CIVIL WAR in the INDIAN TERRITORY by Steve Cottrell

 

Originally published in 1995.
Published in 1998 by Pelican Publishing Company.

The answer to one of the more popular Civil War trivia questions is: Stand Watie. The question is: Who was the last Confederate General to surrender at the end of the Civil War?

Stand Watie is unique because he is the only Native American to become a general during the Civil War. The Cherokee and other Indian Nations living in Oklahoma were drawn into the Civil War and fought in more than 30 engagements - some relatively small and some quite large. 

Slavery was a factor (Watie had slaves and a plantation), but there were also local political issues that were probably more influential. 

Like most of the fighting in the West, the battles were not large by Civil War standards, but the fighting was usually pretty personal. Villages were burned out, refugees fled by the thousands and it was not uncommon for soldiers to know the people they were fighting personally. Also, this front was one of the first to have African American soldiers fight. 

As a history, this book was very readable as an introduction. It is big on the action of the war and doesn't get much into the thoughts and motivations of the regular soldiers. For example, it would have been interesting to read about what white soldiers from Texas, Arkansas, Kansas and Wisconsin (a Wisconsin unit is mentioned throughout the book) thought about fighting alongside and/or against Native American and African American soldiers.

Also, there were a few times when Cottrell's text was over the top. For example, on page 76:

Stand Watie (1806-1871)

"Holding their rifles and cartridge boxes above their heads to keep their powder dry, the dauntless African-Americans sloshed through the waist-deep water to the opposite shore as bullets and buckshot flew around them. With warm adrenaline flowing through their veins, the former slaves followed their Anglo-Saxon colonel into the brush, overrunning the enemy rifle pits in a mad, fearless dash through the timber." 

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: CIVIL WAR in the INDIAN TERRITORY by Steve Cottrell.

RACER by John Andretti and Jade Gurss

 

Published by Octane Press in September of 2020.

I thoroughly enjoyed this autobiography because John Andretti was my favorite race car driver - period. 

I have watched auto racing for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are going to qualifications for the Indy 500. I have Janet Guthrie's autograph - not realizing when I got it that it was actually an amazing autograph to have. The sound of a single car circling the track with the roar and whine of the engine (it has both sounds at the same time) echoing off of the stands makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The history at that track cannot be topped by any other venue in the world.

I attended my first NASCAR race at Michigan in 1981 with my father. The spectacle of the whole thing was amazing. It was won by my favorite driver at the time, Richard Petty. In 1986, we went to our first Indy 500 and haven't missed one since (the 2020 race doesn't count since no spectators were allowed due to Covid-19). 

John Andretti first came to my attention as the cousin and nephew of his more famous relatives, Michael and Mario Andretti. He was like an also-ran compared to them because he didn't come with fully-funded top-notch rides and I paid him little attention - he had the famous name but I wasn't particularly fond of his cousin Michael Andretti. Michael had a reputation for complaining about everything and everyone. He has gotten much better as an owner and I have to say I am truly a fan of the way he manages his IndyCar teams.

So, when a local Indianapolis radio station started to interview him every week I listened with some serious skepticism. Before long, I found that I had a lot in common with John. We were born in the same hospital (5 years apart) and I live on the West Side of Indy, where he grew up. It became clear that he was much more of a regular guy race car driver than his more famous cousin. Plus, he had a great sense of humor. 

Soon enough, his segment became "must listen" radio for me and I became a fan. He started a go-kart race as a joke competition with one of the on-air personalities and raised money for Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. It became know as the Race for Riley. I attended a few of them as the event grew from just a few thousand dollars to raising hundreds of thousands at a time (almost $5 million at the time this book was published). In fact, a portion of the purchase price of the hardcover edition of this book goes to Race for Riley.

John Andretti really lies at the intersection of my racing interests. I love the Indy 500 - and so did he. My favorite driver in NASCAR was Richard Petty and I was the absolute happiest as a fan when John drove Petty's 43 car. And John was the first driver to race the Indy 500, climb on a plane and then fly to Charlotte, North Carolina to race in NASCAR's longest race - the World 600 (as it was called then).

John's reaction when he discovered he had colon cancer was not surprising. His was so advanced when he found out that he really had almost no chance. He went out of his way to let people know that that was easily preventable and they could learn from his example and get a colonoscopy early on to have a better result. I did - one month before his death. And, it was a good thing, too! Thanks, John. 

