Master of the Senate

Master of the Senate - by Robert Caro

The series of books by Robert Caro that detail the life of the 36th president Lyndon B. Johnson have become a bit of legend in the last 30 years.  Apparently, Caro set out to write a 2 volume set detailing the man’s life, yet apparently the words flowed a bit too easily, and as of this writing, he’s working on the fifth, and hopefully the last, installment.  Add to the fact that his research into his subject is so frighteningly intense, that it takes Robert Caro an average of ten years between these works.  This particular one, the third, came out back in 2002.  I didn’t think it was quite as good as the first two, but I would still give this one an A+.

When viewing these volumes, it’s quite easy to become intimidated by the shear volume of these books, and to immediately turn away towards lighter reading.  These volumes average about 800 pages (this one is over 1,000) and the pages are dense with information.  Fortunately, the writing is first class, and despite the time and effort in reading such burly volumes, the reader rarely gets bored.  The books are simply chocked full of wonderful information.

Caro’s first volume deals with LBJ’s birth through his election to the House of Representatives in 1942.  The second one leads up to his victory (although the election was blatantly stolen) to the Senate in 1950, and this one details his life a senator during the decade of the fifties until his vice-presidential nomination in 1960.  The description in the title “Master” is no misnomer.  The man was clearly a dominate force during his years as leader of the Senate and, as this book describes in detail, had just sort of personality that managed to radically shake up (for the better) the legislative branch of the U.S. government.

Throughout all of Caro’s volumes, he paints a very fair picture of the (then) future president.  He doesn’t regard him as a saint nor a god, yet he isn’t a hater of the man, and there’s no blatant vitriol towards the man.  LBJ comes across as someone with many strengths and many weaknesses just like everyone else, and with the extensive research, we see broad examples of both.  One thing Johnson was addicted to was a lust for immense power  (2 of the 4 volumes have the word “power” in the title), and being as smart as he was, he knew how to yield it to get what he wanted, and to get it quickly.

It’s obvious from early on in the first volume, that Johnson’s ultimate quest is no less than President of the United States.  Everything he does in his whole life is simply a stepping stone to reach that goal - including being the most powerful man in the Senate.  The fact that LBJ radically changed the way the Senate operated is detailed exhaustively.  Up until Johnson’s time, the U.S. Senate had been mainly a place for complacent “old bulls” to retain their status quo, and were never concerned much with helping the ordinary citizen, especially if it meant radically sacrificing their social status.  The U.S. Senate was basically a fraternity, and until the man (and yes, it was only men - only white men at that time remember) had seniority, he was expected to sit quietly and be submissive to the elder members.  Caro even spends the first 100 pages or so of this volume detailing a brief history of the Senate - back to the founding fathers, to illustrate this point.  Some readers have found that too much of a distraction, but it helps to clearly illustrate just how the environment had been for close to 200 years.

This isn’t to say LBJ was a saint who was a crusader for the common man.  No, he understood politics, and knew what was necessary to retain support from the rich boys and stay in office.  Sadly, just like now, retaining one’s title as “Senator” was still the main focus, and every bit of legislation was looked at as how it would effect the Senator before how it would affect the constituents back home.  Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than the Civil Rights issues that were predominantly being talked about during the 1950s.  In fact, about half of this book is devoted the details surrounding Civil Rights, and this is the only area where Caro gets a bit bogged down in his details when he describes, in too meticulous detail, every single vote, every single action, and every single interaction between the key players during the persistent battles.

Although Lyndon Johnson is the President mostly noted for advancing Civll Rights once be became president, we have to really wonder just how committed he was to the cause.  Was he truly trying to stand up for those who were worse off due to the color of their skin?  Or was he just trying to move his own career as much and as far as possible?  After reading the third installment of the Caro books, you have to honestly believe that it really was a bit of both.  Sadly, the book goes into a lot of detail about how difficult such legislation would be to pass in the deep segregated South of only fifty years ago.  Even if Johnson really was passionate about the cause, there were too many old white men in office who worked diligently to keep the races segregated.

