Bob's Books

Why this book: Selected by the SEAL book club I’m in.  I wasn’t keen on reading another specops book, but this one was really well done and enlightening.

Summary in 4 sentences; The book begins in North Africa, with David Sterling, generally recognized as the father of the SAS, coming up with a non-standard tactic for intrepid men like himself, who felt stifled by traditional military bureaucracy, to go behind Rommels forces and wreak havoc in their comfortable safe spaces in the rear.  The first half of the book is about their steep learning curve and accounts of their multiple successes as well as some of their tragic failures in North Africa.  In the second half of the book, the British Army and the SAS are applying their lessons learned in Africa against the Germans in Italy and in France, working with local resistance fighters fighting in Italy and in support of the D-Day invasion and the move through France to Germany. The book then moves to operations inside of Germany before the final surrender, and concludes with an interesting section about what happened to the many heroes in the book, after the war.  

The Book:  Copyright 2016, Paperback published by Broadway Books, 351 pages. 

My Impressions:  Rogue Heroes tells the improbable story of the formation of the SAS, their initial challenges getting started, and provides great stories of brave men breaking new ground in warfare,  conducting daring operations behind the lines in World War 2, the likes of which I have never heard of or read before.  There have always been daring commando units; what was new here, was small units over months and years, successfully applying stealth, surprise, and hit and run tactics to destroy supply lines and disrupt enemy operations,  against an enemy as powerful and sophisticated as the Wehrmacht, in an environment as unforgiving as the North African desert, in a war with new technology on both sides.   

MacIntyre was the first author given access to the SAS war diaries for his research.  He not only had access to the facts, the archives, and other documents, and did extensive additional research not only on the operations conducted, but on the individuals who conducted them.  And importantly, he is a great story teller.  This book is a great read and was hard to put down.  

In the early days of the SAS, there was a steep learning curve.  Parachuting was a new tactic, and they made a number of serious and sometimes tragic mistakes in learning how to apply it to their needs.   Using vehicles to insert commando raiding forces over hundreds of miles of desert required learning new lessons from the beginning, many the hard way.  They also established their own operating bases behind enemy lines and operated out of them for weeks, vulnerable to air reconnaissance and attacks, as well as betrayal from indigenous herders.  They lost many men in learning their painful lessons, but they kept at it, focused on the mission, the enemy, and learning from their mistakes.  Eventually they started racking up enormous successes, way out of proportion to the size of their force.  And they never stopped having to fight the traditionalists in the British Army who felt that what they were doing was somehow not proper, not sporting, not….military.  

MacIntyre gives us a look at the men who made up the SAS in these formative years – their quirks and strengths, their fears, and weaknesses, their backgrounds and personalities – and this makes his stories that much richer.  We follow several heroes until they are killed or captured – and only a few of the originals were leading and fighting with the SAS through to the end of the war.   Many of them then struggled after the war to find a life and an environment that was as engaging as being an SAS commando fighting alongside similarly motivated men, against an evil foe.  Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces operators often have the same challenges upon leaving the military – some adapt well, many do not. 

At the conclusion of the North Africa campaign, the SAS had to shift focus to support the main allied effort against the Nazis in Europe.  It took the SAS some time to adapt their desert tactics to fighting the Nazis in Italy and France – in much closer proximity to conventional forces and civilian population centers.  They played key roles in support of conventional operations in Sicily, and afterward in support of the allied campaign to defeat the Germans in Italy.  Then later, MacIntyre gives us stories of SAS teams parachuting behind German lines in support of the Normandy invasion, and then continuing operations in different parts of France supporting the French Maquis – the French Resistance – attacking supply lines and creating havoc in the Wehrmacht’s rear, as Allied forces drove the Wehrmacht out of France and across the Rhine into Germany.   This was a very different type of warfare, and it took some time to learn to  fight along side and in support of  maquis operations.   Developing trust with the maquis was often a challenge – there were informers everywhere, and they were often compromised with tragic results. 

Hitler’s Kommandobefehl issued in October 1942 directed that any allied forces captured doing commando operations behind German lines were to be immediately executed, even if in uniform and surrendering.  This meant that any captured SAS operator had no Geneva convention or POW rights, and many SAS operators were executed under this order.  The Nazis were also exterminating entire villages in France as reprisals for SAS operations, on the assumption that French Resistance had assisted.  This did not inspire the SAS to take prisoners or treat German prisoners with Geneva Convention protocols, though they often did.  At this phase of the war, the Nazis were increasingly desperate, and the killing became more vicious, cruel, bloody and brutal.  

Some of the parts of this story that resonated with me and my time with the SEALs (though I have never been, nor have any SEALs I know ever been in a war as all-encompassing and brutal as WW2).

• RESISTANCE from CONVENTIONAL FORCES. David Stirling faced stiff resistance from the staffs of conventional forces to his proposal to create a specialized commando raiding force.  He referred to these staff officers as a “freemasonry of mediocrity” and “layer upon layer of fossilized shit.”  Establishing the SAS required General Auchinleck, Commander in Chief of Middle East Command, to over-ride his staff officers, who hated that an upstart young 1st Lt would be allowed to create a unit of what they saw as renegade, ill-disciplined commandos, not required to submit to the rigid standards of in-garrison military discipline. This challenge is familiar to all special operations forces and inhibited the development of Navy SEAL forces for decades.  Just like for the SAS, the establishment of the Navy SEALs required a few imaginative senior leaders to over-ride the resistance of their conventional staffs.  This story for the Navy SEALs is beautifully told by Ben Milligan in his book:   By Water Beneath the Walls.  
• THE MEN WHO VOLUNTEER –  The men who volunteered for the SAS knew they were volunteering for hazardous work against a brutal enemy, to operate often unsupported behind enemy lines, and while in garrison, receiving poor logistical, food, billeting and other support, and few of the amenities that are available to most conventional forces.  This has been the case when volunteering for special forces in the US and in the case of all elite forces I have worked with, especially in Europe. 
• SCREENING and THE NATURE OF THE TRAINING. Screening of potential SAS operators didn’t appear to be very sophisticated.  Most importantly they had to volunteer, and have a reasonable idea what they were volunteering for.  Many were recruited based on personal reputation and connections with those already within the SAS, and  a brief interview.  It didn’t appear that there was a physical or fitness test.  Physical and mental fitness were determined during prep training – those who were not be mentally or physically fit enough or otherwise didn’t fit, either dropped on request, or were not allowed to go on operations. This is not unlike the screening in the early days of UDT and SEAL training, or as I understand it, Special Forces training.   A candidates performance during basic training was the primary screening tool.  Today most Special Ops Forces have  extensive and sophisticated screening protocols to best determine who will succeed as a Special Operations operator or leader PRIOR to beginning basic training. 
• ETHICS ON THE BATTLEFIELD – The SAS killed or wounded hundreds of Wehrmacht soldiers during their operations.  MacIntyre related several cases when they did killing that some felt was not strictly necessary,  and there were mixed feelings about that – many were uncomfortable with killing that wasn’t critical to the success of the mission. Later, when fighting in Europe and after Hitler’s Kommandobefehl was in full force, it became more difficult for SAS leaders to enforce discipline on SAS troops when taking German prisoners.  MacIntyre notes how “The distinction between rough justice and murder was blurring” and “an eye for an eye brutality <was> met by greater brutality…The gentlemanly, jovial, dangerous, and exciting warfare pioneered by Stirling was evolving into something harder and cruder under the pressure of  long and horrific conflict.” p271
• POST TRAUMATIC STRESS – MacIntyre concludes the book with a chapter entitled “Afterlives” in which he gives us brief post-war biographies of the many SAS operators who survived the war.  Many did not do well adapting to peacetime and civilian life.  Many had internal demons which gave them the energy and drive they harnessed to fight and survive against an implacable enemy during the war, but which after the war, were much more difficult to deal with. Paddy Mayne, one of the SASs’s key leaders had, according to MacIntyre, “enough internal demons…to populate a small hell,” (p272) and after the war “drank far too much, and not happily.” (p346  He was not atypical.  This has been an issue after any war; Britain had struggled with this phenomenon after the first World War, as soldiers in the US, Australia and other countries are struggling with it now after nearly 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

This book is not only a great compendium of stories of acts of heroism by brave men in war, but also a clear-eyed look at the types of men who repeatedly volunteer for and conduct very high risk operations in small groups, unsupported in the enemy’s back yard.  It is an excellent look at the beginnings of one of the world’s premier special operations units, but also a look at special operations in general – capabilities, limitations, and possibilities.  

Why this book: Selected by one of the book clubs I’m in at the strong recommendation of Jay.  So we all read it, and it has generated some great discussions, and it will continue to do so. 

Summary in 3 Sentences:  The basic theme of this book is that there is scientific evidence that supports the proposition that has existed for millennia in native cultures and even in religious traditions, that with intense thought and focus (eg, prayer, chants, rituals) we CAN and do impact the world around us.  And that we are all connected  and are always communicating with and affecting each other in subtle ways of which most of us are not conscious and which science is still trying to understand.  Though most of the book explores the wide variety of scientific experiments intended to explore and better understand such psychic phenomena as psychic healing, psycho-kinesis, and the impact of thought and intention on the world outside of the individual’s own thinking or intending, she also looks at some of the metaphysical and moral implications of what scientists are uncovering.  

My Impressions:  Fascinating book, written for the educated layman who is interested in, and open to the idea that reality may be more complicated than Newtonian physics implies, and that it is worth exploring the implications of phenomena which are not explained by traditional laws of physics.  The “experiment” in The Intention Experiment refers to a series of experiments that have been taking place for decades and are continuing, that explore uncanny connections between living organisms and even inanimate objects that defy rational (by current standards) explanation.  At the end of the book she invites the reader to participate in ongoing and planned experiments.  She explores and describes experiments that seem to validate that our minds, with focused attention have an impact outside of and beyond the thinker him/herself.  “Even your current state of mind carries an intention that has an effect on life around you. The mind continues affecting its surroundings, whether or not we are consciously sending an intention. To think is to affect.” p155

The Intention experiment begins with a look at quantum theory, describing some of the experiments and observations that indicate that what we believe regarding space, time and relationships between individual people and objects, is not as it may seem.  Quantum reality, the book argues, includes a network of subtle energetic connections between all things – alive and even inanimate – a rather daunting proposition.  That idea sets up the following chapters which describe experiments that explore the implications of the statement that “Every organism, from bacterial to human beings appears to be in a perpetual quantum communication.”  

