writing – REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

MANAGERS

Every human being has the potential of choosing their way of dealing with life. Whatever one’s role may be, the best one can hope for is to choose what makes them the best they can be.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“essentialism” (The Disciplined Pursuit of Less)

Author: Greg McKeown

Narration by: Greg McKeown

Greg McKeown (English author, public speaker, leadership and business strategist.)

McKeown earned an MBA from Stanford University after receiving a BA in communications and journalism at BYU. He reflects on the trials and tribulations of being a manager of events in the modern world where one is faced with psychological overload. Management is the skill of being who you are and getting things done through other people. McKeown explains how to become a more effective and productive manager. It begins with a clear understanding of what self-management is and what may get in the way of that accomplishment.

As a manager of someone else’s business, the job is simpler because the goals are determined by ownership but as a manager of one’s own time it is complicated by poor personal management skill. The idea of “essentialism” is in clearly understanding the goal to be achieved and to understand oneself well enough not to be distracted by what is to be achieved and how to organize and motivate the people who are to accomplish desired results. Once the goal is clearly understood, the end must be what ownership and oneself chooses. If the goal is to manufacture widgets, the steps of manufacturing are labor to produce a product, neither more nor less than what ownership directs. A good manager is not to focus on “more is better” but on the steps of manufacturing with an eye to trade-offs that are a consequence of labor organization and productivity.

The problem from a personal perspective is that company goals are easier to understand because they are determined by others.

Clearly understanding oneself is harder because of self-interest blind spots from being both the observer and observed; not to mention– knowing what actions are required to feel fulfilled as a human being.

The best choice in life is to be who you are, not who you wish to be.

As a manager of others to accomplish a goal, there are times when the response to a worker’s idea is no. This should never be meant to diminish the worker but to keep a worker’s eye on the goals of ownership. A good manager is respectful of a worker who offers ideas but always keeps the goal of ownership in the minds of workers to make it clear that a “no” is not to discourage a worker’s labor or idea for improvement. That which does not focus on achievement of the goal should be eliminated with a “no” but with praise and protection of those who are employed to accomplish ownership’ objectives. With clear understanding of the goal and those actions that benefit its accomplishment, a good manager offers focus to labor and reduces decision fatigue for both manager and worker.

Has capitalism lost its way in America?

There is room for criticism in McKeown’s book from the perspective of labor. As an individual working for a manager, one generally does not have the authority to decline meetings called by a manager. As a worker, one is hired to do a job or task, not to work on their own schedule, or to drop what they are doing at their own discretion. A good manager listens and learns from labor but always keeps in mind the goals of ownership. A good manager looks to labor as seeds for future managers by encouraging self-actualization and promotion but without sacrifice of ownership’s specified goals. Institutional realities cannot be ignored by laborers. McKeown implies everyone is a manager when in fact, from a business enterprise’s perspective, that is not true. Some who think they are managers, are not managers and it is important for a good manager to judge others based on achieving the goals of ownership. A good manager will rise from labor based on doing what they were hired to do, not what they think they are capable of doing. This is not to discourage labor’s advancement but to encourage it through performance in accordance with ownership goals.

Peter Drucker. (A consultant who clearly understood the role, importance, and value of competent managers.)

Peter Drucker is often quoted in this book which is a tribute to McKeown’s management judgement. McKeown also mentions Warren Buffett and the principles that made him a multimillionaire. There is a great deal of good advice in “essentialism” for those who aspire to be managers. As McKeown notes, a manager can fail when he/she becomes overloaded with workplace expectations, poor labor management, ignorance of the digital age, poor organization design, or an organizational culture that demands too much from its employees. Every human being has the potential of choosing their way of dealing with life. Whatever one’s role may be, the best one can hope for is to choose what makes them the best they can be.

LIFE PERSPECTIVE

Emerson simply asks, “How can I become fully myself?”

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Eckhart Tolle on Great Western Classics (Reflections on the Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Thomas a Kempis, and Plutarch)

Author: Eckhart Tolle

Narration by: Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle (Born in 1948, now 78 years old, German self-help author, counselor who draws from Zen Buddhism, Christian mysticism, Sufism, and Hinduism.)

Tolle offers an interesting perspective on living one’s life. The first chapter seems almost unintelligible because of its audio quality but draws one in because of the mystical sounding narration. Those who believe in God as supreme creator, or nature as the guide for life will find Tolle gives room for both beliefs. Those who are skeptical of belief in God will still be drawn into his history of the “…Great Western Classics”.

Montaigne suggests the appeal of his essays lies in the middle of the human population. Montaigne suggests the in-between are those who are not highly intelligent, who are abysmally ignorant; preferentially plebeian, and ordinary, i.e., a demeaning characterization of the middle class.

Tolle begins with a brief history of Plutarch (46-120 CE), a Greek philosopher, historian, and essayist. He notes Plutarch believes in self-observation and moral development more than social position or success as a measure of man. By writing of Plutarch, Tolle introduces the importance of character as opposed to vice. Plutarch believes consciousness of oneself is more important than worldly success or position.

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677, Dutch philosopher of the Enlightenment, biblical critic.)

