Book Review
Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich
Harper Perennial Press, 2005, 289 pages, $14.95
Page turner as the MIT crew breaks the bank playing blackjack.
The main thing you learn from this book is to stay out of casinos.
cd-editor
Book Review
Joseph Smith - Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman
Alfred A. Knopf Publ. 2006 740 pages, $35.00
I find it very sad that Dr. Bushman spent I am sure thousands of hours compiling this "cultural biography", as he calls it, to defend the indefensible.
I don't have an answer to all the questions on how Joseph Smith was able to accomplish the organization of his great church. He was not a learned person, yet he was successful on an organizational level that is mind-boggling.
The indefensible areas deal with such topics as plural marriage, ecclesiastical threats, using church funds for personal gain, revelations to cover personal sins, .... my anger stops me from continuing in this list.
Bushman's apologist statements are infantile at best and cover-ups at worst.
Example: page 440
Here he is describing why Brother Joseph was marrying teenagers, married women, close friends wives and anyone else he was spiritually prompted to marry.
" He did not lust for women so much as he lusted for kin".
Another Example:
page 323
"Alger was fourteen when her family joined the Church in Mayfield, near Kirtland, in 1830. In 1836, after a time as a serving girl in the Smith household, she left Kirtland and soon married. Between those two dates, perhaps as early as 1831, she and Joseph were reportedly involved, but conflicting accounts make it difficult to establish the facts - much less to understand Joseph's thoughts. Was he a blackguard covering his lusts with religious pretensions, or a prophet doggedly adhearing to instructions from heaven, or something in between?"
The problem with this last quote is that Brother Joseph had not yet received the revelation on celestial (spiritual) marriage. The earliest date for that revelation appears to be April 3, 1836 in the Kirtland Temple.
Brother Bushman is either getting senile or applying for a job with the Seventy.
cd-editor
Book Review
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
Knopf publ. 96 pages, $16.95
I guess this title could be The Ten Commandments of Rationalism Written To The Irrational.
Mr. Harris does not mince words in this little short book. It only takes about 45 minutes to read this book, but a lifetime to correct the problems it exposes.
Quote: page 88
If we ever do transcend our religious bewilderment, we will look back upon this period in human history with horror and amazement.
Most people that read the Bloomburg Democrat should not read this book. It will be a waste of your time. You already know all there is to know about religion.
If you are a seeker, this book might aid you in your search for the quest of a humane life.
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Book Review
Night by Elie Wiesel
Hill and Wang Publ. approx. 150 pages, $9.00
This little book is an epic condensed in 100 pages. It covers only about a year in the teenage life of Elie Wiesel while he and his family were in Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Start reading this book some Sabbath morning and you will finish by noon. You will need the afternoon and evening asking God where he was during this time of infamy.
Maybe you will get some sleep during the night and maybe you won't.
cd-editor
Book Review
Science, Religion and the Human Experience edited by James D. Proctor
Oxford University Press, 2005, 336 pages $16.95
This book is not for beginners in their search for religious truth. I guess it might be described as a 301 course.
This volume is a compilation of many scholarly works in the fields of science and religion.
The chapter headings will give you some idea of the subject matter.
Examples:
chapter 2
Thou Shall Not Freeze-Frame, or How Not to Misunderstand the Science and Religion Debate by Bruno Latour
chapter 5
In ____ We Trust: Science, Religion, and Authority by James Proctor
chapter 11
Experiencing Evolution: Varieties of Psychological Responses to the Claims of Science and Religion by Ronald L. Numbers
chapter 12
Gods and the Mental Instincts That Created Them by Pascal Boyer
This book will cause you to think about religion in ways that you have never considered.
It would be good for the world if every minister reads this book before they preach their next sermon on Sunday.
Light has a way of shriveling dogma.
cd-editor
Book Review
American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips
Viking Penguin Publ., 2006. 462 pages, $26.95
There is a storm coming from which you can't hide.
This storm is the results of the American people allowing the politics of oil, radical religion and consumer consumption to over-ride logic.
This is not an end of the world book; it is an end of the American dream book. Phillips looks at the history or four great cultures, Rome, Netherlands, England, United States, and compares their demise.
As you read this book, you might first surmise that it is anti-Republican. That would be an incorrect evaluation. This book is anti-stupid and it just so happens that the Republicans are the most stupid in this time frame. The Democrats will have the opportunity in the near future to show that they can be as stupid as the Republicans in bringing about the destruction of our society.
As I read this book, I have thought of how I would advise my children to survive the coming debachle. I am hard pressed to come up with some words of wisdom, but I guess the best place to start is to avoid any unnecessary debt.
The coming events will start with a financial meltdown, followed by an energy crisis and then the dis-infranchising of religion.
How soon will this occur?
I know not, only my father in heaven; but I suspect the first phase will occur in the next ten years.
I strongly suggest that you read this book, but I suspect you will not enjoy it.
cd-editor
Book Review
Fiasco by Thomas E. Ricks
The Penguin Press, 482 pages, $27.95
If you have the desire to understand U.S. policy in Iraq, this book is a must read.
I do suggest that you take an anti-emetic before reading.
As I watched Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld in his testimony before Congress today, this book proves that he is either stupid or a liar. I suspect both.
Just as the book A Bright Shining Lie is a primer for the war in Vietnam, I believe that Fiasco will serve that purpose for the war in Iraq.
Did we send our soldiers into battle without proper equipment?
See page 186: Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld said after the initial fall of Bagdad, in 2003, that we are dealing with a few dead-enders. If he had truly understood that the U.S. was still at war maybe he would have made sure that our troops were properly supplied with body armor.
Major Chase of the 10th Cavalry Regiment, when commenting on the death of Lt. Leif Nott, who was shot in the chest, said, "In fact, at the time, there were just 9 sets of body armor to go around for 134 soldiers in Alpha Troop."
Someone needs to pay for this crime against America. Guess who?
cd-editor
Book Review
The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
Vintage Books, 2003 , 445 pages, $15.95
WOW!
I learned more from this one book than any book I have ever read.
Brian Greene is a genius at explaining difficult concepts of physics, mathamatics and life.
Look at this one short quote that opens a window to metaphysics.
"Quantum determinism tells us that the probability that any particular event will occur at some chosen time in the future is fully determined by knowledge of the wave functions at any prior time."
I thought that I would never understand general relativity, quantum mechanics, string theory - I still don't, but at least I understand what I don't understand.
If you are in the search for knowledge, this book is a great place to start.
cd-editor
Book Review
Ego and Archetype by Edward F. Edinger
Shambhala - Boston and London 1992 , 304 pages, $22.95
This is an interesting book that looks at the psychological nature of religion. It is based on the writings of Carl Jung and draws heavily on his analysis of the conscious and unconscious mind.
The author's conclusions on different subjects would cause one to think that he is bipolar. Some deductions are very prescient and some are pretentious.
"Personal, secular, or political actions become charged with unconscious religious meaning. This is particularly dangerous because whenever a religious motivation is acting unconsciously it causes fanaticism with all its destructive consequences." (page 65)
This is a good example of religion without thought. "The Prophet has spoken, there is no need for discussion" Boyd K. Packer
Chapter 4 The Search for Meaning is especially thoughtful.
" Modern man's most urgent need is to discover the reality and value of the inner subjective world of the psyche, to discover the symbolic life."(page 109) He then proceeds to investigate how to be successful in this search.
If the book had ended with Chapter 6 Being an Individual, I would have been left with the conclusion that I had finally found a sane psychiatrist. No such luck!
The last third of the book deals with the symbolic meaning of dreams and is so much hogwash in my opinion.
Don't let this last statement prevent you from reading the book. It is enlightening.
cd-editor
Book Review
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
St Matrin's Paperbacks, Fiction 430 pages, $7.99
Well, I finally read a book by Dan Brown.
This is an entertaining book but not well written.
Brown is not an accomplished author. This book has no congruency.
The plots just are not realistic, due to flaws both in research and relationships of the different parts of the story.
Needless to say this book did not make me want to read The Da Vinci Code.
cd-editor
Pre-Book Review
The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
First I want to thank Megan for giving me this book for Christmas. I might have never bought the book and would have missed the opportunity to understand the big picture.
This is a pre-book review because if I wait until I finish the book I might not live long enough to complete the task. This book makes my head hurt. I read one paragraph and then I have think about it for an hour, hence who knows if I will ever finish.
I had come to the conclusion that I would never understand the theories of Albert Einstein, quantum mechanics and the such. Being that I am mathamatically challenged, I had just given up any idea that I could understand this level of physics.
Guess what? Brian Greene has given me hope!
I actually think that I understand, at a primary level, the theory of special relativity, the theory of relativity and E=mc2. I also understand Richard Feynman's statement that no one understands quantum mechanics, if that makes any sense.
More importantly I am coming to grasp how ridiculous religious thoughts and doctrines are in our society. This is not a statement to proclaim there is no God; it is a statement to proclaim that we do not understand the mind of God, as described by Stephen Hawking.
It is only by understanding the workings of space-time, that we get an inkling of a concept of what it might mean to look into the mind of God.
I have heard it said that the gospel is so simple that even a child can understand. That's true. As the Apostle Paul said, " When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
The gospel as taught in churches today is for the un-informed. Bold statment, but I think the facts prove the point. What is not understood by the common man is explained by religious mysticism. The sad thing about this is that mysticism is not an explanation. Religion has also become big business and that means that money not knowledge is the controlling factor. Again, sad but true.
If you truly want to understand truth, I think you must put away childish things.
This is a quantum leap for most believers in today's religions.
I personally found it very hard to give up my "comfort zone" of mysticism. Yet something kept driving my quest for truth, thank God.
This book has provide another important step in that journey.
cd-editor
Book Review
American Sphinx -The Character of Thomas Jefferson
by Joseph J. Ellis
Vintage Press , 440 pages, $15.95
A very interesting look at the character and mind of one of our founding fathers.
Ellis makes an attempt to look into the mind and soul of Thomas Jefferson. I guess this type of biography is always controversial, but Ellis backs up his observations with good historical data.
Thomas Jefferson is an enigma in many ways - stand on slavery and freedom for all men; government and anti-government; rule of law and a Supreme Court with no constitutional review. His view of govermental excess and personal life were in direct conflict.
I have read, I think, four books on Jefferson and I rate this one at or near the best.
Look at this quote from page 354.
Jefferson's hostility to government power would indeed find the United States has, since the end of the cold war in 1989, replaced the Soviet Union as our domestic version of the Evil Empire.
The previous 353 pages tend to support that strong statement.
Ellis has written a previous book - Founding Brothers. After reading this book, I suspect, then and today, a better title would be Founding Disputants.
I found this book to provide access to much new information on Jefferson the man.
Worth you time and money.
cd-editor
Book Review
De La Mettrie's Ghost - The Story of Decisions by Chris Nunn
Macmillian Publ. 228 pages, $24.95
This little book by Dr. Nunn, a psychiatrist that teaches at Southhampton University, is so dis-jointed that two or three times I nearly put it aside and said forget it.
I'm glad I decided to read the entire book. There are nuggets of wisdom hidden in the pages that truly gives one an understanding of why and how we make decisions.
I think one of the problems with the book is that Dr. Numm thinks well above my ability to understand. I guess that is why the book is a failure to some extent. Of course, maybe the subject is beyond my grasp.
He makes an effort to prove that we have free choice, but in the end you come to the realization that we make decisions based on life experiences.
One of the most important bits of information is the discovery that early childhood experiences are the basis of who we are as adults.
To a 60 year old, the first 2-8 years of life may be more important in decision making than the last 50 years of life.
If this is correct, family interaction is paramount.
If you are looking for evidence of who you are, give this book a thoughtful examination.
cd-editor
Book Review
Do You Hear What I Hear? by Minna Proctor
Viking Press, 2005, 274 pages, $25.95
Ms. Proctor packs a lot of information in this short 274 page book.
The purpose of the book is to study the process of calling to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church and the failure of her father to prove successful in this process.
I sincerely wish that I had read this book before being "called" as a Branch President in the Mormon Church.
She looks at the concept of discernment and reviews the priesthood calling process in the Episcopal, Catholic and Jewish religions.
After erudition, there appears to be a need to believe in something. Since I am in agreement with the teaching of Christ, I need to find some way to live those standards. The teaching of Christ to which I refer are the two great laws that supersede all other laws - love God and love humanity.
The love of humanity may require forgiving those members in the body of Christ that fail to live the program.
It seems likely that the greatest obstacle in living a Christ-like life is Christianity.
A Christ-like life requires discipleship - the oldest form of ministry. It is in a sense the very fallibility of the religious system, its absurdity, its weakness in the face of earthly powers, that convinces the disciple to continue believeing.
Book Review
I am not sure that I have enough self-esteem to tell my conservative friends that I have read this book, but here goes.
Revolution From Within by Gloria Steinem
Little, Brown publ. 1993, 421 pages, $11.95
As I am sure you noticed, it has taken me 12 years to get around to reading this book. I am also sure that if I had read it 12 years ago, when it was #1 on the NYT bestseller list, I would have thought that this woman was crazy.
Too soon old and too late smart.
Every woman should read this book.
All men must read this book if they want to move from cave man to renaissance man.
I don't agree with everything that Gloria says, but she has taught me much about humanity.
Look at these sage observations:
"After all, it's men with low self-esteem who give women (and other men) the most problems, from subtle condescension to grandiosity and outright violence."
"... people seemed to stop punishing others or themselves only when they gained some faith in their own unique, intrinsic worth."
If you are not afraid to be a better husband, father, lover and friend, I suggest you read this book.
cd-editor
Book Review
Freedom from Fear - The American People in Depression and War 1929 to 1945
The Oxford History of the United States by David M. Kennedy
Oxford University Press 1999 , 936 pages , $29.96
David Kennedy, professor of history at Stanford University has written a very readable history of the depression and second world war.
This tome does not review the military battles of the war(maybe 20 pages devoted to actual major battles); it is a look at policies and politics of this period from 1929 to 1945.
I learned a great deal about the when, where and how the people and policies effected this difficult time in American history.
cd-editor
Book Review
Family and Nation by Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Harcourt Publ. 207 pages, $12.95
Daniel P. Moynihan is one of the more intelligent men to have been elected to the U.S. Senate. He has served as a member of the cabinet or subcabinet of Presidents, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford - the only person in U.S. history to have served in four successive administrations. He has served as ambassador to India and the United Nations.
This book is a critical look at the government policies that effect families.
He makes observations that would have prevented much of the disorder that effected New Orleans after Katrina.
Moynihan is known as a liberal, but he proposed many solutions that would sit well with conservatives.
He is more a realist than a ideologist.
"Liberals emphasize social policy but are criticized for ignoring values. Conservatives emphasize values in the outcomes for children but seem threatened by the idea of social policy. Surely each group is seening part of the truth and can find common ground in accepting one another's perceptions."
(pgs. 188-189)
"The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself." ( pg. 190)
Americans need to come together to solve serious problems in our society, not fight about definitions or descriptions.
cd-editor
The Enormous Room by E.E. Cummings is a great book that reminded me of our situation in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan on almost every other page. I constantly wonder who we might be locking up without reason and how many lives are being destroyed and irreversibly changed through our actions.
There is some debate on whether this book is an autobiography, a work of fiction, or something inbetween. It is, however, defintely based on Cummings' time spent in a French concentration camp so I put my money on something in the neighborhood of an autobiography with some exaggeration to spice things up.
Cummings is one of America's greatest modern poets (Modern by style, not decade) and I consider this book to be very well written with a style that is easy and enjoyable to read. Putting the style aside though, some knowledge of French will be needed in order to get the full gist of the book. Luckily I had a semester at TC and that seemed to be enough to help me through the thick parts. If you lack any skills at French, any online translator will be sufficient to help you out as the untranslated French is all elementary.
This book can be purchased on Amazon.com for about $10 or downloaded for free from http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/7enrm10.txt. This book is now public domain and has no copyright owner. I even checked the version on Amazon.com and the copyright is limited to the introduction which was written by someone other than Cummings.
I highly reccomend this book. If you love literature or non-fiction (since I think its a bit of both) I think you'll find this book interesting.
In the extended portion of this post I'll paste the first few pages of the book so you can get a taste of what to expect. Also, travel over to www.gutenberg.org for thousands of free ebooks.
THE ENORMOUS ROOM
by
E. E. CUMMINGS
* * * * *
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
I. I BEGIN A PILGRIMAGE
II. EN ROUTE
III. A PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
IV. LE NOUVEAU
V. A GROUP OF PORTRAITS
VI. APOLLYON
VII. AN APPROACH TO THE DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS
VIII. THE WANDERER
IX. ZOO-LOO
X. SURPLICE
XI. JEAN LE NEGRE
XII. THREE WISE MEN
XIII. I SAY GOOD-BYE TO LA MISERE
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION
"FOR THIS MY SON WAS DEAD, AND IS ALIVE AGAIN; HE WAS LOST; AND IS
FOUND."
He was lost by the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps.
He was officially dead as a result of official misinformation.
He was entombed by the French Government.
It took the better part of three months to find him and bring him back to
life--with the help of powerful and willing friends on both sides of the
Atlantic. The following documents tell the story:
104 Irving Street, Cambridge, December 8, 1917.
President Woodrow Wilson, White House, Washington, D. C.
Mr. President:
It seems criminal to ask for a single moment of your time. But I
am strongly advised that it would be more criminal to delay any
longer calling to your attention a crime against American
citizenship in which the French Government has persisted for many
weeks--in spite of constant appeals made to the American Minister
at Paris; and in spite of subsequent action taken by the State
Department at Washington, on the initiative of my friend, Hon.
----.
The victims are two American ambulance drivers, Edward Estlin
Cummings of Cambridge, Mass., and W---- S---- B----....
More than two months ago these young men were arrested, subjected
to many indignities, dragged across France like criminals, and
closely confined in a Concentration Camp at La Ferte Mace; where,
according to latest advices they still remain--awaiting the final
action of the Minister of the Interior upon the findings of a
Commission which passed upon their cases as long ago as October
17.
Against Cummings both private and official advices from Paris
state that there is no charge whatever. He has been subjected to
this outrageous treatment solely because of his intimate
friendship with young B----, whose sole crime is--so far as can
be learned--that certain letters to friends in America were
misinterpreted by an over-zealous French censor.
It only adds to the indignity and irony of the situation to say
that young Cummings is an enthusiastic lover of France and so
loyal to the friends he has made among the French soldiers, that
even while suffering in health from his unjust confinement, he
excuses the ingratitude of the country he has risked his life to
serve by calling attention to the atmosphere of intense suspicion
and distrust that has naturally resulted from the painful
experience which France has had with foreign emissaries.
Be assured, Mr. President, that I have waited long--it seems like
ages--and have exhausted all other available help before
venturing to trouble you.
1. After many weeks of vain effort to secure effective action by
the American Ambassador at Paris, Richard Norton of the
Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps to which the boys belonged, was
completely discouraged, and advised me to seek help here.
2. The efforts of the State Department at Washington resulted as
follows:
i. A cable from Paris saying that there was no charge against
Cummings and intimating that he would speedily be released.
ii. A little later a second cable advising that Edward Estlin
Cummings had sailed on the Antilles and was reported lost.
iii. A week later a third cable correcting this cruel error and
saying the Embassy was renewing efforts to locate
Cummings--apparently still ignorant even of the place of his
confinement.
After such painful and baffling experiences, I turn to
you--burdened though I know you to be, in this world crisis, with
the weightiest task ever laid upon any man.
But I have another reason for asking this favor. I do not speak
for my son alone; or for him and his friend alone. My son has a
mother--as brave and patriotic as any mother who ever dedicated
an only son to a great cause. The mothers of our boys in France
have rights as well as the boys themselves. My boy's mother had a
right to be protected from the weeks of horrible anxiety and
suspense caused by the inexplicable arrest and imprisonment of
her son. My boy's mother had a right to be spared the supreme
agony caused by a blundering cable from Paris saying that he had
been drowned by a submarine. (An error which Mr. Norton
subsequently cabled that he had discovered six weeks before.) My
boy's mother and all American mothers have a right to be
protected against all needless anxiety and sorrow.
Pardon me, Mr. President, but if I were President and your son
were suffering such prolonged injustice at the hands of France;
and your son's mother had been needlessly kept in Hell as many
weeks as my boy's mother has--I would do something to make
American citizenship as sacred in the eyes of Frenchmen as Roman
citizenship was in the eyes of the ancient world. Then it was
enough to ask the question, "Is it lawful to scourge a man that
is a Roman, and uncondemned?" Now, in France, it seems lawful to
treat like a condemned criminal a man that is an American,
uncondemned and admittedly innocent!
Very respectfully, EDWARD CUMMINGS
This letter was received at the White House. Whether it was received with
sympathy or with silent disapproval is still a mystery. A Washington
official, a friend in need and a friend indeed in these trying
experiences, took the precaution to have it delivered by messenger.
Otherwise, fear that it had been "lost in the mail" would have added
another twinge of uncertainty to the prolonged and exquisite tortures
inflicted upon parents by alternations of misinformation and official
silence. Doubtless the official stethoscope was on the heart of the world
just then; and perhaps it was too much to expect that even a post-card
would be wasted on private heart-aches.
In any event this letter told where to look for the missing
boys--something the French government either could not or would not
disclose, in spite of constant pressure by the American Embassy at Paris
and constant efforts by my friend Richard Norton, who was head of the
Norton-Harjes Ambulance organization from which they had been abducted.
Release soon followed, as narrated in the following letter to Major ----
of the staff of the Judge Advocate General in Paris.
February 20, 1921.
My dear ----
Your letter of January 30th, which I have been waiting for with
great interest ever since I received your cable, arrived this
morning. My son arrived in New York on January 1st. He was in bad
shape physically as a result of his imprisonment: very much under
weight, suffering from a bad skin infection which he had acquired
at the concentration camp. However, in view of the extraordinary
facilities which the detention camp offered for acquiring
dangerous diseases, he is certainly to be congratulated on having
escaped with one of the least harmful. The medical treatment at
the camp was quite in keeping with the general standards of
sanitation there; with the result that it was not until he began
to receive competent surgical treatment after his release and on
board ship that there was much chance of improvement. A month of
competent medical treatment here seems to have got rid of this
painful reminder of official hospitality. He is, at present,
visiting friends in New York. If he were here, I am sure he would
join with me and with his mother in thanking you for the interest
you have taken and the efforts you have made.
W---- S---- B---- is, I am happy to say, expected in New York
this week by the S. S. Niagara. News of his release and
subsequently of his departure came by cable. What you say about
the nervous strain under which he was living, as an explanation
of the letters to which the authorities objected, is entirely
borne out by first-hand information. The kind of badgering which
the youth received was enough to upset a less sensitive
temperament. It speaks volumes for the character of his
environment that such treatment aroused the resentment of only
one of his companions, and that even this manifestation of normal
human sympathy was regarded as "suspicious." If you are right in
characterizing B----'s condition as more or less hysterical, what
shall we say of the conditions which made possible the treatment
which he and his friend received? I am glad B---- wrote the very
sensible and manly letter to the Embassy, which you mention.
After I have had an opportunity to converse with him, I shall be
in better position to reach a conclusion in regard to certain
matters about which I will not now express an opinion.
I would only add that I do not in the least share your
complacency in regard to the treatment which my son received. The
very fact that, as you say, no charges were made and that he was
detained on suspicion for many weeks after the Commission passed
on his case and reported to the Minister of the Interior that he
ought to be released, leads me to a conclusion exactly opposite
to that which you express. It seems to me impossible to believe
that any well-ordered government would fail to acknowledge such
action to have been unreasonable. Moreover, "detention on
suspicion" was a small part of what actually took place. To take
a single illustration, you will recall that after many weeks'
persistent effort to secure information, the Embassy was still
kept so much in the dark about the facts, that it cabled the
report that my son had embarked on The Antilles and was reported
lost. And when convinced of that error, the Embassy cabled that
it was renewing efforts to locate my son. Up to that moment, it
would appear that the authorities had not even condescended to
tell the United States Embassy where this innocent American
citizen was confined; so that a mistaken report of his death was
regarded as an adequate explanation of his disappearance. If I
had accepted this report and taken no further action, it is by no
means certain that he would not be dead by this time.
I am free to say, that in my opinion no self-respecting
government could allow one of its own citizens, against whom
there has been no accusation brought, to be subjected to such
prolonged indignities and injuries by a friendly government
without vigorous remonstrance. I regard it as a patriotic duty,
as well as a matter of personal self-respect, to do what I can to
see that such remonstrance is made. I still think too highly both
of my own government and of the government of France to believe
that such an untoward incident will fail to receive the serious
attention it deserves. If I am wrong, and American citizens must
expect to suffer such indignities and injuries at the hands of
other governments without any effort at remonstrance and redress
by their own government, I believe the public ought to know the
humiliating truth. It will make interesting reading. It remains
for my son to determine what action he will take.
I am glad to know your son is returning. I am looking forward
with great pleasure to conversing with him.
I cannot adequately express my gratitude to you and to other
friends for the sympathy and assistance I have received. If any
expenses have been incurred on my behalf or on behalf of my son,
I beg you to give me the pleasure of reimbursing you. At best, I
must always remain your debtor.
With best wishes,
Sincerely yours,
EDWARD CUMMINGS
I yield to no one in enthusiasm for the cause of France. Her cause was
our cause and the cause of civilization; and the tragedy is that it took
us so long to find it out. I would gladly have risked my life for her, as
my son risked his and would have risked it again had not the departure of
his regiment overseas been stopped by the armistice.
France was beset with enemies within as well as without. Some of the
"suspects" were members of her official household. Her Minister of
Interior was thrown into prison. She was distracted with fear. Her
existence was at stake. Under such circumstances excesses were sure to be
committed. But it is precisely at such times that American citizens most
need and are most entitled to the protection of their own government.
EDWARD CUMMINGS
* * * * *
THE ENORMOUS ROOM
I
I BEGIN A PILGRIMAGE
In October, 1917, we had succeeded, my friend B. and I, in dispensing
with almost three of our six months' engagement as Voluntary Drivers,
Sanitary Section 21, Ambulance Norton Harjes, American Red Cross, and at
the moment which subsequent experience served to capitalize, had just
finished the unlovely job of cleaning and greasing (_nettoyer_ is the
proper word) the own private flivver of the chief of section, a gentleman
by the convenient name of Mr. A. To borrow a characteristic-cadence from
Our Great President: the lively satisfaction which we might be suspected
of having derived from the accomplishment of a task so important in the
saving of civilization from the clutches of Prussian tyranny was in some
degree inhibited, unhappily, by a complete absence of cordial relations
between the man whom fate had placed over us and ourselves. Or, to use
the vulgar American idiom, B. and I and Mr. A. didn't get on well. We
were in fundamental disagreement as to the attitude which we, Americans,
should uphold toward the poilus in whose behalf we had volunteered
assistance, Mr. A. maintaining "you boys want to keep away from those
dirty Frenchmen" and "we're here to show those bastards how they do
things in America," to which we answered by seizing every opportunity for
fraternization. Inasmuch as eight "dirty Frenchmen" were attached to the
section in various capacities (cook, provisioner, chauffeur, mechanician,
etc.) and the section itself was affiliated with a branch of the French
army, fraternization was easy. Now when he saw that we had not the
slightest intention of adopting his ideals, Mr. A. (together with the
_sous-lieutenant_ who acted as his translator--for the chief's knowledge
of the French language, obtained during several years' heroic service,
consisted for the most part in "_Sar var_," "_Sar marche_," and "_Deet
donk moan vieux_") confined his efforts to denying us the privilege of
acting as drivers, on the ground that our personal appearance was a
disgrace to the section. In this, I am bound to say, Mr. A. was but
sustaining the tradition conceived originally by his predecessor, a Mr.
P., a Harvard man, who until his departure from Vingt-et-Un succeeded in
making life absolutely miserable for B. and myself. Before leaving this
painful subject I beg to state that, at least as far as I was concerned,
the tradition had a firm foundation in my own predisposition for
uncouthness plus what _Le Matin_ (if we remember correctly) cleverly
nicknamed _La Boue Heroique_.
Having accomplished the _nettoyage_ (at which we were by this time
adepts, thanks to Mr. A.'s habit of detailing us to wash any car which
its driver and _aide_ might consider too dirty a task for their own
hands) we proceeded in search of a little water for personal use. B.
speedily finished his ablutions. I was strolling carelessly and solo from
the cook-wagon toward one of the two tents--which protestingly housed
some forty huddling Americans by night--holding in my hand an historic
_morceau de chocolat_, when a spick, not to say span, gentleman in a
suspiciously quiet French uniform allowed himself to be driven up to the
_bureau_, by two neat soldiers with tin derbies, in a Renault whose
painful cleanliness shamed my recent efforts. This must be a general at
least, I thought, regretting the extremely undress character of my
uniform, which uniform consisted of overalls and a cigarette.
Having furtively watched the gentleman alight and receive a ceremonious
welcome from the chief and the aforesaid French lieutenant who
accompanied the section for translatory reasons, I hastily betook myself
to one of the tents, where I found B. engaged in dragging all his
belongings into a central pile of frightening proportions. He was
surrounded by a group of fellow-heroes who hailed my coming with
considerable enthusiasm. "Your bunky's leaving" said somebody. "Going to
Paris" volunteered a man who had been trying for three months to get
there. "Prison you mean" remarked a confirmed optimist whost disposition
had felt the effects of French climate.
Albeit confused by the eloquence of B.'s unalterable silence, I
immediately associated his present predicament with the advent of the
mysterious stranger, and forthwith dashed forth, bent on demanding from
one of the tin-derbies the high identity and sacred mission of this
personage. I knew that with the exception of ourselves everyone in the
section had been given his seven days' leave--even two men who had
arrived later than we and whose turn should, consequently, have come
after ours. I also knew that at the headquarters of the Ambulance, _7 rue
Francois Premier_, was Monsieur Norton, the supreme head of the Norton
Harjes fraternity, who had known my father in other days. Putting two and
two together I decided that this potentate had sent an emissary to Mr. A.
to demand an explanation of the various and sundry insults and
indignities to which I and my friend had been subjected, and more
particularly to secure our long-delayed permission. Accordingly I was in
high spirits as I rushed toward the _bureau_.
I didn't have to go far. The mysterious one, in conversation with
_monsieur le sous-lieutenant_, met me half-way. I caught the words: "And
Cummings" (the first and last time that my name was correctly pronounced
by a Frenchman), "where is he?"
"Present," I said, giving a salute to which neither of them paid the
slightest attention.
"Ah yes" impenetrably remarked the mysterious one in positively sanitary
English. "You shall put all your baggage in the car, at once"--then, to
tin-derby-the-first, who appeared in an occult manner at his master's
elbow--"Go with him, get his baggage, at once."
My things were mostly in the vicinity of the _cuisine_, where lodged the
_cuisinier, mechanician, menusier_, etc., who had made room for me (some
ten days since) on their own initiative, thus saving me the humiliation
of sleeping with nineteen Americans in a tent which was always two-thirds
full of mud. Thither I led the tin-derby, who scrutinised everything with
surprising interest. I threw _mes affaires_ hastily together (including
some minor accessories which I was going to leave behind, but which the
t-d bade me include) and emerged with a duffle-bag under one arm and a
bed-roll under the other, to encounter my excellent friends, the "dirty
Frenchmen," aforesaid. They all popped out together from one door,
looking rather astonished. Something by way of explanation as well as
farewell was most certainly required, so I made a speech in my best
French:
"Gentlemen, friends, comrades--I am going away immediately and shall be
guillotined tomorrow."
--"Oh hardly guillotined I should say," remarked t-d, in a voice which
froze my marrow despite my high spirits; while the cook and carpenter
gaped audibly and the mechanician clutched a hopelessly smashed
carburetor for support.
One of the section's _voitures_, a F.I.A.T., was standing ready. General
Nemo sternly forbade me to approach the Renault (in which B.'s baggage
was already deposited) and waved me into the F.I.A.T., bed, bed-roll and
all; whereupon t-d leaped in and seated himself opposite me in a position
of perfect unrelaxation, which, despite my aforesaid exultation at
quitting the section in general and Mr. A. in particular, impressed me as
being almost menacing. Through the front window I saw my friend drive
away with t-d Number 2 and Nemo; then, having waved hasty farewell to all
_les Americains_ that I knew--three in number--and having exchanged
affectionate greetings with Mr. A. (who admitted he was very sorry indeed
to lose us), I experienced the jolt of the clutch--and we were off in
pursuit.
Whatever may have been the forebodings inspired by t-d Number 1's
attitude, they were completely annihilated by the thrilling joy which I
experienced on losing sight of the accursed section and its asinine
inhabitants--by the indisputable and authentic thrill of going somewhere
and nowhere, under the miraculous auspices of someone and no one--of
being yanked from the putrescent banalities of an official non-existence
into a high and clear adventure, by a _deus ex machina_ in a grey-blue
uniform, and a couple of tin derbies. I whistled and sang and cried to my
_vis-a-vis_: "By the way, who is yonder distinguished gentleman who has
been so good as to take my friend and me on this little promenade?"--to
which, between lurches of the groaning F.I.A.T., t-d replied awesomely,
clutching at the window for the benefit of his equilibrium: "Monsieur le
Ministre de Surete de Noyon."
Not in the least realizing what this might mean, I grinned. A responsive
grin, visiting informally the tired cheeks of my _confrere_, ended by
frankly connecting his worthy and enormous ears which were squeezed into
oblivion by the oversize _casque_. My eyes, jumping from those ears, lit
on that helmet and noticed for the first time an emblem, a sort of
flowering little explosion, or hair-switch rampant. It seemed to me very
jovial and a little absurd.
"We're on our way to Noyon, then?"
T-d shrugged his shoulders.
Here the driver's hat blew off. I heard him swear, and saw the hat
sailing in our wake. I jumped to my feet as the F.I.A.T. came to a sudden
stop, and started for the ground--then checked my flight in mid-air and
landed on the seat, completely astonished. T-d's revolver, which had
hopped from its holster at my first move, slid back into its nest. The
owner of the revolver was muttering something rather disagreeable. The
driver (being an American of Vingt-et-Un) was backing up instead of
retrieving his cap in person. My mind felt as if it had been thrown
suddenly from fourth into reverse. I pondered and said nothing.
On again--faster, to make up for lost time. On the correct assumption
that t-d does not understand English the driver passes the time of day
through the minute window:
"For Christ's sake, Cummings, what's up?"
"You got me," I said, laughing at the delicate naivete of the question.
"Did y' do something to get pinched?"
"Probably," I answered importantly and vaguely, feeling a new dignity.
"Well, if you didn't, maybe B---- did."
"Maybe," I countered, trying not to appear enthusiastic. As a matter of
fact I was never so excited and proud. I was, to be sure, a criminal!
Well, well, thank God that settled one question for good and all--no more
_Section Sanitaire_ for me! No more Mr. A. and his daily lectures on
cleanliness, deportment, etc.! In spite of myself I started to sing. The
driver interrupted:
"I heard you asking the tin lid something in French. Whadhesay?"
"Said that gink in the Renault is the head cop of Noyon," I answered at
random.
"GOODNIGHT. Maybe we'd better ring off, or you'll get in wrong with"--he
indicated t-d with a wave of his head that communicated itself to the car
in a magnificent skid; and t-d's derby rang out as the skid pitched t-d
the length of the F.I.A.T.
"You rang the bell then," I commented--then to t-d: "Nice car for the
wounded to ride in," I politely observed. T-d answered nothing....
Noyon.
We drive straight up to something which looks unpleasantly like a feudal
dungeon. The driver is now told to be somewhere at a certain time, and
meanwhile to eat with the Head Cop, who may be found just around the
corner--(I am doing, the translating for t-d)--and, oh yes, it seems that
the Head Cop has particularly requested the pleasure of this
distinguished American's company at _dejeuner_.
"Does he mean me?" the driver asked innocently.
"Sure," I told him.
Nothing is said of B. or me.
Now, cautiously, t-d first and I a slow next, we descend. The F.I.A.T.
rumbles off, with the distinguished one's backward-glaring head poked out
a yard more or less and that distinguished face so completely surrendered
to mystification as to cause a large laugh on my part.
"You are hungry?"
It was the erstwhile-ferocious speaking. A criminal, I remembered, is
somebody against whom everything he says and does is very cleverly made
use of. After weighing the matter in my mind for some moments I decided
at all cost to tell the truth, and replied:
"I could eat an elephant."
Hereupon t-d lead me to the Kitchen Itself, set me to eat upon a stool,
and admonished the cook in a fierce voice:
"Give this great criminal something to eat in the name of the French
Republic!"
And for the first time in three months I tasted Food.
Actually I find this list pretty good.
I think Donald Rumsfeld belongs somewhere in the top 10.
cd-editor
Book Review
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead Books Publ. 371 pages , $10.95
This is a terrible book! I will get to that statement in a minute.
This is the author's first book and I seriously doubt that he can repeat at this level, because this will one day be considered a classic.
The prose is that of a simple man with profound things to say and he says it in such a way that you will never forget the story.
The story is that of a boy growing up in Afghanistan in the last thirty years. A time of national and cultural upheaval equal to any cataclysmic event of past history.
Now, why this is a terrible book.
As you read this book, it will cause introspection of your past life; and especially in those areas where you have hidden guilt. It will harrow up such pain of conscience that you will suffer as did the main character, Amir.
I suspect that we all have things that we had just as soon forget. This story will not allow you to forget and that my friends is very painful to the point of making you wonder why you can't put this book down once you start to read.
I guess it is because we all want to find resolution and peace.
Read this book at your own risk and expect to see the devil in your soul.
cd-editor
Book Review:
What's Right With Islam Is What's Right With America
by Iman Feisal Abdul Rauf, Harper Collins Publ., 314 pages, $9.95
The book contains the good, the bad and the ulgy.
First the good:
The author is brilliant, well read and seemly a good person. He has many ideas that would help solve the problems between Muslims and Americans if we were smart enough to listen.
I learned a great deal about Islam, U.S. laws, and sociology.
Next the bad:
The author has the tendency to speak of what Islam is supposed to be, not what it actually is.
This is like forgetting to mention blood oaths when describing Mormonism.
He continually goes back to the example of ninth century Spain and the Cordoba Caliphate as an example of a near perfect society ruled by an Islamic Caliph. This is a case of revisionist history. The Muslims might have been considered tolerant by ninth century standards, but that tolerance would be considered on a terroristic level today.
Lastly the ulgy:
The Quran has many passages that are revulsive to any sane person. It is no different than the Old Testament in this regard. A rather large percentage of the fundalmentalist Islamic community are bigots at the best and demoniac at their worse.
This is a book that all Americans need to read.
I hope that Imam Rauf is successful in narrowing the gulf between our two civilizations.
cd-editor
Book Review
History of the Goths by Herwig Wolfram
University of California Press, 1988, 613 pages with 8 pages of maps, $26.00
I am not sure why anyone would want to know 613 pages worth about the Goths.
This tome was difficult because the author expected the reader to have a working knowledge of Roman history.
I did learn that the Roman empire was possible mainly because the Gothic army supplied a large part of the cavalry for the Roman army, without which they would have been defeated.
I guess this book is one you read after you retire.
cd-editor
Book Review
The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong
Anchor Books , 306 pages, $9.95
This is an interesting autobiography of a nun that left her order, the Catholic Church and found God.
It is a limited look at the culture of convent life in the 1960's.
I personally don't agree with all of her conclusions, but that is not to say that I don't find them interesting.
Some interesting ideas she put forth:
Any statement about God must have two characteristics. It must be paradoxical to remind us that God cannot be contained in a neat, coherent system of thought; and it must be apophatic, that is, it should lead us to a moment of silent awe or wonder, because when we are speaking of the reality of God we are at the end of what words or thoughts can usefully do.
Blind obedience and unthinking acceptance of authority figures may make an institution work more smoothly, but the people who live under such a regime will remain in an infantile, dependent state.
A thought provoking book that is worth your investment if you are trying to understand mankind's search for God.
cd-editor
Book Review:
The Last Lion - Winston Spencer Churchill - Alone 1932 - 1940
by William Manchester, Little Brown publ., 756 pages , $24.95
An indepth look at one of the giants of the 20th century.
Manchester helps us look inside the man that had much to do in setting the course of freedom in our time.
We see Churchill both as a genius in the realm of world affairs and as a disfunctional husband and parent.
The burden of history is often the scourge of a normal life and Churchill is a prime example.
Despite his failings, he will stand as one of the great men of history.
cd-editor
Book Review
The Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal
Little Brown and Co. Publ. 315 pages $26.95
Mrs. Menocal has written a seminal work that brings light to understanding how knowledge is transferred from one culture to the next.
This book was written to explain how Muslims, Jews, and Christians created a culture of tolerance in medieval Spain.
Andalusian Spain created a society of tolerance that begs the question - do we have the courage to create a society that can live with its own flagrant contradictions?
If you read only one book of history this year, make it this book.
cd-editor
Book Review
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
Penguin Books , 509 pages , $16.00
After three weeks of hard reading, I finally finished this book.
I still can't put it down.
Controversial is a weak term for this work. It is more along the line of OHMYGOD!
Having a working knowledge of genetics, I found the book to be a layman's primer. That is meant to be praise. The author writes with wit and yet does not mince the science.
Most of the book was not a surprise and as I read it and I kept saying to myself, "Yeah, I believe that".
What did shake my floor joist, was the section on children.
Chapter 19, Children, pages 372 to 399 is revelation.
Having raised nine children, I thought I was some kind of authority on the subject. When I first read this section, I thought to myself, "This guy has got to be kidding". Then I began to re-read and think about my children as individuals.
I have seen the light!
Every parent or anyone that expects to become a parent needs to at least read this one chapter of this book. I suspect your first reaction will be like mine, "This guy is crazy". Don't stop reading at that point. Be open minded and think about your relationship with your parents and think about your ability to influence your own children. Eureka!
Those of you that have an effusion for the metaphysical will probably need oxygen and nitroglycerin handy as your read this book.
Good, it will mean that you are open minded.
cd-editor
Book Review - Fiction
Saving Faith by David Baldacci , Warner Books, 451 pages, $26.95
NYT best seller.
As I suspect you know, I only read fiction if I am caught without anything else to read. That happen this last week while I was in Georgia.
This book is entertaining but is typical of most popular fiction in that it is just opium for the mind.
This is a typical spy, FBI, CIA, who done it.
If you read for fun and not knowledge, it will occupy your mind for a few hours and you will come away with the gratification of knowing the ending after reading the first page.
cd-editor
Book Review
How Democratic is the American Constitution? by Robert A. Dahl , Yale University Press,
224 pages, $10.95 2002
This short book is a good look at the origin and key government institutions that developed from the concepts in the U.S. Constitution.
Robert Dahl will cause one to reconsider the statements made in the Doctrine & Covenants Section 101: 77 -80.
How can it be possible that this Constitution was set up by God for the "rights and protection of all flesh" when it upheld slavery, kept women as chattel and basically limited rights to men of property?
It is true the thirty-nine men that signed this document said that they did so under the direction of God, but he appears to not have been a just God.
This book will give you insight into why we have elected so many presidents with a negative plurality.
cd-editor
Book Review
The Use of Force - Military Power and International Politics , Sixth Edition,
edited by Robert J. Art and Kenneth N. Waltz , 483 pages $23.00
This book is indispensible for the serious student of foreign relations.
It is a slow read because it requires one to reflect upon past history and correlate current events.
The coverage of nuclear deterrence is outstanding and the up to date look at terrorism is timely.
The authors of the different chapters are savants in their field.
cd-editor
Book Review
The Last Promise by Richard Paul Evans, Dutton Press $22.95 , 290 pages
This is a love story along the lines of Love Story of the 70's. It is the Italian version.
It is set in Tuscany and I guess I especially enjoyed the story, not only because I am a romantic, but because I visited the area last year.
Thats Florence not romance.
cd-editor
Book Review
The Lasko Tangent by Richard North Patterson - Ballatine Books, paperback 349 pages, 50 cents at most garage sales.
This book is an Edgar Award winner.
A fast paced, stock swindle, government corruption page turner that will keep you up until the last page.
cd
Book Review
The End of Oil by Paul Roberts , Houghton Mifflin Co. 2004 389 pages, $26.00
In my opinion this is a must read for anyone that will be alive in 2015.
This book covers the energy problems that confront the world and especially the pollution from hydrocarbon usage.
This book is a report of facts and figures and not the opinion of the author. Don't make the mistake of thinking this book is a liberal view just because it has a very negative view of the Bush Administrations energy policy.
The author just lays the facts on the table and lets you come to your own conclusion. I guarantee that your opinion will be that we are in deep trouble.
cd-editor
Heads will roll as soon as Dubya figures out where to start chopping.
He has already cut off both his own legs.
cd
The Quiet American by Graham Greene , The Modern Library, 247 pages, $14.95
This book was first published in 1955.
It is historical fiction that covers the French colonialism in Indo-China.
It is a shame that John F. Kennedy did not read this book before he made the same mistakes in Vietnam.
It is a shame that George W. Bush did not read this book before he made the same mistakes in Iraq.
He who does not learn from history, tends to repeat it.
If you have not read this book, now is a good time.
Richard, I think you will rank this book as informative as A Bright and Shinning Lie.
cd-editor
Book Review:
How You Can Find Happiness During The Collapse of Western Civilization by Robert J. Ringer. Harper Row Publ. 261 pages, should be free
I read this book in an effort to understand the politics of a friend in Louisiana.
I was not successful.
I understand that the word radical is not often used linked to the word conservative, but it applies in this case.
This author is a radical conservative and it's scary.
I will not try to explain his politics because it would not make sense to any sane educated individual.
Let's just put this book in the dust bin of obduracy.
cd-editor
Book Review:
Breaking Faith, the Pope, the People, and the Fate of Catholicism by John Cronwell, Viking Compass Press, 310 pages, $24.95 (I found this book on the Barnes and Noble bargain table for $1.99)
No matter which church you are a member, if you love the church, you need to read this book.
This book is a religious autobiography of John Cronwell and his search for the truth in his beloved Catholic Church.
His observations are pertinent to all churches and all parishioners relationship to those churches.
He was raised in the church, trained in the priesthood, lost his faith and then returned to find his soul.
His observations on the strenghts and weaknesses of organized religion are revealing.
His thesis on the problem of claiming infallibility and thereby being unable to change as the world culture matures is preponderant.
He examines the dogmatic juggling of these churches as they try to maintain membership and control of that membership.
This book is eye-opening for members and would be of great worth to leaders if they were open-minded.
cd-editor
Book Review
The Social Construction Of What? by Ian Hacking, Harvard University Press
261 pages, $14.95
I read this book about six months ago and to be honest had no idea what he was talking about.
Since that time I have read The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand and various articles on the origin of ideas. The latest was The Dictionary of Disorder by Alix Spiegel in the January 3, 2005 issue of The New Yorker.
Revelation - this book not only makes sense, it is a rainmaker on the order of a perfect storm.
Look at the following excerpt on the subject of child abuse.
"Child abuse is an interactive kind. Interactive kinds interact with people and their behavior... We can well understand how new kinds create new possibilities for choice and action.
But the past, of course, is fixed! Not so...
If new kinds are selected, then the past can occur in a new world. Events in life can now be seen as events in a new kind, a kind that may not have been conceptualized when the event was experienced or the act performed. What we experience becomes recollected anew, and thoughts in terms that could not have been thought of at the time. Experiences are not only redescribed; they are refelt." (page 130)
Social construction is how we make sense of life; but remember it is constructed.
cd-editor
Book Review
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albon , Hyperon Press,
$19.95 (you can get it much cheaper at Amazon.com) 196 pages.
This is a little life message book that you can read in a couple of hours.
It is the 21st Century version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
It describes the afterlife with a different twist but good storyline.
It's fiction, but I know it's true.
cd-editor
Politics - Observations & Arguments, 1966-2004
by Hendrik Hertzberg, The Penguin Press, 683 pages, $29.95
An expensive book that is worth every penny of the of the $29.95.
This book is not for the closed-minded.
Hertzberg writes for the more liberal press and this book is mainly a compilation of his articles.
His ability to state the two sides of an argument and then come to logical conclusions is relative to todays world of mass confusion.
Read this book if you dare. It could change your life.
cd