One can appreciate Vuong’s picture of two immigrant Americans lives but his story is too maudlin for this listener.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Emperor of Gladness
Author: Ocean Vuong
Narration by: James Aaron Oh
Vương Quốc Vinh (Author, poet, professor at NYU and the University of Massachusetts, born and raised in rural Vietnam who is now an American citizen.)
“The Emperor of Gladness” is like “Alice in Wonderland”. The author’s story draws one down into a rabbit hole of personal experience and imagination. It tells what life is like for people who become lost to themselves because of advanced age or youthful experiment with drugs and addiction. It begins with a young addict who is teetering on suicide and is rescued by an old woman nearing senile dementia. It is largely the backstory of two immigrants and their lives in America.
American immigrants.
The old woman is from Lithuania. The young boy is a Vietnam immigrant brought to the United States by his family near the end of America’s misbegotten war. Both live in poverty in America. Their stories tell how they survive the grief and trauma of their lives. The elderly woman has lost her husband, lives alone, and had a social services person visit her for a time but is never replaced. Some of the trauma that occurs in the boys and aged mother of a daughter is brought on by themselves, particularly with the young boy. For the elderly woman, it seems brought on by living in poverty in a country that has great wealth but is unable to offer adequate care for the elderly poor.
One who has traveled to Lithuania has some understanding of the tragedy of Stalin’s dictatorial control and displacement of the Lithuanian people. That is partly what draws one to stay in the story. However, it is not enough to maintain this listener’s interest in the story. The young boy is raised in poverty and succumbs to addiction which is hard for some to understand because they have not fallen into that addictive trap. The author does a fine job of showing how these two characters meet each other and become a family that cares for each other. The growing dementia of the old woman is managed by the young boy in a way that is endearing and insightful for those who do not have the patience to deal with infirmity and elderly dementia.
There are lessons about being poor in America in Vuong’s story.
Vuong notes immigrants who have reached a certain age in their native countries are faced with learning a new language and culture when they arrive in a foreign country. All human beings gain understanding from the experience of living, but post-infancy immigrants are faced with translating language and experience understood in their home countries that are different in American culture. That by itself is a struggle.
Immigrants often grow up in silence because they are unsure of unaccustomed experiences that native-born children take for granted. Translation seems a matter of survival for an immigrant whereas a native feels experience is just part of living life that one runs from or towards.
The details of being a poor immigrant in America seem the same as a natives’ views of life but Vuong explains why they are not. To those who have been born and raised in a white privileged but economically challenged society, discrimination associated with being an immigrant minority or drug user is too unrelatable. The underlying message by the author is that in the age of “Make America Great Again”, being an immigrant makes one feel even more of an outsider.
The story of Israel Keyes’ crimes, his eventual capture, and the trial of a United Health CEO killer make one realize how today’s surveillance technology is important, even in a relatively free society.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
American Predator (The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century)
Author: Maureen Callahan
Narration by: Amy Landon
Maureen Callahan (Author, journalist, columnist with a BA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.)
This is a chilling history of a serial killer named Israel Keyes who lived in Alaska with his girlfriend and daughter. Callahan gathered facts from FBI files, interviews with investigators, court records and conversations with people who knew Keyes. Callahan begins with the story of an 18-year-old girl working at a coffee drive up as its sole occupant and worker. Ms. Samantha Koenig is stabbed to death the morning after she is abducted but her body is preserved by Keyes for days after her death. The cold of Alaska keeps the body from decomposing for an estimated two weeks in which it is kept in one of Keyes’ two sheds. Keyes then sinks her remains under the ice of an Alaskan lake.
Samatha Konig’s gruesome death leads to the capture of Israel Keyes.
When Keyes is captured, Callahan notes there were three primary interrogators. Jolene Goeden (an FBI investigator in the Anchorage, Alaska Division), Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Russo, and FBI Agent Jeff Bell. Their interrogations reveal Keyes travels, his “kill kits”, victims of his demented mind, his final confessions, and the details of his reported murders. The actual number of his murders will never be known because of the many missing and unsolved disappearances in the United States. Surveillance of his mode of transportation led to his arrest in Texas and an eventual confession to three murders. It is estimated that there were at least eleven murders but in the opinion of the author, it could be many more.
Keyes created “kill kits”, hidden packages with tools, money, and weapons that could be unburied in his many travels across the United States. His travels around America from Alaska, south, east, and west seems to have given him license to kill.
The three murders that were directly tied to Keyes were Samantha Koenig (age 18) and a married couple named Currie (Bill age 49 and Lorraine age 55). Keynes admits raping all three. The concrete evidence of these three murders, independent of what Keyes admitted to the FBI, were his possession of Samatha’s cell phone, debit card, pictures he had taken of her, details about the murder of the Curries, and DNA evidence found on Koenig’s body when recovered from a nearby lake. In the case of the Curries which he also admitted killing, the facts of the murder were explained with a detail of one who could only have been the murderer, and finally corroboration of his rental car mileage which showed he could have been there at the time of the murders. Keyes refused to offer details of other murders of at least 11 people that could not be documented well enough for American law to prove guilt beyond a doubt.
Israel Keyes (1978-2012, Keyes is the son of a family of 10 children raised in the states of California and Washington. He is found to be a serial killer, bank robber, burglar, arsonist, and kidnapper who is believed to have killed 11 people between 2001 and 2012.)
