Author talk
A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution. Andrew Lawler. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2025. 544 pages.
While the American Revolution officially began in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord, two major events occurred in January 1776 that were pivotal in fueling the Patriot cause. Thomas Paine published his pamphlet "Common Sense" laying out the arguments for independence. The other event is perhaps less known today, but it was perhaps even more effective: On January 1, 1776, the city of Norfolk, Virginia was burned to the ground. No other American city in history has been completely and utterly destroyed as Norfolk was. Twenty years later, visitors were still stunned by the vast ruins and fields of debris. For 250 years, the Norfolk fire has been blamed on the British, specifically the royal governor Lord Dunmore. As a result of the fire, Dunmore was vilified on both sides of the Atlantic and labeled a war criminal. Patriot propaganda painted him as a cruel and witless libertine who hosted huge orgies with enslaved women in the Governor's Palace when he wasn't wantonly destroying the lives of his subjects. Following the Norfolk fire, Dunmore was even shunned by his peers in the House of Lords who believed that he had gone too far. Dunmore died in a state of ignominy, and his family was reduced to relative poverty, ostracized by the British upper class.
The kicker? Dunmore and the British didn't destroy Norfolk. THE PATRIOTS INTENTIONALLY BURNED THE CITY TO THE GROUND, and this fact was always known. The Patriot propaganda machine used the destruction to maximum advantage to stir patriotic fervor. The fact is that Norfolk was a Loyalist stronghold, and British warships did destroy a few dozen structures, mainly warehouses and docks, but 95% of the buildings destroyed were intentionally ignited by Patriot troops under orders from Patriot officers and political figures. Why? They wanted to punish Norfolk for being strongly Loyalist, and Dunmore, once extremely popular and respected governor among the landed gentry and yeoman farmers alike, had crossed the line. He recruited and armed free and enslaved black Virginians to fight for Britain, promising freedom in return. This book tells a great, formerly untold, story and illustrates that history is extremely complicated and never just black and white. In this situation, you have black and white Patriots wearing engraved brass breastplates or embroidered shirts saying "Liberty or Death" going into battle against Dunmore's black Ethiopian Regiment troops wearing breastplates engraved with "Liberty For Slaves."
A Fatal Thing Happened On the Way to the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome. Emma Southon. Harry N. Abrams, 2021. 352 pages.
Although I reject the stupid social media trend a short while back claiming that men constantly think about ancient Rome, I know that it is a major topic of interest for many people who like history. Here, however, author Emma Southon illuminates an aspect of Roman history that few, if any, consider. To paraphrase Southon, ancient Rome was an exceptionally "murder-y" place. That in itself is not very different from our own society which has a morbid fascination with murder. Think of how much of our entertainment - books, television, movies - is murder based.
In this book, Southon examines a number of murders, including of course the assassination of Julius Caesar. After all, Rome was conceived in murder when mythical founder Romulus murdered his twin Remus. The Roman Republic was founded when the last king was overthrown following the suicide of a noble woman raped by the son of the king. Crowds thronged arenas to cheer as men, women, and animals slaughtered each other. Criminals were crucified. In one fifty-year period, 26 emperors were murdered. Rome was an exceptionally violent society. This book is much more than just a recitation of cases, though. It is an examination of Roman society and culture as a whole, through the prism of murder. We, as readers, discover how ancient Romans viewed life, death, and what it means to be human. It's complicated. For much of Roman history, murder was not viewed as a matter for the state to handle. It was a family issue. If a person was killed by another person, the victim's family handled it. Then you throw in murders of family members, murders of slaves by masters and masters by slaves, murders of emperors and political figures, and state-sponsored murder. This book is extremely informative and thought-provoking, and it's also quite entertaining. The author is a British podcaster with a PhD in ancient history, and the tone of the book is very "podcast-y," and she has that very British sense of humor that I love. I highly recommend this book for those who are interested in ancient Rome.
Part 1 of talk on life and legacy of Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend. Graham Russell Gao Hodges. Chicago Review Press, 2023. 304 pages. Updated 2nd edition, first published in 2004.
Between 1919 and 1960, Anna May Wong appeared in over 50 movies, and she was one of the biggest celebrities in the world. American, European, and Asian movie magazines constantly published photos of her, stories about her, and stories written by her. She socialized with other A-list celebrities and with European royalty. She was recognized as an excellent actress, but she was also a stage and nightclub star, as an actress, singer, and monologist, often performing in multiple languages. She was incredibly talented at presenting herself, thoughtfully using her own hairstyles and wardrobe to develop fuller characters and to advance the film plots. During the Sino-Japanese War and World War II, she contributed most of her income and much of her time to raising funds for aid to Chinese civilians and refugees. She invested wisely and made a comfortable living, enough for herself and to educate her siblings. She was one of Hollywood's brightest stars --- quite an accomplishment for the daughter of a laundryman born in Los Angeles in 1905 who made her on-screen debut at 14.
Yet, few people know her name today, and far fewer have ever seen one of her films. Her career and legacy were handicapped from the beginning by outside forces over which she had no control. Strict movie codes of the day forbade any hint of romance between characters or actors of different races, so she was not considered for leading roles. Her roles were often stereotypical, reflecting American racism. She played the devious Chinese female, almost always a villain or a servant, and almost always forced to kill herself in the end. Hollywood refused to hire Asian actors, casting white actors in "yellow-face," instead. While she had many adoring fans in China, the Nationalist government condemned her because she embraced being a flapper, bared her legs and arms in films and photos, and she often played prostitutes or slave girls. She was accused of shaming the Chinese people and their culture. Wong was a very complicated and interesting character, and there has been a bit of resurgence in curiosity about her in recent years, with new biographies, documentaries, and even a Wong Barbie and U.S. quarters. This bio was ahead of the curve, however, and this new, updated edition is a thorough look at her life and career, although it's a bit dry.
The Emperor's Tomb. Steve Berry. Ballantine Books, 2010. 436 pages. Book 6 of 19 in Cotton Malone series.
I've inadvertently been on a China reading jag lately, and the sixth Cotton Malone adventure fits right in. Retired Justice Department special agent Cotton Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt are drawn into a looming power struggle for the control of China. Two highly placed government ministers are locked in a battle that will drastically alter the state of China, and, consequently, the world. The tomb of China's first emperor, the site of the famous terra cotta army, is the key. The Emperor's Tomb is definitely following the Malone formula. There's an evil secret brotherhood, there are shootouts in historic sites, and the dominant theme is betrayal. Who's betraying whom and whom can you trust? It's always up for grabs in a Steve Berry novel. It makes me want to ask "Who hurt you, Steve Berry?" They're not great books, admittedly, but they are good adventures that hold my interest. One thing I really appreciate about each one is the author's note at the end. Berry always explains the real history that inspires his stories, and I've learned about a number of actual events, people, and things that have led me to do research.
Trailer for Apple+ adaptation
Bad Monkey. Carl Hiaasen. Knopf, 2013. 336 pages. Book 1 of 2, Andrew Yancy series.
A break from history with this one. Carl Hiassen introduces his "Florida Man" character, former detective Andrew Yancy. Yancy's been fired from both the Miami and Key West police departments and finds himself demoted to "Roach Patrol," health inspector in in Key West restaurants. Desperate to get his detective job back, he agrees to take custody of a human arm accidentally snagged by fishing tourists. The official story is that the arm belongs to an unfortunate boater whose boat sank and body was assumed to have been eaten by sharks, but Andrew soon finds that there is much more to the story. A victim who is a career criminal lately practicing Medicare fraud with Feds on his trail, a scheming gold-digging widow, an estranged daughter, and a sexy medical examiner all enter Yancy's life to makes things difficult. The case takes him to the Bahamas where an elderly Voodoo Queen and the titular simian, a former Hollywood monkey, enter the picture. It's a great adventure, funny, action-packed, with twists and turns, full Florida. Apple+ adapted the book into a series starring Vince Vaughn as Yancy. It sounds like perfect casting and a good show, but I'm not adding more streamers. (Photo generated by AI)
The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America. Matthew Pearl. Harper, 2021. 288 pages.
In July 1776, twelve-year old Jemima Boone, the daughter of the best known frontiersman in the American colonies, and two of her friends were kidnapped by a small group of Cherokee and Shawnee warriors. Over the next few days, Boone and a group of men from the settlement of Boonesborough took off in hot pursuit. After about fifty miles, the pursuers caught up, rescued the girls, and killed some of the warriors, including a son of an important war chief named Blackfish. This incident, fueled by British efforts to tamp down colonial resistance on the frontier before it blew up, led to a broader conflict as the Shawnee, the pro-war faction of the Cherokee, and elements of other tribes launched a major effort designed both to seek revenge and to end, once and for all, white encroachment into the region known as Kentucky. The actual kidnapping and rescue are dealt with rather quickly in the book, but the real story is the aftermath. The summer of 1776 was extremely consequential in American history. As delegates in Philadelphia argued over the Declaration of Independence and the opening months of the Revolution, white settlers were crossing the Appalachians into Native American territory, foreshadowing the conflict and extermination that was to follow. This book is an excellent account of the events.
The Riptide Ultra-glide. Tim Dorsey. William Morrow, 2013. 304 pages. Book 16 of 26 in Serge Storms series.
Serge Storms, psychotic serial-killing vigilante and Florida history savant, is back to wreak havoc across the state and punish the never-ending stream of criminals and con-men that prey upon the hard-working and innocent elderly, underprivileged, and tourists. In this installment, Serge and his travel buddy Coleman take on Florida's illegal oxycontin pain clinic operations and come to the rescue of the sweet and naive McDougals, laid-off special education teachers from Wisconsin who have devoted their entire lives to their students only to find themselves in the middle of a very violent turf war that rages all over Fort Lauderdale. It's typical Serge, action and hilarity at breakneck speed.
