REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

EGYPT AWAKENING

The truth of Wilkinson’s history is that ancient Egypt was one of the great nations of the world that may once again rise to prominence.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

A World Beneath the Sands: The Golden Age of Egyptology

By: Toby Wilkinson

Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm

Toby Wilkinson (English Egyptologist and academic, former Fellow at Christ’s College Cambridge.)

Toby Wilkinson writes an enlightening introduction to ancient Egypt and its meaning for today’s Egyptians. The pre-modern age of Egypt reaches back to 3,200 or 3150 BCE with only southern Africa, China, and Mesopotamia appearing to have older artifacts discovered by archeologists. Long before Greek and Roman civilizations spread their beliefs around the Mediterranean and Africa, Egypt created dynasties that ruled large portions of the middle east.

Egypt’s ancient stories had been in plain sight for over 4000 years. Wilkinson notes it is not until the 19th century that Egyptian hieroglyphics are recognized as a written language. That language comes from a combination of pictures, symbols, and signs that represent words and sounds that tell the story of an estimated 170 pharaohs.

Hieroglyphics were initially presumed to be pictorial representations rather than words that tell the story of ancient Egypt. (A little independent research shows written language’ remnants have been found for older civilizations in Africa, China, and Mesopotamia. One wonders what cultural stories have been lost in their histories. Some ancient written documents are found in China but less in Africa and Mesopotamia.)

Sir Flinders Petrie uncovers the Merneptah Stele in 1896 in Thebes. The Stele is a 10-foot slab, presently exhibited in a Berlin, Germany museum. It reveals the name Merneptah, a pharaoh who reigned from 1218 to 1203 BCE.

Narmer is the most ancient Pharoh identified in a hieroglyph. His reign is estimated to have been between 3273 and 2987 BCE. These are the language hieroglyphs identifying Narmer as the first known Pharoh.

Wilkinson’s history reinforces the idea of written language’s importance to Arab culture. Of course, the most renown hieroglyphic message is on the Rosetta Stone which is an administrative decree written in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. As is true of many ancient Egyptian artifacts, the stone is not in Egypt but in London which becomes a growing objection by modern Egyptians.

Pierre Bouchard, one of Bonaparte’s soldiers, found the Rosetta Stone at a fort near Rosetta overlooking the Mediterranean. When Napoleon is defeated in 1801, the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria gave the British the right to take the Rossetta Stone to England. (Presently shown in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum.)

Thomas Young (1773-1829, British polymath and scientist who researched the physiology of light and contributed to later scientists, like Einstein, on the principle of light as a wave.)

The value of the stone is in its opening to a translation of ancient Egyptian language and history. Dr. Thomas Young, a storied English polymath, examines the stone to analyze its meaning. Though Young did not recognize it as a language, his initial research confirmed earlier research by a French Egyptologist named Jean-Francois Champollion. Later, Champollion discovered hieroglyphics are actually an Egyptian language drawn from different written languages. With that realization, a history of Egypt becomes open to the world. The names of former Pharaohs, some of their beliefs, acts, and dates of rule become known.

Jacques Joseph Champollion-Figeac (1790-1832, died at the age of 41, French philologist.)

Around 1205 BCE , the word “Israel” is shown in Egyptian hieroglyphics. This is during the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah of Egypt’s 19th dynasty, the successor to Ramses II. The inference is that Israel was a political entity far back in the ancient history of the middle east.

John Gardner Wilkinson, English traveler, writer and pioneer Egyptologist from 1797-1875 “Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians” published in 1837. He was knighted in 1839 as the first distinguished British Egyptologist. (Interestingly, though the same last name as the author, they are not believed to be related.)

An interesting point noted by Wilkinson is that Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion in 1798 is a critical turning point in research and knowledge of ancient Egypt. Bonaparte’s purported reason for Egypt’s invasion is to protect French trade interests and to undermine Britain’s access to India and the East Indies.

Having traveled to Egypt in 2019, we visited the fort in which the Rosetta Stone was found. The fort is on the Mediterranean in the city of Rashid, sometimes referred to as Rosetta, or el-Rashid, a port city where the Nile flows into the Mediterranean.

Champollion becomes the curator of the Egyptian collection at the Louvre in 1826 and returns to Egypt in 1828 on an archeological expedition to become the chair of Egyptian antiquities at the College of France in 1831. Champollion writes a dictionary for hieroglyphic translation and a “Primer of the Hieroglyphic System of the Ancient Egyptians”.

The Louvre today with its pyramid addition at its entrance is a reminder of France’s role in revealing ancient Egypt’s history.

After Young and Champollion’s great discoveries about hieroglyphs, the reign of Muhammed Ali becomes a particular interest of Wilkinson’s history of Egypt between 1805 and 1848. The relationship between France and Egypt during Ali’s reign, with the help of hieroglyphs’ research of Champollion, much of Egypt’s history is discovered.

Toby Wilkinson notes Muhammad Ali (1769-1849) was an Ottoman Turkish military leader who became the pasha and viceroy of Egypt in 1805 with world recognition in 1842.

Pasha Ali modernizes Egypt with advertent, as well as inadvertent, help of France and England. In 1827, Ali sends two giraffes as gifts to France. In 1830, France invades Algeria which Ali views as a threat to his rule. Ali responds by building up Egypt’s military. Ali wages war against the Ottoman Empire (from which he came) to capture Constantinople in 1840. Europe intervenes and brokers a peace in 1842 by making Ali and his descendants recognized hereditary rulers of Egypt and Sudan. Ali uses his newly recognized independence by France and England to modernize Egypt.