Keyes is a fanatically controlling person, militarily trained, athletic, and intelligent. Keyes lost his control of life when he is put in prison. That loss of control appears to lead him to commit suicide with a razor blade and garrote to ensure death by his own hand, a last act of his need for control. Callahan notes Keyes lived with two women during his life with a daughter born from his first relationship. Naturally, their lives are hidden from the public based on Keyes’ horrible and despicable crimes.
The story of Israel Keyes’ crimes, his eventual capture, and the trial of a United Health CEO killer make one realize how today’s surveillance technology is important, even in a relatively free society. Admittedly, surveillance can be taken to an extreme when used to control human behavior as shown in China, Russia, and North Korea. Israel Keyes would still be murdering and raping men and women without American surveillance that eventually leads to his arrest and conviction.
America’s system of justice is not perfect. It can be abused in ways that today’s President is showing. All human beings are flawed. Like Presidents of the United States, surveillance can be a curse or a blessing. Too much power, like too much surveillance, is a danger to society.
Like in Solomon’s parable, the baby must be saved. That is the mind-set required for a negotiated peace between Israelites and Palestinians in Agha’s and Malley’s “Tomorrow is Yesterday”.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Tomorrow is Yesterday (Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine)
Author: Hussein Agha, Robert Malley
Narration by: Imani Jade Powers
Hussein Agha (on the left) is a senior associate of Oxford University and was part of the Palestinian team that negotiated the Oslo II agreement in 1994-95. Robert Malley (on the right) is an American lawyer, political scientist and specialist in conflict resolution.
Imani Jade Powers (Actor, writer, and singer based in New York City and London.)
It is interesting that a female actor is asked to narrate “Tomorrow is Yesterday”. There is a harshness in Agha’s and Malley’s assessment of negotiations for peace between Jews and Palestinians in what seems an unresolvable conflict. It is the conflict between two peoples’ desire to live in a land that has historically been occupied by two different ethnicities. Presumably, a female narrator takes some (but not much) of the edge off the strong opinions expressed by the authors about the intransigence of Israeli/Palestinian leaders in coming to an agreement on their territorial rights in the Middle east. There is an irony in the choice of a woman narrator for the two men who wrote the book. One might presume a woman is chosen because of a woman’s longer association with nurturing rather than roiling humanity.
King Solomon ruled for 40 years in the Kingdom of Israel and built the First Temple in Jerusalem.
One may ask themselves of these two men’s history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict–where is the wisdom of Solomon that challenged two women who claimed the same baby? Solomon orders the baby be cut in half, giving each woman one half. One woman agrees and the other begs the king to spare the child and give him to her rival. This seems the essence of the conflict between the State of Israel and the stateless Palestinians. What Agha and Malley imply is the leadership of the Israelites and Palestinians refuse to agree on sharing their land and choose to kill each other instead. There are no leaders that seem to have the compassion to save their progeny by either sharing or dividing the disputed territory upon which they live.
The Oslo Accord with Clinton, Rabin and Arafat in its first iteration.
The authors suggest the only negotiation that had any success was in the Oslo accords in which one of the negotiators is Hussein Agha (the co-author of this book). His experience with both sides of the negotiation offers some surprising and interesting profiles of the participants. Yasser Arafat is the symbolic father of the Palestinians, but he is shown as an ambiguous negotiator who is charismatic but contradictory which makes him both indispensable and obstructive. It is his identity as a leader of the Palestinians, rather than any negotiating skill, that makes him a player in the negotiations. In the second iteration of the Oslo Accords, the pragmatic Palestinian is Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) but he did not have the legitimacy of Arafat in the authors’ opinions. On the Israeli side there is Barak, Olmert, and Netanyahu. The first two seem to be rationalist pragmatists but Netanyahu, not surprisingly, is characterized as a skeptic who believed the Oslo Accords were a threat to Israel. On the American side is Clinton who focused on closing a deal which fails to confront the historical and emotional roots of the conflict.
In the end, at best, the authors argue Oslo creates a process for negotiating but not peace.
The process allows both sides to avoid confronting the deeper issues of their conflict. The Oslo Accords gave the illusion of progress without any real movement on either side. October 7th is clear evidence of the truth of that observation.
World superpowers of the future.
None of the world’s most powerful leaders, including America, China, Russia, the UK, Germany, South Korea, France, Japan, Saudi Arabia, or Israel show the wisdom of a Soloman. All the leaders on both sides of the negotiation appear to have their heads in the sand with agendas that fail to understand or address the fundamental concerns of the opposing sides. The results have been to allow events to unfold where Israeli’ and Palestinian’ families are torn apart, kidnapped, imprisoned, raped or murdered.
“Tomorrow is Yesterday” is a painful recitation of the failure of the world to understand and resolve the conflict between the Israelites and the Palestinian people. These two authors have an opinion about how “Tomorrow…” can be different than “…Yesterday”. They argue steps toward peace can only occur with a better understanding of what drives their conflict. The writers note there needs to be a mutual understanding of the trauma and injustice of their conflicts. Their respective suffering, and a sense of injustice needs to be accountably recognized by both Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a chance of a negotiated peace.
The authors do not show a plan, roadmap, or political structure that will settle disagreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
What they explain is why previous plans have failed. They diagnose the disease which is revealed in the history of failed plans for reconciliation. There seem to be only two options. One is a two-state solution, and the other is one state with equal representation, along the lines of the relative peace between Irish Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. Like in Solomon’s parable, the baby must be saved. That is the mind-set required for a negotiated peace between Israelites and Palestinians in Agha’s and Malley’s “Tomorrow is Yesterday”.
