Time again for my annual shopping list for the holidays. As usual it is on a cross section of topics and no doubt you have read some or many of them, but if not, pick through the selections and see if you can find a gem. And as always, your feedback and input is welcomed. Although there is no particular rank, I do supply some annotations that you may find as tiebreakers if you are on a budget.
The Body: A Guide for Occupants – Bill Bryson I have already shared a number of posts on Facebook and via email on this one and it definitely scores well as one of my favorites on this list. Probably the book I learned the most from this year.
Norco ’80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History – Peter Houlahan It was indeed spectacular and the crime scene response and chase is hair-raising. It was also the event that sparked a major transition in law enforcement communications and armaments. P.S. Those people in California are a nutty bunch. Kind of like the people in Florida.
Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague – David K. Randall Staying in California, this makes for an interesting commentary on what happens when politics and pursuing profit clash with science and potential disaster. There is a warning of inordinate importance here: It is perilous to suppress scientific inquiry and the research into pathology. This rings true in most notable fashion in our current anti-science political and social climate.
They Bled Blue: Fernando-Mania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever Seen – Jason Turbow I just couldn’t seem to escape the clutches of California in 2019. In 1981, pitcher Fernando Valenzuela took baseball and Los Angeles by storm and the Dodgers would go on to win the World Series in a strike-shortened season. A season where the Reds, the team with the best record in the game, and clearly the best team in baseball didn’t even get to participate in the postseason due to blundering Bowie Kuhn and his mishandling of assigning division winners in the aftermath of the strike. Valenzuela, who hailed from Mexico, was an unlikely superstar who was baffled by his instant celebrity status. Meanwhile, manager Tommy Lasorda was woven into the narrative and he clearly was comfortable in the media spotlight. If you didn’t detest him before, this should give you a boost in that direction. Turbow as always, is facile with his use of sources and control of narrative.
American Messiahs: False Prophets of a Damned Nation – Adam Morris Well goddamn it, still another book on crazies, but not all of them are West Coast crackpots. This includes provocative coverage of the rise and eventual demise of James Jones and his ill-fated Jamestown followers. Jones learned his trade from the much more illustrious Father Divine who had a massive following in New York City and Philadelphia. We still haven’t learned our lessons as deluded psychopathic religious eccentrics still swarm the media and political deck and have out-sized influence on policy making. Morris provides revealing (sorry) insight into how all the derangement got started and why it still persists.
The Trial of Lizzie Borden – Cara Robertson One of the most popular selections on this year’s list and it elicited the most responses of any book I discussed on Facebook. Competent treatment of a double homicide shrouded in myth and mystery that still captures the public imagination.
On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane – Emily Guendelsberger You might also call it ” Techno-Efficiency Gone Daft” as the author illustrates in her experiences with Amazon and McDonald’s among others. God bless her exhausted body and soul as she went undercover to experience and report on the mind-numbing employment of the workers who package your sex toys and serve up the extra hot coffee. Quite disturbing was the unveiling of the ” Amazon” empire that brings billions to Bezos (Ha, his divorced wife got a good chunk. Fuck him.), and bequeaths a life on Advil to his employees. And after reading this, you will never look in the same way again at that harried fast food clerk who flubs your order three times in five minutes.
Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II – Robert Matzen A rare biography makes my list and with good reason – Hepburn is a compelling figure who suffered from near starvation and deprivation during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. She would serve as a courier for the Dutch resistance movement, and her experiences and famishment would haunt her in the ensuing decades when she became a movie sensation. A casualty of the hellish Nazi atrocities, Anne Frank, would be an inspiration to Hepburn, who would couple her triumphant public standing with a career of service to the less fortunate. A remarkable story of a remarkable and praiseworthy woman who never forgot her roots.
Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control – Stephen Kinzer The Americans learned from the Nazi experience and with Gottlieb as the guide, conducted experiments every bit as hideous as their German mentors. In fact, the U.S. imported some war criminals to help steer the top secret programs. LSD was one of the favorite methods of disorienting then hopefully re-orienting subjects to serve the American cause in the Cold War. The idea was to create our own robotic ” Manchurian Candidates” who would do our bidding after their minds were broken then repaired. Subterfuge was frequently employed to conduct the trials and there was a lot of breaking and fatalities, but no mending. After squandering millions, the project was considered a failure, and sadly, Gottlieb and his CIA superiors never suffered significant consequences. Kinzer is a high quality writer who has covered the globe on topics ranging from American meddling in Latin America to coups in Iran. You may want to take a hit or two of LSD to absorb all of this one.
Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant – Anne Gardiner Perkins Last but certainly not least on this year’s list is an enlightening trip through one of the bastions of white male power structure – the Ivy League schools. Until 1969, women were not permitted to join the elite educational club. When they broke that gender barrier they would encounter many tribulations, among them being victims of sexual predation. This transpired before Title IX required sexual equality in education endeavors. Picking up on the activist bent of the late 60s and early 70s, many would ultimately prevail and be admired as pioneers for their perseverance. Another real eye-opener for me as I was ignorant of these events and found the reading adventure most rewarding.
So there you have it, the annual Mule holiday shopping list recommendations, and again I hope you find a treasure or two here for someone’s edification, or your own pleasure.
smokingmule 