Tag: books

BOYS TO MEN

The most judgmental part of Szalay’s story is that a boy raised in wealth can be spoiled by drug addiction while a poor “go along to get along” boy may end up just as dissolute from sexual addiction.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

FLESH (A Novel)

Author: David Szalay

Narration by: Daniel Weyman

David Szalay (Canadian Author, winner of the Booker Prize in 2025 for “Flesh”.)

Every child is raised in different circumstances. The variables are legion ranging from genetics to economic environment to parenting and the experiences of life. David Szalay tells of a young boy growing to manhood. Every male will have some experience that relates to his primary character’s life. That explains the popularity and literary acclaim that “Flesh” achieves.

Szalay captures different pathways for “every boy’s” journey through the physical and mental anxieties of life.

The specific circumstances of the life for boys (and undoubtedly girls) show how complicated growth to adulthood can become. The father of one boy is a very wealthy businessman who has married a woman many years younger than him. They have a son named Thomas who has been raised in wealth and privilege. The second boy is, István, a poor Hungarian who lives a “go along to get along” life. This poor Hungarian grows to be a handsome man who is attractive to women because of his life experience and attitude about life and relationships.

Effects of inherited wealth.

István and a wealthy husband meet as a result of an attack by street thugs who beat the wealthy husband and nearly kill him. István happens to be passing by when the thugs are scared away by his sudden appearance. István calls 911 or its equivalent to get an ambulance. The wealthy husband is taken to a hospital and is grateful to István which he feels has saved his life. He offers István a job in his security firm as a protector of wealthy clients. István shows himself to be a very competent bodyguard. The wealthy husband decides to have him become his personal family guard and driver.

The wealthy husband’s much younger wife falls in love with the bodyguard and they become lovers.

The wealthy husband dies, and István marries the wife of her former wealthy husband. The son of the wealthy husband is destined for college when István marries the deceased husband’s wife. This college bound son will inherit all of the family wealth when he reaches the age of 25 based on a Trust that allows his mother and her new husband to use the Trust to make investments for the future until the son reaches 25. István becomes a land investor and developer with the wealth of the trust.

Human differences.

The table is set for comparison of two sons who are different with one raised in great wealth and another in the lower middleclass. A crisis occurs when an 80-million-dollar investment by István is needed from the trust that requires disclosure to the son who is to inherit the trust. This son raises enough public objection to the investment that it is not made, and the investment deal falls apart. To this reviewer, the dynamics of the genetic influence of two boys from different economic classes is the most insightful value of the novel.

The influence of genetics, wealth, and poverty.

One can judge from the life of István what influence genetics, wealth, and poverty may have had on the life of a boy growing to become a man. The author seems to have an opinion about boys raised by a family of wealth versus those raised by a family with a “go along to get along” belief in life. At the books end, one wonders if being born in wealth is as likely to make an adult male better or worse. István seems sympathetically written into life by the author. He is true to his character throughout the story, but his sexual life is a mess. Though he appears to be a resourceful, hardworking, and decent human being, he is led through life by his libido.

The most judgmental part of Szalay’s story is that a boy raised in wealth can be spoiled by drug addiction while a poor “go along to get along” boy may end up just as dissolute from sexual addiction.

LIVING LIFE

Aristotle’s belief was that the goal of life is living well, Sartre suggests there is no inherent meaning to life, Bentham said the goal of life is happiness. What does Gladwell believe?

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

OUTLIERS 

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Narration by: Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell (Author, Canadian journalist, and public speaker.)

“Outliers” makes several points, some of which are insightful while others are debatable. As with all observations of life and discovery, correlation of what we see, hear, and understand does not prove causation. Gladwell shows the advance of civilization and great successes in life are from luck, timing, and hard work more than I.Q.

Gladwell offers examples of chance and the circumstances of an era that advance society.

Gladwell explains intelligence alone does not make a person successful. He offers a brief biography of a high IQ person who did not achieve success despite his intelligence. He notes intelligence and one’s culture must be accompanied by individual hard work, interest, and commitment as well as the luck of being born at the right time. Gladwell’s examples of success are Bill Gates, the Beatles, sports’ stars, retail clothiers, and lawyers. Each of his examples are a result of being in the right place at the right time with an innate wish to work hard that makes “Outliers” personally and/or financially successful.

The founders of Microsoft, Paul Allen (L) and Bill Gates.

