Old Glory (Vintage Departures) by Jonathan Raban BOOK REVIEW - FIVE STARS

 BOOK REVIEW- Five Stars

Old Glory: A Voyage Down the Mississippi (Vintage Departures) by Jonathan Raban

“Riding the river, I had seen myself as a sincere traveler, thinking of my voyage not as a holiday but as a scale model of a life. It was different from life in one essential: I would survive it to give an account of its end. The journey would turn into a complete narrative, where life—my own life—could be only an unfinished story with an inconclusive plot.” The author, Jonathan Raban

Jonathan Raban’s account of floating down river across America on the mighty Mississippi and being submersed in every type of political, religious, and regional controversy that cursed a country that is often diverse and extreme paints a vivid picture and weaves an adventure.

Interesting and educational, this story is an on going escapade.

EXCERPTS

“I think God made the Mississippi as a sort of warning, to prove that things really can be worse than you think.”

I ran into the man again. “You’re not still thinking of going down that river, are you?” “I’ve written off about getting a motor.” “It’d cost you a hell of a lot less if you just swallowed a packet of razor blades.

The state fair sprawled across a hillside and a valley, and at first glance it did indeed look like a city under occupation by an army of rampaging Goths. I’d never seen so many enormous people assembled in one place. These farming families from Minnesota and Wisconsin were the descendants of hungry immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia. Their ancestors must have been lean and anxious men with the famines of Europe bitten into their faces. Generation by generation, their families had eaten themselves into Americans. Now they all had the same figure: same broad bottom, same Buddha belly, same neck less join between turkey-wattle chin and

sperm-whale torso. The women had poured themselves into pink stretch-knit pant suits; the men swelled against every seam and button of their plaid shirts and Dacron slacks. Under the brims of their caps, their food projected from their mouths. Foot-long hot dogs. Bratwurst sausages, dripping with hot grease. Hamburgers. Pizzas. Scoops of psychedelic ice cream. Wieners-dun-in-buns. Stumbling, half-suffocated, through this abundance of food and flesh, I felt like a brittle matchstick man.

The sound of dice being shaken in a wooden cup. “That’s a rattler. He’s in there somewhere.” Tickety-tickety-tickety. “He’s moving away from us now. He was right close up when I first heard him.” The noise of the snake was lost in the rustle of the leaves. “A while back, this was a real good place for rattlers.

When I was a kid, we used to come out and hunt them. You got twenty-five cents for every rattle then. They was trying to exterminate them. Then a whole lot got drowned in the summer floods.

There was rattlers all over, trying to climb aboard. They was just desperate to get on anything that was floating, logs, boats, I guess they weren’t discriminating too much. It wasn’t me they was after, it was just a ride on my boat.

Whenever anyone’s been in trouble in the world, we’ve gone in there to help them. Hell, we helped you out when you was in trouble in World War Two. Now America’s in trouble, and everyone’s looking the other way. No one wants to help us. Even your country, you ain’t going to come in with us and lend a hand. Even you.” His jowl was set in a melancholy line of deep personal grievance. “I reckon in America now, we ain’t got but one friend left in the world. Know who that is?” “I’m sorry it’s not England.”

“South Korea.” He gave an irritable snort of laughter. “Fuckin’ South Korea!”

I wasn’t a traveler at all; I was just another rubberneck in a city that made its living out of credulous rubbernecks. Go buy a guidebook! Take a buggy ride! Get your picture painted! Eat beignets! Listen to the sounds of Old Dixie! Have yourself a relief massage; then go home, shmuck!

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The Berlin Wife by Marion Kummerow - Book Review - Five Stars

 

BOOK REVIEW FIVE STARS

The Berlin Wife: A totally gripping WW2 historical novel about bravery against the odds by Marion Kummerow

An eye-opening novel that is timely and based on true history. 

In this age of enlightenment it is unfathomable that an entire adult population could be duped into voting for and backing a Fascist with a criminal record.

As an introduction to this era and the political climate that precipitated a Fascist government which quickly spread over Europe and beyond resulting in 13 over run countries and millions of victims, I recommend listening to the audio book; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer.

Pay special attention to 1943.

It has been said that Americans can be sold anything, even a war. The last war they won was in 1945.

EXCERPTS:

Did you know that he recently founded his own party, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party? It already has fifty thousand members.” Joseph puffed out his breast, leaving no doubt that he was one of the fifty thousand.

“This is the problem of all democracies. The commoners are simply not educated enough to know what is good for the country, they tend to put their personal benefit over everything else. We need a strong ruler in Germany to reunite the states.”

I have experienced more crises in my life than I care to remember. All have passed sooner or later. Those who are prepared will profit, the rest goes under.

You just sit back and let the inflation do its work. I’m quite certain a currency reform is the only way out of this depression, then you have got it made.

“Hitler is our man,” Joseph said as he took the offered cigar. Julius shook his head. “I don’t see how. He’s too hotheaded, has no political experience, no allies, and, most importantly, no backing in the population.”

Hitler has to stifle his rhetoric if he wants to be successful.”

The task was done. Germany was on its way to a bright future! And he would be an important part of it.

Joseph offered a toast. “Our leader Adolf Hitler can always rely on his SS. We will do our duty. Heil Hitler!”

A vicious coup had been prevented and everyone in the unit would receive a promotion.

Over the course of a week, not only had fifty SA leaders in the hotel been eliminated, but also Ernst Röhm had been arrested and shot on Hitler’s order.

Hitler told his senior SS men, in the same words he later repeated in front of the German Parliament, consisting solely of trusted NSDAP members. About two hundred men had been killed: Only Vice-Chancellor von Papen evaded death and was placed under house arrest.

Hitler had won on every count, and at the same time had shown his people that he was their sole leader, who would ruthlessly oppress any and all critics, no matter who they were or how much power they held.

The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor supposedly protected the racial purity of the Master Race and forbade “miscegenation”, or inter-breeding, between Aryans and Jews.

Reich Citizenship Law additionally stipulated that a Jew, and to a lesser extent a half-Jew, did not belong to the German race and nation, thus was not allowed to have the Reich citizenship.

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