpunished
.

MISSION: JIMMY STEWART and the FIGHT for EUROPE (audiobook) by Robert Matzen

Published in 2017 by Blackstone Audio.
Read by Peter Berkrot.
Duration: 11 hours, 45 minutes.
Unabridged.

Just a few months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart was a new recruit in the U.S. Army angling for the chance to fly a bomber in combat. At the time, he was the reigning male actor in Hollywood, having recently received the Oscar for Best Actor.

But, deep down, Jimmy Stewart wanted to continue the family tradition of military service. The Army tried to divert Stewart to a non-combat role, aided by some string-pulling by his movie studio. But, Stewart pulled some strings of his own and eventually found himself training to fly bombers, despite the fact that he was easily at least ten years older than all of the other trainees.

Stewart and his men flew their bombers to England and joined the massive collection of planes involved in the bombing campaign in November of 1943. Stewart's age and extensive pre-war flying experience played a part in him becoming an leader of his squadron of B-24 Liberators. He felt the profound weight of the immense responsibility of leading his men. He was all too aware that a simple mistake on his part could kill dozens of men, including himself.

Maybe it was that sense of responsibility, maybe it was just dumb luck, but Stewart's men did much better than average when it came to getting there and back successfully, although it took a profound toll on Stewart. He visibly aged during those 16 months. He felt like he was losing even his nerve as the mission (and the close calls) added up. Despite his concern, he led larger and larger missions up to the end of the war.

The chief mechanic of the B-24 Liberator
"Nine Yanks and a Jerk" sticking his head out of the hole
blown through the cockpit by a piece of unexploded
ordinance. Jimmy Stewart was in that cockpit on that flight.

Robert Matzen's three-pronged look at World War II in Europe mostly focuses on the early life and military service of famed Hollywood actor, but it also tells the story of German civilians that ended up being near a site bombed by Stewart and the story of another airman that went briefly interacted with Stewart on a shake-down run. His story, though, is used to show what could have happened to Jimmy Stewart since that airman is shot down over Europe and eventually is captured.

This was an interesting audiobook. Peter Berkrot was the narrator and when it comes to narrating the danger and drama of a bombing run of Nazi Germany, there is literally no one better. Berkrot's pacing and dramatic delivery are perfect. But, the problem is that Berkrot never turns that dramatic style of reading down - everything is equally dramatic, including very mundane things like the descriptions of Stewart's childhood. So, it becomes sort of a mixed bag.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: MISSION: JIMMY STEWART and the FIGHT for EUROPE by Robert Matzen. 

THE JOURNEY that SAVED CURIOUS GEORGE: THE TRUE WARTIME ESCAPE of MARGARET and H.A. REY by Louise Borden

Originally Published in 2005.

Published in 2016 by HMH Books for Young Readers.

This book is really three stories all wrapped up in one.

#1) It is the early biography of two authors and how they got started.

#2) It is also the story of how Curious George, the iconic children's book character came to be.

#3) And, most importantly, it is the story of how these authors and this character were almost snuffed out at the beginning of World War II because of their religion.

This edition of the book is designed to be used in a classroom. Not only is is wonderfully illustrated with both photographs and original drawings reminiscent of H.A. Rey's work, it also includes assignments and discussion questions at the end of the book.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Journey that Saved Curious George.

 

WORLD'S TALLEST WOMAN: THE GIANTESS of SHELBYVILLE HIGH by Rita Rose

Published in 2008 by Hawthorne Publishing.

Indiana native Sandy Allen (1955-2008) was the tallest woman in the world at 7 feet 7 inches tall. This book is an entertaining, but fictionalized, version of her years at Shelbyville High School in Shelbyville, Indiana.

Rita Rose wrote World's Tallest Woman with the full knowledge of Sandy Allen after having interviewed her towards the end of her life.

Written as a coming of age YA book, the book is centered around Roseann, a high school student who has moved from the north side of Indianapolis to Shelbyville, a small town of less than 20,000 a little more than a half hour's drive from Indianapolis. Roseann is working hard to fit in and eventually finds a spot on the high school newspaper.

