Tag Archives: Nonfiction

Book Reviews, Mind

Introduction to North Africa

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I’ve spent the better part of the last decade trying to gain an expert-level of understanding on the people, politics and history of North Africa. Across my bookshelf, and the many libraries I have patroned, are books related to every aspect of North Africa. However, in an effort to not overwhelm any that ask me for recommendations I have consistently returned to these three books to crack the lid on the region. While these books don’t address the dispute in Western Sahara, Mauritania, or the Sudanese civil war, they suitably scratch the surface for those inclined to read further.

The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and Its Arabs by Andrew Hussey

“The real rivalry between Britain and France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was about commercial and political power. They sought to achieve their aims, however, in very different ways. The British were mostly interested in money and therefore mainly indifferent to the cultures of the ‘natives’ they colonized, subjugating them by force of arms when and if necessary. The French, in contrast, controlled their colonies by pursuing the ‘civilizing mission’, effectively seeking to make their subjects culturally French. Of course the French plundered where they could, but there was an added strategic urge to extend the concept of ‘Frenchness’ across the world.”

History did not start in the last two centuries, but within those 200 years the French colonization of North Africa – specifically Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia – continues to dramatically shape the post-colonial outlooks of these countries. Andrew Hussey, a journalist, uses France and French politics as the focal point of his book. As colonies, France’s possessions were dominated by the whims of French politicians and a largely disinterested public – until figurative screaming and literal violence was needed to effect change. 

While French influence and France are by no means the chief driver of social and historical change, their involvement in these countries cannot be ignored. The contrast between decolonization experiences of Morocco and Tunisia with that of Algeria is an important feature in understanding these countries during the Arab Spring and afterwards. Although nearly six years since its publication, its broad scope allows The French Intifada to be a natural starting point for understanding these three countries.

The Burning Shores: Inside the Battle for the New Libya by Frederic Wehrey

“As the clock ticked, Libya’s factions seemed more intent on fighting each other, even if it meant ruining the country and giving space to the Islamic State. It reminded Libyans of an old joke.

A genie appears from a lamp and promises to give a man one wish, while doubling that wish for his friend. 

‘A blind eye,’ the man responds.”

Moving East, most of what you’ll find on Libya either focuses on Qaddafi, his rise to power, the peculiarities of his state, and the Arab Spring. However, Libya’s descent in to civil war after 2012 is still largely undocumented and misunderstood by the outside world. Frederic Wehrey bridges that gap, from the Arab Spring until 2017, with delicacy in his book. He explains the complexity and layers of the competing militias, tribes, ethnic groups, and religious adherents and why peace, reconciliation, and prosperity did not quickly follow the fall of the dictator. Libya has its own rich and complex history to take into account, but the parallels of societies with non-existent civil societies, dependency on all-powerful leaders, and an inescapable secret police/intelligence service are consistent with what the world has seen recently. 

As the contest between the militias of the so-called Libyan National Army and the Tripoli-based militias propping up the Government of National Accord in Tripoli persist, the divisions unleashed in 2011 are still very much the dominating feature of Libya today. This is an excellent start to understanding the problems facing Libya after the fall of Qaddafi as it seeks its own form of representative democracy and peace.

Soldiers, Spies, and Statesmen: Egypt's Road to Revolt by Hazem Kandil

“Not to know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child.”

Egypt’s Arab Spring brought sweeping change to the country. However, as the saying goes ‘the more things change the more they stay the same.’ Hazem Kandil’s book helps drive that point home with a brilliant and detailed analysis of Egypt’s political history between 1952 and 2013. He draws a single line between all the events using the paradigm of the competing and balancing powers in Egypt – the security apparatus, the political parties, and the military institution. The ascent of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to power in 2014, after the period covered in this book, would be unsurprising for those familiar with this book. Soldiers, Spies, and Statesmen is essential fundamental reading for understanding modern Egypt.

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author. 

Book Reviews, Mind

Author Focus: Erik Larson

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In the past thirty years I have read many books. Sometimes I have gone down the rabbit hole with a particular series or author until my desire for their work flames out. There are, however, a select few authors in my library that I sit on the edge of my seat waiting for their next publication. Such is my relationship with Erik Larson ever since I was swept up in the Devil in the White City almost two decades ago. Since 2003, I have kept his subsequent releases at the top of my Christmas list. So, while we all wait for the release of The Splendid and the Vile, his latest endeavor, I’ll take a look back at my top three Larson books to-date.

Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

“People seemed to believe that technology had stripped hurricanes of their power to kill. No hurricane expert endorsed this view. None believed the days of mesoscale deaths were gone for good.”

Within days of finishing Devil in the White City I started reading Isaac’s Storm. Larson first began writing the dual-narrative non-fiction story with this book. In it he weaves the story of meteorology in the United States with that of Isaac Cline, a regional meteorologist. On the face of it, there does not appear to be a rich history in a historical weather drama, but Larson was successful in crafting a compelling disaster story from his historical research and Cline’s own correspondence and writings. Larson would move on to write about wars, spies, murders, and other great tragedies in his other works. I still remember this book after 15 years because it made the weather suspenseful, he transformed the benign history of a bureaucracy and transformed it into a thriller. It’s great writing and affirmed my dedication to reading Erik Larson’s ensuing books.

In The Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin

“Throughout that first year in Germany, Dodd had been struck again and again by the strange indifference to atrocity that had settled over the nation, the willingness of the populace and of the moderate elements in the government to accept each new oppressive decree, each new act of violence, without protest. . . For Dodd, diplomat by accident, not demeanor, the whole thing was utterly appalling. He was a scholar and Jeffersonian democrat, a farmer who loved history and the old Germany in which he had studies as a young man. Now there was official murder on a terrifying scale. Dodd’s friends and acquaintances, people who had been to his house for dinner and tea, had been shot dead. Nothing in Dodd’s past had prepared him for this.”

