Shelved: Roundup of Book Posts February 1 to 15, 2024

 

Author Talk

The Auburn Conference:  A Novel.  Tom Piazza.  University of Iowa Press, 2023. 199 pages.

Imagine that it's 1883, and you are in the audience for a "writers conference,"  whatever that is - no one has ever heard of one before.  Some of the biggest literary and cultural icons on 19th century America are the event's participants:  Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman.  Their stated mission is to discuss not only the craft of writing, but also America, its present and its future.  The thought of such an event is enough to excite any history buff.

Well, the Auburn Conference never happened, but author Tom Piazza created it in this novel.  He dreamed up the conference, gave voice to the above mentioned historical figures, and included a couple of fictional panelists:  a Confederate general and "Lost Cause" apologist and a popular romance novelist.  There are even a couple of surprise appearances by other historical figures.  He captures their personalities and uses their speeches and thoughts as commentary not only on America in 1883 but present-day America.  

I am often leery of historical fiction and alternative history fiction (and, sadly, more and more historical non-fiction) when the author endeavors to force 21st century sensibilities into historical events and onto historical figures, usually to push the author's own  personal point of view.  In spite of what seemed to me to be a slow start, the novel turned out to be interesting, and the personalities and discussions were well crafted.  However, the audiobook version that I listened to was kind of a disappointment.  The narrator's voice was like that of a 1930s radio melodrama actor and got on my nerves.  I had a quibble with the author as well.  The story is told by multiple narrators, and the narrator frequently changed abruptly and without warning (at least in the audiobook version), taking me several sentences sometimes to figure out who was speaking. All in all, the book leaves the reader with questions about the true character of America, questions worth thinking about in 1883 and in 2024.

Author Talk

On Savage Shores:  How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe.  Caroline Dodds Pennock.  Knopf, 2023.  320 pages.

First, kudos to the longest "Introduction" in publishing history.  It has set a record.  It went on and on and on and on.  Why?  Basically so that the author could explain, justify, and apologize for all the word choices that she made because the language of writing history is so triggering these days.

Now, this book is by no means thrilling, exciting, suspenseful, or a page-turner, but it is groundbreaking in a major way. There are lots and lots of histories of European contacts with indigenous Americans and the African slave trade and the African  Diaspora, but this book is unique because it literally  takes the opposite direction. From 1492 to the early 17th century, hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people from the Caribbean and the Americas were taken to Europe, mostly to the Iberian Peninsula. Some were captured and enslaved, some volunteered or were sent by their rulers, maybe in hopes of receiving benefits for their people or for themselves. Some never returned home, some did, and some made multiple trips back and forth. Some were treated cruelly as property, some were presented as ambassadors in royal courts, some become affiliated with religious orders, and some used European laws  and courts to fight for their freedom and equality. 

Pennock has scoured archives and contemporary accounts to present the stories of these people, those who moved between two worlds. It's a fresh and necessary perspective.

A Life in Red:  A Story of Forbidden Love, the Great Depression, and the Communist Fight for a Black Nation in the Deep South.  David Beasley.  John F. Blair, Publisher, 2015.  224 pages.

During the 1920s and 1930s, maybe as many as million Americans called themselves Communists or leaned toward the principles of communism, attracted by the promise of economic equality.  It is not at all surprising that a large number of black Americans were drawn to communism, not only for economic equality and opportunity, but also for the promised racial equality.  Jim Crow laws, lynchings and racial violence, and racial discrimination were ubiquitous throughout the United States, and, in the 1930s,  the hardships of being black in America were exacerbated by the Great Depression, the rise of the KKK and racist demagoguery, and the racist implementation of the New Deal.  

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union worked to capitalize - pun intended - on the situation by inserting agents on college campuses and in black neighborhoods to recruit and to promote communism.  Some promising organizers were educated and trained in the USSR and then returned to the US as paid agents and agitators.  Some even saw their ultimate goal as the creation of a black state in the Deep South, following a violent revolution if necessary.

Herbert Newton was one of those black agents.  Along the way, he met and married Jane Emery, the white upper-middle class daughter of a former national commander of the American Legion.  His activities got him beaten, arrested, and indicted for promoting insurrection in Georgia for passing out party literature. An insurrection law in Georgia at the time (struck down by the US Supreme Court in 1937) made that activity a capital offense. For her communist beliefs and for marrying a black man, Jane was committed to a mental institution by a Chicago judge.  A Life in Red makes the most of limited information to depict the lives of the couple, including their friendship with author Richard Wright, who lived with them for years.  Jane served as a sounding board and inspiration for many of his works including Native Son.  Not a great book, but not bad.  3/5 stars.

"I Have Seen The Future: A Tour of the 1939 New York World's Fair"

Twilight at the World of Tomorrow:  Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World's Fair on the Brink of War.  James Mauro.  Ballantine Books, 2010.  432 pages.

I don't know who to blame, the author or the publisher.  Most likely the publisher.  The title of this book is very misleading, but it was still an enjoyable read.  

Forget the subtitle and approach this book as a history of the 1939 World's Fair in New York.  The goal was to showcase "The World of Tomorrow"  - well, actually, the goal was to make lots of money and bring millions of visitors and hundreds of millions of dollars into the city - when a group of men decided it was time to host a World's Fair that would outshine the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and restore New York City's supremacy.  Where? On top of a huge landfill in Flushing, Queens.  It was doomed from the start.  The country was still in the throes of the Great Depression, the effort got off to a late start, it was difficult to raise money, and the world was on the brink of World War II.  Even the weather was a disaster, rain on top of rain.  In the end, the fair was a huge disaster, losing millions. The anticipated crowds never materialized. Exhibits and pavilions fell apart as countries fell to the German blitzkrieg.  Americans complained that the 75 cents admission was too expensive and that the fair was too high-brow for common folks.  Labor unions held construction and maintenance hostage to outrageous demands.  Bomb threats became common.  Power went out, and rides malfunctioned.  Issue piled on top of issue. 

James Mauro's book is an interesting and thorough account of the history of the fair, from the first idea of it through closing day.  The title should have stopped there.  I assume the "Genius" referred to is Albert Einstein, who is a bit player in the story at best, and could have been left out entirely.  I'm not really sure what "Madness" refers to.  And the "Murder" doesn't really show up until the last quarter of the book.  

Maybe the publisher's idea was to market the book as another Devil in the White City, but the book falls short, mainly because the story is just not there, and Mauro is no Erik Larson.  Still, it's a good companion read.  If you enjoyed Devil, you will probably like Twilight, as long as you lower your expectations just a tiny bit.