The boon and bane of a brilliant mind is that it can correlate facts with causes to reveal the mysteries of the universe but also the demons of false correlation and belief.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Best Minds (A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions)
Author: Jonathan Rosen
Narration by: Jonathan Rosen
Jonathan Rosen (Author, Yale graduate, writes for The Jewish Daily Forward, and the Free Press.)
As a person who has lived through the same generation as Jonathan Rosen, his story is interesting partly because it tells what it is like to be born a Jew in America. In many ways, one finds life as a Jew is no different than it is for any American. Most Americans are born into a family that cares for them and influences who they become as adults. Children are born with innate abilities that are either cultivated or ignored by their parents. Some parents are too busy with their own lives to offer care a child may benefit from with more attention. It appears Jonathan Rosen is born into a family that cultivates his abilities despite their busy lives. One wonders if that is a matter of ethnic tradition or inherent nature. One suspects it is a little of both.
In “The Best Minds”, an important part of being raised a Jew is education that encourages and reinforces Jewish identity through rituals like the bar mitzva.
The bar mitzva and bat mitzva (for girls) is a coming-of-age ceremony at age 13 (sometimes 12 for girls) where a Jewish child memorizes and recites passages from the Torah. On the one hand it reinforces one’s identity with a particular ethnicity. On the other, it is one of many exercises of memory that reinforces one’s ability to succeed academically. Much of one’s success as an accomplished adult is recall of information whether a doctor, lawyer, or merchant chief. From a young age, memorization is an important skill for Jewish children. One wonders how much tradition has to do with the brilliance of Einstein, Oppenheimer, Salk and so many other Jews of the world. This is not to suggest being raised in a Jewish family is not as traumatic and unpredictable as any child born but to recognize ethnic customs make a difference in children’s lives. The great contributions to science and art by Jews makes one wish they might live life over again with more positively ritualized cultivation.
Michael Laudor (Yale graduate, subject of “The Best Minds)
However, there is much more to Rosen’s story. His life is intertwined with the life of Michael Laudor, a close childhood friend who is raised in a similar environment and recognized as a prodigy. However, Lauder succumbs to schizophrenia. This is not to suggest Jews or any ethnicity is prone to psychological imbalance. Psychiatric imbalance is not defined by ethnicity but exists as a potential for every human being. One doubts there is any defense against psychological abnormality whether Jew, gentile, or other.
Laudor and Rosen as childhood friends.
Laudor and Rosen were close friends. Rosen recognizes his friend has a superior mind, i.e., one of “The Best Minds” of Rosen’s high school’ years. Rosen struggles to understand what happened to his childhood friend. Both Rosen and Laudor are accepted at Yale. Laudor chooses law as his course of study. Rosen goes on to California to get a PhD in literature. Their dual biographies make Rosen’s story impactful. Rosen explains how intelligence, ambition, and success can be destroyed by mental illness.
Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Laudor is a wunderkind who performs at a level far beyond his age group. He graduates from Yale and decides wealth is a goal to be achieved. He is hired by an investment consulting firm which offers him an opportunity to become super-rich. Rosen infers Laudor succeeds. From the outside, Laudor appears to be highly successful, but he becomes dissatisfied with his life and quits the firm that hired him. Rosen stays in touch with Laudor and writes “The Best Minds” to reveal what he thinks he knows about what happened to his childhood friend. The beginning of Laudor’s imbalance appears to Rosen when Laudor explains he is being followed, monitored and targeted by unknown malefactors. Before that conversation, the erratic behavior of Rosen’s friend seemed like a matter of burnout from his high-flying experience as an investment consultant. The intensity of Laudor’s paranoia makes Rosen believe something more serious is at the root of his friend’s behavior.
Rosen stays in touch with Laudor–talking to him about what is going on in his life. He tries to get Laudor to see the falseness of his delusions without triggering defensiveness. Rosen avoids contradicting Laudor by trying to be supportive and encouraging him to seek help. On the one hand one wonders what more could Rosen do. How else could he intervene in Laudor’s spiral into what is later diagnosed as schizophrenia? A reader/listener wonders what they would or could have done.
Michael Laudor murders his fiancée, Carrie Costello, in 1998. She is pregnant at the time of her death.
Laudor had grown to believe his girlfriend had become a part of a conspiracy to harm him and that he needed to defend himself despite her trying to care for him. His brilliant mind manufactured a false reality. His delusion leads to the fatal stabbing of Ms. Costello. After the homicide, Laudor calls 911. He is arrested and transferred to a psychiatric facility and later found guilty by reason of insanity. He died in 2022 at the age of 56 in a New York State psychiatric hospital, never recovering from severe schizophrenia.
“The Best Minds” is Rosen’s effort to understand how genius and madness can be intertwined. The boon and bane of a brilliant mind is that it can correlate facts with causes to reveal the mysteries of the universe but also the demons of false correlation and belief. Correlation is not causation without objective and repeatable experimental proof.
The question one asks oneself after finishing Rosen’s book is what one can do differently to keep someone from losing their way in life whether he/she is a genius or not?