I was gifted two copies of In The Garden of Beasts when it was published. My affinity for Erik Larson was well known at that point by my friends and family. This book became important to me as a guide for being “alone and unafraid” at a time in my career that I was embarking on a series of overseas assignments. Again, Larson weaves two narratives into a rich historical narrative set in pre-World War II Nazi Germany, built on the real-life correspondence of William E. Dodd, the American Ambassador to Germany, and his daughter, Martha. From their vantage point he tells a tale of seduction, ignorance, violence, and growing fear. Germany was a fallen imperial power and nascent democracy, and awash post-World War I awash with shame and resentment, fascism and bolshevism. In The Garden of Beasts helps remind us that the Nazi menace didn’t appear overnight before invading Poland. It grew out of a decade of resentment, economic struggle, and increasingly violent rhetoric – witnessed firsthand by the businessmen and diplomats living there during Hitler’s rise and consolidation of power. Another forgotten aspect of the pre-Cold War era is the flirtation by many Americans with Soviet Communism, including Martha Dodd. It’s a powerful and gripping read. Larson’s chosen subjects and writing style evoke unexpected emotions from the reader given what we know now on Nazi Germany’s arc through history.

Thunderstruck

“Within twenty-four hours Captain Kendall would discover that his ship had become the most famous vessel afloat and that he himself had become the subject of breakfast conversations from Broadway in New York to Piccadilly in London. He had stepped into the intersection of two wildly disparate stories, whose collision on his ship in this time, the end of the Edwardian era, would exert influence on the world for the century to come.”

By far this is my favorite Larson book. At the peak of his craft, he brings two narratives so distinct and unconnected at their outset that the reader may be forgiven for jittery excitement as they merge later at the book’s dramatic conclusion. Larson masterfully brings the scientific history of radio communications together with a true crime thriller. The benignity of the science, juxtaposed with the criminal narrative lulls the reader into a soothing rhythm of alternating storylines, only to be jolted when narrative accelerates to the finale. The less I write to avoid spoiling the effect the more I hope to convey my endorsement of this book. This is a sure-bet read.

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author.  

Book Reviews, Mind

World War I: Logic & Folly

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2019 marks the centennial of the Paris Peace Conference following the conclusion of ‘The War to End All Wars.’ This Armistice Day,  it seems appropriate to take a long look back at the war and flawed peace that set the stage for the century’s remaining conflicts. The centennial of the Great War has brought renewed interest and focus on the causes, conduct, and consequences of the First World War. The entire generation that has any memory of this great conflict has passed and gone and all that we are left with are their words and deeds that slowly fade and transform into myth. Over the past few years a number of excellent books have been published on the First World War, and here are some of our favorites:

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark

“The key decision-makers – kings, emperors, foreign ministers, ambassadors, military commanders and a host of lesser officials – walked towards danger in watchful, calculated steps. The outbreak of war was the culmination of chains of decisions made by political actors with conscious objectives, who were capable of a degree of self-reflection, acknowledged a range of options and formed the best judgements they could on the basis of the best information they had to hand. Nationalism, armaments, alliances and finance were all part of the story, but they can be made to carry real explanatory weight only if they can be seen to have shaped the decisions that – in combination – made war break out.”

“The key decision-makers – kings, emperors, foreign ministers, ambassadors, military commanders and a host of lesser officials – walked towards danger in watchful, calculated steps. The outbreak of war was the culmination of chains of decisions made by political actors with conscious objectives, who were capable of a degree of self-reflection, acknowledged a range of options and formed the best judgements they could on the basis of the best information they had to hand. Nationalism, armaments, alliances and finance were all part of the story, but they can be made to carry real explanatory weight only if they can be seen to have shaped the decisions that – in combination – made war break out.”

Everyone should read The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman about the decisions and chain of events that followed the assisnation of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. I’m currently rereading it after twenty years. However, of the more recent publications Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers is a great place to start. It is an extremely relevant and thought provoking analysis of the circumstances prior to the First World War, meticulous in its accumulation of information. I love the author’s introduction and approach to the topic – mainly that the figures behind the July Crisis of 1914 acted within the limits of their experiences and circumstances.

What Clark does exceptionally well is demonstrate how the threads of plans, fears, and faulty ideas in international politics of the time spliced together to absolve the decision-makers of any responsibility for the catastrophe. Russia’s contribution to the calamity is central, the Balkan focus of the Great Power politics made the system unstable and volatile, while the Triple Entente refused to allow Austria-Hungary any reasonable room to maneuver in pursuit of its national interest. The First World War came as the unlikely culmination of rigid, narrow, and faulty thinking – by many people. It’s an excellent history with an impressive amount of thoroughness. 

Too Important for the Generals: Losing & Winning the First World War by Allan Mallinson

2 June 1915

“It is a curious thing, Field Marshall, that this war has produced no great generals” – UK Prime Minister H. H. Asquith

“No, Prime Minister, nor has it produced a statesman.’ Major General Henry Wilson, Sub Chief of Staff, British Expeditionary Force

The Great War was a tragedy of diplomacy and generalship. The Sleepwalkers addresses the former, while Allan Mallison’s book addresses the latter – albeit exclusively on the British side. While he touches on the relationship between the British government and its generals Mallison savages the military men that favored seniority over brilliance, petty jealousy over competence, and the bayonet over the bullet.

