Book Review: The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara

       This Pulitzer prize winner brings history to life for any reader.   The experience of author Michael Shaara helps create interest: he was a boxer and writer of science fiction before discovering historical fiction.   He was also a police officer, which trains an individual in understanding human behavior, especially when confronted with difficult(personal) decisions.
      The Battle of Gettysburg remains as a defining battle in American history for it was on this field that the Union was preserved for future generations.   Abraham Lincoln's address has acted as the spearhead in tribute to those who made the supreme sacrifice for freedom as we know it.
     Author Shaara guides the reader over the ground chronologically as he must.  But the intimate conversations among known historical figures give human feelings to all the named participants.   Whether Robert E. Lee or Joshua Chamberlain, the personalities carry the story.
        Shaara carefully illuminates the fateful decisions that propelled the Union forces to ultimate victory on the field.   He is able to lift "the fog of war" and allow the reader to discover the factors that swung the tide in favor of gen. George Meade of the Union Army of the Potomac.   This is the Army that U.S, Grant would inherit shortly.
      The sections devoted to Col. Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine Regiment(of approx. 320 men) is especially telling.  Chamberlain survived not only Gettysburg, but several more major engagements and the war.   His actions at Little Round Top are textbook examples of leadership, daring, and courage above and beyond the call of duty.  He was rightfully awarded a Medal of Honor.
     His depiction of General Lee bring him to life, describing the deteriorating health of an individual who personally carried the weight of the seceding states on his shoulders, and who, after successive victories before Gettysburg, proved his own fallibility at the site of the Pennsylvania town.
    The book was made into a movie and continues to enjoy significant sales and new readers.
It's a 5 star recommendation!
Note:
Author Shaara is of Italian heritage.  The original spelling of his family name is Scirra, pronounced the same. The Killer Angels won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1975.

The Quad

         The Tahoe Ironman has proven to be a well attended Lake event.   This September will bring the crowds back: runners and supporters both will fill up local restaurants, hotels and motels over the long race weekend.   The weather is usually guaranteed to be ideal for all parties involved.
     Now athletes who participate are of a singular mind set:  they are competitive, focused, and determined to finish.  Hence, they try to get an edge, that bit of extra strength that will improve performance enough to make a difference.  Now they have found "The Quad".
     The Quad is a workout studio that does something different for the athletic workout:  it simulates atmospheric conditions at altitude.  It controls oxygen levels in the ambient environment-sea level- and can ratchet up altitude conditions to 5000' or 10000' or even higher, depending on the wishes of the trainer or participant.
      Most of these athletes are not professionals; they will not be invited to the Olympic training camp in Colorado Springs, elev. 5100', for any length of time.  At the Quad, for the price of a session, the athlete now can experience conditions at the elevation of the event ahead of race day.  The question is: does it help?
      Probably only psychologically.  The body adjusts to conditions and performance remains tied to conditioning and other factors.   Few would experience long term effects; the classes are brief.  Perhaps they would benefit those who regularly condition at altitude and find themselves at sea level.
But, it highlights the thoughtful efforts of some triathalon athletes: get an edge, any edge.
From the Chronicle Health section, 5/14/14.

Gettysburg: the Visitor Center

       Just a few years ago, 5 to be exact, the Park Service, custodian of the battlefield, opened the new Visitor Center.  While not within the middle of the battleground, it is well situated to afford easy access to the grounds nearby.   This theater in the round is an exceptionally well done building.  It has adequate space for all visitors to enjoy and learn about this historical event.  A film initiates the experience, placing the event in context of the period: pre-war, and the first two years.  From there, guests are directed to the panoramic painting, in the round, of an artist's interpretation of events.  This painting was completed almost 100 years ago and sat in storage for years before the 6 year restoration brought it back to life.  Known characters are seen in their final position before becoming a casualty.
      It helps a viewer get a picture of the battle at one glimpse of one day's action.   Officers are seen on their mounts directing the troops; artillery cannon are firing their deadly rounds with smoke and fire visible.   Riflemen are standing, and kneeling while firing their weapons.  Many soldiers are obviously wounded on the ground.   All appears to be chaos as the two generals in charge are unseen at these moments.  They are in protected quarters, removed from direct action, but close enough for involvement within the framework of tactics as they were in 1863.
      After leaving the panorama picture, one begins the walk through the exhibition of events that are part of the 3 day battle, from beginning to end.   All topics are covered, including those civilians caught up by the actions; soldiers from North and South,  the wounded and their dispositions, the daily movements of units as the ebb and flow occurs over the ground,  and the aftermath as armies leave the area.
more later 

Gettysburg: Walking the Ground

     Day 1.    The Mayor has tried many times to visit this American Shrine; this icon of history; this hallowed place; this land of sorrows; this place of rest for thousands of young combatants who died 151 years ago in the fight to preserve the Union and to abolish slavery from this land.   Finally, this Memorial weekend, 2014,  we made it.  It was a side trip from one of our many visits to Washington, DC.  This time, we were in DC for a graduation(the Minister of Latin American Affairs received his Masters Degree last Friday from GW).   Adding a few days on to the week was easy and the weather was exceptionally nice- in the 70's.
       We picked up the rental and drove the  hour and a half, finishing on Highway 30 that goes through the center of town.   We arranged to meet an old Marine from Carlisle, PA, who offered to give us a quick tour as he has done for many over the last 10 years of his residency(he a Texan by birth).
      Having just reread the book,  THE KILLER ANGELS, by Michael Shaara, we had some background.   It's a novel, of course, and much of the narrative is conversation that makes the book and story flow easily as  real events unfold.  Immediately, an observer sees the space and distances across the fields.  The town and the surrounding area involved measured almost 50000 acres or about 80 square miles.  This is an area almost twice as big as the city of San Francisco.   The most prominent physical features are a few low hills: Little Round Top and Round Top(taller by a little); both on the southern side of town, at the south end of Cemetery Ridge.  Just north of the ridge is Culps Hill, lower than Round Top and just east of the cemetery on the ridge.
     Our guide, Jerry D. , drove with us on the easily followed route, monument after monument placed to mark the location of an army unit, usually a regiment( about 350 men then).   Never has a battlefield had so many sites prominently identified and marked.  Each proud participating unit wanted to be remembered for their efforts on those 3 days of July, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd to be exact, of 1863.
      On the west side of the ground is Seminary Ridge, named for the Lutheran Seminary that occupied the ridge at the time.   The central building, a 3 -story brick structure, included a cupola on top that served the army of Robert E. Lee as an observation post on days 2 and 3.
more later

Sand Harbor: Parking tips for summer 2014

    As always, our personal columnist, Tom Stienstra of the Chronicle, has some helpful hints for those of us who make the trip from West Shore to east Shore of the Lake.  It seems that the parking situation at Sand Harbor has finally caught the attention of some folks who can help out.  A shuttle bus service will begin carrying paying passengers direct to Sand harbor and its beautiful beaches from Incline Village.  It's a 5 mile trip and will cost only $3. adults, and $1.50 for children.  Since parking at the beach(when you can find it) is $12., you save and don't have the aggravation.
      Pickup at Highway 28 and Southwood Blvd.  Buses run every 20 minutes, 10 am until 8 pm through Labor Day weekend.   The bus is called the the East Shore Express.  Nice.
     Thanks for the info, Tom.   About time they caught up with the West Shore Shuttle.   But then they are Nevada and we are California.

Memorial Day: 2014

REMEMBER

Heat wave:May,2014

       Norcal is experiencing an unseasonal heat wave causing concerns among local fire districts.   Wind driven flames are a menace to property owners and firefighters both.
     We would advise all citizens to raise their awareness of all fire prevention steps necessary to avoid a catastrophe.   BBQ on the deck:   keep some water handy in a bucket, a simple but effective tool to combat a little charcoal misfire.
     Using power tools with a gasoline engine: be alert to sparks, and to the gas can supply.   Be carewful when refueling any tool.
     Working in the woods with a chain saw?  Be attentive to powerlines, power poles, and energy sources above and below the job sites.
     Air conditioning systems draw large power requirements, affecting the grid capabilities.   Use as necessary.
    Stay cool: get in the lake.

Summer is just around the corner.

Mayor leaves town
     The mayor will be on the road again this week.  Back to Washington, DC.  No. not at the White House.  Will attend graduation exercises at George Washington Univ.  The ceremony will be held on campus in the gym.  It's more intimate than the mass event on the Mall.   The Washington Monument reopened this week to visitors after a 3 year closure caused by the unusual event of earthquake that damaged the stone facing of the obelisk.   All repairs have been completed, at around $15 millions, half of which was paid for by donation.   It looks good.

Domenica 2014

     The Minister of Latin American Affairs forwarded a news article from Domenica in the Caribbean.   The island nation hosted a recent OAS conference on cybersecurity and our minister was on the podium.
     He made comments attesting to the country's recent membership in the cyber security group and its promotion of security efforts.
     Bravo for him.

Martis Camp: at Tahoe?

    A slick brochure was found in today's  WSJ.   It promotes real estate sales of homes in the $2 million range.  Must be appealing to the 1 per centers who don't already own a home at the Lake.   Now they've figured that if they own lake front property as a homeowners' perq, they might sell off a few more mansions.   It's only 12 miles to and from Martis Camp.
     Will somebody buy in to the hype?   Maybe.   But buyers are sophisticated these days with ample resources to check out sales offers.
     The drive over the hump from Truckee to Kings Beach is relatively easy, unless it's snowing, or raining, or dark, or a weekend, or after a ski weekend.  Hmmm.  Good luck on selling the "new" Martis camp.