What does that mean?  McTaggart systematically explores dozens of experiments in which physicists, psychologists, scientists from a number of disciplines try to measure and replicate these strange phenomena that would seem to tell us that people and things have connections we don’t yet see or understand.  Shamans, psychics, and religious leaders over the millennia have always “known” the power that some people have of using focused thought, prayer, rituals, and strong intention to affect outcomes in the physical world in ways that have been inexplicable to Western science.  She describes how we are all caught up in a web of “quantum entanglement” which transmits energy between people and objects in ways we don’t yet understand, and which she says, “could well be the key to life itself.” p11. The Intention Experiment surveys the scientific efforts to explain and better understand these phenomena.  It is very well footnoted, for those wishing to know more about the experiments she describes.

One of the early efforts to measure these psychic connections came after, Clive Backster, one of the early developers of the polygraph, on a whim hooked up his sensors to a plant and found that the polygraph indicated that the plant responded to physical distress similarly to how humans respond.   But what truly surprised him was that it also responded to intention as yet unexpressed, and that time and distance didn’t seem to matter.  “At the very moment that he had the thought, <to burn a leaf> the recording pen swung to the top of the polygraph and nearly jumped off.  He had not burned the plant; he had only thought about doing so.  According to his polygraph, the plant had perceived the thought as a direct threat and registered extreme alarm.” p37  When he changed his mind and decided not to burn the plant, the polygraph went back to normal.  The Intention Experiment describes a multitude of experiments that further explore the implications of Backster’s experiences. 

The Intention Experiment covers a lot of ground.  It describes experiments in which people’s bio-physical processes came into synchrony, how clocks in the same room would eventually synchronize and stay synchronized. She has a whole chapter which explores what she calls “The Voodoo Effect” – intending negative effects or harm to another.  She looks at the implications of how the art of visualization can affect outcomes and other people.  She also looks at the  mysteries of remote viewing, and the implications of people able to “see” places they’ve never physically been.

She also explores another aspect of “non-locality” not only in space, but also in time – a concept which still confuses me. Scientists are challenging such foundational principles as cause-and-effect, and she looks at what is called “retro-causation” – how the future may impact the present, and how we now, with intention,  might impact the past.  (yep, I’m confused too, but theoretical physicists are convinced that time and space are not stable truths in the universe.)  There have also been experiments that show that psychic, psychokinetic and healing outcomes are also influenced by fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field and by sunspots and other such esoteric phenomena that also affect other energy sources on the electro-magnetic spectrum.  This has led to scheduling such experiments around these variables. 

The book explores “faith healing” and describes experiments that attempt to validate (or not) whether and how prayer or focused intention can heal the body – not only of the person praying, but remotely of another person separated in space.   She’s found that someone else’s healing intentions for us may be as powerful as our own.  McTaggart explains efforts to find the variables – such as the well-being of the healer, whether the healer and person being healed have a shared belief system, variables such as time, distance, the placebo effect, the electro-magnetic spectrum, sun spots, etc   She also explores what well known healers say about what they do, how they do it, why they think it works, and what might be impediments to building connections that can have a positive effect on the person being targeted.   After looking at her evidence, her conclusion: “Repeatedly, the mind has proved to be a far more powerful healer than the greatest of breakthrough drugs.”  p195

The last chapter of the book, written in 2007, describes future experiments and invites the reader to participate. Her research shows that in general, a group of people desiring a specific outcome with focused and coordinated attention, seems to have more power and impact than a single person.  When she wrote the book, there were ongoing efforts to recruit people to focus attention on a specific desired outcome, at a specific time, to concentrate and coordinate efforts to further test and better understand this phenomenon.   For those interested in participating, she offers up the website theintentionexperiment.com, which I found does not work in 2022, but to get updated on what she’s doing, lynnmctaggart.com does work. 

HER BOTTOM LINE: 

“Our definition of the Universe as a collection of isolated objects, our definition of ourselves as just another of those objects, our most basic understanding of time and space, will have to be recast. At least forty top scientists in academic centers of research around the world have demonstrated that an information transfer constantly caries on between living things, and that thought forms are simply another aspect of transmitted energy.   Hundreds of others have offered plausible theories embracing even the most counterintuitive effects, such as time-displaced influence, as now consistent with the laws of physics.”  p194

Implication: “All these possibilities suggest that we have an awesome level of responsibility when generating our thoughts.  Each of us is a potential Frankenstein, with an extraordinary power to affect the living world around us. How many of us after all, are sending our most positive thoughts?  p144

MY BOTTOM LINE – McTaggart tries to be even handed and objective in making her case, though she is clearly a true believer – and her book and views have credibility with me.  I have long believed in such phenomena, and that there is an “unseen order of things” which drives the world we experience every day.   I must admit however that I have not “operationalized” this belief – that is, built it into an active principle in my life.  Reading this book has inspired me to further explore how focused attention, prayer, visualization, strong intent in my own life might help me make the most of the time I have left – for myself and others.  Because I have dabbled in this area over the decades, I have found a number of books in my library which speak to McTaggart’s thesis, most of which make little effort to explain their positions scientifically, rather, merely state their “truth” and give examples that support it.   That said, what these books claim about reality and peoples’ ability to influence it, and what Mctaggart’s book explains are in almost perfect harmony.  If you are interested in what books I am referring to, contact me.  

Why this book: I read an interview with McConaughey in the NYT, sent it to my friend Jay, and he and I decided to read it, and decide whether it might be a good one for a book club we run together. We both said “Yes!”

Summary in 3 sentences:Matthew McConaughey’s personal memoir from when he was a child, through adolescence and into his early years breaking in to Hollywood.  He shares his struggles, his lessons learned, his lucky and unlucky breaks and the path that led him to become one of the most successful male actors in Hollywood.  But it is also about his personal journey to grow, mature, and distill wisdom from his journey, to include his family, friends and starting his own family – a personal, intimate and fun adventure

My Impressions: Before I started to read the book, my friend Jay strongly recommended that I listen to it, as McConaughey reads it himself – in fact, I’d say he performs it!  And indeed, he is quite a story teller, not just the stories but the way he tells them makes the audible version worth considering.  But this memoir is more than stories – he distills from his pretty crazy experiences life-lessons that apply to all of us.  It is a fun read, with humorous and often profound insights from stories well-told – an engaging look inside the life of a 50 year old man who has done much of what most men can only dream of.  But it all didn’t come easy – he took chances, and followed his heart, often against conventional wisdom, and at least so far, it seems to be working out well for him.  And he clearly enjoys sharing his story with us.

MM had been keeping a diary of his experiences and insights since he was a teenager, and he used these diaries as a basis for this memoir.  The insights and epiphanies he had recorded along the way he shares with us, with the sensitivity and perspective that comes with age.   Many of his insights he calls “bumperstickers” – easy to remember heuristics that provide guideposts for life.

What is a “greenlight?”   It’s a signal that says “Keep moving”  – in his words, “an affirmation of our way. They’re approval, support, praise, gifts, gas on our fire, attaboys, and appetites…health, success, joy sustainability, innocence and fresh starts. We love greenlights….<but> greenlights can also be disguised as yellow and red lights.  A caution, a detour, a thoughtful pause, an interruption,…sickness and pain.  A full stop, a jackknife, an intervention, failure, suffering a slap in the face, death.  We don’t like yellow and red lights …They say no, but sometimes give us what we need.”  p 13  MM’s book is about greenlights -some of which started out as yellow or red, but he turned them green.

He begins with his youth growing up in small town Texas with a strong, autocratic and traditional father who ruled the house with an iron fist.  And likewise a strong and opinionated mother, and of course, that meant sparks in the marriage.  His parents married three times, divorced twice.  Some of his strict Texas upbringing is disturbing at first, but over time it seemed to work for MM and his brothers, as they grew up strong and resilient, with strong values of courage and independence. 

He was a wild, rambunctious, and creatively “naughty” young man, but he also did well in school.   One of the best stories of his early life was when he was accepted into a Rotary Club overseas High School exchange program to study in Australia,  under the condition that he guarantee that he would stay the full year.  He arrived in Australia, and found himself placed in a rural community, with an eccentrically conservative family, who were intent on molding him to fit their very strict values and ideals.  That story, and how he dealt with it, is itself worth the price of the book.

He tells how he eventually stumbled into acting, how with some luck, perseverance and hard work he got his first minor film roles, and then his breakthrough in A Time to Kill.   He shares how overnight, he went from a nobody on the street to a celebrity recognized wherever he went, and the impact that had on him – good and bad.  

He kept getting better parts and became a huge success in the Romantic Comedy genre – which he said was fun and paid well, but after a while, he got bored with RomCom parts.  When it seemed that those were the only roles he was being offered, against the advice of almost everyone, he took a chance and quit accepting them.  That led to a long dry spell – before he eventually got roles that he found interesting, challenging, and fit more with what he wanted to do.  Then  Dallas Buyers Club came along.  To prepare for that role he went from 182 to 135 lbs to play the role of Ron Woodruff.  He won an Oscar for his stunning performance in that movie.  True Detective with Woody Harrelson won him even more respect, accolades  and satisfaction.

He also shared how every couple of years he would be inspired to just take off,  alone, and explore the world and himself – doing what he called a “walkabout.”  He went to remote parts of Africa and Peru, following guidance he’d gotten from a rather bizarre recurring dream.  In one case, he went to stay in a very remote monastery in Arizona to figure out some things that weren’t coming together for him in his life.  To me, his impulse to step away from the glamour and fun, off the conventional path and explore other worlds and his own consciousness and life, is a big part of what I respect about him. And I believe these trips were key to his willingness to be vulnerable and share intimate as well as entertaining aspects of his life.  

Toward the end of the memoir, and certainly after scores of romantic and otherwise erotic adventures, MM meets a woman who inspires him in new and different ways, and with whom he wanted a longer commitment.  He shares how that happened, as well as what it meant to him to become a father and a family man.  Great stuff for one who had taken advantage of the opportunity to milk all that life could offer a good looking, healthy, famous, and adventurous single man. 

