An Embarrassment of Riches

A Man for all Readers - by Rachael Recently Heidi wrote about The Tudors in this blog, reminding me of my own failed attempt to watch that program. Which is not to fault the program - it’s likely that I would have really enjoyed it - if I had not read Wolf Hall first.

Wolf Hall is about Henry’s advisor Thomas Cromwell, and over the course of reading I had grown to think of Thomas Cromwell as ‘Cromwell my Cromwell’.

Throughout the book Hilary Mantel creates a feeling that you are sitting on Cromwell’s shoulder, experiencing the world with him, from the blacksmith’s son to the Cardinal’s councilor to the King’s chief minister. Through humiliation, manipulation, and the plague.

And I adored Mantel’s Cromwell, this extremely intelligent, ruthlessly pragmatic man, who loves his family so deeply and understands that they are all just as human as he is. The writing in Wolf Hall is not complex, but the ideas are -- power, the Reformation, the inevitably democratizing effects of literacy.

It gave me a hunger for more on the Tudors. So I tried A Man for all Seasons, various BBC documentaries, and The Tudors. None satisfied.

I only want ‘my Cromwell’, not other representations. Or the facts.

Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived - by Heidi

Simple enough to remember and a glorious, larger than life story to watch.

I just finished watching The Tudors, the story of King Henry VIII and his six wives. The writing and acting are good and the costumes and settings beautiful. The beheadings, burnings, battle scenes, hangings, urine, feces, vomit, blood, scabrous beggars... well, those just add a little accurate historical color. There's one execution in particular where the screams of the condemned - well, the actor really hit the right pitch to convey the hysterically desperate howl of a man in mortal agony and terror. I suspect he had a sore throat by the end of the filming that scene. I admit to a little queasiness after that scene.

The drama of a king who thinks himself divinely appointed, who holds the power of life and death and has a horde of wives and mistresses to get through in four short seasons makes for interesting television. The history isn't too bad either, though Showtime wanted good television, not a history lesson.

Each episode left me wondering what would happen next. The characters of the wives were well drawn. One was just too stupid to live, another a tragic figure. Wife number four, Anne of Cleves, actually got a rather good deal out of her hasty obedience to the king's demand for divorce. She was given a settlement that left her wealthy and was treated with friendship by the king, all because she was clever enough to see the headman's ax in the shadows.

The four seasons of The Tudors served as an admirable distraction while I wait impatiently for Game of Thrones on HBO this April 17th.  If it comes close to the quality of The Tudors in acting, writing and production, I'll be nigh ecstatic.

Tocqueville and US: An Endearing Honesty - by Helen

A new edition of Letters from America by Alexis de Tocqueville has arrived at the library and what a find it is for me! Chatty, opinionated and full of history from the perspective of a Frenchman in America, these letters were written in 1831 and many of the trends and characteristics that struck Tocqueville are still evident even today. I can't resist commenting below.

His main opinion about the American character is that Americans have an "immoderate appetite for wealth, and a desire to get rich quickly."

Did this play out in the financial melt down of recent years?

He also characterizes Americans as living "in perpetual fickleness, a continual need for change, the total absence of old traditions, ancient mores, a commercial and mercantile spirit applied to the most incongruous things."

Perhaps this seeking spirit is why we are such an inventive, creative and industrious people today.

He and his companion and fellow lawyer, Gustave de Beaumont came to America to study the American prison system. They wrote that in the prisons of New York absolute silence was required of all inmates and harsh punishment for violations was rigorously applied. Tocqueville goes on to say, "Strength lies not in numbers but in association, and thirty individuals united by constant communication, ideas, common projects, schemes, have more effective power than nine hundred people whose isolation is their fatal flaw."

Does our strength lie in always being in touch through Facebook, Twitter and texting?

Tocqueville was concerned for his family left in France during much political turmoil. He writes, "While the political world engenders revolutions in Europe, here physical nature is prey to frightful convulsions. All the talk is about enormous hurricanes and appalling devastations; New Orleans, the Antilles, have been the theater of these calamities."

I couldn't help, but think about the recent devastation in New Orleans and Haiti.

