The Room Where It Happened

 

The Room Where it Happened – by John Bolton

Donald Trump: Why are we sanctioning the economy of a country that’s seven thousand miles away?
John Bolton: Because they are building nuclear weapons and missiles that can kill Americans.

“The Room Where it Happened” is essentially a diary by former National Security Advisor John Bolton during the Donald Trump presidency. This book is packed with facts and global events, but this is also its main drawback. This book is simply too pedantic. It was quite a sludge to wade through. Bolton also comes across as incredibly arrogant and hawkish. He pulls no punches about his loathing for Barack Obama’s tenure prior to the Trump presidency, and this book is filled with shots and defamations. In fact, Bolton has written an entire book about Obama’s leadership as president and how he feels it endangered the free world. It might be worth a read for the genuinely curious because, in this book, even though he’s critical of many of Obama’s decisions, he never really expands as to his reasoning.

In fact, this is also a drawback of the author’s style. He is incredibly condescending and seems to think no one in the world is capable to do his type of job except those who think exactly the same way that he does. He does tend to keep a level head though, and one gets the impression that no matter how heated things would get, at least John Bolton wouldn’t hurl a bottle of ketchup against a wall.

This book focuses on National Security issues and National Security issues only. It should be noted that the subtitle of this book DOES indicate that it’s a diary, so we must give the author some leeway. Diaries aren’t necessary intended to be captivating works of literature designed to hold a reader’s interest.  He plows right into every situation with every country: Syria, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, China, Ukraine, Russia, and more North Korea. No detail is left out for the reader and every incident is packed with meticulous detail.  So a very thorough, educational account, but not necessary an interesting one.  This is one of those books that will never be made into a movie.

Like all books written by Washington “insiders” during the Trump administration, it’s very obvious from reading this that Donald Trump was a clueless buffoon who had no clue as to how to do his job. Bolton never paints him with brushes of anger – he’s too calm and collected for that. But it’s obvious that he was highly incredulous with all of Trump’s musings, suggestions, and pontifications.  It becomes obvious that Trump figures he can just stand up in front of the press alongside the country’s adversaries and smile and wave and think that this will somehow improve relations with hostile nations. This happens again and again and again. Of course, this posturing makes zero progress but Trump is smart enough to know that his base is quite ignorant. They figure that if he stands next to ruthless dictators such as Kim Jong Un and he calls him his “buddy who he admires”, then that must mean the two countries are making progress and are now friendly towards each other.  In essence, Bolton claims that Trump tries to run the country the way he would run a reality show.

Bolton came under fire when the impeachment over Ukraine occurred, and he didn’t testify. When this book was released, critics screamed that he should have testified instead of relaying the incidents in a book released a few years later. There was also a big hoopla about whether or not this book contained “classified” information. Trump, of course, claimed it did.  Bolton spends a decent amount of the last chapter of this book explaining his reasoning and defending his actions around Ukraine, and the epilogue details the government’s attempt to withhold the book.  To be frank, the legalistic mumbo jumbo that Bolton discusses is a tad over my head, so I guess I have to take him at his word despite what his critics may say.

I’ve read many books by former presidential advisors, cabinet members, and other insiders and many of them do have the gift of telling an interesting story. Others, though, may have the skills to do the particular job they had while serving the President, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they can tell a captivating account of their tenure. Sadly, Bolton falls into the latter category.   Everything is here based on his recollections, it’s just not a particularly interesting account.

 

Becoming

 

Becoming – by Michelle Obama

This was the first book that I have ever read by a First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS). Reading this did feel a tad strange, since I've probably read about 65-70 books about the US presidents themselves. Yes, there are stark differences. The main thing that interested me about picking up this book is that it came highly recommended and received rave reviews. So I figured, why not?

This book was definitely worth the hype. It is very sincere, well-written, and interesting. This account, in many ways, could have been about the life of anybody and still would have been an enjoyable read. Obama knows how to tell her life story and keep it somewhat interesting throughout. The fact that she’s the first African America First Lady definitely adds to its overall appeal. One of the lessons here is that if can happen to her, it can happen to anybody. Michelle Obama’s upbringing was less than ideal considering where she eventually ended up from a monetary perspective. She was born and raised in the South Side of Chicago and she and her family didn't even own their own home. They lived in an apartment on a floor above relatives. However, Obama never gives the impression that she grew up poor nor needy in any way. No, this was just a way of life for her and her family and they managed just fine. She’s very proud of the fact that her mom was able to sew her new outfits out of second-hand fabric, and the fact that her father trudged to work every day to his blue-collar job even though he silently suffered with multiple sclerosis for many years.

The main appeal of this book, though, is not “what” her story is, but “how” she tells it. We must always remember that any time a person tells their own story, it might be interesting to them, but it doesn't always translate into being interesting to other people. Think about that one coworker that you have who comes back from vacation and wants to tell everyone a three-hour account of their three-day vacation.  We might be polite when listening to that person, but we really wish that the individual could sum up their story in 5 minutes or so. The same is true about telling our life story. It's interesting enough for us, but maybe not necessarily for other people. Obama succeeds, though. And of course, since we all know where she ended up, it makes her journey that much more interesting.

This isn't a strict, linear account of her life. There are some gaps, but she does cover the highlights, including a lot of her legal profession after college, and trying to figure out what she really wants to do with her life career-wise. We also read a lot about when she meets and falls in love with her future husband – that guy who would eventually become the 44th President of the United States.  Of course, this is really what the readers care about the most, and to be perfectly honest, I wanted a bit more. Yes, we do read about her husband's dream-like journey to the White House and how unlikely it seemed at the time, but those couple of years probably could warrant their own book. In fact, husband Barack covers much more ground about this time in his excellent reflection “A Promised Land.”

Once we get to the White House, we read about Mrs. Obama's experiences as First Lady. Now I know this is a politically incorrect thing to say, but it was very obvious to me by this point that this book was written by a woman. I don't mean that in a negative way. It's just there are obvious differences when comparing to a book written by a man. For example, a bit earlier we read about her spending an entire day shopping for her daughters to ensure they have warm winter clothes for her husband's acceptance speech. Then when she becomes First Lady, we read about her interaction with the Queen of England and how both ladies were complaining about the shoes that they were wearing. I think it’s a fair assumption that no man has ever written in a biography about how uncomfortable his shoes were. We also read a lot about Mrs. Obama's garden at the White House. An awful lot.

Speaking of her White House Garden, she devotes a lot of pages about her “make the kids healthy” initiative that she pioneered as First Lady. I'm not sure I ever completely agreed with her enterprise. I can remember my children who, ironically, are the exact same age as Obama's daughters, were in school. Her “healthy eating” initiatives were quite strict. My kids weren't even allowed to have pizza parties at school. I guess pizza is just too unhealthy. Sadly, no matter how many times you put cabbage, cucumbers, and cauliflower on a child's lunch plate, you're never going to have those children enjoy them as much as they do cookies and cupcakes.

Anyway, this is a wonderful book. I must once more state that I think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that Mrs. Obama is African American and that does add to the overall appeal of the journey. Sadly, though, even though our country and our society have come a long way with civil rights, this book does remind us that we still have quite a ways to go.  It's nice to read about personal stories such as Obama’s that can give many other women and people of color hope. She shows herself as a true champion. Sure, there were many events that happened during her life that caused bitterness in her soul, yet she never comes across as angry. She comes across as mature, thoughtful, and as someone who always makes the best of her situation. It really is quite wonderful to read her journey. As I write this review in April of 2023, my guess is that her life is far from over in terms of what she will accomplish. I feel she will achieve an awful lot more as time goes on. That can only be an extremely positive thing for the country of the United States.

Journey

 

Journey – by James Michener

I read most of James Michener’s humongous well-received epics many years ago. For the past several years, I’ve tried to absorb many of his lesser works that were always somewhat shorter. Oddly, those books seemed to be somewhat of a throwaway, and I didn’t care for the majority of them.  This one, though, is much different. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the book. It’s only about 175 pages. This is probably just about the right length for a tale such as this. The story takes place over a two-year period in 1897-1898. Because of the detail of the “journey”, a lengthier book would have been possible, and maybe some would say necessary, but this book is a rather harsh read, and more definitely would not have been merrier.

In 1897 a 30-something year old English aristocrat, Lord Evelyn Luton, gets the “gold” bug that infested so much of western civilization at the time.  Tales of riches to be dug up in the western part of the United States and Canada brought out the greediest of many.  Before we get very far, we’re already shaking our head. Hindsight of history tells us that the gold rush was much more farce than fact, and the fact that Luton seems to have spent his whole life lying on silk sheets and having servants dress him for each of his leisurely days, allows us to already smell the impending disaster of such an adventure.  We must chuckle as we read. We simply know better.

He teams up with three other nobles – one about his age, and a younger nephew and friend.  They also bring along an Irish servant who will be assigned the more menial work for the fortunate foursome. Once the five begin their trek across the Atlantic and arrive in Canada, we know the outcome can’t be good. It seems as though there are many people with the same ambition as Luton and his party, and many of the individuals who lure these individuals are nothing more than rapacious fraudsters trying to make a quick buck. None of these hucksters care at all that they’re sending so many to their death in the frigid temperatures of Northwestern Canada towards the fabled Yukon gold fields.

Once the hard part of the journey actually begins after the party leaves civilization, I have to honestly say that I was somewhat surprised with the direction the story took. I expected all five of these individuals to be dead within a matter of months, but Michener makes sure that our…uh…journey is a bit more nuanced, and we come across some surprises. That’s not to say that the trek is easy. No, not by a long shot. In fact, I think I can safely say that not everyone in the party survives.

Like many of Michener’s “place” novels, the reader immediately falls in love with the location. Yes, it’s bitter cold (frequently at about -40 degrees), yes, it’s dangerous and bare, but one can’t help want to somehow be there with the characters and experience nature in the beauty that it radiated despite the hardships. As I’ve alluded, we go through the 23 months pretty quickly, and the reader needs to remind themselves that although the pages turn swiftly, our characters were actually in their particular dire circumstances a lot longer than we may allow ourselves to believe unless we remember to focus.

In the afterword of the novel, Michener tells his readers that this story was first intended to be a section of his wonderful novel “Alaska”.  He mentions that it would have been slightly unjust since this story doesn’t really take place IN Alaska, and it would have already made that very long book even longer. I think he did right by keeping it separate.

I’ll also add that since many Michener books run in the 800–1300-page range, a new reader might be tempted to try a smaller work by him first to see if they enjoy the author’s writing style and pace. This would be a good book to try for such an endeavor. I should also point out that most of Michener’s “long” books tend to be composed of several smaller stories within a large volume. Those stories always focus on different people in different times, yet in the same place – that place is whatever the particular book title is (Alaska, Texas, Poland, Chesapeake, etc.)  This book is essentially one of those “smaller” stories.

So start here. If you like it, keep going. Most of the author’s works are worth the long….er….uh….journey.