REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

LEADERS

Diamond shows leaders are human which by definition makes them imperfect.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings (When Do Leaders Matter?)

By: Jared Diamond

Narrated by: Christopher Ragland

Jared Diamond (American author, scientist, and historian. Considered as one of the top 100 public intellectuals who also wrote “Guns, Germs, and Steel” that received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize.)

Diamond has written a ponderous history of world leaders, sports coaches, famous entrepreneurs, and founders of religion. Why and how great leaders change the course of history, corporations, winning sports teams, and religious belief are the subjects of “Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings”. He eventually concludes that leaders do matter but the time and social circumstances in which they live have a great deal to do with what they accomplish. By accomplish one presumes he means what leaders have done whether it is for the good or harm for those they lead. He offers no particular revelatory conclusion other than great leaders are driven to succeed.

Historians have struggled with Diamond’s idea of great leaders for centuries. He offers a conclusion that sits on a fence between leader’s strengths, weaknesses, and the social conditions of the time in which they lead. Diamond argues leaders’ matter, but their impact depends on energetic ambition, personal drive, and, most importantly, the social circumstances of the era in which they live.

Opportunity and risk.

Historical conditions create opportunities and risks. A leader capitalizes on personal attitude, and a vision of the time in which they live. A leaders’ interpretation of experiences in their personal lives and the events of the society in which they live, at the time of their rise to leadership, determine their success or failure. All of these characteristics are noted in “Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings (When Do Leaders Matter?)”.

WINSTON CHURCHILL (1874-1965)

A political example of Diamond’s point is the advent of WWII. When analyzing an event like WWII, Winston Churchill’s life experience and the society and economy of the country in which he is raised are entirely different from what Adoph Hitler’s life experience and German society foretells. Churchill and Hitler tapped into the strengths and weaknesses of their societies to exercise similar but different leadership skills. Hitler uses his military experience, abhorrent prejudices, and oratorical skills to create a fascist state. The personal experiences of Hitler’s life are imprisonment, poverty, and created prejudices that resonate with Germany’s roaring twenties feelings of powerlessness. The burden of WWI reparations is crippling German society. In contrast to Hitler, Churchill uses his war experience, oratorical skill, and patrician life of privilege to martial the forces of the West against Germany’s invasion of Poland, the precursor to WWII.

The fall of Germany in WWII.

Germany’s hyper-inflation caused by the financial burden of reparation imbued German citizens with a sense of powerlessness in their lives. Hyper-inflation and a weakened German economy made Western Powers’ reparations an impossible obligation for the German people to meet.

Hitler appears to have overcome personal hardship and gained ground in German politics by cleverly currying favor with German leaders in this time of economic hardship. Hitler gains a platform for addressing German citizen’s social discontent. He offers a message that resonates and rewards citizens who are drawn into Hitler’s belief that the world unjustly penalizes Germany for WWI. Hitler capitalizes on citizens’ powerlessness by rebuilding the German army as he gains political power. By invading Poland, and blaming others (particularly Jews) for the condition of German society, Hitler’s power and influence increases. He appeals to German society in ways that diminish rationality by blaming others for the ills of a collapsing the economy.

Poverty, raised taxes, and helplessness in Germany before WWII.

Hitler operates within social conditions that are present in Germany at the time of his leadership ascension. Hitler is suited to the moment because of his personal life and developed oratorical skill that overcome feelings of powerlessness. His idea is to blame others for German poverty and hyperinflation which resonates with many German citizens.

Invading Poland becomes the western world’s cost for unfair reparations that make Hitler an early hero of many German citizens. It is a small step for Hitler to organize blame for Germany’s economic crisis on Jews with tacit, if not complicit, cooperation of many who wished for a scapegoat for Germany’s economic collapse. Hitler uses learned oratorial skill to capitalize on feelings of citizen powerlessness to become Germany’s autocratic leader.

Acting like a King.

Once the general population accepts Hitler as leader, he has sovereign authority to act like a King. He chooses to invade Poland. As Germany’s new leader, Hitler creates a nationalist agenda to rebuild Germany as one of the great powers. Initially, the international community is not prepared to respond. Another world war appears in the offing. Is that because of Hitler’s decisions or the circumstances of the time and the mistakes engendered by the Treaty of Versailles?

Diamond implies WWII is not solely because of Adolph Hitler but of a confluence of his leadership skill and the social condition brought about by WWI reparations. That is the theme of Diamond’s argument for “When Leaders do Matter”. They matter when a society is floundering and seeks someone to lead them out of a mess. The tragedy of that truth is that it is as possible for there to be a Hitler as a Lincoln in the leadership of a nation.