Gladwell argues his case about “Outliers” by offering several examples. The founders of Microsoft were born at a time when computers were first being discovered. The Beatles lived in a culture that idolizes musicianship and entertainment. A quirk in society that artificially determines children born in certain months are presumed by some to make good to great sports stars which results in higher-order support of children born in particular months of the year. That birth-month’ choice garnered extraordinary support of parents and coaches according to Gladwell. Those children became sports stars as a result of that early parental and coaching support of their sports careers. Gladwell goes on to suggest observation and experience of immigrating Jewish clothes-makers arrived in America and became wealthy merchants at a time of America’s economic growth. And finally, Gladwell notes lawyers began creating elite legal firms to support growing litigation between growing mid-twentieth century American corporations. Gladwell’s common denominators were relative intelligence, a burning interest in cultural change, and a commitment to hard work. The circumstances of the time (new invention and social change) and hard work, rather than high I.Q., were the primary causes of individual success.

Cultural backgrounds.

Gladwell suggests cultural backgrounds prepared some to seize opportunities that were overlooked by the general population. He suggests some Jewish immigrants who migrated from discriminative cultures, were liberated by the freedom available in America. Gladwell notes the creation of the garment industry in New York and the rise of successful Jewish legal firms are examples of seized opportunities missed by many in the 20th century. The common denominators were hard work, social change, and culture.

The criticism one may have of Gladwell’s book is in the examples he chooses to make his arguments.

Gladwell’s examples are chosen to support his argument, but they narrow the reality of the complex life lived by most humans. He oversimplifies success because it seems narrowly defined as wealth and/or fame rather than happiness or contentment. He defines success as something that requires a “10,000” hour commitment of research and practice, i.e. an arbitrary criterion that has no basis in fact. People make their own choices in life whether it is as a nerd, a famous musician, a high-powered lawyer, or one who loves to read and spends time listening/reading and reviewing books.

Determinism vs. free will.

Gladwell seems to say life is deterministic, but many choose to adapt rather than be driven by the circumstances of life. This generation’s great change will be in the implementation of A.I. Massive investment is being made in A.I. today with momentous change coming to the world of employment.

Aristotle’s belief was that the goal of life is living well, Sartre suggests there is no inherent meaning to life, Bentham said the goal of life is happiness. What does Gladwell believe?

INFIDELITY

“The Silent Patient” deserves its popularity. The ending is a surprise and offers a credible picture of how extreme human behavior comes from both nature and nurture.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

THE SILENT PATIENT 

Author: Alex Michaelides

Narration by: Jack Hawkins & 1 more

Alex Michaelides (Author, British-Cypriot writer, won the Goodreads Choice Award for “The Silent Patient”, studied psychotherapy, and worked at a mental health clinic.)

Michaelides wrote a clever mystery about a 33-year-old wife named Alicia Berenson who is accused, convicted, and committed to an asylum for shooting her husband in the face with his own rifle. Alicia becomes “The Silent Patient”. She is arrested by the police with blood on her clothes in a non-speaking catatonic state. A psychotherapist, Theo Faber, is hired by the asylum and becomes interested in Alicia’s silence. On the one hand, it reminds him of his troubled childhood and a reaction to his wife’s infidelity in his own life. On the other, there is an undisclosed reason for his interest in Berenson’s silence and her judicial’ commitment to an asylum. “The Silent Patient” implies infidelity is in the nature of all human beings but that it can lead to violence and, in extraordinary circumstances, murder.

Michaelides infers infidelity is an inherent quality of all human beings.

Maybe infidelity is because of human nature’s intent to preserve itself but the consequences of, when experienced personally, can lead to mayhem. The primary characters of “The Silent Patient” are Alicia Berenson, a 33-year-old painter accused of murdering her husband–Theo Faber, a psychotherapist who tells the story of Alicia’s life–and Alicia’s husband who appears to love his wife but chooses to have a passionate extramarital affair. In the course of Theo’s story, he writes about infidelity of his own wife and his response to her betrayal.

Who shot Alicia’s husband?

The principle mysteries are revealed at the end of Michaelides’ book. Who murdered Alicia’s husband and how infidelity affects humanity are primary subjects of “The Silent Patient”. The cleverness of the story is in its twists and turns and the truth it reveals about human nature. We grow up to be adults from parents who create us while instilling all the contradictions of life that no child, who becomes an adult, escapes. Every human being and all societies are flawed. Societies and individuals pass on both the good and bad qualities of life to their children.

Coming to grips with infidelity is different for every child grown to adulthood.

A younger person who falls in love with another sometimes searches for someone to live with through the experiences of their future lives. Those who choose to be together bring their own life experiences to the relationship that may or may not be the same. It seems those life experiences that are similar are likely to preserve a relationship while those that are different cause conflicts. Michaelides shows how those conflicts, as well as the nature of human beings, can lead to destructive human behavior.

“The Silent Patient” deserves its popularity. The ending is a surprise and offers a credible picture of how extreme human behavior comes from both nature and nurture.

A WRITER’S LIFE

Bogg’s biography of James Baldwin shows human beings should not be judged by their racial identity or sexual orientation.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

BALDWIN (A Love Story)

Author: Nicholas Boggs

Narration by: Ron Butler

Nicholas Boggs (Author, born in Washington D.C., a civil rights activist, raised in Cleveland as the son of a civil rights lawyer who was also a music teacher. Received a BA from Yale and PhD in English from Columbia University.)

Nicholas Boggs shows why his biography of James Baldwin is “A Love Story”. Baldwin’s difficult life as a young Black American raised in Harlem offers speculative insight to homosexuality and racism. Baldwin grew up with a stepfather he feared. His stepfather was a stern, authoritarian, and abusive man who worked as a Pentecostal preacher who “raised” James from the age of two or three. His stepfather is said to have beaten him, told Baldwin he was ugly and would never amount to anything. His stepfather died in 1943 when James Baldwin was 19 years old, James became caregiver for his mother and eight siblings.

Treavor Noah’s autobiography writes of his abusive stepfather.

As a voracious reader of books and early sexual liaisons, Baldwin leaves Harlem to go to Paris.

As a 24-year-old, Baldwin scrapes enough money together to travel to Paris where he grew to become a great writer, not just another Black American. Despite a stepfather who disliked white people, James grew to overcome physical and mental abuse through belief in God in his youth and belief in humanity as an adult.

In Paris, the 24-year-old Baldwin falls in love with a white 17-year-old youngster who influences his life with experiences that lead to his success as a writer. Lucian Happersberger and Baldwin become life-long friends.

Lucien Happersberger and James Baldwin in their youth.

Having lived in the household of a Pentecostal Preacher, James initially chose to become a preacher. But, at the age of 17, he left the pulpit and rejected belief in God. Boggs infers Baldwin’s pursuit of literature replaced his belief in God because Christianity sanctifies rather than condemns racism. He felt the church was limiting and dogmatic. His stepfather embodied a religion of fear and bitterness that his stepson would not accept.

The themes of “Go Tell It on the Mountain”, Baldwin’s first published book, is about faith, religion, sin, morality, race, racism, gender, patriarchy, and one’s search for identity.

“Go Tell It on the Mountain” is an autobiographical view of life and growth to manhood as a child raised in Harlem. It took ten years to write “…the Mountain”. It released him from the ghost of his stepfather’s cruelty and set the stage for his exploration of race, religion, sexuality, and personal identity.

Beaufort Delaney (Artist who befriended and became a mentor to James Baldwin.)

Boggs identifies four men that had the greatest influence on Baldwin’s life. His mentor becomes Beauford Delaney, a gay Black American painter he met when he was 16 years old. Delaney was 39 when he met Baldwin. Delaney became a major figure in American modernist painting and the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 40s. He introduced Baldwin to life and encouraged him to become an artist. Delany’s homosexuality helped Baldwin deal with his race and sexual orientation. He helped Baldwin believe in himself and put him on a path toward becoming a literary artist. They were friends for forty years when Delaney died in 1979. Baldwin died 8 years later, acknowledging Delaney as his mentor and guide through his tumultuous life.

Lucien Happersberger (On the far left of James Baldwin.)

The success of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” confirmed Baldwin’s reputation as a writer. Baldwin found truth in the books he read and the life he began to live in Paris. At the age of 24, Baldwin left his family in Harlem to become a writer in Paris. In Paris he falls in love with Lucien Happersberger, a 17-year-old white bisexual who became more relevant to his life than the fire and brimstone of religion. Baldwin grew to believe in the underlying equality of all human beings regardless of the color of their skin or their sexual orientation. His journey to this understanding is what makes the biography the “…Love Story” of Baldwin’s life. Though Lucien and Baldwin remain lifelong friends, Lucien chooses to marry an actress in 1964 which ends Baldwin’s romantic relationship but not Lucien’s outsized influence on his life.

An ironic vignette in Boggs story is Baldwin meeting Richard Wright in America, and later in Paris. Wright’s published book “Native Son” made him famous. “Native Son” is published in the 1940s. The main character in Wright’s book is Bigger Thomas, an impoverished, unemployed, African American, 20-year-old living in a 1930’s Chicago ghetto.  He lives with his mother, sister, and brother in a rat infested one room tenement, owned by a wealthy family that is about to offer him a job. Though Baldwin admired Wright’s achievement, he felt “Native Son” identified Bigger Thomas (Wright’s main character) as a symbol of oppression rather than a fully realized human being. This is an interesting insight to what Baldwin does in “Go Tell It on the Mountain”. Baldwin introduces more complexity to the Black experience of life. I’m not sure either Boggs or Baldwin are offering a fair assessment of “Native Son” because Wright clearly shows the environment in which Bigger Thomas lives. Any human being raised in Bigger Thomas’s circumstance is likely to be emotionally challenged and unbalanced.

Richard Wright (Author of “Native Son”)

History shows a rift is created between Wright and Baldwin because of Baldwin’s criticism. To this reader/listener, both are great writers of what is wrong with white or any dominant sexually or racially dominant society.

Baldwin’s abusive domineering stepfather and submissive mother.

Boggs explains why Baldwin’s biography is “A Love Story”. The cruelty of his stepfather drove Baldwin away from belief in God to a love for humanity. One wonders what his stepfather’s cruelty may have had to do with Baldwin’s sexual orientation. The artist, Beaufort Delaney, offers a refuge to Baldwin from his stepfather’s cruelty and helps him reconcile to his sexual identity and a belief in all humans’ equal rights. Lucien helped Baldwin understand love, intimacy, and the equality of human beings. Lucien decides to marry an actress in 1964 but remains a lifelong friend to Baldwin.

Boggs’ biography of Baldwin shows sexual orientation is not, and should never be, a crime. One cannot know what makes a person homosexual, bisexual, asexual, or heterosexual. Bogg’s biography of James Baldwin shows human beings should not be judged by their racial identity or sexual orientation.

NIH DISMANTLING

In listening to “Replaceable You, one’s thoughts go to Robert Kennedy’s belief that vaccines are a threat rather than aid to societal health.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

REPLACEABLE YOU (Adventures in Human Anatomy)

Author: Mary Roach

Narration by: Mary Roach

Mary Roach (Author, writer who specializes in humor about popular science, has several NYT’s bestsellers.)

Mary Roach writes an irreverent history about human body parts that have been found to be replaceable with varying degrees of success. The range of her observations run from the humorous to macabre to the sadly tragic.

The potential of Artificial Intelligence to improve human health and wellness is immense.

Humor is subject to the mind of the beholder, but Roach offers a history of nose replacements, dentures, penial replacements, ostomy bag mishaps, hair transplants, and experiments with different materials used to replace body parts. She experiences what it is like to live in a tube designed to aid breathing for one living with paralytic polio. She recounts the famous astronomer, Tycho Brahe who lost his nose in a duel, and had it replaced with a glued metal protuberance that periodically fell off. He became known as the man with the golden nose, though it may have been made of brass.

Dentures became known as “wigs of the mouth” as they came into the 19th century.

Roach alludes to George Washington’s dentures and how uncomfortable and prone they were to be falling out at times of passion (like kissing), chewing sticky or hard foods, or vociferously arguing with subordinates. Made of ivory, animal or human teeth, they were secured with gold wire, bone bases, and/or rubber fittings. Based on excavation in Egyptian times, human and animal teeth and bone were found to be teeth held together with gold wire. Either suction or straps held the dentures in place. Contrary to the myth of wooden teeth for George Washington, historians believe ivory was used in his dentures. They were fastened together by metal springs and bolts and secured to his remaining natural teeth which dwindled to one tooth as he aged.

Roach explains the history of penial transplants that is funny to some while interesting and important to others.

Fingers are sometimes amputated as the structure for penile replacement. She comically suggests an articulated finger allows the transplant to be knuckled under to mitigate appearance of a perpetual erection. Roach goes to great lengths (ahem) to explain how important an implant is to men. A man’s thoughts may wander in a different direction than the author’s view of a successful operation. In any case, Roach’s history shows how accessible and thought-provoking penial implants have become.

An ostomy is a surgically created opening to allow waste to be expelled from the body.

An ostomy can be more precisely identified as a colostomy, an ileostomy, or a urostomy. The first is an opening to the large intestine while the second is an opening to the small intestine. The third, a urostomy is a urinary opening that allows healing of the other two when surgically completed. The urostomy may also be required because of bladder cancer or infection and other maladies related to the urinary track. To keep Roaches story a little less gruesome she tells stories of inadvertent noises and sloshing that occurs with ostomy bags. Like dentures falling out of one’s mouth, ostomy bag use can make unexpected noise or inopportune leaks. They are like “portable embarrassment machines” that can either lead to mutual laughter or embarrassing incidents. Roach contrasts the seriousness of medical necessity with the absurdity of life.

Early ventilator’s first use.

The most heartbreaking issue of Roach’s stories is of polio survivors who are unable to breath without help. Severe loss of muscle function in polio victims required placement in long negative atmosphere tubes in which a patient is confined to stimulate muscle movements for one to breath. Today, a portable positive-pressure ventilator largely replaces the human iron lung. Roach briefly uses one of the iron lungs shown above, but the discomfort made her ask to be removed from the confining contraption within minutes of enclosure.

In listening to “Replaceable You, one’s thoughts go to Robert Kennedy’s belief that vaccines are a threat rather than aid to societal health.

Mary Roach implies Kennedy and America’s current President are fools. To me and presumably to Roach, downsizing the National Institute of Health that researches and tests medical treatments for presently incurable diseases and physical disabilities is a national disgrace.

SHERLOCK HOLMES REDUX

“The Secret of Secrets” is an entertaining adventure that makes one wish they had the genius of its main character, Robert Langdon.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Secret of Secrets 

Author: Dan Brown

Narration by: Paul Michael

Dan Brown (Author, famous American writer of thrillers who wrote “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons” among others.)

Dan Brown’s fictional Robert Langdon is made famous by Tom Hanks in the “Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons” movies. The author’s “…Secret of Secrets” will add to Brown’s fame. Brown is a polished writer who has created another imaginative story that blends myth with belief that is as entertaining as Sir Arthur Conan Doyles’ adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Like Sherlock Holmes, Robert Langdon is a polymath who has knowledge of science and life that beggars one’s imagination.

To remind listeners of Brown’s earlier works, his hero is Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of religious iconology and symbology. Langdon’s extraordinary ability is like Sherlock Holmes’ in that he can integrate knowledge with abstruse details of Brown’s created characters and circumstances. Langdon is a friend of Katherine Solomon, a scientist who has written a book that allegedly explains how human consciousness exists after physical death. Solomon argues consciousness is a fundamental force in the universe that challenges belief in materialism and religious doctrine. Consciousness beyond death challenges belief in ethics, free will, and the fundamental nature of reality. Consciences of every deceased person lives in a cosmic space containing the many minds of all humans that have died. There is no God. This cosmic consciousness influences the direction of all human life by being accessible to living human beings.

What is consciousness?

If Solomon’s idea gained purchase in society, Brown’s story infers it would challenge the foundations of society. It would challenge religious beliefs and create political and social instability. The idea of consciousness as an eternal force of nature is viewed as a threat to the ways of the world. An organization run by an obscure and secretive group led by Everett Finch views Solomon’s thesis as a threat to society and the world in which his power and influence would be diminished. The book Solomon has written is to be erased from the world of knowledge. Finch’s plan is for Ms. Solomon to be murdered, and her research and book destroyed.

Like AI, the ramifications of consciousness beyond death would be revolutionary.

The setting of the story is in Prague, Czechoslovakia because of its reputation as a mystical area of the world with its history, and ancient architecture. Ms Solomon is there to participate in a lecture in Prague, a beautiful city that is associated with mythical beliefs like the Jewish belief in Golems that were originally identified as protectors and then evolved into murderers without conscience or purpose.

Brigita Gessner is a neuroscientist in Prague who is experimenting with the principle of consciousness as the underlying biological theory of eternal consciousness that is similar to Solomon’s belief. Gessner is being targeted for elimination by a Golem as an agent manipulated by Finch’s organization.

Golems were once identified as protectors that became murderers who lost their way without understanding their original purpose.

“The Secret of Secrets” is an entertaining adventure that makes one wish they had the genius of its main character, Robert Langdon.

LIFE’S JOURNEY

The ending of Emily Henry’s story is a surprise to most who are absorbed and entertained by her tale. Life is complicated because it is filled with luck, achievement, purpose, and loss whether one is rich or poor.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Great Big Beautiful Life

Author: Emily Henry

Narrated By: Julia Whelan

Emily Henry (Author, American writer of NYT’s bestselling romance novels.)

Emily Henry is an entertaining writer who seems to live her own “Great Big Beautiful Life”. Her book is about writers like herself being interviewed by a wealthy American who is searching for a biographer to memorialize an extraordinarily famous family’s life. Henry’s twist is that she has competition with a fellow writer who is a more experienced and successful writer.

The two writers in Henry’s story are in the prime of their lives.

One has been married before, and the other appears to have been intimately acquainted with another writer. Neither potential biographer knows they are being interviewed for the same job. The surprise is that their famous subject hires both writers to compete for the job with a presumption that one will be chosen. The story is partly to tell of a famous and extraordinarily rich families’ complicated lives. “Great Big Beautiful Life” is an imaginative story about family relationship, love, and life’s complexity.

The cleverness of Henry’s story is that one becomes interested in the person being biographed while being drawn into what becomes an intimate relationship of the writers.

Listener/readers become interested in both story lines. The incredibly rich heiress’s family history is a contrast to the middleclass lives of the writers. What Henry shows in “Great Big Beautiful Life” is every human being, whether rich or middleclass face the joys and tragedies of life. The author is not addressing poverty or the poor, but one presumes the difference is qualitative because love, loss, and sorrow is part of every human life.

The passion of the two authors is artfully expressed and reminds one of every human’s experience of love and loss.

Joy and tragedy play a part in every sentient human being’s life. Familial, emotional, social, and ethical relationships are vivified in Henry’s story. Alice is the main character who is the woman writer telling her story of the competition and relationship between her and Hayden in seeking the right to tell the story of Margaret Grace’s “Tabloid Princess” life. Margaret sets the table for the story with a competition for the right to tell her family’s life story. Alice and Hayden begin as competitors, evolve into lovers. and become intertwined with Margaret’s storied life.

Alice and Hayden are ambitious professionals, but both have emotional vulnerabilities that are intensified by the competition for Margaret’s biography. Scandal, family secrets and how they are dealt with in Margaret’s life are part of the story. Alice’s insecurity contrasts with Hayden’s Pulitzer Prize-winning reputation as a biographer.

The approaches of the two hopeful writers of Margaret’s biography are contrasted by the author.

Alice has a human-centered approach to the biography whereas Haden drives for detached objectivity. Alice is concerned with Margaret’s exposure while Hayden seems more driven by belief in accuracy, structure, and verifiability.

The ending of Emily Henry’s story is a surprise to most who are absorbed and entertained by her tale. Life is complicated because it is filled with luck, achievement, purpose, and loss whether one is rich or poor. “Great Big Beautiful Life” is entertainment at its best.

HISTORY

Details are certainly important as McCullough observes in “History Matters”, but truth in history seems dependent on the passage of time and details selected by histories’ scribes. Therein lies revisionist history which may or may not be the truth of history.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

History Matters

Author: David McCullough & 3 more

Narrated By: John Bedford Lloyd & 1 more

David McCullough (Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for literature.)

As a tribute to David McCullough, his daughter compiled a list of several McCullough essays and public presentations. Though the readings are not narrated by McCullough, they illustrate his great range and understanding of history as a professional writer.

McCullough was 34 years old when “The Johnstown Flood” was released. Until then, he had worked as a writer for publications like the American Heritage magazine.

McCullough’s “History Matters” is a series of essays about famous people, books he has admired, and his success with historical biographies like “Truman”. McCullough’s first success was the story of the “Johnstown Flood”, published in 1968.  After McCullough’s success with the “…Flood”, he became a full-time writer. He notes—without support of his wife, the idea of becoming an independent writer would have been impossible. The risk of unemployment and no regular check would have undoubtedly been on McCullough’s mind when he discussed it with his wife.

McCullough’s public presentations in “History Matters” are of speaking engagements at universities and various organizations that asked McCullough to address their professional interests.

With the success of his books, in the 1980s, he became a popular and sought-after public speaker. He frequently gave commencement addresses to Universities and Colleges, wrote and presented what he wrote to historical societies and museums. He occasionally addressed government bodies and civic groups arguing for historical literacy to preserve the institutions of American government. One of his most well-known narrations was of Ken Burn’s “The Civil War” on PBS’s American Experience in 1990. McCullough passed away on August 7, 2022, at the age of 89.

“History Matters” is a short book about a gifted writer who thoroughly researched his subject and wrote about the intimate details of history to give listener/readers the feeling they were “in the room”. He insisted on accuracy and clarity of what he wrote and advised writers to do the same if they wished to be historians. He cites the narrative power of Barbara Tuchman, Bruce Catton, and Paul Horgan as writers who vivified the dry analysis of history. The mix of history and fiction is blended by writers like these to give context to their audiences.

Like Caravaggio’s depiction of Saint Thomas’s doubt and faith in the resurrected Christ, McCullough argues historians must be relentlessly curious.

McCullough felt good historians had to see the world through the eyes and experience of their subjects to tell the truth of history. He argued good historians have to be relentlessly curious about the time of which they are writing. Without careful research and detail, the truth of history is lost.

To McCullough “History Matters” because it vivifies the past in ways that are forgotten and often taken out of the context of their time. He believed Tuchman, Catton, and Horgan practiced what he preached even though some (like me) would suggest even good historians change history of the past because of influences of the present. To minimize those influences, McCullough argues the details of history matter. Without details of the time when history is made, the truth can become distorted. McCullough infers admiring Washington, Lincoln, Grant, Roosevelt, Truman, and Presidents of this century without details of their time distorts the truth of history. From a book lovers’ perspective, this observation is two edged. Historians are human which suggests they have the same social blindness as everyone.

History is revised in every generation.

Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, Harry Truman and all Presidents have been vilified in their times and revised by future historians. Details are certainly important as McCullough observes in “History Matters”, but truth in history seems dependent on the passage of time and details selected by histories’ scribes. Therein lies revisionist history which may or may not be the truth of history.

GENDER INEQUALITY

“Betraying Big Brother” is not wrong about gender inequality but the author’s anger and personal choices cloud the author’s message. Gender inequality is real everywhere in the world. Education is a beginning, but practice is the end.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Betraying Big Brother (The Feminist Awakening in China)

Author: Leta Hong Fincher

Narrated By: Emily Woo Zeller

Leta Hong Fincher (Author, American journalist, feminist and writer, first American to receive a Ph.D from Tsinghua University’s Department of Sociology in Bejing., graduated from Harvard with a BA and a master’s degree in East Asian Studies from Stanford.)

The education and experience of Leta Hong Fincher is somewhat betrayed by her anger in “Betraying Big Brother”. Misogyny is an international reality that defies the truth of human equality. This reviewer’s prejudice, like the author’s biases are suspect because of their respective life experiences. This book reviewer was raised by a single parent mother who worked to keep two sons with a roof over their head and food on the table. How women survive inequality is made of the same stuff as that which plagues minorities around the world. The difference is that women are not a minority.

Fincher’s anger is justified by her life experiences.

She writes of being a 15-year-old girl who is physically and emotionally abused by two boys who are friends of an older male friend that takes her to a get together of young acquaintances. That event burns a memory into Fincher’s mind that sets her on a journey thru life. One reading/listening to “Betraying Big Brother” recognizes the truth of what the author writes is reinforced by her life experiences. Of course, that is true of all human beings, but anger diminishes the impact of what Fincher says and writes.

Leadership?

Whether living in a democracy or autocracy, sexual inequality is present. Gender discrimination is universal. America and China talk the talk but fail to walk the walk. Fincher writes of Mao’s saying that “women hold up half the sky” implying he believed in gender equality. Mao spoke of marriage reform and labor participation but patriarchal norms were adhered to with women workers not being paid the same as men nor offered similar positions of power.

Xi speaks of gender equality, but no women are on the 24-member Politburo.

Xi also speaks of gender equality, but no women are on the 24-member Politburo while pay and promotions lag behind men. Fincher writes of Big Brother censorship, surveillance, and detention of women in China. (One presumes that is also true of everyone in China.) Like Trump, Xi promotes women’s roles in domestic stability, and their childbearing responsibilities. America has yet to elect a woman as President. Equal pay for equal work is improving in America, but a gap still exists with lower starting salaries, performance evaluation biases, and fewer high-profile assignments or promotions.

“Betraying Big Brother” is not wrong about gender inequality but the author’s anger and personal choices cloud the author’s message. Gender inequality is real everywhere in the world. Education is a beginning, but practice is the end.

HOUSING

Didion reminds one of Yeats Poem to warn society of civilization’s collapse. Yeats wrote “The Second Coming” after WWI and the Spanish Flu. Seems similar to today’s political war and the Covid pandemic.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Slouching Toward Bethlehem 

Author: Joan Didion

Narrated By: Diane Keaton

Joan Didion (Author, American writer and journalist, published in The Saturday Evening Post, National Review, Life, Esquire, and The New Yorker. She also wrote screenplays for “The Panic in Needle Park”, “A Star is Born”, and “Upclose and Personal” as well as receiving a National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer. 1934-2021.)

Diane Keaton (Actor, Academy Award winner, BAFTA recipient, two-time Golden Globe, and Tony Award winner. 1946-2025.)

Diane Keaton died yesterday.

Several years ago, I purchased “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” without reading it until Keaton had done an audiobook’ narration of it. “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” illustrates Didion’s skill as an essayist and writer while Keaton’s many acclaimed movies show how accomplished both women have been in their lives.

“Slouching Toward Bethlehem” is interesting because it offers an interpretation of why homelessness is so much more obvious in America than other countries.

Having lived in different areas of the United States, the appearance of homelessness in the big cities of America is disgraceful. Visiting the Baltics, Norway, Finland, China, and Japan in the last few years illustrates how badly America is handling homelessness. With the exception of Norway, per capita incomes in the United States are more than twice the incomes of the aforementioned countries. Norway’s per capita income is $87,925 while America’s is $82,769. China’s per capita income is $13,122 but walking through major Chinese cities, there are no people sleeping on the streets. The Baltics per capita incomes range from $22,000 to a little more than $30,000. There is poverty in all these countries, but their leaders and societies have found a way to keep their citizens housed. This is not to argue their poor are not faced with hardship but to show how poorly American society is treating its homeless.

There seems a generational divide in Didion’s “Slouching Toward Bethlehem”.

The beat generation of the 1960s for which Timothy Leary coined the phrase “Turn on, tune in, drop out” alluded to in Didion’s essays may offer a partial explanation. Many of us experimented with drugs in the 60s but there has to be more than that to explain what has happened to big cities in America. Part of the answer is the change in income for the middle-class. In the 1960s middle-class incomes were strong and broadly shared. In the 21st century, middle class incomes have stagnated. CEO’s income in the ’60s made 20 times middle class earners but in the 21st century the ratio rose to 300-1. The rich got richer and the middleclass got poorer. Power shifted from a voting middle class to a richer upper-class that accelerated income gaps that changed election results with an income class bias.

America has contradictory economic policies that have created great abundance among Americans while exacerbating income inequality.

Housing costs accelerated to new highs in the 21st century. The 1960s price-to-income ratios were 2:1 while today they are 5:1 or higher. The effort during the Obama administration to weaken standards for home buyer qualification exacerbated the greed of mortgage companies which led to a near economic collapse of the finance industry. Instead of bailing out homebuyers that could not pay their mortgages, the Obama administration bailed out mortgage companies and their owners while endorsing eviction of buyers who could not afford their mortgage payments.

“Slouching Toward Bethlehem” writes of famous successful people like John Wayne, Howard Hughes, Joan Baez, and herself as symbols of the 1960s. She is effectively glorifying them and herself while showing how they mythologized success to a generation of young people who were turning on, tuning in, and dropping out. Image became more important than substance. Working to be great at acting, becoming wealthy by investing wisely, singing about peace, justice and non-violence to make money, and writing about societal dysfunction were money makers. Capitalizing on dysfunction of society did nothing to ameliorate it. John Wayne is only a symbol of justice in the movies and Howard Hughes inherited his wealth that allowed him to invest, sometimes unwisely and with poor personal management skills. He began investing in Las Vegas because management could be left to others. To be fair, Didion and Baez try to return something to society for their success but their efforts pale in comparison to America’s decline. Artists report facts of life but rarely offer solutions.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939, Irish poet, dramatist, writer and literary critic.

W. B. Yeats Poem summarizes and exemplifies what Didion alludes to in her book.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre  
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;  
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;  
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,  
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere  
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;  
The best lack all conviction, while the worst  
Are full of passionate intensity.  

Surely some revelation is at hand;  
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.  
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out  
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi  
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert  
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,  
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,  
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it  
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.  

The darkness drops again; but now I know  
That twenty centuries of stony sleep  
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,  
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,  
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Didion reminds one of Yeats Poem to warn society of civilization’s collapse. Yeats wrote “The Second Coming” after WWI and the Spanish Flu. Seems similar to today’s political war and the Covid pandemic.