History has shown the greatness of both parties of American government. One takes pride in the fact that American democracy corrects the errors of incompetent Presidents.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Fourth Turning is Here (What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End)
Author: Neil Howe
Narration by: Neil Howe
Neil Howe (American author, historian, economist, and consultant.)
Neil Howe argues the United States is in the middle of a crisis. He views political polarization is as great today as it was during the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Great Depression. He suggests society has broken into two “mega-identities” that is evident in the news of the day. He sees a red and blue American society with a distinct part of society being rural/suburban, evangelical or traditionalist, nationalist, anti-elite, and distrustful of institutions. The other side is urban/metropolitan, secular and pluralist, cosmopolitan, and pro-institution with a trust in expertise. (In fairness to the author, this reviewer did not listen to Howe’s entire book.)
Generational beliefs.
Howe goes on to suggest there is a generational quality to these two camps. Boomers are those born between 1943 and 1960 (my generation). Generation X born from 1961-1981, Millennials (1982-2004), and Generation Z (2005-to the present). The problem with this broad categorization of Americans is that one can see themselves in each generations view of American government and society. Americans are both Red and Blue, believe strongly in the equality of human beings, are skeptical of absolutes, and believe in common good and the importance of government. Americans are relatively free human beings who will ultimately make the right decision to preserve the health and well-being of democratic society.
Is immigration an American crisis or a discouraged opportunity?
Howe argues today’s America is at a once-in-a-century crisis. He suggests American governance has become too polarized and that institutions of government are decaying in ways that are diminishing the economic prosperity and influence of democracy in the world. Polarization is not new to America. One who has reached a Boomer’s age remembers political polarization from the excesses of America during Vietnam. The mistakes and lies of the Johnson administration are not unlike the lies of Donald Trump. Democrat’s support of Johnson’s Great Society created too many programs like urban renewal and anti-poverty that remind one of Republican’s support of Trump’s overzealous deregulation of environmental protection, finance of projects to aggrandize his reputation, and welfare policies that penalize the poor. Both Johnson and Trump show poor management of their major policy initiatives. The social and political consequence of their mismanagement has damaged America’s economy and influence in the world. Both Johnson and Trump represent what can go wrong in a democracy but is eventually corrected by elections of future leaders founded on the principles of the Constitution.
Johnson’s Great Society.
There are differences and similarities between Johnson and Trump. The obvious difference is the parties to which they belong. Johnson creates bureaucratic sprawl and economic waste by expanding government services while Trump creates bureaucratic ineptitude through fragmentation from arbitrary firing of government employees. Both Presidents believe they are benefiting American society while they made decisions that damaged the economy and diminished the value of democratic governance. The extent of their damage did and will take time to repair but the structure of America’s democratic government assures its recovery.
History has shown the greatness of both parties of American government.
Lincoln is elected to take the giant step needed to put America back on the path of human equality and opportunity. Franklin Roosevelt saved America from economic collapse. Just as Lincoln is not survived by a President who reinforces equality of Americans, the same will likely be true for the next President after Trump. But, as Martin Luther King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. One takes pride in the fact that American democracy corrects the errors of incompetent Presidents.
“There is Simply Too Much to Think About” is a time-consuming read with a depth of understanding about writing that gives one “…Too Much to Think About” because of its author’s humbling intelligence. The fundamental point Bellow makes is that art is as important as science for the advance of society.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
There Is Simply too Much to Think About (Collected Nonfiction)
Author: Saul Bellow
Narration by: Malcolm Hillgartner
Saul Bellow (Author, Canadian-American novelist who has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the Pulitzer Prize.)
This is a daunting book by an accomplished novelist who explains what makes reading fiction and nonfiction worth one’s time and attention. The range of subjects Bellow covers is immense. He not only writes about literature but politics, philosophy, Jewish identity, American culture, history, and other subjects that overwhelm a reader/listener. Bellow suggests good nonfiction and fiction are about characters who write about life that makes them important enough to have meaning to readers and purpose for writers. A writer creates an understanding of characters in the context of a society in which they live. A good writer’s attention is given to the contradictions and complexity of living life. What Bellow means by nonfiction writers is those who witness life unfolding and relate that understanding from a perspective which may or may not resonate or at least be understood by a reader.
Though Bellow mentions few female authors, he shows strong opinions about famous male authors.
Bellow offers a tour of twentieth century writers he believes are examples of good nonfiction writers. He notes Ralph Ellison, Phillip Roth, and J.D. Salinger as examples of great nonfiction writers. At the same time, Bellow explains how deeply his life feeds into his writing. He reveals his own strengths and weaknesses. He acknowledges being drawn into trendy ideas of others that gloss over truth and mislead readers with contradictions. Like all human beings, Bellow can be misled by second-hand assertions about historic events and characters that lack verifiable truth. The result may be misrepresentation and sometimes cruel judgements about private lives and the history of humanity. Written misrepresentations reveal as much about the writer as the subject.
Ralph Ellison (Author of “Invisible Man”)
Bellow offers some warnings to readers of both good and bad writers. He suggests a reader should be careful about reading too much into writer’s characters or experience in a story. One thinks of Ellison’s “Invisible Man” and how it reshaped many readers understanding of race and identity. Ellison is not writing a protest novel. It is about social invisibility, Black identity, politics, and the meaning of life. Phillip Roth’s Colman Silk is accused of racism and forced to retire but he is not a racist. He is obviously falsely accused because he is secretly African American passing as white. Truth of a story is revealed in detail created by good writing.