Qualities of leadership.

The author concludes powerful political and economic leaders are driven personalities who serendipitously capitalize on opportunities that are largely existent and reinforced by existing social norms. Diamond implies no great leader, or entrepreneur is likely to succeed without societal reinforcement. Of course, talent, intelligence, and ambition are essential for a leader to become successful (meaning powerfully good or bad), but a societies geographic, economic, and institutional environment play a big part in their success as leaders. Diamond concludes that if great leaders of an era are taken out of their time, their success or failure is likely to be different.

THOMAS EDISION (1847-1931, AMERICAN INVENTOR, BUSINESSMAN CONSIDERED BY SOME TO BE AMERICA’S GREATEST INVENTOR)

Diamond goes on to argue the same is true for business moguls, sports coaches, and religion leaders. Every successful leader has followers that are grounded in societal influences that reinforce leaders’ success. Those leaders who succeed have independent skill, but their success lies not only with their personal skill but with the people who choose to follow. Two examples given by Diamond are Bill Gates and John Wooden.

Computer generation.

The personal computer revolution had already begun when Bill Gates hit the scene. Semiconductor technology was advancing rapidly. Large markets for software were being developed. New companies were popping up every day. Diamond explains that Gates gained technical competence in the field of computers with a vision for licensing software and creating a platform for computing. Gates plowed fertile ground because of the many people who were interested in the technology of computers. He helped shape the wave of computer technology but only because of the society in which he lived. He is aided by his parents and the education he received but market recognition of the potential of computerization was already there for the taking. It is the same acceptance Hitler received from the German people before the advent of WWII.

John Wooden (Led UCLA to 10 NCAA championships, the first to enter the Basketball Hall of Fame.)

The legendary John Wooden is Diamond’s example of great coaches who excelled in basketball. The measure of his success is not the wealth he gained from his coaching skill but from the number of championships his teams achieved in his career. Wooden won 10 NCAA men’s basketball national championships in 12 seasons as the coach of the UCLA Bruins. Seven of those wins were consecutive between 1967 and 1973, an unbroken record. His teams achieved 12 Final Four appearances. In his career he had a record of 664 wins which is over 80 percent of the games his team played. Wooden’s success has never been equaled which shows how important a great leader can be, but he is supported by the wealth of UCLA and an athlete recruitment system that brings great athletes to the university.

Religious leaders.

The last chapters of Diamond’s book address religious leadership. To many listener/readers, his analysis is likely to be offensive. To this reviewer, Dimond’s history is insightful but somewhat biased in that religion has been a builder as well as a destroyer of society. His emphasis is on religion’s destructive history. As a personal non-believer, Diamond reinforces atheism. History shows that religion has aided human care for others despite its ongoing destructive history, evidenced today in the relationship between America and Iran that is supported by many religious believers. Innocent people on both sides of conflicts about religion are inevitably killed.

Diamond shows leaders are human which by definition makes them imperfect.

COMMUNITY

Steinbeck’s stories show what makes capitalist America a melting pot of the world.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Cannery Row (A Novel)

By: John Steinbeck

Narrated by: Jarry Farden

John Steinbeck (1902-1968, author, Nobel prize winner who wrote 25 novels.)

John Steinbeck’s ability to vivify the lives of the middle and lower classes make stories like “Cannery Row” clear and poignant visions of America. Though published in 1945, “Cannery Row” focuses on a segment of working-class people in Monterey, California, a community about 120 miles south of San Francisco. It is located in an industrial waterfront area lined with boat docks and fish canneries.

Cannery Row as it was in the 1940s.

Image of Monterey's Old Fisherman's Wharf | 2052168

As a community of people who are mostly manual laborers with immigrants and a few professionals, Steinbeck paints a picture of America that resonates with the 21st century; i.e., at least before the current government administration. The sardine industry, like ocean harvesting today, is teetering on collapse in the late 1940s because of overfishing and environmental change. However, Steinbeck shows the human truth of how an industry grows out of the value of immigrants and the middle class in capitalist America. He offers a historical snapshot of the importance of both immigrant and born-in-America citizens that demonstrate the best of what capitalism offers working families.

Working in America.

