Sure, we all know that Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.. But how many of us know that four conspirators were locked up in a fort in the Dry Tortugas, 70 miles off the coast of Key West? It was news to me. Of course I knew that Garfield was not just a lasagna-loving cartoon cat, but also an assassinated president. But I had no idea that he spent two months recuperating from the shooting before he eventually died in New Jersey.  

Oddly enough, this book on presidential assassinations feels complete, even without President John F. Kennedy’s fateful day in Dallas. (I bet Vowell could write an entire book on that assassination alone.) Vowell prefers to focus on the 19^th century politics and presidents in order to draw parallels to and critiques of the early 21^st century political climate. Vowell is a harsh critic of George W. Bush, and her analysis may offend some readers.

Overall, what might be an otherwise dull, dry history tome is instead a humorous, rambling romp through American history and politics. You’ll laugh a lot as you cruise from one obscure historical site to another with cheeky Vowell as your guide.

Mindy

The landing was to take place in the early hours of April 25, 1915. But in the dark, the soldiers landed one mile north. The landscape was markedly different than what they had expected, but they were commanded to go forward. Even though they had landed in the wrong place, the soldiers who survived the landing climbed up the cliffs from the beach while under attack. After 12 hours, 1,200 Anzacs were ashore and had made it up the cliffs.

Before they could take full command, Mustafa Kemal, later known as Atatürk—father of modern Turkey—arrived with his battalion, and forced the Anzacs back down the cliffs. So began an eight month impasse.

One of the worst defeats for the Anzacs came on August 7, 1915, when the 3rd Light Horse Brigade was ordered to charge the Turks. This intended diversionary tactic instead turned into a suicidal mission when, in less than an hour, 234 Light Horsemen were killed and 138 were wounded. This charge was depicted in the last scenes of Peter Weir’s film Gallipoli.
 
In September 1915, Bulgaria entered the war on the side of Germany and Turkey. Turkey would now be able to completely crush the Anzac position so, by late November, the allies decided to evacuate the troops from Gallipoli. Winter was fast approaching and torrential rain had turned the trenches into rivers.  In stages and at night, 41,000 soldiers were evacuated without alerting the Turks. By December 20, 1915, the evacuation was complete and this ill-fated operation ended.

National Archives of Australia Image no.: A6180, 10/4/80/9

Many stories of heroism came out of the Gallipoli campaign. The best known story is of Simpson and his donkey. Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick was assigned to the 3rd Field Ambulance. From the day of the landing until the day he was killed, he and his donkey worked from early morning to late at night, bringing the wounded down to the beach. Undoubtedly there were many stretcher bearers who bravely saved countless lives, but it is Simpson who is remembered and whose story is retold.

Each year on April 25, these brave Anzacs are remembered with dawn services that pay tribute to the memory of the Anzac spirit, but also contemplate the futility of war.

There is a memorial at Anzac Cove featuring words written in 1934 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to an official Australian, New Zealand and British party visiting Anzac Cove:

Those heroes that shed their blood, and lost their lives …
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore, rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side,
Here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries …
Wipe away your tears.
Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land, they have
Become our sons as well.

Check out Dan Van der Vat’s Dardanelles Disaster: Winston Churchill’s Greatest Failure and Eric Wheler Bush’s Gallipoli to learn more. 

Suzanne

The story of coffee is a much younger one. It’s thought that coffee originated in 6th century Ethiopia when  a goatherd saw his goats acting exceptionally playful. They were eating the fruit of a struggling little tree. The goatherd tried one himself and found that while it tasted bland it had an invigorating effect on him too. This little tree was most likely the plant, Coffea Arabica. The coffee beans called “cherries” were eaten for another seven centuries until a Yemeni mystic made the cherries into a drink and found that the drink helped him stay awake during prayers.

Over time, coffee made its way eastward where it became the “wine of Islam,” as Muslims weren’t allowed to drink actual wine. From there, coffee entered Paris and Vienna. Before then, most Europeans drank beer. Their drinking water was contaminated more often than not. It’s mind-boggling to imagine what occurred after people went from being in a state of habitual grogginess to one of a caffeinated society.

According to The True History of Tea “…since tea and coffee first met in the Middle East and in Europe in the 17th century, they have accompanied each other like yin and yang… In 2004-05, world production of coffee stood at 7.2 million tons, compared with 3.2 million tons of tea. Sticklers for statistics, however, note that while 15 grams of ground coffee is required to infuse a decent cup, 5 grams of tea will suffice. And while coffee can only be drawn once, tea leaves can be drawn at least twice – in the case of Oolong tea, up to six times…the conclusion that tea, in its different forms, is the world’s most widely consumed beverage….”

Today, coffee and tea are drunk around the world, albeit in different forms and combinations. For coffee, each country has its own standards for grading the coffee it exports. Grading can be based on the elevation at which the bean is grown, the size of the bean and taste. For tea, grading is more standardized with orange pekoe being the lowest grade given to a whole leaf. (That’s right: orange pekoe is not a type of tea but its grade.)

No matter where your tea or coffee originated, mornings just wouldn’t be the same without your favorite beverage, so raise your cup or mug, be thankful that these days we have choices and imbibe.

Suzanne

PS: Be sure to click the book covers for links to the coffee books in the library catalog.

The story of tea is steeped in a legend. Around four and a half thousand years ago an emperor in China declared that his subjects must boil water before drinking it. One day, while the emperor’s water was boiling, some leaves accidentally fell into the pot. The emperor was impressed not only by the flavor but by the fact he felt rejuvenated after drinking it. We know now that the plant was Camellia sinensi.

In Japan, tea began with an Indian born Buddhist monk who had traveled to China at the end of the 5th century. In an effort to stay awake while meditating, this monk cut off his eyelids and threw them on the ground. Two tea plants then grew from where he’d thrown his eyelids. The leaves on the plants were made into a drink which revitalized the drinkers.

While tea has been drunk for centuries in the east, it took until the 17th century for tea to be imported into Europe, where it was first known as a medicinal drink. It first became a popular drink in the Netherlands for those who could afford it. The Dutch in turn introduced tea to Germany, France and England. In 1689, the East Indian Company began to import tea directly from China. The history of tea has a disturbing side because for years opium was traded for the tea. In 1839 the Chinese Emperor decided to abolish the trade, incensing Britain and prompting the Opium War.  

In North America, tea had been introduced by the Dutch to New Amsterdam and tea drinking continued after the British conquered and renamed the city New York. However, when high taxes were imposed, tea became the symbol of revolutionary action. Tea went from being a favorite beverage to a symbol of tyranny. After the Boston Tea Party coffee became a national habit and Americans became coffee drinkers. 

For the story of coffee, and its continued relationship with tea, stay tuned for my next post.

Suzanne

PS: Be sure to click on the book covers for links to the books in the library catalog.

Much like that one teacher you had who could bring a subject to life, in the right hands, a fact-based story can be an entertaining, thrilling and exciting tale that you can’t put down. I’ve recently come across two such books that will definitely be worth your limited reading time.

The first is The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim Crow South by Alex Heard. Far from a boring listing of “the facts”, this book is essentially a historical mystery. The author attempts to find out the truth concerning the trial and eventual execution of Willie McGee on the charge of rape in 1940s Mississippi. Heard tracks down many surviving participants and witnesses to the events and pieces together a story that is as intriguing for what is not known as for what is. It seems that almost everyone involved in the case has an agenda, whether they are aware of it or not, and tries to shape the facts to fit their preconceived ideas. In the end, the author wisely leaves it up to the reader to decide who and what to believe.

A similar, and just as riveting, approach is used in the book Berlin at War by Roger Moorhouse. From the title, you might think the book is about Hitler or the German army during World War II. In fact, it is a great piece of social history that puts the reader in the shoes of the citizens of Berlin as their city went from the height of Nazi power to a barren heap of rubble in under 10 years. The author excels at exploring and describing events that affected the average city dweller. Instead of explaining the blackouts in terms of aerial bombardment strategy, for example, he describes the very real effects of increased traffic accidents, crime and luminescent paint that living in the dark created for those on the ground.

So, try not to shy away from stories that just happen to be based on facts. History is all in the telling.

Richard

Two books that I read recently fit into this category: Tokyo Year Zero and Occupied City both by David Peace.

The plot description will only tell you so much. Set during the Allied occupation of Japan, Occupied City is technically about a mass poisoning that took place at a bank and the attempts to find the killer. Tokyo Year Zero shares the same setting and deals with a police detective tracking down a serial murderer. Both crimes are based on historical events.

Defining these books as mysteries or historical fiction would be a grave mistake, however. Who did it and why, while important, really isn’t the author’s prime concern. Instead he uses an intense stream of consciousness narrative to get inside the head of the characters. The question is whether you want to be there or not. 

If you are up for a challenge, and don’t mind going down a few very dark alleys, both of these books will reward you with an addictive reading experience.

Richard

Fiction: Tinkers by Paul Harding

History: The Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed

Biography: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles

Drama: Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey

Poetry: Versed by Rae Armantrout

General Nonfiction: The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman

Music: Violin Concerto by Jennifer Higdon

There was also a special citation given posthumously to country music icon Hank Williams.

And closer to home, among the many journalism awards, The Seattle Times received the “Breaking News Reporting” award.

For a full list of award winners and finalists, and to learn more about the history of the award, visit the Pulitzer Prizes website.

After visiting Alexandria and Cairo, we took an overnight train to Luxor, where we boarded a boat and set sail to Aswan. While floating down the Nile on a felucca in Aswan, we could see the Cataract hotel (currently undergoing renovations) where Agatha Christie stayed while writing Death on the Nile  in the mid 1930s. Christie had married an archeologist by this time and her knowledge of Egypt and the Middle East is obvious in her descriptions of the ancient sites.

Before traveling to Egypt I read Dreamers of the Day by Maria Doria Russell which is about a 40 year old single woman who, after the death of her family members from influenza, decides to travel with her beloved dachshund to the Middle East just as the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference convenes. There she meets, among others, T.E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, and Winston Churchill who include her on several of their outings.

After entering Jordan through Aquaba (captured by Lawrence during WWI) we spent a night with the Bedouin in Wadi Rum where there is a rock formation also called The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. On the way to this breathtakingly beautiful nature reserve, which Lawrence visited several times, we crossed the railway tracks several sections of which had been destroyed by him with the aid of the local Bedouin in 1917 & 1918.  For a complete description of Lawrence’s time in the Middle East, I recommend reading Seven Pillars of Wisdom.   

I found several children’s books helpful while preparing for my travels for their descriptions of Egypt past and present including: Egyptian Diary : The journal of Nakht and Egyptology. For older readers, 1988 Nobel Literature Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz’s The Cairo Trilogy and Larence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet describe these cities and their peoples’ recent past. There are many more titles that cover this interesting part of the world in Everett Public Library’s collection. And remember, if we don’t own the title you want, you can always request an Inter-Library Loan. Ask a librarian!

Sue