Oberon's 2020 Thread - 2

2020 has not gone the way I (or anyone else) planned. Instead of taking my kids to Europe for the first time, enjoying the Loons play in their new stadium, coaching soccer and taking in plays, I have watched parts of my city burn, gone to protests, bunkered down in the hopes of avoiding illness and spent hours worrying about the financial health of my business.

The trips are cancelled or postponed. The theater is closed and in dire financial straights. The kids' soccer seasons are cancelled and it seems unlikely that the Loons will play before a stadium of fans at all this year.

Yet I remain hopeful and perhaps even optimistic about the future.

We have retained our health. Unlike so many others, I remain employed. The kids are back to practicing even if there will not be games to play. Heck, even the Loons are set to return to empty stadiums giving me something to root for. And all of this time at home has given me the opportunity to appreciate what we have and forced me to take the time to notice it and absorb it.

More importantly, after the fires in Minneapolis were put out, throngs of people have came out and have kept coming out in the days and weeks since to protest and to rebuild - and to rebuild better. I hear a new (or renewed) passion to make things better in my own daughter and in the other lawyers of the office as we try to figure out a way to apply our collective talents to improve our community. I am hopeful that that energy will be carried forward to make Minnesota an ever more diverse, tolerant and just place. I believe that I will be proud again to say I was born and raised in Minnesota.

2019 Book Year in Review

I ended up short of my 75 book target due to a slow summer. My total for the year came in at 65.

I did read some excellent books though. Here are my top 5 for 2019.

1. The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution by Peter Hessler
2. The Back Channel by William Burns
3. The Zanzibar Chest by Aidan Hartley
4. Evicted by Matthew Desmond
5. The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee

2020 Year to Date Top 5

1. Imperial Twilight by Stephen Platt
2. Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
3. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Teuer
4. That Wild Country by Mark Kenyon
5. The Bells of Old Tokyo by Anna Sherman

Books read in 2020:

January

1. Prophets and Moguls, Rangers and Rogues, Bison and Bears: 100 Years of the National Park Service by Heather Hansen
2. Koshchei the Deathless by Mike Mignola
3. Rime of the Modern Mariner by Nick Hayes
4. Open Horizons by Sigurd Olson
5. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Teuer (audiobook)
6. Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold

February

7. The Remedy by Thomas Goetz
8. Avengers: Endless Wartime by Warren Ellis
9. Black Panther: Who is the Black Panther? by Reginald Hudlin
10. Captain America: Marvel Knights by John Ney Rieber
11. Doctor Strange: The Way of the Weird by Jason Aaron
12. Doctor Strange by Donny Cates by Donny Cates
13. Scarlet Witch: World of Witchcraft by James Robinson
14. Under the Moon, A Catwoman Tale by Lauren Myracle
15. The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 8 by Kieron Gillen
16. Imperial Twilight by Stephen Platt (audiobook)
17. Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane
18. Petite: The Ogre Gods Book One by Hubert Boulard
19. King Shaka, Zulu Legend by Luke Molver
20. Black Widow: Widowmaker by Jim McCann
21. The Grave by Dan Fraga
22. Lucifer: Book Five by Mike Carey

March

23. That Wild Country by Mark Kenyon (audiobook)
24. The Warmasters of Thanos by Derek Landy
25. Dept. H by Matt Kindt
26. B.P.R.D., Vol. 6 by Mike Mignola
27. The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 6 by Kieron Gillen
28. The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 7 by Kieron Gillen
29. The Bells of Old Tokyo by Anna Sherman (audiobook)
30. Rashomon Gate by I.J. Parker
31. Black Arrow by I.J. Parker
32. The Masuda Affair by I.J. Parker
33. The Fires of the Gods by I.J. Parker
34. Island of Exiles by I.J. Parker

April

35. Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
36. The Falcon Thief by Joshua Hammer
37. Forsaken House by Richard Baker
38. Farthest Reach by Richard Baker
39. Final Gate by Richard Baker
40. Realms of the Elves by Philip Athans

May

41. Splendid Savage by Steve Kemper
42. In Search of Lost Books by Giorgio Van Straten
43. Chasing the Devil by Tim Butcher

June

44. The Mosquito by Timothy Winegard (audiobook)
45. Captain America: The Legend of Steve by Ta-Nehisi Coates
46. Usagi Yojimbo: Bunraku and Other Stories by Stan Sakai
47. The China Mission by Daniel Kurtz-Phelan
48. The Virtues of War by Steven Pressfield
49. Battleship Yamato: Of War, Beauty and Irony by Jan Morris
50. The Russian Job by Douglas Smith (audiobook)

July

51. A Grown-up Guide to Dinosaurs by Ben Garrod (audiobook)
52. The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough (audiobook)

August

53. How to Be An Anti-Racist by Ibram Kendi (audiobook)
54. Klaws of the Panther by Jonathan Marberry
55. The Wilderness Warrior by Douglas Brinkley
56. Our Man, Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century by George Packer (audiobook)
57. The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling
58. Odd and the Frost Giants by Neal Gaiman (audiobook)

September

59. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan (audiobook)
60. Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson (audiobook)
61. A Study in Emerald by Neal Gaiman
62. At the Mountains of Madness, Vol. 2 by Gou Tanabe
63. Hamnet by Maggie O'Ferrell (audiobook)
64. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (audiobook)
65. The Buried Book by David Damrosch (audiobook)
66. Gravity Falls: Lost Legends by Alex Hirsch

October

67. Climate Changed by Phillpe Squarzoni
68. Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald (audiobook)
69. Shakespeare's Library by Stuart Kells (audiobook)
70. Jenny Finn by Mike Mignola
71. Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder, The Gates of Heaven by Mike Mignola
72. Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder, Omnibus by Mike Mignola
73. The Dream hunters by Neil Gaiman
74. Cherry Blossoms of Kyoto by Hidehiko Mizuno
75. The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane
76. The Lady and the Monk by Pico Ayer (audoiobook)
77. Autumn Colors of Kyoto by Hidehiko Mizuno
78. Walks of a Lifetime in America's National Parks by Robert and Martha Manning
79. B.P.R.D. The Devil You Know 2, Pandemonium by Mike Mignola
80. Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1952 by Mike Mignola
81. Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1956 by Mike Mignola
82. The Lost Explorer by Conrad Anker
83. The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane

November

84. The Defining Moment by Jonathan Alter (audiobook)
85. Joe Golem, The Conjurors by Mike Mignola
86. B.P.R.D. 1946-1948 by Mike Mignola
87. The Living Mountain by Nan Shepard
88. Our Riches by Kaouther Adimi
89. B.P.R.D. Vampire by Mike Mignola
90. Conan, Volume 18 by Fred Lente
91. Conan, Volume 19 by Fred Lente
92. Conan, Volume 20 by Fred Lente
93. Rex Mundi, Book One by Arvid Nelson
94. The Wilderness World of John Muir by John Muir
95. The Quiet Americans by Scott Anderson (audiobook)
96. By the Numbers by Laurent Rullier

December

97. Ancient Bones by Madelaine Bohme
98. Baltimore Omnibus, Volume 2 by Mike Mignola
99. Our Encounters with Evil by Warwick Johnson-Cadwell
100. Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
101. The Good Earth by Nick Bertozzi
102. Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian
103. A Promised Land by Barak Obama (audiobook)

A reminder of travel. Places like this will remain and I will be back out to see them soon enough.

Meanwhile, there is plenty to see and admire here.

Chasing the Devil by Tim Butcher

I read Tim Butcher's other book about traveling on foot through the Democratic Republic of Congo Blood River and thought it excellent. Chasing the Devil is similar in concept. Butcher sets out to travel, largely on foot, in the footsteps of an earlier traveler and recount the history of the places he is traveling while documenting the change that has occurred since the first account that he bases his plan on. In Blood River, Butcher followed Henry Morton Stanley. In Chasing the Devil, Butcher is following an account of a trip by Graham Green through Sierra Leone and Liberia. Greene's account was published in Journey Without Maps which I confess I have not read.

The account is gripping and detailed. Butcher provides a solid history of the places he is visiting, including accounts of his own first hand reporting of the Liberian Civil War. Butcher depicts carefully the feel of rural West African life and notes how parts are unchanged and others are shattered from the years of war. I was particularly interested by Butcher's descriptions of the Liberian secret societies like the Sande and Poro. The roll that these secret societies continue to play in rural parts of Western Africa is equal parts troubling and fascinating. Butcher also provides interesting insights into historical colonialism and its modern incarnations, especially when he encounters a mining operation working to restore an old colonial railway in order to allow for the extraction of minerals.

Chasing the Devil is an excellent account of a frequently forgotten corner of the globe. Worth the time to read as it is both educational and exhilarating.

>1 Oberon: Love your topper, both the photo and the comments. I have been following the events in MN closely as both my sister and brother live there. It's nice to hear your optimism and I agree.

>4 Oberon: >5 Oberon: >6 Oberon: More love for your photos!

>7 Oberon: And the books, of course. : )

Stay well and happy new thread!!

Happy new thread, Erik.

More importantly, after the fires in Minneapolis were put out, throngs of people have came out and have kept coming out in the days and weeks since to protest and to rebuild - and to rebuild better. I hear a new (or renewed) passion to make things better in my own daughter and in the other lawyers of the office as we try to figure out a way to apply our collective talents to improve our community. I am hopeful that that energy will be carried forward to make Minnesota an ever more diverse, tolerant and just place. I believe that I will be proud again to say I was born and raised in Minnesota.

Very nicely said.

Happy new thread Erik.

Good to hear that the community is coming together following the tragedy. The younger generation give hope here too. At work I have seen lots of new teachers sharing resources they have found useful to speak with children about what is happening, why, and why it matters so much.

Your topper photo is stunning.

I have Tim Butcher on the shelves but haven't read any of his work: thanks for the review.

Great photos throughout Erik. I think Hope has to be cherished, in all regards.

Happy new thread, Erik. I love your topper photo and appreciate your perspective on the current situation(s).

The Tim Butcher sounds really interesting!

Happy new thread!

I love your topper, Erik, both the photo and your statement. Fingers crossed that good will come from Floyd's death.

The Butcher book sounds interesting.

Stay well.

Happy new one!

Gorgeous topper. The colours are fantastic.

>8 Berly: Thanks Kim. I assume your MN family stayed safe?

>9 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. Appreciate you stopping by.

>10 charl08: Hi Charlotte. I would think Butcher's books would be right in your wheelhouse. I would be interested in your thoughts if you try one of his.

>11 Caroline_McElwee: Totally agree Caroline. Thanks for stopping by.

>12 katiekrug: Hi Katie. I have really liked his books.

>13 drneutron: Thanks Jim.

>14 BLBera: Agreed Beth. I just worry that Mr. Floyd's death will become yesterday's news in our pandemic/Trump world where we are always on to the next crisis.

>15 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita. I should really credit my wife for the photograph as she is the one who noted the sunset and insisted I take a photo.