De Tocqueville and Beaumont, visit the virgin forests of the Detroit area. I was surprised when he wrote, "some of the forest dwellers use the bears as guard dogs; I saw a few tethered near doorways."

I was also surprised to learn that "The custom among women of the forests (Chactas Indian)  is to have their feet pointing inward...It is achieved by binding the feet of female infants. By age twenty, a woman walks pigeon-toed, and the more pigeon-toed her walk the more fashionable she is thought to be."

I admire Tocqueville's endearing honesty: "In short, there is no one in the world I know less well than myself; I am a permanently insoluble problem. I have a very cool head and a reasoning--even calculating--mind; at the same time, ardent passions carry me off without convincing me, subdue my will without compromising my reason. I see the good very clearly, and spit it every day."

Tocqueville is clearly thinking of writing a book about his experiences and ideas about America when he writes, "I shall write what I think or write nothing at all, while bearing in mind that wisdom does not want every truth aired." This book would be his famous Democracy in America published in 1835.

My friend told me about a 2006 book by the Frenchman Barnard Henri Levy called American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville. He apparently traveled in America recently. Shall I make this my next read? What new surprises will I find?

The Tudors, Season 2, Haiku too - by Steve

A son? No. A son?
Not quite yet, Your Majesty.
Get me a new wife!

Tudors: The Complete First Season

Tudors: The Complete Second Season

Tudors: The Complete Third Season

For the first season Haiku review, click here.

Our Best Idea by guest blogger Martha

Our guest blogger is Martha, who is the Reference Coordinator for the library.

The summer after my freshman year of college I followed a cute boy West to Yellowstone National Park where we had jobs waiting tables. That summer I fell madly in love, not with the boy, but with the park. I was floored by the majesty of the wilderness. Watching Ken Burns' recent series The National Parks: America's Best Idea rekindled that passion and my desire to learn more about our National Parks.

As luck would have it Timothy Egan has a new book out called The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America. It’s a beautifully written account of the formation of the national forest service, the American conservation movement, Roosevelt and Pinchot’s passion for the wilderness, and a heartbreaking account of the fire of 1910. Growing up in the Midwest I didn't know very much about the fire of 1910 and was surprised to lean it was the largest wildfire in American history. Egan says in less than two days, it torched more than three million acres, burned five towns to the ground, and killed nearly one hundred people. To give some perspective, he explains, it’s like having the entire state of Connecticut burn in one weekend.
Egan has a delightful writing style; it’s as if he’s flopped on your living room couch regaling you with a tale filled with passion, drama, and politics. As a presidential history fan I loved reading about Roosevelt’s relationship with Gifford Pinchot; it was something I hadn't read about in other Roosevelt biographies.
Mr. Egan was recently interviewed by NPR and I expect that explains the large hold list on this book. If you need a national park fix while waiting for The Big Burn you can try the book version of the series (The National Parks: An Illustrated History), Norman MacLean's Young Men & Fire or Gifford Pinchot’s autobiography Breaking New Ground.

True Life Comic Book Heroes - by Alison Comic books are full of charismatic leaders locked in desperate struggles, but a vast majority of these are fictional. It's perspective-changing when comics are used to tell stories of real people. One such book is Louis Riel: A Comic Strip Biography, by Chester Brown. Riel is a character of mythic proportions in Canadian history. He butted heads with the newly established government of Canada, starting in 1869 when he led the Red River Rebellion. Riel was a leader who believed he was divinely chosen to protect and defend the rights of the Metis - descendants of First Nations people and Europeans who suffered persecution from the wider culture. Brown tells the story of Riel's fights and flights back and forth across the Canadian border, from Manitoba, to Montana and then to Saskatchewan, where he was eventually arrested for treason and hanged. The minimalist color scheme and Brown's crisp drawings create a suspenseful story that could otherwise come across as a dry recitation of historical fact. If you never thought you'd read a comic book, but are a history buff, give this a try. Find out more about the intriguing Louis Riel here.

Property - by Felicia If you’re looking for a compelling short novel, Property by Valerie Martin won’t disappoint. Written from the view of a white female slave owner, Manon Gaudet, the book introduces us to a familiar scenario — a woman in an unhappy marriage. The difference is that few novels give us such an honest portrayal of white women who owned slaves and how they felt about their property.
At first, Manon seems to be no different than other women of this time period. But slowly we realize that this woman can only see beyond her own circumstances. Her husband, who according to Manon is dull as can be, does seem to try to win her affections. But he commits a common betrayal of slave owners and gets one of his slaves, Sarah, pregnant. Although Manon certainly doesn’t want him in her bed, she is disgusted that he would humiliate her and have a bastard with one of their slaves. Throughout the novel, she wishes him dead so that she can pursue a happier life. But Manon’s bitterness and loneliness will never allow her true happiness.
The author teases us with glimpses of Manon’s humanity but quickly extinguishes these by giving us insights into Manon’s lack of compassion for Sarah (or any other slave), who in no way wanted Manon’s husband’s attention. Manon is blithely unaware of the harsh, miserable life that Sarah must endure and sees her simply as a manipulative, conniving woman who doesn’t know her place. When Sarah runs away after a violent encounter with a group of runaway slaves who come to the house, Manon is determined to get her back. Sarah won’t be allowed any good fortune in her life if Manon can help it. And she does.
Compelling to read, this book reminds us of slavery’s long-reaching effect on everyone it touches. The author gives us a raw, brutal portrayal of these characters and draws us into a story that forces us to think about our own ideas of race and class.

Plumbing the Depths of a Good Story - by Ruth Sometimes once is not enough for me - seeing the movie Amadeus over and over again, eating corn on the cob four days in a row when it's in season, visiting Britain multiple times, walking along Nye Beach, and hiking in the Columbia Gorge.  For some authors, writing a story just once is not enough.  In recent years, a number of books for teens and kids have come out that are based on books written for adults.  This week I read a fantastic book for older kids and teens called Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson which is based on his Edgar Award winning book Manhunt: The Twelve Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. Swanson first describes the days leading up to the assassination, the prior plot to kidnap Lincoln, and the final plan to kill three of the most important political players of the day:  President Abraham Lincoln, Vice-President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William H. Seward.  He then takes the reader through the assassination and assassination attempts, the various get-aways, the eventual discovery of the culprits and their fates.  He gives just the right amount of detail about the major figures in the story, keeps the action moving, and provides well-placed illustrations including photos of the people involved, newspaper clippings and a map detailing the route of the assassins. 194 pages was probably enough for me, but if you want the full scoop, you can read all 448 pages of Manhunt.

Several other non-fiction adult books and their younger companions to check out are:
Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex and Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex
Mark Kurlansky's Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World and The Cod's Tale
Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal and Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food

Truth Through Fiction and The Known World - by Felicia I could never understand how free blacks could own other blacks. How could they justify this? The Known World, by Edward P. Jones, sheds some light on the topic, while making the devastation and tragedy of slavery in our country all too real. The main characters in this novel, both black and white, help us to understand the impact of this institution and how it affects us to this day.

Henry is a slave until the age of 14. Although he witnesses the atrocities of slavery, he is never a recipient of his master's abuses. A few years after his parents purchase his freedom, Henry purchases his own slave, and is reluctant to tell his parents he has done so. The scene that ensues is heartbreaking. His parents' question is a simple one: How could he become a slave owner when he himself has witnessed its evilness? His decision creates a schism between him and his parents that is never repaired.

Both black and white slave owners believe that they are doing the slaves a favor. Of course, the slaves are better off than they would be in Africa, where they were just savages. The way that the black slave owners view the slaves is particularly disturbing. They seem to feel no kinship with any of them, even those who were former slaves themselves. And if they must beat or maim their slaves, it's because they deserve it. How else to keep them from doing wrong?

One of the least surprising parts of the novel occurs when some free blacks are sold back into slavery. While a common practice, the affects of this practice are hard to read. In this one instant, the story changes from tragedy to horror.

Jones' story, though fiction, is all too real in its portrayal of the relationships among whites, free blacks and slaves and really helps us understand how the history of slavery still affects our morals and beliefs.

Haiku Review - The Tudors - by Steve

Tyrant king in love.
"I need a new wife now!"
Oops, more beheadings.

Tudors: The Complete First Season

Tudors: The Complete Second Season