Ali is considered the founder of modern Egypt. He and his heirs rule Egypt until 1952. Ali introduced many reforms to modernize Egypt’s economy, society, and military. He added to Egypt’s territory with the invasion of Syria, Arabia, Sudan and Anatolia but his rise to power is halted by a coalition of Britain, France, Russia, and Austria between 1840 and ’41. Ali had become a threat to the balance of power in Europe. The coalition offers heredity rule of Egypt and Sudan to Ali to cease his aggressive action against what was then part of the Ottoman Empire. Ali rules until his death in 1849 when his grandson, Abbas I, becomes ruler of Egypt and Sudan.

Abas I, ruled from 1848-1854. He undid much of what Muhammed Ali had done to modernize Egypt. Some historians suggest Abas plundered Egypt and Sudan and allowed the infrastructure of Egypt to decay.

Before Ali’s death, he manages to create a new class of Egyptians by abolishing a feudal land system with a redistribution of land to former peasants. Cotton and sugarcane become major Egyptian exports. Ali reforms the military and creates a modern army and navy along European lines. He encourages industrialization with education of the young in a secular school system.

**The fort in which the Rosetta Stone was found.**

Jean-Francois Champollion becomes world famous for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. He finds hieroglyphics are an amalgamated pictorial and Coptic language that reveals the history and rulers of ancient Egypt. Thomas Young, an English polymath contributes to the translation of hieroglyphics but concedes its fundamental revelations to Champollion. Wilkinson’s fundamental point is that Napoleon opens the door to Egyptology, the scientific study of ancient Egypt.

The French philologist Jean-Francois Champollion accompanies Napoleon in the 1798 invasion of Egypt.

The irony of Wilkinson’s history is that Egyptology begins with French, English, German, and later–American interests. Egyptians just wished for a better life than what they were experiencing in their day-to-day existence before the 1920s. However, Atkinson notes the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb creates nationalist pride that remains a driving force in modern Egypt. In the early years, after Napoleone’s invasion, the citizens of Egypt were focused on making a living in a hard country with little interest or realization of their ancient culture and its importance in the history of civilization.

There are many names of French, English, German, and American researchers introduced by Atkinson. Some of the most important are (left to right) Jean-Francois Champollion, Thomas Young, Sir Flinders Petrie, Karl Richard Lepsius, and Howard Carter.

The legacy of Egypt’s ancient civilization awakened a nationalist fervor among Egyptians that expelled French, English, German, and American Egyptologists that contributed knowledge of Egypt’s ancient history but confiscated many ancient Egyptian artifacts. Wilkinson argues Tutankhamen’s discovery triggered change in Egyptian nationalism. As a result of Carter’s surprising 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen’s burial site in the Valley of the Kings, Tutankhamen became a rallying cry for Egyptian independence and recognition. Whether it was the trigger for Egyptian pride in their heritage or not is somewhat irrelevant. The truth of Wilkinson’s history is that ancient Egypt was one of the great nations of the world that may once again rise to prominence.

A SHATTERED LIFE

Ali Smith is a good writer of interesting stories if one judges this audiobook as an example of her skill. However, to this reviewer, the dissection of Smith’s intent spoils its entertainment value.

Ali Smith (Scottish Author, playwright, academic, journalist.

Ali Smith has written several books and plays, mostly fiction with one nonfiction titled “Shire”. In 2014, she is awarded the Women’s Prize for Fiction (A prestigious UK Prize for fiction), and the Costa Book Award (also a UK award) for “How to Be Both”.

For this audiobook listener, “How to Be Both” is a difficult book to grasp.

It is two stories separated by eight centuries. The two stories are written from the perspective of a camera and what is categorized as “eyes”. Smith has the book published in two ways, i.e., with the first of the stories to be a photograph of “life” and the second, presumably, “life” as it happens. One can read either story first. The audiobook version of this listen is the camera version first. The two stories are related to each other. Camera takes place in the 21st century while “eyes” is in the 15th century.

The book is a little too clever. Both stories are well written, but each is entertaining on its own.

The tie between the two stories is about living lives, the inevitability of death, and the heart break of loss from death of those we love. The themes are viewed as a camera’s picture in one story and evolving events in the other. The tie between the stories is the loss of a mother who views a painting with her daughter, Georgia, by a 15th century painter, Francesco del Cossa. Georgia’s mother dies soon after seeing the painting with her daughter. The story of the painter’s life is part of its relevance. The painter’s talent is undervalued by his own standard just as Georgia seems undervalued by her 21st century belief about herself.

Georgia, like del Cossa, is tutored by an insightful and intelligent person (her mother) just as the artist is trained by a talented and aged painter of the 15th century. Georgia promises a great intellect just as del Cossa is eventually recognized as a great painter by his contemporaries.

“Triumph of Venus” by Francesco del Cossa.

There are many parallels one might draw in the two stories, but it is tiresome to contemplate what they are, and trying to ferret them out will make some reader/listeners quit this review, let alone the audiobook. Ali Smith is a good writer of interesting stories if one judges this audiobook as an example of her skill. However, to this reviewer, dissection of Smith’s intent spoils its entertainment value.