The Mosquito by Timothy Winegard

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It is essentially an overview of world history as told through the lens of the impact of mosquito-born disease. Interesting idea but I think he could have conveyed his point (that mosquitoes have wrecked havoc on humanity for millennia and altered the decision making of important leaders) with fewer, more specific examples. To illustrate by example, Winegard has an interesting discussion on the Pontine Marshes outside of Rome and how the malaria endemic to the area served to partially protect Rome. However, Winegard came back to the point repeatedly as he traced Rome's history. To my mind, a geographic specific history on the Pontine Marshes would have better made the point and covered the relevant history without belaboring the point.

Also, since Winegard is providing a (somewhat) comprehensive history of civilization he delves into things like the Justinian Plague and the Black Death, which are diseases of course but not mosquito related. Thus, he ends up undermining his focus on the impact that mosquitoes have made as he discusses other disease vectors.

There is plenty of interesting material about mosquitoes and their diseases and I certainly learned more on the subject but a different structure could have made for a more impactful read. Worth reading from the library or if on sale but not worth full price. I would recommend The American Plague as a more taut read (focusing on Yellow Fever in the US) on the subject.

I completely echo your thoughts in your first message, Erik, especially now that Atlanta has had its own tragic murder of an African American man this month. Despite the turmoil, which has received a bad name due to agents provocateurs such as the Boogaloo Bois and the two White women who allegedly set the fire that destroyed the Wendy's restaurant in SE Atlanta, I am as hopeful as I've been in a very long time that there will be a sustained push by many American citizens and politicians to enact meaningful measures to reform — but not defund — police departments throughout the country, and to address social inequality here and abroad. The two unexpected (at least to me) major Supreme Court rulings this week, in support of the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and DACA recipients, was very uplifiting and inspiring, especially since both measures passed with the support of justices appointed by Republican presidents.

Like you I'm staying home and sheltering in place, and although I'm saddened that I couldn't spend June in Lisbon learning Intensive Portuguese and preparing for my personal Amerexit later this decade I'm also grateful beyond words that my father continues to recover from his illness that nearly claimed his life earlier this year, and that he, my mother, and nearly everyone I know has been spared from the worst of the epidemic so far. My two personal LT friends who have been sick for many weeks with COVID-19 continue to recover, albeit very slowly.

I'm also resigned to the near certain probability that I won't see an Atlanta United match in person anytime soon, and possibiy not at all in 2020. My European plans have been shot to pieces, as four planned trips (London in March and May, Lisbon and Coimbra in June, Amsterdam and Edinburgh in August) have already been cancelled, and the chance of traveling abroad this autumn are becoming increasingly slim.

I have been watching several National Theatre at Home and Shakespeare's Globe productions online, which are available free of charge via their YouTube channels. NT at Home is currently broadcasting the production based on Andrea Levy's novel Small Island, which is centered on a young couple who emigrated from Jamaica to England in the late 1940s as part of the Windrush Generation, and as much as I enjoyed the book I loved the play, which left me teary eyed at the end, even more.

ETA: Very nice review of Chasing the Devil. I heartily second your recommendation of The American Plague. Although it was mainly set in Memphis I read it several years ago, after some work colleagues of mine who were in New Orleans for a medical conference decided to play hooky and spent a Sunday morning in the Garden District, which included a visit to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. As we viewed the above ground tombs we were all particularly struck by the one which housed the remains of three young children of the Ferguson family, who all died in a two day period from yellow fever in August 1878, at the same time that the plague decimated Memphis.



There were other nearby tombs of yellow fever victims from that awful year, but none had the impact on us that this one did. I sought out books on this epidemic after I returned to Atlanta, and read The American Plague shortly afterward.

>19 kidzdoc: It was very nice to see the S.Ct. decisions. Roberts has kept to his role as an institutionalist who wants to guard the legitimacy of the Court. A pleasant surprise when so much else has gone wrong.

I found some grim satisfaction in the NY Times piece talking about how the EU will open up for travel but will bar Americans since our government has done such a poor job in managing COVID. I have not thought of watching streamed theater though I should. I am looking forward to watching Hamilton when it is released on July 3rd. I have however, recently watched Selma which I thought was excellent.

Thanks for posting the photo of the grave. That is haunting. The idea of losing a family of young kids is heartbreaking even 200 years after the fact.

Stay safe.

Minnesota courts have decided to start things up again, at least piecemeal. Unfortunately, that means I am in trial next week. The timing is less than ideal since it is over both my son's 13th birthday and my own 19th wedding anniversary. So, long way of saying I will likely be off the threads for a week or so.

Still have some reviews to catch up on but it will be a bit before I knock out another book as I am working through the unabridged audiobook of a The Path Between the Seas and Wilderness Warrior as my regular book. Neither is short (but I am enjoying both).

>21 Oberon: Good luck being back at work, Erik.

Football has re-started in England and my club is closing in on the Premiership. 7 games left and they have 8 points on the third placed team. 16 years of hurt for the club with the largest catchment of any club in Europe is hopefully almost over.

In this difficult year with an unprecedented pandemic and where the ills of the past intrude sadly upon the present there must still be room for positivity. Be rightly proud of your country. To all my American friends, enjoy your 4th of July weekend.

>22 PaulCranswick: Looks like this is the year for Leeds Paul. Congrats.

>23 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul - we shall see if we cause to celebrate again come November.

Out of trial though still very busy at work. On the plus side, I have gotten some fishing in and am still reading. Just haven't found a lot of time to keep up on posting.

Loons win! The Loons, after looking terrible most of the evening, came back from a 1-0 deficit to score two goals in stoppage time and win!

I have to admit that watching live sports again is a welcome distraction.

?26 Hurray for the Loons! I watched my DC United play a terrible game and then come back at the end to tie Toronto 2-2. That is so like my team. I miss my favorite players, but I think I'll make Federico Higuain, an Argentinian forward/wing we obtained from Columbus, my new favorite player. I've seen him play before as a sub for Columbus and always thought of him as dangerous, I'm glad he's on my team now! :D

>27 SqueakyChu: A tie against Toronto isn't a bad outcome. Higuain is a great player. Not sure how many years he still has playing but good to hear he is good form right now. Good luck!

>27 SqueakyChu: & >28 Oberon: I think it is tremendous that soccer has some true believers in the States nowadays!

Leeds United are closing in on the EPL and playing some tremendous stuff whilst doing so. This was a recent trouncing they gave to Stoke City 5-0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GwLpP3dDCs

The China Mission by Daniel Kurtz-Phelan

This is a first rate history of a crucial period in post-WWII Asia. Specifically, the book chronicles George C. Marshall's time as a special envoy to China as he worked to prevent a resumption of the civil war between Mao's Communists and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Chinese. The most striking part of the story is how close Marshall actually came to the preservation of the Nationalist government.

At the close of WWII, China had been fought over by numerous groups with a multitude of objectives. The Japanese, who had surrendered following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has large amounts of troops and weapons in China as they had been fighting to conquer China (which they were fairly successful at) since the 30's. The Americans had troops in China, having helped the Nationalist Chinese fight the Japanese and later, U.S. troops were brought in to assist in the disarmament of the Japanese and facilitate their transport back to Japan. The Soviets had invaded China at the very end of WWII. Their involvement was principally to fight Japanese troops in Manchukuo (Manchuria) which had been set up in the 30's as a puppet state of Japan. The Nationalist Chinese had, initially united most of China. However, in 1927 civil war broke out between the Nationalists and what became the Chinese Communist party. The civil war was put on hold (after 10 years of fighting) by an agreement to unite the Communists and Nationalists to resist the invading Japanese. However, it was clear to everyone that the 10 year civil war was set to restart as soon as the war with Japan ended. Which is the position that Marshall stepped into.

The China Mission as written by Kurtz-Phelan is a story of the limits of American power and the miscalculations of the parties involved. At the close of WWII, the U.S. is the most powerful county in the world. Initially, Mao is willing to disarm and Stalin is directing Mao to cooperate with the U.S. However, Chiang Kai-Shek overplays his hand and refuses to make concessions necessary to begin the reintegration of Communist forces into the Nationalist army. As a consequence, the communist dig in as facts on the ground change. The U.S. is anxious to bring its forces home and that reality is clear to all of the parties. As troops withdraw, American leverage diminishes. Meanwhile, the Soviets set about looting all of Manchukuo (which at the time had significant industrial capacity built by the Japanese). This gets systematically stripped and shipped to Siberia. Meanwhile, Japanese arms from disbanded Japanese soldiers are taken by the Soviets and turned over to the Communists. The Nationalists can't prevent the arms transfers because they can't risk combat with the Soviets yet at the same time miscalculate 1) the capabilities of their own forces to defeat the Communists in battle and 2) the willingness of American to militarily and economically support the Nationalist government.

Marshall largely appears to have understood this dynamic but fails to persuade Chiang Kai-Shek to modify his course and fails to keep the Communists from slowly backing out of their agreements to disarm. It is hard to say who is most at blame here but I would probably say the Nationalists. Things come to a head after the Soviets leave Manchukuo and the Communists step in to the vacuum to assert control over the now Manchurian cities. The Nationalists launch a military offensive to control Manchuria which is largely successful but sows the seeds for the eventual Nationalist collapse. The Communists were always principally an insurgency based in the rural countryside. The Nationalists could win major battles and control cities, as they did in Manchuria but doing so resulted in further territory that had to be defended and more exposed supply lines. Plus, the Communists were fortified by the turned over Japanese arms.

Sensing that events were spiraling beyond his ability to negotiate a resolution, Marshall ultimately left China to serve as U.S. Secretary of State (when the Marshall Plan for Europe is conceived). Meanwhile, as predicted, the Communists attack Nationalist supply lines and slowly turn the tide against the Nationalists while the Soviets assist. The U.S. continues to rapidly withdraw troops and, in 1949 the Nationalist flee to Taiwan and Mao announced the formation of the People's Republic of China.

Meanwhile, the debate of who "lost" China echoes down the decades in American foreign policy.

A superb history. Highly recommended.

>29 PaulCranswick: I saw the score line versus Stoke City Paul. I think it might finally be your year (after many years of waiting)!

>30 Oberon: Excellent review, Erik. Will look out for that.

>31 Oberon: I really do hope so. Brentford aren't making things easy by winning game after game behind us and West Brom for the top two automatic spots.

>32 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. I checked today and it looks like Leeds can clinch by tomorrow depending on results. Keep the faith!

>28 Oberon: Higuain did it again. He brought an equalizing goal tonight for DC United against New England--making the final score 1:1. The rest of the team (except for goalkeeper Bill Hamid) seems lackluster to me so far.

>29 PaulCranswick: I'm really happy about the growth of soccer in the US, too. It's become the only sport I watch. Actually it's just about the only thing I regularly watch on television.

>34 SqueakyChu: I saw that goal by Higuain. I have to admit, I felt a little bad for the defender. Unforced error that he got absolutely punished for.