He doesn’t write alternative histories,  but he does wonder out loud the direction a few different decisions would have taken the war. Chief among them is the decision to use the entire army in France rather than use the small force to train the millions they would eventually need.  Or the shortsighted decision to empty staff officers from army headquarters to fill the British Expeditionary Force, leaving the desks left for developing strategy of a world war empty. 

Too Important for the Generals asks the same questions that need asking as contemporary wars languish adrift from policy, rotating generals re-declare victory, and the world waits for this generations’ great statesmen.

The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End by Robert Gerwarth

“While it is obvious that none of the post-war violence can be explained without reference to the Great War, it might be more appropriate to view that conflict as the unintentional enabler of the social or national revolutions that were to shape Europe’s political, social and cultural agenda for decades to come. . . It was in this period that a particular deadly but ultimately conventional conflict between states – the First World War – gave way to an interconnected series of conflicts whose logic and purpose was much more dangerous.” 

History is written by the victors . . . or so they say. However, what Robert Gerwarth does is flip that idea and explains how the inability to justify death, destruction, and sacrifice with victory shaped the “post-Great War” years of the defeated states. Without a victory to lean on, the defeated Central Powers redefined the logic of violence against civilians and the dehumanization of “enemies,” the belief in betrayal by fifth columns, and the rediscovery that violence and the threat of violence can bring political change for political minorities – see Fascists and Bolsheviks. Further exasperated by the collapse of the polyglot empires, national minorities fought to attain statehood and security in an undefined new world order – conflicts that would carve and recarve states over the following decades. It’s a tremendously well-researched book, engaging, and an important perspective on early Twentieth Century history – which I hope can influence both the waging of war and the making of peace in the Twenty First Century.

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author.  

Book Reviews, Mind

World War II: Strategic Bombing Campaign

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“From recently built bases in East Anglia, a new kind of warfare was being waged – high-altitude strategic bombing. It was a singular event in the history of warfare, unprecedented and never to be repeated. The technology needed to fight a prolonged, full-scale bomber war was not available until the early 1940s and, by the closing days of that first ever bomber war, was already being rendered obsolete by jet engine aircraft, rocket-powered missiles, and atomic bombs.” – Masters of the Air, Prologue

It seems to me that some in England have a fetish for the 1940s. During World War II, London was still the center of a vast world-wide empire. It was a time when its citizens were lauded for remarkable resilience during the Nazi Blitz. The British can rightly hang their hat on the inspiration of their wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, who carried the mood of the nation on his shoulders. Museums stand across the nation on the sites of former World War II headquarters and stations vital to the war – Churchill’s War Rooms in London, Bletchley Park – home of the enigma code breakers, and others. Seasonally, towns across the island celebrate with 1940s-themed events where vintage fashions and vintage cars are revived along with period Big Band music. Even my town’s local property preservation company advertises itself as The Damp Busters, complete with an image of a Lancaster bomber. The name is derived from the 1955 World War II film The Dam Busters, not the most obvious reference in 2019.

England’s remembrance is tinged with a large dose of nostalgia that ignores some of the commonplace contributions of the English countryside. In my daily work I constantly encounter names of former Royal Air Force (RAF) bases that housed RAF and United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) squadrons. Names such as Alconbury, Wyton, Bassingbourn, Molesworth, and the like. Most of the bases have long since been reclaimed by the villages’ farmers, transformed into other military installations, or simply memorialized on local village signs (insert picture of village sign). However, these names are also the last reminders of the greatest air campaign and largest bomber force the world has ever seen. I reckon that there is no time in the history of human aviation where more human beings took to the skies than during the massive 1,000-plane missions of 1943-1945.

I have begun digging into the Strategic Bombing Campaign out of personal interest and professional curiosity. As the Masters of the Air quote above indicates, the advocates and planners of strategic bombing were pioneers in aviation and warfare unrivaled by anything in history in regards to technological complexity, marshalling of resources, and sheer power of destructive force. The books reviewed below are just the tip of the iceberg on this subject, but one I’m inclined to continue exploring.

Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought The Air War Against Nazi Germany by Donald L. Miller

“Visitors to the bases noticed that there was something wrong with these boys. Most of them were ‘quiet, edgy, morose.’ And many of them drank tremendously and lived only for the day; they lacked the sweeping horizons and large dreams of most boys their age. The replacements arrived excited and eager to perform, but that usually lasted less than a week. Soon they, too, had that ‘look.’ 

One evening, Ben Smith joined a volleyball game in progress. It was the strangest thing he had ever experienced. No one laughed, no one shouted, no one made a sound. ‘The entire game was played in silence.’”

During World War II, the men that signed up for the United States Army Air Corp, later the United States Army Air Forces, fought the newest type of warfare ever imagined. They rode in the biggest aircraft ever designed with the Allies most secret technology – the Norden bombsight. But the cost of living on this frontier were punishingly brutal lessons taught in this new school. Donald Miller gives a rich voice to the stories of these men as their endurance and resilience was tested during an oft-romanticized theater of war. While the men flew in the wild blue yonder, and slept on white sheets in an Allied country, the bomber crew casualty rates exceeded any other theater of war, until the full commitment of ground forces with the invasion of Normandy in 1944. 

The bombing campaign chewed through men and equipment at astonishing rates. Men suffered in sub-zero temperatures, thrashed by dogged German anti-bomber schemes, and continuously bore the trauma of their dead and wounded. This book is tremendous in marrying the personal stories and anecdotes with the necessary historical information to give them broader context. This is the book that needed to be written as the World War II generation slowly, and eternally, slips entirely into history. It should be no surprise that this book is being made into an HBO series, à la Band of Brothers, so this is certainly worth reading now to give that future viewing experience an even deeper meaning.

Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942-1945 by Randall Hansen

“The bombing was in fact so imprecise that the Germans, seeing bombs scattered across hundreds of miles, were genuinely unaware of what the target was. The RAF suffered high casualties in the process. . .

If it was impossible to bomb precisely, then there were only two choices: bomb imprecisely or don’t bomb at all. There was no other way of hitting back, and an end to bombing was unthinkable. British forces had been driven from the Continent, and reestablishing a British military presence was out of the question. . . All that was left was area bombing.”

If Masters of the Air is that book that needed to be written to tell the human story of the Strategic Bombing Campaign, then Fire and Fury is the book that needs to be read to appreciate the immensity of the undertaking along with the moral burden on the decision makers during its implementation. Randall Hansen asks and attempts to answer the two biggest questions of the bombing campaign against Germany. Was it effective, and was it justified? At the heart of his analysis is the employment of area bombing by the British Royal Air Force, targeting civilian morale, versus American precision bombing of Germany’s industry. Hansen brings the reader from the pre-war discussions all the way through the final missions over Berlin in 1945. His discussion of the ethics and morals is accompanied by the ugly data of Total War making a powerful argument and important read. Despite the serious nature of Hansen’s topic I found the writing tremendously engaging.

In our own era of cyber threats and the possible militarization of outer space, it is critical to remember that our predecessors grappled with the moral implications of the newest technologies and most modern method of waging war. We can fortify ourselves knowing that in the greatest war the world has ever known, a Total War, many of them still chose to value human life.

Depictions of the Strategic Bombing campaign are useful in contextualizing the above-mentioned books. Twelve O’Clock High, already widely known as a Hollywood classic, depicts the immense mental strain the bomber crews and commanders had on them during the war. While, the PG-13-rated 1990 film, Memphis Belle, captures the strain bomber crews sustained while flying their missions, albiet with every cliche imaginable. Finally, the actual Memphis Belle crew was featured in a World War II documentary film and released during the war. I’m especially drawn to this short film for its World War II-era footage of the air bases and the immense logistical and personnel requirements needed to keep the bombers flying day-in and day out.

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author.  

Book Reviews, Mind

Great Travel Writing: Part II

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Last month Mark Twain and Patrick Fermor headlined the first list of Great Travel Writing. This month we bring a list of great travel writing, with a lower-case “g.” These books are not meant to be consumed in a single sitting, rather they are best read in small doses. Leave these within arms reach of your favorite chair and enjoy a tale every now and then in the intermissions of your busy lives. In no particular order:

Last Flight Out: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Fishing by Randy Wayne White

“It is an awful thing to be alone, lost,  and penniless in a big city, especially when one is soaked to the bone,  wearing nothing but running clothes. And it is humiliating to wander from hotel to hotel,  asking desk clerks, ‘Do you recognize me? Am I staying here?”

We all know that guy. The guy that always has a story. Who has a run-in with the circus or is the mark in an elaborate con game. Last Flight Out is a collection of such stories. Randy Wayne White is a novelist with a 16-book catalog to his name, but his nonfiction stories are unsurprisingly good. Throughout his life and career he has traveled all over the world, and whether he was competing in fly-fishing obstacle courses, searching for the perfect hot sauce, or jogging in Hanoi, White somehow came away with an interesting story to tell. With his skill as a novelist, his real-life adventures remind that life itself can be just as exciting as the fiction of our imaginations.

Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders by John Gierach

“But if, in the tradition of the sporting gentleman, you poke the fire, theorize, simplify, rant, preach, confess, and fall asleep, then you should if you want to. The occasional peaceful bender in a solitary fishing camp is therapeutic, and I won’t apologize for it. With the fresh air, cold water, and exercise, the hangovers aren’t even too bad.”

Fly fishing is where I go when I day dream. It’s been years since I’ve pulled my gear out and gotten a line wet, but it’s the activity I think about when I want to relax and take figurative deep breathes. Reading John Gierach’s fly fishing stories are educational, humorous, and transport me to distant streams. The writing style of his stories also bear the familiar banter of my relatives, so, for me, they satisfy a need in replacing the fishing trips I’ve missed due to my military career. 

His story on Camp Coffee was especially influential to me as a burgeoning writer. His ability to describe the simplest act, enjoying a cup of coffee, and turn it into vehicle to discuss youthful energy, maturity, and simple joy is remarkable. It helped shape my outlook on my own life’s habits and features that I might have otherwise overlooked.

“Coffee is okay on warm mornings when the wool shirt is shed while the bacon sizzles, buts it’s best on cold, winter trout streams, or during claustrophobic storms when the almost painful sting of its heat telegraphed through the thin walls of a tin cup seems like the center of the universe, a very real element of basic survival.” – Camp Coffee

Just as he describes his first ever cup of coffee on a cold pre-dawn morning as a milestone in his life, I recall my own first cup of coffee with similar nostalgia. I was probably 12 or 13 years old on a Boy Scout camping trip in Michigan. It was winter-time and our leadership had dubbed it the “Brain Freeze.” Troop 1000 had arrived at the campsite in darkness and I had been struggling to dig out a space to set my tent up from the foot-deep snow. With the task completed I had stood as close to the roaring camp fire as I dared to absorb some heat. That’s when my dad handed me an enameled metal cup, instant folgers coffee, and pointed at the pot of boiling water sitting at the edge of the fire. Although I had never had coffee before and kept a respectful distance from the most-hallowed adult beverage, I did not hesitate. I was just too cold. That was my first cup of coffee and every cup since has a figurative trace of that frozen night. Through stories like these Gierach’s writing connects me to the campsite when I can’t physically be there.

