Department of Book Reports: The Wilder Life

The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie, by Wendy McClure (Riverhead, $25.95) She had me at the opening sentence:

I was born in 1867 in a log cabin in Wisconsin and maybe you were, too.

Why, yes I was! I was immediately charmed by the cover of this book, and, to see it was by one of my favorite BUST columnists, well.

The Wilder Life is a most entertaining history of the American West. Wendy McClure sets out for her "year on the Prairie" after her mother's death reunites her with the yellow spined paperbacks of her childhood. The Little House on the Prairie ( or, LHOP, as it were) series was dear to my heart while I was growing up on the farm. I had my bonnet, and calico dress for the Yelm Prairie Days Parade. When I saw this book: I was so there! Transported entirely. I am of the book generation of the Laura World, not the television version. Wendy was too, because, as she explains: "It was up against WKRP, and Holy Howard Hesseman, that show was funny!"

This bright, humorous travelogue took me to all the places I've only imagined before. Wendy tracks down the houses and museums that have sprung up at the original home sites. It's here she meets other Laura devotees and learns there is a home schooling curriculum. The LHOP books are also being used for inspiration by survivalists. And here's something I hadn't known: in her later life, Rose Wilder Lane would become one of the founders of the early Libertarian movement, and indeed the first use of the term "Libertarian" is credited to her in 1947(!). After growing up in poverty, she considered herself a Communist, but a trip to Russia changed her views (in some logic I still don't quite follow). Rose was befriended by Roger MacBride, and willed all her belongings to him, including the valuable copyrights to all the LHOP works. It was the Libertarians who franchised it to the television series.

Warning! 27 minute video from the avclub (the narrator sounds as if he went to the Troy McClure school of dictation, but you'll wish they had gotten the real Troy McClure to read this).

I do enjoy this sort of personal memoir, and this one is funny and irreverent while still holding a great deal of affection for the LHOP Laura World. You certainly don't need to be a Bonnethead to enjoy this, but if you are, this book is a real treat.

The Wilder Life is available at (Jackson Street) Books On 7th and fine Independent bookstores everywhere. Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books.

**I do want to send a virtual Thank You to Donna, long-time member of the Troops, for the box of books for the store. Much appreciated!

Department of Book Reports: A History of the End of the World

Well. if you find yourself still around today, ya know, left behind as it were, you might enjoy this book: A History of the End of the World: How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization (Harper, $14.95, or used HC$15) Jonathan Kirsch is a biblical scholar, who really lays out the history of this single book in the Bible that has caused so much turmoil over the past 2,000 years. Long claimed to be authored by the John of the gospels, Kirsch argues it was actually written by yet another John, one with a real axe to grind about the Roman occupation of his day, some 50 to 60 years after the death of the Christ. He traces the origins of this controversial book right up to current times, and its ties to modern fundamentalist churches.

I wanted to go read reviews, to refresh my memory, since it's been a few years since I read this. At first I thought the New Oxford Review had a good overview, but I was disappointed by the conclusion:

Endeavors to marginalize people on the Religious Right (the narrative's bête noire) unfold as Kirsch blends spiritual thrill-seekers, stooges, and crackpots into the ranks of the reasonable devout. The Branch Davidians (of Janet Reno fame), the Heaven's Gate cult, and the Left Behind book series are employed to demonstrate Revelation at work on unstable minds, but Kirsch makes too much of low-level televangelist theater and weirdo tales spewing from discredited apocalyptic charlatans. The book continues a slide into political correctness, a newer feature of post-modernism that blurs morality and reduces integrity to negotiable transactions.

"spiritual thrill-seekers, stooges, and crackpots ", um, I pretty much think that's the folks we're seeing give $70M of donations in negotiable transactions. It may have seemed Kirsch was overstating when he wrote this book, but it kinda looks like time has proved him right. At least, this week.

Warning! This is an hour long panel discussion from the 2007 Los Angeles Festival of the Book. But hey, you got that long before you have to fly away.

The History of the End of the World is available at (Jackson Street) Books On 7th andfine Independent bookstores everywhere. Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books.

Department of Book Reports: Iron Pants: Oregon's Anti-New Deal Governor

Gary Murrell, Professor of History at Grays Harbor College (and in full disclosure someone both SeattleTammy and I have met on a couple of occasions), has written a fascinating study of the life of the Depression Era politician, Iron Pants: Oregon's New Deal Governor, Charles Henry Martin (Washington State University Press, $20.00). Martin was a man of his times. Having attended West Point, he served a 40 year career in the US Army, and was stationed in many of the hot spots in our history, among them, the Philippines, China during the Boxer Rebellion, as well as World War 1. He "led" the all-black Ninety-Second Division after that war, and finally retired as a major general after commanding the Panama Canal Zone in 1927. Martin then turned his attention to politics, serving as a Democrat in Oregon's congressional delegation from 1931-1935, and then elected as Oregon's governor in 1934 during a three-person race.

During the campaign for governor, Martin gave lip-service to President Roosevelt and to the New Deal, but once he was in office, Martin's stances as a "Hoover Democrat" emerged. He opposed Social Security, Public ownership of power ( a huge issue with Oregon's new Bonneville Dam and the power of the Columbia River), relief for the destitute (he claimed in 1936 that the Depression was over in Oregon), and, above all, he hated the Labor Unions and the burgeoning Labor Movement. He went so far as to set-up "Red Squads" to bust the unions which he believed were more or less communist inspired. As Governor, he faced a movement to recall him (which never got to a ballot), and lost the Democratic primary in 1938 for re-election. He became an active supporter for the Republican candidate that year.

A military man, he held strong opinions. Although he commanded black troops during the time of Jim Crow, he believed "...the negro is of very little importance...the average negro is by no means equal to the average white man...". H wrote one friend that if a national Old Age Pension were to be adopted, that in the South, "...an old Colored fellow and his wife getting $400.00 a month. All the people in the neighborhood would live off them and all work would stop." He believed that Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, was the head "red". Viewing the political situation across the Columbia in Washington state, he wrote, "That state is too much influenced by Seattle, which sad to say early became a dumping point for the refuse of Alaska and the Orient", concluding that "Seattle is today Russian territory". In order to help balance the Oregon budget, he supported a plan to chloroform the "aged and feeble-minded wards of the state". As for striking workers, he instructed the state sheriffs to "beat the Hell out of 'em" and "crack their damn heads". Nice guy, no?

Although an academic study, Murrell writes with great ease and lucidity for the general audience. He provides a great deal of context for Martin and his times, giving much background for American imperial designs during the Governor's military service in the Philippines and China. His career is instructive and resonates today with such luminary reactionary governors now installed in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Florida. The book is available at (Jackson Street) Books On 7th andfine Independent bookstores everywhere. Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books.

Department of Book Reports: Wicked Bugs

Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon's Army and other Diabolical Insects by Amy Stewart (Algonquin Books, $18.95) This handsome little volume matches Wicked Plants, Stewart's book that I reported on a while back. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill is one of those presses that produce beautiful and fascinating books. They are a joy to touch and hold.



Bugs! They're everywhere! It's estimated there are over one million species of insects, and perhaps ten quintillion insects alive on the planet right now. As this public service announcement shows, there are probably bugs in your house right now!

Stewart sets out over 100 bug biographies, in her disconcertingly cheerful stories. I love how she lets the basic story speak for itself, which will have you sneaking a look over your shoulder and scratching.


Do wicked bugs include spiders and other noninsects?

In this case, yes. An entomologist will tell you that the term "bug" refers to a subset of insects in the order Hemiptera that has piercing and sucking mouthparts. But most of us use the word to describe any number of tiny slithering and crawling creatures, and that's how I'm using it here. Spiders, worms, centipedes, slugs, and scorpions all made it into the book.

Yikes! did you know there are stinging caterpillars that can kill you? There are 6 kinds of bugs that could be eating your books right now? (The best cure for that, from Desiderius Erasmus the Dutch humanist, "books, to be saved from the worms, must be used.") 9 inch centipedes! After reading about the lice, flies, worms, and midges that can infest the human body, I scarcely shuddered at the spider chapters.

I highly recommend this to all armchair Nature enthusiasts, and your niece/nephew, who has odd science fixations... You'll both love it!

Wicked Bugs and Wicked Plants are available at (Jackson Street) Books On 7th andfine Independent bookstores everywhere. Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books.

Department of Book Reports: Some Notable New Books

This spring is bringing out what looks to be some very interesting novels that I wanted to direct attention to. The first two come from authors who are probably better know for their other creative endeavors.
First off is country singer and erstwhile political gadfly to the Right, Steve Earle who has written his first novel, I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive (Houghton Mifflin $26.00). In it, Earle tells the tale of Doc Ebersole, one of the last men to see Hank Williams alive, and is rumored to have administered the morphine dose that killed Williams. Ten years later, in 1963, Doc has lost his license to practice and has been reduced to performing back room abortions in the seedy side of San Antonio in order to maintain his own habit. A young Mexican immigrant girl, Graciela, comes to him for attention and magic seems to re-appear in Doc's life, including the ghost of Hank himself. The book has just been released, as has Earle's new album with the same title, his first since his widely acclaimed homage to Townes Van Zandt.

John Sayles is probably better known for his filmmaking, which include such fine cinema as Lone Star, Matewan and Eight Men Out (in which Sayles cast himself as Ring Lardner, who covered the infamous 1919 World Series). But he has also penned some very good novels as well. His new book, A Moment in the Sun ($29.00), will be released on May 17th from Dave Egger's publishing firm, McSweeneys. It's going to be a long sucker, coming in at 968 pages, but advance word has been terrific, with comparisons to Doctorow's Ragtime and Pynchon's Against the Day. The novel takes place against the backdrop of the Yukon Gold Rush and the Spanish-American War, continuing on into America's great Imperial adventure in the Philippines. And, according the wiki, Sayles next film will be about that insurrection.

Jennifer Egan just won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for A Visit from the Goon Squad (Anchor Books $14.95) and as luck would have it, the book has just been released in paperback. The plot apparently is quite rambling, perhaps more of a series of interlocking short stories, but seemingly centered on Lou, a Record mogul with elements of both Proust and the Sopranos.



Finally I wanted to point out a book that wont be available until October, but is already getting great word of mouth. This is the book all sleep-deprived parents will want to read to their kids, along side with Goodnight Moon. I think the title tell it all: Go the F**k to Sleep (Akashic Books $14.95), and is written as a faux children's picture book with text by Adam Mansbach and illustrations by Ricardo Cortes.

These titles (and 9564 more!) can be browsed 24 hours a day at our catalog page, available at (Jackson Street) Books On 7th andfine Independent bookstores everywhere. Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books.

Department of Book Reports: Twice a Spy

Twice a Spy by Keith Thomson (Doubeday, $25.95) In this delightful follow up to last years Once a Spy (Now in paperback Bantam, $7.99) we find Charley Clark in Switzerland hoping a new therapy will help his father Drummond's advancing Alzheimer's. NSA operative has accompanied them and is trying to exonerate them from their hasty departure following the explosions in the basement of the Manhattan Project.


Their peaceful time in the chalet won't last long though, before Alice is kidnapped by members from Drummond's old CIA op, the Calvary. The Calvary was established to sell inoperative nuclear weapons to the black market, disguised as Perriman washing machines. One machine is still at large in the Caribbean. Thomson uses brilliant plot twists to produce a fast-paced suspenseful action read with plenty of hight-tech spycraft. As if this weren't enough, his writing has wildly humorous bits and characters you will really come to love. You can check out more of his writings at Huffington Post.

Once and Twice a Spy are available at (Jackson Street) Books On 7th andfine Independent bookstores everywhere. Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books.

Department of Book Reports: Baseball in the Garden of Eden

Once again Spring is here, and with it, Baseball Season! And Baseball, always the sport that lends itself best to good writing, has a new treasure in John Thorn's Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game (Simon and Schuster $26.00). For years, John Thorn has been the leading historian of the National Pastime and has quite recently been named Official Historian of Major League Baseball. Here he examines Baseball's earliest days, and it is quite a story, really.

For years the "origin" story has been the long debunked one of how Abner Doubleday, at age 20, laid out a diagram of the playing field in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. Despite the fact that Doubleday himself was 1. actually attending the West Point Academy at the time; 2. Never once in his voluminous writings ever mention that he did invent baseball, or ever actually mention baseball at all. In fact, Thorn shows that the game evolved from any number of bat and ball games that came to America from England, including Rounders, Cricket, One 'o Cat or various "safe" base games. Jane Austen mentions "...base ball...." in a group of outdoor activities in Northanger Abbey, which she wrote in 1798. The other competing myth is that of Alexander Cartwright, a member of the New York Knickerbockers club. Cartwright, in 1845, certainly lent his hand to one of the first existing set of rules for the game as we now know it, but his teammates, Daniel Lucius Adams, William Rufus Wheaton, and Louis Fenn Wadsworth had an equal influence on the development of the game.


Author and historian John Thorn speaks with Garrison Keillor at the Fitzgerald Theater on March 29, 2011.

Thorn shows how the game, and its popularity, grew with the country at large in the mid-nineteenth century, with gamblers, hustlers, capitalists, and grew into a professional game, suffused with class struggles and racism as well. It's a fascinating history. And none was perhaps more intriguing than the baseball star, turned entrepreneur, Albert Spalding who established the great sporting goods enterprise that still bears his name.

Spalding was convinced that Baseball was a uniquely American invention, having little, if anything to do with English bat and ball games (as was claimed by Henry Chadwick, the British born journalist who was the game's biggest booster in its early days). As one of the sport's leading lights, he called for a Commission to get to the bottom of the game's origins. As it turns out, and Thorn goes into great detail here, Abner Doubleday was one of the leading American Theosophists of his time, Theosophy being one of the spiritual movements of the late 1800's, developed by one Madame Blavatsky, and for whom Doubleday took over as the American head of the movement. And it seems that Spalding's second wife (and previous mistress) was also a leading light in the Theosophy movement in the U.S. Hmm.

This is not only just a fine book on early Baseball, it is also excellent social history of the growing nation. John Thorn is great historian, and a very good writer. Please indulge and enjoy his work. Baseball in the Garden of Eden and other titles by John Thorn are available at (Jackson Street) Books On 7th and fine Independent bookstores everywhere.

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