Loons news: The Loons didn't lose. Pretty boring game frankly 0-0 tie against Real Salt Lake. However, they are in pretty good shape to move into the knockout round of the tournament so a tie is probably fine. Just wish they could have had an earlier time slot for such a snoozer of a game.

In addition to some fishing and some soccer, I got together with my mother and sister and made my grandfather's mango chutney.

Longer story, my mother's side of the family always celebrated major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter not with a ham or a turkey but with curry - often with sides of papads and samosas. Typically, it was a combination of East African curries and Afghan, having lived in both Tanzania and Afghanistan before retirement. As my grandparents grew older then tended to cook elaborate meals together they assembled a family cook book of favorite recipes. When my grandfather died, my grandmother put together a final edition of their cookbook as a Christmas present for the family.

At the start of the pandemic, my uncle passed away abruptly from a heart aneurysm leaving my mother and one remaining uncle in Florida. They are planning on coming to Minnesota in August and we are making plans to put together a family curry meal (probably outdoors for social distancing purposes). So, to go with the curry, we set out to make up a couple of batches of chutney from the family cookbook to go with the curry. It was substantially more work than I had contemplated but I am looking forward to eating it again.

>37 Oberon: Wow...

>38 Oberon: That's a great family story Erik.

Beautiful pic!

>35 Oberon: Hey, Erik! We needed that point, but we need to WIN tonight's game.

>37 Oberon: Nature can be so soothing, Beautiful pic!

>38 Oberon: What nice plans for family time in an otherwise dreary and dark year!

>38 Oberon: It would be so cool, if it's not too much trouble, if you would post a recipe or a few, on the Kitchen Thread or here--maybe an Afghan curry and a Tanzanian curry. (Assuming they are "secret" or anything)
I'm a frequent lurker, infrequent poster and fellow attorney (though I'm now retired). Thanks.

>39 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline

>40 drneutron: Thanks Jim. Good to see you.

>41 SqueakyChu: I am sorry that DC United couldn't get that win. Take consolation in doing better than Atlanta? The Loons tied again Wednesday night so they are undefeated still but as a consequence of the draw (rather than a win) now have to face the Columbus Crew in the knockout stage which is considered one of the top teams in the tournament. Not many people are picking the Loons to advance.

>42 arubabookwoman: Hi Deborah and welcome. As a pretty regular lurker on a bunch of threads I appreciate when people pop up to say high. Here is the chutney recipe (might have to go looking for a curry one - also need to go digging for the Kitchen Thread).

Mango Chutney

Ingredients:

3 1/2 pounds large green mangoes (3-4 mangoes) peeled & cubed
10 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 1/3 cups cider vinegar
7 ounces currants or raisins (we used raisins)
3 1/2 ounces peeled, finely chopped fresh gingerroot
1 3/4 pounds sugar
3 teaspoons hot chili powder
2 2/3 tablespoons garam masala

Brine the mangoes overnight in the refrigerator in a brine consisting of 12 cups water and 5 tablespoons salt.

In large non-aluminum pot, dissolve sugar in the cider vinegar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add mangoes, ginger and garlic and cook for another 15 minutes stirring constantly.

Add remaining spices (gingerroot, chili powder and garam masala) and raisins or currants. Cook until mixture thickens (about an hour), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before canning. Makes approximately 4 pints.

>43 Oberon: I can't take consolation in doing better than Atlanta. I feel so sorry for their changed team. I feel sorry that Julian Gressel has to play with DC United and not with Atlanta as it used to be. I'm so sorry that DC United looks so lame.

It'll be a tough call for me to choose between the Loons and Columbus. Higuain came from Columbus. Zack Steffan used to play for them, and that goalkeeper whom I adore (he's homegrown - once he played for the University of Maryland) knocked DC United out of the playoffs during penalty kicks. I forgave him for that (and told him so!). Okay. I'll root for the Loons! :D

>37 Oberon: That is jaw droppingly beautiful, Erik.

As you know Leeds United have clinched their promotion and went onto to win the Championship (England's 2nd tier) by an impressive and probably fair 10 points.

It will be a huge test and a big step-up but with our wonderfully wise coach, Marcelo Bielsa, and an owner that finally not only cares about the club but has the wherewithal to support it, I do think that we will take some people by surprise next season. We were last Champions of England in 1992 and, whilst I am not quite expecting us to pull off that next year, I would be disappointed if were are not placed in the top half somewhere.

Have a great weekend.

>38 Oberon: Great story, Erik.

>45 SqueakyChu: I think your support of the Loons made the difference! Through on PKs!

>46 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. It was a long drought for Leeds. Hopefully they will succeed in the higher league.

>47 BLBera: Thanks Beth.

Loons update: Loons won against the favored Columbus Crew, moving forward on penalty kicks. Next game is Saturday against San Jose who we already have beaten once this year.

High hopes.

>30 Oberon: The most consequential loss in US foreign policy history was Marshall's failure to curb Chiang. Europe, though, has reason to delight in his reassignment.

>1 Oberon:, >37 Oberon: oooo aaaahhhh pretty

Lemme flip this invisibility cloak aside. Ah, there. Just want to say Hi!

>45 SqueakyChu: I am excited for how well the Loons are doing! I hope they win the playoff! Their success makes up for the double failures of DC United and Atlanta United! :D

Hi Erik - I'm reading a great anthology that I think you would like: A Good Time for the Truth. My public library is hosting a bunch of virtual forums with the various writers, and the first one with Kao Kalia Yang was great.

Where has Erik been? Alternatively titled "Worst Vacation Ever."

So we decided, somewhat last minute, that we were going to do a driving vacation, nature focused because of the pandemic. We picked Colorado since we had not been as a family, there were lots of hiking opportunities and they seemed to be doing ok on COVID. We booked a townhome in Breckenridge, Colorado and packed our hiking gear and headed out of town early on August 2nd with the ambition of making the 15 hour drive in one long day. Which is when things went seriously off the rails.

Apparently really long car rides are not good for people with back problems. I was sore when we pulled in to Breckenridge. By the following morning I knew that it was worse than soreness and went into a walk-in orthopedic clinic in the nearby town of Frisco where they gave me medication for a herniated disc and confirmed that long car rides were bad for people like me. By the following morning (Tuesday) I could no longer stand for more than a few minutes or walk more than a few feet. The following day I was in so much pain I could no longer stand at all and was reduced to crawling when I needed to move from room to room. By Thursday, having doubled the amount of pain medication I was on after consulting with my cousin who is a practicing emergency room physician, I gave up and went into the ER. After 9 hours and a fair amount of narcotics but little pain relief, I was admitted to the hospital for pain management. Despite enough drugs to tranquilize an elephant, pain management really did not happen. To compound things, the physical therapy that the doctors were hoping would provide some relief was unable to help me at all. So, by Friday we were trying to figure out if there were surgical options. At this point in the story (Friday), I finally caught a bit of a break. Due to persistence and pleading from my wife, a surgeon with the orthopedic clinic I had visited on Monday called and indicated he was willing to take a look at me and potentially perform surgery. Thus, Friday they wheeled me out of my hospital room to the MRI. The MRI confirmed what I and pretty much all of the doctors had suspected - the car ride had caused a major disc herniation and the disc was crushing a pair of nerves that were causing intractable pain.

Thankfully, this was also ample confirmation for the surgeon that A) no amount of narcotics was likely to get me walking any time soon and B) that there was a strong basis for urgent (but not emergency) surgery. Thus, on Saturday (day six of my vacation) I had microdiscectomy surgery on the L4-L5 and L5-S1 discs.

Which brings us to the portion of the story where things start to be slightly less horrible. The surgery worked. While not pain free, I was able to WALK out of the hospital and begin to spend a bit of time with my family. I still had (and currently have) a decent collection of narcotics but I was able to almost immediately get by with one or two a day. I had to go on supplemental oxygen since the combination of 10,000 feet in elevation and strong narcotics dropped my oxygen level low but it was only necessary while sleeping. Per the surgeon, we scrubbed out plans to drive home on Sunday and instead stayed an additional three days (to make sure there was no infection or other complications). As a result, I got a little, teeny bit of vacation which I proceeded to exploit as much as possible while still trying to take care of my back.

Breckenridge is a lovely town and, during the pandemic, designated the main street as car free and a mandatory mask zone. It was a nice area to eat outside and do some shopping without feeling like you were ignoring COVID. We walked around town and went to see the Breckenridge Troll made of recycled materials by a Dutch artist, Thomas Dambo.



Sunday, I ventured out for a short, non-challenging hike (really more of a walk with a bit of an elevation change but I wore my boots and it was plenty challenging to my post-surgery self). The hike was called Cucumber Gulch. Saw a beaver dam but failed to see the bull moose that my wife and kids had seen when they did the hike and I was laying in bed. I then went back to the townhome (a different one that we had had to book for our extra couple of days) and took a nap. This was pretty much my procedure from here on out - some activity in the morning with an afternoon nap/rest/stretch period.



On Monday we went on a tour of a gold mine at the Country Boy Mine that everyone really enjoyed and got to spend some time panning for gold.

Tuesday I went and did the most vacation like thing and booked a fly fishing excursion. No, I did not ask the surgeon and I suspect he would not have told me to go for it. Nevertheless, I was pretty cautious and told our guide about my limitations. I have always wanted to try fly fishing and had heard good things about an outfitter in Breckenridge. They were only willing to take kids that were ages 10 and up so unfortunately Alex didn't get to join me but Andrew and I got up bright and early to give it a try. After learning the process in a reservoir in South Park (had not realized this was a real place) we tried our hand on an actual river.





Both Andrew and I caught fish, both brown and rainbow trout and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. A real highlight for me though obviously the bar had been set pretty low for me.

That evening, we all drove to Hoosier Pass on the Continental Divide to try and catch some of the Perseid meteor shower. We did not have a ton of luck on the meteors but the elevation and lack of light pollution made for spectacular stargazing.



After a bit of shopping on Wednesday we started the drive back to Minnesota. This time we took regular breaks to stretch, I did very little of the driving (unlike the initial drive where I did 12 to 13 hours of the total driving, and most importantly stopped and spent the night in Lincoln, Nebraska breaking the drive into two days. I am now safely home, taking it fairly easy and working to restart my physical therapy and find a surgeon for my aftercare. I will likely go to work on Monday though right now I doubt I will be working full days for a bit.

I did not get to do the mountain biking, horseback riding, river rafting or most of the hiking that the rest of the family did while in Colorado but I am very grateful to have gotten excellent care that was able to repair my injury.

I did listen to and complete How to be an Anti-Racist as an audiobook on the drive from Minnesota. The rest of my reading fell apart as the pain was to great to allow me to concentrate and, on the way home, I tried to sleep and watched A River Runs Through It again now that I am convinced that fly fishing could be my next hobby.

