David Farragut and the Great Naval Blockade (The History of the Civil War Series) by Russell Shorto

Solid history for grade 5 and above.

Published in 1991 by Silver Burdett Press
119 pages of text. 9 pages of timelines, sources and and index at the end.

David Farragut and the Great Naval Blockade is part of a larger series (The History of the Civil War Series). It is very readable with a good balance of national history versus the biography of David Farragut.

Farragut joined the United States Navy at age 9 in 1810, fought against the Barbary Pirates and in the War of 1812. Until the Civil War, Farragut was known as an great officer, the kind of officer that sailors were glad to work under, but also the kind of officer that just missed doing something great. He was not sent to "open" Japan with Matthew Perry. He tried to get involved in the Mexican War but the fighting in Veracruz was over by the time his ship arrived.

When the Civil War began, it was assumed that Farragut would go with the Confederacy. After all, he was born in Tennessee, he lived in Norfolk, Virginia and his wife was also a Southerner. But, Farragut was a U.S. Navy man so he moved to New York and soon found himself in charge of the blockade of the Gulf states (from Texas to Florida).

David Farragut in 1858

Farragut's ships took New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. Both conquests involved a great deal of clever strategy and a lot of nerve. While his ships were going through a mine field (called torpedoes in Civil War times), his men were scared and stopped moving forward into Mobile Bay. Farragut yelled out, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" and on they went to victory.

Due to health issues, Farragut headed home to New York. He became the first person in American history to become a vice-admiral and in 1866 he became the first admiral. Farragut died in 1870. The date of his funeral was a national holiday and 10,000 soldiers and sailors marched in the funeral procession, led by President Grant.

This book is a solid introduction to the role of the Navy in the Civil War as well as being an great little biography of Farragut. The maps are simple and the maps of the Battles of New Orleans and Mobile Bay are excellent. Lots of pictures help to tell the story.

I rate this biography 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: David Farragut and the Great Naval Blockade.

Reviewed on March 17, 2012.

Black Like Me (audiobook) by John Howard Griffin

Extraordinarily Powerful As An Audiobook Experience

Published in December 2011 by AudioGO
Read by Ray Childs
Duration: approximately 7 hours.

Unabridged.

In 1959, John Howard Griffin (1920-1980), an author and journalist decided to go check out the serious rumblings of the Civil Rights movement for himself. Griffin was white and he decided to medically darken his skin (and smooth out the rough spots with dye and shave his head) and go as a black man. His plan was to see if things truly were different on the other side of the color line.

Black Like Me is a novelization of his experiences (meaning things were edited and re-arranged to make the story work better) and it starts with him pitching his idea to a publisher and his family. Once he gets funding and permission from his family (after a lot of serious talk about how dangerous this could be) Griffin heads off to New Orleans for his medical treatments. He picks New Orleans because of its more liberal racial attitudes, figuring that it would be easier for him to learn the new rules and expectations (if there were any) in a more forgiving environment. He tours the city, both black and white areas as a white man and once his transformation is complete he makes the same trips as a black man.

John Howard Griffin (left) and Sterling.
Photo by Don Rutledge.

Griffin discovers that the world was indeed a different place for a black man in the south in 1959. He was denied entry to most places. He was routinely given what he called the "hate stare" by complete strangers, and had great difficulty with the basics of life such as getting something to drink and finding a restroom. He was coached in the basics by a shoeshine man named Sterling that he had befriended as a white customer. Sterling was astounded by the change and fearful for Griffin's life if he was ever found out. But, Sterling's lessons become the first real introduction that Griffin and the readers get to the differences between life as a black man and life as a white man.

Griffin spends quite a bit of time in New Orleans and details a lot of inequities in housing, eateries, stores, hotels and so on. In fact, just about the only place that gives Griffin an even break is a Catholic book store. Griffin decides to travel to Mississippi to visit an area that had had a recent lynching.  He also hitchhiked across Alabama, visited Atlanta. He experiences city life, rural life and everywhere there is the pervasive presence of racism. Griffin's prose is oftentimes moving. He commented at the beginning of the book that this book was written quickly and not very polished. Griffin completely underestimated the power of his writing - it may have been quick, but it was very well done.

This edition includes an epilogue written for the 2nd edition of the book printed in 1977. The epilogue details the dangers suffered by Griffin after the publication of Black Like Me in 1961 and his usefulness as an intermediary between white and black members of communities throughout the U.S. However, the epilogue does not end on a hopeful note as Griffin is quite frustrated with the slow pace of racial reconciliation in America. He died in 1980 so we do not know what he would have thought about how things have gone in the last 30 years.

The audiobook reader, Ray Childs, does a masterful job with dialects, creating new voices (voices of different races and different sexes from different regions - all done perfectly). He reads the text with great effect and helps to make many poignant scenes even more profound.

With the exception of just a few minutes of the description of Atlanta (not being from Atlanta, I found the recital of African American neighborhoods and the lengthy listing of their community leaders a bit dry) this is a moving book that pulls the listener in and keeps the listener listening.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Black Like Me.

Reviewed on May 17, 2012.

Note: This book was placed on a censorship list in Tennessee. There is a searchable database in the article because the list has more than 1,100 unique titles. I guess history is scary to some people.

Socrates in 90 Minutes (audiobook) by Paul Strathern

Very enjoyable short listen

Published by Blackstone Audio in 2009.
Read by Robert Whitfield
Duration: 90 minutes

This unabridged lecture on Socrates covers all of the major aspects of the life of the famed Ancient Greek philosopher including his personal life, his military career (he served with distinction as a hoplite, the Athenian equivalent of a buck private), the sordid story of his execution by the government of Athens, his influences, who he influenced, his impact, both good and bad, on Western society and more. Throw in the entertaining (and surprisingly approachable considering it is about philosophy) text and the great delivery by narrator Robert Whitfield and this short little audiobook is a well worth listen.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Socrates In 90 Minutes.

Reviewed on March 11, 2012.

Hard Knocks by Howie Carr

Ultra-gritty crime novel

Published  in 2012 by Forge Books.

Hard Knocks is among the grittiest of gritty crime novels. It is set in Boston and in ex-cop turned private investigator Jack Reilly's world, everything is ran by a political machine, the mafia or both. Everyone is on the take, it's just that some people get caught and others are a bit luckier or smoother.

Jack Reilly is not like his brother, an unlucky small time mafia wannabe who rotates in and out of prison. But, he's retired (with a "disability") after he was tainted as being the mayor's bag man who picked up bribes. Reilly is quite clear that he was not a bag man (except when no one else could do it) but he did a lot of work for the mayor as the man who could dig up dirt on anyone and make sure it made it into the right hands - a wife, a reporter, a political opponent.

Reilly gets dragged into a case by Bucky,  a lock-picking friend of his brother from prison who discovered a lot of information and incriminating paperwork about local mafia types and political big shots while he was breaking into safe deposit boxes during a bank heist. Bucky doesn't know what to do with it and is scared that the powers that be on both sides of the law will be gunning for him. Turns out Bucky was right - he is killed in the street right after talking with Reilly and now Reilly feels an obligation to do something about it. He really has no choice since Bucky has dropped it all in the mail for safekeeping and Reilly knows he won't be safe once he receives it.

Soon enough, everyone is gunning for Reilly while he figures out what he can do with these secrets before he ends up dead like Bucky.

Hard Knocks is gritty, but the unrelenting dark nature of the book eventually wore me down - Boston became a place to be endured, not a place to live. I had a hard time getting behind Jack Reilly as well. On the whole, the book is too dark and too despairing for my tastes. I have to give this one 3 of 5 stars.


This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Hard Knocks by Howie Carr.

Reviewed on March 9, 2012.

Event: A Novel by David L. Golemon

Borrows heavily from movies and TV, has decent action.

Published in 2006 by Thomas Dunne Books 

Event is not a bad book, per se, but I kept on thinking, "I've seen this before."

The book introduces a secret government agency called the Event Group which investigates historical legends, paranormal activity, UFO sightings, etc. They are sort of an X-Files, Men in Black and Delta Force rolled into one. The Event Group collects items of historical significance and studies them to plan for future disasters. They also keep these items secret.

 Why?

I was never quite clear as to why Noah's Ark, the existence of King Arthur, or the arrival of the Vikings in the Americas in the 800s were state secrets. Plus, comments such as the Event Group not wanting to give King Arthur's body to the Brits because it belongs to "the world" seem silly when the Event Group is just storing Arthur in a vast underground base in Nevada. They are not sharing any of this information with anyone - they are just hording it. The Event Group reminded me of Spielberg's Nazis in "Indiana Jones" that were always searching for relics of power.

There are aliens and their story seems to be a combination of Independence Day, Aliens and Tremors.

The characters were okay and the action was mostly good, but, for me, the story never quite gelled. I kept wondering why Noah's Ark was a state secret and the rest of the story broke down from there. To use a Bible analogy (in honor of Noah and his hidden-away Ark) - that was the story's "feet of clay."

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Event: A Novel.

Reviewed on November 9, 2007.

Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West (abridged) (audiobook) by Stephen E. Ambrose

Wonderful, just wonderful.

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio
Read by Cotter Smith
Duration: 4.5 hours 
Abridged

A family friend gave me the abridged audio version of Undaunted Courage. It has been on my "to read" list for years and I'd never quite gotten around to it but, boy, am I glad I finally did.

Meriwether Lewis
(1774-1809)

In Ambrose's hands the story of the Lewis & Clark expedition is lifted from the stale and stilted pages of the history textbooks and it becomes an exciting narrative - full of adventure, wonder and tons of hard work.

Ambrose is a gifted writer. I am reminded of the David McCullough quote: "No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read." No danger of that with Ambrose. Not only has he read everything there is to be found on the topic but has traveled the route several times.

William Clark
(1770-1838)

Cotter Smith did a great job of reading the text and keeping up with its lively prose (with the single exception of mis-pronouncing the capital city of South Dakota - he called it Pierre, like the French name, but they proudly pronounce it "peer".) 

Stephen Ambrose himself handled the intro and conclusion. I can't wait to pass on this audiobook to someone else.

I rate this audiobook 5 out of 5 stars.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose.

Reviewed November 9, 2007.

When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals (abridged) (audiobook)by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Originally published in 1995 by Dove Entertainment, Inc.

Read by David Ackroyd
Duration: 3 hours, 5 minutes.

Abridged

Strengths:

When Elephants Weep is full of moving anecdotes concerning animals and the possibility of them having emotions. It is a pleasant listen and usually not "over the top" in its preachiness. It was well read by narrator David Ackroyd. The authors make a compelling, if not scientifically rigorous argument for animal emotions.

Weaknesses:

The authors are continually preaching against scientists who do not believe that animals have emotions and may even doubt that animals can even feel pain. However, they rarely point out the scientists or the studies that espouse this view. It felt like a straw man argument after a while. They also fail to cite any work that backs their claims besides convincing rhetoric.

In the end, it was a convincing, mostly entertaining book that was a lot more entertaining and pleasant than a PETA brochure, but without much more actual content than such a brochure.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: When Elephants Weep.

Reviewed November 9, 2007.