Book Review: Part III Embers of War

       The role of Pres. Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam has been told by many reporters and historians.  The role of his predecessors, Kennedy and Eisenhower, not so much.   But for understanding, their respective roles are crucial.  reaching back to FDR,  Logevall describes the opinions of the WW II chief executive and his successor, Harry Truman.   While they debated the post war alignments, they became increasingly concerned with Russia and its dictator, Josef Stalin.  Stalin kept them focused on Russia and international communism.
      It was that single focus that was a major contributor to our descent to the Indochinese War- or the American war as it is known today in a unified Vietnam.   John Foster Dulles was the Secretary of State who directed foreign policy during the critical post war years.  His strong anticommunism meshed with Eisenhower's own intense feelings against the spread of the communist philosophy throughout the world.   Anti-French sentiment was also a factor as policy makers debated assistance to the french colonial forces as they marched to their doom at Dien Bien Phu.
     The internal struggles and disagreements within the French military are noted in detail as troops on the ground struggled against a foe who possessed fewer numbers and severe logistical problems.  Zhou En Lai, the red Chinese diplomat, emerges as a force to be reckoned with as he appears on the international stage in Geneva, carefully cultivating a role as leading representative of his boss, Mao Tse Dong.
     The politics in Switzerland's conference in 1954 remain a classic study in gamesmanship as parties jockey for position as troops maneuver on the ground in Tonkin.  Inevitably, the French defeat reveals the weakness in their bargaining position; and the unwillingness of Eisenhower and Dulles to commit American forces leads to partition, thereby setting the stage for what was to come almost a decade later.
    This book is, without a doubt, the best at the background story of Vietnam and the American War.
avail in paperback, published by Random House, 2013

Book Review: The Embers of War, con't

         American historians have covered the details of the military's role(s) of the conflict over the past 40+ years quite well.   Researching at the National Archives has produced reams of data concerning our involvement.   Author Logevall moved beyond domestic sources,  examining foreign sources, a more challenging task for any historian.   For the American reader, facts about France's politics and strategic goals are unknown or not a matter of great interest.   But put together in narrative form, these facts bring to the surface the power of knowledge that helps one understand the how and why of  10 years of American involvement in a bloody war that cost 58,000 American lives, in addition to the 10's of thousands of French and Vietnamese lives, both military and civilian.
       Ho Chi Minh and his chief general, Nguyen Giap, are revealed to be the great men of Vietnam independence, the architects of the long struggle to throw off the colonial yoke of a western European power.   The activities of these two men and their lieutenants are chronicled in detail as events unfold over decades before and after WW II.
     The Japanese role in Indochina gets its due on the pages of the story as French overseers in Tonkin and Cochin seek compromise with the military forces of Japan as they move south into Malaya with their eyes on Indonesia and Singapore.   Politicians in Paris make attempts to pacify wary voters while trying to retain a grip on the French colonial empire.
     Slowly, but surely, the tide turns against the French.   With few options, mounting criticisms, and mounting casualties, the end of the conflict arrives in the form of a spectacular defeat at Dien Bien Phu, in the obscure valley in the country's northwest, near the Laotian border.
more in part III 

Book Review: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam: Part I

      Reading history is meant to be instructive: to pull back the curtain on past events and to expose the causes of those same events.  Most often, it takes a long time for the exposure to occur.  Principals involved die; records are lost and destroyed; and revisionists work to obscure the facts.
     Fredrik Logevall, a professor of history at Cornell U. and author of a prior work,  Choosing War(1999),  has written another impressive work about the French conflict in Vietnam and the beginning of the American version of the conflict.  This book was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2013, among many others.  The work has been lavishly praised for its scholarship, its depth, and its readability.   Historians of the period sight the book's length and breadth, and the logic of the author's conclusions.   Francis Fitzgerald, Neil Sheehan, George C. Herring, Mark Lawrence all considered the work a magnificent addition to the understanding of America's role.
         For the post war generation of baby boomer men,  the single word, vietnam,  can resurrect a host of emotions without equal.  The draft was in place and military service was required by law.   It was only after the 1968 elections was the law changed, as Congress moved to an all-volunteer Army, removing the specter of the draft for 18-26 year old males.
        But this book is not wholly focused on America: author Logevall looks more closely at France and Vietnam itself, with its various leaders during the post WW II years.   The revelations of facts pile up, page after page, exposing the decisions that affected so many lives, so many families, the future of so many soldiers and Marines.

read part II