Blood Brothers: The Dramatic Story of a Palestinian Christian Working for Peace in Israel by Elias Chacour
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really liked this book. It’s the autobiography of Elias Chacour a Palestinian Christian living in the Galilee area. He was a young boy when Palestine was partitioned followed shortly by the formation of the State of Israel and the war of 1948. The area in which the Chacours lived became part of Israel and they were forced to leave their village. Elias eventually went to school in Haifa and then to a seminary and became a priest.

It is an amazing story and Chacour presents a view of the history of the Middle East that is not often seen or heard. But beyond the first person description of how the Six Day War, for example, affected the Christian and Palestinian communities, it’s also the story of Chacour putting aside his anger and becoming a servant of God. I think everyone who is thinking about becoming a priest or a pastor should read the chapter about his first church assignment!

This is a compelling story and well worth reading. Chacour’s work for peace between the Palestinians and Israelis is based on a bottom up view of the process: people from different backgrounds getting to know each other and learning to live together. I highly recommend this book.

Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century by Alistair Horne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alistair Horne is one of the great authors of military history and I was intrigued by the concept of his latest book: he analyzes six major battles from the first half of the 20th century in terms of hubris. It is a somewhat provocative concept, but he makes a good case for it; certainly it was worth the effort to read the book.

The six battles that he chose, were Port Arthur/Tsushima Straits from the Russo-Japanese war, the battle of Nomohan between Japan and the USSR in 1939, the battle of Moscow in 1941, the battle of Midway, MacArthur’s campaign to secure the line of the Yalu River in Korea in 1950 and the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. there is also a discussion of the Six Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973 in the Epilogue.

As I said, he makes a good case for hubris as a deciding factor in these battles, but the narrative itself has some problems. Certainly his analysis of the battles in the first half of the book is much more detailed that those in the second half. And some of the battle narratives in the second half are badly flawed – there are numerous errors concerning dates, and the narrative he presents of the battle of Midway has serious issues. Even in the Epilogue, the Straits of Tiran are called the Straits of Tehran.

These basic factual errors do not really detract from Horne’s thesis of the importance of hubris, but they are very distracting to say the least. For this reason I find it difficult to recommend this book. It has a novel concept which is well supported but the narrative in the second half of the book does contain serious flaws.

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Black Count is a biography of Alex Dumas, the father of Alexandre Dumas who wrote the Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, and many other works. Alex Dumas is virtually unknown today, but he was a distinguished soldier of Revolutionary France and rose to the rank of General; he enlisted as a private soldier in the army during the last years of the monarchy.

Dumas was born in what is now Haiti, the son of a minor noble from Normandy and his slave mistress. When he was about 14 he moved to France with his father, who had inherited the title of marquis, making Dumas a count of mixed race, hence the title of the book. Family financial problems led Dumas to enlist in the French army and take his mother’s last name. When the revolution came, Alex Dumas became a firm believer in the revolutionary ideals for the rest of his life, which did not help his relationship with another distinguished French soldier – General Bonaparte.

Alex Dumas died when his son, the future novelist, was only four years old. But many of the episodes of his father’s life were adapted into portions of the novels of Alexandre Dumas. I feel the need to read some of these novels again, now that I understand more of the background.

The book is well-written and definitely holds the readers interest. It’s more than just the story of a heroic soldier of Revolutionary France; it also talks about the politics of the revolutionary period in France, in particular the politics of race. It is interesting that Dumas arrives in France at a time when racial equality becomes a reality – which allows him to become a general, commanding forces composed of white, black and mixed race soldiers – and yet by the time of his death, much of this progress in race relations has been undone. Perhaps there is a lesson here for all of us.

The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings by Lars Brownworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Sea Wolves is a good, well-written overview of the Viking Age of European History. The author has divided the book into four sections: the Raiders, concerning mostly the Viking raids on Western Europe and the British Isles; the Explorers which deals with Viking expeditions to the Mediterranean, Iceland, Greenland and North America; the Traders, which is mostly about the eastern Vikings and the founding of the Kievan Rus state; and finally the Homelands which covers the changes to the Scandinavian area itself and the formation of the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark and Sweden.

In each of the sections, the author focuses on a few of the Vikings and the story unfolds in relation to them. This helps provide a context for each of the four sections. The weakness of the book is that by dividing it into four more or less independent stories, it is difficult to get an overall idea of what happened when.

I enjoyed the book; the author has a good writing style and it’s a pretty easy read. I definitely recommend it.

How’s Your Faith?: An Unlikely Spiritual Journey by David Gregory
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a hard review to write because I have mixed feelings about the book. the author is David Gregory who was an NBC journalist, covering the George W. Bush White House and also hosting Meet the Press. The book is really an autobiography structured around the author’s journey to find spiritual meaning in his life. It’s a story that I think will resonate to anyone who has undertaken a similar spiritual journey. It is not always easy to connect the religious faith one had as a child to your spiritual needs as an adult. Mr. Gregory is Jewish, but as he says, his Jewishness was more of a cultural identification than religious. But when he married and began t think about raising a family, he and his wife began to talk about religion and he had to re-examine his own religious identity which was the start of his journey.

I’ve heard Mr. Gregory speak on the topic of faith, and he’s a great speaker. He covered several of the points that he makes in this book.