To sum up what the book illustrates in several hundred pages, Johnson realizes that if he’s ever going to be President, he needs to pass a Civil Rights bill in the Senate.  With all of the animosity and wheeling and dealing, he does manage to pass such a bill in 1957, yet it’s so watered down and inconsequential, that those who knew better (i.e. key members of the NAACP) realized that it was all fluff and no substance so they were actually repulsed by such an “equality” bill.  Then, of course, the deep south were also aggravated since many of their voters were appalled by the thought of such a simple gesture.  So all of this to say that LBJ had a lot of “politicking” to do, and as the book details, he did it quite well.

One of the best things about Caro’s writing (although there are a few who think exactly the opposite), is that before he introduces key people who would play a part in Lyndon Johnson’s life, he would devote entire chapters to the individuals.  He wants the reader to feel they really understand these individuals in as much detail as possible.  There are times when you forget you’re reading about Johnson since you become so immersed in page after page of these other individuals.  Yet Caro’s attention to detail never loses the reader, and you end up being glad that he goes off on these tangents even though they briefly take us away from the main character.  I confess I had never heard of people such as Leland Olds or Dick Russell before I read this book, and yet I feel incredibly enriched now that I do.  There are also other key players that I may have briefly heard of before, such as Hubert Humphrey or John Connally, that my appetite has now been sufficiently whetted to where I can’t wait to learn more about some of  these key figures of history.

Another consideration, which could be could considered either an asset or a liability, is that Caro makes an effort to have these different volumes “stand alone”.  In other words, you don’t necessarily need to read the volumes together nor in sequential order.  To accomplish this, he’ll sometimes repeat the same details from book to book.  So whereas he might devote 30-45 pages in the first volume detailing how LBJ brought electricity to the rural hill country of Texas in the 1930’s, he’ll repeat the same details here albeit limiting the page space to only 2 or 3.  Therefore, if you do read these books sequentially, it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling the author is being a bit repetitive.  Then, though, we must remember that, as stated before, these books were released about a decade apart, so perhaps a brief refresher is also in order for those who have been away from the story for a bit.

The fourth volume (which I’m currently reading as I write this) was released a full ten years after this one (released in 2012), and although devotees were hoping Robert Caro would finish up the story in the fourth release, the author doesn’t even come close.  The fourth volume concludes (I’m told) shortly after LBJ assumes the presidency.  The fifth volume (which he’s currently working on) will detail the mean years of the presidency including Viet Nam.  We can hope that that one will be the last.  Truth be told, though, these books are so engrossing, that I wouldn’t mind several more volumes.  Time, though, would seem to prevent that as the author, who started writing this in his forties, his now entering his seventh decade.  

Dracula

Dracula by Bram Stoker

When I received my new Kindle Fire for Christmas 2012, half the fun of owning the device was discovering all of the bargain books that could be obtained digitally, some were/are even free.  When I came across Dracula, I figured “why not?”  I’ve never read this nineteenth century novel before, but like most people somewhat immersed in pop culture, I had at least heard of the Transylvanian terror.

I knew it was about a vampire who lived in Transylvania that did what vampires did and, like probably most people, the first image that comes to mind is the Bela Lugosi character from the 1931 film - although I never saw the picture.  I did see, and thoroughly enjoy the 1992 version directed by Francis Ford Coppola.  Oddly, this is more of a deterrent for me when choosing a novel to read.  I don’t like reading a book when I’ve already seen the film.  A bit ironic since when I started reading novels back in high school, having seen the movie was actually a prerequisite for me.  I guess I was just too intimidated by books way back then.  Too many miserable experiences since, whenever I read a book, it was always “assigned to me by an English teacher”.  

Anyway, not to dwell too much on the film, but I was a bit surprised that the Coppola film took several liberties with the story and added many of his own subplots to the story.  To be fair, they worked in the film and I was a bit disappointed not to find them here.  Especially since the movie was billed as “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”.  Somehow having an author’s name in front of the title of a movie would lead you to believe that it’s pretty faithful to the original novel.  Although it’s a bit awhile since I saw the film, I remember it spent time focusing on how Dracula became the evil monster, several centuries before the main story occurs.  I also remember the fiend having a “crush” on Mina (played by Winona Ryder) since she reminded him of a lost love oh so long ago.