She couldn't help but notice Sandy Allen, easily the tallest person she has ever seen at more than 7 feet tall. She is mercilessly teased by a group of boys no matter where she goes and is clearly experiencing some physical issues, despite the fact that she is on the high school basketball team.

Roseann decides to interview Sandy in an attempt to ease the teasing by letting people know more about her. In the process, they become friends and Roseann learns a lot more about Sandy's horribly difficult home life (which she keeps out of the paper, of course).

This was an interesting and quite compelling read. Sandy Allen was a local celebrity at the end of her life, having moved back to Indiana after having made a living making appearances as a Guinness World Record holder so I found this look into her early life interesting. It makes you appreciate her kind nature (everyone that met her always said that she was very nice).

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: WORLD'S TALLEST WOMAN: THE GIANTESS of SHELBYVILLE HIGH by Rita Rose.

LORD, SAVE US from YOUR FOLLOWERS: WHY IS the GOSPEL of LOVE DIVIDING AMERICA? by Dan Merchant

Published in 2008 by Thomas Nelson.

Dan Merchant went on a cross-country trip in an effort to discuss why it is that so many people have a negative view of Christians and Christianity. He often dons a set of coveralls covered in religious-themed bumper stickers (both for and against religion) and then engages random people on the street in a short conversation about religion. His goal is to find out why a religion that is supposed to be based on a message of love is dividing people? Isn't that oxymoronic?

Merchant's strength is his congenial nature. He takes criticism very well - he actually listens to the answers he gets to his questions and takes them to heart. The answers are pretty predictable. If Christians came even halfway close to their ideals, it would be a different story. But, the experience of too many people, especially in certain communities, is that Christians do nothing but condemn and maybe even rejoice at their misfortunes as punishments from God. 

Early on in the book (page 14), Merchant makes this point: "To me, the divisions of America, this separateness, isn't getting any of us anywhere. And both sides are making the same mistake: they think the culture war is a winnable war. Some think, eventually, one side will win out over the other."

Merchant talks a lot about being a "red letter" Bible Christian, meaning that he focuses on what Jesus said more than anything else (for those not in the know, many editions of the Bible highlight the spoken words of Jesus in red). I have to say, the older I get, the more I become a "red letter" Bible Christian. He emphasizes this point on page 26 by supposing that Jesus would say that the 10 Commandments are gifts to make the journey of life easier, but the new commandment is to show your love for God by loving His people. Who are His people? Everyone - even the ones you don't like. Especially the ones you don't like.

Merchant interviews several people for this book, including Al Franken (before he became a Senator, let alone before he had to stop being a Senator), Michael Reagan, Rick Santorum and even a few people you've never heard of, like Sister Mary Timothy, a transvestite who dresses like a nun in kabuki-style makeup. Some of those interviews are better than others, some are a bit dated. But, they do illustrate the "culture wars".

I was struck by the two last chapters in the book: "The Confessional Booth" and "Grace in Action". The Confessional Booth features an idea from the book Blue like Jazz, sort of a counterculture religious book. Merchant set up a a confessional booth at a Gay Pride celebration - not to hear the sins of the people at the celebration, but to confess the sins of both Christianity and Dan Merchant. Let's face it, if you actually want to talk to the other side of the culture war, you have to come in humility or you will not be heard. This was very powerful. It made tears come to my eyes. Very powerful.

Grace in Action featured stories of people doing simple, human things for "the least of these" that come off as amazing things because we simply don't do the thing that Merchant referred to way back towards the beginning of the book - show our love of God by loving His people.

This book is powerful and is really on inhibited by the fact that it is dated. I would love to see it re-worked with new interviews and takes on more current cultural trends. I'm going to keep it in my library.

Note: this book was written to be a companion piece for a documentary that I have not seen.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. Very powerful at times, but also dated. Also, there are some slow parts.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: LORD, SAVE US from YOUR FOLLOWERS: WHY IS the GOSPEL of LOVE DIVIDING AMERICA? by Dan Merchant.

HERE IS WHERE: DISCOVERING AMERICA'S FORGOTTEN HISTORY (audiobook) by Andrew Carroll

Published by Random House Audio in 2013.
Read by the author, Andrew Carroll.
Duration: 14 hours, 2 minutes.
Unabridged

Why are some things remembered in our shared historical memory and others are not? Why do we commemorate some things but others are only remembered by a few hard-core local historians?