Anyway, I am back and probably looking at a longish recovery process but I am back to lurking on the threads, hopefully doing some reading and perhaps posting a bit more. Despite this ordeal, I think we are hoping to return to Breckenridge at some point and do more of the hiking we missed. However it will probably wait until we can safely fly to Denver and keep our time in the car down to a few hours.

So sorry for your back problems, sounds horrible. But good that you can look at the positive

I love A River Runs Through It, though of course, the book is better

A holiday to remember for all the wrong reasons Erik, but glad you were able to salvage some precious moments near the end, and that you got quality care for your needs. Don't shirk the recovery time needed.

Erik! I am glad you made it home and are feeling better. Good luck with your recovery.

>55 Oberon: OMG
That is the worst kind of nightmare! I'm glad you could get good care, and that you were able to enjoy at least a few leisure activities.

Take good care in the coming months, and enjoy your reads when you can get back to them.

>55 Oberon:, >59 richardderus: - What Richard said! Eek. I guess the best part is being able to come out the other end and talk about it, and still manage to squeeze some good out of it all. Adventure, indeed. Take good care.

Erik - what a Vacation story!

So good that the Good Surgeon came through and that the Breckinridge Troll
(last seen on Joe's thread, I think)
sent you on your Merry Way around town and home.

So sorry your back got injured, Erik, a herniated disc gives an awful lot of pain :-(
Glad you got help and are on the mend now. Take care!

Ugh, just UGH. I'm so sorry, though like everyone else, I am glad you managed to get some vacation in, but really. Ugh.

>65 Oberon: Yikes! It sounds like the vacation from Hell. At least, by the end you were able to do a few things. especially the fly fishing which sounds like fun. The pandemic puts a damper on so many things. My younger son took his seven-year-old fishing the other day by a dam near their house, and my grandson caught an eel. He was so excited. He said that catching the eel was so tiring that he won't be able to fish for a few days because of the fight the eel gave him! Haha! I thought that maybe my husband and I could do some light fishing,. but the lake near us is now TOXIC with blue-green algae. It is forbidden to even TOUCH the water (much less eat the fish that swim in it, I guess).

Glad the Loons made the championship game. Sorry they didn't win. but, hey, they did great!

Rest up and recover so that your next vacation will be one more like Paradise!

>50 richardderus: I think you would like the book Richard though it challenges whether China was the U.S.'s to lose.

>51 weird_O: Hi Bill - you showed up before the real fun started!

>52 SqueakyChu: Sadly not to be but they had a good run and played decently I thought.

>53 BLBera: Thank you for the recommendation Beth, I will take a look out for it.

>56 banjo123: I have not read the book but want to now.

>57 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline. Easier to say then do about not skimping on recovery. I am currently at the office on LT because I took some pain medication to make it through a couple of projects and now am too woozy to drive myself home to get proper rest. The perils of the many wondrous drugs that are available.

>58 BLBera: Thank you Beth.

>59 richardderus: Thanks Richard. I was running ahead of pace on my reading but it looks like August will end up being slow for me.

>60 jessibud2: Thank you Shelley. Sad that I have to opt for a bit less adventure.

>61 m.belljackson: I didn't recall the troll from Joe's thread but very photogenic so I wouldn't be surprised.

>62 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. I am indeed feeling very grateful.

>63 katiekrug: Well said Katie.

>64 SqueakyChu: I have never caught an eel - I think it would be very disconcerting - strange creatures, usually with big fangs.

Now that the MLS tournament is wrapped up I hope that soccer has better luck than baseball has managed. It feels like baseball is teetering on a couple more teams having big outbreaks to bring the whole season to an unceremonious end.

>66 Oberon: can't you work from home for a while Erik (I have been for five months now!). Careful with those meds.

In other updates, my uncle and his wife visited Minnesota (see >38 Oberon: for my discussion of chutney). We ended the visit with a family curry dinner which was hosted at my house. I did a bit too much work to clean and make ready for the dinner and paid a price with my back but other than that the visit was lovely. I hadn't seen my uncle since I last visited Florida when we cleaned out my grandparents' house prior to an estate sale.

It was very gratifying to have a chance to show him the bar that I had brought back from Florida and how I had had it restored. My aunt actually teared up - I think it mattered to them a lot to see it well taken care of and cherished. The curry was excellent (my sister made this batch) but I can take credit for the chutney which was as good as remembered. It was a lot of fun to see them and engage in some of the reminiscing that I remember from visits to my grandparent's house.

>67 Caroline_McElwee: I could and perhaps will if it becomes truly necessary. There is a bit of a need for my presence (particularly after two weeks away) to keep a steady hand on the rudder.

I have been trying to cut out early in the afternoons to rest but thwarted my plans with the pills today. Lesson learned.

On Sunday, I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see a special exhibition called When Home Won't Let You Stay: Art and Migration which focus on refugees. As part of the exhibition, Ai Weiwei installed thousands of discarded life jackets used by refugees in an installation called Safe Passage. That is the photograph up top.

The rest of the exhibition was compelling and troubling. Very interesting to see art respond to major social issues like the refugee crisis.

>70 Oberon: - Wow, that sounds (and looks) powerful.

>71 jessibud2: It was a moving exhibition. There was lot of video work that is, of course, hard to show off here that was very moving. One in particular was shot with a thermographic camera so that it showed the heat, and circulation of people rather than the details of their faces was really compelling.

>70 Oberon: That is astounding. It could, in a US context, be Halloween or Thanksgiving pumpkins from afar. Actually I thought it was at first!

How deeply moving now that I know its truth...that I could associate it with celebrations makes my privilege in this world incredibly obvious.

>73 richardderus: I hadn't thought of pumpkins Richard but now that you said it they do look like pumpkins.

I worry that COVID has taken so many important issues off of our radar screens. I read a report recently that Greece was collecting migrants and simply setting them adrift. Horrifying and reprehensible and yet we are all distracted.

>74 Oberon: I am appalled that there are so many crises that this jackanapes has distracted us from that urgently need attention.

The Russian Job by Douglas Smith

I am a bit behind on my review for some strange reason. Anyway, The Russian Job is an account of the work of the American Relief Administration (ARA). The ARA was created by Congress to respond to the Russian famine of 1921-22. That famine killed an estimated 5 million people.

The head of the effort was Herbert Hoover. Hoover is largely consigned to the list of failed American Presidents today. However doing so ignores Hoover's accomplishments prior to becoming President. Known prior to the presidency as "The Great Humanitarian", Hoover led an extraordinary effort to feed Europe following WWI. Particularly, he was credited with saving much of Belgium from starvation. Thus, when Russia appealed for assistance with its famine, Hoover was widely regarded as the right man for the job.

In short order the ARA pushed into the country side, began hiring local Russians, and set about providing daily meals to somewhere around 11 million people. It is not an exaggeration to say that without the ARA, many if not most of these 11 million people would have starved to death. The obstacles overcome by the ARA to do this were significant. The Russian (Soviet) government was largely responsible for the famine in the first place and resented the presence of the Americans no matter how much they were needed. There were frequent efforts to spy on the Americans, regular arrests of Russians working for the ARA, and frequent fights over how to deliver aid. Additionally, Russian was a largely destroyed nation. WWI had been disastrous for the Russians and the civil war that followed the Communist takeover was equally traumatic. Add to these twin disasters the poor state of Russian infrastructure and the task of transporting food to the famine zone became a Herculean task. The ARA had to spend much of its time and effort just getting the dilapidated Soviet train system to even move sufficient amounts of food from the ports to the people. The ARA personnel lived in frequently squalid conditions and were regularly at risk from diseases like typhus.

The Russian Job given an excellent account of the individuals that did the work, the horror of the famine itself, and all of the obstacles that the ARA overcame to feed the Russian people. It is ultimately a feel good story - America at its best. Believing that no people, even ideological enemies deserved death by starvation, the Americans mobilized money, talent and ingenuity for a nearly unvarnished good and accomplished what they set out to do - save the Russian people from famine. Highly recommended.

>76 Oberon: Hoover was a fine man; would've been a fine president in another timeline, absent macroeconomic catastrophes his political bad judgment would inevitably exacerbate; but he did a fine job of creating conditions that could've sparked a socialist revolution.

And, of course, that's what the New Deal was, a pale and weak-kneed emulation of European social democracy. Still, we should thank him for the Social Security system his inability to cope with a politically created economic crisis gave us.

>77 richardderus: I think Hoover is a really interesting character. Absent the Great Depression he likely would have been highly regarded. Similarly, if he died prior to reaching the presidency he would have been lauded for his accomplishments and amazing life story. Instead, his failure to handle the Depression and his grumpy and surprisingly long life post-presidency gave him lots of time to undermine his many accomplishments. In some ways he is the opposite of Jimmy Carter whose long post-presidency has served to burnish his image after what was widely seen as a failed presidency.

The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough

This is not a small book but one well worth the time if you are interested in the subject. Nor is it a recent book but it holds up well. It is a history of the Panama Canal from conception to completion with a fair amount of related history thrown in. Despite its length, I found the story pretty captivating which is not easy to do with history.

Until reading this book I had no appreciation of the fact that the original plan for the Panama Canal was French or that the French had done so much work on the canal and that initial plans developed by U.S. engineers had focused on a canal in Nicaragua and not Panama. Nor did I understand much of the history of Panama's break away from Columbia and formation as an independent country, nor the role played by the U.S. in the process. Finally, there was an excellent section on the efforts taken to deal with mosquito-born disease in Panama that had resulted in a huge death toll while the French were digging. I found this one section much better written then The Mosquito which was focused solely on the subject.

This is an excellent work of history.

>78 Oberon: He was a fascinating, complicated, true-believing Conservative whose values were *always* on display.

I share few of the values with him, but one must admire his fidelity to his beliefs.

>79 Oberon: ...still think the Nicaragua solution would've been better...

>79 Oberon: I have his one on the Brooklyn Bridge at the top of a tbr mountain, hoping to get to it this Autumn/Winter.

>80 richardderus: I kind of wonder. My understanding is that a Chinese firm was working on a Nicaragua route but it seems to have stalled.

>81 Caroline_McElwee: I would be very interested in your thoughts on the Brooklyn Bridge book Caroline. McCullough did pretty well with the construction narrative I thought.

The Wilderness Warrior by Douglas Brinkley

This one took me awhile at over 800 pages. It is a biography of Theodore Roosevelt that focus fairly tightly on TR's love of nature and legacy of conservation while in the White House. The fact that it is an 800+ page book is indicative of how much Roosevelt accomplished in conservation.

The book is a deep dive and thus gave a lot more detail than some of the higher level biographies of Roosevelt that I have read. Equal time is spent on the National Forests, National Monuments and National Bird Sanctuaries that were created by Roosevelt. Truthfully, Roosevelt protected far more land through executive actions than were ever set aside in National Parks during his administration although he did work to establish and protect a number of parks.