NO NO KNOW

Addiction is a terrifying and destructive disease that requires an addicted person’s self-understanding and their wish to break its cycle of destruction.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Recovering (Intoxication and its Aftermath)

By: Leslie Jamison

Narrated by: Leslie Jamison

Leslie Jamison (American Author, Harvard graduate, Professor of non-fiction writing at Columbia University’s School of the Arts.)

Leslie Jamison’s memoir is a personal and intimate account of her struggle with addiction and recovery. Jamison recalls her life in an upper middle-class family, interrupted by her parent’s divorce when she is eleven years old. Jamison chooses or is compelled to become an addict. A listener will use the experience of their own lives to argue whether addiction is a choice or environmental predilection.

To some, the course of one’s life is a matter of choice. Others believe life is ordained by a supreme being or fate, something beyond one’s control.

Still others believe life is just a matter of luck and circumstance. The examples of Jamison’s life prove nothing but tell the truth of her own addiction. If one is an addict in recovery, Jamison’s story may give one hope. On the other hand, her life is not your life, her education and intelligence are not yours, nor are her financial circumstances and environment. What one will get out of “The Recovering” is a jarringly truthful perception of Jamison’s experience of the world.

What Jamison shows is addiction is an equal opportunity victimizer, wherever it comes from and whatever its cause.

Jamison refers to the addiction of Amy Winehouse whose song alludes to addiction by saying “No, No, Know” that capsulizes what addiction meant to Winehouse. Jamison reveals what addiction and “Recovering” means to her after years of “…Recovering”.

Amy Winehouse (Famous English singer and songwriter, 1983-2011, died at age 27 from alcohol poisoning.)

Jamison explains addiction is numbing. When one becomes an addict, one is always recovering. Jamison reveals sexual relationships in her years as an alcoholic are sometimes good and desired, sometimes bad and endured. The bad and endured times are an implied condition of her drunkenness. Addiction is lonely. Addiction liberates. Addiction infects. Addiction kills. Addiction is a subject for a writer to write about.

The last chapters of Jamison book are about “The Recovering”. It begins with the chapter titled “Shame”.

Jamison explains working at a bakery in Iowa is an important part of her recovery because of its routine. At that time, Jamison notes her relationship with Dave, a man who becomes an essential partner in her life. These are shown as two fundamental reasons for her drive to become sober.

Dave has his own strengths and weaknesses like any person who chooses to commit themselves to a relationship. Jamison shows her insecurity by secretly peeking at his cell phone to find he is flirting with another woman. The flirtation implies infidelity, which is possible, even in committed relationships. Dave resents the implication, but no person is likely to deny their sexuality. Despite his denial of denial, Dave sticks with her through her beginning struggle for sobriety. A reader/listener realizes how important that personal support is to an addict’s recovery.

“The Recovery” becomes tedious in its remaining chapters for those who have not experienced addiction. However, Jamison’s memoir is a well-reasoned and detailed explanation of why punishment as treatment for addiction is a waste of time and money. Only personal relationships, social, and medical help for the addicted offer a chance for addicts to recover.

Jamison’s book is a condemnation of the “War on Drugs”.

Addiction is a terrifying and destructive disease that requires an addicted person’s self-understanding and the public’s support to break its cycle of destruction. Jamison explains recovery begins with wanting to break addiction’s cycle, but implies the addicted will only succeed with help and commitment of others. In Jamison’s case it is with the help of her then partner, Alcoholics Anonymous, and her commitment to be sober.

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Detroit Resurrected: To Bankruptcy and Back

By: Nathan Bomey

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

Nathan Bomey (Author, reporter at Axios, former writer for USA Today and the Detroit Free Press.)

Why is Detroit’s bankruptcy relevant to any American who does not live or plan to live in Detroit? The answer is–Nathan Bomey’s history of Detroit’s “…Bankruptcy…” defines American Democracy.

The story of Detroit’s bankruptcy exemplifies American Democracy’s strengths and weaknesses.

American Democracy’s strength is shown by Detroit’s recovery from bankruptcy in less than a year and a half. On the one hand, Democracy’s weakness is shown by the arrest of its corrupt Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, who is convicted for racketeering and theft that results in a 28-year prison sentence. (Compounding that weakness is the oft indicted and vilified American President, Donald Trump, who commutes Kilpatrick’s sentence after 7 years of his 28-year sentence.)

Kwame Kilpatrick (Mayor of Detroit 2002-2008.)

Detroit’s debt reaches back to Coleman Young’s tenure as Mayor of Detroit; not because of theft or malfeasance but because of the desire of the mayor to make Detroit better. Coleman is characterized as a polarizing figure whose combativeness endeared him to blacks but riled some white Detroit residents. Some suggest Young is unfairly judged by his detractors.

Coleman Young (Mayor of Detroit 1974-1993, Born in 1918, Died in 1997 at the age of 79.)

Young was the first African American to lead a major American city (the fifth largest city in America at that time). He completed a number of public works like the Renaissance Center, the Detroit People Mover, and the Joe Louis Arena.

The Americans pictured below come from many different walks of life, with Republicans, Democrats, Independents, racial, religious, and ethnic differences. They are charged with a responsibility to heal broken promises between American citizens and their local government. The following pictures are only a partial list of “movers and shakers” showing the diversity of Americans who martialed settlement of an $18 billion dollar debt to achieve the goal of getting Detroit out of bankruptcy.

