Reagan: The Life by H.W. Brands

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In my opinion, this is the best biography of Ronald Reagan that is currently available; most of the other books about Reagan either focus solely on his presidency or are defined by the author’s own politics. Reagan remains a polarizing figure, not unlike Franklin Roosevelt, who is also the subject of a biography written by H. W. Brands. The author begins with Reagan’s childhood and proceeds through his college years, his years as a radio broadcaster and his move to Hollywood. From there we see how Regan’s politics changed after World War II, and how he eventually moved into politics, becoming governor of California and eventually president. So the book is a complete treatment of Reagan’s life, and shows how his experiences became the basis of his political philosophy.

The author provides a relatively complete treatment of Reagan’s presidency. I would say that the author is not particularly partisan one way or the other, but tends to be sympathetic to Reagan as an individual. I think two of the best sections of the book deal with the Iceland summit with Gorbachev and the Iran-Contra scandal. Both are treated in a complete and balanced manner. Other incidents during Reagan’s presidency are not treated in quite the same details – we are kind of left hanging with the problems in Central America, and the invasion of Grenada is poorly and inaccurately handled.

Overall I recommend this book. It is an even-handed treatment of Reagan’s life and presidency.

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Comm Check…: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia by Michael Cabbage

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a solid re-telling of the story of the final flight of the space shuttle Columbia and the investigation afterward. The book came out in 2004, roughly a year after the accident.

It’s been more than 12 years since the Columbia disaster and I was motivated to re-read this book to see if it had held up very well. After all it’s been four or five years since the space shuttles were retired. The book holds up very well – the authors painstakingly recreate the pressure within NASA to launch Columbia on time, despite the evidence of foam strikes on earlier missions. We meet the crew and also the engineers and managers who were involved in the analysis of the foam strike on Columbia’s left wing. A thorough discussion of how the foam strike caused the destruction of the orbiter during reentry is provided. And finally, the accident investigation is discussed and the final report is examined. Sadly, many of the institutional causes of the accident are very similar to the problems that led to the loss of the Challenger in 1986.

If you are interested in the history of manned space exploration, I think you will enjoy this book.

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The Lady from Zagreb by Philip Kerr

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the tenth of the Bernie Gunther novels and I think it is one of the better ones. The story begins on the French Riviera in 1956 with Bernie seeing a movie starring Dalia Dresner, the lady from Zagreb. The action takes us back to 1942 and a police conference in Berlin, where Bernie is to give a talk on one of his pre-war cases. We meet Walter Schellenberger, Josef Goebbels and Bernie’s old acquaintance Artur Nebe. Bernie is informally asked to look into some irregularities concerning the sale of the villa the conference is being held in – this is the same villa used in for the Wannsee conference earlier in 1942. The sale involves several high ranking SS officers and a Swiss corporation, but before Bernie gets too far into the job, there is a murder. And that kind of wraps it up for 1942; the plot resumes in 1943 – the events of “A Man without Breath” take place in during the gap.

In 1943 Bernie is sent on a mission to Zagreb by Goebbels; basically as a favor to Dalia Dresner, a film star whom both Goebbels and Bernie are attracted to. She has a letter that she wants delivered to her father who is Croatian. Bernie’s trip through Yugoslavia is horrific, and when he returns to Berlin he is sent to Switzerland where Dresner and her husband are living. In Switzerland Bernie meets Schellenberger again, as well as Allen Dulles. To avoid spoilers, I can’t say a lot about the Swiss part of the book, but Bernie is able to put the pieces together and solve the mystery. Or mysteries. Or at least some of the mysteries.

Another well-written novel Phillip Kerr that fills in a few of the gaps in the Bernie Gunter saga. It was a very enjoyable read. The one nit I have to pick is a minor one – Marshal Mannerheim of Finland didn’t negotiate an armistice with the Soviet Union in 1943; that was in 1944.

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A Man Without Breath: A Bernie Gunther Novel by Philip Kerr

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this installment of the Bernie Gunther saga we are taken to Smolensk shortly after the German defeat at Stalingrad in early 1943. Bernie, though still in the SD, is working for the Wehrmacht’s War Crimes investigation unit and is looking into the mass graves found in Katyn Wood outside of Smolensk. The propaganda advantage of exposing a Soviet massacre of Polish officers has interested Dr Goebbels among others. Bernie must oversee the official investigation, but there are other, more recent, murders which Bernie must solve before he becomes a victim as well. Along the way we come across Field Marshal von Kluge, Admiral Canaris and several attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

In my opinion this is one of the better books in the series. Although I had pretty much figured out the bad guy, the actual conclusion was kind of surprising. A very entertaining read. I do have one nit to pick: in my edition it is mentioned twice that Kursk is north of Smolensk when in fact is lies to the south.