In the print copy, many of his words-of-wisdom, insights and bumper stickers are photos of his own notes in his own handwriting from his diaries.  I loved how he concluded Greenlights with a note he says he found  “in a pile of my journal-buck-slip-napkin-beer coaster notes and scribbles.  I’d never seen it since I’d written it…two days after finishing my first ever acting role as “Wooderson” in Dazed and Confused. Fourteen days after my dad moved on.” 

Talk about “Write it Down, Make it Happen!”  This is an amazing case of life following his intention: 

Loved this book – will listen to it again – lots of fun and wisdom here – a pretty damn good combination! 

Why this book: Selected by my literature reading group, based on our appreciation for Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow, and Children of God, and our enjoyment of McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove last year.

Summary in 4 sentences: Doc is a biographical novel of John Henry  “Doc” Holiday and his life up until 1881 when his close friends ,the Earp brothers were planning to leave Dodge City and move to Tombstone, Az.  Doc Holiday grew up in Georgia, had a classical education, attended University in Pennsylvania, but upon returning home to Georgia found that he had Tuberculosis – from which his mother died, so headed West to where the air was drier and he may have a better chance to live with or even beat his disease. The majority of Doc takes place in Dodge City and is an account of how a well-educated and cultured man adapted to the culture and people of a town on the edges of civilization, his relationships with the people there, his struggles with his tuberculosis.  Russell’s novel is based on extensive research on the people, times, and location, and her intent was more to be true to the people and their times, than to create an exciting, page turner novel. 

My Impressions: I really enjoyed reading this book, though it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.  I love Russell’s writing, how she filled out the characters and created a realistic picture of the world of Dodge City, which I found really interesting. 

Doc is a novel more in the form of a “doc”udrama, than a story using the traditional beginning-middle-end formula.   In novelizing Doc Holiday’s biography, Russell paints a picture of the characters of a few well-known figures in American folklore, that is very much at odds with the mythology that has come down to us, mostly thru dime-novels and television. She also provides a series of vignettes in the lives of those characters, which bring the town of Dodge City to life and makes it more real than the “wild west” popularized on TV. 

I just watched the 1939 movie “Dodge City with my mother, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, both well coifed and beautifully dressed in tailored western chic.   Flynn plays the role of Sheriff Hatton, doing much of  what Wyatt Earp did in real life – cleaning up Dodge City, which is wilder, and much more violent than what is described in Doc.    Olivia de Havilland is his virtuous and beautiful love interest whose heart Flynn (naturally) wins in the end.  My mother’s favorite TV show is Gunsmoke, also set in Dodge City in the 1880s and she still watches reruns daily.  Sheriff Matt Dillon runs the town like a wise, benevolent and well respected cacique.  These are but two examples of how Hollywood has mythologized Dodge City, and part of what inspired Russell to write a novel that rings much closer to the truth.  

In Doc, Russell’s Dodge City did include rowdy cowboys getting paid after months on the trail, getting drunk fighting, whoring, and shooting up the town. But it was a lot tamer than in the movie Dodge City.  Doc also included all classes of people making lives for themselves, as one would expect in any small frontier town far from the resources of civilization.  There is small town political intrigue, people struggling to survive, dealing with prejudice and racism, and tragedy.  The moneyed few had conflicting visions of how Dodge City should evolve, and they struggled with each other as they sought to steer the town and its laws in directions that favored their interests. 

Though he was young and consumptive (tubercular,) Doc Holiday became a prominent figure in Dodge City because he was unique. I found him to be the most interesting and compelling character in the novel  – a charming and very polite southern gentleman, the best educated man in town, a caring and generous dentist,  an excellent card player and gambler, a quick wit, quick on the draw, and with a multitude of surprising talents.  He was Stoic in dealing with his tuberculosis and other misfortunes. He rarely lost his equanimity, but when he did, and sometimes for what seemed like an insignificant slight, it was intense, and people paid attention. 

Doc Holiday was not ambitious for money or power – he knew he didn’t have long to live and had other values to live by.  He came to Dodge to set up a dental practice – the first and only one in the region, but had to become a gambler to earn enough money to live.  When on occasion he became financially embarrassed, his partner Kate was able to bail him out.  He befriended the Earp brothers who were established in the town – Wyatt and Morgan as deputy sheriffs, and James who with his wife, ran a bordello.

Doc’s paramour Kate was was also an intriguing character.  Born into European aristocracy, classically trained, she found herself with no way to make a living other than to rent out her body, and she continued to work as a prostitute with Doc’s full knowledge, while also being Doc’s companion, and when he was sick, his caregiver.   She was highly opinionated, mercurial in her moods, and nobody’s fool.  She was what one today might call a “wacko” and I liked her. She and Doc often conversed in French or Latin. 

Doc’s relationship with his companion Kate was a fun roller-coaster ride – they often fought, and their partnership was an on-again-off-again affair – she would leave him, and then come back.   Likewise,  we got to know James Earp and his prostitute wife Bessie, running the “best” whorehouse in Dodge City. Morgan Earp was easy-going and the most likable of the brothers, and shacked up with his gal Lou, also a former prostitute.  Wyatt Earp struck me as a different incarnation of Cal from Lonesome Dove; they are cut from the same cloth. But unlike Cal, Wyatt did have a gal, Mattie Blalock, also a former prostitute, and like Cal, he struggled to understand and relate to women.

I enjoyed stepping back 150 years to spend time with these folks and immerse myself into the life of Dodge City.   In Russell’s final chapter “The Bitch in the Deck,”  and in her author’s note and interview at the end of the book, she provides amplifying historical background, details and context to the characters she portrays in Doc.

A couple of other aspects of this book that appealed to me:

REAL CHARACTERS – At the front end of the book Russell gives us a list of all the characters – including horses – in the book, and italicizes the few that are fictional. The vast majority are historical and she based her portrayal of them on what she was able to find in the letters and other records she researched.

LANGUAGE – When writing in her own voice, Russell adjusted her language as much as possible to the language of the 19th century midwest.  The cowboys and midwestern characters in her book also spoke in earthy and simple American prose.  Doc himself speaks in the language of a well-educated southern aristocrat – eloquent, refined and delightful.

RACE – two important characters in the book are fictional: John Horse Sanders a mixed race Native/African American young man, and Jau “China Joe” Dong-Sing, one of the many Chinese who immigrated to the US to do manual labor.  Their experiences reflect how in that time and place, non-whites had few rights, and were considered by many as free game and easy prey to any nefarious characters who wanted whatever they had.

PROSTITUTION – Many of the female characters were prostitutes and most of the male characters patronized them in the various bordellos in Dodge City.  The sex trade was open in much of America at that time, and was just part of the background noise in Dodge City, though the prohibition movement  also gathering steam at that time, was also targeting prostitution. All the Earp brothers’ partners  had been and a couple still were  prostitutes, renting out their bodies to men, to make a bit of extra money.   A single woman didn’t have many options in Dodge City in the 1870s, and in an economy built largely on spendthrift cowboys at the end of a cattle drive, prostitution and gambling were lucrative sources of income for many who were struggling to survive.  

DEATH Doc had watched his mother die of tuberculosis and he knew that his disease would also be terminal.  Russell makes clear that his disease was often excruciatingly painful.   But he soldiered on and did his best to not let it slow him down.  At one point in the book, Doc appeared to be on his death bed, and his friends put up a death watch to protect him and provide anything he needed in his final days. Eventually he recovered, but he knew it was just a short reprieve; sooner rather than later, his time would come.  His tuberculosis, and knowing that his time was short colored all that he did.   Russell has a great section on death and hope on page 289

MUSIC – Doc was a truly accomplished pianist in his youth, but never played in the bars or bordellos, of Dodge City because, he said, the pianos were all out of tune.  At the end of the book, Bat Masterson threw a big party, and Kate had a good piano brought in.  Doc finally sat down and played his favorite piece, The Emperor Concerto by Beethoven.  Those present didn’t even know he could play the piano and were stunned by his virtuosity – and for Doc, it was an almost other-worldly, ecstatic experience.   This scene was powerful, and moved not only all those at the party, but me, the reader. 

A few quotes from the novel that caught my eye: (page numbers from paperback edition shown)

“Dodge City had a single purpose: to extract wealth from Texas…there was really only one rule to remember. Don’t kill the customers.  All other ordinances were customarily negotiable.  p28-29

Doc: “Nora honey, I’m perishin’ for a dish of peaches in cream.  Will  y’all join me?”  p 93

Doc: “Do tell sir!  We are agog with anticipation.” p105

Doc to Father Angensperg:  “You heard Chopin?  I am prostrate with envy, sir!…We are an atoll of culture on this godforsaken ocean of grass.”  p107

It would be nearly a century before proper police procedure for handling crimes went much beyond (1) arrest a suspect within a few hours and (2) beat a confession out of the bastard.  p189

Doc: “We are none of us born into Eden. World’s plenty evil when we get here. Question is, what’s the best way to play a bad hand?  Abolitionists thought that all they had to do to right an ancient wrong was set the slaves free.  Trouble was, they didn’t have a plan in the world for what came next. Cut ’em loose. That was the plan. Let ’em eat cake, I guess.” p259

Nine out of ten Lakota died of tuberculosis in those days….p282

She was the last person in Kansas anybody should feel sorry for, given that she was tolerably pretty and her daddy was indecently rich and her whole life was laid out before her like a banquet on a fine lace tablecloth, and yet….p295

Hope smiled. The Fates laughed.  p295

Wyatt Earp thinking to himself:  Farming is a suckers game. You can work like an ox – put everything you’ve got into the land – but if the weather doesn’t break you, the markets will.  p 308

They had come to believe that combat and commerce presented similar challenges and drew on similar talents;  the tactical brilliance Elijah Grier displayed in battle had made Bob Wright an astonishingly successful entrepreneur. Others saw risk and danger; they saw openings and opportunities.  Others stood stunned in the face of shifting complexity; they cut through to solutions that seemed to arise without thought or effort. p 319

Doc: “Toujours l’audace!”