Working families in the era of midcentury America came from all over the world. Steinbeck paints a picture of a Chinese immigrant who measures the worth of human beings and makes the best of what they offer by recognizing “no” is often the wrong answer to those who try to take advantage of others. This Chinese American opens a grocery store and measures his success by working within the limits of Americans’ ability to pay for what they need to survive. He offers credit, with limits, to his customers and works with them to maintain his livelihood and invest in other properties when opportunities present themselves. He is approached by homeless laborers about living in a warehouse property that has been vacant for some time. He has purchased the property as an investment. They offer no payment for the shelter, but he reasons if he says no, they will take what they are not given, damage his building, and ruin its potential value. On the other hand, if he says yes, they will occupy the building, be customers of his store, improve his income, and take care of his property that will increase in value over time.

Community leaders.

A highlight of Steinbeck’s insightful story is a doctor who is the center of the community’s stability who exemplifies the best of what American life offers. The doctor is a highly respected, vociferous reader of books and a music lover, who cares for the health of those who live in Cannery row. Whether a woman who is working in a house of prostitution, a delinquent who breaks the law, or a fisherman who brings his crew to stir up a fight, the doctor is the glue that holds the community together.

America is and always should be a melting pot if one takes Steinbeck’s view of America as relevant.

Steinbeck’s stories show what makes capitalist America a melting pot of the world. Whether an immigrant, working person, delinquent juvenile, or community leader, every human being has value. Life in America is not easy, but it is worth everything that a sense of community can offer.

Mid-Life Crisis

Some listener/readers may put the book aside before completing it. Other’s may stick with it to see if there is anything new being written about the meaning of life.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

I See You’ve Called in Dead (A Novel)

By: John Kenney

Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins

John Kenney (American author, copywriter.)

“I See You’ve Called in Dead” is a mid-life crisis story about an obituary writer who is fired by his employer for writing his own obit as though he had died. Kenney’s story is not particularly revelatory or enlightening for one who is past their mid-life. Every human being lives life with joys and sorrows. For this reader/listener, most of Kenney’s story is only a reminder of a typical American middle-class life.

The author’s story is of a forty something writer who is divorced, suspended from his job, wandering through life, and commiserating over mistakes he may or may not have made in his life. Some listener/readers may put the book aside before completing it. Other’s may stick with it to see if there is anything new being written about the meaning of life. One wonders who will complete John Kenney’s story or move on to something else.

MORALITY

“The Road” is a brilliant story about educating society about caring for others.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Road

By: Cormac McCarthy

Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte

Cormac McCarthy (American author.)

There is never any explanation of the cause for an apocalypse in the chilling story by Cormac McCarthy’s in “The Road”. The apocalypse could have been anything from a nuclear war to a cataclysmic event that turns the world environment into a perpetual winter or, in today’s concern, a boiling planet. Either from human action or ignorance human morality, spirit, and society may collapse.

Despite our current American president’s reversal of environmental regulations, global warming is a clear and present danger to the world.

Today’s concerns are global warming, fear of nuclear war, and now–Artificial Intelligence which is capable of creating a technological or medical virus that could destroy humanity. “The Road” is an intimate portrait of a wasteland where the only trust that exists is between a father and his son. Their peripatetic wandering is through an environmental wasteland in search of food and warmth to sustain their fragile lives. The only bond they have is to each other and it is nearing an end. The age and deteriorating health of the father is advancing as Cormac’s story evolves.

A father’s love for a son.

What makes Cormac’s story compelling is the intimate relationship of a father’s love for his son. It is the meticulous building of that relationship that mesmerizes a reader/listener; keeping them in the story. The dire condition of humanity is balanced against the love of a father trying to educate his son about what is important about living a moral life even in the face of societal despair and certain death.

Living a moral life.

One gathers from Cormac’s story that in the face of calamity, whether it is world environmental collapse or the loss of the most important person in your life, the only hope for human beings is to remind oneself of the lessons they learn about being moral and acting morally. The only chance for humanities survival, when civilization is at risk, is for human goodness to survive. The young boy’s father focuses on teaching his son how to be a good and decent human being. Without caring for others and oneself, society will not survive. The foundation of society is in how humans treat each other.

Something more than religion.

Some may argue this is simply a Christian belief, but Cormac is showing it goes beyond religion and is based on human-to-human relationship. Of course, Cormac’s story is about the relationship of father to son, but the fundamental lesson is that every person is related to others as a member of the human race. We are all responsible to and for each other. “The Road” is a brilliant story about educating society about caring for others.

CHINA’S POWER

“Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister” shows that wealth, belief in something greater than oneself, and human relationship are the powers behind revolution.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister (Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China.)