The city of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on July 18, 2013, with a city approved plan on November 7, 2014. That plan paves the way for its exit from bankruptcy. Chapter 9 is a form of bankruptcy that only applies to American local governments because of their continuing responsibility for public service while declaring bankruptcy. It is similar to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but a local government’s reorganization requires a state-appointed oversight board to review actions by the reorganized government body. The difference between Chapter 11 and Chapter 9 is that Chapter 11 eliminates an enterprise while Chapter 9 leaves a government jurisdiction in place because of its continuing public responsibilities (the provision for the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens).

Bomey’s history infers no one could have done more than the middle-aged attorney, Kevin Orr, in his management of the Detroit bankruptcy. Orr is a successful bankruptcy attorney in the Jones Day legal firm who agrees to leave the firm to manage Detroit’s fiscal crises through what promises to be a complicated and difficult bankruptcy. Orr’s ability to gain support of the governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder is the beginning of a partnership to save the motor city. These two men set the table for a “…Resurrected” Detroit.

Chapter 9 is a complicated process because it involves so many assets and liabilities that have to be reconciled while continuing care for local government’s citizens. This is the job taken by Kevin Orr. In addition to a city’s physical assets and their maintenance, Orr is the responsible managing agent for Detroit’s underfunded and poorly staffed services. Both working and retired employees of Detroit expect to be paid for present and past work for the city. The money needed to carry out that responsibility requires everyone to take a financial “haircut”. The magnitude of responsibilities in a city of 639,000 residents and thousands of pension-dependent former employees seems impossible. All of Detroit’s citizens and pensioners are at the mercy of a judicial system and Orr’s administration, over which they have no control and limited influence. Bomey explains how Orr’s impossible task is systematically accomplished with the help of Americans coming from nearly every ethnic, religious, and racial category in America.

Settlement of Detroit’s bankruptcy is approved by U.S. Bankruptcy judge Steve W. Rhodes on November 12, 2014.

The city would receive $194.8 million from the state of Michigan over a period of 10 years to help fund the city’s pension system. (a bail out approved by the Governor, Rick Snyder)
The city would issue $1.28 billion in bonds to pay off its creditors. (Pennies on the dollar.)
The city would transfer control of its water and sewer department to a regional authority .
The city would create a nine-member financial review commission to oversee its finances for at least 13 years.
The Detroit Art Collection would remain intact without jeopardizing an estimated value of over a billion dollars.

The settlement is no bed of roses for past and present Detroit employees or for investors and banks that financed Detroit’s former mishandling of government business. Pensions were cut by 4.5% with eliminated future cost-of-living adjustments and steep reductions in medical coverage for citizens who are the least likely to be able to afford an income reduction. Both UBS and Bank of America had to right off much of their loans to Detroit. Bond holders had to settle for pennies on the dollar.

Bomey’s history of the Detroit bankruptcy shows human freedom, within the framework of rule-of-law, releases the great strength of human diversity and creativity. Without freedom, diversity, and creativity Bomey shows how and why governments fail, i.e., either sooner or later. That is the lesson of Bomey’s history of “Detroit Resurrected”.

NPR

Napoli does a good job explaining the history of what many consider an American national treasure. Of course, others argue NPR is no treasure, but a bastion of liberalism designed to undermine American conservatism.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Susan, Linda Nina & Cokie

By: Lisa Napoli

Narrated by: Lisa Napoli

Lisa Napoli (American Author, Journalist, Broadcaster & Speaker.)

Lisa Napoli introduces four women, Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, Nina Totenberg and Cokie Roberts with “Susan, Linda Nina & Cokie”. They are known as the “founding mothers of National Public Radio”. Napoli shows NPR did not succeed solely because of these four women but their contribution to its ultimate success appears unimpeachable.

Napoli shows how these four women reinforce the truth and necessity of sexual equality. Equal rights have not been achieved in America (or anywhere in the world), but its struggle for women is exemplified by Napoli’s story.

All four women represent a movement for equal rights in America.

N.P.R. is created by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The first broadcast to garner a national reputation is “All Things Considered”. It is co-hosted by Robert Conley, an American newspaper, television and radio reporter. The first program director of “All Things Considered” is Linda Wertheimer.

Linda Wertheimer (American radio journalist and Wellesley College graduate, directed the first “All Things Considered” N.P.R. program.)

The co-host of that program is Susan Stamberg.

Susan Stamberg (American Radio Journalist on N.P.R. who co-hosted “All Things Considered” with Robert Conley.)

The two most recognizable names in Napoli’s history of NPR are Nina Totenberg and Cokie Roberts because of their widely distributed commentary in television and newsprint. Totenberg’s supreme court news and Roberts political commentary gave them greater visibility and recognition by the public.

The story of these four women shows how important equal rights are in the world. One may argue something is lost while something is gained by families raised by working mothers. On the one hand, it seems disingenuous for someone from a rich family like Cokie Roberts to be pro-life (noted in Napoli’s book) because they have the wealth to pay for care of their children. On the other hand, as a former latch-key kid, one realizes every life is a matter of luck and circumstance.

The story of these four women infers every person finds their way and should live in a world where they have an equal right to choose their path.

There is no logical reason to believe women, or any race or ethnicity should not have equal rights. Some people are born in wealth, some in poverty, and some of one race, religion, or ethnicity. In a perfect world, there would be equal opportunity for every human being. Napoli shows America is not perfect, but it strives to improve. That becomes clear in Napoli’s last chapters that show how NPR nearly goes bankrupt because of financial mismanagement.

