Cold (blooded) War - US Style

The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins

New York: Public Affairs, c2020, 2021.

ix, 340 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm  

It's hard to say whether US citizens have very short memories or face such a powerful propaganda apparatus that it takes a bit of hard work and (soul-crushing honesty) to learn the dirty truths of US history and foreign policy. Considering this, books like The Jakarta Method are wonderful (and painful) antidotes to the flood of official misinformation and willful forgetting that plague the US. 

How many US citizens realize that their government actively helped and encouraged the slaughter of about 1 million unarmed, harmless, and law-abiding civilians in Indonesia in 1965 because of their actual or alleged connections to the completely legal and open communist party of Indonesia.  And how many people who know of this vaguely or in more detail, know that it set the pattern for US sponsored/supported ruthless attacks on civilians in Asia, Africa, Central and South America? Bevins does a remarkable job of pulling together this lethal history from the overthrow of Iran to the rise of the extremist president Bolsonaro in Brazil. The reader learns about the deep connections of the Indonesian slaughter with slaughter and atrocities in Brazil, Guatemala, Angola, Vietnam and other states. The numbers and cruelty are truly appalling.

Bevins also does a good job in scoping out to consider the profound effects that such widespread and cold-blooded killing has had in shaping the world we live in now.  He questions what it means to "win" the Cold War when the means were so depraved and terrible.  He wonders about what kind of world we might live in if the pro-democracy, constitutional parties that leaned left or opposed US hegemony had been allowed to survive. Would we see the same appalling wealth inequalities that plague the world, would the rule of law be stronger, and would there be better human rights protections today? 

His book is profound and timely as both in the US and abroad many leaders are encouraging authoritarian rule and promoting lies and violence as a way to preserve their power.

It is a book I highly recommend.

Fiery Brown

A Volcano Beneath the Snow: John Brown's War Against Slavery by Albert Marrin
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2014]
244 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.

Like many of the history non-fiction books published with the high school audience in mind, this book has an appealing layout with lots of great photos, reproductions, etc.  It makes for a readable history.  I also like that the length of these non-fiction books is long enough for a substantive treatment of the topic, but not so exhaustive as to be daunting.

I read this book because I really wanted to learn more about John Brown and his passionate fight against slavery in the US and his willingness to die for the cause. 

Marrin does a good job describing the life of Brown and the back drop of slavery - especially the way in which slavers decided that they had to expand slavery in the US to keep their power.  He also illuminates the way in which Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry pushed the coming Civil War even closer.  But I think the biggest weakness is that Marrin tries to highlight the radical and "terrorist" nature of John Brown's actions (for example his execution of unarmed prisoners in Kansas) without fully illuminating the absolute horrors and terrorism of the slave labor system.  Having read The Half Has Never Been Told, I am aware that the cotton-slavery system that evolved after 1820 was an even more vicious, brutal and horrid system of torture/slavery that what already existed before 1820.  I think it is a good thing that Marrin wants students to really wrestle with the complexities of when or if illegal, violent action is acceptable.  But to do that you have to really be honest about the system that that action was targeting - and I don't think Marrin succeeded in that.

I would still recommend the book since it is a thorough treatment of Brown's life and conveys a lot of the dynamics of the time.     

His Last Battle

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant
New York : Barnes & Noble, 2003.
xxx, 820 p. : ill., maps ; 21 cm.

I've been wanting to read this memoir ever since I saw a quote of Mark Twain's praising it as one of the finest pieces of American writing.

The back story of this book (which is told in the introduction of this volume) is also pretty amazing.  Retired from the military and from being President, Grant had lost all his money and so set about writing the book to raise money for his family.  About the same time he began writing he was stricken with throat cancer and so began his race against death to finish his work.  Like his campaigns in the Civil War, he was successful - dying three days after finalizing his manuscript, and making his widow and survivors wealthy with the royalties from his book which ended up being a huge bestseller.

But how is the book? I would agree that it is very well written, and reveals Grant's subtle, but sharp intellect.  It is also very interesting to see Grant carefully praising and criticizing some of the generals of both sides.  He also has a well argued discussion of why the war was so difficult for the North to win.  The only downside for me was that much of the book is taken up with detail after detail of tactics and troop movements.  The maps are not very clear or helpful.  But aside from these issues, I'm glad I read it and it made me curious to learn more about Grant's presidency - which is not covered at all in the book (and is considered to be one the most corrupt in US history).