Anyway, back to the book.  I must say that I was surprised how much I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I don’t read many books that are over a century old, and i was a bit scared since I wasn’t sure how my literary palette would digest such a work.  Again, intimidated by the horrors of High School.  Strangely, it’s the language that actually works in the novel’s favor.  I felt completely enriched by Stoker’s wild and fantastic (so it seems in 2013) imagery of people and places.  He never once loses you with his use of outdated dialect (even the Kindle dictionary couldn’t tell me the definitions of several of the words you encounter), and you manage to be creeped out even though the horror genre was obviously much more tame.

The whole story is told in diary form.  Each of the characters (there are about 7 or 8 “main” ones) keeps a diary, and it’s from these chronicles that the entire story unfolds.  It aways surprises me how many people actually would spend so much time actually writing back then.  I imagine it would take several hours per day to record such entries with nothing but quill pen and parchment but, really, what else was there to do back then? 

Really, though, describing the plot in detail is a bit pointless since most are familiar with the basic premise.  Those who dislike the horror genre shouldn’t be put off, however, as the story is spared most modern vampire-cliches and the blood letting, violence and grave robbing is all very low key.   As a matter of fact, by today’s standards, the conclusion is a bit anti-climatic, but the disappointment is very minor.  

And, hey, the story was free.

Washington: A Life

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

I first became somewhat interested in learning more about the life of George Washington when I read David McCullough’s excellent biography on the second U.S. President, John Adams.  Like most casual Americans, what did I really know about George Washington?  Well, we all know he was our first President, he’s known as “The Father of Our Country”, commanded the troops during the American Revolution, has his face on the one dollar bill, and oh yeah....he crossed the Delaware or something.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see this book released shortly after I completed the McCullough biography, and was pleasantly enticed by the positive feedback this book received.  So I thought “Why not”?  A wise choice indeed.  Chernow’s biography is simply enthralling. 

For whatever reason, the years of Washington’s youth are mostly absent from this biography, yet this is not a deterrent.  Possibly we simply don’t have documentation that gives an adequate enough picture of his growing up.  We learn that his father died when  he was quite young, and that is mother was a bit of a basket case.  So it’s actually fortunate that the book seems to leap straight to the French-Indian War, which is where Washington’s real story begins.  He quickly earns his reputation on the battlefield, and when the story shifts (rather quickly) to the American Revolution, it’s no surprise that Washington winds up as General of the Army.

This is where the book really picks up steam, and at many times, I felt as though I wasn’t necessarily reading about Washington, but about the bloody conflict itself.  That’s not to say this detour was unwelcome.  Quite the contrary.  Chernow paints an incredibly bleak picture of the American Revolution, and what was actually done by so few hardened men to achieve the country’s eventual independence.  Desertion, quite obviously, was grotesquely high, and the soldier’s rations and equipment were threadbare.  Quite often the fighting soldiers not only had no uniforms, but they had no clothes at all and fought the British stark naked.  Pretty scary - especially when the brutality of places such as Valley Forge are mentioned in gruesome detail.  On a quick side note, Valley Forge was not actually a battle, yet a camp where soldiers waited out the winter months.  Apparently battles weren’t actually fought during the frigid months centuries ago.

Washington’s traits as a leader really shine throughout during this phase of the book and even though he really did lose more battles than he won (as legend tells us), and the American independence probably would never have been achieved had not the French and Germans stepped in to “help” (they didn’t like England either), you begin to learn that General Washington was undoubtably the best man for the job.

We learn about his personality as well.  He was quite the introvert, who never liked a lot of hoopla, and seemed almost to resent his celebrity status that he achieved at the conclusion of the war, and would continue up until his death.  He truly was the country’s first movie star.  It’s quite amazing at how revered he was throughout the whole country.  The book details incidents where travelers would always detour their journeys so they would have to stop at Mount Vernon to get a glimpse of the man. As was the custom, the Washington’s would always welcome their random visitors, usually inviting them to dine and spend the night, although this was probably out of obligation, as Washington never seemed to feel comfortable with his celebrity status.