By: Jung Change

Narrated by: Catherine Ho

Jung Change (Author, Chinese-born British writer whose autobiography is banned in the Peoples Republic of China.)

“Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister” is an historically important book about major political struggles that have shaped modern China. It is a story of three sisters who were closely connected to early twentieth century China when it was teetering between being a Republic, independent of the West, and later a communist autocracy. Though China is not yet, by definition, a republic, twentieth century China seems destined to follow Sun Yat-sen’s “Three Principles of the People”. 1) Nationalism-being independent and sovereign. 2) Democracy with Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Examination, and Yuan Control branches 3) A government that attends to people’s livelihood concern including land reform, regulation of capital, and improved living standards for all.

Sun Yat-sen notes the Qing Empire’s decline and emphasizes a need for China’s sovereignty and unity as a singular nation. He insists on independence from the influence of the West. He demands reduction of foreign influence in China from unequal treaties between the West and China. He seeks political unity by reinforcing Chinese national identity. His goal is to establish China as a constitutional democracy in stages beginning with initial military rule but evolving through political tutelage of the people about democracy. His goals are delayed (if not defeated) by the class revolution led by Mao Zedong. China’s historical transition is viewed through the history of three sisters, one which is married to Sun Yat-sen, a second who marries Chiang Kai-shek, and a third older sister who holds the wealth behind the influences of their marriages.

The three sisters of the Soong family.

The oldest of the three sisters creates wealth through personal effort and a marriage to H. H. Kung, one of the wealthiest financiers and businessmen in China. All three sisters are educated in the United States. Their father was a Methodist Christian minister educated in America. The oldest sister (Big Sister), Soong Ai-ling became one of China’s wealthiest women. “Red Sister” married Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese Republic who served as a high-ranking member of early 20th century rule of China. “Little Sister” married Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of Nationalist China.

Soong Ai-ling (Graduated for Wesleyan College, became a secretary for Sun Yat-sen.)

CHIANG KAI-SHEK (China’s ruler from 1928-1948)

Jung Change’s story unfortunately obscures the momentous differences between Chiang Kai-shek’s and Mao Zedong’s rule of China with a somewhat ponderous history of the marriages of two of three daughters born in the Soong family. All three sisters are raised as Methodists in America. Chiang Kai-shek ruled China from 1928 to 1948 and governed Taiwan until 1975. His rule is guided by the political beliefs of Sun Yat-sen.

Chiang Kai-shek ruled China as a nationalist one-party state under the Kuomintang (KMT) while Mao ruled China under the Chinese Communist Party. Mao also used the KMT to enforce his rule as leader of the CCP. The contrast between these two rulers is poorly organized in the writing of “Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister”. The author’s history obscures, if not diminishes, the book’s historical importance. It reveals many interesting and surprising facts about early and mid-century China, but the author’s focus is too fragmented.

Sun Yat-sen (Chinese physician, revolutionary and political philosopher who founded the Kuomintang and set the table for what became Taiwan.)

Chiang Kai-shek adopts Sun Yat-sen’s “Three Principles of the People” in his rule of China. The Kuomintang enforces the principle of unity of China with the presumed intent to democratize the government in the future as was envisioned by Sun Yat-sen. Democratization would take time to educate citizens on the principals of political representation. The KMT would exercise military rule until the principals of representation could be understood by China’s citizens. Even when Chiang is exiled in Taiwan, the KMT is in control of its citizens until Chiang’s death. Chiang dies from pneumonia and other ailments in 1975. Taiwan did evolve, as Sun predicted, into a democracy similar to America’s after Chiang’s death. Taiwan endorsed fully competitive elections in 1992 and had its first direct presidential election in 1996. This seems a fulfillment of Sun Yat-sen’s longer-term goal in the “Three Principles of the People”. Sun Yat-sen died from liver cancer in 1925. He was 58 years old.

Rules of nation-state leadership and representation had to be taught to the citizens in Sun’s view of China’s future.

The two sisters of the wealthy Soong family are shown to have had an important impact on the philosophy of rule in China. Sun Yat-sen’s ambition and beliefs gained credibility by being married to a daughter of the wealthy Soong family. Soong Ching-ling is celebrated as the “Mother of Modern China”. She becomes the bridge between Sun Yat-sen’s political beliefs and what became Communist China when Mao Zedong rose to power. Sun Yat-sen’s wife stayed in mainland China and supported the new Communist government.