Doc:  “A gentleman is judged by the  way he treats his inferiors, sir.” p324

Doc: “Ovid tells us that Fortune and Venus befriend the bold.” p326

Doc: “Flaubert tells us that three things are required for happiness: stupidity, selfishness, and good health. I am an unhappy man…’ p344

In a standup contest, remorse and self-loathing can battle whisky to a draw. 356

The Milky Way was strung across the sky like the diamond necklace of a crooked banker’s mistress. p379

Why this book: I was so impressed with Chernow’s biography of U.S. Grant that I wanted to learn as much about Hamilton, of whom I knew little, in the same voice. It was a good call.  Since I was already “reading” a couple of other books, I chose to listen to the audible version of Alexander Hamilton.  I have the written version as well, but the audible worked well for me – it is well read and was enjoyable tolisten to.

Summary in 3 Sentences:  Alexander Hamilton is a well researched and beautifully written chronological biography of Alexander Hamilton, from his childhood,  to his coming to America, his role in the revolutionary war and then his rise to become one of the pre-eminent men in the early days of our republic.  It is not a short book at 730 pages, but it flows well, is easy to read, and is well worth the time to learn not only about this remarkable man, but also, thru the lens of his life, about the early days of our country.  Chernow quotes someone as saying that while Washington was the father of our country, and Madison the father of our constitution, Hamilton was the father of our form of government.  

My Impressions: Another “Wow!” biography by Ron Chernow.  I listened to his biography Grant just last month and was so impressed with the way  Chernow told the story,  I decided right away to listen to him tell the story of Alexander Hamilton, about whom I knew little – only that he was an important “player” in the early days of our country, is considered one of our “founding fathers,” and that Aaron Burr killed him in a duel.  In this book Hamilton’s life is a fascinating lens through which to look at the early years of our country, from the 1770s until the early 1800s. 

After listening to Chernow tell his amazing story, I’m not only much better informed about the stormy beginnings of our country and form of government, but I also have a much better appreciation for the characters of not only Hamilton, but also of other iconic figures, such as Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe – their quirks and personality differences, them as courageous but fallible men, and the often vicious differences between some of them in the early days of our country.

As in Grant, having listened to the book, on my bike, in my car, on walks, I have no notes or marginalia to remind me of what I read. I will say that Chernow’s command of the English language is stunning – and the elegance of the language used by our forefathers, in the days before TV,  radio,  mass media, and other homogenizing influences on our language, is also an aesthetic pleasure to listen to.  Would that I had that eloquence at my fingertips for my writing and self-expression as did Hamilton then, and as does Chernow today.

Three key takeaways from this book before I try to recount a few interesting things I learned about Hamilton’s life: 

• First, the importance of Alexander Hamilton in the formation of our country can hardly be overstated.  Hamilton studied other forms of government, and articulated a vision for a new American government, and then played a key role in creating a government that was a unique hybrid of the other forms he’d studied, with his own ideas.   He also founded what became the US banking system, created the US mint, developed processes for the government to borrow money and manage debt, work economically with the private sector, and more. All this against significant opposition from Jefferson, Madison and others who advocated for an America that was more simple and rural and primarily agricultural.   He was also one of the strongest early anti-slavery voices in America.  As noted, his influence can hardly be overstated. 

• Second, Hamilton was at loggerheads with Jefferson and Madison for much of the last 20 years of his life.  He was allied closely with Washington, and insisted on an executive branch that had some authority and power, and would not be emasculated by the varying passions and fads coming from the legislative branch.  Jefferson and Madison opposed both Washington’s and Hamilton’s vision, but Washington’s stature was such that he could not be attacked, so they went after Hamilton, and accused him of wanting to establish an almost monarchical executive branch, with quasi-dictatorial authority.  The antipathy between Hamilton and both Jefferson and Madison was initially a political/philosophical disagreement, but devolved into personal and vicious attacks.  Chernow in his telling, doesn’t spare Hamilton’s excessive zeal for some of the blame in the viciousness of these disputes,  but he clearly is not an admirer of Jefferson nor Madison in the evolution of their dispute. 

• Third, the antipathy between Federalists and Republicans presaged today’s political polarity.   The differences between the Federalists, of whom Hamilton was the key and most articulate and visible leader, and the Republicans, represented primarily by Jefferson and Madison were as polarizing to the country as our current disputes between the right and the left.  The Federalists believed strongly that a strong central government was essential to keep the new country united, to represent it internationally, and to enforce the best interests of the whole over the parochial interests of the states.  The Republicans wanted most governmental power to rest with the states, and for the federal government to be a weak arbiter in disputes between states. Slavery was a huge question even at the beginning of our nation, and the Republicans wanted to protect the practice of slavery in the South, from the abolitionists in the North.  Chernow is quick to point to the hypocrisy of Republicans who claimed to advocate strongly for human and state’s rights, while owning hundreds of slaves themselves, though even some Federalists who claimed to be abolitionists, wouldn’t give up their slaves.  

Below are a few key perspectives on Hamilton’s life which were new to me and that I found most interesting.

• Early years Hamilton was born in Charlestown on the small island of Nevis in the Lesser Antilles, out of wedlock, and bounced from relative to foster parent around the Caribbean.  From early on, he was precocious and resourceful, learned and spoke fluent French as well as English, worked as a clerk as a young teenager, helping his mother to survive.  It was a humiliating struggle which shaped the rest of his life.  He was an ardent autodidact, observing, reading, learning all he could, impressing many.  He experienced poverty, but as a white Englishman, was still privileged compared to how blacks and natives were treated, which appalled him.  His precocity was recognized and he was sponsored and sent to be educated in the English North American colonies.

• Middle Years and the Revolutionary War.  Arriving in NY area in his mid-teens, Hamilton attended a prep school, and then Kings College (now Colombia University) in NYC.   There he became a star student writing opinion pieces under a nom de plume, and a passionate orator, arguing for resistance to unjust laws the English were imposing on the colonies and writing .  From early on he had a gift for passionate oratory, which won him admirers among those seeking independence, but hatred enmity among the Tories.  When war broke out he was quick to volunteer to fight.  He dearly wanted to be respected as a war hero and his brazen courage and intrepidity were soon recognized and he was promoted and given increased responsibility.   But his administrative skills were unique,  and still in his early 20s, he was essentially forced into an administrative role as Washington’s aide de camp, a position in which he served for several years.  There he and Washington developed a strong and trusting relationship, not only in matters of leading the Continental army but also discussing political theory. He finally resigned from that position, against Washington’s wishes, in order to lead men in combat, which he did at the end of the war, and indeed did distinguish himself in battle and become a war hero at Yorktown.

• Post War years, establishing our Country  Hamilton was one of the most thoughtful of the early founders of our country and had a clear and well researched vision for what the country should become. He was a prolific writer of opinion pieces and he was the principle author of the Federalist Papers, though Madison contributed a lot and gets most of the credit.  He also completed his law degree during this window.  As the government was being formed after 1782, different visions and ideas were still coalescing into what would eventually become the Federalist and Republican perspectives which eventually led to the political parties we have today.

• Family life: Hamilton’s wife Eliza was a hugely important person in his life and Chernow made this point strongly. Many of their letters survive and he quoted from them liberally. They had eight children, and Hamilton seemed to be a devoted father though also a  workaholic, but Eliza held the family together which Chernow emphasized.  Hamilton was also apparently something of a philanderer, and became involved in a nasty sex scandal, but was also devoted to his wife and family.  Eliza stuck with him throughout, and their letters reflected a lot of love, respect and mutual affection.

• Washington’s presidency.  When Washington became president, Hamilton eventually became the Secretary of the Treasury and the most powerful man in Washington’s cabinet. This was due to several factors:  Washington trusted him from their time in the revolutionary war and Hamilton therefore had more access to him than others, though Washington did not give Hamilton all he wanted; 2. He was clearest on his vision, and was the most articulate and thoughtful writer supporting it; 3. He had an almost inhuman capacity for work.  Chernow repeatedly expressed amazement at how much he did, how well he did it, and how he was able to find the energy, much less time,  to do so much quality work.  He established the foundations of the banking and financial system of America today, though these initiatives were strongly opposed by Jefferson, Madison and the southern Republicans. During this window, Jefferson was the Secretary of State and opposed Hamilton at almost every turn, but usually lost the battles. Many suspected Washington simply acceded to and rubber stamping Hamilton’s recommendations in key policy issues in shaping the United States, but Chernow denies this.  At the end of Washington’s second term, Hamilton was one of the most powerful men in America, as well as one of the most hated and resented, by those who opposed his efforts to establish a strong executive branch and federal government.

• Post Washington – John Adams and Jefferson.  When Washington left office, Hamilton’s main patron, supporter and protector retired to Mt Vernon.  John Adams, like many of the more eminent men of his time, clearly felt threatened by Hamilton, his intelligence, clarity of vision, zealotry in pursuing it, and his capacity for hard work.   Because of the way Presidential elections were run then, though Adams was a Federalist, his VP was Jefferson, the head of the Republican contingent  (it was as if Trump had Kamal Harris as his VP!)  But John Adams the Federalist, did not like nor trust Hamilton the most ardent, eloquent well-known representative of his own political philosophy.  Chernow doesn’t have a lot of good things to say about Adams as President – Adams pushed Hamilton out of the inner circle and actively opposed many of Hamilton’s initiatives, seemingly more out of pique than principle.  But Hamilton still had huge influence and remained actively engaged at the edges.   And when in the next Presidential election, Adams was defeated by Jefferson his VP,  and the Republicans won Congress, Hamilton was pushed even further outside the centers of power.  But he kept fighting a rear-guard action to keep Jefferson from reversing the many practices and institutions he’d put in place. As Hamilton expected, when Jefferson became President, he was not nearly as opposed to a strong and decisive executive branch and a strong central government. 