Having heard John in several year's worth of weekly interviews, I can tell you that this book does have the true feel of his voice, which says a lot for his ghost author Jade Gurss. Gurss seems to specialize in racing-related books, which had to be a big help for writing this one.

The last page of this book hit me like a ton of bricks, even though I knew exactly how it ended. 

Left to Right: Richard Petty, John Andretti and
Michael Andretti. John ran a car with Richard
Petty's traditional colors for his cousin's
team in the 2010 Indy 500.

There are four forwards to the book and they are a testament to John Andretti's level of connection in the racing community: Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Michael Andretti and Richard Petty. This is a collection of American racing royalty that is unrivaled. 

So, there is my mess of a review of a book that I absolutely enjoyed. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: RACER by John Andretti and Jade Gurss.

APOCALYPSE with a SIDE of GRILLED SPAM - Episode One (Stranglets series book #1) (kindle) by Michael Angel

 

Originally published in 2011.

Set in a future America where the world has been invaded by inter-dimensional space aliens that are a living bio/tech hybrid, this dystopian series is full of action and does not offer much in the way of subtlety.

The world has been overrun by strangelets - the cutesy nickname for creatures that can rip apart a human being in seconds. This was accidentally caused by a supercollider that opened up a rift that released an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that destroyed electronic systems across the world.

I received this book for free way back in 2011 and it was quickly buried under hundreds of free Kindle book offers that I've found over the years. I was flipping through the list of books that I have not read and the title caught my attention. I have no idea how Spam is involved.

I found this book to be intriguing, even if it was simplistic. The only real problem I have is this: 49% of the book is the story I picked and 51% of it is a sample of another novel. To me, it felt like a rip-off and I didn't pay anything for the book.

I rate this kindle book 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: APOCALYPSE with a SIDE of GRILLED SPAM - Episode One (Stranglets series book #1) (kindle) by Michael Angel.

LOKI: WHERE MISCHIEF LIES: MARVEL UNIVERSE YA (audiobook) by Mackenzi Lee

 

Published in 2019 by Listening Library.

Duration; 9 hours, 10 minutes.

Read by Oliver Wyman.
Unabridged.

The eternal issue with Loki in the Marvel Universe is the sibling rivalry between Loki and Thor that is encouraged by their father Odin who dangles the possibility of inheriting the throne in front of both of them. Odin encourages Thor to be "The Hero" and Thor responds too enthusiastically and Odin disapproves. Odin encourages Loki to try and keep up with Thor, but Loki can't keep up physically so he is forced to act using magic and/or tricks and Odin disapproves.  This book is built on this tension.

It's an okay book, but not a great one. There are three main settings for the novel - Odin's court, on Alfheim and in London in the late 1800's. For me, the best part was the part in London, but it just never really grabbed me. In this novel, the brothers are in their late teens or early twenties (or the equivalent to that for Asgardians.) There was a great opportunity for Loki to grow and develop as a character, but due to the restrictions of essentially "borrowing" a character for this novel, the growth can't happen and that was unsatisfying. 

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: LOKI: WHERE MISCHIEF LIES: MARVEL UNIVERSE YA by Mackenzi Lee.

THE OTHER SIDE of HISTORY: DAILY LIFE in the ANCIENT WORLD (The Great Courses) by Robert Garland

 

Published by The Great Courses in 2013.

Read by the author, Robert Garland.
Duration: 24 hours, 28 minutes.
Unabridged.

Robert Garland

Robert Garland gives his listeners a look at the "other side of history" - meaning from the point of view of the lower and middle classes, slaves, regular soldiers, women and children from the Stone Age through Medieval Europe. Occasionally, he looks at the rich, but not quite famous as well. He also explores how religion worked in every day life, family life, marriage ceremonies, how many jobs were performed and funeral rites in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire and Medieval Europe, particularly England.

Garland is a lecturer at Colgate University in New York State so he delivers this information through a series of 48 half-hour lectures. Asking for all 48 lectures to be 5 star quality is asking too much, but I found this to be an enjoyable and educational listen.

Highly recommended.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE OTHER SIDE of HISTORY: DAILY LIFE in the ANCIENT WORLD (The Great Courses) by Robert Garland.