As noted earlier, women are not the only reason for NPR’s growth and success. As with all corporations, NPR has a management group that guides small corporations interested in becoming large corporations. The programing and growth success of NPR is initiated by its first President, Donald Quayle. After Quayle, Frank Mankiewicz becomes President (1973-1977). Rapid expansion of NPR outstrips prudent financial management of NPR’s ballooning operational costs. What is initially recognized as a 1.5-million-dollar deficit balloons to 6 million dollars. Mankiewicz is a political science and journalism graduate who had a great sense of promotion but a poor sense of cost control. Napoli notes Hunter Thompson, in “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72” described Mankiewicz as a “rumpled little man who looked like a used-car salesman”.

**Frank Mankiewicz, political and media insider, died Oct.23, 2014** **at 90 years of age.**

NPR is on the edge of bankruptcy when Douglas Bennet Jr. takes over the presidency, beginning in 1983 and ending in 1993.

**Douglas J. Bennett Jr., President of NPR. Restored NPR’s financial stability and directed its further growth. Died June 10,2018, at the age of 79.**

By 1983, NPR, through a donation system and prudent financial management, returns to solvency. Through a combination of dues and fees paid by member stations, underwriting from corporate sponsors, and annual grants, NPR survives.

The elephant in the room is reserved for an epilogue in Napoli’s history of NPR. Napoli explains Nina Totenberg’s investigation of Clarence Thomas as he defends himself from his boorish behavior toward Anita Hill. Every rational human being recognizes Hill is sexually harassed by Thomas, but the tenor of those times was to ignore rather than vilify misogyny. With Biden as the chair of the committee to approve his nomination, Thomas becomes a Supreme Court justice. Totenberg and Thomas become famous, and Hill becomes a footnote in history.

Anita Hill as she appeared in the Clarence Thomas hearings for appointment to the Supreme Court in October 1991.

CARE ABOUT ME

Leadership that fails to understand and care for all citizens within its borders may last for some years but will ultimately fail. That is the point that is sorely missing in an earlier review of Ajami’s insightful history of the Middle East.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Dream Palace of the Arabs

By: Fouad Ajami

Narrated by: Qarie Marshall

Fouad Ajami (Author, Lebanese American, professor and writer on Middle Eastern issues.

Fouad Ajami’s book should be listened to more than once, particularly by those who have little understanding of Middle East culture. Earlier, “The Dream Palace of the Arabs” is unsatisfactorily reviewed.

After re-listening to Ajami’s book, a major point missed in the first review is Ajami’s poignant and tragic examples of Arab despair in the Middle East.

That despair is not about freedom but about care for traditions of the Middle East’s ancient and diverse cultures. The monumental discovery of oil roiled religious and ethnic differences in the Middle East. Foreign and local self-interests interfered with the peripatetic freedom of Arab cultures. Adding to that loss of freedom, the discovery of oil changed the relationship between rulers and the ruled.

Just as America is made of many races, ethnicities, and religions, it is the responsibility of government leaders to care for all its people.

In the 21st century, the Middle East has established borders even though they may not be of their citizens own choosing. The responsibility of leaders in any country is to care for their citizens. Government leaders that have recognized borders are responsible for the care of everyone within their country. When leaders fail to care about all people within their borders, they risk civil war. America has, at times, failed to care for all its citizens in its young historical life. However, those failures have not, at least not yet, led to national dissolution.

Lebanon’s Golden Age 1950-1970

Lebanon became one of the first 21st century Middle Eastern countries to realize a diverse society can be peaceful and prosperous with leaders that know how to care for all citizens within its borders. It is known as Lebanon’s “Golden Age” which lasted from the 1950s to the mid 1970s when a civil war began. When Lebanon’s leaders lost sight of the necessity of care for everyone, including Maronite Christians, Suni and Shia Muslims, and Druze within their borders, peace and prosperity declined. The same loss of care for others by leadership is true in all countries of the world made of different races, cultures, and religions.

Ajami notes Sadat is assassinated because he was seduced by American influence. That influence displaced Sadat’s care for all Egyptian citizens.

This is only partly America’s fault. Ultimately, it is a respective nations leader’s decision on how to care for their own citizens. Ajami notes Saddam Husein is abandoned by his army when America invaded Iraq because he did not care for all his people. It is the same failure that may occur in Syria and Iran if their leaders fail to learn the importance of caring about all of their citizens, not just those who believe what their leaders’ believe.

Nizar Qabbani (Syrian diplomat, poet, writer and publisher, became Syria’s National Poet.)

What makes the principle of “care about me” is clearly implied in Nizar Qabbani’s poem quoted in Adami’s book.

“Children of the Stones”

They stunned the world

With only stones in their hands.

They lit the lanterns, and came like good omens

They resisted, exploded and were martyred

And we remained ..polar bears

Heavily armored against heat (feelings)

They fought for us until they were killed

And we sat in or cafes like spitting oysters

One of us looking for business

One.. a new million

One.. a fourth wife

And breasts polished by civilization

One looking in London for a lofty palace

One working as

One seeking vengeance in bars

One, looking for a throne, an army a position of authority

Alas, O generation of treacheries

O Generation of deals

O generation of rubbish

Abraham Lincoln saved America just as great leaders in the Middle East may or may not save their countries.