Soong Mei-ling (First Lady of the Republic of China, wife of Chiang Kai-shek.)

As the wife of Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling became the ambassador of China to the West. Because of her fluency in the English language, she helped America understand Chinese government’s relationship to the West. She secures American sympathy during China’s war against Japan and acts as an intermediary between Chinese and American leaders with her intimate understanding of both cultures.

Soong Ching-ling (Chinese politician and activist wife of Sun Yat-sen.)

In contrast to Soong Ching-ling, Soong Mei-ling leaves mainland China to follow her husband to Taiwan. After her husband’s death in 1975, she returns to the United States and dies in New York at the age of 105. In the end, the three sisters were closely allied with China but ended up on opposite sides of the 2oth century’s greatest ideological divide. Soong Ching-ling (Sun Yat-sen’s widow) became a firm believer in Communist China. Soong Mei-ling sided with her husband and became a leading figure in Nationalist Taiwan, while Soong Ai-ling, the oldest and wealthiest of the three, chose to leave China and return to the United States.

It is surprising to find that three Chinese sisters with American Christian backgrounds had prominent roles in China’s twentieth century leadership. “Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister” shows that wealth, belief in something greater than oneself, and human relationship are the powers behind revolution.

SEXUAL IDENTITY

Simone de Beauvoir’s argument for women’s equality may be broadened to argue that every human being should have an equal opportunity to achieve social equality and economic independence.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“The Second Sex”

Author: Simone de Beauvoir & 2 more

Narration by: Ellen Archer & 1 more

Simone de Beauvoir (French existential philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist.)

Because “The Second Sex” is a translation, there are two translators who interpret the writing of this brilliant French author. Simone de Beauvoir’s social, cultural, and historical analysis of women’s societal inequality forcibly reinforces the need for human equality in the world. Despite that truth, women and minorities throughout history have been treated unequally.

It is absurd to think that 49.7% of the world population may be treated less equally than men.

Simone de Beauvoir’s history shows women are not afforded the equal opportunity of men despite baring children who sustain the human race. In the early days of human existence de Beauvoir notes difference in strength between men and women may have led to a mistaken belief that the sexes are unequal. As the centuries pass, de Beauvoir argues strength difference undoubtedly influenced the perceived role of women in the world. In the industrial age, with the advance of machine power, strength became less and less a distinction between the sexes. Machine power should have led to a better understanding of human equality. However, de Beauvoir suggests experience and history of past lives seems to have set a societal belief in sexual inequality that is, at best, only slowly being reversed.

Sweden begins to rectify inequality in the early 20th century but even it fails to change entrenched belief in sexual inequality.

The rise of communism in 1917 became a frontline movement for sexual equality. The role of women in Russia changes in both war and peace with women assuming roles of combatant, worker, as well as child bearer. Ms. de Beauvoir believes neither communism nor Sweden’s policies eliminate sexual inequality. Socialism and communism helped but patriarchy is not eliminated by equal economic opportunity or alleged women’s liberation. Despite Sweden’s formalization of legal equalization of the sexes, the cultural expectations about femininity, motherhood, and men’s domination have been accepted in most, if not all, nations of the world. Neither socialism nor communism fully remove the learned behaviors of human history. Simone de Beauvoir’s point is that laws and economic systems have not erased generations of human history but rather assumed or endorsed sexual discrimination.

The conclusion de Beauvoir has is that no form of government by itself has successfully eliminated discrimination based on sexual identity.

The interpretation of natural bodily functions in women’s lives like menstruation is noted by de Beauvoir as interpreted by men and accepted by society as a biological “otherness” that is (at least in 1949) viewed as impure and pathological. Menstruation is viewed as a symptom of women that makes them less than fully human. This natural cleansing of a female reproductive system is viewed as a time of emotional instability that makes women unclean and an example of their being less equal to men. Menstruation is something that identifies women as the “other” rather than the equal of human beings. (The truth only changes beliefs slowly.)

Simone de Beauvoir’s argument for women’s equality is expandable in that every human being should have an equal opportunity to achieve social equality and economic independence. The designers of the American Constitution understood this principle but, like the rest of the world’s population, fail to practice it. Social inequality remains a problem for democracy and all known forms of government.

Simone de Beauvoir explains women’s natural reproductive system differences are interpreted by society as a measure of human inequality.