Nor was he particularly wealthy.  The book tells us in (almost too much) detail about how his estate at Mount Vernon was never particularly profitable, and he seemed to be always just barely getting by.  He even owned a multitude of slaves, and we hear many times throughout about the moral dilemma that this always raised in Washington’s heart.  Like probably a lot of people, he knew the institution of slavery was wrong, yet he simply didn’t see how he could be profitable without free labor.

When the book turns to Washington’s presidency, it’s not without much debate amongst the new nation that he’s “elected” the first president.  The story becomes very interesting here as well since our country was still trying to figure out “what exactly does a President do?” and “How long does he stay President?” or “What do we even call him?”  It’s quite interesting to note that even in our country’s political infancy, there was already mudslinging between the two political parties (which were then the Federalists and the Democrat-Republicans).  You simply want to shake your head, and it truly makes you wonder if partisanship will ever be truly diminished.

Like many of our most popular American figures, there are many biographies of Washington out there, and some aren’t that old.  I truly can’t say if this one is the best, nor the definitive, but it definitely was well worth the 900 pages or so, and you feel so much more learned about one of the truly great heroes of our country.

11/22/63

11/22/63 by Stephen King

So, a Stephen King book makes the top ten list for the year on The New York Times booklist.  Is it the apocalypse?  All the hoopla, fortunately, is true.  This is arguably Stephen King’s best work ever.  Yes, even better than The Stand.

The title of this novel, however, probably isn’t exactly the best or most accurate.  Although the assassination of President Kennedy does play a pretty significant role in the story.  The story, quite simply, is one of time travel.  A topic that fascinates me no matter how implausible.  Judging from the rave reviews, maybe it fascinates others as well.

Jake Epping is  a Thirty Something High School teacher.  He has no children, and he’s recovering from a somewhat unpleasant divorce.  His wife, an alcoholic, leaves him for a man she met at an AA meeting.  All of this sets up a perfect “specimen” for such a project.  Without going into too much detail, Jake finds a portal that he can go through, which leads him to the exact same spot - only back in 1958.  He can stay there as long as he wants, and do whatever he wants, and when he comes back to the present, the clock advances only two minutes.  The only downside to this is that if he stays in the past for several years, well, he comes back “only” two minutes later - but his body has actually aged those several years.  So he can’t necessarily keep going back time and time again whenever he wants.  Another cool thing is that, if he changes the past, well, the “present” then obviously changes somewhat as well.  HOWEVER, the next time he goes back in time, he, in effect, presses a “reset” button so everything is once again "normal" the next time he arrives back to the present.  Follow all that?

So what is there to actually do in 1958?  Well, in a world where one is used to cable t.v. and the internet, not that much.  Yet when he remembers what happens only five years after 1958, he makes it a mission to change history - and stop the assassination of President Kennedy.  It won’t be that easy - as he finds out the past is obdurate (I didn’t know what that word meant before I read the book.  Look it up!).  Also,  there’s a lot of free time between 1958 until 1963.

This is actually the main strength of the story.  We see the world of 1958 through an observer’s eyes who wasn’t even born until the 1970s, and it’s a fascinating view.  We see just how different things were, and not all of them were necessarily good, but overall, this new (old) world seems to be a much better place.  He travels from Maine to right outside of Dallas to prepare for his mission, and a lot of the story deals with his new life as a school teacher in a small Texas town.  Sometimes, a bit too much detail.  This is the one area where the story might have been constructed a tad better, although it is necessary that we do observe Jake’s new life.  Of course, he falls in love, and this oddly only makes the story better.  There are many things I could discuss about his new relationship, but let’s just say that the story, with its two “worlds” has endless possibilities as to what can happen, and you’re never quite sure which direction you’ll be  pulled next.

During his time in Texas, he takes secret trips to Dallas/Irivng/Fort Worth where Lee Harvey Oswald and his new Russian bride are living, and does a lot of spying.  This is the man he has to stop from killing the President, remember.  Fortunately, money is no problem for Jake.  Since he’s from the future, it's very easy for him to visit the local bookie and make several long shot bets.  Plus, things were so much cheaper back then.  So renting multiple apartments and driving all over the place is never a financial burden.

It should be pointed out that, with all of the recent fascination around the Kennedy assassination, Stephen King is not a conspiracy believer.  In this story, you won’t find the CIA, the Mafia, the three tramps, Umbrella Man, or G. Gordon Liddy on the grassy knoll.  No, I guess King could have gone in that direction, but he simply doesn’t need to.  Even those who staunchly believe that Oswald was a patsy and had nothing to do with the killing of Kennedy won’t be deterred from enjoying this story.

In conclusion, we must remember that Stephen King isn’t always the macabre monster when he puts pen to paper.  He’s written some very safe, mainstream stories that have been loved by so many of the public without the horror stamp.  Who can forget The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, or Stand By Me?  This novel ranks up at the very top of his “safe” books - the ones that anyone can read and not be grossed out.  I have the feeling I’ll reread this one someday.  I actually cried at the end of this book and, like Jake in the story, I don’t cry that much. 

Ten out of ten.

Brokenclaw

Brokenclaw by John Gardner

Brokenclaw is about the eighth or ninth James Bond book by John Gardner, who took over the super-spy series after the late Ian Fleming.  For those (such as myself) who are fans of the James Bond movies, know that the majority of these movies, up through the Timothy Dalton era, were somewhat loosely based on Fleming’s novels and short stories that he wrote from 1957 up until his death in 1964.  The books were immensely popular in their day, and whereas time hasn’t been as kind since the writing style is somewhat dated, they become a source of fascination due to the longevity of the films.

Although there was one lone novel by a lone author in 1968 (Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis), John Gardner was the first author who resurrected the literary spy in a series of novels beginning in 1981 through 1995.  These books were released in a timespan that usually resulted in one book per year, and although they don’t have the same rich literary sweep as the Fleming novels, they were overall well received as somewhat of a “B” novel.  Meaning, other than the James Bond fan, they never received much attention.

The James Bond of the books, both Gardner’s and Fleming’s, was a bit more dry and a bit more serious.  Humor is almost non-existent, yet the stories are all quite fantastic as to the fact that they can never be taken quite seriously.  There isn’t nearly the same amount of action as there is in the films - especially the latter day ones.  You won’t read about extensive boat chases on the Thames river, exploding warehouses, or people being pushed out of airplanes without parachutes, but then again, those scenarios don’t translate that well to the written word anyway.

As matter of fact, with Gardner’s books, there really isn’t that much action at all.  The stories contain a lot of introspection and, to be fair, kind of all blend after awhile and become a bit too similar.  Maybe it’s my impatience, but I don’t have luck recalling much of the details of these books.  I couldn’t really say “That’s the James Bond book that ____________”.  At the risk of sounding a bit OCD, I almost find myself reading these books out of obligation.  Once I’ve read everything by an author, I have a hard time stopping.  Fortunately, these books by John Gardner aren’t too detailed nor too long and can be easily polished off over a weekend.

Having said all of the above, I confess that although I’m reviewing a book I read less than two months ago, I have a hard time remembering much of the details.  It’s hard when so many of the stories are so similar.  Usually, the trend in the books revolve around a “thriller” of an introduction setting up the plot, then an obligatory meeting with M, the chief (who has a much larger role, it seems, in the John Gardner books), a “good guy” (or girl) that will double-cross him somewhere in the plot, and there’s always "the Bond girl".  Yes, they're in the books as well.  In this novel, the villain is of Native American descent, wanting to bring some sort of destruction somehow, somewhere on the globe, and Bond outwits him near the end in a very sadistic, tribal ritual where he “competes” against Brokenclaw - complete with piercings, burnings, and other nastiness to the flesh.  It’s quite sickening.

Still, the book does what it sets out to do, and whereas reading all of the Gardner books probably aren’t necessary, it’s probably worth it to pick up one or two at a used bookshop.  This one is par for the course.

Full Dark, No Stars

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

The first entry in the book club is from the macabre author known to just about everyone, Stephen King.  Love him or hate him, he’s arguably the most popular author of the last 40 years.  

My affection for Mr. King goes back a long, long way.  By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I was not an avid reader of any sort.  My reading of books consisted of a) books I had to read for school assignments, or b) books where I had already seen the movie.  The idea of picking up an unknown book by an unknown author to read on my free time seemed much too laborious for my 15 year old brain.

Stephen King changed all that.  It should be noted that during this time in high school (around 1982-1983), Stephen King was becoming somewhat of an icon at my school (as I’m sure he probably was everywhere).  As you would walk down the halls to your upcoming class, it seemed like every other person was carrying one of his works along with their Geometry or Biology textbooks.  My first book that I read (without meeting the above mentioned criteria) was King’s “The Stand”.  As most fans will tell you, this is one of Stephen King's best, and a new lifelong hobby, reading, was born.  More than 30 years later, King is still churning out books (more than one per year, it seems), and although I’m not a rabid enough fan to buy his new works the week that they’re released, I somehow have managed to read just about everything that he has published.  He’s written some great works, but to be honest, he’s also written some turkeys.  I mean, really really bad books.

Fortunately, this one is one of his better releases.  It’s actually a collection of four novellas.  This format seems to fit King well since one of his problems as a writer is that he doesn’t know when to shut up at times.  Having four, somewhat concise stories, prohibits him from going off on too many tangents, and prohibits most readers from becoming bored at best, and frustrated at worst.  That’s not to say that these stories here are necessarily easy to digest.  In King’s own words, these stories are “harsh”.  That’s actually being somewhat kind.  King’s work isn’t for everyone, and after reading these stories, it’s very easy to see why so many simply can’t stomach his work.  Contrary to what many believe, very few of his works are “horror”, at least in the acceptable definition of that particular genre.  Yes, some of these stereotypes have made their appearance in his stories (ghosts, goblins, witches, haunted houses, vampires, etc.), but for the most part, King is better than that.  The majority of his work borders on the fringes of believability, and it’s his dark side that gives his work its particular, unique brand.

Without going into too much detail of each of the plot lines (It’s been over 3 months since I finished this work, and I’ve already forgotten much of the intricacies), the subject matters revolve around a murder, a rape, a serial killer, and a man that is given a unique “gift” that allows him to wish unpleasantness on those that have cheated, or harmed him.  Again, not for everyone.   Two of these stories involve the creepiness of the supernatural, whereas the other two are flat out believable (although, again- harsh).  As mentioned before, maybe the fact that these books simply can’t go on too long makes the reader not as squirmy as they might be had he stretched these works out to an entire novel.  Although not happy reading, the tales tend to teach us certain lessons about our nature that don’t come across as being too preachy.

Consider the first story - 1922.  Here we have a story of a family - husband, wife and a thirteen year old son - that live out on a rural farm.  Times are tough (they usually are in stories about farms - especially in a King novel), and Mom isn’t too nice of a person.  She’s very bitchy and slutty.  So much so, that even the son despises her.  So, father and son decide to kill her.  Well, being on a farm in the middle of nowhere, they can actually “get away” with such a crime.  Especially in 1922, before DNA and the internet.  Yet although the authorities never uncover the crime, they live with the guilt on their conscience - and this is the real meat of the story.

All four of these works are very satisfying as long as you have a strong stomach.  I actually would have liked the third story to have been fleshed out a bit.  It seemed to could have used another 50-75 pages.  With King, though, too short is better than too long.  Much better.  It’s hard for me, personally, to “fall in love” with stories that are this short.  So I can’t really rate this as among the “best” of Stephen King's work, but the stories are well told and satisfying and this collection is definitely one of King’s better works.  Especially during the last 20 years.

NOTE: The trade paperback version comes with a bonus short story (a cheap way for publishers to make more money, but I digress).  It’s only about a quarter in length of the original four tales, so it can be easily read in one sitting.  I don’t remember the name, nor much of the plot, but I do remember that I really enjoyed it as well.