• The Duel w Aaron Burr and its aftermath.  Hamilton and Burr had been social acquaintances and had worked successfully together over decades, but, whereas Hamilton was a principled idealist, Burr was practical and politically ambitious, and his principles would adjust to whichever team or idea appeared to give him the greatest immediate advantage.  Hamilton had no respect for Burr, who was Jefferson’s Vice President, and neither did Jefferson.  Hamilton however readily expressed his opinion of Burr to others, which led Burr to challenge him to an affair of honor – a duel.   The section of the book on their duel is a fascinating look at the tradition and customs of dueling, its various forms and codes, and includes a well researched and detailed account of the duel itself, what led up to it, and its aftermath.  Interesting to note that Hamilton’s eldest son Philip was killed in a duel just shy of 3 years before Hamilton was killed by Burr.  In the last chapter, Chernow tells of the courageous life of Eliza Hamilton, and what became of their children after Hamilton’s death. Chernow is clearly an admirer of Eliza, who lived to 97 years, and was an honored and well-respected presence in Washington DC into the 1850s. 

Conclusion: It is hard in a short review to do justice to the depth, detail and eloquence of Chernow’s biography of Hamilton.  Every thoughtful American should know this story – it is far different from the  the mythological fairy tale of our courageous founding fathers coming together to form a new and revolutionary democratic paradise in the New World.  It was enlightening to learn how Alexander Hamilton was one of, if not THE key architect of our form of government and the challenges he faced in creating the foundations of the political and economic system that we enjoy today. 

Why this book: I had read it 3 times before, and chose to read it again when one of the reading groups I’m in selected it. This review augments my review of  2010, which can be read here.

Summary in 3 sentences: A type of fairy tale in which a shepherd boy in the south of Spain, maybe 100 years ago,  is challenged to expand his horizons and chase his “personal treasure,” and so decides to take the risk, and follow the omens that tell him to go to the pyramids of Egypt.  He sells his sheep, takes the boat across the straits to North Africa where he lands in a new world and faces setback after setback, but he stays the course and soldiers on.  In spite of many setbacks and seeming insurmountable obstacles, he maintains a positive attitude, continues to pursue his dream, each setback opens a door to new possibilities, and eventually indeed finds his treasure in the most unlikely of places. 

My Impressions: Loved this book again – the fourth time I’ve read it.  I am currently reading The Intention Experiment which dovetails nicely with this book, in that it presents scientific evidence that focus, will, and strong desire can indeed physically influence the world around us.  If we believe this, and the statement that occurs repeatedly in The Alchemist that “When you want something (badly enough,) all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it,” then most of us have three significant challenges in using this power that Paolo Cuelho and so many others tell us we have:  1. We don’t have a dream that we truly and strongly believe in and are willing to sacrifice for; 2. We are unwilling to take the risk and make the sacrifices necessary to fulfill that great dream, ie we lack sufficient courage;  3. We don’t have the persistence to stay focussed on the dream or goal, through thick and thin, in spite of what seem like dream-killing setbacks.  

Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book: Note: Unless preceded by “E” or “A”, quotes are from the impersonal narrator of The Alchemist.  E: quotes are from the Englishman. A: quotes are from the Alchemist.

Everyone believes the world’s greatest lie – that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate.  p30  As time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend p24

The Soul of the World is nourished by people’s happiness. And also by unhappiness, envy, and jealousy.  To realize one’s Personal Legend is a person’s only real obligation. p24

And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.  p24

In the long run, what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own Personal Legends.  p25

It’s called the Principal of Favorability. When you play cards for the first time, you are almost sure to win…Because there is a force that wants you to realize your Personal Legend; it whets your appetite with a taste of success.p31

God has prepared a path for everyone to follow.  You just have to read the omens that he left for you.p32

Don’t forget that everything is only one thing and nothing else.  And don’t forget the language of omens. p33

The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and don’t forget the drops of oil on the spoon p35

“Learn to recognize omens and follow them,” the old King had said. p44 

He had to think of himself not as a poor victim of the thief but as an adventurer on a quest in search of his treasure.p45

“Maktub … in your language it would be something like “it is written.” p61 

Making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision. p70

E:”Everything in life is an omen. There is a universal language, understood by everybody, but already forgotten.  I am in search of that universal language among other things….I have to find a man who knows that universal language.  An alchemist.” p72

E:”…luck and coincidence. It’s with those words that the universal language is written.” p73

E:”…fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.” p79

“We make a lot of detours, but we’re always heading for the same destination.”  p80

E:”In alchemy, it’s called the Soul of the World. When you want something with all your heart, that’s when you are closest to the Soul of the World. It’s always a positive force.”  p81

E:”I learned that the world has a soul, and that whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of things.”  p85

E:”It’s only those who are persistent and willing to study things deeply, who achieve the Master Work.” p85

If  you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man p87

The closer he got to the realization of his dream, the more difficult things became. 92

…The language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart.  It was love.  p95

E:”To do that successfully, I must have no fear of failure. It was my fear of failure that first kept me from attempting the Master Work.” ; 102

When you are in love, things make even more sense…p102

…people looking at what was occurring around them, could find a means of penetration to the Soul of the World.  p105

…He felt a strange sense of joy: he was about to die in pursuit of his Personal Legend….Here he was, face-to-face with this enemy, but there was no need to be concerned about dying – the Soul of the World awaited him, and he would soon be a part of it.   p 114

A: “Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World.” p115

A: “Wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”  p119

A: “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend.  If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t the love that speaks the Language of the World.” p124

A: List to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World, and it will one day return there.”p132  “My heart is a traitor, the boy said..”It doesn’t want me to go on…. why should I listen to my heart?” A: Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet…You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.” p133-134

A: “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself ”  p134

All people who are happy have God within them. And that happiness could be found in a grain of sand from the desert, as the alchemist had said. p134

Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.  p135

A: Every search begins with beginner’s luck.  And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested. p137

A: “When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.”  p 138

A: “If a person is living out his Personal Legend, he knows everything he needs to know. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” p146

A: “That’s what alchemists do.  They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.” p 155

The boy began to pray. It was a prayer that he had never said before, because it was a prayer without words or pleas. His prayer didn’t give thanks…didn’t ask…didn’t beseech…In the silence, the boy understood that the desert, the wind and the sun were also trying to understand the signs written by the hand and were seeking to follow their paths. p156

Arab proverb:  “Everything that happens once can never happen again.  But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.” 

If he hadn’t believed in the significance of recurrent dreams, he would not have met the Gypsy woman, the king, the thief, or… p 169

Why this book:  I watched the PBS documentary special on Grant, was fascinated and wanted to know more.  I had heard many good things about this book, but suspected I wouldn’t get around to reading it – so I picked it up on audible and listened to it – in the car, on my bike, whenever and wherever I could. The narrated version is excellent, but one doesn’t get footnotes, nor pictures, nor the opportunity to highlight, underline, make marginalia to return to. 

Summary in 4 sentences: This thorough biography takes Grant from his boyhood growing up, to his appointment to West Point, to his service in the Mexican War, to then a series failures and disappointments after leaving the Army, then his meteoric rise from Cpt to LtGen of the Army in 4 years during the Civil War.   Extremely well researched, but more importantly told in a non-academic narrative style that kept me coming back.  So much I didn’t know about the Civil War, and even more surprising, about reconstruction and the battle Grant had as President to implement Lincoln’s and his vision for a united country with civil rights for all.  This is the story of Grant’s life as a lens through which to look at this hugely important time in American history – HIGHLY recommended

My Impressions: This is an amazing biography – long and detailed, but a fascinating look at a man who was a surprise key player in a defining period of our national history.  We learn not only about Grant himself and the circle of those closest to him, but we learn also about America in the middle 50 years of the 19th century, we learn about the Civil War, and about well known and more obscure players in that great drama – and we get to know them as human beings.

Chernow’s research was impressive.  He must have read the autobiographies and biographies of dozens of those with and against whom Grant fought.  He has Grant’s perspective from Grant’s excellent memoir, and he has Mrs Grant’s autobiography as well, but he balances that with what other players in the drama of his life said about him, and with that broader, almost 360 degree perspective, he provides us with a more accurate picture of Grant and events in Grant’s life.   Chernow is a not only a superb historian, he is also a superb writer.  His narrative carried me along like a novel – though I knew the ending, I couldn’t stop listening. 

I finished listening to this book a couple of months ago.  The audible version is excellent – but I got a hard copy from the library to view the photographs and compare the reading with the listening experience. Both excellent.  But without a hardcopy on which I could highlight key passages or write notes, I’ll just list in this review some of the many things I recall being surprised by in Chernow’s biography of Grant.  I’ll also note that the  PBS documentary on Grant, available on Amazon, is an outstanding companion piece to this book and this 7 minute interview with Chernow about the book is a great introduction to the book.

Here are the highlights of what I remember about Grant’s life from listening to the book a couple of months ago.  

1. Childhood. I knew that Grant had had a tough childhood and an unpleasant experience in his early years in the Army.  I didn’t realize that his father despaired of him as a failure, rode him hard, constantly reinforcing Grant’s failures to Grant himself and essentially forcing him to go to West Point. At West Point he excelled as a horseman – one of the best – but had an otherwise non-descript performance there. Grant was shy, didn’t want to be there, but was unwilling to leave and deal with his father. 
2. Mexican American War – his bravery and conscientious adherence to duty stood out. He took chances that others wouldn’t take, and he had a sangfroid in battle and under fire that was remarkable – to others and even himself. This early experience exposed him to the tremendous amount of suffering and death that comes in war, and it moved him.
3. Middle Years – after the Mexican American War, in spite of his heroics, Grant was given undesirable positions. The army then was a fraternity and good-ole-boy network into which he didn’t fit. He married Julia Dent but spent very little of their early married years together while he was stationed in remote areas, with little to do, under bosses who didn’t like him.  He began to drink out of boredom and loneliness, which led to his leaving the army – he quit before they fired him – establishing a reputation as a drunk that followed him for the rest of his life.
4. After the Army – Grant struggled.  He had very little business sense, was overly trusting of people and many took advantage of him. He invested in get-rich-quick schemes that went broke, and loaned money to many people who had no intention of paying him back. He was often broke and his family often depended on his in-laws to keep from starving.  He was forced to work for his father and  depended on the charity of his father in law, who had no respect for him.
5. Slavery –  Grant never supported slavery, though his father-in-law gave him one slave, who Grant freed.  His own family were abolitionists, while his wife’s family were staunchly pro-slavery.  This caused tension in his family and for Grant.  When the Civil War broke out Grant’s sympathies were with the North and he offered up his services to the Illinois militia, exacerbating the schism in his family, as his wife’s family. But his wife always supported him. 
6. The beginning of the Civil War.  Grant’s offer of his service as an officer with experience in combat was initially ignored, and then he was given assignments that were little more than an insult. He was not adept at playing the political game that was an important part of getting leadership positions in the Army.  But whatever unglamorous assignment he got, he performed superbly, eventually garnering the respect of those above him, leading to positions of gradually increased responsibility, and as the war became more serious, and political appointees to military positions failed and were relieved, Grant’s star began to rise.  
7. Early and middle years in the Civil War in the the Western Theater  Grant eventually was promoted to BG but he struggled under the autocratic and arrogant leadership of Major General Henry Halleck, but eventually, even Halleck couldn’t deny that Grant was a talented battlefield commander.  Grant was an aggressive, audacious, and creative battlefield commander. He sought found, and exploited the advantage against his enemies.  He won key and unexpected victories at Ft Henry and Ft Donelson which got him attention in Washington. Eventually, and somewhat reluctantly, Halleck allowed him to plan and execute the Vicksburg campaign which continues to be studied at military leadership schools around the world.   Then after winning the difficult battle to rescue Chattanooga, he was promoted to Lt Gen.  Finally when Lincoln was fed up with cautious and incompetent Generals in the East, he fired McClelland and put Grant in charge of all the armies fighting for for the Union. 
8. Final years of the War.  The final  year of the war pitted Grant against Lee, who many in both North and South believed to be invincible.  Grant was not intimidated and went after him aggressively, which cost the Union many lives, but the Union could afford the losses, the Confederacy couldn’t. Finally Grant took Richmond and won a decisive battle at Petersburg, after which Lee’s forces were decimated, were out of resources and Grant’s armies had cut all their supply lines. 
9. Grant accused of being a “butcher” – the Battles of Shiloh and the Wilderness.  Grant was accused of being a “butcher” for wantonly sacrificing troops for victory.  In particular, the battles of Shiloh,  and later while chasing Lee in Virginia, the battle of the Wilderness, cost the Union heavily in losses.  He was accused of fighting a war of attrition, which had some merit, but other Uion generals had been so cautiously afraid of loses, an audacious Lee was able to regularly defeat numerically superior forces.  The Special Operator in me believes Grant could have found less costly ways to win his battles,  but given the times and circumstances and his background, Grant’s choices made sense, and they did indeed work. 
10. Appomattox. Grant accepted Lee’s surrender on generous terms, for which he was criticized by many.  Grant believed that for the Union to survive, minimizing bitterness would be key.  He paroled all the Confederate men and gave them amnesty, (protecting them against charges of treason) and let men keep their horses.  The guarantee of amnesty in particular was a sore point with many who wanted to punish the South.  The amnesty guarantee protected Lee and other officers later against charges of treason

GRANT IN THE YEARS IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CIVIL WAR At the end of the War, Grant was a national hero, seen as savior of the Union and was the most popular and honored man in America – of course primarily in the North, but also by many in the South who appreciated the lenient terms he gave Lee and the Confederate army at Appomattox. He remained in charge of the Army after the war, and Congress voted to create a new position, General of the Army making Grant a 4-star General appointed by Congress.  Fully 1/3 of Chernow’s book covers the period following the Civil War.

1. Grant, Lincoln, and Johnson  Grant and Lincoln had been close, personally, and politically, both believed fully in the cause of freeing the slaves, giving them full citizenship, and preserving the Union. Grant was devastated at Lincoln’s assassination, and in fact he and his wife had been invited by the Lincolns to join them in their box at Ford’s theater, and J.W. Booth had hoped to kill both of them. Grant declined the invitation largely because his wife did not get along w Mary Lincoln.  When Andrew Johnson became president, Grant became slowly disillusioned with Johnson’s lack of commitment to Lincoln’s vision.  President Johnson tried to undermine the Civil Rights amendments and laws that Congress passed, while Grant was doing all he could to support Reconstruction, and the two feuded. Congress supported Grant in this, and Johnson’s efforts to get rid of or marginalize Grant were in part what led to Johnson’s impeachment, which failed to remove him from office by only one vote. 
2. Grant’s alcoholism.  Grant’s many political enemies and the press throughout his life accused him of regularly becoming irresponsibly drunk and disorderly, and Chernow spends a good bit of time exploring these charges. He concludes that Grant indeed was an alcoholic, could not drink in moderation, and when he occasionally let himself have a drink, he often took it to excess.  Both Grant and his wife set up protectors to help Grant avoid drink, and to avoid becoming drunk.  Chernow admires Grant’s discipline, but notes that the evidence supports Grant indeed abusing alcohol on inappropriately on occasion, but the accusations against him were personal, political and  unfair and did not reflect the reality of his deportment.  
3. Julia Dent Grant. Grant’s wife plays an important role in Grant’s life and therefore in Chernow’s biography.   She wrote her own autobiography after Grant’s death and Chernow quotes from it liberally in sharing her perspective on key events in Grant’s life.   Where Grant was uncomfortable socializing, his wife thrived in it.  Grant was happy to leave the Presidency; his wife was not – she loved the social life and prestige it gave her.  She was always consummately loyal to her husband and he to her, and he counted on and relished her love and support throughout his life.  I couldn’t help but find her rather annoying and obsessed with social form and status – which of course Grant tolerated much better than I would have.  But she was able to add an important bit of social polish to his public persona which in fact he needed, and balance his quiet introspection. 

GRANT AS PRESIDENT 1869-1877  The final half to a third of the book is about Grant’s life after the Civil War to include his tenure as President.  During his political career, the level of vitriol and partisan fighting astounded me – and makes today’s squabbles look tame.  There is a lot in this part of the book but three things stood out to me:

1. 1. Overly Trusting.  History books accuse Grant of having had an unusually corrupt administration, plagued by scandals. That is in part true, but this was due to  Grant’s nature to trust people.  He did not make the transition from military leadership to political leadership well.   Repeatedly he was let down after trusting people the way he would in the Army; he believed everyone was as honest and conscientiously loyal to principle as he was.  Even some of his closest associates, who sold themselves well,  turned out to be working primarily for their own personal advantage and gain.   He refused to believe warnings about the perfidy of some of his appointees, until the evidence was overwhelming  and the damage done.  This trusting nature of Grant’s cost his administration much credibility, when a number of his key appointees, whom he had trusted and backed, were revealed as self-serving scoundrels. 
   2. Civil Rights Champion. Grant found it extremely difficult to uphold Lincoln’s and his visions of reintegrating the South with the North and reuniting the country, while also assuring freed slaves their civil rights and integrating them into society. Most of those in power in the South, sought to undermine through local laws and political influence the aims of the war.  Blacks were routinely murdered, the Ku Klux Klan flourished and local politicians and law enforcement supported them and refused to prosecute crimes against Blacks.  Grant also found that many in the power elite in the North did not object to Southern recalcitrance and did not support the aims of reconstruction.  He aggressively went after the Klan and fought un-reconstructed southern leaders who were elected by their white constituents, where blacks were intimidated or murdered when they tried to vote.  This was the primary struggle Grant dealt with during his two terms as President. Several times he faced the possible threat of reigniting the civil war when he sent  federal troops into certain states to enforce federal laws that the local political leaders and law enforcement officials wouldn’t enforce.  He similarly fought for the rights of Native Americans, and in this too, he was opposed and undermined by a population largely wedded to their racist prejudices. 
   3. Under valued President.  Grant has been called by many recent historians the most under valued and under appreciated President in American History. His personal integrity and lack of concern for the trappings of success were unusual – he achieved power position because of his performance, not as a result of political maneuvering and personal ambition.  He is the most dedicated advocates of civil rights for all, and worked harder for it and sacrificed more for it than any President we’ve had since Lincoln.

FINAL YEARS AFTER THE PRESIDENCY  1877-1885 Grant was asked to run for a third term, which was opposed by many to violate the unofficial two term limit since Washington. Grant was ambivalent – on the one hand had he been drafted, he could have continue to carry out his goals of increasing civil rights, and supporting reconstruction in the South.  On the other hand he was exhausted by the social and political demands of the office, which he detested, and was ready for a break. He chose to not actively politic for a third term, and former Union General James Garfield  was chosen by the Republican party, and Grant went into retirement.  Garfield was not as lucky as Grant had been in avoiding assassination attempts – he was shot by an assassin less than a year into his presidency.  The most interesting things I recall about this final period of Grant’s life: 

1. STILL A HERO.  He left the Presidency still regarded as the hero who saved the Union and though many were not impressed with his administration, those who supported the liberal Republican party’s goals of reconstruction still applauded his efforts.  He and his wife were feted wherever they went, which she enjoyed more than he did.  He was often asked to speak,  which he  did not particularly enjoy, but because his speeches were short and laconic, he was much appreciated.
2. TRIP AROUND THE WORLD.  He and his wife Julia with a small coterie of supporters were invited with the support of the US Government to make a tour of the world on board ship.  He was still seen as a hero in much of the world and he was received as a representative of the United States and its still nascent experiment with democracy.  Wherever he went, he was received not only as a former President but also as a military hero.  This part of the book is fascinating for describing his experiences in the 1880s in such places as France, Italy, India, China, Japan – places which then were far more obscure to America than they are today.   Chernow rushed through his description of this voyage more than I would have liked – I would have liked more details.
3. FINAL YEARS.  After returning from his world tour, Grant followed his pattern of trusting the wrong people and invested almost all of his money with a Bernie Madoff-like character, and when the ponzi scheme collapsed, he and his son lost everything.   On top of that, due no doubt to years of almost non-stopping cigar smoking, Grant was diagnosed with an extremely painful case of throat cancer.    Near destitute, and faced with little time to live and the prospect of dying and leaving his wife with no money,  he acquiesced to writing his memoirs, and again trusted the wrong people and made a bad deal. Mark Twain came to his rescue, got him out of the bad deal and got him the advances and support he needed.   Grant wrote, dictated, edited his memoirs through the great pain and discomfort of his cancer  – an act of almost inhuman will and courage. He finished his memoirs, and died a few days later at the age of 63.. His memoirs continue to be regarded as a classic.  Attendance at his funeral in NYC exceeded 1.5 million and he was eulogized in cities around the country as an American Hero on par with Washington and Lincoln.  Julia his wife wrote her own autobiography which, with the royalties from Grant’s memoirs, ensured that she would live out her live in comfort

Why this book:  The author Paul Shemella is a good friend of mine and we both served together in the Navy SEALs.  I had read and enjoyed one of his previous novels, Jungle Rules, which, like The Dictator’s Revenge, takes place in Panama where we had both served – I followed him in commanding the SEAL Command in Panama in 1992.  The Dictator’s Revenge is a prequel to Jungle Rules and serves it well. 

Summary in 3 sentences: Manuel Noriega is in prison after having been deposed in the US invasion of Panama in December 1989. He is seething with anger and a desire for revenge against the United States, and finds a way to enlist the aid of one of his drug lord cronies to secretly help him get back at the US by severely damaging or destroying the Panama Canal.  Neither the US nor the Panamanians are aware of this, as the steps are taken by the drug lord to earn the money Noriega has promised him for achieving this objective.  The US and the Panamanians notice that something very nefarious is going on, and engage a Navy SEAL Lieutenant Commander and a few SEALs to help figure it out and prevent a catastrophe of international proportions.  

My Impressions: An engaging and exciting page turner – a very enjoyable read.  Paul knows his subject, having commanded the SEAL unit in Panama right after Operation Just Cause, which had deposed Manuel Noriega from power in 1989.  While stationed in Panama, Paul explored many of the nooks and cranny’s of the area around Panama City and worked with the Panamanians as they were rebuilding their country after the reign of Noriega and the subsequent invasion by US Forces. The Dictator’s Revenge gives the reader a sense for living in Panama as part of the US forces during the period following Operation Just Cause. 

The novel’s main protagonist is Navy SEAL Lieutenant Commander Carl Malinowski, who is working on the staff of USSOUTHCOM’s Special Operations component. He is brought in to help resolve a complicated situation that appeared ominous.   One of the most experienced Panama Canal harbor pilots is mysteriously and violently kidnapped, several people murdered and it seemed to be a lot more than a “mere” ransom operation.  It appeared that this crime and its potential implications were more than the Panamanian government felt fully competent to handle effectively while still rebuilding after the US invasion, so they requested US assistance.  LCDR Malinowski is given tactical lead, asks for and gets the assistance of several enlisted SEALs he’d worked with in the past, and in conjunction with the Panamanian national police, the CIA,  the SEAL Unit in Panama, and other Special Operations resources stationed in Panama, they put together a team to sort who may have done the kidnapping and why. 

The antagonists in this story include Manuel Noriega who we only see a few times in the book, as he is a guest enjoying the hospitality of the US federal prison in Florida.   Also, there is the leader of the drug cartel who Noriega is paying to exact his revenge, and the numerous  sicarios – Colombian henchmen who are ready at the drop of a hat to perpetrate whatever horror their drug lord bosses deem useful to achieve their evil objectives. 

Malinowski and his team have very little to work with, but they are dogged in tracking down whatever leads they have to retrieve the harbor pilot and better understand why he was kidnapped.  Their deductive process is fun to observe, since we the readers know exactly who is behind the kidnapping and why.  It is impressive to watch the SEALs and the other organizations go through their deliberative planning process to explore different possibilities and options, and then plan and execute missions designed to get the harbor pilot back, and then prevent the perpetrators from shutting down the Panama Canal, which would be a disaster with huge international consequences.

There are two main stories in The DIctator’s Revenge: The first is about the SEALs and their supporting organizations figuring out that the destruction of the Panama Canal was Noriega’s objective, and then undertaking the various steps and operations necessary to prevent it.  In this story we learn of and go along for the ride on many of the special capabilities of SEALs and other special operations forces use to fight those who would harm the US or its allies.  

The second story is the romantic relationship between LCDR Malinowski and his main counterpart with the Panamanian Police force, a beautiful, intelligent, and driven Panamanian woman who is a major in the Panamanian national police force.  At the beginning of the novel their relationship is a mutually convenient friendship “with privileges,” but as the story progresses, it grows into a romantic love affair that has them both looking to make it a long term commitment.  This becomes a bit awkward as they are both key players on the team planning planning to resolve this critical mission.  It also adds additional tension to the story, as she also becomes a target of the drug lords.  

Additionally, Paul Shemella wickers into this story another enemy whose hate for the United Staes the drug lord leverages to help him meet his and Noriega’s objectives:  Islamic Extremists.  Eight or so years before 9-11, Islamic extremists were already seeking ways to do major strategic damage to the United States, and there was no shortage of extremely committed young men willing to die in an effort to achieve that goal.  It is no secret that criminal organizations in Latin America and idealogical extremists in the Middle East have worked together – each with a different cause, but achievable through common means. 

Paul Shemella knows his subject well – Panama, fighting drug lords, and Navy SEALs – Paul spent 26 years inspiring, planning and leading SEAL operations around the world. As a retired SEAL myself my only quibble was that the team of SEALs he put together, in both The Dictator’s Revenge and Jungle Rules, was a team of All Stars that any SEAL would aspire to be part of .  These were all great SEALs, but unfortunately, not all SEALs are great. But Malinowski’s team was a nice counterpoint to the dysfunctional team that has been in the news lately in the wake of the Eddie Gallagher trial.  For me it was nice to read about truly competent SEALs who believe in and follow the SEAL Ethos.  After reading ALPHA , it was nice to have Paul remind me of how good a SEAL squad can be, and of the good they can do working well together.  

Why this book: I was in a zoom meeting with my friend Luke on Veterans (Armistice) Day, and he mentioned that his daughter was assigned All Quiet on the Western Front in school and he planned to read it with her. That inspired me to read it again.  I had read it 40 plus years ago and somehow, it didn’t impress me. Since then, I’ve read and studied a lot more about WW1, and lived a life in the business of war,  and decided to read it again.  Really glad I did.

Summary in 4 Sentences:Young Paul Bäumer is in his final year in High School in Germany when his school master marches him and many of his classmates down to the recruiter’s office to enlist in the Kaiser’s army to fight on behalf of his country in WW1.  The story takes Paul and his mates through several years of trench warfare as the war progressed, giving us the soldier’s perspective on life in the trenches, life in their platoon, their shenanigans when they are in the rear,  the death, dying and suffering they experience, and their struggles to survive when they are on the front.  In the chaos and horror of war, the soldiers feel no sense of connection to why they are fighting and dying. no sense of glory or patriotic fervor, or sense of serving and suffering for a greater cause.  The book provides an unadulterated first-person account of a broad spectrum of the typical experiences of a young soldier in WW1, or almost any war, without being air-brushed by patriotic speeches, heroics, and flag waving. 

My impressions:  Very powerful.  Apart from the final paragraph, All Quiet on the Western Front is written entirely in the first person, in the voice of Paul Bäumer a young man who is18 years old at the beginning of the novel, 20 yrs old at the end.   Beautifully written  and engaging.  Bãumer is a very sensible, disciplined, thoughtful young man who gets caught up in a war he doesn’t fully understand, but to which he was called to serve as his duty to his country. He shares his experiences, his impressions, and his attempts to understand the meaning of what he is experiencing, and his place in the world he finds himself in.  The translation of this book is important – see the last paragraph of this review for my comments on the translation. 

Though our narrator is a German youth from a century ago, and warfare has certainly changed since then, it is easy to identify with Paul Bäumer, to like him and empathize with his struggles to adapt and survive – physically and emotionally – as a lowly soldier in the trenches of World War 1.  

Bãumer and a number of his classmates in high school go through bootcamp together, which is more brutal and autocratic than what we today are used to, but that was not just Germany – the US was that way too, a hundred years ago.  Then they are sent to the front and have their first experiences of battle, of artillery barrages, of the alternately miserable, boring, and terrifying life in the trenches, and of losing friends.

Over time, Baumer and his classmates become experienced in the ways of the war and they learn tricks to somewhat reduce the misery and risk, and improve their chances for survival. He shares some of the painful futility of trying to teach new recruits how to survive, and eventually he becomes numb to watching the newbies arrive on the front, make new-guy mistakes, and die like flies.  “to every one old soldier, between five and ten of the recruits are killed. “p91 He shares how he and his mates deal with the misery of being stuck in the trenches, the poor and inadequate food, how they scrounge for better food and clothing while just trying to survive until they get a reprieve to go spend some time in the rear. 

And he shares some of the antics they pull in the rear when they are given a break from the trenches.  Even in the rear, there is a constant adaptation, until they are then sent back to the front and the trenches. They make connections with supply sergeants who have access to resources to make life a little bit easier, they loot abandoned villages, and otherwise find ways to relax and forget about the war.  Over time he and his mates figure things out, and enjoy their reprieve.   At one point he and a couple of his buddies connect with some French girls in a village, but he has become so jaded by the stress and horrors of the battlefield, he struggles to find a connection.  He compares the more personal connection he is trying to find with the French girl, to the impersonal and transactional connections he and his mates have with the whores in the brothels that are made available to men in the rear, noting that the war has blunted his ability to connect with people in the world outside of the battlefield. 

A particularly poignant piece was his description of going home on leave, visiting his parents, friends and family, and finding it very awkward.  He thinks to himself, “You’re home, you’re home.  But there is an awkwardness that will not leave me.” He cannot tolerate the patriotic bravado of those in the bars telling him to go give ’em hell and win the war for the Kaiser and Germany.  Particularly moving is his visit to the mother of one of his classmates who has died, as well as his efforts to connect to his own mother who is dying of cancer .  As hard as he tries, he feels distant and unconnected to the life he had with her in his family before.  He thinks to himself, “Oh Mother, Mother! Why can’t we get up and go away from here, back through the years, until all this misery has vanished from us, back to when it was just you and me, Mother?”  Eventually he sees that being in the war causes his mother more suffering, which he deeply regrets, and concludes, “I should never have come home on leave.” 

On the front, his life is defined and circumscribed by his mates and their efforts to support each other and survive.  He is amazed at how the horror and misery of combat has brought them together.  “We don’t talk much but we have a greater and more gentle consideration for each other than I should think even lovers do.  Before the war we wouldn’t have had a single thought in common – but here we are, sitting with a goose roasting in front of us,  aware of our existence and so close to each other that we can’t even talk about it.” 66   

They see so much death, and over time, one-by-one, he loses his closest friends and he almost becomes used to that.  He talks about the arbitrariness of death – who lives and who dies on the front. “It is this awareness of chance that makes us so indifferent….Every soldier owes the fact that he is still alive to a thousand lucky chances and nothing else.  And every soldier believes in and trusts to chance.” 70

Interspersed with stories of combat and life on the front are his ruminations about his alienation from the life he’d grown up with – life at home and in a normal community – and what that alienation is doing to him and his mates. “The war has ruined us for everything.  We’re no longer young men. We’ve lost any desire to conquer the world. We are refugees. 61  “We are dead men with no feelings, who are able by some trick, some dangerous magic, to keep on running and keep on killing.” 80

He notes that most of what he’d learned prior to coming in the army was of little use to him.  Life on the front is very practical and immediate.  Thinking about his time in school, he notes: “We don’t remember much about all that stuff any more.  It was no use to us anyway. Nobody taught us at school how to light a cigarette in a rain storm, or how it is still possible to make a fire even with soaking wet wood, or that the best place to stick a bayonet is in the belly, because it can’t get jammed in there the way it can in the ribs.” p60 .

Bäumer does have moments of hope, as he thinks of happier times in the past, of the peacefulness of being in nature, letting his thoughts wander to “…all the things to come, the thousand faces of the future, the music of dreams and books, the rustling and the idea of women. All this cannot have collapsed in the shelling, the despair and the army brothels.” 200

It is indeed a dark novel and it’s message is that war is not glorious, it turns men into animals and squeezes the civilizing influences of home, family, and community out of them.   Remarque’s message runs counter to the jingoism we hear from political and even military leaders.  I’m not surprised that Hitler banned it in Germany.  But though his story is dark, Remarque, through Bäumer, tells his story in a very personal and fully engaging way.   My own view – this book is too powerful, too graphic and mature in its themes for high school kids or even most young adults. I didn’t appreciate it when I first read it, even in my early 20s.  As a (late) middle aged adult, after spending a career in the military, I agree with the cover line –  it is one of the great books on men at war.  I put it in league with the best novels on war I’ve read: The Forgotten Soldier (WW2), The Naked and the Dead (WW2) and Matterhorn (Vietnam).

ON THE TRANSLATION
I began reading the Wheen translation in the Ballantine Books edition of All Quiet on the Western Front, and was unimpressed, with both the translation and the copy style of the book.  So I found the Vintage books edition, translated by Brian Murdoch. I immediately liked it better and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, though the subject is dark.  The translation can make a big difference, if you are planning to read this book. Some have criticized the Murdoch translation as not being sufficiently literal, and the translation is for a British audience (using British slang in translation of German slang,) but for readability and style, and for capturing the personality of the narrator and the sense of the environment, I found it much more engaging than the Wheen translation. For more on the translation of All Quiet… this website provides additional background. 

Why this book:  Every active or retired SEAL I know who’s read ALPHA told me that they believed every SEAL should read this book. That’s  a good enough recommendation for me.   I’ll be leading a discussion of this book among (mostly retired) SEALs in the near future, to see what we think about it. 

Summary in 3 Sentences: SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher came into ALPHA platoon with a strong reputation in SEAL Team 7 and prepared his platoon to go into one of the most demanding and dangerous areas in their forthcoming deployment to Iraq.  During that deployment, Chief Gallagher seemed to go off the rails and not only was not leading his platoon well, he was committing acts that his platoon-mates saw were contrary to the Laws of Armed Conflict and the Navy SEAL Ethos they’d sworn to uphold.  ALPHA tells the story from the perspective of many of the SEALs in that platoon, to include recounting specific criminal behavior they observed, how the platoon struggled with what to do about it, the return of the platoon from deployment, the trial and the media carnival around it, the impact of President Trump’s support for Gallagher,  the bungling by the Navy of the prosecution, and the potential impact of it all on the Navy SEAL culture.

My impressions: Powerful.  Disturbing. Well written, well researched. I felt Philipps did a good job reporting what his research and interviews revealed to him.  For most of the first part of ALPHA, he makes an effort to be objective about Chief Gallagher, but by the end of the book, he does not hide his disdain for Gallagher and what he’d done. 

The book has credibility to me.  I’ve heard the Leading Petty Officer Craig Miller address a group of SEAL NCOs about his challenges and experiences being Gallagher’s number 2 in that platoon – he was credible and his story is moving.  It is a cautionary tale for young SEALs.  For those of us who were in the Teams in the past, it is disturbing.  We have to ask ourselves whether we could have done more to quell the “pirate” culture that has always been there, and which arguably allowed Eddie Gallagher to be promoted and thrive – until a few guys stood up to him and called him out.  It is a story of moral courage versus self-protection, and going along to get along.

Many of the books by and about SEALs highlight the dramatic and the heroic, and paint a picture of SEALs as America’s playful young warrior-heroes, but do not show much of the dark side. This one does.  But it also shows bright young men struggling with their consciences and struggling to balance their loyalty to each other, their team, their chain of command, with their personal values and their consciences.  

AlLPHA starts out in Coronado where SEAL Team 7 Alpha platoon is training and getting ready to deploy.  Gallagher is a highly regarded chief and is doing a good job motivating his platoon.  A few things pop up in that pre-deployment window that the boys find odd or a bit disturbing, but nothing that they are overly concerned about.  That changes when they get in-country (Iraq).

ALPHA takes us through the entire deployment and the interviews the author had with many of the platoon members chronicle Gallaghers neglect of his responsibilities as Platoon Chief and how he repeatedly put himself into shooter roles that are not appropriate for the Platoon Chief, but which he hoped would garner him an opportunity to get an award for valor and be the “war hero” he so wanted to be.    His platoon mates noted that he repeatedly put the platoon in unnecessary danger without authorization, in order to get closer to the fighting – and in one case, refused to call medevac in for a wounded platoon member, because it would reveal that he had taken them into an unauthorized area – risking the life of that member (he did recover.)

Gallagher spent a good part of the deployment in a sniper hide, shooting at targets his men didn’t see, and claiming many kills. This is not the role of a Platoon Chief;  his Leading Petty Officer, SO1 Craig Miller had to step up and assume as much of the Platoon Chief responsibility as he could, though he was often over-ruled by Gallagher.   The many shots Gallagher took from his sniper hide, and his claimed kills (unseen by anyone else) got to be a joke in the platoon, until some of his guys saw him shooting civilians.  Though no one claimed to have seen him pull the trigger,  they heard the shot from where he was, and saw what were to them clearly civilians fall – in at least two cases specifically.  When guys realized he was shooting at non-combatants, other Alpha platoon snipers in different hide sites tried to find his potential targets and protect them by shooting warning shots before Gallagher could shoot them.  The incident for which he went to trial,  killing with a knife a young Iraqi POW, was described in great detail based on interviews and accounts given to to the author and to NCIS, 

The platoon finally began to stand up to their Platoon Chief,  a very difficult step in a SEAL Platoon.  The Leading Petty Officer Craig Miller had already assumed much of the leadership in the platoon, while Gallagher had stepped out of his Platoon Chief role to engage in shooting ISIS.  When the platoon rebelled, Miller continued that leadership.  Where were the Platoon officers?  Miller and others had gone to the officer leadership about Gallagher, and they said they would take care of it.  But they didn’t – they looked the other way.   

The later part of ALPHA describes how, after ALPHA platoon returned to the states,  the platoon agreed they had to stick together to make sure Gallagher would be held accountable for his criminal actions and would not lead SEALs again.   When the officers immediately over them did not take action, the platoon NCOs decided to go over their head to more senior officers, who then got engaged and brought in NCIS.  And ALPHA describes their investigation, their challenges, their mistakes. 

When it got to court, only four of the Alpha platoon SEALs were willing to testify to what they’d agreed to.  Much of the eyewitness evidence of Gallagher plunging a knife into the prisoner was not recounted in the testimony in court for a number of reasons –  a couple of the key witnesses followed their attorney’s advice and wouldn’t repeat what they’d said earlier, or those accounts were not permitted in court for other reasons.  Many of the original group who had agreed to go to the authorities about Gallagher’s actions ended up hiring the same attorney who advised them to back away from their original statements and protect themselves – which was a good part of why Gallagher was acquitted of pre-meditated murder and manslaughter.  Philipps clearly admired the moral courage of the SEALs who elected to tell their stories in court, unadulterated by advice from an attorney to hedge and not remember.

The book concludes with Gallagher’s acquittal of all but the one charge of posing with a dead enemy, and him basking in the glory of being a darling of Fox News, President Trump’s description of him as a hero and martyr to politically correct and wimpy military leaders.  Gallagher and his wife Andrea referred to those who had testified against him as “pussies” seeking revenge on a chief that pushed them hard in combat.  The platoon itself fractured along the lines of those who stood up for what they believed in in court, and those who bailed from their earlier commitment in order to protect themselves. 

ALPHA describes a SEAL deployment and what SEALs were doing in Iraq, dealing with the Rules of Engagement, the risks and the type of work they were doing, the challenges and advantages of working with the Iraqi army.  The reader gets a sense for the men in the SEAL platoon, their personal stories,  their attitudes and some of the dynamics within a SEAL platoon, which was upset when their Platoon Chief went rogue.  There are heroes here, there are guys who were conflicted, who showed moral weakness if not cowardice under pressure, and there were a couple of villains – Gallagher in particular, and the officers above him who refused to step in when they were told of his behavior.   Philipps addresses the still-uncertain impact of the whole highly publicized event on the SEAL culture, and the  ongoing efforts of senior SEAL officers to undermine the “pirate” culture which arguably created Eddie Gallagher, and which still supports him.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in getting past the “SEALs-as-heroic-super-commandos” narrative to better understand SEALs as men doing a job they are well-trained to do – as the SEAL Ethos says – “common citizens with an uncommon desire to succeed” – and some of the moral and physical challenges they face.