I continue to believe that Edmund Morris's trilogy on TR is the best biography I have read. By design The Wilderness Warrior omits a lot of other aspects of TR's career and life. However, if you are interested in Roosevelt's thinking and contribution toward the preservation of natural places, The Wilderness Warrior is your best bet. Recommended.

On the TR theme, this week was supposed to have been the start of our Kenyan safari to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. My sister and I have been entertaining ourselves (and hopefully our parents) with fictional photographs from an over-the-top virtual safari. We sent this one to them yesterday - me photoshopped into a hunting photo with TR. Other notable photos thus far have been my parents badly photoshopped onto climbers on top of Kilimanjaro and my father photoshopped on to a Masai warrior jumping. Future plans are to photoshop photos into classic Kenyan movies like Out of Africa and The Ghost and the Darkness. If we come up with enough material we intend to make a fake photobook commemorating the fake safari to give them for Christmas.

I love the virtual safari you and your sister are doing for your parents!

How is your back, Erik?

>85 katiekrug: Improving every week, thanks for asking. I weaned myself off of pain medication two weeks ago and am able to do pretty well with just ibuprofen. I had a trial on Monday which meant a lot of sitting so I was sore from that but at the office where I can sit or stand as I need I am in good shape. I was commenting to my wife yesterday that I had more soreness from the workout they gave me at PT than I did from my back!

>86 Oberon: - Well, that's good news! When I dislocated my shoulder last year, by the second month of PT, I would walk in with it feeling fine and walk out with it feeling like I'd reinjured it!

>82 Oberon: There is no way in heck anything like a canal linking oceans will ever again be built. The environmental impacts on the slithy-tove-oid newts and the jub-jub birds would lead to all sorts of rich Northerners screeching like pregnant panthers in labor, descending on the worksite, and making life a hellscape for the people who need the jobs. Comme d'habitude.

Glad your back is better and your TRing is still enjoyable.

>87 katiekrug: I hope my recovery is as quick as your but I am planning on a longer hall.

>88 richardderus: I don't know Richard. The Nicaragua canal looked serious a few years ago but seems to have lost forward momentum. Certainly something like the canal couldn't be built in the US but then maybe it couldn't have been made in the US in the first place. Had to be a colonial project.

Loons update: Loons Won! 4-0 over Real Salt Lake. The score line seemed like more of a blowout than it was. RSL had two goals called back on pretty close offsides calls. Had the goals counted and there had been sustained momentum for RSL it might have been a different outcome. I will certainly take the win. The Loons had lost their last three after coming out well from the summer tournament.

Also, nice was the Loons finally acquired Reynoso, a young Argentine player that Minnesota payed a record transfer fee for. He had a strong game and an assist. In theory, this was the missing piece for the Loons (pay no attention to the fact that our starting goalie went down with a season ending injury). High hopes.

>90 Oberon: It's so great that your Loons are doing well. Isn't it fun to be able to watch soccer again so frequently now?

Even Atlanta United is beating my poor, listless DC United. :D

Yesterday my team in a 0 to 0 game with New York FC set the dubious record for being the second team in *MLS history* to have NO shots at all (that was while NYFC had 19 shots). Hey! We got one point out of this tied game, though, and a clean sheet for our backup goalkeeper. We also have SIX injured starters so my team is really messed up. I do miss Wayne Rooney who brought some excitement to our game and both Paul Arriola and Bill Hamid who are on our injured list.

I love when our teams are able to get Argentinean players. They're my favorites. :D

>91 SqueakyChu: I am sorry that DC United is struggling so badly. Amazing how much Rooney lifted that team up only to have him leave and the wheels fall off.

Can't say they aren't trying - just been really snake bit with injuries. No team is immune to that. As I noted, we lost our starting goalie (who we payed a lot for) when he had to have hip surgery. Plus, Ike Opara hasn't played at all this year. No one has disclosed what injury he has. He won last year's defensive player of the year and looked to be an anchor on an improved back line and he is just gone. Frustrating.

And yes, I know it is tough on teams to go every Wednesday and Sunday but I love having some live sports to watch even if I can't go cheer in the stadium.

Loons won again - 3-2 over Dallas who beat us badly only a few weeks earlier. Ship might be getting righted.

Loons update: Loons lost 1-0 to Kansas City on a bogus offside goal. On the soccer plus side, my middle son pulled off the gaming winning goal today with a nice move around the keeper.

Hi Erik: Diamond Book Distributors has launched a new website and celebrates by giving all visitors in September a free comic book! I mean GN, of course I do, GN.

Better to know than not, eh what?

What is it with these Colorado vacations, Erik? My nephew and his family went to Breckenridge at the end of June and his wife fell off a horse and broke her arm. Fortunately for them, it was the next to last day of their vacation, and she was able to come back home to Kansas for surgery. Hope the back is doing well!

>95 richardderus: Thanks for the tip Richard. If I didn't know better I would guess that you were becoming a fan!

>96 ronincats: Oh no! I bet my family did that horseback ride (minus me). My parents are currently in Colorado so I am really going to hope that they can dodge a cursed vacation.

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century by George Packer

This is a fascinating book by a superb writer that I found very difficult to accurately categorize. At one level, the book is a biography of the diplomat Richard Holbrooke. On a second level, it is a nearly Shakespearean tragedy of ambition and talent thwarted by an inability to recognize (much less address) massive character flaws. Finally, it is an account of the fracture and diminishment of American influence in foreign affairs as told through Holbrooke's life.

Holbrooke's life in broad strokes is that he was near the top of the democratic foreign policy establishment. His most famous accomplishment was brokering the Dayton Accords that ended much of the Bosnian war during the Clinton administration. Had Holbrooke have lived and had Hillary Clinton been elected in 2016 it is likely that Holbrooke would have served as Secretary of State. However, Holbrooke's personality was so grating that he was passed over for Secretary of State in Bill Clinton's administration and Barack Obama's despite general acknowledgment that he was intellectually the best suited.

Packer's book delves into much of the details of Holbrooke's life and career. Most of the time, the granular detail is not flattering. Holbrooke was too self involved to be much of a father. His marriages (3) collapsed mainly due to Holbrooke. He poisoned numerous friendships. And time and time again, Holbrooke alienated colleagues and superiors by a persistent need to self-aggrandize his accomplishments. Whether this was by handing out copies of his biography to visitors to his office or loitering around departing presidential motorcades in the hopes of grabbing a seat (and thus a few minutes to lecture a president).

With all of that, Holbrooke was clearly a magnetic individual. People, often women, were drawn to him. He was one of the most incisive foreign policy thinkers of his generation. His talents made the failure of his ambition all the more tragic. When someone was elevated over Holbrooke often it was someone manifestly less capable to perform the work. Yet, Holbrooke's inability to play nice with others meant he was more often on the outside looking in.

To me, as interesting as Holbrooke's story was, the real draw was the consideration of how America largely squandered its super power status though squabbling, a failure of imagination and distraction. Starting in Vietnam, American power began to bleed away and we wasted the moral high ground through the backing of corrupt governments and inability to maintain a national consensus of how we should operate in the world. It is hard to read Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century and not come away with a sense that we squandered rare opportunities to make the world and the U.S. stronger and more stable. Those failing is reflected and lived in the life of Holbrooke. It is a testament to Packer's writing that he can weave together these pieces and tell Holbrooke's personal story while reflecting on the story of the nation as a whole. Highly recommended.

>98 Oberon: - Yours is the first review that's made me want to read it, Erik. My little international relations/poli sci major heart is all aflutter.

>98 Oberon: Sounds interesting Erik. Adding it to my list too.

>98 Oberon: ...all in service of the greater profit of pigkind.

Such a bloody waste.

>99 katiekrug: Glad to hear it Katie. Worth the investment of time.

>100 Caroline_McElwee: Hope you like it Caroline.

>101 richardderus: Feeling especially cynical today Richard? It was a waste, or maybe the dashed hopes of idealists. Hard to tell.

Loons update: the Loons tied 2-2 versus Houston. Frustrating frankly. They were up 2-0 and let Houston back in the game. A road point for the draw is better than a loss obviously but a missed opportunity.

Also, the Loons added Kei Kamara as a late trade. He should be able to play as early as Wednesday. Not sure how I feel about the acquisition. Loons needed more depth at striker but I think I would have preferred young talent rather than old war horse. We shall see.

One thing is clear, at least the Loons aren't as bad as the Minnesota Vikings. Terrible football team right now.

In other news, the soccer season continues to roll along for the kids. The school year is working - sort of. Two of the three schools have had confirmed COVID cases but thus far no close contact requiring further action.

It is now bonfire season here with cool, mostly bug free evenings. It makes for a wonderful opportunity to socialize while socially distant with friends. Sadly, by the time November comes around the opportunity will be lost.

Finally, my reading is progressing. I am currently at work on a collection of essays by John Muir for my regular book and I am loving Hamnet as my current audiobook. Another fantastic book that I likely would not have encountered but for the praise heaped on it by LT.

>104 Oberon: I recently bought a collection of Muir Erik, and it could be in my autumn reading.

Glad we have another fan of Hamnet too.

Hooray for Hamnet! I'm glad to see another fan, Erik.

>105 Caroline_McElwee: & >106 BLBera: Definitely a huge fan of Hamnet. I finished it last week and have been spending my time evangelizing to friends and family.

Loons update: Loons tied 0-0 with Real Salt Lake. Loons should have won. Had control of the game and better chances and just couldn't finish off the plays.

In broader Minnesota sports news, the Twins are the only bright spot. They won the division despite losing their last game of the season. Take that all you Chicago sports fans! More importantly for the Twins, they do not have to play the NY Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. The Twins have historically had good seasons that always end with terrible playoff performances at the hands of NY so avoiding the Yankees is a big deal.

In other news, the Lynx got swept out of the playoffs ending their season and the Vikings have quickly become comically bad. Yesterday, was their best performance all season and yet they managed to lose to a last minute field goal to the Titans. As someone who has increasingly migrated away from football to soccer, I find some perverse glee in watching the home team struggle.

I worry this will be the end of presidential debates. One more norm broken.

>108 Oberon: As a follow up my previous post - the bright spot was extinguished. The Twins were swept in a three game series versus Houston - a team with a losing record. Twins have now reached epic levels of postseason frustration with the longest postseason losing streak in baseball.

Oh, and the Vikings are all in quarantine since the Titans brought COVID along with a winning football team.

>110 Oberon: - Sorry about the Twins, but glad you can't blame the Yankees this time ;-)

>111 katiekrug: But I like to blame the Yankees! They are such an easy target for us - tons of money, big city glitz, etc., etc. Now we have to contend with the possibility that the problem is us. Would much prefer the simple answer of pointing the finger at the Yankees.

>112 Oberon: - *heavy sigh* We are SO misunderstood.

I was rooting for the Twins because I loathe the Astros with the fire of a thousand suns.

>113 katiekrug: People should hate the Astros. I don't think enough happened to them, although I am not sure what more could have been done.

>114 Oberon: - Agreed.