Spinoza rejected the idea of a God creating the universe. He believed God is nature. In contrast, Schopenhauer’s God is “human will” rather than a divine creator. Additionally, Nietzsche explicitly rejects belief in God. Like Spinoza, the Stoics believe God is nature while Marcus Aurelius is open to a divine order but not the Christian idea of a personal creator. Plato obscurely argues a “Demiurge” or craftsman creates a world order out of chaos. Epictetus disagrees and believes nature created an ordered cosmos. Whether nature or God created the world, Tolle offers a brief history of the philosophers and thinkers of “The Great Western Classics”.

FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM

Tolle’s first brief histories are of Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. Tolle suggests Plutarch is a well-educated elite in Rome who believes self-observation is key to guidance for one’s life. Likewise, Aurelius, Rome’s emperor, notes how important it is to be self-aware and to be present in the moment to understand things as they are; not as we wish them to be. It is relevant to note that Plutarch and Aurelius are wealthy Roman aristocrats while Epictetus is a former slave who is given freedom by his owner. Despite their societal differences, they appear to share the philosophy of the Stoics who do not believe in a Creator God but in living in accordance with nature, reason, and virtue.

Buddhist guidance is described as “the way” by Batchelor.

Tolle compares Aurelius and Epictetus to Buddhists, Taoists, and (in a limited sense) Christian mystics despite their dissimilar social and political status. They both follow the path of reason and ethical practice but from different social positions. Tolle suggests both men believe human beings should follow a Stoic path by living in accordance with nature, reason, and virtue. Human beings should strive to be free of their psychological weaknesses by being conscious of their own prejudices when living and communicating with others. They endorse surrender to the present, acceptance of what appears to be true, avoidance of personal ego, and being consciously present in one’s observations and conversations.

Cultural differences.

Tolle suggests that Emerson, Aurelius, Epictetus, Kepis, and Plutarch believe that character matters more than wealth or status. Each believes self-examination is essential to one’s philosophy of life. All argue virtue is more important than pleasure. However, there are major areas of disagreement. Stoics like Aurlius and Epictetus trust reason, rational self-discipline, and alignment with nature. They believe wisdom is in understanding reality. In contrast to the Stoics, Thomas Kepis believes faith, humility, devotion to Christ, and dependence upon God are the key to a good life.

Tolle succinctly outlines different philosophies of life in his brief history of “…Great Western Classics”. Where Plutarch, Aurelius, and Epictetus ask, “How can I become a virtuous person” Kepis asks, “How can I become closer to God?”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet.)

Emerson simply asks, “How can I become fully myself?”

LIFE

Eric Weiner’s book is an interesting and entertaining journey through philosophy by traveling the world and offering brief vignettes of one obscure writer, and several famous philosophers.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Socrates Express (In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers)

Author: Eric Weiner

Narration by: Eric Weiner

Eric Weiner (Author, American journalist, former NPR correspondent.)

“The Socrates Express” is an entertaining writer’s understanding of important historical philosophers. Though Weiner is not formally educated in the discipline, his wide knowledge from reading their written works is summarized in language that can be understood by anyone interested but not steeped in philosophy. His wide travel exposes him to many of the environments in which great philosophers created their known works. What makes “The Socrates Express” entertaining is Weiner’s clever writing and the countries he travels to, some of which he has lived in for a time. He travels to Athens, Kyoto, Frankfurt, Delhi, and the home of Henry David Thoreau who lived at Walden Pond in Concord, MA.

Agnes Callard notes that Socrates is an interrogator who elicits others to understand the meaning of human life.

The “Socretes Express” explains the author’s trips to Athens, his trip to Kyoto for Sei Shōnagon’s (a lesser-known philosopher), to Frankfurt for Schopenhauer, to Delhi for Mahatma Gandi, and Massachusetts for Thoreau. There are many other philosophers Wiener touches upon but these four are good examples of the span of Wiener’s understanding of their philosophies. Not being schooled in philosophy, what Wiener explains is entertaining and interesting to its listeners and readers.

A description of Socrates is given by Weiner as one of the Greeks in Athens who earned a reputation as great warrior in war and a close friend of many important Greeks of his times. He allegedly never wore shoes and walked around Athens teaching old and young citizens about the meaning of life. Many of Socrates’ opinions resonate with the philosophy of life.

As most know, Socrates never wrote his thoughts down but became a foundational philosopher revealed by writings of Plato and later teachers like Archimedes. Weiner explains the foundational philosophical beliefs of Socrates are in Plato’s stories of Socrates life and death. Those beliefs, though not precisely listed by the author, are an unexamined life is not worth living, virtue is knowledge, the soul is the true self while its care is life’s highest priority, it is better to suffer injustice than to commit it, no one is wise including Socrates self-recognition, philosophy is preparation for death, and moral order is real and knowable through reason. Though these beliefs are only summarized in “The Socrates Express”, they are revealed by Plato’s writings about Socrates imprisonment and death.

Socrates parable of the cave is detailed by Weiner. It still means as much about humanity today as when Socrates walked the streets of Athens.

Socrates is saying human beings live in a cave seeing only the shadows of life while only a few, maybe like Einstein, see the foundations of nature that are still largely unknown.

Sei Shōnagon (966-1017 or 1025, Japanese author, poet who served the Japanese Empress Teishi around the year 1000. Shōnagon wrote a book titled “The Pillow Book”.

It is interesting that Weiner chooses to include Sei Shōnagon in his list of philosophers because she is not considered a philosopher but had written a book titled “The Pillow Book” that shows a distinctive way of thinking about life experience. Though not systematic she shows a philosophical view of life, she notes how close observations of ordinary moments in life are a source of insight to the meaning of human attention, aesthetics, and social behavior. In Weiner’s trip to Kyoto, one who has visited Japan appreciates Shōnagon’s understanding of Japan’s culture. Shōnagon explains beauty has a serious social value. She sees how seasons shape daily life in Japan and shows that women, like men, have powerful intellectual voices. She notes a good life depends on paying attention to nature and human relationships.

ARTHUR SCHOEPENHAUER (1788-1860 DIED AT 72)

Weiner travels to Frankfurt and briefly summarizes the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. He notes how Schopenhauer believes most people to not really listen to their environment. He believes humans create their own suffering by always wanting something more. Like Shōnagon, Schopenhauer believes human beings need to notice and appreciate the small things in life to be happy in order to achieve some level of fulfilment in life.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948, Lawyer, Leader of India’s independence from British Rule.)

Weiner travels to India with an encomium on travel by rail. That mode of travel mirrors his journey through philosophy to give the book its title; i.e., “The Socrates Express”. With Gandhi’s brief history, we enter the philosophical belief of nonviolence as an active philosophy. Gandhi explains violence is an inadequate answer to injustice. To Gandi, knowing the truth is rarely, if ever, fully understood by human beings. Human understanding, in Gandi’s philosophy, is always limited by a human’s knowledge. The whole truth is too complicated for complete human understanding. This philosophical belief is the source of Gandi’s adherence to non-violence. Facing injustice requires moral courage; not physical force. Non-violence obviates the need for perfect knowledge while offering opportunity for human comity, self-restraint, and behavioral change.

David Henry Thoreau (1817-1862, writer, environmentalist, ecologist, philosopher.

Weiner travels to Massachusetts to visit Thoreau’s cabin site on the northern shore of Walden Pond in Concord, Ma. The original cabin no longer exists but is rediscovered in 1945. The site is marked by granite posts and memorial markers. Weiner explains Thoreau believes most people move through life half-awake and rarely notice the world deeply. He moved to Walden Pond to experience seasonal changes, the behavior of local animals, the sounds and colors of a life in the world. He defined the importance of simplicity and independence of one’s thoughts. The real currency of life is time. Thoreau is not characterized as a hermit fleeing society but as a human seeking a clearer vision of life on earth. He explores life as it is rather than as a habit of existence.

Eric Weiner’s book is an interesting and entertaining journey through philosophy by traveling the world and offering brief vignettes of one obscure writer, and several famous philosophers.

BLACK SHIELD

“The Black Shield” is a disjointed story that inexpertly reveals the truth of organizational discrimination in American society. Inequality based on sex and race is a fact of American life and most, if not all, nations of the world. Cooper’s story is not revelatory but a sad truth about human nature.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Black Shield (An American Memoir of Family and Power)

Author: Wilbert L. Cooper

Narration by: Wilbert L. Cooper

Wilbert L. Cooper (Author, graduate of Ohio University and New York University with a master’s degree in publishing.)

As a writer for national publications like The Guardian, The New York Times, and the Wall street Journal, Wilbur L. Cooper investigates a “2020 police killing” in his former hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. He profiles the president (Vincent Montague) of a Black police organization called Black Shield. Surprisingly, the leader of the Black police organization shoots a young unarmed Black man he thought would run him over. He is not charged. The shooting is ruled as justified and Montague is suspended for one-day for using poor tactics and unreasonable force. What Cooper reveals in “The Black Shield” is partly about Black discrimination despite recruitment that is presumably meant to reduce police force discrimination in Cleveland.

Police training is no joke despite it being often-represented humorously.

Cooper argues the long-standing pattern of hiring and promotion in Cleveland’s police force reinforces Black discrimination in its training and recruitment of both white and Black officers. To be promoted in the department, whether one is Black or white, is influenced by an officer’s reputation as a believer in stereotypes of people based on the color of their skin more than their character. Cooper argues it is a socio/political and acculturation feature of Cleveland’s police recruitment that undoubtedly exists in all human organizations.

Cleveland’s population is approximately 50% Black, but the police force is nearly 75% white.

Cooper notes the department fails to hire minorities based on changing demographics in Cleveland. Cleveland’s population is approximately 50% Black, but the police force is nearly 75% white. His Black father is a Sergeant in the police force who is ironically in the department of “Office of Professional Standards”. (Cooper notes his mother also sought employment in the police department but is rejected. In fairness, that could be based on something other than discrimination.)

Cooper’s point is that experience of living as a white person in America fails to understand or fairly address the socio/economic realities of being Black in America. He believes Black discrimination is embedded in the recruitment and advancement opportunities of the Cleveland police department. Cooper notes that early Black applicants to the Cleveland police had to sue to be hired or promoted in the Department. He suggests his mother’s rejection from being hired is because of her sex and color. He argues his father’s career advancement is inhibited by the management structure of the department. The story of Sergeant Victor Montague is more complicated because of his deadly force use in the death of a Black citizen.

Sergeant Victor Montague (fired by the Cleveland Division of Police in 2021 for ethical violations.)

Cooper tells the story of Victor Montague, a charismatic and outspoken Black leader in the department. He became the public face of “Black Shield” and spoke openly about racism in the department. He pushes for accountability and reform but comes up against entrenched power in the police department. Montague became a target of internal hostility and is closely supervised by his immediate superiors. His confrontational attitude and unwillingness to play politics offended the Department hierarchy. Montague set himself up for a second policy violation by putting himself in a position with a private company that offered to donate to Black Shield in return for security service for a bar owner’s business. This would have been a violation of department policy. It also appears as a potential avenue for bribery of Montague. Similar arrangements had been considered by white officers without noted consequences according to Cooper. This episode undermines leadership in “The Black Shield” organization.

A measure of race and ethnic inequality.

WARNING

“The Fire Next Time” signals a political and prophetic warning to America. The continued existence of Baldwin’s observations about racial inequality are compounded by the rising gap between rich and poor and gender inequality in the 21st century.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Fire Next Time

Author: James Baldwin

Narration by: Lawrence Fishburne

JAMES BALDWIN (1924-1987 AMERICAN NOVELIST, SOCIAL CRITIC)

“The Fire Next Time” is written when James Baldwin is only 38 years old. He lives for 25 more years before his death in 1987. His book about life as a Black American is an emotional journey into the struggle of Black Americans that exposes the venality of white suppression and inequality in American history. The intensity of his writing is a brutal exposure of the consequence of discrimination that overwhelms a reader or listener. In many ways, his book is professorial but his view of life as a minority in white America is appalling.

“Learning from the Germans” tells of how post WWII Germany dealt with the history of the holocaust more forthrightly than America has dealt with racism and its evil.

Baldwin exposes the hypocrisy of American democracy, the moral bankruptcy of racial hierarchy, and the failure of American institutions to live up to the values expressed in the American Constitution. The founders argue “all men are created equal” while history shows human equality has never been achieved in America. Baldwin clearly explains America’s failures but is decidedly vague on how those failures can be corrected. He clearly disagrees with the Nation of Islam’s belief in Black self-determination through separation of the races but is ambiguous about organized movements to correct discrimination.

Racist rally in America.

Baldwin explains how white liberals are too complacent, conservatives too cruel, Black separatists to fatalistic, and American institutions too dishonest to forthrightly deal with human inequality. His foundational belief is that a fight for civil rights, and continued arguments for equality are essential requirements for America to achieve the goals that are stated and implied by the Constitution.

“The Fire Next Time” signals a warning to America.

“The Fire Next Time” signals a political and prophetic warning. The continued existence of Baldwin’s observations about racial inequality are compounded by the rising gap between rich and poor and gender inequality in the 21st century. If America refuses to confront inequality, there will be a national reckoning that will be violent and unavoidable.

A WRITER’S JUDGEMENT

“There is Simply Too Much to Think About” is a time-consuming read with a depth of understanding about writing that gives one “…Too Much to Think About” because of its author’s humbling intelligence. The fundamental point Bellow makes is that art is as important as science for the advance of society.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

There Is Simply too Much to Think About (Collected Nonfiction)

Author: Saul Bellow

Narration by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Saul Bellow (Author, Canadian-American novelist who has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the Pulitzer Prize.)

This is a daunting book by an accomplished novelist who explains what makes reading fiction and nonfiction worth one’s time and attention. The range of subjects Bellow covers is immense. He not only writes about literature but politics, philosophy, Jewish identity, American culture, history, and other subjects that overwhelm a reader/listener. Bellow suggests good nonfiction and fiction are about characters who write about life that makes them important enough to have meaning to readers and purpose for writers. A writer creates an understanding of characters in the context of a society in which they live. A good writer’s attention is given to the contradictions and complexity of living life. What Bellow means by nonfiction writers is those who witness life unfolding and relate that understanding from a perspective which may or may not resonate or at least be understood by a reader.

Though Bellow mentions few female authors, he shows strong opinions about famous male authors.

Bellow offers a tour of twentieth century writers he believes are examples of good nonfiction writers. He notes Ralph Ellison, Phillip Roth, and J.D. Salinger as examples of great nonfiction writers. At the same time, Bellow explains how deeply his life feeds into his writing. He reveals his own strengths and weaknesses. He acknowledges being drawn into trendy ideas of others that gloss over truth and mislead readers with contradictions. Like all human beings, Bellow can be misled by second-hand assertions about historic events and characters that lack verifiable truth. The result may be misrepresentation and sometimes cruel judgements about private lives and the history of humanity. Written misrepresentations reveal as much about the writer as the subject.

Ralph Ellison (Author of “Invisible Man”)

Bellow offers some warnings to readers of both good and bad writers. He suggests a reader should be careful about reading too much into writer’s characters or experience in a story. One thinks of Ellison’s “Invisible Man” and how it reshaped many readers understanding of race and identity. Ellison is not writing a protest novel. It is about social invisibility, Black identity, politics, and the meaning of life. Phillip Roth’s Colman Silk is accused of racism and forced to retire but he is not a racist. He is obviously falsely accused because he is secretly African American passing as white. Truth of a story is revealed in detail created by good writing.

Though not having personally read Bellow’s books, he notes that his writing is largely based on episodes from his own life.

Being born in a Montreal Jewish slum and raised as an immigrant in Chicago he experiences discrimination as a baby born in a Montreal slum and as an immigrant on Chicago streets. The working-class environment of Chicago streets gave Bellow a level of freedom and exposure to life as just another young boy finding his way in life. He could measure himself against more diverse life experiences in Chicago without losing his Jewish identity. As an immigrant, it added to his identity and broadened his understanding of life as a human being. He became streetwise in responding to the world.

The experience of life.

Bellow clearly illustrates a personal belief and understanding about life. He is an obvious master of American language. His intellect and curiosity are overwhelming. There is an emotional and moral seriousness that is sometimes funny and at others quite confrontational. He masterfully turns lived experience into art. There is a level of overconfidence in his judgement and personal contradictions crop up in his writing. On the one hand he distrusts ideology but writes a highly ideological view of writing. He defends the importance of art but criticizes culture. He lauds intellectual independence while insisting on his own beliefs. He is a bit combative toward academics, critics, and seems somewhat dismissive or impatient with those who struggle with his opinions. The title of Bellow’s book says it all–“There is Simply Too Much to Think About”.

Bellow believes the arts are the essential ingredient of what Martin Luther King’s quote depends upon.

Bellow is very judgmental about the writers he reviews in his “…Much to Think About” book. His greatest praise goes to Ralph Ellison, Phillip Roth, James Joyce, and Franz Kafka. His sharpest criticism is of Updike, Hemmingway, T.S. Eliot, Salinger, and James Baldwin. Updike is called too polished, Hemingway too emotionally shallow, Eliot too culturally conservative, Salinger too mystical, and Baldwin too damaged by ethnic prejudice. Despite his criticism, Bellow finds their works have power and meaning implying they are worth reading. Most who recognize or have read some or all of these authors will likely find them worth the time and effort to read them and come to their own conclusions.

LEWIS & CLARK’S AMERICA

Robert Frost wrote “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” That is the essential truth of “The Vast Enterprise” about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Vast Enterprise (A New History of Lewis & Clark)

Author: Craig Fehrman

Narration by: Jason Culp & 5 more

Craig Fehrman (Author, journalist, historian of Presidents and American history.)

Craig Fehrman writes an excellent history of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It entertains and informs reader/listeners of the lives of Meriwhether Lewis, William Clark, an enslaved man named York, and a tribal native named Sacagawea. From President Thomas Jefferson’s reasoning and his decision to create an expedition from Kentucky to the Pacific, one learns something new, old, and troubling about America.

Thomas Jeffereson (1743-1826, President of the U.S. 1801-1809.)

Thomas Jefferson is characterized as a shrewd, partisan, and forceful political operator who had a clear vision for the future of continental America. That prescient vision of America by Jefferson hides his blindness to the truth of human equality of Black men and women as inferior to white men. However, Fehrman notes Jefferson believes natives of this continent had the potential to be the equal of white Americans. Jefferson’s shrewdness and forceful opinion is illustrated by his understanding of the importance of trading posts as a way to expand control of land possessed by native inhabitants and held by Spanish and French interests. Lewis and Clark’s western expedition is, in Jefferson’s opinion, critical to America’s future land interests.

Meriwhether Lewis and William Clark (American Explorers.)

Both Meriwhether Lewis and William Clark are characterized as relatively educated colonial citizens suited for an expedition from Kentucky to the Pacific. Though both leaders for the expedition were heroic, their personalities, leadership styles, and temperaments were quite different. Lewis is characterized as brilliant but an inwardly volatile man, while Clark is a steady, self-confident manager of people. Lewis is the visionary who works in the Jefferson’ administration as secretary to the President while Clark is former military officer who gets things done with people who report to him. Lewis clearly understood Jefferson’s objective in exploring the west, its diplomatic purpose, and geopolitical importance. Clark’s frontier experience, military discipline, and surveying skill served Lewis’s understanding of Jefferson’s objectives.

Lewis & Clark Expedition

Both Lewis and Clark understood they were not only entering a wilderness but a continent full of other nations which made them effective negotiators and intermediaries with native tribes. Lewis’s intellectual understanding of Jefferson’s objectives is complimented by Clark’s skill in managing native tribe relationships. With the help of a Black slave owned by Clark and a native Shoshone woman married to a French trader, this former military man manages to gain the aid of the Lakota, Shoshone, and other tribes to save the Lewis and Clark expedition from failure.

Image of York (Slave owned by William Clark.)

The history of York (Clark’s owned slave) in the expedition is interesting. What the author, York, and enlisted members of the expedition show is that Lewis and Clark were dependent on their crew for the success of the mission. Men like York provide the labor and skill needed to complete the journey. As a young adult, York shows the value of all human beings to the success of the expedition while being a slave. The sad fact is that York is never released from his bondage to Clark. Despite York’s alleged inferiority, Clark relies on him for his field abilities and reminds reader/listeners of the importance of other cultures and ethnicities that make America. Fehrman infers York is a symbolic bridge between ethnic worlds; i.e. not just the Black and White world but the native and English American world. York is an example the difference of human beings in America; i.e., from people of color to native tribes in a dominant white culture. Fehrman’s story infers human difference reinforces belief that native tribes (Black, white, or other) could co-exist though not be treated as equal human beings. This is no stretch of a reader/listener’s imagination based on America’s history of Indian/American wars and slavery. There is one native American that travels with Lewis and Clark. She is Sacagawea, the only woman on the expedition. Her story reflects on America’s view of women as property despite their contribution to life and their contribution to social and economic society.

Image of Sacagawea on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Fehrman suggests Sacagawea is a full participant in the expedition. To Fehrman she represents a symbol of Native nations. Sacagawea and York became part of the diplomatic fabric of the journey demonstrating the truth of human equality. Sacagawea became pregnant from her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper. Her baby is born on the expedition. Charbonneau had two native wives, the first of which did not accompany them on the expedition. Sacagawea had been kidnapped by the Hidatsa tribe in a war with the Shoshone when she is 12. Charbonneau is 20 years older than Sacagawea. Sacagawea is 13 when she is forced to marry Charbonneau by the Hidatsa. The tribe had traded goods with Charbonneau. Sacagawea and Charbonneau are reluctantly hired by Lewis and Clark for the expedition. Both act as interpreters on the expedition but Fehrman argues Sacagawea represents more than being a translator because of her heritage and knowledge of the territory through which they will travel. Sacagawea’s Shoshone tribal heritage had diplomatic value beyond mere language interpretation. On the other hand, Charbonneau seems more a liability than asset to Lewis and Clark.

Shoshone Tribe in western America.

Fehrman shows the expeditionary Americans were not dominant actors in their relationships with native tribes. In the wilderness, they acted more as guests or supplicants in their dealings with various tribes. They recognized they were outsiders that needed political alliances with native tribes because they had meager knowledge of the territory and customs of indigenous tribes who controlled the river lands they explored. Their need for food, horses, guides, and knowledge of the land depends on their relationships with indigenous tribes. Without tribal help and guidance, they would have no protection or chance of safe passage. Native tribes provide horses and information that kept them on their course to the west and saved them from starvation and death. It is a combination of Jefferson’s somewhat arrogant plan for the country’s consolidation for the expeditionary force to be dependent upon indigenous tribes who are repeatedly deprived of their land in America’s growth as a nation. It is the explorer’s humbleness and humility that allows Lewis and Clark to succeed in growing an American continent that historically suppresses indigenous land ownership and use.

Most Shoshone Tribes appear more southwestern than northwestern.

Indigenous tribes were politically naive in their aid to American explorers. Without tribal’ naivete, the early days of America’s influence and growth as a singular nation would have failed. One presumes, the continent would have remained a land of tribal ownership and internecine conflicts over land and natural resources. In the early years of American government, it is humbleness, humility, and the growth of trade between natives and early Americans that transform a land of native tribal presence into a singular nation among nations. In Fehrman’s opinion the prime mover of that accomplishment began with Thomas Jefferson and “The Vast Enterprise” of explorers like Lewis and Clark.

The last chapters of Fehrman’s book leave listener/readers with notes about Lewis, Clark, York, and Sacagawea that are sad to read or hear. Lewis becomes an alcoholic and commits suicide. Clark refuses to give York his freedom. York dies from cholera while Clark lives a life of success and power. Clark becomes governor of -Missouri Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Sacagawea is leaves her French husband and dies at Fort Manuel in 1812.

Robert Frost (1874-1963.)

Robert Frost wrote “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” That is the essential truth of “The Vast Enterprise”.

NON-FICTION BOOKS

Kenneth Davis does more to add than subtract from one’s understanding of what others have written. Davis’s reviews of non-fiction books seem objective, but they are subjectively chosen.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The World in Books (523 Works of Great Short Nonfiction)

Author: Kenneth C. Davis

Narration by: Adenrele Ojo & 2 more

Kenneth C. Davis (Author, lecturer, contributor to The New York Times, Newsday and other publications.)

A criticism of Kenneth Davis’s “The World in Books” is its spartan overview of nonfiction. On the other hand, these reviews are an important overview of many of the most politically and socially important subjects of life.

Circle of Life statue in Norway.

Religion, humanism, sexism, and racism are the most eminent of Davis’s subjects. Like all brief summaries of important writers of the past, one’s personal views interfere with fundamentally important subjects. Of course, our personal biases seep into our own writing and understanding of other’s beliefs. What seems missing from Davis’s book is not wide analysis of different political and social beliefs but a perspective on the negative consequences of known forms of government or societal beliefs. Of course, criticism of his choice of works is unreasonable because of the wide number of non-fiction books from which to choose. Fairness is in the eyes, ears, and memory of the beholder.

The aristocracy of government.

On the one hand, one sees Davis’s view of communism, democracy, authoritarianism, and humanism as important constructs of society. On the other, Davis offers little consideration of their societal impact. One may argue societal impact is not Davis’s objective. He alludes to race, gender, and climate consequences but does not explore connections with a broad analysis of government or society. As with all writers of history, his own bias is in his choice of non-fiction books. He writes of Socrates, Plato, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, Elie Wiesel, Malcolm X, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, Alice Toklas, Gertrude Stein, Mary Wollstonecraft, Ernest Hemingway, and others. He recognizes liberal humanists for their ideological and social contribution to human understanding, not for expressed personal opinion but for broad exposure to good or great writers.

“Books That Have Made History” is a series of lectures given by Fears that dwells too much on God but delightfully entertains all who are interested in living life well.

General criticism of Davis seems unfair because he offers historical information about a “…World of Books” that are often ignored by reader/listeners of non-fiction writers. How many of us have read ancient texts, or modern writers like Elizabeth Kolbeert, Frankl, Harriet Jacobs, Isabel Wilderson, Simone de Beauvoir, and other less well-known writers about human society. Davis seems to represent a host of lesser-known works to simply offer enlightenment to reader/listeners. He provides excellent summaries of many books this reviewer has never read or listened to.

All reviewers bring their own biases in reviewing another’s book.

Davis does more to add than subtract from one’s understanding of what others have written. Davis’s reviews of non-fiction books are objective, but they are subjectively chosen. The author may have had a curation bias. How could he not; i.e. there are too many non-fiction books for one person to know; let alone review. Davis may or may not have an ideological liberal humanist bias, but it is because of the sheer volume of published non-fiction books. Every person has a point of view. The point is that a reader/listener is benefited by an author like Davis who intends to be objective about what non-fiction authors hope and try to tell reader/listeners.

Chinese and American Youth

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Young China (How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World)

Author: Zak Dychtwald

Narration by: Zak Dychtwald

Zak Dychtwald (Author, public speaker, fluent Mandarin speaker, world traveler, graduate of Columbia University who moved to China and spent 4 years interviewing local Chinese.)

“Young China” is a fascinating comparison of a world traveler’s perception of the difference between young Americans and Chinese youths. A reservation one has in listening to Dychtwald’s explanation of Chinese youth is whether a 4-year immersion in a foreign culture constitutes a society’s truth or just a topical view of an intelligent observer who gravitates to students of similar ambition.

America’s Achilles heel.

Not knowing the author’s life experience, one assumes he has not lived the life of most American college students of his generation. As a graduate of Columbia, his decision to learn Mandarin Chinese, and choice to travel to China for a four year stay suggests he is not a typical American youth. Further, as the meaning of the saying “Birds of a feather flock together”, one presumes his choice of interviewees is not likely to be typical Chinese college students but those who excel in intelligence and academic pursuit.

Contrast of lives in China.

The main Chinese youths whom the author interviews and becomes acquainted with are Ben, Vivian, Chen, Liu, and Mei. Ben–who is a striver who has a rural background. Vivian is a young professional woman who speaks English and comes from the middle class. Chen is a university student who embraces nationalist beliefs of young Chinese. Liu is a young teenager who experiences the meritocratic pressure of academic achievement in China. And finally, Mei is a young Chinese college student dealing with job aspirations, dating, marriage pressure, and career ambitions.

Education is the great strength of China.

In some sense, these characters have American student similarities. One can find similar Americans in each of the broad categories of these five Chinese students. However, Dychtwald sees Chinese students as “dreamers and strivers” while his experience is that American students are skeptical about the value of education and their future. Dychtwald finds Chinese college students take their performance on college exams more seriously than American college students. High academic achievement is a critical goal to a Chinese student while to an American graduating with a degree is the primary goal and finding a career is more important than achieving high scores on college exams. Chinese youths see themselves as a part of a national achievement for China while Americans see themselves as cogs in a capitalist machine that may or may not turn into successful careers.

College is a pressure cooker for Chinese students while it’s more of a cultural experience and stage of life for most American students.

Finally, Dychtwald notes Chinese students are globally curious, Western influenced, while being confident in the superiority of their own country. In contrast, American students care less about other countries, know few languages beyond English, and see their country as just one of many cultures in the world. Dychwald is an outlier in that he does not view China as a threat to American hegemony, but a country focusing on improving the lives of their citizens.

The risks of singular leadership.

Admittedly, this review is a narrow interpretation of Dychtwald’s fascinating book. Only an extraordinary intellect would move to China after graduating from college and learn fluent Mandarin during a 4 year stay in China. It makes we who are old wish we had the privilege of Dychtwald’s intelligence to live life over again.

To this book reviewer, the flaw in American democracy is the rising gap between rich and poor. Dychtwald implies the flaw in China is its reliance on a singular leader’s actions to improve the daily lives of its citizens. America has the advantage of 4-year democratic change in leadership while China is dependent on an authoritarian’s health and judgement as a singular leader.

POWER

As Oscar Wilde’s dialogue between two people said in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”–“Young people, nowadays, imagine that money is everything.” The response is “Yes, and when they grow older they know it.” That was written in 1891. Baker infers not much has changed in the 21st century.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

How to Rule the World (An Education in Power at Stanford University.)

Author: Theo Baker

Narration by: Theo Baker

Theo Baker (Author, former student journalist for “The Stanford Daily”.)

Theo Baker wrote for “The Stanford Daily” newspaper at Stanford University and received the George Polk Award for his reporting. His writing contributed to the resignation of the Stanford University President, Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Theo Baker, as the son of two journalist (Peter Baker and Susan Glasser) appears to have learned something about research and newspaper reporting from his parents. Theo Baker enrolled at Stanford at the age of 17 in 2022 and graduated in 2026 with a degree in history. To have joined Stanford at 17 years of age says something about his intellect, and pre-college academic achievement.

The value of education.

Personally, as a graduate of no-name universities in America, the picture Baker creates of Stanford makes one envious of the opportunities offered by a highly regarded University. On the one hand, most young students interested in college cannot afford the tuitions of Ivy-plus schools and many may not have either the education, or privileges of wealth that good preparatory schools provide. The added benefit of being a Stanford student is its being located in Silicon Valley, the best area of the country for those who pursue programming skills. Though Baker is more tech savvy about programming than past generations, his chosen field of study is history.

Influence.

What Baker interestingly points out is that classroom learning is less important than networking and raising entrepreneurial capital at Stanford. What is a little off-putting in Baker’s story is it implies Stanford’s culture of entrepreneurship is more important than scholarship. The focus of students seems not on education but in the goal of becoming gob-smacking rich. Having recently read a book about the Founding Father’s of America, one wonders what would have become of America if the Founders had focused more on personal wealth than the future of the country. This is, of course, sour grapes of a book-reviewer because the reality is Ivy-plus Universities have trained many students who have become great contributors to American government and America’s way of life, without becoming gazillionaires.

Technology research.

Baker refers to student’ millionaires while at Stanford because of their inordinate wealth and early success in tech-fund raising and creative computer programing. He implies the student culture of Stanford measures achievement on entrepreneurial networking more than academic achievement. A startup founder who raises the most money is elevated above high academic achievement in Stanford’s student culture. Getting good academic grades is important but it takes a back seat to a student’s ability to raise start-up capital, sell their programming, and/or create stock market start-ups. Those who are good at raising capital become among the institutionally privileged at Stanford. Academic success is primarily important as it relates to an entrepreneurial end rather than an educational achievement. Baker is not saying Stanford academic success is not real, but it is overshadowed by social networking, entrepreneurship, and financial reward. It reminds one of a book about the history of Reddit’s early recruits and a skilled programmer who commits suicide. Aaron Schwatz went to Stanford in 2004. Ironically, he like Baker is only 17. However, he left after a year. He joined Reddit and became a millionaire, but his wealth seems to have meant little to him in regard to what he believed or what he hoped to achieve in life.

American universities.

In any case, the Stanford President resignation is only a part of Theo Baker’s book. Ivy-League and Ivy-plus schools in America are inferred to be networks of inherited privilege and social connection with Stanford student’s primary goal of becoming filthy rich more than broadly educated. Though no mention is made of Aaron Schwartz’s death, wealth seems a weakness rather than goal for either students or faculty at Stanford.

For a person to say they graduated from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, or the University of Chicago is highly regarded by the public. When an Ivy-plus University like Stanford makes networking and making money more important than public service or academic achievement, one becomes somewhat disillusioned.

Silicon Valley,

Stanford definitely has advantage over other Ivy League and Ivy-plus schools because of Silicon Valley. One suspects the power of networking is generally much greater in Ivy League universities because of the average wealth of families who live in well-funded school districts, can pay expensive tuitions, and have either funded or been educated themselves in Ivy League or Ivy-plus universities. Becoming wealthy is a genuine achievement in life but real value should (but does not) come from equal opportunity. Without equal opportunity, society becomes less civil and inclined to believe human value is based on wealth, not character. The power of wealth creates a land of the “haves” and “have nots”.

Marc Trevor Tessier-Lavigne (Canadian-American neuroscientist. President of Stanford 2016-2023.)

Baker’s reporting is central to Tessier-Lavigne’s resignation from Stanford. Discovered irregularities of Tessier-Lavigne’s research on an Alzheimer’s cure reported by Baker in the Stanford paper led the Stanford Board of Trustees to launch an investigation into their President. The Board concluded Tessier-Lavigne’s research papers were flawed by manipulated data that induced Genetech to recruit him in 2003 when he was then President of Rockefeller University and later Stanford. In the end, the President of Stanford is not found guilty of any crime because the research manipulations were considered oversight failures that were retracted before any harm to the public. After his resignation, Tessier-Lavigne went on to become co-founder and chair of Xaira Therapeutics, an AI-biotech company.

Past and present generations.

Putting aside Baker’s good fortune in entering Stanford and working for the Stanford paper, he reveals the motivation of many young Americans today. The fate of Stanford’s President, Tessier-Lavigne, introduces a part of the theme of Baker’s book. Tessier-Lavigne is compelled to resign, in part, because of research and writing by this 17-year-old student in Stanford’s local paper. It is a story of the power of truth and the deleterious effects of seeing position or wealth as a measure of one’s value in society. Whether President of the United States, a newspaper journalist, or President of an Ivy-plus university, real power is ultimately in the truth.

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