Probably one of the most compelling aspects of Grant's life, is that he really was a "nobody," from a modest background and with no early signs of being successful as a leader or tactician.  His memoir can serve as a testament to the potentials that are often hidden within individuals - especially those who have not had great successes in their past.  In this vein, Ta-Nehisi Coates gives a spirited endorsement of Grant's Memoirs - especially noting the unfounded suggestions that it was written by Mark Twain.

A great historical read, but probably best for students with a keen interest in the Civil War.

Battle Cry Is Great History

Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War Era by James M. McPherson
Oxford [U.K.] ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2003, c1988.
xix, 909 p. : ill., maps, music ; 24 cm.

If you are looking for a one volume history of the Civil War instead of reading five or six separate Civil War histories, then you can't go wrong with McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom.  It's a masterful handling of the war that ripped the US apart for four extremely bloody years.  Given the quality and clarity of the narrative, I'm not surprised that the book was a huge bestseller and won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for History.

McPherson begins his book with the US-Mexican War and builds a sound case for considering enslavement (and the unyielding defense of slavery's expansion and power) as the ultimate cause and fight of the war.  McPherson also gives great attention to the cultural and political movements involved before, during and immediately after the Civil War.

It's not a short book (about 900 pages), but it is well written and illustrated with interesting photos and a number of very clear maps.

I read this book this summer as a prelude to reading the Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.  It was a really helpful preparation for Grant's long work.  I would highly recommend it.

Rough Cotton

The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E. Baptist
New York : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2014]
xxvii, 498 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.

Read this book!  If you love history, read this book. If you want to see US history in a very new way, read this book.  If you want to have many of your assumptions about slavery and the Civil War turned on their heads, read this book.  The Half Has Never Been Told is long, complicated, riveting, and incredibly well written - read it!  For me this book brought to mind the books - Slavery by Another Name and Guns Germs and Steel - for it's power to tilt one's understanding of history and how power works.

I can't say enough about what an important and interesting book this is.  I'll be recommending it to any students who love history, and to any teachers interested in history.

Lastly, I'd be remiss not to note that I first heard of this book on a list of recommended books from Ta-Nehisi Coates who's book Between the World and Me is another book to recommend again and again!  

Not Your Great Grandfather's War

Bitterly Divided by David Williams
New York : New Press, 2010, c2008.
Pbk. ed.
310 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.

This is one of those great history books that causes you to rethink the things you thought you knew about a major event.  In this case, the author is reexamining the Civil War - particularly the prevailing view of the Confederacy as society committed in wartime to the success of an overwhelmingly popular cause - the the desire to preserve secession and the white southern way of life.

Williams instead details how the secession movement was an anti-democratic takeover of southern legislatures by powerful elites - especially the large slaveholders.  He presents a wealth of documentation showing that secession never had a popular mandate - until armed conflict actually broke out.  Williams also points out that the Confederacy had to rely on severe conscription laws to fill the ranks of the army and how the exemption of large slaveholders created mass discontent. Finally Williams documents how the large landholders of the Confederacy contributed to the defeat of the South by dedicating much of their land to luxury items on which they could make exorbitant profits (due to the blockade) instead of foodstuffs that would have helped feed the soldiers and their families who struggled to feed themselves due to shortages and the lack of manpower.

The book is a powerful indictment of war profiteering and the exploitation of the lower classes by the rich southern aristocracy during the Civil War - themes that still have resonance in the current US landscape of war and wealth inequities.

Bloody Times

This Hallowed Ground by Bruce Catton
New York : Vintage Books, 2012, c1956.
1st Vintage Civil War library ed.
ix, 437 p. : maps ; 21 cm.

In the 1950s and 60s Bruce Catton was recognized as the essential and most popular historian of the Civil War.  He has written many volumes on those terrible years of 1861 to 1865 - such as A Stillness at Appomattox which our library also owns.  Though not read as much of late, I was pleased to see this one-volume history of the Civil War reissued in 2012.

I can understand why Catton was so popular.  This history is very readable and engaging and offers a great overview of the important events and battles of the Civil War.  It lacks some of the more interesting social and personal perspectives that a more recent history of the war might have, but it is nonetheless a compelling read.  Catton is able to present the long and complex campaigns of the Civil War in a way that is fairly easy to follow.

I would definitely recommend this book to a student looking for a good introductory narrative of the Civil War.