>113 katiekrug: "We are SO rightly reviled."
--fixed it for you.

The bloody Astros are so much dog food to me. The American League, or the "ooo I can't hit that teeny widdle ball I can just fwow it" League, is not a place for *good* teams to *join*voluntarily*.

*sticks tongue out at Richard*

"They hate us cuz they ain't us."

>116 richardderus: & >117 katiekrug: I laughed at this. I am afraid I am with Richard on the Yankees.

Loons update: Loons won 2-0 over Cincinnati. Frankly anything other than a win would have been an embarrassment. The Loons got overwhelmed by a wacky week of news and a ton of kids sports activities that prevented me from sitting down and watching the game.

Lake had a mirror-like quality to it last night.

>120 Oberon: That Is so beautiful Erik.

>120 Oberon: Wow. Lovely photo.

>120 Oberon: How serenely beautiful.

>121 Caroline_McElwee:, >122 charl08:, >123 richardderus: Thank you. Our little lake association is sponsoring a photo contest and my wife and I routinely joust about who will win.

The weather here remains gorgeous. Looks like a cool down is coming for the weekend however.

Loons update: the Loons have COVID! Or at least two of them do. They are supposed to play a game on Wednesday. No one knows if that game will actually take place. They were supposed to have played Dallas this past Sunday but the game was postponed.

In other news, I was supposed to see a surgeon here for my back this past week but the appointment got cancelled since the surgeon had been in an emergency surgery the prior night. Good excuse frankly but now it will be November at the earliest before I get in. Kind of frustrating.

Kids gave me a trail camera for my birthday so I am hoping to have some additional wildlife shots coming shortly. Set it up yesterday and checked today but I think I still need to put some time in to getting the settings to work. And of course I need some obliging animals.

>125 Oberon: great photo Erik. Looking forward to seeing what critters you capture with your new camera too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

>127 Oberon:

Hi - not sure if this is still up - online MY MODERN MET has some great photo cams of birds!

>125 Oberon: - Wow, those colors are stunning.

>128 Caroline_McElwee: Thank you.

>129 m.belljackson: I appreciate the hat tip to Modern Met. Lots of impressive photos

>130 katiekrug: Really one of the better falls we have had in terms of color for a couple of years.

>126 Oberon: Oh, such bad news! I am so sorry to hear that about the Loons.

>132 SqueakyChu: Tonight's game got called off 2 hours before kick off due to another apparent infection. Sigh.

Long time no visit, but I am all caught again. Bad back, bad Loons, but great Hamnet and wonderful photography!! Hope the good outweighs the bad. Happy Friday. : )

>134 Berly: Hi Kim. Thanks for stopping by.

Walks of a Lifetime in America's National Parks by Robert and Martha Manning

I usually don't post about books until I have finished them but I thought I would make an exception since I was surprised to see that currently I am the only person on LT who has recorded a copy. I got my copy as a birthday present from my sister.

Walks of a Lifetime in America's National Parks is part guide book and part picture book. It is a park by park look at many (but not all) of the National Parks and details how best to see the parks on foot. It provides specifics about the trails, where they are, and what you see by taking the hikes. Importantly for me, most parks have several trails identified and they are helpfully categorized by length and challenge. So, if you want to hike through much of Hayden Valley in Yellowstone and have a full day to do so this book will tell you where to find the trail but will also point you to shorter 1-2 mile hikes that will let you see more of the park than you would from your car but doesn't require major endurance or preparation.

In addition to the practical information about the trails, Walks of a Lifetime in America's National Parks is a lavishly illustrated book showing off the best of the National Parks. Really this book would not look out of place laid out on the proverbial coffee table. As such, even if the likelihood is low that you will ultimately hike many of the trails detailed it is still a gorgeous book to simply flip through and read about the parks.

Given the number of National Park lovers lurking on LT this book should be on more people's radar screen.

>133 Oberon: Oh, my. Not good. I see why the MSL wants the games to go on. I also understand why fans want the games to go on. However, it could be at such a heavy price. I wish this were all over. *sigh*

>136 Oberon: How *gorgeous* that book looks! Makes me wish I could still walk more than a mile.

>137 SqueakyChu: Amen

>138 richardderus: I wish you could too Richard. Book is a decent substitute though

It is snowing here. A lot. Estimates range from 3 to 8 inches. Can't say I am too pleased about that.

Snowing again today. Getting very worried about getting my boat out. We are running substantially below average for temps.

On the plus side, creatures have been undeterred by the snow and I have had some success with my trail cam. Nothing super exotic - deer, squirrels, birds, raccoon and stuff but I am enjoying it.

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

A number of people were talking about this book a year or two ago and it went on my wish list where I finally got to it.

Most interesting to me, besides the vivid descriptions of the dust storms, is how current the book feels. There are regular pieces talking about how depleted the Ogallala Aquifer is getting. It seems like once most of the people who lived through the Dust Bowl started to pass on, people immediately forgot what had happened to them and went back to acting like it could never happen again. I can't imagine that global warming is much of an improvement to this situation either. It seems we are unable to learn the lessons of conservation.

Anyway, great book. Lots of interesting recollections about what the Dust Bowl was like to live through.

Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson

I became a pretty big fan of Steven Johnson based on The Ghost Map. In my opinion, his last few books haven't been as entertaining. While Enemy of All Mankind is not as good as some of his best, it is certainly an improvement over the last few and a worthy read.

The book is about Henry Every and what was one of the most spectacular pirate raids of all time. Rather than in the Caribbean, which is where we think of most piracy, this took place off the coast of India. Avery, an Englishman, seized a treasure ship of the Mughal emperor. He also slaughtered and raped much of the crew and passengers including what was reported to be members of the emperor's court and maybe his family who were returning from the Haj. Avery's actions sparked an international incident with the emperor blaming the English as a whole and the British East India specifically. The English, interested in preserving their trade with India, launched a huge man hunt and ultimately conducted a farcical show trial. However, the main culprit, Every, vanished into the realm of legend.

Johnson, in his typical fashion explores everything from the Mughal court, to the political structure of pirate confederations, a general history of piracy, to the long term consequences that the raid had on the power of the East India Company. Some of the digressions are a bit far afield but remained interesting. While his points don't always connect he does make a good case for the global significance of the event. An entertaining read.

>136 Oberon: Thanks for your comments on this one, Erik! I always struggle finding a book for my SIL, and this sounds perfect for him.

I'm also a fan of The Worst Hard Time. Did you see the PBS series based on it? It was also very good.

>142 Oberon: The lessons of any disaster include work, effort, planning...all the things that we-the-people loathe.

>143 Oberon: Hm. I too have fallen away from Johnsonism, for those reasons. I might be persuaded....

Have a warmer week. And no-boat-trauma *whammy*s heading your way.

>144 BLBera: I wanted to watch the PBS series but couldn't find it on any of my streaming platforms. The National Parks book would be a good gift for park lovers or hikers.

>145 richardderus: Slow moving disasters seem to be a real problem for our democracy.

Thank you for the no-boat trauma whammy - it is off the lake, my dock is out and I did not end up rupturing any more discs in the process.

>55 Oberon: WOW Erik, What an eventful vacation. Though, I've never had surgery while on vacation, in the last ten years, I've had nine neck and spine surgeries, thus I can relate to your pain issues.

Despite all the pain, I am in awe of the photos and what you were able to accomplish.

>141 Oberon: Is the critter in this night image a fox?

>142 Oberon: I agree with your comments regarding The Worst Hard Time. I read this awhile ago.

I send all good wishes to you in the hope your recovery will be smooth and your pain will increasingly abate.

>142 Oberon:

Hi Eric - around 40 years ago, I sent my Tucson sister tons of information on how the Ogallala Aquifer was drying up and suggesting a move back to Wisconsin and our
Great Lakes.

And yet, Tucson and Phoenix still pretend to exist, along with the ever-draining Mecca
of Las Vegas...

>147 Whisper1: Linda, you have had to endure far more than I have. I am hopeful that my back becomes something I can largely forget about in the years ahead. We shall see.

As to the photo, pretty sure that one is a raccoon. We have gotten a couple of other raccoon photos with the trail camera so I am fairly confident. We have gotten one photo of a red fox but he wasn't well centered on the camera so I am hoping to get more. Lots of deer though.

Thanks for stopping by.

>148 m.belljackson: I have been meaning to get to the book about the imperiled great lakes too. All of those cities seem destined for disaster eventually - though I will say that I found Sedona lovely.

The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane

I am woefully behind on my reviews but thought I would get this one up as it was both lovely and my 75th for the year.

The Lost Spells is essentially a continuation of The Lost Words, Robert Macfarlane's earlier book that took a number of nature words removed from a youth dictionary in favor of tech terms like "tablet". Macfarlane wrote beautiful poems using each word like "heron" and "fern" and these were gorgeously illustrated by Jackie Morris. The book earned widespread acclaim and sparked a movement, especially in England, to ensure that children learned and appreciated the language to describe the natural world. I picked up The Lost Words shortly after it was published in the US and love it. However, it is a coffee table sized book. It is certainly gorgeous enough to serve as a coffee table book but in terms of reading and re-reading it is a large object. Of course this makes the illustrations easier to appreciate too.

The Lost Spells is more pocket sized. It is also not confined to words removed from the youth dictionary. However, it maintains the same themes of nature, poetry and art. If you enjoyed The Lost Words you will have an identical reaction to The Lost Spells. For me, the smaller format is actually an improvement since it is more portable. This is the sort of book that you could see taking on a hike with a child and pausing to read a poem out of. I especially like "Red Fox" and "Egret". After reading the book myself, I read a selection to my nature loving eight year old. It held his attention (over Fortnite) so well that I ended up reading the whole of it aloud to him.

It is a not a long book (again like The Lost Words) but it is a beautiful book in every possible sense. Highly recommended.

A page from the Red Fox poem in The Lost Spells

No Loons update as some of the Loons have COVID. Turns out this isn't all bad as we were supposed to play a pretty good Kansas City team. Plus, MLS changed the way teams make the playoffs to a point per game formula (because a number of teams won't be able to play all their matches). So, Loons are in the playoffs for sure and are in a good spot to retain home field advantage.

In other news, the Vikings upset the Packers. Vikings season is still a lost cause but it is always nice to beat Wisconsin.

Other than that, I can't bear to wait for election results. My nerves are too frayed at this point.

>151 Oberon:, >152 Oberon:

I couldn't resist, what with that fox-face poem. Lovely 75th!

I think you might like my latest review post.

>151 Oberon: Congratulations on reaching 75, Erik.

Congrats!

Congratulations on the 75! Also nerve-frayed about the election here, but we are pleased that the Timbers will make the playoffs.

Congratulations on hitting 75 reads Erik.

I've got everything crossed for you all today.

>154 richardderus: I did see your review Richard and it looks interesting. FYI - I got A Gazelle Ate My Homework that you hat-tipped to me previously for my birthday so I hope to get to it soon.