One listens to de Beauvoir’s book and realizes what she has written about sexual inequality as a person who has experienced it. Inequality has diminished in 21st century America with increases in women’s opportunities without marrying or committing to a relationship with a male. Though de Beauvoir published her book in 1949, the difference today is in degree because economic independence remains a greater struggle for women than men in America. Too many young women are working for wages that require help from a relationship with men to meet their cost-of-living for a decent life. Being able to make a decent living is true of all poor Americans, but it is more widely experienced by women because they are half the human race.

Because the author’s focus is on women, she argues every woman should have control over their reproductive rights, be treated equally in the culture in which they live and be able to transform false beliefs of inferiority based on accomplishment, not on false societal beliefs. In some ways, today’s America is regressing as is evidenced by 21st century policies on reproductive rights. Simone de Beauvoir goes on to give many examples of how differences between men and women reinforce the false belief of sexual inequality.

GUILT

Boyne writes an enlightening story about human judgement and feelings and how one may respond to memories of horrific events in one’s life.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“All the Broken Places” (A Novel)

Author:John Boyne

Narration by: Kristin Atherton & 1 more

John Boyne (Irish novelist and writer.)

“All the Broken Places” is a creative story about guilt, memory, responsibility, and redemption. It jumps back and forth in time with too many characters. However, it reflects on the terrible consequences of WWII and its survivors who are victims of Nazi Germany’s holocaust. It is about one woman’s long life who is a child when her father is a German Commandant and a mother, who is aware, if not complicit, of holocaust’ crimes at Auschwitz.

Photo of victims taken in a 2024 trip to Auschwitz.

There seems an injustice to punishing a 12-year old’s growth to adulthood for the crimes of her father, despite his horrific acts as a commandant at Auschwitz. The pain of those who lost their loved ones from WWII and the atrocities of Germany in death camps is unimaginable to most who are alive in the 21st century. The injustice of the main character’s punishment from those who lost loved ones is equally unimaginable, but John Boyne writes a fictional story of Gretel who is a young girl punished by WWII allied survivors when she and her mother move to Paris.

Teenager on the cusp of sexual awakening.

Gretel is at the age of development that has enough understanding of guilt to feel it for what her father did during the war. She is also at the age of sexual awakening. The story is about Gretel from the age of 12 to 91 when she is living in London near the end of her life. At the age of 12, she is aware of her father’s role as a commandant at Auschwitz. A reader/listener is put in the position of asking oneself if that makes Gretel complicit in the horror of the holocaust? Because her mother relies on her husband for their financial well-being, is she guilty of the crimes her husband is perpetrating at the order of the Nazi government? Can one think a 12-year-old is complicit?

Can one be guilty of events for which they have no control over, or responsibility.

The life of Gretel is an exploration of one’s guilt, memory, and responsibility for the holocaust and deaths from WWII. Gretel keeps her childhood connection to Nazi Germany secret throughout her adult life. She is the older sister of Bruno, her brother, who dies as a child during the war. His death occurs at Auschwitz in circumstances that reinforce the horror of the camp. Elsa is Gretel’s mother who searches for a husband to take care of them in their move to Paris. As Gretel matures, her guilt about her father’s role in Nazi Germany rises.

As Gretel’s mother finds a match for a husband, Gretel is experiencing the teenage years of maturity where sexuality increasingly occupies her thoughts.

Gretel becomes obsessed with a handsome young boy whose father owns a small business in Paris. She puts herself forward to the boy as a possible companion for her sexual awakening. Ironically, this young boy becomes an accomplice to a punishment organized by the community to attack Gretel and her mother for being associated with the Auschwitz’ commandant. Gretel and her mother are attacked and brutally scalped by an organized mob of local residents.

Hanging post shown at Auschwitz site in Poland.

The author recounts Gretel’s years of life and travels that take her from France to Australia and a retirement home in London. She never escapes her feelings of guilt and memories of a life unhappily lived. To complicate her life, she sees one of the German officers who worked for her father when she lives in Australia. Kurt Kozel, whose name is actually Kurt Kotler, has survived the war, hidden his war identity, is married, and has a young son. What happens next draws one further into the theme of the author’s story about guilt and how it can affect one’s behavior.

Boyne writes an enlightening story about human judgement and feelings and how one may respond to memories of horrific events in one’s life.