For Here Is Where, Andrew Carroll compiled a list of historical locations that he felt have been overlooked. Inspired by the little known-but-true story of how Abraham Lincoln's son was saved from being pushed off of New Jersey train platform by John Wilkes Booth's brother one year before Lincoln's assassination, Carroll decided to hit the road and look at similar locations all over the United States. 

Among the locations he found were the home of a house slave that ran away from President George Washington. Even though she ended up dying in poverty in a rough cabin, she was still an inspiration. When asked if she would have been better off living in the relative comfort of working in the Mount Vernon plantation home, she said she would prefer to be poor and free. 

Carroll also found the birthplace of the man who created a great deal of the vaccinations that the world uses today and had a hand in literally saving millions of lives. And, on the other side of that coin, he tracked down the probable origins of the "Spanish Influenza" (in the American West, not in Spain).

How about the location of the earliest DNA samples in North America that re-wrote the history books? The site of a million graves on a New York City's Hart Island that serves as a giant Potter's Field? The place where the first two-stage rockets were built and fired? Or the place where the modern elevator was built? Carroll talks about all of these and even more.

Some of the locations aren't particularly historical in my mind, but this was an interesting, rambling look at obscure history that often tied in to the some of the biggest historical events of the last two hundred years. Carroll looks into why some of them are forgotten. Many times it is because they are embarrassing, such as Washington's runaway slave or the hospital in California that sterilized more people than any other hospital in the country as part of a pre-World War II eugenics movement. Other times there is no particular reason why they are forgotten - they just get lost in the shuffle of history.

Carroll ends the book with a roundabout reminder that our own lives are filled with personal histories of our friends, neighbors and relatives that we should not let get lost like those other stories have.

I listened to this book as an audiobook. It was read by the author, a fact that I didn't know until I began writing this review. I think that says all you need to know about his performance - he was so solid that I had no idea that a professional reader was not reading the book.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: HERE IS WHERE: DISCOVERING AMERICA'S FORGOTTEN HISTORY by Andrew Carroll.

SQUEEZED: WHY OUR FAMILIES CAN'T AFFORD AMERICA (audiobook) by Alissa Quart

Published by HarperAudio in June of 2018.
Read by Carly Robins.
Duration: 8 hours, 52 minutes.
Unabridged.

The premise of Squeezed is that middle class Americans are feeling "squeezed" economically because...they are.

I heard an interview with this author on NPR and I was intrigued so I decided to check out her book.

Quart lists several factors, some more plausible than others. She is very big on the concept that the "caring careers" are under-paid due to latent sexism, since the majority of the people in those careers are female. These careers include nurses, daycare personnel and teachers.

She correctly notes that raising children is expensive and daycare is a big part of that. A great deal of the book is spent on this topic, including alternative arrangements to traditional daycare, experiments in state-funded pre-school and the struggles of single parents having to work and pay for daycare. 

The author, Alissa Quart

She calls into question the idea that everyone should attend college to move up in the world. In some states, the majority of people who graduate from law school never actually practice law - because there are simply too many graduates. Some people try to re-boot their professional lives by getting re-trained only to find out that the re-training was expensive and practically worthless. 

The book begins with a look at several adjunct professors who eke out a living teaching at several colleges with class-by-class contracts. These are non-tenure track jobs and there is no way an adjunct lecturer could make a decent living, even while teaching a full load of classes. The days when one could get their PhD and get a decent job teaching at a university are mostly gone - in some schools a majority of the classes are taught by adjuncts with their class-by-class contracts.

In the middle, she looks at public education, specifically New York City's system. This is a long, convoluted mess of a section, much like New York's schools. The reason I say that it is a mess is that New York's system in unlike any other system in the country so almost nothing that she notes about their system corresponds to the schools systems the vast majority of Americans experience. More about this down below.