DEAR CHURCH: A LOVE LETTER from a BLACK PREACHER to the WHITEST DENOMINATION in the U.S. by Lenny Duncan

Published in 2019 by Fortress Press

Lenny Duncan, as noted in the title, is a black pastor in a very white church body - the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). I belong to a different Lutheran denomination, but I recognize the congregations and the issues he is talking about. I found out about Dear Church from an interview on the morning news on NPR.

Duncan took a unique route to becoming a pastor. He was a homeless teen, he was a prostitute, he served time in jail and he was seeking something spiritual when he attended an ELCA church and heard the Lutheran teachings on God's grace and his life was changed.

Now, he is a pastor telling this church that he loves that it must do better. To be fair to the ELCA, this letter is not just applicable to that denomination, it is applicable to most of the mostly white mainline protestant denominations. But, comments like this one are more than fair for all Lutheran churches: "People are deciding not to come to our churches because we have allowed them to become country clubs where we pantomime discipleship or to be German/Swedish cultural centers, not because we finally got the courage to love God’s own children."

I was struck by several quotes that I will list off:

"Now is the time to rise up with the oppressed. Our churches are emptying because we have become navel-gazing social clubs that are more concerned with the fund to keep the organ alive than funds for refugees."

"Dear Church, it’s time to stop prioritizing tradition and civility over the lives of the marginalized."

"Jesus wants us to love everyone. I’m constantly surprised and disappointed by how radical that statement seems to be."

"Dear Church, we are the ones we have been waiting for. No one else is coming. You are the generation that has been chosen for this time, this place, this moment in human history. Stop waiting for some sort of transformative leader to arise from the body politic or the body of Christ. It is you. You with all your flaws, fears, doubts, brokenness, and downright utter humanness—you are called for more."

Duncan looks at his role as pastor as being the advocate for the marginalized in society because Jesus reached out to people just like them - because Pastor Duncan was one of those marginalized people himself. He wants the church to mobilize to reach out - really reach out. Open up its doors. Feed the poor and more.

I don't agree with every point he makes, but Duncan makes enough good points that I have to give it a strong recommendation. 

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DEAR CHURCH: A LOVE LETTER from a BLACK PREACHER to the WHITEST DENOMINATION in the U.S. by Lenny Duncan.

TREASON by David Nevin

 

Published in 2001 by Forge (Tor).

Treason has been in my to-be-read pile for a long time. I was inspired to finally read it after watching the musical Hamilton on a streaming service. As you may know, the character of Aaron Burr plays a large part and I got to wondering exactly what happened to Burr when he went west after his term as Vice President.

The problem, as the author points out, is that we don't really know exactly what Aaron Burr did. He went on trial for treason, but it was a hurried and botched trial and Burr was found not guilty.

Nevin does a solid job of explaining what Burr might have been doing. Nevin goes along with the popular theory that Burr was working with the commanding general of the U.S. Army, James Wilkinson. In 1854, letters were discovered that showed that Wilkinson was in the pay of the government of Spain and was feeding them all sorts of information.

Aaron Burr, 1756-1836.

Nevin supposes that Wilkinson gave Spain false information designed to make Spain attack the United States while Burr was bringing hundreds of men down the Ohio and Mississippi as part of a private army. Burr and Wilkinson were planning to use the Spanish attack as an excuse to initiate martial law in New Orleans, attack Mexico and combine New Orleans, Texas and Mexico into a new country, led by Burr and Wilkinson. Eventually, the states west of the Appalachians would join the new country and New England and New York would break away from the rest of the coastal states and the United States would simply cease to exist.

All of that was interesting, but David Nevin strung this book out and made all of that as boring as possible. He repeated conversations, rants, mental rants and made the pace crawl. The front cover features the Hamilton-Burr duel, but the book barely mentions it with just 6 pages out of a 545 page novel. Hamilton is basically a non-entity, which is weird because Burr is probably most remembered for the duel.

In short, this book is slow and tedious. It took me more than 6 weeks to read it. In the meantime, I read a completely different book because I thought it was more interesting. And magazines. And just goofed around on Facebook.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: TREASON by David Nevin. 2 stars for the coherent theory about Burr's conspiracy.