SOCIETAL CHANGE

H.G. Well’s interesting message is that human beings may not be able to save themselves from a technologically superior foreign invasion, but established societies and culture are more enduring than technological superiority. Wells is suggesting an invasion by a technologically superior force does not eradicate a society but changes it.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“The War of the Worlds”

Author: H. G. Wells

Narration by: Christopher Hurt

H. G. Wells (1866-1946, English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian.)

“The War of the Worlds” is an odd book. Published in 1898 when the British Empire was near the height of its global power and prestige. It shakes the foundations of world hegemonic ambition. Listening to the book in the 21st century, it has relevance but in today’s hearing it seems too long and melodramatic. Giant fighting machines, heat rays, black smoke chemical weapons, city panic, and refugee flight are too familiar in today’s world. The shock value of a Martian invasion is lost. However, in the reality of a horrific war by Russia on the Ukrainian people, America’s bombing of Iran’s citizens, and Iran’s brutalization and torture of its people make “The War of the Worlds” as important and relevant today as when it was written.

H.G. Well’s Martian Invasion

Most of Wells’ book appears to say an invasion by technologically superior Martians will dominate the earth. What Wells shows is that technological superiority is not enough to conquer the world. As the British army and its weaponry fail to defeat the Martians, Earth’s natural pathogens and environment is shown to seriously challenge Martian’ survival. Technological superiority is not enough to win a war. A combination of nature’s pathogens and human resistance are challenges that suggest, despite technological superiority, singular societies ultimately prevail. History shows that eternal domination of an independent distinct society is unlikely to prevail. A distinct society may change from the influence of an invasion, but it does not disappear, it adapts. Glasnost is evidence of that truth when the former nations that were part of the U.S.S.R. reestablish themselves as independent societies that do not entirely abandon the influence of Russian domination. Native tribes that lived in what became the United States retain much of their social identity despite America’s English occupiers.

MANAGERS

Every human being has the potential of choosing their way of dealing with life. Whatever one’s role may be, the best one can hope for is to choose what makes them the best they can be.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“essentialism” (The Disciplined Pursuit of Less)

Author: Greg McKeown

Narration by: Greg McKeown

Greg McKeown (English author, public speaker, leadership and business strategist.)

McKeown earned an MBA from Stanford University after receiving a BA in communications and journalism at BYU. He reflects on the trials and tribulations of being a manager of events in the modern world where one is faced with psychological overload. Management is the skill of being who you are and getting things done through other people. McKeown explains how to become a more effective and productive manager. It begins with a clear understanding of what self-management is and what may get in the way of that accomplishment.

As a manager of someone else’s business, the job is simpler because the goals are determined by ownership but as a manager of one’s own time it is complicated by poor personal management skill. The idea of “essentialism” is in clearly understanding the goal to be achieved and to understand oneself well enough not to be distracted by what is to be achieved and how to organize and motivate the people who are to accomplish desired results. Once the goal is clearly understood, the end must be what ownership and oneself chooses. If the goal is to manufacture widgets, the steps of manufacturing are labor to produce a product, neither more nor less than what ownership directs. A good manager is not to focus on “more is better” but on the steps of manufacturing with an eye to trade-offs that are a consequence of labor organization and productivity.

The problem from a personal perspective is that company goals are easier to understand because they are determined by others.

Clearly understanding oneself is harder because of self-interest blind spots from being both the observer and observed; not to mention– knowing what actions are required to feel fulfilled as a human being.

The best choice in life is to be who you are, not who you wish to be.

As a manager of others to accomplish a goal, there are times when the response to a worker’s idea is no. This should never be meant to diminish the worker but to keep a worker’s eye on the goals of ownership. A good manager is respectful of a worker who offers ideas but always keeps the goal of ownership in the minds of workers to make it clear that a “no” is not to discourage a worker’s labor or idea for improvement. That which does not focus on achievement of the goal should be eliminated with a “no” but with praise and protection of those who are employed to accomplish ownership’ objectives. With clear understanding of the goal and those actions that benefit its accomplishment, a good manager offers focus to labor and reduces decision fatigue for both manager and worker.

Has capitalism lost its way in America?

There is room for criticism in McKeown’s book from the perspective of labor. As an individual working for a manager, one generally does not have the authority to decline meetings called by a manager. As a worker, one is hired to do a job or task, not to work on their own schedule, or to drop what they are doing at their own discretion. A good manager listens and learns from labor but always keeps in mind the goals of ownership. A good manager looks to labor as seeds for future managers by encouraging self-actualization and promotion but without sacrifice of ownership’s specified goals. Institutional realities cannot be ignored by laborers. McKeown implies everyone is a manager when in fact, from a business enterprise’s perspective, that is not true. Some who think they are managers, are not managers and it is important for a good manager to judge others based on achieving the goals of ownership. A good manager will rise from labor based on doing what they were hired to do, not what they think they are capable of doing. This is not to discourage labor’s advancement but to encourage it through performance in accordance with ownership goals.