The last portion of the book looks at the role of technology in "squeezing" the middle class. She quotes a report from Ball State University that says that most job losses have not come from moving facilities to foreign countries, but instead have come from technology taking over jobs. Hospitals are looking at robots to deliver medicine and other items. There is a very real possibility that long haul trucks will be automated in the future as well. Just yesterday, I was in a McDonald's that installed a series of touch screen kiosks to replace their cashiers (I didn't use them, though. I didn't even notice them until after I already was eating at my table).

Her final answer is a Universal Basic Income (UBI). This is the idea that the government makes sure every individual and every family has at least so much money. Here's a link to explain it better: UBI. I'm not going to try to explain it in more detail because I don't think it is even a realistic proposal - whether it works or not. It is a non-starter of an idea in the United States.

There may well be a great book out there about the middle class being "squeezed", but I think this one falls short. She misses too many things, such as our collective failure to promote the trades in schools. Electricians, plumbers and auto mechanics make pretty good money. Maybe some of the re-training money she discussed in the book would have been better spent learning how to install HVAC systems.

As I noted before, way too much of this book is rooted in the New York City experience - their schools, their rents, their pre-school program and more. While I freely admit, NYC is America's biggest and most important city, it is not remotely close to the experience of most Americans. There are roughly 9 million New Yorkers and roughly 325 million Americans. You do the math.

The audiobook was read by Carly Robins. She did a great job of reading the book, including the nice touch of throwing in a little bit of accent during a Dolly Parton quote.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: SQUEEZED: WHY OUR FAMILIES CAN'T AFFORD AMERICA by Alissa Quart.

DRIVING MISS NORMA: ONE FAMILY'S JOURNEY SAYING "YES" to LIVING (audiobook) by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle

Published by HarperAudio in 2017
Read by Christopher Grove and Nan McNamara
Duration: 7 hours, 30 minutes
Unabridged.

Norma and Leo were together for 67 years, happily married in Michigan. Sure, they were slowing down, but they were still living on their own and doing it well. Then, Leo go very sick and ended up dying two weeks later in a hospice. While Leo was dying, Norma discovered that she had a cancerous mass on her uterus. At 90 years old, this surgery would be very tough on Norma. At best, there would be a long, tough recovery period after surgery. At worst, the surgery could have fatal complications, all the more likely due to Norma's age.

Norma's son and daughter-in-law had been living the RV lifestyle for several years and, after a long discussion with Norma's doctors, Norma decided to join them rather than seek medical treatment. The doctors predicted that probably would live less than a year without the surgery. She decided to forego the treatment and use her remaining months to see the world.

So, they traded in the old RV camper and got a new one to better accommodate Norma. Then, they hit the road and headed west, seeing great sights, like Yellowstone, and cheesy ones, like the Corn Palace. Norma basically hadn't traveled since World War II so she was interested in seeing any and all of the United States.

Norma's daughter-in-law, Ramie Liddle, had a habit of keeping a travel blog to share her adventures with her friends. She kept up the habit on this trip, but thanks to the power of Facebook (and its share feature), soon she had thousands of followers and the regular media started to note this story of the little old lady that decided to embrace what she had left of life rather than fight a messy fight to add a few more painful months. Soon enough, Norma became a minor celebrity and found herself invited to suites at the Atlanta Falcons game, riding in parades and being invited to events all over the country and the world. 

Sadly, Norma's health did decline as she was heading out west for the second time. She lived for more than a year before she declined, which was longer than her doctors had predicted. She passed away in Washington state, only wanting to be remembered as "a nice person".

In many ways, this is an inspiring book. I was struck by the fact that she is such a standout for simply choosing to enjoy what was rest of her already long life.

The book was written by Norma's son and daughter-in-law. Rather than working together on the text, they took turns telling their story. The audiobook follows this format with Christopher Grove reading Tim Bauerschmidt's text and Nan McNamara reading for Ramie Liddle. That was a nice touch.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: DRIVING MISS NORMA: ONE FAMILY'S JOURNEY SAYING "YES" to LIVING by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle.

WHY WE DON'T SUCK: AND HOW ALL of US NEED to STOP BEING SUCH PARTISAN LITTLE BITCHES (audiobook) by Denis Leary

Published by Random House Audio in November of 2017.
Read by the author, Denis Leary.
Duration: 6 hours, 36 minutes.
Unabridged.