The book is an engaging story and it’s well-written and easy to read. But one of the things that began to bother me in the second half of the book was Mr Gregory’s easy access to many well known pastors, rabbis, priests and imams. Some of these interviews or conversations seemed more like name dropping than anything else. And even for those that fit well into the narrative, it seemed a little off-putting. Not all of us have the opportunity to talk with the Cardinal of New York about our spiritual issues.

Overall I do recommend the book. And if you get the change to hear Mr. Gregory speak, it is definitely worth your time.

Wisconsin’s Historic Courthouses by L. Roger Turner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book; it’s a fun read if you’re familiar with Wisconsin’s counties. The book is arranged by county (in alphabetical order), and for each county there is a description of the historic courthouse and some information about the history of the courthouse, or courthouses as the case may be. There are also some nice photographs or other illustrations of the courthouse for each county.

There are a couple of things to be aware of in reading this book, however. First it is a little dated at this point. Some of the courthouses listed in the book are no longer in use; not surprising considering that the book was published in the 1990s. I found that some of the entries are much more detailed than others. And for some of the short entries it almost seems like the authors did not actually visit the county but instead worked from secondary sources. I also think it would have helped to provide little more detail about the current courthouses in those counties which had already replaced their older buildings.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It’s a fun book to have around and it’s a pretty good reference book too. If you’re interested in learning about one or more of the county courthouses of Wisconsin, this book is a good place to start.

Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Midnight in Europe is another volume in the series of historical spy novels by Alan Furst that began with Night Soldiers. It is set in Paris in 1937 and 1938 and the major focus of the action is the Spanish Civil War. The main character, Cristián Ferrar, is a Spanish lawyer for an international law firm, who has ties to the Republican side of the Civil War. Quite a lot of the action involves trying to ship arms and ammunition to the beleaguered Republican force in Spain who are losing their struggle with Franco’s Nationalist army. And of course there is espionage, love affairs and a visit to the Brasserie Heininger, all things we have come to expect from Mr. Furst.

I like this book; it’s a good, enjoyable read. However, in my opinion this is not the best book in the series. For one thing, it’s not as tightly plotted as some of the previous books. And in some places I had the feeling that the author was just going through the motions. Still I enjoyed reading the book and I’m looking forward to reading the next volume in the series.

Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy by Eric D. Weitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an interesting book covering the history of Germany from the revolution in November 1918 to the appointment of Hitler as chancellor in January 1933. The book has an unusual structure: the author has divided the book into chapters that focus on various aspects of the Weimar society, such as art or architecture or the economy, instead of arranging things in a strictly chronological order. This has the advantage that each chapter is somewhat independent of the others, so it’s easy to read a chapter and put the book down for a while. On the other hand is does make it somewhat more difficult to gain an idea the timeline of the Weimar Republic. For example, although the Kapp Putsch is mentioned several times in the book, there is a no discussion of the Putsch itself.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book. It covers in detail a lot of things that are usually only sidebars in the story of the Weimar Republic; most histories focus on the political history of the Republic. However I think that it would be helpful to be somewhat familiar with the chronology and politics of the Weimar Republic before reading this book.

Year Zero: A History of 1945 by Ian Buruma
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is the story of what happened when World War II ended. It covers events around the world but is limited in focus to what happened in 1945, although events in the future, such as the Cold War and the founding of the state of Israel, are sometimes discussed in relation to what happened in 1945. This is a very ambitious goal, and the book for the most part succeeds, but it is hard to develop any sense of a narrative with such a broad scope.

Each chapter in the book focuses on a particular topic, such as hunger, sending the millions of displaced people home, or the founding of the United Nations and tries to explain what happened and why. This organization of the book again tends to work against a narrative, but it’s probably the only way to cover such topics on a global scale.

One of the things that helps bring the story back to a human scale is that the author relates the stories of his parents. His father was a Dutch law student who wound up in a labor camp in Germany and was in Berlin at the end of the war. His mother was a school girl in Great Britain and her story sheds light on the plight of the British, who were among the victors in 1945 but who had to endure rationing for several years after the war as their price for victory.

As I said, it’s a very interesting book and well worth reading. For me it fills a gap between the end of hostilities in Europe and Asia and the post-war world.

The Other Side of Silence by Philip Kerr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the eleventh book in the Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr. It’s not my favorite in the series but it is a good read and I enjoyed it. Briefly the action begins in 1956 on the French Riviera, much as it did in the previous novel “The Lady from Zagreb.” Bernie is a concierge at a hotel and spends some of his time playing bridge. This leads to a meeting with W. Somerset Maugham and Bernie becomes involved with a blackmail attempt which may have implications for the British Secret Service.

There may be a few very mild spoilers below, so turn back now if you must.

The blackmailer, or at least the contact for the blackmailer, is well-known to Bernie and we learn about their relationship in flashbacks to 1938 and the winter of 1944-45. The 1938 episode relates to the scandal involving Werner von Fritsch who was then the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army. The later flashback places Bernie in Koenigsberg before the Russian winter offensive of January 1945. This touches on the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff and also the mystery of the Amber Room which disappeared in 1945 and has not been recovered.

Overall, a solid outing for Bernie, but it’s just not as good as some of the previous novels. The blackmail plot is good and I was a bit surprised at how it was resolved.

As always, there seems to be a minor historical nit to pick. In this case it concerns an East Prussian lodge that supposedly was built for Frederick III of Prussia in 1690, the son of Frederick the Great. First, Frederick the Great died in the 1780s, and second, he had no children. The real Frederick III reigned for a few months in 1888 after the death of his father and before his own death from cancer. He was succeeded by his son Wilhelm II.