In the Hurricane’s Eye

In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick. Mostly about the sea battle commonly called the battle of the Chesapeake. This was pivotal battle leading up to Yorktown. Interesting that it was fought by the British and French navies, at the mouth of the Chesapeake to gain control of the estuary. It was a major revolutionary battle, and no American fought in it. Love getting a new piece of history.

There is a lot in the book about the relationship between the French and Americans. At least according to this author, without the French we never would have won the revolution, but mostly they fought since they were under orders, they really thought us a bunch of backwoods hicks. Which is probably not too far off.

It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic by Jack Lowery

It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic by Jack Lower Interesting history of early ACT UP development in the 1980s and 1990s. Specifically a group of people called Gran Fury who were the graphic designers behind such initiatives as "Silence=Death" and other slogans. I found it an original approach to look at activists group through their design initiatives. Who knew that fonts could be so contentious. The first half of the book illustrates the early years and formative years of the group, which ultimately was not a large group. Mostly this is the story of a group of people and their stories and relationships, and many stories of people dying in the early days of no testing and very little treatment.

The second half bogs down as the story just starts to document who was fighting with whom and who was dating who and the story, as with the people, lose their edge. But all in all an original way to look at activists. There is some information about earlier activists movement like the civil rights movement and Vietnam war protesting, and movements that came later like Occupy Wall Street and Me Too.

Riverman by Ben McGrath

Riverman by Ben McGrath is the story of Dick Conant, an outsider character who disappeared attempting to canoe from Northern NY state to Florida along the east coast. He was an experienced river canoer who had completed several long distance canoe trips, and was very skilled at navigating water ways in the US. While it is an interesting story, the author had met Conant when he stopped by a neighbor’s house living on the Hudson. He apparently was a very sociable and charming man with great stories. When he disappeared, the author began a search for Conant, linking many stories from people he encountered. Unfortunately, the story bogs down in details, parts felt like the author was padding the story to add pages to the book. Another story of an adventurer who succumbed to the elements.

Ways and Means

Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War by Roger Lowenstein Interesting story of the financing of the civil war. Basically Lincoln and his treasury secretary Chase invented the modern US monetary system to finance the war. Before that all banking was decentralized in private banks in the states who issued their own money, they created the national banking system and a national currency.

Not having any knowledge of this subject, I found the first part of the book fascinating as it is described how Chase and Lincoln tried to figure out how to finance the growing civil war. The author does a great job of comparing the financing of the Union, with that of the Confederacy. This goes to the funamental differences of the Union being a centralized government of the states, and the confederacy being a collection of states with a weak central government. According to the author it was really the Civil War that created the country that is now the US, and solidified the national government as an entity that would influence all aspects of life.

One of the many aspects that is described is the liberation of the slaves and what their fate would be. The author anchors all aspects of this book with the impacts of the economics involved.

The book does get bogged down in some of the details of various aspects, as he tracks the entire path of the civil war. Railroads play prominently in this narrative and the expansion of the US. Lincoln's interest in the railroads goes back to his days as a lawyer, and he was instrumental in making sure the Union Pacific railroad was established to make the US a two ocean country. One sad aspect is the idea that Lincoln wanted to move to California after leaving the presidency.

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson chronicles the first year that Winston Churchill was Prime Minister at the beginning of WW2. This was at a time that Hitler had overrun Europe and had turned his sites on defeating Britain in order to create a Nazi Europe. England was standing alone, as the US would not enter the war until the Japanese attached the US in December 1941.

This is a very thoroughly researched volume, the author had access to many diaries of major players on both sides of the conflict, so we recieve a very personal view of many major events of that year. The personal lives of the Churchills is provided in much detail, along wth the details of the Battle Britain and the massive bombing that GB had to endure.

Phantom Plague

Phantom Plague: HOW TUBERCULOSIS SHAPED HISTORY by Vidya Krishnan. This medical history is told in a very friendly way, without bogging down in medical terminilogy that is hard to understand. The author arges that TB is the deadliest disease in history and has been around for millenium. The first few chapters move quickly and are very interesting, with the history of medicine in the 1800s when attempts to reform doctors behaviour were met with lots of resistance. It is comical to our present time when trying to get people to wash their hands between performing procedures and seeing patience was laughed at. The development of germ theory and immunology is well told and provides a great overview of the medical field at that time.

The book bogs down as it moves into the history of individuals with TB and their attempts to get good treatment, and the details of the disease in India and.

Lost in the Valley of Death

Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas by Harley Rustad. This is the story of Justin Alexander Statler, climber and adventurer. This is another story of an American guy (they are always American and always guys) who pushed himself and the limits of mountaineering/exploring to the limit and was never heard from again. Referenced in this book is the story told in Into the Wild and I am also reminded of the story chronicled in the movie Alpanist. The people in these stories have a certain native talent, and acquired skills from their experiences in the environments that they are choosing. But is seems like the stories that make it into books and movies are always the stories about the ones who disapear never to be hear from again, or in the case of Into the Wild his body was found long after he had died.

From this I think of Ed Viesturs and Chris Bonington. Both people who in their 20s were captivated by mountain climbing, and who were able to develop this passion into a career as authors and speakers, so they could continue to be in the world of the mountains the loved, but could make a living and not have to contantly live broke and on the edge.

To be fair, Chris from Into the Wild was only 24 when he died and Marc in the Alpanist was 26, so maybe they did not live long enough to reach maturity. With many of these people there really should be considered issues of mental health. In Rustad's book he does touch, very briefly, on sexual abuse that happened to Justin when he was young, apparently twice. This aspect was not explored to try and define the underlying issues that drove Justin to taek risks and never be selted.

There is another book about a transforming journey, that is from another time and shows a different path. The book Dove by Robin Graham was published in 1972. This is the story of Graham sailing around the world in his boat the Dove, beginning in 1965 and finished the trip in 1970. This was a voyage of personal discovery and growth, and he came out of it being married and shortly after finishing the trip had a kid. Great story, many harrowing experiences but it was the story of growth and growing up, and at the end he transitioned to a settled, but not conventional life.