Peter Drucker. (A consultant who clearly understood the role, importance, and value of competent managers.)

Peter Drucker is often quoted in this book which is a tribute to McKeown’s management judgement. McKeown also mentions Warren Buffett and the principles that made him a multimillionaire. There is a great deal of good advice in “essentialism” for those who aspire to be managers. As McKeown notes, a manager can fail when he/she becomes overloaded with workplace expectations, poor labor management, ignorance of the digital age, poor organization design, or an organizational culture that demands too much from its employees. Every human being has the potential of choosing their way of dealing with life. Whatever one’s role may be, the best one can hope for is to choose what makes them the best they can be.

DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATION

One remains skeptical of Landemore’s solution, but America and other purported democracies need to wake up to unequal representation in government rule.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Politics Without Politicians (The Case for Citizen Rule)

Author: Hélène Landemore

Narration by: Hélène Landemore

Hélène Landemore, (French professor of political science at Yale University. Received a PhD from Harvard with a thesis on the idea of collective intelligence.)

Hélène Landemore has a radical idea to replace professional politicians like those leading America, Great Britain, and her home country of France by a random selection of citizens to become their government’s legislators. Landemore is obviously an accomplished and well-educated person, but her idea of reform is a problem of scale and the faults of human nature. The complexity of managing any form of nation-state’ government requires more than inexperienced leaders whether elected or arbitrarily chosen. Her weak example is the ancient government of Athens. The size of Athen’s population was miniscule in comparison to today’s democratic countries. Athens is hardly a reasonable comparison to 21st century democracies. However, Landemore notes a fundamental truth about modern democracies.

The fundamental truth of Landemore’s political idea is better representation of the population needs to be created for democracy to survive and prosper.

Governance certainly requires more than deliberation. However, the solution cannot be arbitrary selection of representatives. There have to be fundamental qualifications for those who can represent their economic constituencies. They cannot have a criminal record, and their qualifications must conform to the characteristics of the constituency which they represent.

Capability and accountability become murkier with elected representatives that are inexperienced.

As popularly elected managers of people and bureaucracies, one’s ability to be re-elected may be the best measure of qualification for office. The length of a representative’s term would be limited based on equal representation and an age limit based on an annual mental competency assessment by a board of physicians beginning at age 65. One may argue voter representation would improve over time with popular re-election by those who continue to vote for the person they have chosen to represent their needs, subject to the age 65 competency assessments. This is a controversial issue but with the availability of social security in America, this seems a responsible way of assuring competent constituent representation.

Increasingly, Landemore argues democracies are being ruled by representatives that do not understand the reality of living in either America, Great Britain, or France.

One should keep in mind that ambition is not always bad because people like Lincoln, FDR, Mandela, and Havel were driven personalities. However, poor representative elections of the mostly financially secure and privileged undermines equal representation. Professional politicians elected by wealthy supporters encourage corruption, self-serving legislation, and detachment from the general population. But critics argue that in large societies some form of political specialization is unavoidable, just as medicine requires doctors and law requires lawyers. The question may not be whether politics can exist without politicians, but how politicians can be more representative of all; i.e., including the rich, poor and those who have chosen to be or are inadequately educated.

Presidents can be corrupt, self-serving, and detached. In theory, checks and balances by a wider swarth of Congressional representatives would counter polices of a corrupt President.

Scaling of a more representative body would be the greatest challenge to democracies like America, Great Britain, and France. Potential elected representatives who know or can learn how to assemble interested participants in governance must represent their constituency. The big “ask” of these new representatives is that they also work to gain some understanding of foreign policy, government military action, budgets, international trade, and pandemic management. Legitimacy of a constituency representative would be tied to elections that are central to the demographic interests they represent. One way for America to become more representative is to increase the size of the House of Representatives. The limit of 435 members was created in 1929 when the population was 1/3rd of what it is today.

Fairer representation of all is the preeminent goal of democratic governance. Trump is the antithesis of that goal.

One remains skeptical of Landemore’s solution, but America and other purported democracies need to wake up to unequal representation in government rule. The strongest single objection to Landemore’s political idea is in a method of election and government policy creation that offers fairer representation of all nation-states’ citizens. Her fundamental truth is that today’s professional politicians fail to represent the diversity of democracies’ citizens.

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