Like being a New Zealander, Americans are made of many cultures. That is an underlying theme of Hampton Sides interesting biography of Captain Cook.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Wide Wide Sea (Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook)
Author: Hampton Sides
Narration by: Peter Noble
Hampton Sides (Author, American historian Yale graduate with a BA in history. As an editor, Sides has written many articles for national publications. He is awarded an honorary doctorate from Colorado College.)
Hampton Sides has written an interesting history of James Cook’s voyages with a focus on his final expedition to find a Northwest Passage. This is a slightly misleading statement because in the 18th century, a ship sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific typically had to navigate around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America. Explorers seeking a northern connection between the oceans attempted to reach a Northwest Passage, but the Arctic route was blocked by ice. Why would one think there was a northwest access from the Pacific if there was no passage from the Atlantic? Apparently, people believed the Atlantic side had been thoroughly searched without finding a passage, but the Pacific had been less explored and might have an unknown channel that would allow passage.
Sides writes the story of an 18th century navigator who had sailed the globe twice and was contracted to find a Northwest route that would shorten the distance between Europe and the North American continent. Called out of retirement by the British Admiralty, James Cook set sail on his third and final voyage in 1776, a propitious year for the American colonies. Cook took command of the HMS Resolution, accompanied by one other vessel eventually commanded by Captain Charles Clerke on the HMS Discovery. (Both Clerke and Cook died on this voyage, i.e., Clerke from tuberculosis and Cook from a melee in the Pacific.) It is interesting to find that the vessels are loaded with animals as well as food provision for long voyages. Sides notes Cook dislikes the requirement of livestock because of the stink from their offal. Cook is a stickler for the cleanliness of his vessels and crew members. However, Cook recognizes livestock’s importance on long voyages for adequate food provision.
Before science showed lack of vitamin C caused scurvy, Cook required provisioning of fruit on his long voyages.
It is Cook’s observation of other mariners’ health experience that made Cook decide on food provisioning for his voyages. Sides writes Captain Cook only had a village-school education, but he had a practical maritime apprenticeship based on learning by doing as well as by observation of past sailings of other mariners.
The character of Cook is somewhat revealed in the history of an earlier voyage to New Zealand in 1773.
Sadly, Sides notes Cook’s personally written logs and correspondence are stoic with little insight to his emotions. He notes Cook’s stoicism is even more difficult to pierce because his younger wife destroyed Cook’s personal letters. Nevertheless, Cook’s stern character is illustrated by Sides’ details during his voyages. There is no doubt in a listener’s mind that Cook is a highly competent leader who brooked no opposition from his crew while exhibiting a nascent understanding of the importance of native cultures. Sides shows Cook to be a keen observer of different cultures and, for the most part, avoided criticism of other societies as long as they did not interfere with the Admiralty’s commissioned objectives.
A New Zealand Māori politician, Nanaia Mahuta, serving New Zealand in 2021.
The indigenous Māori live in New Zealand today. Cook’s two ships that visited New Zealand were the Resolution and Adventure. They became separated because of bad weather. The captain of the Adventure, Tobias Furneaux arrives in New Zealand after Cook had already departed. Furneaux dispatched 10 armed men to collect fruited plants for scurvy prevention. The 10 men did not return. In searching for the men, the search party found severed body parts being eaten by dogs. A tattooed hand revealed the remains as one of the 10 men. The 10 mariners had been killed in what is called a whāngai hau ritual which is an act of consuming an enemy’s spirit by eating their flesh. Because Cook had already left, the search party interrupted the ritual and recovered some of the remains. The cause of the 10 men’s killing is unknown but the incident shaped Māori–European relations. When Cook returned, he chose not to retaliate because he did not know what caused the killings and understood the acts of the Māori were a culturally influenced event, presumably caused by something the 10 men did that threatened the indigenous New Zealand tribe. Cook chose to respect the cultural beliefs of the tribe rather than seek a revenge urged by some of his crew.
New Zealand farmland.
Having personally visited New Zealand, one appreciates one of the most beautiful places in the world, but the story of the Māori Grass Cove incident is a shocking reminder of how much civilization has changed over the centuries. One of our guides belonged to the Māori tribe.
Sides explains Cook is commissioned by the Admiralty to settle a question of the existence of a presumed unknown southern continent in the Pacific that was tentatively identified as Terra Australis. Cook’s expedition found there was no great habitable continent to the south, but he crossed the Antarctic Circle many times. Massive ice fields kept Cook from the Antarctic mainland. Anyone who has visited Antarctica knows of the Drake passage and how rough the sea can be. Having visited Antarctica clearly shows year-round habitation would be like living on the moon, i.e. possible but highly inhospitable. Cook found no habitable continents in the south seas because there are none.
Kealakekua Bay in Hawaii.
Cook’s third expedition is the first European contact with Hawaii after passing through the Bering Strait on his way through the north Pacific. Ironically, in his last voyage, he is killed in Hawaii in 1779, one year after he returned to Hawaii. He had spent a year more searching for the passage when he returned to Hawaii on his way back to England. When Cook first landed on Hawaii, he and his crew were welcomed with open arms. Cook appears like a God to many Hawaiians. Cook’s steely personality is two edged in that it made him a great leader of men on long exploratory voyages, but he brooked no insubordinate behavior. When returning to Hawaii after a year of looking for the Northwest Passage, reception by the Hawaiians was less respectful. A boat is stolen by some Hawaiians when they were anchored at Kealakekua Bay. The stolen boat is a major diplomatic and military issue because it was an important piece of the ship’s survival. Sides notes theft is not uncommon in native Hawaiian culture. Cook’s response is to attempt capture of the chief of Hawaii and hold him hostage until the boat is returned. The Hawaiians resist. A fight breaks out and Cook is struck; he falls to the ground and is stabbed and beaten to death by the Hawaiians. Four marines were killed with 17 Hawaiians that died in the confrontation. Cook’s body is ritually dismembered as is the custom of the Hawaiian culture in respecting a high-ranking enemy.
A.I. Generated picture of what Omai may have looked like.
Sides’ story is more than a recounting of historical facts. He writes several chapters about a native of the Society Islands name Omai who became a celebrity in London. Cook had brought Omai to England after his second world voyage. Omai boards the ship on Cook’s third voyage to be returned to his homeland after having lived in London for two years. The Society Islands are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean made up of Tahiti and four other islands.
At first, one wonders why the story of Omai is included in Side’s book. One realizes the story of Captain Cook, in broad strokes, is well known but Omai reflects on how history is shaped by those who tell a story that often obscures the complexity of past events.
The story of Omai is obscured by the big picture of Captain Cook’s momentous voyages but Omai’s story shows how cultures are widely misunderstood because of those who tell the story. Omai’s cultural influences are lost because they are interpreted through the lens of a society that sees people of other cultures as noble savages or exotics, i. e., not based on their unique experience and culture. After Omai’s experience in London, he is no longer just a Tahitian. In returning to Omai’s culture, he is a different human being. He becomes an exotic in both societies. He dies only a few years after his return to his native country.
Many cultures have influenced what Americans have become.
One comes away from “The Wide Wide Sea” thinking of today’s immigration policy and the many who have come here to only be rejected for not being born in America. America has lost its historical memory. Many people who immigrated have added their cultures to society in many positive ways that have made America great. Our ignorance and actions that contradict that truth are appalling to many. Captain Cook recognized the murder and dismemberment of ten Englishmen by the Māori was terrible, but his response respected their culture. The Māori remain an important part of New Zealand culture just as American Indians are an important part of American culture. To arbitrarily reject immigrants without due process is unjustifiable in a country made great by many different cultures.
Like being a New Zealander, Americans are made of many cultures. That is an underlying theme of Hampton Sides interesting biography of Captain Cook.
The story of McCandless’s life is that meaning in life comes from people and nature, not one or the other but both.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Into the Wild
Author: Jon Krakauer
Narration by: Philip Franklin
John Krakauer (Author, mountaineer, raised in Corvallis, Oregon.)
The main character in “Into the Wild”, tuned in and dropped out. His “tune in” is not to drugs but a wish to understand the meaning of life. Christopher Johnson McCandless chose, after graduating from Atlanta, Georgia’s Emory University, to live off the grid of society, i.e. particularly capitalist society. His degree is a BA in history and anthropology. McCandless chooses to drive around the country, working at dead-end jobs to sustain himself until he finds a place to live in a natural habitat, without the aid of society which he believes keeps him from understanding the meaning of life. He began a “walk about” from Georgia with a plan to explore survival in the frigid wilds of Alaska. McCandless kept a journal of his search for life’s meaning. His journal became the guiding source for Jon Krakauer’s book about McCandless’s brief life.
Christopher Johnson McCandless (1967-1992, died at the age of 24.)
The McCandless family picture with Christopher either before or after enrollment at Emory University.
McCandless came from a solidly middleclass family but rejected capitalism defined by the desire for money, power, and/or prestige. He obviously loved the outdoors and wished to explore the possibility of living off the land with whatever nature had to offer. McCandless rebels against capitalist beliefs when graduating from college. He begins a search for the meaning of life beyond the principles of a capitalist society. He sought understanding by experiencing the attractions and dangers of the American wilderness. McCandless wishes to be free of materialism, his familial relationships, and the conventions of a middleclass capitalist life.
(One wonders if McCandless’s story is part of today’s rising homelessness with people living in tents, sleeping in business doorways and on sidewalks of American cities? Are Americans becoming disillusioned with capitalism because the gap between rich and poor is rising and pushing the middleclass into poverty? Some argue the cost of living is climbing faster than the wages of employment.)
McCandless graduation form Emory University in Atlanta Georgia.
With a BA in history and anthropology, McCandless graduates from Emory in 1990 and leaves Atlanta, heading west. Rather than look for a job or extending his education, he donates his savings to charity, cuts off communication with his family, and journeys to the west in a 1982, B210, Datsun. He heads southwest, traveling to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico. He spends some time in Arizona with odd jobs and becomes stranded when his Datsun is disabled by a flood. He hitchhikes to California via Las Vegas, goes through South Dakota with his determined destination being Alaska in 1992. Nearly two years have passed since graduating from Emory.
Map showing McCandless’s two years of travel from the East to the West, mid-West, and on to Alaska.
McCandless kept a journal of his travels. The author, John Krakauer, interviews some of the people McCandless meets and/or works for that are noted in his journey. All say he was a nice person and hard worker who dependably showed up for work. However, one employer noted he had to be told to take a shower and wear socks when he came to work at their fast-food restaurant. McCandless was obviously homeless and had no shower facilities in which to bathe. He reluctantly complied as best he could but soon left to find his way to Alaska.
Sample of McCandless’s journal when he called himself Alex Supertramp.
McCandless arrives in southern California. He meets an older (80 something) American named Ronald Franz, a leatherworker, who tries to convince McCandless to give up his wandering life. They become friends but McCandless leaves Franz without saying goodbye as he heads north. The importance of their relationship is shown in a letter sent to Franz by McCandless that explains his inner conflicts. McCandless explains his need for independence and the freedom it gives him to personally connect with himself. By abandoning materialism, wealth, and social expectations, McCandless believes it makes him free. The tension created by McCandless’s belief in social isolation versus human relationship is expressed in his letter to Franz. Being alone is no answer to the conflict one feels toward their family or those who are part of society. Part of one’s identity, belief in who they are, and belief in oneself is reinforced by other people, not in wilderness isolation. This is a lesson of life that McCandless refuses to see or understand. The well-known poet, John Donne, recognizes “No man is an island”. All humans are interconnected which is a truth McCandless refuses to see.
McCandless dies in a Fairbanks city Transit bus he used as a shelter in Alaska. John Krakauer speculates on the cause of death being inadvertent poisoning from eating potato seeds because of McCandless’s hunger, emaciation, and lack of nourishment. If there is meaning in life, McCandless search and isolation is in vain. The story of McCandless’s life is that meaning in life comes from people and nature, not one or the other but both.
In the book “A Marriage at Sea”, one wonders how a husband or wife would respond in a crisis. Who would take command and who would follow? Is it a matter of nature or nurture?
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
A Marriage at Sea (A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck)
Author: Sophie Elmhirst
Narration by: Marisa Calin
Sophie Elmhirst (Author, British journalist who wrote the story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey who survived 118 days on a life raft in 1973.)
Surprisingly, Elmhirst writes about marriage in telling the story of a shipwreck that left Maurice and Maralyn Bailey on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean for 118 days. The Baileys had been married for 9 and a half years when their yacht was struck by what is presumed to be a dying whale.
The Baileys.
The Baileys were a middle-class British couple who fell in love with an idea to buy a small yacht and sale the sea to visit the Galapagos islands and beyond, a fantasy both adopt. Maurice’s strict childhood had prepared him to master the technical skills of a seafarer, but Maralyn seems to have the determination to make their dream real. They sold all their possessions, including their home, and contracted with a boatbuilder in Southampton who began the long process of building a yacht for their voyage at sea.
Maralyn Bailey using a sextant on their sailboat.
They set sale in June 1972 in a 31-foot yacht named Auralyn. They crossed the Atlantic and reached Panama in February 1973 and headed for the Galapagos islands in the Pacific, expecting it to take ten days. At dawn on March 4, 1973, their vessel was struck by a whale in the Pacific Ocean. They were 300 miles from the Galapagos islands when their vessel sank. Water filled the hold, and they abandoned ship on a raft with a small dinghy they used to store supplies they gathered from their sinking boat.
Maralyn and Maurice on a rubber raft before their sea adventure.
On the one hand, the knowledge of Maurice’s navigation skill aided their eventual rescue, but it seems Maralyn’s will and determination saves their lives. Their slim provisions would only last for a few days before dehydration and starvation. To last for their 118 days adrift, they improvised. They caught and ate raw turtles, fish, and seabirds while collecting rainwater for their sustenance. They had no fishing hooks and had to bend safety pins. They had to make fishing line for the hooks from thread, cord, twine, or maybe the yacht’s emergency kit. Whatever they caught had to be killed, cleaned, and eaten raw.
Seven ships passed the Baileys who were lost at sea.
Seven ships passed the Baileys but did not see their raft and dinghy. Even though they were in the “Sea Lane”, it is easy to understand why they were missed. They had flares that did not ignite which made their being seen unlikely, particularly with the immense size of sea transport vessels. Their hope for rescue rose and fell with each vessel sighting. Their boat, the size of the ships, and the distance from sea-going vessels must have been too far for anyone on board to see them.
Vessel that found the Baileys.
It is a South Korean fishing boat that spots them. They had drifted over 1800 miles from the Galapagos Islands when they were rescued. Fortunately, the Bailey’s voyage is within the fishing routes of the Pacific. South Korean fishing boats would travel hundreds of miles from shore to catch tuna, billfish, mahi-mahi and other marketable fish. The South Korean boat was a deep-sea commercial fishing vessel. Its smaller size undoubtedly helped them see the Baileys.
The Bailey’s after their recovery from 117 days on the sea.
The Baileys were severely emaciated. Both had lost over 40 pounds. They could barely walk because of malnutrition and saltwater sores from skin irritation. It is hard to conceive of how exhausted they must have been. The Baileys were taken to Honolulu, Hawaii for medical care and recovery. Without doubt, the South Koreans saved the Baileys lives but it was a 1500-mile trip to Honolulu for the fishing vessel which would take 5 to 8 more days.
Sexual equality.
Elmhirst’s story suggests survival is largely because of Maralyn’s tough-mindedness and attention to her husband’s strengths and weaknesses.
In a marriage, one wonders how any husband and wife might respond in a crisis. Who would take command and who would follow in a crisis? Is it a matter of nature or nurture? In the case of the Bailey’s crisis, it appears Maralyn took command. The cost of that command is unknown, but parenthetically one notes Maralyn died at 61 while Maurice lived into his 80s.