Though not having personally read Bellow’s books, he notes that his writing is largely based on episodes from his own life.
Being born in a Montreal Jewish slum and raised as an immigrant in Chicago he experiences discrimination as a baby born in a Montreal slum and as an immigrant on Chicago streets. The working-class environment of Chicago streets gave Bellow a level of freedom and exposure to life as just another young boy finding his way in life. He could measure himself against more diverse life experiences in Chicago without losing his Jewish identity. As an immigrant, it added to his identity and broadened his understanding of life as a human being. He became streetwise in responding to the world.
The experience of life.
Bellow clearly illustrates a personal belief and understanding about life. He is an obvious master of American language. His intellect and curiosity are overwhelming. There is an emotional and moral seriousness that is sometimes funny and at others quite confrontational. He masterfully turns lived experience into art. There is a level of overconfidence in his judgement and personal contradictions crop up in his writing. On the one hand he distrusts ideology but writes a highly ideological view of writing. He defends the importance of art but criticizes culture. He lauds intellectual independence while insisting on his own beliefs. He is a bit combative toward academics, critics, and seems somewhat dismissive or impatient with those who struggle with his opinions. The title of Bellow’s book says it all–“There is Simply Too Much to Think About”.
Bellow believes the arts are the essential ingredient of what Martin Luther King’s quote depends upon.
Bellow is very judgmental about the writers he reviews in his “…Much to Think About” book. His greatest praise goes to Ralph Ellison, Phillip Roth, James Joyce, and Franz Kafka. His sharpest criticism is of Updike, Hemmingway, T.S. Eliot, Salinger, and James Baldwin. Updike is called too polished, Hemingway too emotionally shallow, Eliot too culturally conservative, Salinger too mystical, and Baldwin too damaged by ethnic prejudice. Despite his criticism, Bellow finds their works have power and meaning implying they are worth reading. Most who recognize or have read some or all of these authors will likely find them worth the time and effort to read them and come to their own conclusions.
“There is Simply Too Much to Think About” is a time-consuming read with a depth of understanding about writing that gives one “…Too Much to Think About” because of its author’s humbling intelligence. The fundamental point Bellow makes is that art is as important as science for the advance of society.
Robert Frost wrote “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” That is the essential truth of “The Vast Enterprise” about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Vast Enterprise (A New History of Lewis & Clark)
Author: Craig Fehrman
Narration by: Jason Culp & 5 more
Craig Fehrman (Author, journalist, historian of Presidents and American history.)
Craig Fehrman writes an excellent history of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It entertains and informs reader/listeners of the lives of Meriwhether Lewis, William Clark, an enslaved man named York, and a tribal native named Sacagawea. From President Thomas Jefferson’s reasoning and his decision to create an expedition from Kentucky to the Pacific, one learns something new, old, and troubling about America.
Thomas Jeffereson (1743-1826, President of the U.S. 1801-1809.)
Thomas Jefferson is characterized as a shrewd, partisan, and forceful political operator who had a clear vision for the future of continental America. That prescient vision of America by Jefferson hides his blindness to the truth of human equality of Black men and women as inferior to white men. However, Fehrman notes Jefferson believes natives of this continent had the potential to be the equal of white Americans. Jefferson’s shrewdness and forceful opinion is illustrated by his understanding of the importance of trading posts as a way to expand control of land possessed by native inhabitants and held by Spanish and French interests. Lewis and Clark’s western expedition is, in Jefferson’s opinion, critical to America’s future land interests.
Meriwhether Lewis and William Clark (American Explorers.)
Both Meriwhether Lewis and William Clark are characterized as relatively educated colonial citizens suited for an expedition from Kentucky to the Pacific. Though both leaders for the expedition were heroic, their personalities, leadership styles, and temperaments were quite different. Lewis is characterized as brilliant but an inwardly volatile man, while Clark is a steady, self-confident manager of people. Lewis is the visionary who works in the Jefferson’ administration as secretary to the President while Clark is former military officer who gets things done with people who report to him. Lewis clearly understood Jefferson’s objective in exploring the west, its diplomatic purpose, and geopolitical importance. Clark’s frontier experience, military discipline, and surveying skill served Lewis’s understanding of Jefferson’s objectives.
Lewis & Clark Expedition
Both Lewis and Clark understood they were not only entering a wilderness but a continent full of other nations which made them effective negotiators and intermediaries with native tribes. Lewis’s intellectual understanding of Jefferson’s objectives is complimented by Clark’s skill in managing native tribe relationships. With the help of a Black slave owned by Clark and a native Shoshone woman married to a French trader, this former military man manages to gain the aid of the Lakota, Shoshone, and other tribes to save the Lewis and Clark expedition from failure.
Image of York (Slave owned by William Clark.)
The history of York (Clark’s owned slave) in the expedition is interesting. What the author, York, and enlisted members of the expedition show is that Lewis and Clark were dependent on their crew for the success of the mission. Men like York provide the labor and skill needed to complete the journey. As a young adult, York shows the value of all human beings to the success of the expedition while being a slave. The sad fact is that York is never released from his bondage to Clark. Despite York’s alleged inferiority, Clark relies on him for his field abilities and reminds reader/listeners of the importance of other cultures and ethnicities that make America. Fehrman infers York is a symbolic bridge between ethnic worlds; i.e. not just the Black and White world but the native and English American world. York is an example the difference of human beings in America; i.e., from people of color to native tribes in a dominant white culture. Fehrman’s story infers human difference reinforces belief that native tribes (Black, white, or other) could co-exist though not be treated as equal human beings. This is no stretch of a reader/listener’s imagination based on America’s history of Indian/American wars and slavery. There is one native American that travels with Lewis and Clark. She is Sacagawea, the only woman on the expedition. Her story reflects on America’s view of women as property despite their contribution to life and their contribution to social and economic society.
Image of Sacagawea on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Fehrman suggests Sacagawea is a full participant in the expedition. To Fehrman she represents a symbol of Native nations. Sacagawea and York became part of the diplomatic fabric of the journey demonstrating the truth of human equality. Sacagawea became pregnant from her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper. Her baby is born on the expedition. Charbonneau had two native wives, the first of which did not accompany them on the expedition. Sacagawea had been kidnapped by the Hidatsa tribe in a war with the Shoshone when she is 12. Charbonneau is 20 years older than Sacagawea. Sacagawea is 13 when she is forced to marry Charbonneau by the Hidatsa. The tribe had traded goods with Charbonneau. Sacagawea and Charbonneau are reluctantly hired by Lewis and Clark for the expedition. Both act as interpreters on the expedition but Fehrman argues Sacagawea represents more than being a translator because of her heritage and knowledge of the territory through which they will travel. Sacagawea’s Shoshone tribal heritage had diplomatic value beyond mere language interpretation. On the other hand, Charbonneau seems more a liability than asset to Lewis and Clark.
Shoshone Tribe in western America.
Fehrman shows the expeditionary Americans were not dominant actors in their relationships with native tribes. In the wilderness, they acted more as guests or supplicants in their dealings with various tribes. They recognized they were outsiders that needed political alliances with native tribes because they had meager knowledge of the territory and customs of indigenous tribes who controlled the river lands they explored. Their need for food, horses, guides, and knowledge of the land depends on their relationships with indigenous tribes. Without tribal help and guidance, they would have no protection or chance of safe passage. Native tribes provide horses and information that kept them on their course to the west and saved them from starvation and death. It is a combination of Jefferson’s somewhat arrogant plan for the country’s consolidation for the expeditionary force to be dependent upon indigenous tribes who are repeatedly deprived of their land in America’s growth as a nation. It is the explorer’s humbleness and humility that allows Lewis and Clark to succeed in growing an American continent that historically suppresses indigenous land ownership and use.
Most Shoshone Tribes appear more southwestern than northwestern.
Indigenous tribes were politically naive in their aid to American explorers. Without tribal’ naivete, the early days of America’s influence and growth as a singular nation would have failed. One presumes, the continent would have remained a land of tribal ownership and internecine conflicts over land and natural resources. In the early years of American government, it is humbleness, humility, and the growth of trade between natives and early Americans that transform a land of native tribal presence into a singular nation among nations. In Fehrman’s opinion the prime mover of that accomplishment began with Thomas Jefferson and “The Vast Enterprise” of explorers like Lewis and Clark.
The last chapters of Fehrman’s book leave listener/readers with notes about Lewis, Clark, York, and Sacagawea that are sad to read or hear. Lewis becomes an alcoholic and commits suicide. Clark refuses to give York his freedom. York dies from cholera while Clark lives a life of success and power. Clark becomes governor of -Missouri Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Sacagawea is leaves her French husband and dies at Fort Manuel in 1812.
Robert Frost (1874-1963.)
Robert Frost wrote “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” That is the essential truth of “The Vast Enterprise”.
Kenneth Davis does more to add than subtract from one’s understanding of what others have written. Davis’s reviews of non-fiction books seem objective, but they are subjectively chosen.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The World in Books (523 Works of Great Short Nonfiction)
Author: Kenneth C. Davis
Narration by: Adenrele Ojo & 2 more
Kenneth C. Davis (Author, lecturer, contributor to The New York Times, Newsday and other publications.)
A criticism of Kenneth Davis’s “The World in Books” is its spartan overview of nonfiction. On the other hand, these reviews are an important overview of many of the most politically and socially important subjects of life.
Religion, humanism, sexism, and racism are the most eminent of Davis’s subjects. Like all brief summaries of important writers of the past, one’s personal views interfere with fundamentally important subjects. Of course, our personal biases seep into our own writing and understanding of other’s beliefs. What seems missing from Davis’s book is not wide analysis of different political and social beliefs but a perspective on the negative consequences of known forms of government or societal beliefs. Of course, criticism of his choice of works is unreasonable because of the wide number of non-fiction books from which to choose. Fairness is in the eyes, ears, and memory of the beholder.
The aristocracy of government.
On the one hand, one sees Davis’s view of communism, democracy, authoritarianism, and humanism as important constructs of society. On the other, Davis offers little consideration of their societal impact. One may argue societal impact is not Davis’s objective. He alludes to race, gender, and climate consequences but does not explore connections with a broad analysis of government or society. As with all writers of history, his own bias is in his choice of non-fiction books. He writes of Socrates, Plato, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, Elie Wiesel, Malcolm X, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, Alice Toklas, Gertrude Stein, Mary Wollstonecraft, Ernest Hemingway, and others. He recognizes liberal humanists for their ideological and social contribution to human understanding, not for expressed personal opinion but for broad exposure to good or great writers.
General criticism of Davis seems unfair because he offers historical information about a “…World of Books” that are often ignored by reader/listeners of non-fiction writers. How many of us have read ancient texts, or modern writers like Elizabeth Kolbeert, Frankl, Harriet Jacobs, Isabel Wilderson, Simone de Beauvoir, and other less well-known writers about human society. Davis seems to represent a host of lesser-known works to simply offer enlightenment to reader/listeners. He provides excellent summaries of many books this reviewer has never read or listened to.
All reviewers bring their own biases in reviewing another’s book.
Davis does more to add than subtract from one’s understanding of what others have written. Davis’s reviews of non-fiction books are objective, but they are subjectively chosen. The author may have had a curation bias. How could he not; i.e. there are too many non-fiction books for one person to know; let alone review. Davis may or may not have an ideological liberal humanist bias, but it is because of the sheer volume of published non-fiction books. Every person has a point of view. The point is that a reader/listener is benefited by an author like Davis who intends to be objective about what non-fiction authors hope and try to tell reader/listeners.
Trofimov argues Ukraine will survive Russia’s invasion and remain a sovereign nation, but it will remain a long struggle. Considering the age of Putin, i.e., he is 73, and growing discontent of some Russian oligarchs, the war may be ended sooner rather than later.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Our Enemies Will Vanish (The Russian Invasion and Ukraine’s War of Independence)
Author: Yaroslav Trofimoy
Narration by: David Furr
Yaroslav Trofimov (Author, Ukrainian-born Italian author and journalist, foreign correspondent.)
“Our Enemies Will Vanish” is a brutal eyewitness account of the beginning of Russia’s invasion and war in Ukraine. Yaroslav Trofimov explains why Putin fails to achieve a takeover and annexation of Ukraine despite having an overwhelming military and economic advantage. Putin had a well provisioned and professional military force. Trofimov’s book is an insightful follow up on Karatnycky’s history of Ukraine’s leadership in “Battleground Ukraine”. Trofimov reminds one of the role Viktor Yanukovchy played in surreptitiously aiding Russia’s takeover of Crimea. Yanukovchy had fled to Russia and was waiting to return to the Presidency of Ukraine when and if Russia won the war. Having read “Battleground…” Ukraine’s resistance owes a debt to former President Yuschenko’s role in reinforcing a pro-Western leaning of Ukraine’s citizens. At the same time, Petro Proshenko (President of Ukraine before Zelensky) is shown to be equally important for having begun the rebuilding of Ukraine’s military.
Frenemies are defined as people who look friendly on the surface but contain underlying rivalry, and distrust.
Trofimov clearly explains why Putin fails to takeover Ukraine. He underestimated the capabilities of Ukrainian resistance. Putin’s predilection for complete control of the invasion created ground action confusion that could not adapt to circumstances of Ukrainian resistance. Russia’s ground forces could not effectively coordinate their actions because of Putin’s insistence on direct command and control. In contrast, the Ukrainian leadership made decisions based on ground circumstances rather than centralized command and control. Putin clearly underestimated Ukraine’s national awakening. The early atrocities of Bucha and Irpin where 400 civilians were murdered and many were imprisoned and tortured are examples of Russia’s brutal tactics. The heavy shelling of Irpin destroyed neighborhoods, homes, and schools. Satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts reinforced Ukraine’s moral and political resolve to defend their country.
Access to drugs for infection are a concern for Ukranian fighters.
Trofimov characterizes Russia’s attack of Mariupol as an attempt to “wipe a city off the face of the earth”. He vivifies the scale of destruction with a view of residential districts that are flattened, civilians are left without food, water, or heat and hospitals, theaters, and shelters are bombed. If one is wounded in combat, Ukrainians have no access to drugs to treat infection. A relatively minor wound could become a death sentence. Nevertheless, Mariupol became a heroic last stand and a symbol of Ukraine’s resolve to remain free of Russian occupation.
The brutality and slaughter of war is clearly brought to a reader/listener’s attention by Trofimov. The atrocity in Bucha occurs early in the Russian invasion. Families hide in basements without heat or electricity. People are shot with their bodies left in the street as Russians begin moving house to house to take food, phones, and whatever they wanted. Men who were captured were interrogated and tortured. Citizens were executed at checkpoints for being suspected of helping local Ukrainians. Door to door killings and summary executions were made on all who were viewed as enemies of Russia. Russian troops were spreading systemic terror to control the population. The immorality of war is brought home in Russia’s Bucha campaign. In Trofimov’s opinion, Bucha is an example of why Putin will fail to remake Ukraine a part of Russia.
Trofimov suggests Zelensky’s wartime leadership became critically important for the survival of Ukraine.
Trofimov argues Zelensky’s personal bravery changed the course of the war. One remembers the video of Zelensky on American TV standing with fellow Ukrainians saying, “we are all here” in Kyiv. He believes Zelensky united Ukrainian society against Putin’s invasion. He rejects evacuation offers, maintains government continuity, and enlists the Western world in resistance to Russia’s invasion. Trofimov feels Zelensky’s leadership became critically important for the survival of Ukraine as an independent nation.
Kraken fighters in Ukraine.
The creation of what becomes known as the Kraken fighters illustrates the ferocity, professionalization, and psychology of volunteer Ukrainian fighters in comparison to Russian conscripts. The Kraken unit’s utilization of urban combat and high-risk operations contribute to many of Ukraine’s territorial reversals of Russian land confiscations. Ukraine’s military competence grows with the Kraken’s successes. Though the Kraken were not the largest Ukrainian warrior group, they were a unit from Kharkiv that motivated frontline fighters.
Mariupol occupation by Russia.
Trofimov does not ignore the territorial gains made by Russia in their invasion of Ukraine. Their early success in Eastern Ukraine is stalled despite their gains. They did capture Mariupol, but it became a symbol of Russia’s brutality that hardened Ukrainian resistance. The Russians capture Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in 2022 and inflict a great deal of damage on Ukrainian infrastructure. However, Trofimov argues these were tactical, not strategic successes. Importantly, Trofimov notes Kyiv is not captured, Ukrainian morale has been maintained, and the West’s support remains strong. He believes Ukraine will ultimately retain its independence.
Ukraine’s fight for independence.
Trofimov argues Ukraine will survive Russia’s invasion and remain a sovereign nation, but it will remain a long struggle. Considering the age of Putin, i.e., he is 73, and growing discontent of some Russian oligarchs, the war may be ended sooner rather than later. Men like Andrey Meinichenko, one of Russia’s richest men, and several others complain about high interest rates and the war’s economic strain on Russia. It is not that they are anti-Putin, but they have economic interests that are being challenged by the war. One wonders how long Putin will last if the Ukraine war continues.
To this book reviewer, the flaw in American democracy is the rising gap between rich and poor. Dychtwald implies the flaw in China is its reliance on a singular leader’s actions to improve the daily lives of its citizens.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Young China (How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World)
Author: Zak Dychtwald
Narration by: Zak Dychtwald
Zak Dychtwald (Author, public speaker, fluent Mandarin speaker, world traveler, graduate of Columbia University who moved to China and spent 4 years interviewing local Chinese.)
“Young China” is a fascinating comparison of a world traveler’s perception of the difference between young Americans and Chinese youths. A reservation one has in listening to Dychtwald’s explanation of Chinese youth is whether a 4-year immersion in a foreign culture constitutes a society’s truth or just a topical view of an intelligent observer who gravitates to students of similar ambition.
America’s Achilles heel.
Not knowing the author’s life experience, one assumes he has not lived the life of most American college students of his generation. As a graduate of Columbia, his decision to learn Mandarin Chinese, and choice to travel to China for a four year stay suggests he is not a typical American youth. Further, as the meaning of the saying “Birds of a feather flock together”, one presumes his choice of interviewees is not likely to be typical Chinese college students but those who excel in intelligence and academic pursuit.
Contrast of lives in China.
The main Chinese youths whom the author interviews and becomes acquainted with are Ben, Vivian, Chen, Liu, and Mei. Ben–who is a striver who has a rural background. Vivian is a young professional woman who speaks English and comes from the middle class. Chen is a university student who embraces nationalist beliefs of young Chinese. Liu is a young teenager who experiences the meritocratic pressure of academic achievement in China. And finally, Mei is a young Chinese college student dealing with job aspirations, dating, marriage pressure, and career ambitions.
Education is the great strength of China.
In some sense, these characters have American student similarities. One can find similar Americans in each of the broad categories of these five Chinese students. However, Dychtwald sees Chinese students as “dreamers and strivers” while his experience is that American students are skeptical about the value of education and their future. Dychtwald finds Chinese college students take their performance on college exams more seriously than American college students. High academic achievement is a critical goal to a Chinese student while to an American graduating with a degree is the primary goal and finding a career is more important than achieving high scores on college exams. Chinese youths see themselves as a part of a national achievement for China while Americans see themselves as cogs in a capitalist machine that may or may not turn into successful careers.
College is a pressure cooker for Chinese students while it’s more of a cultural experience and stage of life for most American students.
Finally, Dychtwald notes Chinese students are globally curious, Western influenced, while being confident in the superiority of their own country. In contrast, American students care less about other countries, know few languages beyond English, and see their country as just one of many cultures in the world. Dychwald is an outlier in that he does not view China as a threat to American hegemony, but a country focusing on improving the lives of their citizens.
The risks of singular leadership.
Admittedly, this review is a narrow interpretation of Dychtwald’s fascinating book. Only an extraordinary intellect would move to China after graduating from college and learn fluent Mandarin during a 4 year stay in China. It makes we who are old wish we had the privilege of Dychtwald’s intelligence to live life over again.
To this book reviewer, the flaw in American democracy is the rising gap between rich and poor. Dychtwald implies the flaw in China is its reliance on a singular leader’s actions to improve the daily lives of its citizens. America has the advantage of 4-year democratic change in leadership while China is dependent on an authoritarian’s health and judgement as a singular leader.
A reader/listener of “Battleground Ukraine” infers Putin will fail because of Russia’s flagging economy and weakening military. The Ukraine war may go on for many more months, but its economic devastation and human deaths will end with Ukraine as a sovereign country, and presumably, a Russia with a different President.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Battleground Ukraine (From Independence to the War with Russia)
Author: Adrian Karatnycky
Narration by: Daniel Henning
Adrian Karatnycky (Author, Ukrainian American political analyst.)
“Battleground Ukraine” is an important history of the transition of Ukraine from being part of the U.S.S.R. to an independent nation-state. The author offers a chronological political history of Ukraine’s drive for independence after glasnost. Karatnycky outlines the achievements and setbacks of three decades and six leadership changes in Ukraine’s Government. He shows nation-building is no easy task for a country that is split between desire for independence and a history of Soviet Union domination.
In researching the qualification of Adrian Karatnycky, one finds he is considered a leading analyst who has written about Ukraine in publications like Foreign Policy, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, and National Review.
Adrian Karatnycky is characterized as a Ukrainian American political analyst, and a democracy advocate for Ukraine. He is a managing partner of a consulting firm representing clients with interests in Ukraine. He co-founded a cultural initiative to promote positive relations between Ukrainians and Jews and has studied Russian Ukrainian’ relations, written a number of articles about Ukrainian human rights, political freedoms, and its development as a civil society. He understands and speaks English and Ukrainian, and presumably Russian.
Leonid Kraychuk (1991-1994, First President of Ukraine)
His book is informative but complicated because of unfamiliarity with most of the six leaders of Ukraine after its separation from the U.S.S.R. The first president of independent Ukraine is Leonid Kravchuk (1991-1994). Kravchuk presided over the breakup and helped establish the independent nation of Ukraine. According to this history, Kravchuk seems reluctant to create a decisive break with the Soviet-era experience. The authoritarian habits of administration led to the blossoming of oligarchic networks in Ukraine that resemble the oligarchs who control the Russian economy under Putin today. The growth of Ukraine as a relatively free capitalist country is sidelined by Kravchuk’s rule. Nevertheless, Kravchuk’s administration appears to have accomplished the break from the U.S.S.R. without civil war.
Leonid Kuchma (1994-2004, Second President of Ukraine.)
The second leader of Ukraine is Leonid Kuchma (1994-2004). The author notes Kuchma accepted the growth and corruption of oligarchs in Ukraine. In some sense, the economy stabilized under Kuchma’s rule while improving ties with Russia and even the West. However, authoritarianism is reinforced by a cadre of oligarchs that corrupt Ukrainian society and enrich themselves while reinforcing attachment to Russia.
Viktor Yushchenko (2005-2010, Third President of Ukraine.)
The third leader is Viktor Yushchenko (2005-2010). In 2004, the Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine with nationwide protests, civil disobedience, and political mobilization against oligarchic rule in Ukraine. Kuchma is replaced by Yushchenko as a result of a Ukrainian Supreme Court ruling that demands a new vote. That vote results in the election of Yushchenko. Yushchenko is characterized by Karatnycky as a pro-Western democrat. He allows Ukraine media to remain free by not repressing its citizens. However, Yushchenko is characterized as a political failure who, at best, creates space for the growth of democracy in Ukraine. Though Crimea is not lost during Yushchenko’s rule because he resisted Russian military expansion, he fails to move his country toward democracy.
Crimea’s annexation by Russia in March 2014.
Russia had a base in Crimea but its role in the invasion and confiscation of Crimean territory expanded with the next Ukrainian President’s administration. At worst, Yushchenko’s political ineptness and weak governance paved the way for a more kleptocratic Ukrainian President named Viktor Yanukovych (2010-2014). As Yushchenko leaves office, Russia lays plans for the invasion of Donbas in 2014.
Viktor Yanukovych (2010-2014, Fourth President of Ukraine.)
Karatnycky views Yanukovych as the latest pro-Russian ruler of Ukraine. Yanukovych uses his position as President to enrich his family and allow Russian intelligence service to infiltrate the Ukrainian government. In the author’s opinion, Yanukovych opened the door to Russian aggression which led Russia to surreptitiously invade Donbas and annex Crimea. Karatnycky infers Putin launches the Donbas incursion as a result of a power vacuum created by Yanukovych who flees Kyiv on February 22, 2014. Crimea is annexed by Russia on February 23, 2014. The Donbas incursion begins in April 2014.
Ukrainian corruption during the Yanukovych presidency.
By a slim margin of 3.5% Yanukovych won the Ukrainian presidency in 2010. He escapes to Russia in February 2014 after ordering a violent crackdown on Ukrainian protesters. Karatnycky’s assessment of Yanukovych is highly negative. He argues Yanukovych centralized Presidential power, weakened independent institutions, persecuted political opponents, and drew the government closer to Putin’s Russia. He defeated Uylia Tymoshenko, a pro-Western leader, who is imprisoned in 2011 during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Yanukovych remains in Russia today and is convicted in absentia for treason in aiding Russia during his term in office.
Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019, Fifth President of Ukraine.)
After Russia’s incursion in Donbas, Ukraine elects Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019). Karatnycky suggests Poroshenko recognizes Ukraine’s military has to be rebuilt because of Yanukovych’s neglect. Poroshenko turns to the West for support in the battles occurring in Donbas. His appeal is answered with U.S. and EU backing that secures sanctions against Russia. Ukraine increases NATO cooperation to make Ukraine a frontline for democracy. As a delaying tactic, in Karatnycky’s opinion, ceasefires were agreed to by Poroshenko in order to give Ukraine more time to rebuild its military. In the author’s opinion, Porshenko did not break Ukraine’s oligarchic power, but he secured Western support of Ukraine and rebuilt the army which strengthens Ukraine’s national identity. Karatnycky characterizes Poroshenko’s rule as a true beginning transition of Ukraine from authoritarian to democratic government. However, Kartnycky notes the judicial system and established oligarch’ influence continues to obstruct democratic ideals. Further, Russia’s Donbas battles with Ukraine continue through his administration.
Russia’s Donbas battles with Ukraine continue through Poroshenko’s administration.
Finally, we get to the election of Volodymry Zelensky in 2019. Karatnycky sees Zelensky as a pre-war and wartime President. Zelensky’s successful election is shocking considering the author’s assessment of Poroshenko’s successes in transitioning Ukraine to a world recognized democratic rather than authoritarian government. Zelensky, a comic actor, soundly defeats Poroshenko in the election of 2019. Zelensky appears completely out of his element in becoming President of Ukraine. He struggles with political reform and shows an ineptitude in dealing with political infighting. Karatnycky describes Zelensky as “…well-intentioned but inexperienced naïve in his first two years as President. However, as Russia chooses to invade Ukraine, the wartime Zelensky becomes a unifying national leader. His experience as an actor/comedian makes him a master communicator. Zelensky becomes a wartime decision maker that gathers Western support for the defense of his country. Zelensky overcomes his political shortcomings in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Zelensky manages to unite Ukraine against a much larger enemy despite the economic stagnation of the Ukrainian economy.
Volodymry Zelensky (President of Ukraine 2019-?)
It Karatnycky’s opinion, Ukraine will survive Russia’s invasion and will remain a sovereign country. A reader/listener of “Battleground Ukraine” infers Putin will fail because of Russia’s flagging economy and weakening military. The Ukraine war may go on for many more months, but its economic devastation and human deaths will end with Ukraine as a sovereign country, and presumably, a Russia with a different President.
Van der Kolk outlines some of today’s psychiatric breakthroughs. New psychiatric discoveries have helped reveal childhood abuse memories and war’s traumatic events to give survivors some peace of mind.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Body Keeps the Score (Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of)
Author: Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
Narration by: Sean Pratt
Bessel van der Kolk (Author, Boston-based Dutch American psychiatrist.)
As a parent, “The Body Keeps the Score” is a difficult book to read or listen to because of fear about mistakes a parent may have made in raising their children. The trauma of war is well documented as a cause of psychological imbalance and the truth of “The Body Keeps the Score”. What makes van der Kolk’s book even more concerning is the realization that our behavior as parents can leave scars on our children’s minds. It is not just because of an abhorrent parent or priest who has molested or seriously distorted a child’s view of the world but on more subtle missteps by parents that may have had lasting effects on their children’s growth to adulthood. Every family has differences. Some have one parent who is absent from the day to day lives of their children because of their job. Another parent may fail to show enough respect or affection for their child’s accomplishments. Some parents (usually women) are left by their husbands or mates to raise children on their own. In single parent families, a parent is faced with having to make a living while caring for a child who has no idea of how stressful life can be when their mother is on her own. On the other side of a child care spectrum, there is the doting mother and father who overwhelms their children with meaningless praise and falsely grandiloquent appreciation of their behavior. Van der Kolk’s point is the mistakes parents make in raising their children can have lasting effects on their children as they grow into adulthood.
Child abuse is an abhorrent reality in America and other cultures.
The events that Dr. Kolk addresses are serious and harmful adult actions toward their children, but the concern any reader/listener may have is in the responsibility they have in raising their children to be decent emotionally centered human beings. Americans live in a society that highly regards wealth, physical and emotional maturity as important characteristics of adulthood. The pressure of making a living often interferes with the attention husbands, wives, or caregivers provide for children’s healthy emotional and physical growth. Kolk’s focus is on abusive or neglectful people who interact with children in ways that leave psychological scars that cause behavioral dysfunction. What is troubling to reader/listeners of “The Body Keeps the Score” is the pressure and trauma that American parents feel in their lives that affects the social and psychological health of their children.
Employment.
On the one hand, van der Kolk explains how parents may inadvertently distress their children by verbal or physical behaviors that are related to the pressures and expectations of a working life. Those pressures can cause parental meltdowns between parents and children. The consequences can have an emotional and consequential impact on the lives of the children for which adults are responsible. The effect on family members can range from a rageful response to a child’s moodiness to fear or lasting resentment that may create emotional scars that affect a child’s later behavior. A parent’s meltdown can become an indelible scar on a child’s mind. Van der Kolk calls them the injuries of American culture; not because it is only in America, but that it occurs in all cultures.
Social inequality in American culture.
A reality in American life is that it is fed by wealth, poverty, and unequal opportunity. Inequality of opportunity creates pockets of poverty reinforced by racism, family instability, and societal breakdown. All of these social impacts bare down on the development of children and future generations. Working families often do not have time or inclination to take care of their children because of their jobs. These are fundamental issues that have broader consequence to children than the horrendous stories of child abuse that van der Kolk recounts. Of course, it is appalling to know of priests that molest children or fathers who rape their daughters, but it is the general observation that adult behavior toward children can negatively affect children’s lives. Horrendous acts like child molestation undoubtedly have immense impact on the future of those who bare them. However, the realization that day to day experiences of parents’ lives can also have negative consequences in their child’s lives. What is of more concern is a culture riven with poverty, sexual infidelity, and divorce that sets a table for future generations of broken lives.
“The Body Keeps the Score” infers much about the weaknesses of American capitalism. It recognizes suffering in American society and shows how trauma in one generation passes on to the next. Bad behavior has consequences beyond the perpetrator and victim. It offers some solutions to the mistakes parent’s and society make in raising their children.
Van der Kolk outlines some of today’s psychiatric breakthroughs. New psychiatric discoveries have helped reveal childhood abuse memories and war’s traumatic events to give survivors some peace of mind. Trauma is a neurobiological event that can come from the violence of war or parental upbringing. It affects human behavior because trauma changes brain structure, hormonal regulation, and human feelings. Traumatic events become encoded in memory and affect humans’ future. Van der Kolk explains how psychiatric science has evolved to treat the consequences of life’s experience of traumatic events.
As every American, particularly white people of conscience know, ethnic minorities are faced with hardship, violence, and social discrimination until ruling majorities realize that all human beings are entitled to equality of opportunity in the society in which they live.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Voice for the Voiceless (Over Seven Decades of Struggle with China for My Land and My People.)
Author: Dalai Lama
Narration by: Edoardo Ballerini
Dalai Lama (Author, born in 1935 is presently 91 years old. He is the spirtual head of Tibetan Buddhism.)
“Voice for the Voiceless” is the wish of every minority in the world. State supremacy over the individual in communism sharply contrasts with democracy in degrees of un-freedom revealed by what a citizen can be and do. Competition and descent, suppression of minority voices, control of information, collective identity, and human rights are insisted upon by communist leadership according to “Voice of the Voiceless” by the Dalai Lama.
American government checks and balances.
In a democratic government, there are multiple societally expressed interests like legal protection for dissent, creation of non-government organizations, guarantee of free speech, and institutional checks and balance on the power of its leaders. It is not that America or any democracy is perfect in its makeup but in the China that the Dalai Lama describes, communism is designed to prevent any form of opposition to its leadership. In the Dalai Lama’s view, no compassion exists in China’s government.
The infamous and unidentified “tank man” who stood in the way of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
The most prominent historical evidence of a lack of government compassion is shown by the Tiananmen Square massacre during the Deng administration. The Dalai Lama’s opinion is reinforced by a Chinese guide who closes the doors of a private meeting room in which several Americans are informed of China’s reaction to the Tiananmen massacre. Chinese students and citizens who demonstrated at Tiananmen Square were asking for communist party reform, a reasonable level of leadership accountability, and elimination of corrupt Chinese government leaders.
The Dalai Lama writes “Voice for the Voiceless” to challenge China’s political system which denies rule of Tibet by the Dalai Lama as its head of state. His demand reminds one of histories of displacement of native tribal leaders in America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Recognizing the fates of proud native leaders in America, the Dalai Lama (who has been exiled to India since the 1950s) is asking the communist government to allow him to be the leader of his “tribe” in Tibet. In America, more than two hundred years passed before genuine recognition and opportunity were seriously offered America’s natives. It has taken nearly 200 years for America to offer equal opportunity for tribal natives to pursue their interests as recognized ethnic minorities. What the Dali Lama wishes for Tibetan people in China is in many ways the experience of minorities in a democracy, let alone a communist autocracy.
Natives of America grew together as common ancestors that could choose life in a system of government that came to understand the importance of tribal self-determination. Natives of America had land rights, and a concept of cultural difference; accompanied by jurisdictional authority to pursue economic development as a distinct ethnic minority. The Dalai Lama clearly shows Tibetan people have a similar ethnic origin and desire for freedom and self-determination. Only time and ethnic solidarity offer hope for them to realize their goals.
Barbara Demick gives listeners a picture of Tibet with a darkness that rivals the narrative she creates for North Korea in “Nothing to Envy”.
Communist China is not America. However, the Dalai Lama appears to want a level of independence to protect a Tibetan way of life for Buddhists to preserve their cultural identity and language without violent resistance by the Chinese system of government. This is a reminder of native American’s struggle in democratic America. The Dalai Lama seems only to wish for human and religious freedom, not nation-state hegemonic control. He notes Tibetans have no institutional power, no representation in the Chinese government, and no legal way to challenge state’ government policies.
The Dali Lama’s book surprisingly notes the initial relationship with Chinese communism that proposed a “Seventeen-Point Agreement” which offered a framework for Tibet to have the recognition requested by the Tibetan culture. However, the tenor of the “…Agreement” is violated with Tibet being occupied by Mao’s government. Mao orders his administration to keep the Dalai Lama from fleeing and pressured Tibetan leaders to negotiate subservience to the Chinese Communist Party. Mao’s goal is to unify Tibet with China, not provide Tibetan autonomy within the structure of Chinese suzerainty. There was to be no self-determination of Tibetans, no interest in preserving Tibetan institutions, no role for the Dalai Lama, and no Tibetan’ autonomy. Mao demanded integration, not reconciliation.
As the Dalai Lama grew to understand what Mao and future leaders of the CCP really wanted, he chose to leave Tibet in the late 1950s. He exiled himself to India, the origin of Buddhism’s creation. Buddhism teaches liberation from suffering through compassion, wisdom, and meditation. These were not a part of the Communist ideals of Mao or his successors. The core belief of communism is that truth comes from the party whereas Buddhist believe truth is from inner realization. Every Buddhist is a sentient being that has compassion for individual suffering while a CCP member subordinates their feelings to the needs of the state and national unity. All religions are a potential threat to state control which is the basis and practice of communism and, to a lesser extent, all forms of government.
The Dalai Lama represents a threat to communism because he is a global moral figure, a symbol of Tibetan identity, and a spiritual authority independent of the state. Buddhist belief in inner freedom, compassion, and spiritual autonomy directly conflict with the ideals of communism because of its belief in the collective rather than the individual. An interesting irony in that communism is a form of government that endorses a collective concept. Of course, a communist collective is external to one’s inner self while Buddhism believes a collective is formed through an inner understanding of the self. China insists on centralized government authority, conformity to its edicts, and personal identification with the state’s government. One’s heart goes out to the Tibetan people and the discrimination they are suffering. Only time offers hope for their future.
As every American, particularly white people of conscience know, ethnic minorities are faced with hardship, violence, and social discrimination until ruling majorities realize that all human beings are entitled to equality of opportunity in the society in which they live.
REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE 