Furthermore: Where the Headlines Take You

Unspoken Rules in Uncertain Times

With the eyes of the world on the U.S. due to our recent historic election I find myself reflecting on how the world sees us as a country. Sometimes an outsider's perspective can reveal a lot about the ways that we choose to live our lives. Here are a few titles that examine the often unspoken rules (some unbending, others surprisingly flexible) that govern our cultural and physical landscape.

Local publisher Graphic Arts Books is partly responsible for the prolific Culture Shock! series. Titles cover countries from all over the world but you'd have to read Culture Shock!- USA to find out that, "Americans can form relationships very quickly, but they don't often go deep. We constantly encounter new people we will never see again. Therefore we don't need to worry that our familiarity will entice them to become burdens to us." Author Esther Wanning provides useful insights into generalized American society as well as tips for those adjusting to life in the U.S. that might equally provide an opportunity for introspection for people already steeped in our culture. She even includes a quiz and a list of DOs and DON'Ts which are particularly useful: DO Arrive 10-15 late for a dinner party! DON'T try to bribe police or other officials!

Portland author Chuck Thompson's Smile While You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer is part expose and part thriller. Thompson may have burned some bridges in writing this book but what he reveals about the inner machinations of the travel writing industry will make you think twice about the effects of globalization the world and on the casual traveler and how those experiences differ from what is depicted in our travel magazines. The stories that appear here are more gritty, visceral and sincere than anything he could have gotten published as a travel writer. They detail experiences of a human scale. These are stories of one man making sense of the constraints of his chosen profession and the world at large simultaneously. Humorous and touching, Thompson's writing says much about an important way that we take in information about the world around us and about what we might find if are willing to challenge ourselves to experience travel on a more intimate level.

Few would argue with the idea that these are uncertain times. With so much public dialog focused on politics and culture I sometimes turn to science as a source of assurance. Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory is great popular science writing because it takes very recent, very challenging scientific developments and presents them in an easy to understand, entertaining fashion. I'll admit that there is some irony in recommending this book as a source of certainty in uncertain times since the discoveries described within it build on theories that embrace chaos, unpredictability and concepts of physics which feel quite surreal when compared to our everyday life. However, Greene's descriptions of reality at its most essential, profoundly minute level fill me with a sense of awe and possibility that is invigorating. Truly, these are the rules we live by. Nova produced a two DVD set that serves as a fun companion piece.

Scandals Past

Last Monday, Alaska's senior senator Ted Stevens was convicted on seven counts of lying on Senate financial documents. Hearing this story, I started thinking about other political and social scandals during my lifetime—bribery and payoffs by lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the Enron financial scandal, the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, the affair between White House intern Monica Lewinsky and then-president Bill Clinton, Oregon senator Bob Packwood's resignation after 29 women accused him of sexual harassment, and of course the Iran Contra debacle of the 1980s.

And then I wondered, is history full of fascinating scandals I don't know about? Scandals that happened before I was born, or before I began paying attention to the news? There must be! So, after thinking on this for awhile, and doing a little reading/research (surely you knew this was coming next. . .), I'm excited to recommend some fascinating books about scandals of the past.  And one feature film, to boot!

First up, how could I discuss books about political corruption, scandal, and shocking deeds of the past without mentioning local newspaper columnist Phil Stanford's Portland Confidential? Portland may seem like a wholesome place now, but back in the day everyone thought of the Rose City as a place where bribes were commonplace, corrupt union officials conspired with jaded government bureaucrats, and gangsters ran highly effective protection rackets. Among the tales Stanford relates is the story of the pinball wars of the 1950s. The pinball machines in question weren't the relatively kid-friendly games of today; they were more like slot machines—basically they were gambling devices that local crime organizations rented out to bars and other small businesses. Gangsters would convince a bar owner into hosting the pinball machine (sometimes with threats or other manipulation), and the owner would keep a small bit of the profit, giving most to the racket that provided the machines.

The drama of the pinball wars is laid out on the silver screen in the great B-movie Portland Exposé (the library's copy is packaged as a double bill with another B feature in a series called Forgotten Noir).  Portland Exposé pits local tavern owner George Madison and his hastily gathered cohort of right-thinking brave men (an honest union official, an out-of-favor crime boss, a couple of newspapermen, and an unusually un-corrupt police captain) against evil mobsters and corrupt Teamsters. And, as a side benefit, if you manage to watch the whole film—it is somewhat mediocre, plot-wise—you'll get to see a lot of loving footage of Portland landmarks, circa 1957.

To our south in California, the glamour and political pull of the movie industry has inspired all kinds of human temptation and shady dealing—and where shame and power come together, someone will eventually expose hidden deeds to the light of day. California Babylon by Kristan Lawson is your guide to crime scenes, assassination sites, abandoned utopias, and other California spots linked with scandal, excess, and sin.  This is an honest-to-goodness guidebook, so California-bound vacationers might want to take it along, but it's suitable for armchair travelers as well.

If this sampling of West Coast scandal doesn't satisfy, you might turn to a reference book that can get you started on any one of hundreds of stories of scandal from America's past: The Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals, and Dirty Politics, by Kim Long.  It's better for casual browsing than it is for reading straight through, but you are sure to find many diverting stories of wrong-doing, dirty-dealing, and bad apples.