This sequel to his 2008 book, Why We Suck: A Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid, is an up and down work and not quite as good as his earlier effort.

Why We Don't Suck starts out very strong, with Denis Leary lashing out at both of the main candidates in the 2016 Presidential Election and their uncritical supporters. The book slows down as Leary tells the story of 11 Americans that inspire him. 

After that, the book nearly grinds to a halt as Leary sort of meanders about being critical of a number of things. He settles on religion for a while, gets into a convoluted discussion of cursing and also launches into an extended bit that starts as a riff off of President Trump's featuring Twitter feeds but devolves into "What if...?" Twitter feeds of past Presidents and, sadly, expands to include other world leaders, including Idi Amin. Really? An Idi Amin joke in 2017? He's only been out of power since 1979!

Happily, the book picks up towards the end. Leary writes about his own struggles meeting celebrities that are bigger than him, such as Paul McCartney and David Bowie. But, his funniest stories involve Keith Richards, simply because of their surreal nature. He also has several funny stories of being mistaken for other celebrities, including Willem Defoe, Kevin Bacon, Jon Bon Jovi and, oddly enough, Ellen DeGeneres.

What does any of the previous two paragraphs have to do with why America doesn't suck? I don't know - and, really, that's the problem with the book. It suffers from serious thesis drift until the end of the book when Leary expresses a serious amount of admiration for Millennials.

In short, due to the up and down nature of the book, I rate it 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Why We Don't Suck: And How ALl of Us Need to Stop Being Such Partisan Little Bitches by Denis Leary. 

THE VICTORS: EISENHOWER and HIS BOYS: THE MEN of WORLD WAR II (abridged audiobook) by Stephen E. Ambrose

Originally published by Simon and Schuster Audio in 1998.
Read by Cotter Smith.
Duration: 4 hours, 20 minutes.
Abridged.

I don't know how many books historian Stephen E. Ambrose (1936-2002) wrote about the D-Day Invasion, but they all a little different and they are all quite enjoyable to read. Ambrose is perhaps most famous for writing the history that inspired HBO's excellent Band of Brothers, which was also based on the same theme.

Ambrose had a gift for writing histories that were informative, entertaining and, at times, quite moving - and this one was no exception. The focus was on the D-Day invasion, the immediate aftermath, the Battle of the Bulge and the final push into Germany. There is no discussion of how the war started and little of how it ended, but almost everyone who would read this book knows all of that anyway.

The audiobook was read by Cotter Smith who did a nice job.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: THE VICTORS: EISENHOWER and HIS BOYS: THE MEN of WORLD WAR II (abridged).

FREAK the MIGHTY by Rodman Philbrick

Originally Published in 1993.

Freak the Mighty is the story of a lonely gentle giant named Max and his tiny Kevin, nicknamed "Freak", become neighbors and eventually the best of friends in this "coming of age" story.

Max lives in the basement of his grandparents' house. His grandparents are raising him because his father, Killer Kane, killed his mother. Other kids taunt Max because of this. Max just goes through the motions at school.

One day, Max meets Kevin (Freak). Kevin has Morquio Syndrome which has caused him to be very small. But, Kevin is also very bright and very willing to engage the world. Max, despite his large size, would prefer to be ignored by everyone. Kevin begins taking Max on so-called quests - basically they are exploring the neighborhood but Kevin makes them sound so much more interesting once he describes these trips in his own imaginative style.

Max carries Freak on his shoulders as they travel, an arrangement that works out well for both of them. Freak can travel more freely on Max's shoulders and Max discovers that he is not nearly as dimwitted as he thought he was - you can't be slow in the head and keep up with Freak. Freak says that the two of them, when combined, are a new thing called "Freak the Mighty".

There are two issues these young friends have to deal with, however - Freak's failing health and the legacy of Killer Kane in Max's life...

My daughter read this book in her sixth grade class (the whole class read it together) so I decided to read it as well. It's a good story, even if it is a little cliche, but it still gets you in the end - "right in the feels" as a former high school student of mine would say. There is a sequel, but I doubt I'll read it - I liked the way things were left at the end of this story.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick.