The CIA Book Club by Charlie English

THE CIA BOOK CLUB by Charlie English was a LibraryReads selection for July and received a starred review from Booklist. Its subtitle is “The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature,” but a fellow book group member and I agreed that it focuses more (sometimes graphically) on the resistance in Poland. This sentiment was echoed in The Wall Street Journal review which, while praising the book, noted: “The title of Mr. English’s book is somewhat misleading” due to its sole focus on Poland and on its book smugglers, noting that the CIA’s main role was financial support and smuggling equipment. The tales of dissidents and courage seem especially poignant as the world awaits the outcome of meetings on the war in Ukraine. Interesting, too, to note the books which were smuggled and circulated (Camus, Orwell, Vonnegut) in light of recent commentary like David Brooks’ opinion piece “When Novels Mattered.” Ironically, reading the entire text of THE CIA BOOK CLUB would likely be too much for most book group participants, but an excerpt could prompt discussion on international policy and funding cuts, on the role of truth in light of social media, and on domestic book banning efforts. “Literature, together with language, protects the soul of the nation.” ~Solzhenitsyn

An additional reviews is available from The Washington Post (“This true story of CIA book smuggling reads like an Ian Fleming novel”) and a portion of THE CIA BOOK CLUB was published recently in The New York Times (“‘1984’ Hasn’t Changed, but America Has”). 

The Ride by Kostya Kennedy

THE RIDE by Kostya Kennedy is subtitled “Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America,” but this book encompasses so much more. Kennedy, an award-winning author, writes about the others (William Dawes, Samuel Prescott, possibly Sybil Ludington) who rode that night and about the other rides which Revere undertook on behalf of the Sons of Liberty. This text is full of fascinating facts and additional insight into Revere’s character and motivation. For example, he describes Revere’s life as an adolescent and the friendships formed then (one of Revere’s sons is named for fellow Patriot Joseph Warren). Another interesting tangent is the discussion of the portrait by John Singleton Copley, saying “You step away from the portrait and you come back to it, and you recognize something of the irreverent. You get the strong feeling that Paul Revere is up to something.”. THE RIDE (which includes an extensive bibliography) received a starred review from Booklist and praise from other reviews like Library Journal (“An important book for readers seeking a deeper understanding of a crucial moment in American history. It will captivate history scholars, students, and enthusiasts from start to finish”). Definitely worth a read and reflection on America’s founding values.

Erasing History by Jason Stanley

ERASING HISTORY by Jason Stanley is subtitled “How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future” and we have certainly heard the term fascist quite frequently in this election cycle. According to the publisher, Stanley, the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, “exposes the true danger of the authoritarian right’s attacks on education, identifies their key tactics and funders, and traces their intellectual roots.” Stanley points to the importance of multiple perspectives and says that “erasing history helps authoritarians because doing so allows them to represent it as a single story, a single perspective.” He is apparently not the only one to feel this way; one of the most chilling quotes is from Vladimir Putin: “Wars are won by teachers.” Stanley writes movingly and convincingly:

“Today we are unquestionably returning to something like the era of the Red Scare. Right-wing activists and politicians are targeting educators at all levels for their supposedly leftist ideologies, with the goal of suppressing any teaching that challenges racial hierarchy or patriarchy.”  And

“By removing the history of uprisings against the current status quo from the curriculum (or never allowing that history to be taught in the first place), authoritarians leave students with the impression that the status quo has never been -- and cannot be -- challenged.”

Student researchers will find much to ponder here, particularly about how education, knowledge, and critical thinking skills provide the foundation for democracy, agency, and self-rule. Unlike those who blame the “enemy within,” Stanley stresses the importance of educators and investigative journalists. Those concerned with the future of democracy will find this text to be very informative. Approximately fifteen percent of ERASING HISTORY is devoted to notes and an index.

Beyond the Big Lie by Bill Adair

BEYOND THE BIG LIE is a new book by Bill Adair, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, creator of PolitiFact, and professor at Duke University. He subtitles the text: “The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy.” Although Publishers Weekly referred to some content as “overly partisan,” Adair clearly believes in the importance of being truthful with the electorate and outlines numerous examples of being less than truthful in a dozen chapters. The text is very accessible, and he frequently refers to input from his college students. One example is in the chapter called “Lying Hall of Fame” where students nominated candidates like Big Tobacco, Exxon, Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, and numerous politicians from both parties as part of a research project. Adair points out that political lying “crippled our discourse and made it impossible for us to have a serious discussion on the vital issues of our day -- the climate crisis, public health, or the future of Social Security and Medicare.” Adair also chronicles the evolution of Mike Pence, a personal friend and neighbor of his when Pence first served in Congress. In that chapter, Adair notes that “attitudes have changed” and also quotes from an interview with Anthony Fauci: “there is no shame in lying now. There is no shame in developing your own alternative facts -- untruth, conspiracy, lies have become normalized.” A final chapter explores “How Can We Stop the Lying?” and Adair argues “research suggests there is fertile ground for a citizen movement to hold politicians accountable for lying, …. I believe politicians will respond if enough people speak up.” Sigh, people need models – AARP has published candidate responses to their questions with no fact-checking at all (“We allowed the candidates to present their views and positions without commenting on the accuracy of their claims.”) BEYOND THE BIG LIE is an intriguing, if disturbing, read. Roughly twenty percent is devoted to Notes, a list of Sources (from over four years of interviews), a Selected Bibliography, and an Index.  

Our Nation at Risk edited by Zelizer and Greenberg

With political conventions this summer and roughly three months until a national election, scholars will find it worth taking a look at OUR NATION AT RISK edited by Julian E. Zelizer (Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University) and Karen J. Greenberg (Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law). Their text, encompassing sixteen chapters, explores “Election Integrity as a National Security Issue.” In addition to New York Times Columnist Thomas Edsall and former Senator Russ Feingold, contributors include professors based at Catholic University of America, Cornell, MIT, NYU, Stanford, UCLA, UT Austin, and Vanderbilt. Plus, representatives of organizations like American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Enterprise Institute and American Constitution Society. OUR NATION AT RISK has an academic, legal tone, referring often to pertinent court cases and full of footnotes. For example, the chapter titled “Presidential Power and Federal Elections” notes “the absence of lawful authority alone does not guarantee that a president will not attempt to use his office to interfere with an election” and concludes that “the viability of the legal limits on the president's involvement in elections depends greatly on the willingness of those within his [or her] administration to observe and then force them.” Other selections explore equally timely topics like foreign election interference, disinformation, role of Congress and the Supreme Court, and the right to vote.

Other Rivers by Peter Hessler

OTHER RIVERS by Peter Hessler is subtitled “A Chinese Education.” Hessler is a staff writer at the New Yorker and has written several other award-winning travel texts. He has lived and worked in China over many years and this text describes the changes he sees given the roughly twenty years which have passed between his initial time in Beijing (2000 to 2007) and time in Chengdu (2019 to 2021). OTHER RIVERS offers an insightful perspective on the lives of many of Hessler’s former and current students and there is much here about what he learned while teaching, too. Hessler is particularly effective in evoking emotion, partly due to the excerpts of student writings which he includes. COVID was active during his second stint in China and Hessler explores and relates the Chinese societal response, detailing the activities and restrictions in Wuhan, even his correspondence with a pharmacist there. OTHER RIVERS received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly.