MEMOIR – Page 3 – REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

FAME

With the death of Riley’s brother from suicide, a spiraling downward seems inevitable for Lisa Marie Pressley. Surprisingly, Lisa Marie rallies after the suicide of her son, but the negative consequence of fame remain. The pressure of fame, like poverty, are equal opportunity killers.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

From Here to the Great Unknown (A Memoir)

By: Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough

Narrated By: Riley Keough, Julia Roberts

Lisa Marie Presley (Singer, song writer, daughter of Elvis)

“From Here to the Great Unknown” begins rather shakily because it is unclear about who is narrating and being represented in the story. Listeners who stick with the story begin to see that Keough’s voice is of herself while the non-tape-recorded voice by Julia Roberts is Lisa Marie, telling and filling gaps in Danielle Riley’s story. The two photographs above are meant to show Lisa Marie in her prime and Riley in the present.

This memoir explains Danny Keough (Danielle’s father and Lisa Maries first husband) is an ever-present person in Riley Keough’s life.

The book reveals the thrills, fears, and tragedy of inheriting fame. Danielle Riley Keough assembles a memoir from tape recordings by her mother and recollections of Elvis Pressley’s only daughter, Lisa Marie Pressley. “From Here to the Great Uknown” infers genetics may have something to do with descendants’ lives but the consequence of fame magnifies life’s proclivities.

Lisa Marie is shown to idolize her father who loved her dearly.

As most know, Elvis descended into addiction. This is not a story about Elvis but about Lisa Marie who loved her father, struggled with her mother, and created a career for herself in the music industry. She never achieves the fame of her father but had some success with “Lights Out”, “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”, “Dirty Laundry”, “S.O.B”, and “Over Me”. Keough briefly talks about traveling with her mother on tour. Keogh explains her mother dabbled with drugs in earlier years but seemed to kick the habit as she began establishing her own career. Lisa Marie meets and marries Danny Keough, and has two children with her, Riley and a son named Benjamin. Despite a divorce in 1994, Riley Keough and even her mother remained close with Danny.

Lisa Marie’s divorce seems precipitated by a growing intimate relationship between Lisa Marie and the famous King of Pop, Michael Jackson. After divorce, Lisa Marie marries Jackson in 1994.

Keough mentions Jackson’s pedophilia accusations in 1993 that makes one wonder if the marriage had anything to do with the accusations of five boys. Lisa Marie and Jackson divorced in 1996. Riley suggests Jackson’s desire to be in control created friction between the couple that led to the divorce. Jackson was acquitted of any pedophilia charges in 2005.

Lisa Marie marries again in 2002 to the actor, Nicolas Cage, but they are divorced two years later.

Despite three failed marriages, Riley explains her mother wishes to have more children and decides to marry Michael Lockwood in 2006. Through invitro fertilization, Lisa Marie becomes pregnant with twins. She has a cesarian delivery that births Harper and Finley who become Riley’s sisters. Riley explains her mother had quit drugs which she had gone through in her younger years but recovering from the cesarian operation led her back to drugs. She separates from Lockwood in 2016, and they divorce in 2021.

One begins to think about the famous film “Alfie” that came out in 1966.

Michael Caine, who is Alfie, looks back on his life and his famous line in the film is “What’s it all about Alfie?” Riley suggests Lisa Marie was a great mother because she had an instinct for caring about her children. Riley believes her mother slipped back into drugs because of the pain killers she took from the cesarean delivery of her twins.

Living a life of fame has consequences. One can argue that no singer in modern times has exceeded the fame of Elvis Pressley. Maybe Taylor Swift is nearing Elvis’s fame. Time will tell.

The price of fame is loss of privacy, mental strain to maintain an image, isolation, hangers-on self-interests, constant public exposure, and personal security concerns. Riley’s memoir of her mother’s life suggests fame influences Elvis’s, Lisa Marie Pressley’s, and Ben’s lives and deaths. All three had problems with drug use, but Elvis had a heart attack and Lisa Marie had a bowel obstruction thought to have caused excessive weight-loss and death.

With the death of Riley’s brother from suicide, a spiraling downward seems inevitable for Lisa Marie Pressley.

Surprisingly, Lisa Marie rallies after the suicide of her son, but the negative consequence of fame remain. The pressure of fame, like poverty, are equal opportunity killers.

LIBRARIES’ EVOLUTION

The well-made point of Orlean’s history of the Los Angeles Central Library is that a listener/reader can learn a great deal about the world and other people’s life experience from books. The loss of a book is not like human death, disease, or disability. A book is a liberation and broadening of life’s narrowness.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Library Book

By: Susan Orlean

Narrated By: Susan Orlean

Susan Orlean (Author, American journalist, tv writer, staff writer for The New Yorker.)

“The Library Book” is not a thriller, but it is an appreciation of a public service available in nearly every community of the United States. Libraries can be found in communities of less than 8,000 people or megalopolises of millions. Susan Orlean focuses her book on the great fire in 1986 at the Los Angeles Central Library where over 400,000 books were destroyed, and an estimated 700,000 were damaged. Though this was not the largest library in America, it was the largest library fire in U.S.’ history. Orlean’s research suggests the arsonist was a Wanna-Be actor named Harry Peak. However, there is no concrete evidence to confirm his guilt. No one is convicted for the library’s alleged arson. The cause remains undetermined.

It is interesting to note that Orlean admits there were electrical problems in the old building that had been recorded by building inspectors, but fire inspectors concluded it was arson.

It seems somewhat disingenuous for the City or Orlean to accuse Peak as an arsonist but that is not the primary message of her book. Her message is that many, including this reviewer, love the knowledge and experience of others who write books. Arguably, public libraries are one of the greatest public services in America, and at a cost much less than most public services in America.

The last chapters of her book address the history of the creation and renovation of the Los Angles Central Library. It reaches back to the 19th century. She recalls the liberal leaning of librarians and their early adoption of women in the workplace. Two women became Library’ managers in the 1800s. Orlean notes in a joking conversation with a manager of the library about the unlikely promotion of a political conservative as a head librarian.

An interesting note from the author is that the Los Angeles library has historically been a haven for the homeless, a problem that has dramatically risen in the 21st century. Some librarians have expanded their services to help the homeless. It seems noteworthy that the libraries in Las Vegas and those visited in other cities do not lock their bathroom doors the way private businesses like Starbucks choose to do.

The Los Angeles Library took six years to rebuild while workers carried on during the course of reconstruction. She notes that a new book generally requires a week before it hits the shelf because of time needed for proper cataloging. A somewhat distracting habit Orlean uses is recitation of a book’s Dewey Decimal’ number that begins most of the chapters. An interesting note from the author is that the library has historically been a haven for the homeless, a problem that has dramatically risen in the 21st century. Some librarians have expanded their services to help the homeless. It seems noteworthy that the Los Angeles Central library and libraries in Las Vegas do not lock their doors the way private businesses like Starbucks have chosen to do.

The Los Angeles Library is rebuilt to be better than it was before the fire.

Orlean explains library managers in LA are pushing to expand services their libraries provide. Having personal experience of traveling the world, countries like Finland show they have modernized libraries with a concept highly recommended in Orlean’s history of the Los Angeles’ library. Helsinki, Finland’s state-of-the-art library is a dramatic example of the services a library can provide. Everything from music instrument rentals, to recording studios, to sewing machine tables, and cooking kitchens are added to the library’s book inventory. All of these features have been created in Helsinki’s modernly designed library. It is a multi-purpose building that serves both children and adults.

The well-made point of Orlean’s history of the Los Angeles Central Library is that a listener/reader can learn a great deal about the world and other people’s life experience from books.

The loss of a book is not like human death, disease, or disability. A book is a liberation and broadening of life’s narrowness.

Many of the Los Angeles Library books were recovered but the process of recovery required the help of many of LA’s businesses. The books that got wet needed to be frozen to keep them from molding. City businesses made room for soaked books in their commercial freezers. The Los Angeles Central Library is rebuilt to be better than it was before the fire. Many of the books survived with the feint smell of smoke. The library continues to expand and enlighten Angeleno’s lives.

NARCISSISM

Jollett concludes his memoir by arguing his mother is a narcissist. Who is the narcissist in “Hollywood Park: A Memoir”? Mikel Jollett fails to understand how difficult it is for a single mother to raise children on her own.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Hollywood Park: A Memoir

By: Mikel Jollett

Narrated By: Mikel Jollett

Mikel Jollett (Author, American musician, frontman for Airborne Toxic Event.)

Narcissism is an excessive sense of self-importance and a lack of empathy for others. Though Mikel Jollett shows skill as a writer, his assessment of life as a child grown-up exhibits a personal blindness about the hardship of single parents.

Every child has a story. This is a memoir of Mikel Jollet’s life. Jollett’s story is about his family that joined what became a cult in the 1960s. It was called Synanon, a rehab program in Santa Monica, California for addicts that began in the late 1950s. The rehab program evolved into a religious movement. As it became a religious movement, its harsh policies drove some residents to flee. Jollett’s story is about leaving with his mother and brother when he is five years old.

Jollett’s mother leaves the Synanon commune and the father of her children to return to her parent’s house to re-start her and her children’s lives.

To Mikel, leaving was a dramatic break from the Synanon way of life and a father he misses. Jollett’s father was an addict and former convict who lived what seems a vagabond life until he joins Synanon. Mikel’s mother decides to secretly escape with her two boys as the Synanon life became more and more harsh. Despite its growing religiosity and authoritarian milieu, Synanon survives until 1991 when it faces numerous legal issues related to forced sterilizations and violence toward members.

As a single parent, Mikel’s mother struggles to regain an identity and her own life.

Some of the religious teaching at Synanon appears to have remained with her. After living with her mother and father in California, she chooses to move to Salem, Oregon. The move is motivated by the high cost of living in California and a job she finds in Salem. After some time in Salem, she meets a reformed alcoholic who comes to live with her and the boys. Mikel grows to like the reformed alcoholic, but his mother’s new companion falls off the wagon and leaves the boys and their mother. He returns sometime later, only to leave again.

Bonnie who was close to Mikel when they lived in the Synanon community became a companion with Mikel’s father in California.

The boy’s paternal father remains in California and eventually looks up his wife’s children in Oregon. Upon visiting the boys in Salem, he tells them they will be invited to visit him in California, where he lives near the beach. In their first visit they become reacquainted with Bonnie who had been in the Synanon program. Mikel had been emotionally attached to the woman when at Synanon, so he was pleased to see her.

Mikel reminds reader/listeners that many children in America are not raised in “Leave to Beaver” families.

Life is a struggle for most children, even in unbroken families. Being raised in a single parent home, particularly when the single parent is a woman is harder because of societal inequality. Mikel and his brother are boys, so they have better chances for breaking poverty’s cycle, but their mother is faced with greater obstacles. Mikel’s story shows a better chance for success than some children raised by a single parent because of a precocity recognized by the principal at his school in Salem. Precocity is no guarantee of success but being a male and smart are significant advantages.

Mikel and his brother, Tony, had older brother/younger brother conflicts.

Tony, as the older brother, was sometimes cruel or uncaring about his younger sibling. As Mikel grew older, he found ways to punish his older brother for his cruelty. As they matured, they reconciled but both left their mother to live with their father in California. The baggage their mother had from her experience at Synanon, her husband’s abandonment, and the circumstances of poverty became too much for Mikel to understand the trials of being a single mother with two children. Mikel’s judgement is that his mother was too narcissistic.

Sexual inequality are two strikes against women in life. Some women overcome great odds to become economically independent; most do not.

Women struggle with life’s inequality in ways that escape understanding of masculine society, i.e., particularly male children who live with a single mother’s nurturing through the formative years of their lives. Divorced or abandoned mothers often do what they must do to raise children that fathers mostly neglect during the formative years of life. Male parents escape responsibility by leaving their children with mothers. Ex-husbands have the privilege of regaining an independent life in a world that offers better opportunities for men than women. They often re-marry which is what Mikel’s father does.

Jollett concludes his memoir by arguing his mother is a narcissist. Who is the narcissist in “Hollywood Park: A Memoir“? Mikel Jollett fails to understand how difficult it is for a single mother to raise children on her own.

AMBITION

It takes more than ambition to build a successful organization or company. Unless one is a genius who can continually innovate, it takes management structure that encourages others to innovate and work for a common organizational purpose.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Bad Blood (Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup)

By: John Carreyrou

Narrated By: Will Damron

John Carreyrou (Author, French-American investigative reporter for the NY Times)

Ambition is the strong desire or drive to achieve something. The public story of Theranos is examined by investigative reporter, John Carreyrou. His subject is Elizabeth Holmes, a bright young woman who drops out of Yale to pursue an idea. Her idea is to create a blood testing system intended to diagnose medical conditions with potential for measuring effectiveness of drug treatment for existing disease. Her ability to sell an idea exceeded her ability to organize a company to create a product that accomplished that end.

Most companies or organizations will either fail or stagnate when led by only one innovator. There are exceptions but it requires an extraordinary leader, like a Steve Jobs, Ginni Rometty, Mary Barra, or Elon Musk. Their leadership skills may rub people the wrong way, but they have a superior perception of reality that is not singularly based on loyalty. They have the innate ability to offer enough innovation to grow their companies. (At the risk of offending supporters, loyalty is the threat of Trump’s management style. Trump principally bases his organizational decisions on loyalty.)

Elizabeth Holmes may have had a great idea, but her poor management skills are appallingly revealed in Carreyrou’s interviews with former employees of Theranos.

The only consistent management criteria practiced by Holmes is loyalty. If an employee appears disloyal to her vision of the company, they are fired. Any organization that principally relies on loyalty discourages innovation and becomes entirely dependent on orders of its leadership. Particularly in the tech industry, innovation is critical.

Elizabeth Holmes misled investors, patients, and doctors. She is convicted for fraud and conspiracy in 2022. She is serving an 11-year sentence in a Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas.

Holmes’ ambition, in addition to her prison sentence, led to a $500,000 SEC’ fine and the return of 18.9 million shares of a company that no longer exists. Furthermore, the SEC ordered a ten-year ban on serving as an officer or director of a public company which, of course, becomes moot with her imprisonment. The irony of Carreyrou’s story is that Holme’s idea is presently being pursued by Babson Diagnostics, Stanford Researchers, and Becton Dickinson. Whether she will ever reap any reward from another company’s success seems remote, but it will presumably be based on patents filed, and licensing agreements based on former Theranos patents.

“Sunny” Balwani was also tried and convicted for Theranos’ misdeeds.

The 16th century phrase “birds of a feather flock together” comes to mind when Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani joins Theranos in 2009. He had loaned the company $13 million but he also knew Holmes from her days when she was learning Chinese in a Stanford summer program. At some point they became lovers despite a 19-year age difference. Carreyrou notes Balwani became a multi-millionaire with the sale of his tech company, Commerce One” in 2000. He was convicted of tax evasion for the sale but claimed the evasion was caused by his tax accountant which he sued for recovery for back taxes he had to pay. (There is a settlement amount between the tax accountant and Balwani, but it is not revealed.) Carreyrou explains Balwani was a martinet who brooked little disagreement when he became COO of Theranos in 2009. (Part of Holme’s defense was that Balwani was the principal behind Theranos misdeeds, but the court obviously disagreed.)

In 2022, Balwani was sentenced to 13 years in a federal prison for his involvement in what is characterized as Theranos fraudulent activities.

There are business management lessons in Carreyrou’s book about the misdeeds of Theranos. It takes more than ambition to build a successful organization or company. Unless one is a genius who can continually innovate, it takes management structure that encourages others to innovate and work for a common organizational purpose.

CATACLYSMIC EVENTS

The elephant in this room is damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that is considered among the worst nuclear disasters in history, i.e. right alongside Chernobyl.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster Zone

By: Richard Lloyd Parry

Narrated By: Simon Vance

Richard Lloyd Parry (Author, British foreign correspondent, Asia Editor of “The Times of London”.)

In 2011 the 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake and its subsequent tsunami killed over 18,000 people with injuries to an estimated 6,000 more. Over 123,000 homes were destroyed. The estimated cost of the disaster is the equivalent of $220 billion American dollars. Richard Parry explains Japan’s Prime Minister lost his job because of the disaster and influenced the loss of a second Prime Minister’s position. The highest disaster cost in America was Hurricane Katrina at an estimated $125 billion in 2005. No natural disaster in America has caused as many deaths as Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.

Richard Parry offers a primer on what a person should expect when a natural disaster disrupts their lives. Every continent is subject to either natural or manmade cataclysmic events. In terms of the cost of human life and reconstruction, only war exceeds the loss of life that occurred in Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Like recent wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the most heartbreaking consequence is the death and crippling of children. Parry explains what happened in a Miyagi Prefecture grade school that exemplifies the social and personal consequence of a natural event that rivals the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

hiroshima - ant walkers — The aftermath of Japan’s nuclear blasts left thousands of people with few apparent injuries. They wander in a fog of confusion, like ants in long lines following each other, single file to nowhere. They were, as Pellegrino explains, the “ant walkers”.

Though there are no wandering ant or alligator people from a nuclear bomb blast, there are thousands of Japanese who undoubtedly still suffer from the loss of their children, family, and friends from the 2011 tsunami. It is most clearly evident in Parry’s detailed story of the Okawa elementary school. Many survivors are shown to blame school administrators, and the government for their failure to protect their children. The truth is that every disaster is responded to by imperfect human beings. Blaming someone for the death of innocents is a natural human response to things beyond one’s control. It is simple to look back on a disastrous event and find the mistakes made by those who are the adults in charge. There is a human catharsis in being able to blame someone for the death of a loved one.

Humans will always make mistakes in dealing with disasters because they are human.

The decision by school administrators to not abandon the school for higher ground seems taken out of context. There is snow on the ground, it is cold outside, and the school’s location is approximately 2.5 miles from the sea. To the administrators, it appears protection of the building seemed more important than moving to higher ground, in the cold and snow, a mistake that caused the death of 74 children.

Perry interviews many who survive the disaster. Their stories are heartbreaking. Some parents have never found their children.

An estimated 132 bodies remain unidentified with at least 2 children’s remains are unfound.

The vision of survivors sifting through mud and debris to find layers of children’s bodies stays in one’s mind as they listen to Perry’s book.

The families of 23 children who died at the school were awarded compensation of $12.8 million equivalent U.S. dollars with a judgement saying the school failed to evacuate students to higher ground when the tsunami became knowingly imminent. The decision was based on a loud-speaker government warning for the school to be evacuated. Perry notes there were evacuation plans at the school, but they were inappropriate for a tsunami that requires high ground. The adult teachers were given enough time after the loud speaker noticeto evacuate the children to a nearby hill. They could have survived.

The court’s decision is based on the truck-delivered speaker’ warning that is ignored by the school’s adult supervisors.

Some argue the significance of that ruling in Japan is the mandated creation of disaster-preparedness’ plans for school evacuations in a crisis. This school had a written plan, but it did not properly prepare for the consequence of a tsunami. The final warning is the basis for the three-judge panel’s decision, but the truth is any plan still depends on the judgement of adult school’ supervisors.

The elephant in this room is damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that is considered among the worst nuclear disasters in history, i.e. right alongside Chernobyl.

JAMES BALDWIN

James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” gives advice that resonates with the troubles of the world today.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Fire Next Time

By: James Baldwin

Narrated By: Jessie Martin

James Baldwin (Author, 1924-1987, African American writer and civil rights activist.)

“The Fire Next Time” consists of two brief essays by James Baldwin that are seminal works on the equality of all human beings. Published in 1963, the first essay is “My Dungeon Shook” which is advice to a young black American. The second, “Down at the Cross…” is a criticism of Catholic and the Nation of Islam religions.

The first is a message to Baldwin’s nephew about white America’s prejudice toward black Americans.

He is telling his nephew to reject white America’s stereotypical view of black Americans. Baldwin tells his nephew to embrace who he is as a human being, neither better nor worse, and to pursue life and living with the truth of his being.

RELIONS OF THER WORLD

“Down at the Cross” is a criticism of religion, particularly the Christian and Nation of Islam faiths. Baldwin argues that both diminish the truth of God by feeding the flames of anti-spiritualism and social inequality.

Baldwin argues through love and understanding of differences among religions and races, the divisiveness of inequality can be erased.

The fundamental point of Baldwin’s writing is that NOI offers a part of what black America needs by instilling self-respect and identity. However, he criticizes NOI’s separatism as counterproductive and extreme. Baldwin advocates love and understanding among all human beings.

Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975, Religious Leader of NOI)

Elijah Muhammed’s advance of the Nation of Islam (NOI) is credited for advocating black empowerment, but Baldwin implies that empowerment mitigates against belief in the equality of all human beings.

Baldwin evolves to a more humanist view of life and declines to take a prominent role either in the Nation of Islam, or the Pentacostal religion he left twenty years earlier. James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” gives advice that resonates with the troubles of the world today.

THE GUILTY

Is there a line that can be drawn that separates those who should be executed, incarcerated, or rehabilitated by the State?

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Dark Tide (Growing Up with Ted Bundy)

By: Edna Cowell Martin, Megan Atkinson

Narrated By: Morgan Hallett

“Dark Tide” is a journey into the “Heart of Darkness”. Like Joseph Conrad’s story, Edna Cowell Martin, with the help of Megan Atkinson, tries to make sense of human madness, societal hollowness, alienation, and lies. Edna Cowell Martin is the cousin of the notorious Ted Bundy who admits to and is convicted of the murder, rape, and mutilation of 30 or more women in the 1970s. Ms. Martin is in her 70s when she finally chooses to tell the story of her cousin, Ted Bundy, who was like a brother in her family.

Ted Bundy (1946-1989, American serial killer.)

Bundy was an illegitimate child raised by a mother and stepfather. His mother refuses to reveal who his father was which is of little consequence except to Ted Bundy and the impact it might have had on who he became. Bundy is shown to be a bright student who graduated from the University of Washington, went to Yale to study Chinese, and became close to the Cowell family. The Cowells were an artistic family with a father who was a classical pianist who traveled the world and became a music teacher at “The College of Puget Sound” and professor emeritus and Chairman of Music at the University of Arkansas.

The author, Edna Cowell Martin, interviewed by Piers Morgan.

Despite Ms. Martin’s wide travel experience because of her father’s profession, she appears to have lived a middle-class life in the state of Washington. Many years after Ted Bundy’s execution, Martin finally writes and publishes “Dark Tide” about this American serial killer, kidnapper, and rapist. She explains the close relationship that the Cowell family had with Ted Bundy. Whether it offers any insight to the mind of such a terrible person remains a mystery.

Ted Bundy at trial for murder.

Bundy appears as a relatively handsome, intelligent young man with a girlfriend and potential for becoming a successful American lawyer, businessperson, or professional. He becomes close friends with the Cowell family. When he is arrested as a murder suspect, none of the Cowells believe he is guilty. They support his release and send letters to explain why he could not be guilty of the crimes for which he is accused. Bundy is released on bail and returns as a friend to the Cowell family.

Bundy as a youth and adult.

Edna Cowell and her friends meet with Bundy after his release and gather at a local restaurant.

Bundy appears to be happy and is glad to see everyone. However, his face is recognized by strangers in the restaurant, and they ask him if he is the “Ted Bundy” in the news. Bundy’s response is unexpected. He appears delighted by the recognition and creates a scene in which he extols his notoriety. This is the first time Edna becomes suspicious of Bundy’s innocence. She does not believe he is guilty but that his glorification of association with a murderer makes her uncomfortable. Why would anyone want to be associated with such a horrible crime? Is any kind of fame okay to Bundy? This is not the person she thought she knew.

Edna keeps turning this incident over in her mind. She begins to wonder if Bundy might actually be guilty, rather than just wanting to be the center of attention.

The terrifying aspect of Edna Cowell Martin’s memoir is what does one person really know about another person? Think of all the people you know and what has happened since you first met them that changed your mind about who they are, what they believe, or what they have become, i.e. at least in your mind.

What is somewhat off-putting is that Edna Cowell Martin argues the State should not have the right to take one’s life even if they are guilty of murdering an innocent person.

Bundy killed and raped an unknown number of women. Is there justification for the State to execute someone for a heinous act that is confessed to by a perpetrator? Is it less humane to incarcerate someone for life who has confessed to a heinous crime? Are human beings, regardless of their crime, capable of being rehabilitated? Every human being is guilty of some transgression in life. Is there a line that can be drawn that separates those who should be executed, incarcerated, or rehabilitated by the State? “Dark Tide” raises all these questions in one’s mind.

HOSTAGE

Over 230 human beings remain political hostages in this unpredictable world.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

In the Shadows (True Stories of High-Stakes Negotiations to Free Americans Captured Abroad)

By: Mickey Bergman, Ellis Henican

Narrated By: Assaf Cohen, Mickey Bergman

Mickey Bergman tells a fascinating personal story about his life as a political hostage negotiator. He and a mysterious Lebanese friend he names “George” met at Georgetown University and became interested in political hostage negotiations. A precipitating event that led to their early friendship is the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by a Palestinian Hamas faction in Lebanon. As a former Jewish military soldier, Bergman became friends with “George”, a Lebanese Muslim student at George Washington University. With similar beliefs about the unfairness and human tragedy of hostage taking for political purpose, they become partners in the release of the Israeli soldier from Hamas.

As a reminder of the of the October 7, 2023, kidnaping of over 100 Jewish hostages by Hamas, Israel has occupied Gaza and murdered an estimated 4o,000 Palestinians.

In the kidnaping of one Israeli soldier, Bergman explains that murder or kidnapping of 1 Israeli is viewed by some in the government and Israeli citizens as not 1–but six million and 1 atrocities.

A singular kidnaping, let alone the October 7th Hamas attack, gave warrant to some in Israel’s government to wage occupation and war on Gaza.

(This reasoning gives a sense of the current state of the Gaza war but also explains why hostage negotiation is such a complicated and lengthy process that can as easily end in failure as success.)

From Bergman’s friendship with “George”, he gathers interest in the pursuit of peace, regardless of social, religious, economic, or political difference. As a twenty something graduate, Bergman receives a call from the Clinton Global Initiative to join their organization after graduation. CGI was formed by former President Clinton and his family in 2005. Its stated purpose was to devise and implement solutions to world challenges like climate change, health equity, world economic growth, and peace among nations. It gave Bergman his first thoughts about what would become his mission in life, i.e., the liberation of hostages unjustly held by factions of countries or governments for political rather than criminal infraction. “In the Shadows” explains how suited Bergman is for the life he chooses. Raised in Israel, highly educated, experienced as a soldier, from a stable and loving family, Bergman understands the grief and joy of families dealing with and hoping for their mothers, fathers, sons or daughters release from a foreign prison.

Formed in 2005 to address world problems.

Bergman’s early experience as a go-between for the release of the Israeli soldier, with the help of his Lebanese friend from college, show how important non-governmental citizens can be in freeing political prisoners. Bergman and his friend’s families have important indirect contacts at high levels in the Israeli and Lebanese governments. The two young graduates create back-channel contacts to Jewish and Lebanese governments that eventually get Hamas to release the Israeli soldier. They found it a slow, tedious process of give and take allowing political points to be made by factions and governments while providing an opportunity to free a hostage who was only doing his government ordered job.

Bergman is everyman who wishes to be the best he can be within their natural gifts of birth, education, and experience.

Bergman is drawn into the circle of Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico who formed the Richard Center in 2011. Bergman learns how to become a more effective hostage negotiator. Richardson’s methodology in negotiation is a post-graduate course in effective international negotiation.

The Richard Center was formed in 2011 to focus on promoting international peace and dialogue; particularly to negotiate hostage and prisoner releases. The Richard Center continues its work today.

Bill Richardson (1947-2023, died at age 75, a former Governor of New Mexico, 9th US Secretary of Energy, US Ambassador to the UN, who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for New Mexico.)

Richardson’s rules of negotiation:

Never close the door to your contacts.
Deflect attention from yourself with the people you take with you when you negotiate.
As leader of a mission, observe reactions of your opposing audience to associates’ arguments, i.e. the same arguments you discussed with your associates before the meeting.
Present a final pitch for hostage release based on what you have learned from the audiences’ reactions to your support staff’s arguments.

Richardson is shown by Bergman to be a master of negotiation and a great teacher of the art. You will not always win the argument, but you will have used the most persuasive details based on seeing and hearing the oppositions’ reactions to associates’ arguments.

Brittany Griner (released in Russia 2022)

“In the Shadows” tells the hostage stories of Brittney Griner, Danny Fenster, Otto Warmbier, Trevor Reed, Paul Whelan, and Kenneth Bae.

Bergman does a great job of explaining how difficult, dangerous, and often unsuccessful hostage negotiations can be. The release of Griner is heartwarming. The death of Warmbier is heart breaking. The delay of Paul Whelan’s release is frustrating and indicative of the complexity of hostage negotiation.

The many stories Bergman tells are interspersed with hardship in his own life that show how human and vulnerable we are despite our intelligence, experience, and education. Over 230 human beings remain political hostages in this unpredictable world. Though Governor Richardson recently died, Bergman carries on with the Richardson Center for Global Engagement.

SPINNERS

“All the Worst Humans” is a macabre but revealing look into the darkest corners of public relations.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

All the Worst Humans (How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians)

By: Phil Elwood

Narrated By: Holter Graham

Phil Elwood (Author, public relations operative, graduate of Georgetown University with graduate studies at the London School of Economics.)

“All the Worst Humans” is a macabre but revealing look into the darkest corners of public relations. It is an anecdotal story, with a ring of self-effacing truth by Phil Elwood who specializes in spinning news about morally corrupt people and bad events. A listener is skeptical of Elwood’s integrity because of the nature of what he does for a living. Elwood manipulates societies understanding by spinning the facts of current events to hide what truth there is in history.

The truth of history is purposeful or a choice and spin of facts to recreate a past that always has more facts than can be or are reported.

Reputable historians certainly try to accurately report the facts of history, but truth is malleable based on the facts that are chosen. Though Elwood profiles himself harshly as a troubled human being, he is like a disreputable historian who spins facts that have little to do with truth. Elwood’s job is to make facts tell a kind of “truth” that makes bad people and/or events look good or at least better than bad.

Elwood’s self-effacing story admits his weakness for alcohol and addictive drugs.

Elwood manages to become an intern for Congressional representatives like Senator Daniel Moynihan after failing to graduate from college. He corrects his college failure with the help of his congressional contacts to enter Georgetown University where he earns a college degree.

Elwood leaves his Congressional internships and the contacts they entailed to become a success as a public relations operative.

He becomes an operative who spins facts to change the public’s perception of people and events. Elwood is an “operative” because he contacts legitimate media writers/broadcasters and political influencers to change their minds about people and events that are or will become news of the day.

Elwood’s story begins with an FBI phone call that asks for the correct number of his and his wife’s apartment address.

He arranges for a meeting with the FBI in an hour after the call, purportedly to allow his wife time to leave with some of the files in their apartment. This is a puzzling beginning to a wild explanation of Elwood’s life. One is unsure of how much of what is written is spinning the truth of who Elwood is and what he believes. One wonders if Elwood’s story is just an entertaining vignette of a complex and intelligent writer, a public relations expert, or writer of fiction. (A brief review of the internet shows Elwood is not only a graduate of Georgetown University, but did graduate work at the London School of Economics.)

Peter Brown (American-based English businessman who became part of the Beatles’ management team.)

After Elwood’s stint as a congressional intern, he is hired by a public relations firm headed by a former Liverpool Beatles’ assistant, a man named Peter Brown. Brown became an officer of Apple Corps, the Beatles management company. Brown was instrumental in arranging the wedding of John Lennon to Yoko Ono in Gibraltar which is made famous in Lennon’s song “The Ballad of John and Yoko”.

Elwood offers examples of work that he does as an operative for Brown’s company. Brown, or someone from his office, calls Elwood to “baby sit” Libyan executives who work for Muammar Gaddafi in a trip to Las Vegas.

Elwood explains they carried millions of dollars in suitcases they kept in their hotel room. They lost thousands of dollars at the gaming tables and used Elwood to arrange private plane trips and ferry suitcases of money to pay their gambling bills and travel expenses. Elwood feared for his life and was relieved to see them off in their private jets after steering them away from what could have been a public scandal in Las Vegas.

Elwood explains how he is ordered by Brown to use his contacts in Congress and news publications to make Gaddafi look more like a statesman than thug in his 2009 United Nations Speech.

Elwood was tasked to make Gaddafi look humanitarian rather than venal by arranging interviews and media engagements that would emphasize his role as a revolutionary, not authoritarian leader. There seem to have been some successes but the speech at the UN and the debacle over a tent on Trump’s property made Elwood’s public relations effort a failure. Elwood is eventually fired by Brown and leaves with a sense of enmity toward Brown.

Elwood eventually slips into another morass when asked by his new public relations employer to make Nigeria look better than the Boko Haram kidnappers who took 276 schoolgirls from a Government Girls Secondary School.

Elwood is unsure of what he can do despite travelling to Nigeria to convince the government they needed to act in a way that looked like they were concerned. Elwood admits he fails and that the appearance of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist who was nearly assassinated by Pakistani thugs, entered to insist Nigeria must do something. Elwood is fired again.

In another incident where Elwood is working as a public relations operative, he consults with Antigua after the United States threatened to prosecute Antigua for online gambling services.

The Antiqua leader worries that it would destroy tourism in his country if they fought America’s threat. Elwood explained the loss of revenue from online gambling far exceeded tourism income and that he would plant a story in the media about restraint of trade as being un-American. Elwood suggests to the Antiqua government that they take America on with a complaint to the World Trade Organization. Antiqua follows the advice, and successfully remains an online gambling mecca. But Elwood, despite his successful spin of the facts loses the account and is fired again.

Elwood then slips into a very gray world where money is being laundered by the Israeli government.

Elwood becomes a conduit for the laundered money and is contacted by the FBI. The story comes full circle, and its ending adds to the value of Elwood’s story. Public relations are a sophisticated way of muddling the truth. Being smart is two edged when it comes to the truth. Ignorance is not bliss but spinning the truth can kill you or put you in jail.

Elwood considers suicide because of his dodgy reputation and fear of losing his marriage. Through treatment with ketamine, Elwood recovers some level of mental health. Treatment with ketamine is an ironic fact in view of the recent death of the comedic actor Matthew Perry. In a twist of fate, Elwood is spinning the benefit of ketamine while its use is being abused by the public today.

TURN EVERY PAGE

Caro’s facts do not prove truth, but they do reveal the means and consequence of political power and influence in American Democracy.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“Working”

By: Robert A. Caro

Narrated By: Robert A. Caro

Robert Allan Caro (Author, journalist, winner of 2 Pulitzer Prizes in Biography and many other coveted literature awards.)

Every non-fiction writer can appreciate this erudite and entertaining audiobook, personally written and read by Robert Caro. Caro explains what “Working” means to a non-fiction writer. Caro artfully explains why and how researching, interviewing, and writing a biography is a revelatory experience.

In “Working”, Caro focuses on his two Pulitzer Prize winning books, “The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York” and “Master of the Senate”, one of his four books about Lyndon Johnson. Both biographies are about political power in America.

Robert Moses (1888-1981) was an American urban planner and public official in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century.

Moses (among many titles) was the New York City Parks Commissioner and Chairman of the Triborough Bridge Tunnel Authority. His political power and influence are detailed in Caro’s book, “The Power Broker”. Though Moses was never elected to political office, he arguably shaped the infrastructure of New York City as much, if not more, than any elected person in New York. “Working” explains how a reporter from a small Long Island’ newspaper manages to write “The Power Broker” and become one of America’s most famous biographers.

After graduating from Princeton with a B.S. degree, Caro is hired by the Long Island, New York’ newspaper, “Newsday”.

Caro explains he had been a writer for many years as a young boy and college student before getting a scut-work job at “Newsday”. He tells of a breakthrough report he writes that gets attention from the editor of the paper. He is given advice by the editor who recognizes the quality of his writing. The advice is that when writing a piece for the public, be sure of your facts by “turning every page”. Caro takes that advice and explains how it became a mantra, a repeated aid, in his writing.

Caro explains how he and his wife work to “turn every page” in researching the Moses and Johnson biographies.

Even though one may have read Caro’s two Pulitzer Prize winning’ books, “Working” offers a nearly perfect introduction to his biographies of Moses and Johnson that are, to the extent humanly possible, researched by “turning every page”. Caro is hard on himself for taking years to research and write his biographic books. It is a financial hardship for his family, particularly before his first success with “The Power Broker”. They sell their house in Long Island to support his book research. After that first success, the financial insecurity is offset by grants and the support of literary agents. “Turning every page” is a laborious process but it assures and reinforces the facts revealed in his biographies.

Caro explains how he and his wife meticulously researched public documents to confirm facts that corroborate the victimization of some New Yorkers by monied interests that gave Moses the political power to destroy low-income neighborhoods for new thoroughfares through the New York City area.

With the construction of over 600 miles of road many residents, renters and homeowners, were evicted from their homes. Most were left to fend for themselves.

Caro and his wife were willing to disrupt their lives and neighborhood relationships to pursue his obsession with verification of facts. Caro explains that he needed to move to Texas to understand what it was like for Lyndon Johnson to be raised in the Texas Hill Country. He could not just visit because local Texans would not talk to him with the candor he sought to understand where Lyndon Johnson came from. Many revelations are in his book about Johnson that could not have been corroborated without interviews with people who knew the Johnson family.

Caro and his wife move to Austin, Texas to be near the Texas Hill Country to research and understand the society in which Lyndon Johnson is raised.

Many insights are a result of the move. Experiencing the loneliness of the Texas Hill country because of its sparse population helped Caro understand Johnson’s need to be bigger than life. Interviewing Johnson’s brother reveals the tensions that existed between Lyndon and his father. Johnson’s father was heir to the original Johnson ranch that was lost because of the soils’ unproductivity. It had too much caliche, a clay content that would not support a cash crop. When Johnson’s father repurchased the ranch after its loss by the family, he failed to understand the land could not provide enough income to pay its mortgage. The ranch is lost to the bank again. The relationship between Lyndon and his father deteriorated as Lyndon grew older because of Lyndon’s disappointment with his father’s ineptitude and domineering personality. Ironically, Caro notes it is a personality that Lyndon is heir to and for which he is criticized. On the other hand, Caro explains it is also a personality characteristic that makes Lyndon one of the greatest masters of the Senate. No Senate leader since Johnson has as successfully led the Senate in passing government legislation.

Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr. (Lyndon Johnsons’ father. 1877-1937.)

Lyndon’s brother implies Lyndon’s conflicts with his father became part of his drive to be more successful than his father.

Caro infers Johnson and Moses were forces of nature. Both were political power users that understood how to use it to get their way. Obviously political power can be used for ill or good. One can argue New York City open spaces and parks were a great benefit to the city. On the other hand, many people were displaced to provide those open spaces. The Civil Rights Act passed during the Johnson administration benefited millions of minorities in America. On the other hand, an estimated 2,000,000 Vietnamese were killed, 58,000 American soldiers died, and another 288,000 Americans were wounded and/or disabled. How many Vietnamese, and Cambodians were wounded or disabled and how many are still being hurt by leftover landmines?

Caro offers a great service to the public in his writing about political power in American Democracy. Democracy is not a perfect political system, and Caro reveals where that imperfection lies by “turning every page”. Caro’s facts do not prove truth, but they do reveal the means and consequence of political power and influence in American Democracy.

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