There & Then: The Travel Writing of James Salter by James Salter

“The thing that finally makes a woman irresistible, of course, is what she says and what she does not. You may doubt this, but in the long run it is true. Looks, fine legs, these are things you can find in the street, but listening to an intelligent voice talking of things lived and seen – to feel the experience in it and, for want of a better word, the gallantry – there are not many things in life more seductive.”

James Salter is a giant of American writing and his novels are required reading. However, when he took his pen to paper in his diary during his travels he came up with some beautiful descriptions and keen observations. Reading his personal  stories feels illicit, as if we are looking uninvited into the most intimate moments of the man’s life. A dip into his travel writing is an education on appreciating the world in different ways, recognizing that some mysteries remain, and having a sense of humor through it all.

A few more to entice:

“You are with the French, among the French, entering their buildings, seeing their art, eating their food, breathing their air, the air of Paris, which vivifies and makes one want to write, to think, to work. You can see all this and do all this, but you can possess none of it, for in the deepest sense Paris is closed to the foreigner.”

“Then there is boule, eternally being played close to the cathedral, beneath the trees. It would be difficult to try and describe this as a sport. The pace is about the same as in convalescence, and the strength it requires is the patience to watch it for long. Unquestionably someone will correct me and point out that boule really requires skill, psychology, tactics, and one might assume, unemployment.”

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author. 

Book Reviews, Mind

At War

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Students of war are hungry for realistic books that portray combat realisticly and explore the the causes and roots of conflict. Below are three non-fiction books that I frequently recommend to introduce these topics and begin larger more wide-ranging discussions. Two are centered in the two largest wars of the Twentieth Century, World War II and the Vietnam War, while the third sits directly in the current conflicts of our day.

Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose

“Comrades are closer than friends, closer than brothers. Their relationship is different from that of lovers. Their trust in, and knowledge of, each other is total.”

Army officers and those interested in military history don’t need me to recommend them Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers. The HBO series based on the book is widely used in professional development platforms, leadership seminars, and military pop culture references. (Woe be it for any new officer to be labeled as a “Captain Sobel.”) I still have my copy of the book on my bookshelf. I read it during the Summer of 2001 at Camp Buckner and the pages reflect time spent being handled by the dirty hands during cadet military training. The cover carries a badge proclaiming “Soon to be an HBO Miniseries Event.” However, after nearly twenty years since it was first published it may be overlooked and its impact forgotten. 

The book was first published in June 2001. I purchased it on the way to Camp Buckner, the United States Military Academy training ground for rising sophomores and home of “the best summer of your life.”  In primitive metal bays, with only a creaky bunk bed and ancient wall locker I kept this book alongside my other personal effects and my olive drab-colored web gear. I would spend my days learning a little more about military leadership and small unit tactics, and I would retreat to my bunk to read another chapter of Easy Company’s trials before my next duty. The books lessons became part and parcel of my education that summer.

At the time of the television series release, in September 2001, there had been few movies available to the military community that depicted the daily life of army leadership during wartime. The Rambo films, Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, and the previous decades’ films set during the Vietnam War featured fantastical stories of soldierly outliers or focused on the enlisted soldiers in a unit. The Band of Brothers series was especially useful for young cadets at West Point because it followed the training, maturing, and experiences of the officers of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Lieutenants Dick Winters, Ronald Speirs, Lewis Dixon, Buck Compton, along with many of their noncommissioned officers, became heroes to a generation of cadets and officers at the onset of the War on Terror. 

There are two reasons that Band of Brothers is especially meaningful to me. Firstly, I initially read Band of Brothers because of my own family history with World War II-era paratroopers. Sergeant Michael Zapf, my grandfather, jumped into Normandy France with F Company, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. He served in the same company through the Ardennes and Operation Varsity – the invasion of Germany. Having “E Co. 506th PIR, 101st Airborne” on the cover of Band of Brothers, only a few clicks of the dial off of Grandpa Zapf’s unit, made me feel like I was reading his story, getting to know the man that he was before he became a father, grandfather, and my personal hero. Since Band of Brothers, the D-Day paratroopers have been glorified, mythologized, and honored very publicly in the military circles and across wider American society, but at that time the recognition and realistic dramatization was new – and it seemed tailor-made for my own interests.

Secondly, watching Band of Brothers was a communal experience for me. When it first aired as a television series I was a cadet at West Point myself. At the time we did not have HBO streaming on our ancient computers or televisions that allowed us to watch anything other than Yankees baseball games. One of my friends had their mother tape each episode onto a VHS (yes, a VHS) and mailed it each week from Ohio to New York. For ten consecutive weeks we would gather in a basement common room, called a Day Room, and spend an evening with friends watching each episode. The theme music emanated from the mighty speakers of the old tube television and the cinder block walls echoed the sounds of battle in primitive surround-sound. Afterwards we naturally reflected upon what we saw, spending a few minutes to discuss what had transferred well from the book and what was missing – for we all had read the book already – before returning to our cadet lives. 

In addition to the atmosphere of the room, the mood at West Point had been dramatically altered by the attacks of September 11th, 2001. West Point is only 55 miles from where the World Trade Center towers stood and each of us in that room were on Academy grounds when the attacks occurred. The United States had also recently invaded Afghanistan and the attention of the student body instantly intensified on the realities of leading soldiers in combat. The leadership lessons of Easy Company during World War II seemed more useful than that of West Point’s faculty – who at most deployed in support of NATO and UN peacekeeping missions during the 1990s. We paid very close attention to Band of Brothers as we assembled in that Day Room.

The book remains a vital companion piece to the television series. The limits of hour-long episodes, selected dialogue, and film editing leave plenty of material to learn from in the book. While the wars of counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and nation building do not resemble the fight to liberate Europe from Nazi tyranny, the moral lessons, professional bearing, attitude, and ethos of those written about by Stephen Ambrose are valuable for any leader.