HMONG AMONG U.S.

Yang’s father’s diary reveals the wisdom of living life as one chooses, not what others choose–even when the other is your mother or father.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father

By: Kao Kalia Yang

Narrated by: Kao Kalia Yang

Kao Kalioa Yang (Hmong American author. Born in a refugee camp in 1980, graduate of Carleton College (BA)and Columbia University (MFA).)

The essence of Kao Yang’s story is a reminiscence of her family’s life in Laos and then America. Yang is the older of two daughters. She was born after her mother has six miscarriages. They journey to Minnesota after escaping Laos through Thailand. Yang explains how difficult it is for immigrants to survive and thrive in a foreign culture. The story is told by the family’s daughter with an analysis of her father’s diary and her personal experience. Though not clear in Yang’s book, she has four brothers, but Xue is the only son very clearly noted in “The Song Poet”.

Bee Yang is a respected song poet born in a Hmong village in Laos. He passed away on January 14, 2020 in the Midwest.

Kao Kalia Yang’s story reminds of a trip taken to Southeast Asia before the Covid19 pandemic. Our guide in Laos is from a Hmong family. The story of his education in Laos, though it largely took place after America’s war in Southeast Asia, reminds one of Ms. Yang’s story of the Hmong in Laos.

The hardship of the Hmong people is difficult to understand for a white American raised in a rural town in Oregon. The only criticism one may have of the story is the poorly produced audio version of the book. As an audiobook, “The Song Poet…” should have been told by different narrators. Its switchbacks in time, and its story of different family members is difficult to follow because of changes in the sex of who is speaking, particularly when it is either the father or daughter.

Two insightful reminders given in Yang’s book are immigrant value to America and harsh treatment of Hmong by the communists after the war. Because of their support of a failed effort to stop communism in Southeast Asia, Hmong genocide became a goal of the communist regime.

The genocidal effort to eliminate the Hmong in Laos fails but their isolation is evident in the remoteness of their villages. Our guide had to walk several miles each way to get to his school in a larger community. The Hmong had been recruited by the American government to fight the communist’s invasion of Laos. Some Hmong, just as many South Vietnamese opposed communist rule. When America withdrew, some were evacuated to the U.S., just as later in modern history–some Afghani’s, were evacuated. In either effort, America was only marginally successful.

Yang’s story begins with the death of her father in America. He is “The Song Poet”. Her father left a diary of their family’s life and experience in Laos and America. Her father is one of the Hmong that fought Laos’ communist infiltration during the Vietnam war. Her father falls in love with a Hmong woman before Ho chi Minh’s invasion. After six miscarriages, Kao Yang is born. Kao Yang’s sister is born in America in 1993.

“The Song Poet” is a story of hard work and accomplishment with a strong-willed mother, loving father, and Kao Yang in a Hmong village in Laos. Their grandfather is a village shaman who passes that duty to his son.

Shamans are important, highly respected “medicine men” in Hmong society. The Hmong believe in animism (a belief in the soul of plants and animals that animate the material universe).

After communism takes control of Laos, the family falls on hard times. Her father becomes an illegal drug runner when approached by four thuggish Buddhist’s that recruit him to sell drugs. He is not proud of that part of his life but as a Hmong in Laos, after the American war, one did what they had to do to survive.

Yang’s father goes to work in a metals factory.

How they manage to get to America is not revealed but one presumes it was with the help of Americans who understood what the Hmong had done to resist communism in Laos. They manage to buy a small home in Minnesota. Yang’s father dies from inhalation of metal fragments from his work. The industry did not have a policy of protecting their workers which reminds one of coal and uranium workers facing similar risks and their industries slow responses.

Another aspect of Yang’s life is about what it is like to live in a foreign culture. Yang tells a story of her mother shopping at K-mart with her younger sister and not being able to clearly communicate with a store employee about what she needs.

She could not remember the word “light bulbs” and the employee walks off saying, “I don’t have time for this”. This is an entirely believable story because many of us are impatient with people who do not speak English. The irony of the story is that her 7-year-old daughter feels it is her fault, not the American’s, because she knew the word her mother needed to tell the employee but failed to speak up. The irony is for a 7-year-old feeling responsible for an adult’s failure in a world of adults.

Yang’s last chapters explains how each member of the family relates to growing up in America, particularly when your parents come from a different culture.

Xue breaks from his father’s ambitions for him. He leaves home to begin his own life in a way that did not conform to the life of his father’s expectations. Yang’s father’s diary reveals the wisdom of living life as one chooses, not what others choose–even when the other is your mother or father.

LESSONS OF HISTORY

The question of whether the free world should support Ukraine in every way possible can be answered. The answer is yes because Putin like Hitler will not stop.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

A History of France

By: John Julius Norwich

Narrated by: John Julius Norwich

John Julius Norwich (Author, English historian, travel writer, television personality, Royal Navy veteran with degrees in French and Russian from Oxford.)

John Norwich’s “A History of France” is an intimidating summary of a country that makes one understand how young and inexperienced America is in the history of nations.

France is recognized as a nation in 987 with its first King, Hugh Capet, born in 939-died in 996 at the age of 56 or 57. (King of the Franks from 987-996.)

The actual title King of France is not used until the crowning of Phillip II in 1190 (a descendant of Capet) who died in 1223 at the age of 57. Norwich’s “…History…” recounts the many Kings of France since Phillip II.

