Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West

 

Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West by H.W. Brands

The nomenclature “old west” brings to mind various things when one reflects on the history of the United States, say, 150 to 200 years ago.  Much of this history has been romanticized on television, the movie screen, and various novels and short stories.  What this book does is give us a brief history of the many different movements and events that happened beginning with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, and culminating around the beginning of the twentieth century.  There are actually a lot different events in different parts of the country that we read about, yet author H.W. Brands seems to suggest that whereas places and events may be varied, the reason for such quests are part of human nature.  We want to explore, we want to conquer, we want to acquire.  Such is the mindset of all of these adventures.

And there are a lot of adventures.  We read of the most famous ones: The Oregon Trail, Texas and the Alamo, The California Gold Rush, and the various squabbles with Native Americans that led to less than memorable battles and personalities such as General Custer and Crazy Horse.  These are only some, but they’re the ones that resonated the most.  What works so well is that H.W. Brands tells these stories in nice, short manageable chunks.  Each section of this book contains about six or seven chapters and most chapters are about eight pages in length on average.  The adventures that we read about all have a plethora of books already devoted the particular event, so if you’re looking for a long detailed account of, say, Santa Anna and Davey Crockett at the Alamo, you should probably look elsewhere.  Author Brands is essentially giving us the ‘Cliffs Notes’ versions of such events.

There were several times when I wanted more.  I felt like I could have easily digested another 50 pages or so when reading about The California Gold Rush, but again, the author’s goal here was to be somewhat succinct.  Telling the actual story of the people and the events is only part of his overall goal.  As I mentioned earlier, he’s trying to capture the human condition, and what exactly it is that drives a person to trek over one thousand miles in the unforgiving desert and the bitter frigid cold.  We must remember that this was a long time before Rand-McNally entered the picture, so such journeys were quite arduous, dangerous and awfully haphazard.  We read much more about tragedies and travails than we do celebrations and successes.  Such were the times.

Other than some instances where I wished we could have learned more over more pages, the only other drawback for me was that the author seems to spend a bit more detail than I would have liked in describing “things”; such as a detailed description of a covered wagon, or the sophisticated devices miners used for filtering rocks from water to find the ever elusive gold piece.  Still, with the chapters being somewhat brief, it was a very minor hindrance.  There are such times when these details were welcome.  Example: What image does the average citizen think of in their mind when they hear the term “cowboy”?   Do many actually know where the term came from, and what these individuals actually did?  Well, H.W. Brands tells you, and as detailed as the section gets, I found it all an extremely rewarding history lesson.

Most other H.W. Brands books (he’s written quite a lot) deal with individual people.  Some of his subjects that immediately come to mind are Ben Franklin, Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan.  So this book was a bit of a different experience for me, as I had read several books by this author already.   Like his other books though, this one didn’t disappoint.  I would recommend any book that you come across by this author.  It takes a special author to keep a reader’s mind excited about history without drifting into ennui, and H.W. Brands does an excellent job.  If you have read and enjoyed any of this author’s previous works, I see no reason why you wouldn’t thoroughly enjoy this one as well.

Caravans

 

Caravans – by James Michener

Sadly, this was just about the worst book by James Michener I have ever read.  Perhaps that was harsh. Let me try again.  This was just about my “least favorite” book by James Michener that I have ever read.  Opinions differ, after all, and judgement of an author’s work is purely subjective.  If you choose to read this one, hopefully you’ll enjoy it a lot better than I did.

Most of Michener’s biggest and best works are the ones where he focuses on a geography.  Books such as “Texas”, “Poland”, “Alaska”, and “Caribbean” cover thousands of years of the particular location, with focus being on fictionalized people that reside in the specific area.  As these novels progress, we read about the characters’ tangled lifetimes that are always affected somewhat by the unique region.  Michener has the ability to tell great stories while also educating his reader about his place of focus.

With a book title such as “Caravans” you might think that this one is a tad different.  Well, it is different in that the story doesn’t take place over a couple of millennia, but this book DOES focus on a particular geography, and this is really what ended up being a major downer.  The geography is Afghanistan, and the time is 1946.  There is an actual plot here, but Michener seems to spend much more time writing about the place than he does the plot.  To be a bit unkind, Afghanistan simply isn’t a very nice place to read about.  In fact, it’s down and out depressing, gross, and ugly.  There was nothing about this place that appealed to me. Strangely, Michener states in the book’s postscript that he has some sort of bizarre affection for the country.  I guess if one feels this way, they might actually enjoy this book.

The plot here involves a young American woman who, against her parents’ wishes, marries an Afghan native, relocates to the barren location, and then seems to disappear.  A young U.S. Embassy employee named Miller is tasked with finding her.  During the quest, we’re so distracted with observations about the customs and indigenous people of the region, that at times we forget that there actually is a plot going on.  We read about a barbaric place where men treat women like camels, theft is so rampant that one must guard a parked vehicle, and women are stoned to death in public after committing adultery.  Poverty is rampant, dysentery is everywhere, and you can almost smell the camel dung when reading.  This book made me want to take a bath.

As the story progresses, I felt the plot very weak; as meager as it was.  I don’t know, something about a young person “rebelling” against their cozy Western background by abandoning everything and living as a so called “free spirit” in such a place such as this just doesn’t ring very true to me.  Michener explored such a topic with his novel “The Drifters” about 1970 hippies, but at least THAT book took you to places that were much more cultured and civilized.  The story here, though, reeked of unbelievability. And I do mean “reeked”.

There are odd diversions as well.  For example, once early in the story, we get an entire chapter devoted to Miller and his colleagues writing and performing a play for each other – at a U.S. Embassy Office (!).  What such a bizarre episode is doing in a story like this is beyond me.  My only guess is that Afghanistan is such a primitive place, that there really isn’t anything there to do for those from the U.S. that find themselves “assigned” there.  I simply didn’t get it.

Perhaps this book may have been received better at the time it was written (1963) than it is now, but I was highly disappointed.  The only positive thing about this experience is that, as far as Michener books go, this book was much shorter at about 430 pages in the paperback format.  Had I had to read one of his “normal” sized tomes (that are frequently in excess of 1000 pages), I’m pretty sure I would have given up.   Not a pleasant way to spend one’s leisure time. Nor does Afghanistan feel like a place I would ever want go anywhere near.

The Passion and the Cross

 

The Passion and the Cross – by Ron Rolheiser

I came across the writings of Father Ron Rolheiser quite by accident.  I found one of his articles online, and I was so moved that I did a Google search and found he had his own website, and on that website, about 40 years’ worth of “weekly devotionals”.  Since there were 40 years’ worth, I decided to read one per day make them part of my daily devotions. 

I should point out that I’m really not a “devotional” type person.  Often when I try for regular devotion time, I confess that most authors that I read don’t really move me that much.   Sure, reading a familiar passage with some key insights is worthwhile, but I was never really blown away by any particular author, nor was the material such that it radically transformed my thinking and I rarely would come away with any ‘ah-ha’s.

Ron Rolheiser, for me anyway, is a wonderful exception.  This book, from what I can tell, is basically some of his cherry-picked devotions that he has written over the years that focus on Jesus’ last few days on Earth, including his crucifixion and resurrection.  A cynic may argue “why should one buy a book when the author has all of this material on his website for free?”  A fair argument, I guess, but having the above-mentioned devotions all in one compact book is rewarding if one wants to focus on the primary part of the life of Christ; specifically his death and resurrection.

Although this book isn’t told in “devotional” format, one could easily incorporate this as a daily devotional if they wish.  Each chapter is broken into several sub-sections, and each sub-section is about 3 pages in length.  So nice digestible chunks for one’s spiritual nourishment.  I’m not sure if it was the author’s intention, but there are a total of 40 of these sub-sections throughout the entire book, which means this book WOULD be perfect to read during, say, the 40 day season of Lent.

I must reemphasize, though, that what makes this book so special are the unique viewpoints that Father Ron shows us concerning this period of the life of Jesus.  I was able to view things much more clearly and come up with entirely new perspectives.   I mean, yes, Christians know and believe that Jesus “died for their sins”, but what does that really mean?  Why did the death have to happen the way that it did?  What elements of scripture can help elaborate on things relative to our own lives as believers?  He also expounds on things such as: What does it mean when we say the ‘Passion’ of Jesus?  What is the relevance of Jesus praying in a garden?  Why do we read so much about the ‘blood’ of Christ, and why is the blood such a vital element of Communion? What is the relevance of the “veil” that we read in our Bible that hides the “holy of holys”? What did Jesus really mean when he cried out “Forgive them Father. For they know not what they do?”  And most importantly (for me anyway), why is it so important that when Christians are attacked by anger, hatred, and bitterness that they should respond with warmth, compassion, peace, and forgiveness?

And there’s more. Oh so much more. This author’s writing is such a treasure trove of peace and comfort.  I never once felt as though I was being judged nor being felt guilty because I wasn’t holy enough.  I never once heard the author bemoan the fact of how horrible the world is and the problems of the world are “everyone’s fault who aren’t Christians.”  This book was loving, kind, compassionate, and a joy to read.  I highly recommend this book.  If you want a taste of the style of the author, go to ronrolheiser.com, and you can view his many articles that he has written in the last forty or so years.  I wish I would have discovered this author much earlier in my life.