They Marched Into Sunlight by David Maraniss

“The selfless and the self-involved, the peaceful and the reckless, the righteous and the contentious, their differences were covered over by their overwhelming opposition to the U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. “ 

“What happens in a battle? The ‘fog of war’ is the classic cliche of military jargon. It means that when the fighting starts, the objective truth or reality of what is happening unavoidably becomes clouded by the chaos of the event.” 

There are plenty of memoirs and narratives about soldiers in combat. The stories are harrowing, the bravery is exceptional, and the leadership lessons abound. However, when asked narrow questions about wartime experience, combat leadership, or geopolitical ramifications I have always urged my cadets to expand their understanding of a problem beyond their initial query. Sometimes that involves looking at election timelines within the United States, economic events that impact global markets, or a series of things that may seem unrelated or tangential. Based on this widening of the scope, I recommend David Maraniss’ They Marched Into Sunlight because it weaves combat history, with political calculus, along with the changing social currents of the time.

The Americans of 2-28 Infantry Battalion, 1st Infantry Division were the ones that “marched into sunlight” during the Vietnam War under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Terry Allen Jr. Maraniss spreads his storytelling across the officers and enlisted soldiers at all levels in the battalion, providing a human feel to the unit. He comments on the camaraderie, training, leadership styles, personal struggles, and challenges of fighting in the jungles of Vietnam in 1967. The leaders weren’t gods and they weren’t omniscient. They were impressive, some came from famous families, and they carried the burden of legacy on their shoulders with superior officers breathing fire down their necks. They fought a war that was being misdiagnosed and walked into a devastating ambush in October 1967. Over two days the battalion suffered horrific casualties and signaled to the North Vietnamese that the United States could be defeated by surprise, while also making it impossible for the U.S. Army to hide the death of 2-28 Infantry’s battalion commander – son of famed World War II general Terrible Terry Allen. 

Meanwhile 2-28 Infantry was cuttings its teeth in Vietnam, opposition to the war was bubbling at college campuses. Violent protests at the University of Wisconsin, also in October 1967, would launch the movement onto the national stage. Upon entering the military, service members can become a bit insulated from civilian society and that bubble exists in some form throughout a military career. The story of the protests in Madison is vital to understanding America’s war effort in Vietnam. Gaining a full appreciation for the different voices of the students, faculty, administration, and municipal authorities paints a complex and layered picture of American society at the time.

This connection between the student protests and the 2-28 Infantry’s ambush, and the reverberations that reached all the way to the White House, are important reminders that war does not exist in a vacuum. The Vietnam War has many lessons for the contemporary soldier. The strategy and tactics of counterinsurgency used today were first developed for Vietnam. For the first time in American history multimedia platforms outside the control of the government and the full-color images of unfiltered warfare had incredible influence on the war’s narrative in America. Lastly, the Vietnam War fundamentally changed the relationship between the United States Government and the citizenry that remains a factor of American society and politics today. They Marched Into Sunlight is an excellent place to begin understanding these ideas – with a helpful bit of distance from contemporary events and biases. 

The Strong Gray Line Edited by Cory Wallace

“And when our work is done,

Our course on earth is run,

May it be said, “Well done”

Be thou at peace.”

– Alma Mater, United States Military Academy

The Class of 2004, my class, has suffered the most casualties of any class from the United States Military Academy since the beginning of the War on Terror in 2001. With contributions from multiple members of the class, The Strong Gray Line is a readers’ digest of reflections on loss, love, duty during this war. I recommend this book to cadets and new lieutenants for one simple reason. The Class of 2004, these officers that have died, can be any graduate of West Point, any officer, anyone’s son or daughter. They are all of us. 

 

When I returned to West Point as an instructor I briefly transported back to the mind of a cadet as I adjusted to the surroundings again. I became worried about being in the right place, having a proper gig-line on my shirt, and unconsciously looking at rank from across Central Area with squinted eyes. Despite all of the new construction and upgrades, there was much in the on campus that remained from my days. The rare wooden pointers, the hooks in the hallways, and the slippery non-slip coating on the steps all remained. Within the classroom, the simplest of my cadet experiences resonated with the young cadets I was teaching. Furthermore, my lieutenant and wartime experiences were still valuable to cadets also considering the possibility of going to Iraq or Afghanistan. 

 

I urge the cadets and leaders to read The Strong Gray Line because they will see reflections of themselves and their friends on the pages. The losses of my class may inspire them to cherish their classmates a little more, to sincerely love their soldiers – because love is the real core of great leadership.

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author. 

Book Reviews, Mind

Great Travel Writing: Part I

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In my home office I have two bookshelves. At eye-level on one shelf of these shelves, which is about four feet long, is filled with travel writing books. I keep them there so I can easily glance at their spines. As I pay the utilities bills on my computer or dig out some crazy glue to repair a toy I will catch a glimpse of a title and momentarily transport myself to a different place.  The books on this shelf are the survivors, the ones I haven’t discarded or donated. These books were the first place I turned to as a young man to learn how to act while abroad. Guidebooks that listed historical landmarks or gave tourism advice were useful, but they didn’t help me deal with the anxiety of traveling. The stories of past adventurers, writers, fly-fishermen, and soldiers helped paint a world for me that is alien and uncomfortable, but also beautiful and absolutely necessary to explore. In Part I of this entry are the richest of the books. The books that you can immerse yourself in for extended periods of time and bathe in the writing. In Part II I will introduce three books that are best digested in smaller bites. The books that don’t demand your full attention, but still provide satisfaction in their own way.

Without further delay, Part I:

A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor

“This was the moment I longed for every day. Settling at a heavy inn-table, thawing and tingling, with wine, bread, and cheese handy and my papers, books and diary all laid out; writing up the day’s doings, hunting for words in the dictionary, drawing, struggling with verses, or merely subsiding in vacuous and contented trance while the snow thawed off my boots.”

Patrick Leigh Fermor led an amazing and adventurous life. His biography, presented in a previous Pushing Horizons post, makes for entertaining reading itself. The man truly lived. After years of working as a journalist, novelist, and pseudo-celebrity he committed himself to writing a narrative of an adventure he had as a young man before the outbreak of World War II. With only the simplest of plans and meager support he ventured from England on foot toward ancient Istanbul on the Bosphorus. With a teenager’s optimism, a head full of classical literature, and an ability to make friends everywhere, he set off and documented his travels in his diary.

A Time of Gifts is the first part of this journey. The book begins in England, traverses Nazi Germany, and ends on the Czechoslovakian banks of the Danube River peering into Hungary. What makes this such an engaging read is the age of the narrator. The elder Patrick Fermor did not merely transcribe his youthful journals into bound text, but used his lifetime of experience, a decade of research, and the wisdom gained from hindsight to craft a narrative that is eloquent, extremely descriptive, and reflective. It combines the enjoyment of your grandfather’s storytelling with the recklessness of youthful exuberance. 

Fermor would take another decade to write Between the Woods and the Water, the second installment of this story, and would pass away before he finished the third and final installment – The Broken Road. These books are the culmination of Fermor’s life’s work and it reflects his charm, courage, intelligence, and skill as a writer. It’s depth will captivate you.

The Stronghold: Four Seasons in the White Mountains of Crete by Xan Fielding

“Everywhere the same social rules applied: aggressive hospitality on the part of the host, to be repaid by the guest in the form of conversation, the same conversation in each successive house. I could never make up my mind whether my perception was dulled or sharpened by this routine.”

Xan Fielding was a friend and World War II comrade of Patrick Leigh Fermor. However, I savored his writing in a different way because it didn’t contain the same deluge of literary references and descriptors as Fermor. While I could gorge on Fermor’s writing like a glutton, I treated Xan Fielding’s book with moderation, like a dessert – not to be overdone in a single sitting. Where Fermor transports his readers into a different time and place, Fielding’s honest wit reminded of me sitting with an old friend and sharing a drink and a story. Perhaps I feel this way because Fielding’s reminiscences are his purpose – as good as any for writing.

Fielding served with the British Military during World War II on the island of Crete. After the Nazi invasion and occupation, Fielding aided the Cretan Resistance and spent much of his wartime experience traveling between villages, relying on the hospitality and generosity of the Cretan people to sustain him and his comrades. After the war he returned to the island and traveled the country, reminiscing about past hardships, reacquainting himself with men he had only known in wartime, and re-examining the countryside from a peacetime perspective. 

Even though he was known and respected across Crete, Fielding didn’t really know Crete as a culture or a people until he returned. The war had smothered the true Cretan nature and the non-stop hospitality and revival of the exuberant culture delighted him on his journey. While much has changed in the world, and Crete, since Fielding’s return visit, we can all recognize the eternal  aspects of this unique Mediterranean culture.

Just one more example of Xan Fielding’s writing style:

“Niko’s wife, Anna, was a suitable match for him. To begin with, she was almost as large, and just as handsome. More important, she had a voice to rival his. His simple request for coffee, delivered in ringing, cavernous tones which made it sound like a threat, was answered by an echoing blast which was her way of indicating assent; their conversation continued like an antiphony of thunder and wind until the appearance of the coffee caused a lull in the verbal storm.”

A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain

“The Germans are exceedingly fond of Rhine wines; they are put up in tall, slender bottles, and are considered a pleasant beverage. One tells them from vinegar by the label.”

The Innocents Abroad is usually the first travel writing of Mark Twain that someone would pick up. Again, this book has graced Pushing Horizons before. A Tramp Abroad isn’t as expansive as The Innocents Abroad, but it contains more of Mark Twain’s wit and storytelling mastery focused in the German, Swiss, and northern Italian countryside. His mix of observational comedy, absurd embellishment, and out-right farce makes it a delight to read in large chunks or by individual sections. It proves once again that some writing is timeless.

There is not much a can say to improve upon the reputation of Mark Twain, so I’ll simply offer a few sample passages – two humorous, one sincere – to lure you toward this book: 

“There were no speeches, there was but little talk, there were no frivolities; the Council filled themselves gradually, steadily, but surely, with beer, and conducted themselves with sedate decorum, as became men of position, men of influence, men of manure.”

“In another quarter we found six Italians engaged in a violent quarrel. They danced fiercely about, gesticulating with their heads, their arms, their legs, their whole bodies; they would rush forward occasionally in a sudden access of passion and shake their fists in each other’s very faces. We lost half an hour there, waiting to help cord up the dead, but they finally embraced each other affectionately, and the trouble was all over. The episode was interesting, but we could not have afforded all that time to it if we had known nothing was going to come of it by a reconciliation. Note made – in Italy, people who quarrel cheat the spectator.”

“The mountains were bigger and grander than ever, as they stood there thinking their solemn thoughts with their heads in the drifting clouds, but the villages at their feet, — when the painstaking eye could trace them up and find them.”

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author.

Book Reviews, Mind

My Father’s Library

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My father’s library has always been a magical place for me. As a kid, I was amazed at his ability to answer my endless questions, fix my broken toys, and tell stories of people long since dead and buried. Where did he come by this knowledge? Now I see his library for what it is, a whole life experiences and knowledge that has collected in a single room of the house. There a etchings he bought while a student in in Vienna, artifacts from his days in the military, treasures from auctions he attended in rural Pennsylvania, and endless rows of books that reflect his varied interests. Behind each book was a world of information, mythology, history, or key just waiting to be bestowed on the next one to open it. As a child and as an adult, the pull of his library would shape my views on education, learning, and what it means to be a man.

I have come to appreciate my father’s library as a window into his life and times. There are books on the American Civil War, Cold War politics, and many books from his days writing his Master’s thesis on the ethnic and religious heterogeneity of the Yugolsav Republic – which would be extremely relevant after the fall of the Communism in Europe. He is a man that surrounded himself with the heroes of the ages, great speeches, monumental events, and fantastic tales of intrigue, bravery, and treachery. From his library I have read many books. Some I’ve borrowed for an evening, some I have borrowed for years, and some have merged into my own library. Below is a selection that just might intrigue you:

Berlin Game By Len Deighton

Len Deighton novels have always been on the top shelf of my father’s library while I was a child. As an adult he told me he kept them out of reach, and out of sight of his potentially grabby and destructive sons because the Bernard Samson novels were his favorite.

When I did get around to pulling this from my father’s shelf I found some of the best writing I’ve read in years. Deighton’s characters are developed and believable without superfluous descriptions. His plots are intricate and realistic without relying on extravagance. And, most importantly to me, I feel the tone of the conversation, the tension in the room, and uncertainty of the characters commitments.

Some examples of his subtle romanticism and humor:

“Did you ever say hello to a girl you almost married long ago? Did she smile the same captivating smile, and give your arm a hug in a gesture you’d almost forgotten? Did the wrinkles as she smiled make you wonder what marvelous times you’d missed? That’s how I felt about Berlin every time I came back here.”

“Before pouring the wine, Silas lectured us about it, Chateau Palmer 1961, he said, was the finest claret he’d ever tasted, the finest perhaps of this century. He still hovered, looking at the wine in the antique decanter as if now wondering whether it would be wasted on the present company.”

“He liked skiing, golfing and sailing, and generally having a good time. Frank Harrington was waiting for retirement, something for which he’d been strenuously practicing all his life.”

“”For a month I couldn’t get her out of my mind. She occupied my every thought. I got no work done.’
“When was that?’ Dicky getting no work done was not enough to give me a reference to the date.”

It also gave me a window into how my dad was as a young man. To read books he thought were humorous, well written, and spoke to his own sense of adventure.

Out of This Furnace By Thomas Bell

This was the book my father gave to me as a teenager when he wanted me to know about my family history. As a child I heard stories of relatives I would never meet from the old country, so old that they no longer existed on the map. Although a fictional depiction of Slovak immigrants to the United States, the writing of Thomas Bell and the struggle of his characters resonated so strongly in my life that I still think about this book. It’s the story of a family, but also the story of an Old Europe and a New World.

The immigrants’ story is never a simple one. Packed with obstacles, language barriers, naivety, repeated disappointments, and hardship the immigrants gradually carved out a place in America through ambition, encouragement, and the belief in small successes. Bell’s character make such a journey as succeeding generations stand on the shoulders of their fore-bearers. This story inspired my father to know our own history better, it also motivated him in his own life – that a seemingly minor success in his own life could provide the opening for his sons or grandchildren to step through into greater prosperity and security.

The writing is eloquent and captures the uncertainty of those living in an precarious world. It held my attention and continues to hold my imagination. If anything, it can help each of us view our own stories while looking back across the wave tops of generations.

With Snow On Their Boots By Jamie H. Cockfield

My father was a student of history, which made him a student of war, struggle, and violence. The milestones of human achievement are often marked with the beginning or endings of war. As my interest in military service grew and developed from adolescence into adulthood, my father had one key and all-encompassing lesson. He strove to de-glorify war, to shine a light onto the darker aspects, and remind me that all wars destroy, disrupt lives, and kill the innocent. Jamie Cockfield’s telling of the Imperial Russian soldiers on World War I’s Western Front was part of my education.

It’s a nonfiction work, so you can imagine the arc as World War I progresses. However, the joy and horror of the book comes from the reader placing themselves in the shoes of the Russian soldiers, far from home, facing the horrors of the trenches, and learning of the fall of the Russian Empire. World War I saw the collapse of three empires and political and social movements that would churn into the storm of World War II.

This book sticks with me because it encapsulates the lessons of my father. The stories of those Russian soldiers did not end cleanly. They did’t go home to a reception of flowers and praise. They fought amongst themselves, were betrayed, forgotten, and had to forge new lives out of the clay of uncertainty. Some didn’t survive and oftentimes their individual stories had grisly and unfortunate endings. This was war and what war brought to mankind. My father never wanted me to forget that rippling effects of conflict touch places we could never conceive beforehand.

In Cockfield’s own words: “Home before the leaves fall’ the soldiers all shouted to their families in August 1914 as they marched toward an enemy who felt the same way. Both sides prayed to the same god for victory, with the equal assurance that that god was on their side. Like helpless actors in a play the script of which they seemed to have no role in writing, the leaders of the nations in 1914 helplessly played their parts as hourly Europe lurched toward war until all the major countries on the continent were sucked into a gigantic maelstrom that lasted for a horrendous 1,561 days, toppled four monarchies, destroyed a centuries-old social structure, decimated thousands of towns and villages, and left a number of dead that God alone could count. As for the misery the war caused, it cannot begin to be calculated. The dead can be buried and forgotten and the villages rebuilt, but for the survivors the mental scars could not be erased except by death.” 

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.
Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author.