The longest serving King is Louis XIV (the Sun King) who ruled from 1643 to 1715 (a total of 72 years).

King Louis XIV moved the center of French government to the Palace of Versailles in 1682. He is the third of five Bourbon Kings of France. King Louis XIV is noted to have expanded France’s borders while centralizing power in France. Norwich notes Louis XIV’s wife, Maria Theresa of Austria, plays a significant role in France’s history. Theresa’s three major accomplishments are to create education for serfs, consolidate the French government’s financial system, and create a unified judicial code that became a foundation for Central European Laws.

The last Bourbon King of France is Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, who are deposed and beheaded after the 1789 revolution.

The brutality of the revolution is exemplified by factions called Royalists, Jacobins, and Montagnards. The Royalists supported monarchy and the Catholic Church. The Jacobins founded the 1789 Nation Constituent Assembly that wished to moderate authoritarianism, offer equal rights to French citizens with government intervention to insure social change. The Montagnards campaigned for the needs of the working and poorer classes of French society.

The 1789 revolution eventually led to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte who through ascension and a series of military conquests reestablishes a French monarchy under his rule.

Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte becomes the first president of France which is recognized as a Republic. However, though France is a Republic between 1848 and 1852, Charles reestablishes the monarchy in 1852 until he is deposed in absentia in 1870.

A new faction is formed called the Bonapartists. This faction roiled France throughout the 19th and into the early 20th century.

As the nephew of Napoleon, King Charles oversaw the modernization of the French economy. However, reestablishing the monarchy and his failure in the Franco/Prussian war led to a famine that permanently turned the French against monarchal rule.

Seven French revolutions finally ends France’s monarchy. However, each revolution precipitated chaos, and declarations of war from other monarchies. The final death of French monarchy did not occur until liberation after WWII.

Norwich explains there were actually seven revolutions before France becomes a permanent republic.

The first is the 1789 revolution which is most widely known by Americans. The irony of that revolution’s importance is France’s considerable support of America’s revolution in 1776. The newly established French government did not have a leadership group that could create a republic that could manage the monumental inequities of its long-established French culture. The repression of the poor created by centuries of royal leadership entailed too much animosity to avoid the Reign of Terror that caused the execution of thousands of French citizens. As many as 40,000 people were said to have been killed. It would take six more revolutions to create the lasting Republic of France.

The French Revolution (1789-1799)
The Napoleonic Era (1799-1815)
The July Revolution (1830), a 3 day uprising that overthrew King Charles X because he tried to restore absolutism and censor the press.
The February Revolution (1848), based triggered by economic hardship, discontent, and social unrest.
The Second Empire (1852-1870), a coup against Napoleon III despite the improvements made to France, he poorly manages and loses the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
The Third Republic (1870-1940) did establish a parliamentary democracy but is tarnished by antisemitism, and WWI that killed millions of French soldiers.
The Vichy Regime that collaborated with Nazi Germany led to the 7th and final revolution against monarchy and for a Republic.

The collaboration of France’s Vichy Regime and Chamberlain’s appeasement agreement with Hitler’s Germany are lessons for today’s handling of Russia and the invasion of Ukraine.

The world did not fully respond to Hitler with force when Germany invaded Poland. Hitler, like Stalin and Putin, presumed the world would not respond to Germany’s taking of a sovereign country.

Whether Putin directs the murder of any opposition to his rule is not a question that can be answered but the imprisonment of Navalny and the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin is reminiscent of Hitler’s lies to the world.

The question of whether the free world should support Ukraine in every way possible can be answered. The answer is yes because Putin like Hitler will not stop.

IS GOD DEAD

One presumes Nietzsche’s philosophy is either right or wrong, but its insightful truth lies in the horrors of history and the consequence of forsaking God and human tradition.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

I Am Dynamite! A Life of Nietzsche

By: Sue Prideaux

Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith

Sue Prideaux (Anglo-Norwegian author, also wrote “Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream”)

Friedrich Nietzsche’s life and philosophy is dissected by Sue Prideaux in “I Am Dynamite!”.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, died at age 55.)

As inferred by Prideaux’s title, Nietzsche blows up a number of traditional religious and secular beliefs while battling physical and mental disorders in a complicated and contradictory life.

Nietzsche’s life is one of physical illness that seems to teeter on the edge of madness. In addition to his father’s history of early death from a brain ailment at 35, Nietzsche’s health is challenged by dysentery and diphtheria in 1870 when he is 26.

Nietzche’s last 11 years of life were spent in German and Swiss asylums or in his mother’s and sister’s care in Naumburg.

Some suggest he died from what is called dormant tertiary syphilis at 55 in Weimer Germany, less than 30 miles from Naumburg. Nearing the end of Prideaux’s biography, in Chapter 21, Nietzche’s plunge into madness is completed. One cannot help but think Nietzche’s philosophy and writing is hugely impacted by his ability to cope with recurrent illnesses.

The Birth of Tragedy (1871)
Early Greek philosophy & other essays (1872)
On the Future of our Educational Institutions(1873)
Thoughts Out of Season(1874)
Human, All Too Human(1875)
The case of Wagner-Nietzsche, Contra Wagner, Selected aphorisms(1876)
The Dawn of Day(1881)
The Joyful Wisdom(1882)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra(1883)
Beyond Good and Evil(1883)
The Genealogy of Morals(1884)
The Will to Power(1885)
Twilight of the Idols/The Anti-Christ (1886)
Ecce Homo(1888)
The Antichrist(1895)

By Prideaux’s account, Nietzsche is an excellent pianist.

She notes his school mates gather around Nietzsche at the piano, particularly during violent weather events, because of his exuberance and creativity in playing well-known classical, as well as his own, music compositions. In his early life, Nietzsche becomes a close friend of German composer, Richard Wagner.

Nietzsche denies both religion and Socratic rationalism (a method of systematic doubt in pursuit of truth) by arguing individuals have a right to determine life’s value and meaning, without resort to religion or tradition.

Nietzsche believes too many false assumptions come from Socratic rationalism. In Socratic rationalism, Nietzsche is saying societal religion and tradition distort the pursuit of truth. To Nietzsche, human beings are on their own. That is the major philosophical point of his philosophy. His famous aphorism is “God is dead”. Morality and the reality of life is a function of man, not God, history, or tradition.

While seemingly destined for a religious life, born to a Lutheran pastor and teacher, Frederich Nietzsche chooses atheism and particular beliefs that offend his family.

Nietzsche believes conscience humans can become Supermen or Superwomen, surrounded by followers, if they have superior ability to choose that role in life. Some argue history reinforces that truth with the rise of leaders like Augustus in Rome, Jesus in Bethlehem, Genghis Kahn in Asia, Hitler in Germany, and other male leaders in history. Early in Nietzsche’s life he might have included women, like Cleopatra in Egypt, but as he aged his view of women changes. (History shows Nietzsche is ambivalent about women as “Super”, which remains a prejudice to this day.)

“Super” does not mean either being right or wrong. A “Superhuman” overcomes worldly influences by recognizing they are their own master.

Super” is meant to connote one who goes beyond God or societies’ good and evil to create value through a Super’s leadership and action in accordance with his/her beliefs. Obviously, the ugliness of this view is in its consequence to human resistors to the “Super” human that chooses a path contrary to the best interests of society or the individual.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855, existentialist philosopher died at age 42.)

If, as Nietzche infers, humans are on their own, Kierkegaard’s “fear and trembling” is not before God.

To Nietzche,”fear and trembling” is before the Superman, one who rises above the pettiness of self-interest to rule in the best interests of all. To Nietzsche, the human being is alone. One may either take a path to follow the Superman or become their own Superman.

Prideaux offers a comprehensive picture of a man on a mission. His mission is to disabuse human belief in a Supreme Being or societal tradition to solely rely on one’s own consciousness because that is all there is to life.

Nietzsche is shown by Prideaux to be opposed to antisemitism by breaking his close relationship with his sister and the famous composer, Richard Wagner, who was among the most famous antisemites of that era.

The ugly consequence of Nietzsche’s belief in the “Superhuman” is exemplified by his sister (Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Nietzsche, born in 1846, died in 1935 at age 89) who distorts her brother’s philosophy and endorses antisemitism and Adolph Hitler.

Prideaux’s biography offers details of Nietzsche’s life that allow reader/listeners to make up their own mind about Nietzschean philosophy. Prideaux shows Nietzschean philosophy is indeed “…Dynamite!”.

Nietzsche’s last decade of life is a journey into madness.

Though lovingly cared for by his mother, he is victimized by his sister who controls and distorts his contribution to philosophy. One presumes Nietzsche’s philosophy is either right or wrong, but its insightful truth lies in the horrors of history and the consequence of forsaking God and human tradition.

BROKEN

Laurel Snyder’s story is as interesting and satisfying in its end as in its beginning.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

My Jasper June

By: Laurel Snyder

Narrated by: Imani Parks

Laurel Snyder (American Author, Poet, writer of children’s books, and PBS commentator.)

“My Jasper June” is a beautifully rendered story of life by Laurel Snyder. Snyder shows different ways of coping with life’s broken parts. It takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, but it could be in Anywhere, America. It is a story of a 13-year-old girl, her friend, and her family. Every parent who has a teenage child will be entranced by Snyder’s tale.

Having lived long, older reader/listeners know every life has broken parts. We either recover from the broken parts or we lose our way.

Snyder’s novel of a family who loses a son from drowning may be at the extreme end of life’s broken parts, but every life is touched by loss and hardship.

Snyder shows how a mother, father, and daughter respond to a child’s loss in their family.

Snyder’s story explains a broken part in life is suffered individually. Being broken comes in many forms. It may be a death of a loved one, failure in work, failure as a mother-father-daughter-son, failure in intellect, failure in physical health, so on, and on. Every person is broken in their own way. Care for broken parts is often lost in a fog of grief and despair. That grief and despair only disappears with time, understanding, and action.

Snyder’s novel shows grief is ameliorated with acceptance and reworking of one’s perspective.

Snyder’s story is not just about a death in the family. There are many ways Snyder’s story resonates with its reader/listeners. The most significant is in ways of coping with broken parts of one’s life. Some run from problems, but as the boxer Joe Louis famously said, “You can run but you can’t hide.” Snyder shows healing from broken parts can only begin with being honest with yourself and those around you. Understand how you are broken and explain the broken parts to those who are important to you. Snyder shows with understanding of what is broken, plans can be made, and actions taken.

Snyder’s novel shows–only with honesty of explanation can one’s relationship with another be restored.

Laurel Snyder’s story is as interesting and satisfying in its end as in its beginning.

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