Dylan Roof is not South Carolina, and neither are the preachers who believe in the divinity and eternity of God. All people of the world are subject to the sins of living life.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Mother Emanuel (Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church)
Author: Kevin Sack
Narration by: William DeMeritt
Kevin Sack (Author, American journalist, senior reporter for The New York Times who shared a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2001.)
South Carolina is the underlying subject of Mother Emanuel. It focuses on a State that shows the very best and worst of what it can mean to be born in America. South Carolina is the home of Americans who fought on the side of the confederacy in the Civil War. The confederates of the south did not believe in human equality but in the superiority of the white race and the rightness of slavery.
Mother Emanuel is an African Methodist Episcopal Church located at 110 Calhoun Street in Charleston, South Carolina.
Mother Emanuel was built in 1891 and has capacity to seat 2,500 congregates. The church is considered a symbol of Black autonomy and resistance to some South Carolinians. On June 17, 2015, the senior pastor of the church and 8 African American parishioners were shot by a white 21-year-old American name Dylann Storm Roof. Roof, when he came to the church service, is invited into a Bible study group. He sits in the study group for nearly an hour before drawing a 45-caliber Glock handgun to murder 9 people, including the pastor of the church. The author and journalist Kevin Sack explains Dylann Roof was not a dumb white American but a person of above average intelligence who believed Black Americans were an imminent danger to white Americans’ way of life. Roof intended to motivate a Black American uprising that could be crushed by an American white majority.
Dylan Roof (At the time of his trial.)
A listener/reader is unlikely to believe Sack is writing this book to suggest all white Americans, let alone South Carolinians, are like Dylann Roof. Sack is not suggesting all humans have equal capabilities but that all people are influenced by the environment in which they live, their genetic inheritance, and their psychological development. What the author shows is that one’s intelligence can as easily lead to horrific acts of violence, dishonesty, theft, and social hate as belief in the truth of human equality.
Reverend Eric Manning navigated multiple difficulties when he became the pastor of the church after the massacre.
As a church, Mother Emanuel has existed for well over 100 years. It has had many pastors who are subject to the same strengths and weaknesses of all human beings. Sack infers some pastors in Mother Emanuel’s long life have been seduced by the money, power, and prestige of their office while preaching belief in God. Sack infers every human being, including pastors, can be led astray in life. A few, like Dylan Roof, become corrupted by life for reasons that are incomprehensible to one who believes in something greater than themselves, whether that something is the moral, communal, or cosmic reality of human life, or a fervent belief in God and redemption.
Dylan Roof’s verdict for execution is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court but is rejected. He remains on federal death row.
Dylan Roof is not South Carolina, and neither are the preachers who believe in the divinity and eternity of God. All people of the world are subject to the sins of living life. Roof is shown by Sack to be an unremorseful murderer of human beings for little other reason than the color of their skin. A lesson of life that the murders explain is that forgiveness is not for the sake of Roof’s peace of mind but a mindful reconciliation for those who lost their loved ones.
As of the writing of this book, Dylan roof remains in prison, without personal remorse and a remaining verdict that warrants execution.
In the pre-A.I. age, democratic socialism is unachievable, but A.I. may resurrect its potential. However, as Orwell noted, the risk is a “Brave New World” rather than a hoped-for democratic socialism.
GEORGE ORWELL (Author, 1903-1950)
In Norm Chomsky’ ‘s and Nathan Schneider’s book, “On Anarchy”, George Orwell’s book “Homage to Catalonia” is called one of Chomsky’s favorite books. “On Anarchy” infers Orwell believed in anarchy because of his role in the war (1936-1939) against the Franco government. Though Orwell’s risk of life in Spain’s war is inconceivable to me, it seems prudent to listen to his story and point to the significant difference between what Chomsky and Schneider infer about Orwell’s belief in “…Anarchism” and what Orwell really wrote and believed. Though Orwell takes anarchism seriously as a political working-class movement, he believes it is impractical and that democratic socialism (with “1984” reservations) is what he believes could be the best form of government. The idea of abolishing all forms of coercive authority and hierarchy with a government anarchy is impractical because of the nature of human beings.
Francisco Franco with his soldiers in 1936.
Because of Orwell’s belief in democracy and equality he chooses to join the fight against Franco’s fascism. He joins the resistance at the age of 33 because of his belief in democratic socialism. He felt he needed to join the ideological struggle against Franco’s regime. It is a remarkable decision considering he is married, and relatively unknown. He is oddly driven by his moral belief in democracy and equality. Presumably, he entered the war to understand what it means to fight a war against a government he felt was immoral and totalitarian. Orwell served for approximately six months beginning in December 1936. He was shot in the throat and nearly died.
Anarchy and human nature.
It seems inconceivable that anarchism is a reasonable way of governing human nature. It is interesting to contrast what Orwell believes and what anarchists argue. This is particularly relevant in the 21st century because of the inevitable change in society that is occurring with artificial intelligence. A.I. has an immense potential for creating Huxley’s “Brave New World”. However, his writings reject the ideal of “Anarchy” espoused by Chomsky and Schneider because of its impracticality. Huxley shows that human nature contains both heroism and weakness tied to the material world. Even though human nature is basically decent, it is easily corrupted. That corruption makes humans hope and fear human decisions designed by consensus. It is not to say democratic socialism would be infallible, but it offers a structure for regulation of different governments at chosen intervals of time.