>155 FAMeulstee:, >156 drneutron: Thank you.

>157 banjo123: Congrats on the Timbers. They are looking to be in much better form than the Loons who are struggling with COVID, injuries, and scoring goals.

>158 Caroline_McElwee: Thank you Caroline. Sad to think that we have to keep everything crossed days after the fact.

So I made myself sick watching election results. Stayed up late enough (into Wednesday morning) to at least go to bed with a glimmer of hope that Biden would pull out a win. However, the stress and lack of sleep gave me a migraine which further increased my lack of sleep. Finally doing ok today and, thank god, the country seems to be doing ok too.

I am concerned that the true test for democracy might be upon us. I am not convinced that Republican leaders are going to stand up to Trump and tell him he is done and that he needs to stop throwing gas on the fire. I hope I am wrong on this point but signs are not positive. I think I am going to be rereading On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder soon.

In other, more positive news, I finally got to see a local surgeon in follow up on my back. He said things looked pretty good. Plus, physical therapy started saying that they thought I made sufficient progress that we could talk about not needing continued treatment. Only downside was that the surgeon said that the disc would always have a base 10% chance of reoccurrence due to the injury. I can live with that.

Hi ERIC -

Awhile back, I ordered a free subscription to PEOPLE because voters were predicting
that Dr. Fauci would be nominated as Sexiest Man of the Year! Still waiting...
... and the magazine is mostly utter trash even just to glance at.

And yet, this week's article on Michael J. Fox is a winner - you might want to read it if only for the part where he decides to take a chance on a recurrence and move too fast.

>161 Oberon: Excellent outcome re: disc! Better than you were worried it might be.

...now if this darned election would get called...

Huge sigh of relief.

>164 Oberon: Same here on the other side of the Atlantic.

Hi Erik, glad that your back is OK. Sorry about the Loons, it is a weird season.

Congrats on reaching 75, Erik. Good news about your back, and about the election. Now, we can go back to life and count the days to Jan. 20. Maybe he'll just go and play golf for the next two months?

>165 FAMeulstee: I have to think that in many ways the outcome is better for non-Americans. Biden will have a much freer hand with international matters than he will domestic so I think things like blowing up NATO are off the table. I worry that Republicans are going to stymie much of Biden's domestic agenda.

>166 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda. Timbers sure looked good again.

>167 BLBera: I hope you are right Beth. I am worried how many democratic norms he will try to wreck on the way out the door.

Loons win! Convincing 3-0 win over FC Dallas in the last regular season game of the year. It was especially nice since the Loons have seemed to have a string of unimpressive draws and this was a nice, emphatic victory over a not bad team. Looks like we will be play Colorado in the first round of playoffs. I think we have some hope to win that game but I doubt we will go much deeper.

>169 Oberon: Good luck to the Loons in the playoffs! DC United will not be in the playoffs this year. They needed a win and got a loss, although I’m not complaining for two reasons. One is that, under coach Chad Ashton, the players are actually playing a fun game to watch instead of just limping around the pitch. Second, Paul Arriola has finally recovered from his knee injury which took him out since preseason. It was tough watching my team do so poorly this year, but there’s always next year (and the USMNT).

>170 SqueakyChu: I am sorry to hear the DC Untied didn't make it across the line. Felt like DC was snakebit for much of the year. Hope springs eternal though and here is to hope for next season. Meanwhile the Loons could use all the spare cheers you can muster.

>171 Oberon: I'll cheer for them. I hate that my own team's season is over.

>172 SqueakyChu: I do believe that Darryl's Atlanta United has had an equally epic collapse.

>173 Oberon: That was sad as well. That team and its fans had so much fun in their glory last year.

congratulations to the Loons! A resounding win IS nice. And, hey, it’s November. Anything can happen

Loons won their first playoff game! Not only that but they did so with a convincing 3-0 score line over Colorado. Wish I could have seen it in person but such is the world we live in.

Stopping by to congratulate you on the Loons win! Hoping they go all the way.

By the way, I caught a couple of USMNT friendlies this past week. I forgot how well some teams can play after watching DC United all season! :D

USMNT is looking promising. Lots of young talent really coming in to their own. The USWNT plays on Friday. Probably going to watch that game - more interesting to me than American football.

I was really wowed by the young USMNT players. Did you catch those games this past week? I saw that Dest also plays for Barvelona and he scored his first gaol with Barcelona today.

The USMNT without the "old" people I grew to dislike (most of all, Michael Bradley, whom I could never stand!) is terrific. Zak Steffen is my favorite goalkeeper (even though he knocked DC United out of the playoffs last year) necause he used to play for University of Maryland. Bill Hamid is my second favorite goalkeeper, though. :D

It will be great fun to follow the USMNT and the USWNT.

Yeah. I've given up American football completely. I used to be such a devoted Redskins fan, but that was mostly back in the 70s under coach Joe Gibbs. Free angency and too many advertisements during the games ruined American football totally for me.

Go Loons!! Nice to have something fun and bright in life. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.

This Brit wishes to express his thanks for the warmth and friendship that has helped sustain him in this group, Erik.

>179 SqueakyChu: The Loons own Eric Miller was also being talked about as a USMNT goalkeeper but he had season ending surgery so I think it is Zak's to lose at this point.

USWNT won 2-0. Nice to have them back in action.

>180 Berly: Thanks Kim. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to you as well.

>181 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul.

Loons update: Covid woes knocked out the Thursday night football game so the Loons are playing Kansas City on Thursday night. Fingers crossed.

Thanksgiving was rather boring for me this year. We usually host about 20 people - both sides of the family. While my wife is not a huge fan, I love the chance to set a proper table and indulge in making craft cocktails as my contribution. All of that went by the wayside this year. I will concede that the meal we got from our local grocery store was really good but this is one of the holidays that is made by family for me. Plus, not sure this is boding well for Christmas either.

Other than that, I got in a lot of walking/hiking as Minnesota has stayed snow-free. Kind of sad that the trail cam has become a major source of recreation for us. Picked up surprising visitors for our suburban local including opossum, mink and what we are pretty sure is a bobcat. Last night had a trio of raccoons.

Good luck to the Loons! The Timbers knocked themselves out by falling apart at the end of their game--the story of their season--so now I am rooting for anyone other than LA or Seattle.

And yes, the holidays this year are a bit boring.

>184 banjo123: We shall see tomorrow night. Looks like who ever wins has to get through the Sounders. Lots of upsets so far in the playoffs.

>185 Oberon: Go, Loons!!!!!

>186 SqueakyChu: Fingers crossed!

The Defining Moment by Jonathan Alter

This was a very good biography of FDR that focused heavily on the condition of the US at the time FDR was elected and how FDR set about addressing the crisis in his now storied first 100 days.

What struck me was how easily FDR could have assumed extra-constitutional, even dictatorial powers at the start of his presidency. In fact, there were lots of calls for him to do so from very prominent members of society. There was a growing consensus that a dictatorship was necessary in order to address the magnitude of the Great Depression. Moreover, in 1933, dictatorship was not nearly so loathed as it would become in the Second World War. Mussolini and fascism was a successful political movement that appeared to be addressing Italy's problems and the belief was common that something similar was needed in the US.

Moreover, the tools for assuming a dictatorship were readily at hand. Substantial numbers of WWI veterans were available and unemployed. Thus, a call to return to service under the order of a president was entirely possible.

Instead, FDR took a different path and went to Congress with an impressive series of legislation that has not been matched since. The Defining Moment makes the point that many of these laws didn't succeed in accomplishing their primary goal but that the American people so craved some sort of forward progress and sense that the political system was working to address problems, that the success or failure of many programs was somewhat ancillary.

Alter also makes a very good argument for the idea that FDR was uniquely qualified to lead the country at this point in history. Hoover, who was arguably far more qualified to be chief executive lacked the flexibility and charisma to save America. FDR alone had the necessary qualities to bolster confidence and respond to the Great Depression. Finally, Alter makes the point that FDR's actions effectively saved the country from dictatorship or revolution.

An excellent book.

The Quiet Americans by Scott Anderson

The Quiet Americans is about the formation of the CIA and its early history up through about 1956. Anderson uses the careers of four CIA agents to tell the story so for each the timeline is a little different. The four men, Frank Wisner, Michael Burke, Ed Lansdale, and Peter Sichel, are intertwined with much of the early CIA and thus their individual stories are a useful way of telling the history of the agency.

The book starts with the formation of the OSS, a wartime intelligence service pretty much created out of whole cloth as the US entered WWII. The OSS is later dissolved following the end of the war but a successor agency, the CIG was created shortly thereafter and after some recombination of varying elements eventually becomes the CIA. For the sake of ease, I am referring to all of organizations as the CIA even though much of the careers of the men involved was spent in the precursor agencies.

All four men get involved with the CIA during WWII. From there, each man sees different pieces of the rapid pivot to the Cold War. Burke and Sichel are at the front of the Cold War in Europe dealing directly with spying on the Soviets right at the start of the Cold War. Wisner after the war became a deputy director of the CIA and thus most of the discussion about the organization, reorganization, and bureaucratic turf wars (including the Red Scare) are told principally through his eyes. Landsdale serves in the Pacific, first in the Philippines and later in Vietnam where he largely creates the early counterinsurgency/nation building playbook.

The book traces the careers of each of the men through the initial turns of the Cold War and largely ends with the crushing of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956. Anderson views the American failure to support the Hungarian as a major betrayal and a squandering of good will. Essentially, Anderson views the shift in American policy as a turning away from the anti-colonialism embraced by FDR to a reflexive and moralistic opposition to communism that manifested in political movements like McCarthyism.

I suspect that some will find Anderson's book too political in tone. He is deeply critical of the Eisenhower administration, the Dulles brothers, Hoover's FBI and Joe McCarthy. I found most of his criticisms accurate but I suspect that others will object to his portrait of Eisenhower as cowardly, Hoover as obsessively jealous and so on.

Personally, I found the history fascinating and Anderson's take on events to be accurate and well thought through. Anderson is a good writer and his decision to tell the story of the creation and early days of the CIA through the stories of these four men is effective and compelling. By basing the book around the individuals fighting the Cold War, Anderson also manages to show how dramatically the goals of the organization shifted and how a largely noble initial purpose was lost. Highly recommended.

I've got the game on now...and will be cheering for...the Loons! :D

ETA...and the Loons won a very fun game to watch! Congratulations on your team advancing to the Western Conference finals!!

Loons win!!!!!!!

3-0 the Loons beat KC, the number one seed in the Western Conference! So very, very excited!

>190 SqueakyChu: I am sure it was your cheering that put them over the top!

>192 Oberon: It was! I kept screaming, "Go, Loons!!!!".

I added your goalkeeper (Dayne St. Claire) to my favorites list now as well because he was a Terp!!! He played soccer at University of Maryland (one of the universities I attended) so I consider him a home-grown! Plus he's cute! That's also how I added USMNT goalkeeper Zak Steffen to my favorites list as well back when he played for Columbus. :D

Some interesting reading, Erik.

Congratulations on the Loons great win.

I am also very happy with my own team, Leeds United, as we have taken the EPL if not by storm then certainly by surprise. We are playing wonderful football and have played in the two games that have created the most chances - versus Aston Villa (39 chances and we won 3-0) and Everton (38 chances and we won 1-0). More clinical and we would be in the top four.

>193 SqueakyChu: One of our defensive backs, Chase Gasper, is also a Terp and was roommates with Dayne. Sadly, he looked a little overmatched last night but has overall been a very strong defender for us.

>194 PaulCranswick: I saw some commentary before the EPL started that suggested Leeds would be good and surprise some. Seems like they have lived up to the billing. I will keep my fingers crossed for them. Not a ton of difference yet so far in the league table. Lots of teams pretty tightly packed.

>195 Oberon: I saw that information on closed captioning (I can't understand sports broadcasts), but I didn't get a chance to see who the roommate was. Since I didn't know Gasper at that time, I missed it. Thanks for filling me in.

I'm looking forward to the Loons beating the Sounders. I hope to be watching that game (and their beating Columbus, whom I hope will advance in the east) to become the champs this year. So....if Atlanta was the champ in 2018, and the Loons will be the champ this year, can DC United be the champ next year (or even the following year)? Wishful thinking, I guess, but I can dream. :D

I love when we have local sports champions. Last year the baseball celebrations over the Nats win were so much fun - and they included one of my favorite songs, "Baby Shark"! I also remember the years that the Washington Redskins were Superbowl champs. We then took our firstborn infant son for a car ride through Georgetown to celebrate! You guys need that kind of happiness for your local area now. Best of luck!

Beat Seattle!

Fingers crossed for the Loons for the Sounders game.

NYT crossword puzzle had “Minnesota state bird” as a clue today. Thanks to your threads, I got that one... 😂

>196 SqueakyChu: I am ok if DC United wins next year if the exchange is a Loons victory! We shall see.

>197 banjo123: Fingers crossed, scarves up!

>198 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

>199 drneutron: Yeah, I could see my thread helping out with that!

Still no snow here. Got in hikes of 5 miles a piece yesterday and today. Saw trumpeter swans and bald eagles. Got some coyotes on the trail cam too. Western Conference final tomorrow night. Loons are the underdogs for sure but anything can happen in soccer.

Great reviews of The Defining Moment and The Quiet Americans, Erik.

Congratulations to the Loons! If the Dallas Cowboys are America's Team, maybe Minnesota United can be LT's Team.

As a former Minnesotan, I can definitely cheer on the Loons!!! Glad you are getting in some hiking. My nieces in MN say it is really weird not having any snow.

>189 Oberon: Nice review! I just finished a book called A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II and she later served in the CIA. Interesting story.

Well dang. We just can't have anything nice, especially in 2020. The Loons went up 2-0 against Seattle until the middle of the second half and then just collapsed, giving up the game winner in stoppage time. Heart breaking really.

Sorry about the Loons! The Timber’s are always losing like that, it’s a very sad feeling.

>204 Oberon: I got to see that game, and wildly cheered the Loons on. It was an exciting game, but near the end, I just wanted the clock to run out so the Loons could keep the win. Sadly, that did not happen. However, the Loons played so well.

In reading others' comments about that game, the seemingly unanimous decision was that the Loons needed the late subs in the same way that the Sounders took advantage of them for fresh legs, but that was not forthcoming, and the Loons ran out of steam. I'm happy to say that I've now become a fan of theirs. I just might try to catch some of their games next season if they are played locally on my TV station. They are certainly more animated than my own team, DC United.

I'm sorry for the Loons' loss yesterday, but they are a team of which to be proud for sure. Go, Loons!

I hope Columbus beats the hell out of the Sounders! However, I do like their Jordana Morris. :D

>205 banjo123: Part of the "joy" of soccer I guess. Now on to the offseason and reading the tea leaves about who is coming and who is going.

>206 SqueakyChu: Yeah, the Loons really needed a time out at the end there. Not sure if the two days less of rest or just intensity from Seattle made the difference but the Loons just could not get the ball out of their half for the final 15 minutes. Still felt unlucky and and uniquely Minnesotan in its curse.

>202 kidzdoc: Maybe Darryl though I could see Paul making a vigorous defense for his Leeds United. Hope you enjoy A Promised Land. I started in on it as an audiobook and I am loving it. Although the contrast between the competence and decency of Obama is so stark versus Trump that the comparison is physically painful at times.

>203 Berly: Still no snow. In fact, it hit 50 degrees here yesterday and will get close to it again today. The extended forecast suggests that we might not even have snow for Christmas. My cross country skis are gathering dust in the basement.

Longish book post . . .

Late last year a good friend of mine discussed starting a book club but did not get the idea off the ground. After lockdown started they dropped off a themed box containing the first two books Sharks in the Time of Saviors and The Falcon Thief of the new book club. In addition to the actual books there were recipes, ingredients, and a whole air and water theme. After the fact we recognized that we should have documented it better but I did take a photo and posted about in my previous thread https://www.librarything.com/topic/314963 at post 115.

Which brings us to the present and a better documented second box:
This is what showed up:


There were no explanations and everything was in Russian. Yes, we did try Google Translate. (BTW - bottle on top was vodka infused with horseradish)



The newspaper and film were inside the manila envelope labeled agitprop which means Communist propaganda. The QR code led to https://www.x-rayaudio.com/x-rayaudiohistory - a very interesting site talking about how bootleg records were made in Russia using old x-rays as a way of avoiding Stalinist bans on western music.



The next level down, labeled Goskino for the USSR State Committee for Cinematography, had another QR code this time linking to The Death of Stalin on Netflix, a recipe (again in Russian) and sunflower seeds for the recipe.



Below that was the wrapped book and a Cold War themed, 2 person board game.



Finally, the book The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov written shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin.

I feel like they should go into business making book themed boxes like this. Lots of fun.

Sounds like great fun (and a lot of thought and work!).

Do you know anyone Russian who can help you with the recipe?

>209 Oberon: - Oh, what fun!

And I loved 'The Death of Stalin.'

The Wayne is a big lover of board games, and we played Twilight Struggle early on in our relationship; he was flummoxed when I wiped the floor with him, despite never having played. It's a fun one! At least I remember it that way, as I have refused to ever play it again so as to maintain my perfect record :)

>210 jessibud2: No, but I think Google Translate will do well enough that I can make the recipe. It is some sort of potato based cake (I think)

>211 katiekrug: I have not seen Death of Stalin or played the board game so it is interesting to hear about both. I am looking forward to it. I did appreciate how it all tied in to my non-fiction read of The Quiet Americans

Wow! That's quite a box. Is there going to be a book discussion?

I forgot to apologize earlier, but my daughter and I may be responsible for the defeat of the Loons, as we watched the last half of the game. It seems that whenever we do that, the team we cheer for loses in overtime.

>55 Oberon: I am sorry for not visiting as much as I would like. It sounds like a surgery is in your future. I've had nine neck and spine surgeries, and a recent series of nerve ablations.

There is help, just be careful who you chose to do your surgery.

>213 banjo123: Yes, there will be a discussion. We had one for the previous set of books, outdoors and COVID careful. Probably February. It is a bit tough to make such things work in Minnesota but we did it in 30 degree weather before.

>214 Whisper1: Hi Linda. I imagine it is in my future. I am focusing right now on pushing that out as far as I reasonably can. Fingers crossed.

>215 Oberon: My experience with surgery is that when the pain is at a point that it is not tolerable, surgery might be the only option. I wish you luck with what ever option you choose.

>217 Oberon: Thanks Linda.

Reached a bit of a milestone today. Physical therapy came to an end. I have a final set of exercises that I need to keep doing to maintain but otherwise I do not have any further appointments. In related news, got out for some of the first cross country skiing of the year. It is at a park that makes snow since we have gotten almost none thus far this year. Good exercise for me.

Was interested to see Obama put Sharks in the Time of Saviors on his annual book list. It was one of my top books of 2020 too but I expect my endorsement will carry a little less weight than his.

>218 Oberon: Thanks for mentioning that, Erik. The Amazon Kindle US edition of Sharks in the Time of Saviors is currently selling for $2.99, so I just purchased a copy of it. This was based on your recommendation, not Barack Obama's, needless to say.

Tachyon Publications, an SFF house, posted this on Twitter. Says it all, no?

Congrats on the end of your PT, Erik. That must be a good feeling.

>219 kidzdoc: I can't imagine why you wouldn't take my recommendations as more authoritative than Obama's. Nevertheless, glad you picked that one up Darryl.

>220 richardderus: Very apt. Truthfully I am looking at January 20th as the date I am holding out for. Once we get past that I will breath a little easier.

>221 charl08: Thanks Charlotte. It feels a little weird to be done - almost like I am reluctant to test without crutches. But yes, it is nice to hear from someone with medical training that I have improved significantly and am pretty close to normal.

I decided to do a modest acknowledgment of the Winter Solstice last night. I didn't get much buy-in from the women in the family but I put up a bonfire down by the lake and the boys and I spent about an hour skating on the lake (froze pretty smooth, no snow) and finished it off with s'mores at the bonfire. My only complaint was that it was really cloudy so we didn't get to see the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter.

In other news, I started in on a long considered and not undertaken reread of the Aubrey/Maturin by Patrick O'Brian. Master and Commander was book 100 for the year and Post Captain should be 101 unless I get through A Promised Land as my audiobook first.

Happy everything, Erik. Here's to good health, above all, and of course, good books.

Or in other words, Happy Christmas! And have a great New Year as well. Here’s hoping 2021 is better than 2020.

I hope there are some treats, some relaxation, and some reading over the festive season, and that 2021 is a kinder year to everyone.

A healthier 2021 is wished for you Erik, and some time bobbing about in your boat.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
May 2021 bring you less need for masks, loads of peace and joy, good health and, of course, books!

I hope you get some of those at least, Erik, as we all look forward to a better 2021.

>223 Oberon: Sounds like a nice celebration, Eric.
I do prefer Winter Solstice over Christmas celebration.
We could not see the Saturn - Jupiter conjunction either. We saw them the day before, when they were already close. And today we saw them again, a bit more distance between them now.

>225 jessibud2:, >226 SandDune:, >227 Caroline_McElwee:, >228 Berly:, >229 PaulCranswick: Thank you for the holiday wishes and holding down the fort here.

We got a nice December 23rd blizzard which messed with traffic and my package delivery but it did have the benefit of ensuring a white Christmas. I am in trial on Wednesday of this week so I am a bit out of touch. I will begin assembling my 2021 thread in a few days.

>230 FAMeulstee: We finally saw Saturn and Jupiter on Christmas Eve. Not the great conjunction but still pretty visible and fun to see.

Time to take out the trash!

Erik

As the year turns, friendship continues