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Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis by Tim Townsend
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mission at Nuremberg is the story of Henry Gerecke, a Lutheran pastor and US Army chaplain and his ministry to the Nazis who were tried as war criminals at Nuremberg. I found this book fascinating because it works on many different levels. It is a biography of Pastor Gerecke of course, but it is also an account of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials from an unusual viewpoint: that of the pastor who tried to reconcile the accused with God. There are biographical sketches of most of the Nazis and enough history to put the charges against them into context. But the book also contains interesting discussions of theology; for example the theology of forgiveness in both Judaism and Christianity. It’s a very unusual book and well worth reading.

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Life Among the Lutherans by Garrison Keillor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Life Among the Lutherans is a collection of stories by Garrison Keillor. They were written over a number of years – some come from Lake Woebegone Days while some are significantly more recent. All of the stories deal with the people of Lake Woebegone and more often than not, something that involves Pastor Ingqvist or the Lutheran Church. It’s a very easy read; you can read a chapter or two and set the book down for a couple of weeks and then come back to it. I really enjoyed the book, but if you’re not a fan of Lake Woebegone, your mileage may vary.

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The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Wars of the Roses is a continuation of the authors previous work “The Plantagenets.” In this volume we trace the story of the Plantagenet dynasty from the deposition of Richard II in 1399 to the death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, and beyond that to the reign of Henry VII and the advent of the Tudor dynasty. Both the Lancastrian and Yorkist kings were Plantagenets; the two branches of the family traced their ancestry back to different sons of Edward III. When Henry IV deposed his cousin Richard II and brought the Lancastrians to power, the potential was created for a civil war because Henry did not necessarily have the best claim to the throne. The potential was realized in the reign of his grandson Henry VI who as the author points out was not capable of ruling the kingdom or of choosing advisers to rule it for him. The reign of this weak king opened the door to civil war, the rule of the three Yorkist kings and eventually Henry Tudor.

The author does a good job of discussing the triumphs of the Lancastrian and Yorkist kings as well as their disasters. His narrative is easy to follow. Most histories of this period end with the death of Richard III, but the author takes us through the reign of Henry VII and Henry VIII as well. I thought this was a little unusual, but it provides a nice balance to the story. The author is also pretty even handed in terms of York and Lancaster, so there is no obvious bias, and he has made use of the recent findings concerning Richard III. The one thing that is missing, in my opinion, is the story of Henry IV. His usurpation of the throne in 1399 sets the whole story in motion, but his rule is not discussed in any detail.

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The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England by Dan Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another re-telling of the story of the Plantagenet dynasty and my short review is that it is well-written and a pleasure to read. The Plantagenet story begins with the succession crisis in the reign of Henry I. After the death of his son, Henry attempts to have his daughter Matilda (who is married to Geoffrey Plantagenet) recognized as his heir. Naturally this does not go according to plan, and Matilda’s cousin Stephen usurps the throne, leading to a long struggle. Eventually there is a negotiated peace by which Matilda’s son Henry becomes king after Stephen’s death in 1154. Henry II is the first Plantagenet king, followed by Richard I, John, Henry III, Edward I, II and III and Richard II.

The book stops with the deposition and death of Richard II, though this is not really the end of the House of Plantagenet story – the rival Houses of York and Lancaster are also descendants of Edward III. But this is a convenient place to pause. The author has written another book in which the story of the Lancaster and York branches of the family is continued.

The book is an easy read, but it focuses very much on the fortunes of the Plantagents, and so it is not a broad history of medieval England. It covers roughly the same ground as three of the books by Thomas Costain: “The Conquering Family”, “The Magnificent Century” and “The Three Edwards”.

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The Runner’s Rule Book: Everything a Runner Needs to Know – And Then Some by Mark Remy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A short and humorous look at some of the “rules” that every runner knows or should know. Granted some of the rules are just the author’s opinions, but I like this book because it encapsulates a lot of the wisdom (for lack of a better word) that an experienced runner accumulates over the years. If you’re a runner, I think you’ll find it an enjoyable book to read and perhaps re-read every couple of years.

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