Human nature will not change. Human nature is a set of relatively stable psychological, biological, and social tendencies that are shared by all human beings. These tendencies shape how humans think, feel, and act even as culture and governance changes. Artificial intelligence will only intensify the strengths and weaknesses of human nature. The principles of anarchy in an A.I. world is frightening:
No centralized government, police, or standing armies.
Society organized through federations of communes, cooperatives, or councils.
Emphasis on direct democracy, mutual aid, and local autonomy.
Suspicion of any coercive authority — even democratic majorities.
Change often imagined as revolutionary, not incremental.
A more rational alternative to Anarchy is Democratic Socialism believed by Orwell and espoused by MLK.
The state remains, but becomes more egalitarian and accountable.
Markets may still exist, but are regulated or supplemented by public ownership.
Political parties and electoral competition are central.
Emphasis on universal programs: healthcare, education, housing, worker protections.
Change is gradual, through reforms, not revolution.
Differences of opinion.
There are obvious differences between Chomsky’s and Orwell’s beliefs. Both have social weaknesses. Human nature gets in the way of both forms of governance. Orwell seems to have recognized the weaknesses of his belief in democratic socialism in his writing of “Brave New World”. In contrast, Chomsky’s and Schneider’s pollyannish view of anarchy as “…a better form of government where power is decentralized and citizens can and should collectively manage their own affairs through direct democracy and cooperative organizations” is absurd. The difference is that Huxley foresees the dangers of his idea in “Brave New World” which anticipates something like A.I. that has the potential for society’s destruction. “On Anarchy” ignores the truth of human nature, “Brave New World” does not.
Franciso Franco (1936-1975, died in office.)
Orwell’s decision to join opposition to Franco’s dictatorship fails. Their right-wing beliefs in authoritarianism, anti-communism, and pro-Catholicism prevails. Spain’s 1930s opposition leaders (Manuel Azaña, Largo Caballero, and Juan Negrín) were pro-democracy with anti-fascist, socialists, communists, anarchists, trade unions, urban workers, and peasants who Orwell joined to support democratic socialism, not anarchy.
In the pre-A.I. age, democratic socialism is unachievable, but A.I. may resurrect its potential. However, it is the risk of a “Brave New World” or “1984” rather than a hoped-for democratic socialism.
The most judgmental part of Szalay’s story is that a boy raised in wealth can be spoiled by drug addiction while a poor “go along to get along” boy may end up just as dissolute from sexual addiction.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
FLESH (A Novel)
Author: David Szalay
Narration by: Daniel Weyman
David Szalay (Canadian Author, winner of the Booker Prize in 2025 for “Flesh”.)
Every child is raised in different circumstances. The variables are legion ranging from genetics to economic environment to parenting and the experiences of life. David Szalay tells of a young boy growing to manhood. Every male will have some experience that relates to his primary character’s life. That explains the popularity and literary acclaim that “Flesh” achieves.
Szalay captures different pathways for “every boy’s” journey through the physical and mental anxieties of life.
The specific circumstances of the life for boys (and undoubtedly girls) show how complicated growth to adulthood can become. The father of one boy is a very wealthy businessman who has married a woman many years younger than him. They have a son named Thomas who has been raised in wealth and privilege. The second boy is, István, a poor Hungarian who lives a “go along to get along” life. This poor Hungarian grows to be a handsome man who is attractive to women because of his life experience and attitude about life and relationships.
Effects of inherited wealth.
István and a wealthy husband meet as a result of an attack by street thugs who beat the wealthy husband and nearly kill him. István happens to be passing by when the thugs are scared away by his sudden appearance. István calls 911 or its equivalent to get an ambulance. The wealthy husband is taken to a hospital and is grateful to István which he feels has saved his life. He offers István a job in his security firm as a protector of wealthy clients. István shows himself to be a very competent bodyguard. The wealthy husband decides to have him become his personal family guard and driver.
The wealthy husband’s much younger wife falls in love with the bodyguard and they become lovers.
The wealthy husband dies, and István marries the wife of her former wealthy husband. The son of the wealthy husband is destined for college when István marries the deceased husband’s wife. This college bound son will inherit all of the family wealth when he reaches the age of 25 based on a Trust that allows his mother and her new husband to use the Trust to make investments for the future until the son reaches 25. István becomes a land investor and developer with the wealth of the trust.
Human differences.
The table is set for comparison of two sons who are different with one raised in great wealth and another in the lower middleclass. A crisis occurs when an 80-million-dollar investment by István is needed from the trust that requires disclosure to the son who is to inherit the trust. This son raises enough public objection to the investment that it is not made, and the investment deal falls apart. To this reviewer, the dynamics of the genetic influence of two boys from different economic classes is the most insightful value of the novel.
The influence of genetics, wealth, and poverty.
One can judge from the life of István what influence genetics, wealth, and poverty may have had on the life of a boy growing to become a man. The author seems to have an opinion about boys raised by a family of wealth versus those raised by a family with a “go along to get along” belief in life. At the books end, one wonders if being born in wealth is as likely to make an adult male better or worse. István seems sympathetically written into life by the author. He is true to his character throughout the story, but his sexual life is a mess. Though he appears to be a resourceful, hardworking, and decent human being, he is led through life by his libido.
The most judgmental part of Szalay’s story is that a boy raised in wealth can be spoiled by drug addiction while a poor “go along to get along” boy may end up just as dissolute from sexual addiction.
REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE 