American Gothic - Book Review

American Gothic
by Thomas Hoving
Chamberlain Brothers 2005

Todays book reviews are all my own books that I read during the latter half of my stay in Hospital.





Most Americans are familiar with the painting known as American Gothic. It's a very famous American painting. This book is about the life of Grant Wood, the painter, and the story of this specific masterpiece.

Grant Wood was born and raised in Iowa in 1891. He always had a knack for drawing and so in 1910, after High school, he enrolled in an Art School in Minnesota. In 1913 he enrolled at the Art Institute in Chicago.


Between 1920 to 1928 Grant made four trips to Europe, where he studied many styles of paintings.He was influenced the most by the 15th century artist Jan Van Eyck.

In the 1920s Grant lived in a carriage house in Cedar Rapids and tried to paint. He received one major commission - to create a stained glass window for a Veterans Memorial building in town. In 1932 Grant helped to found the Stone City Art Colony to help artists get through the depression. From 1934 Grant taught painting at the School of Art at the University of Iowa. He died of cancer in 1942, the day before he would have turned 51 years old.




This book gives a brief rundown of Grants life. It also gives a detailed overview of the American Gothic painting. It goes into details as to why Grant used certain images, lines, colours and so on. I enjoyed this book immensely. Despite American Gothic NOT being one of my favourite paintings.

I read this book for the Art History challenge.

The Last Secret of the Temple - Book Review

The Last Secret of the Temple
by Paul Sussman
Random House 2005

From the Back Cover
A two thousand year-old mystery – a pulse-pounding race against time...

Jerusalem, 70 AD. As the legions of Rome besiege the Holy Temple, a boy is given a secret that he must guard with his life...


Southern Germany, December 1944. Six emaciated prisoners drag a mysterious crate deep into a disused mine. They too give their lives to keep the secret safe: murdered by their Nazi guards...

Egypt, Valley of the Kings, the present day. A body is found amongst some ruins. It appears to be an open-and-shut case but the more Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police uncovers about the dead man, the more uneasy he becomes. And his investigation turns out to be anything but routine. Khalifa doesn’t know it yet, but he is on the trail of an extraordinary long-lost artifact that could, in the wrong hands, turn the Middle East into a blood bath. It’s a dangerous path he’s taking – and what’s more he’s not alone.

From ancient Jerusalem, the Crusades, Cathar heretics and coded medieval manuscripts to the Holocaust, hidden Nazi treasure and the murderous present-day, The Last Secret of the Temple is a thrilling rollercoaster ride of an adventure.

DETAILS
When the body of hotel owner Piet Jansen is discovered amid the ruins of an archaeological site by the Nile, it looks like a routine investigation for Inspector Yusuf Khalifa. But the more he learns about Jansen, the more he is reminded of the brutal murder, some years earlier, of an Israeli woman at Karnak for which he always suspected the wrong man was convicted. Ignoring the objections of his superiors, Khalifa re-opens the case, but to do so finds he's obliged to team up with bigoted, hard-drinking Israeli detective Arieh Ben Roi.

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Palestinian journalist Layla al-Madani receives an anonymous letter. The writer claims to possess information that could radically alter the balance of power in the Middle East and requests her help in contacting Al-Mulatham, a ruthless terrorist leader whom she recently interviewed. In return she is offered the greatest scoop of her career, which, she is told, is intimately connected with the strange medieval manuscript that accompanied the letter.

Against a backdrop of escalating violence, Layla follows up the ancient cryptic document while Khalifa and Ben-Roi uncover the unpleasant truth about Piet Jansen.

Their investigations take them from ancient Jerusalem, the Crusades and the Cathar Heresy to Vichy France and the Nazi Holocaust. Forced to confront their own prejudices and demons, they unearth the existence of an ancient artefact of such symbolic power that, were it to fall into the wrong hands, it would plunge the Middle East into all-out war. Caught in a desperate race to recover the object before Jewish or Muslim extremist groups claim it as their own, the trail leads Khalifa, Layla and Ben Roi to a hidden cache of looted Nazi treasure. Deep within an abandoned mine in Southern Germany, Khalifa discovers that appearances can be terrifyingly deceptive.

This was an exciting book - I could not put it down. I read this for the Relic Novels Challenge.

Broken Window - Book Review

The Broken Window
by Jeffrey Deaver
Hodder Paperbacks 2009

Data mining is the industry of the 21st century. Commercial companies collect information about us from thousands of sources—credit cards, loyalty programs, hidden radio tags in products, medical histories, employment and banking records, government filings, and many more, then analyze and sell the data to anyone willing to pay the going rate.


Some people approve, citing economic benefits; others worry about the erosion of privacy.

But no one has been prepared for a new twist: A psychotic killer with access to the country's biggest data miner—Strategic Systems Datacorp—is using detailed information to work his way into the lives of victims, rape, rob and kill them and then blame unsuspecting innocents for the crimes. The killer's voluminous knowledge of the victims and his ability to plant damning evidence mean that even the most vocal protests of innocence go ignored by the police and juries.

The perp has, in short, found a perfect means to literally get away with murder—until one of his fall guys turns out to be Lincoln Rhyme's cousin, Arthur, who is facing certain conviction for first-degree murder. Though the two Rhymes haven't had any contact for years, Lincoln agrees to look into the case. In the process he unravels a spider web of crime that the killer, known only as Unknown Subject 522, has woven.

Rhyme, Amelia Sachs and the cast of the previous Rhyme books find themselves up against their most insidious villain, a man obsessed with collecting—from junk on the street to intimate details about our lives to the ultimate trophy: human lives themselves, which he sees as mere streams of data. This is a man proficient with razors and guns, but whose most dangerous weapon is information, which he wields with ruthless precision against those he targets on whim . . . and against those who try to stop him.

"How," Rhyme says, "can you defend yourself against the man who knows everything?"

As the invisible 522 attacks his pursuers through identity theft and outright torture and murder, the stymied police have to turn to the likely source of the data the killer uses—the eerie and monolithic Strategic Systems Datacorp, headed by the legendary data mining pioneer, Andrew Sterling, whose "mission" is the creation of a global empire based not on politics or money but on information.

"Knowledge is power," Sterling continually reminds.

And for Lincoln Rhyme, the case has an added dimension: Arthur's reemergence draws him back to his childhood and teen years and forces the criminalist to grapple with a tragedy from his past he has avoided for decades.

The Broken Window is classic Deaver fare: Taking place over three frantic days, the novel features dozens of twists and turns, fascinating, highly researched details—about identity theft, data mining and threats to privacy, as well as forensic science—and, of course, offers the typical multiple surprise endings the author is known for crafting.

Inside this novel were 6 pages of information categories that are normally collected about every single person. Very detailed information. VERY SCARY

Profile
Name
AKA and Aliases
Current Address
Addresses for past 10 years
Citizenship
Race
Ancestral History
National Origin
Physical description
Biomatic details (photographs, fingerprints etc)
Tissue sample
Medical History
Political affiliation
Fraternal affiliations
Professional affiliations
Religious affiliations
Military Service
Military ID
Weapons training
Units served with
Donations made
Psychiatric History
Myers Briggs type
Sexual preferences
Hobbies and Interests
Clubs
Spouses
Parents
Children
Siblings
Grandparents (maternal & paternal)
Other blood relations (living & dead)
Neighbours (past & present)
Co-workers
Clients
Acquaintances
Employment history (past & present)
Lifestyle
Food & Drink
Clothes
Household items
Appliances
Purchases (last 7 days back to last 5 years)
Books purchased
Books borrowed (library)
Other library activities
Films seen
Cable TV programs watched
Travel (last 5 years)
Languages known
GPS devices
RFID reports
PDA & mobiles
Criminal arrests & history
Watch lists
Surveillance
Restraining orders
Whistleblower history
Civil litigations (for and against)
Employment history, salary, reasons for discharge
Citations & reprimands
Days absent
Income (IRS) - foreign income, non reported income, assets (personal and financial)
Credit reports
Credit rating
Financial transactions (going back 5 years)
Telephone numbers - landline, cell and blackberry
old phone, fax and pager numbers
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) used - past & present
favorites/bookmarks
email addresses and contacts
email activity
websites - personal and profesional
websites visited (last 5 years)
Blogs
Social sites (Myspace, Facebook, Twitter etc)
Avatars
online personas
mailing lists
buddies & Friends
SEO results
Post Office boxes

They want to know everything about you and then they want make a lot of money by SELLING it. The only way to avoid this is to go "off the grid".

Dreams of my Father - Book Review

Dreams of my Father
by Barack Obama
Three Rivers Press (2004 edition)

I found this book at the patient library while I was in hospital and decided that I might as well read it and see what all the fuss was about.

Obama tells the story of his parents, their marriage, how he grew up in Hawaii, his time in Indonesia and then at a private school back in Hawaii.


After he graduated from High school he tells how he went to college in California and then went to New York to look for work to bring about change. He did a few jobs in NYC but eventually he took a job in Chicago working as a community organiser. Mostly his work was in the projects trying to organise the locals. He also spent a lot of time trying to get the city council to create jobs in and around the projects in order to get the people off welfare.

The last few chaptes of the book covers Obama's trip to Kenya to meet his relatives before he goes on to attend Harvard Law School. For me this was the most interesting section of the book, as it gave me a look at Obama's extended family, and the interactions between the members. It is also a look inside life in Kenya, and Barack's search to get to know his father. It is also in this section where Barack Obama realizes exactly who he is. Barack forms a fairly strong relationship with his half sister Auma, in spite of the distance and the difficulties which it creates.

This is an interesting book, though certainly Obama's skill as a writer does not match that of his skill as an orator. I found the writing quite dry in places. I also thought that some of the thinking of the young Obama was somehow very mature for a child of that age - perhaps too mature. Either that or Obama is putting an adult slant on his childhood thinking.

Prairie Tale - Book Review

Prairie Tale
by Melissa Gilbert
Simon & Schuster 2009
Offical website







Everyone knows this face. During the 1970s she was the most famous face on TV.

Actress Melissa Gilbert of “Little House on the Prairie” was America’s sweetheart and many presumed she enjoyed a blessed childhood. But in reality, the talented star’s home life was a far cry from the idyllic life she portrayed in the popular TV show.




In her memoir, “Prairie Tale,” Melissa Gilbert shares her story of growing up in front of the cameras, dealing with a complicated family, overcoming alcoholism, bad marriages and addictive relationships, and how she finally learned to move on.

An enjoyable story and a very real warning to anyone about real life in Hollywood.

My Guantanamo Diary - Book Review

My Guantanamo Diary
by Mahvish Rukhsana Khan
Perseus Group, 2008
Authors website

Mahvish Khan was born and raised in USA. Her parents were immigrants from Afghanistan. now both respcted medical doctors. Mahvish grew up speaking fluent Pushtu (the lingua franca language of Afghanistan) as well as English. In 2005 Mahvish was a student at the University of Miamai Law School.

She had been raised to believe that the USA was a good country and that it respected the laws of justice and democracy.

Until the camp at Guantanamo Bay opened up. Then she began speaking out against the USA for illegally imprisoning men without trials. Her fiance got upset and said - Well why dont you stop complaining and get yourself involved if you feel so strongly.

So Mahvish sat down and googled the names of the attorneys for the 2004 Supreme Court case Rasul vs Bush. Mahvish bombarded those lawyers with emails saying she wanted to help. Eventually she was put in touch with a lawyer in Philadelphia who had 15 Afghani clients at Gitmo. The lawyer had never been able to speak to his clients as he did not speak Pushtun and they didnt speak English. Finally Mahvish had something of value that the lawyers could use - her fluency in Pushtun.

The FBI took 6 months to complete her back ground security check and when it was finally granted, Mahvish was off to Gitmo in January 2006 for her first visit.

Her role with the detainees quickly developed past that of just interpreter. She began providing supervised legal counsel and traveled to Afghanistan to find exonerating evidence for prisoners.

During more than thirty trips to Guantanamo, Khan unexpectedly connected with the very men that Donald Rumsfeld called “the worst of the worst.” She brought them starbucks chai, the closest available drink to the kind of tea they would drink at home. And they quickly befriended her, offering fatherly advice as well as a uniquely personal insight into their plight, and that of their families thousands of miles away. As time went by Khan began to question whether Guantanamo truly held America’s most dangerous enemies. But regardless of each prisoner’s innocence or guilt, she was determined to preserve their most fundamental right, the right to a fair trial.

For Mahvish Rukhsana Khan, the experience was a validation of her Afghan heritage—as well as her American Freedoms, which allowed her to intervene at Guantanamo purely out of her sense that it was the right thing to do. Her story is challenging, brave, and essential test of who she is — and who we are.

Washington Post article on which the book is based

A Good Life - Book Review

A Good Life
by Ben Bradlee
Simon & Schuster 1995

For some reason I have a fascination with the Washington Post newspaper. So much so that I have read everything I can lay my hands on about Watergate (including All the Presidents Men - book and movie).



Last year I read a new book about Woodward & Bernstein, basically updating their story since Watergate. I have just recently finished Katherine Graham's biography and now I have finally finished reading Ben Bradlees biography as well.

Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1921. He graduated from Harvard University in 1942 and served in the Pacific with the Office of Naval Intelligence during World War II.

Returning from the war in 1946, he became a reporter with the New Hampshire Sunday News and then joined The Washington Post two years later.

In 1951, he became a press attaché at the U.S. embassy in Paris and two years later joined Newsweek magazine’s Paris bureau, from which he covered the Anglo-French invasion of Suez and the Algerian rebellion.

In 1957, Bradlee came to Washington, D.C., and soon became Newsweek’s Washington bureau chief. In 1965, he rejoined the Washington Post as its managing editor and three years later became its executive editor, a position he would hold until retirement in 1991.

On his watch, in 1971, the Post challenged the federal government for the right to publish the Pentagon Papers, a secret government study of the U.S. role in Vietnam. A year later, Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein began their investigation of a Washington hotel burglary, which developed into the Watergate scandal and resulted in the resignation of Richard Nixon as president.

In 1995, Bradlee published his memoirs, “A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures.” In a previous book, “Conversations With Kennedy,” published in 1975, Bradlee described the John F. Kennedy he got to know behind the scenes as a neighbor and confidant, starting in 1958 and running through Kennedy’s presidency until his death.

Since retirement Bradlee also has taught journalism courses at Georgetown University and continues in the position of vice president-at-large at the Post.

OK so those are the basics about Ben Bradlee.

If you want to know the details, you have to read the book.

I really enjoyed this book. Ben writes in a casual manner and the print is easy to read. It was not cramped like Mrs Graham's book was. Part of the details include Ben's 3 marriages and the occasional mention of his 4 kids. He also writes about his friendships with JFK and RFK and the anatagonistic relationship he and the Post had with Richard Nixon.

Ben explains how Watergate story got started. The Post was told that 5 men had been arrested for breaking into the Democratic headquarters at the watergate hotel.

Post journalists scoured for details. Little things like overhearing James McCord jr say he was in the CIA, and how an address book had the name of Howard Hunt and a notation of the White house.

Woodward called the White House switchboard and asked for Mr Hunt. When the phone ran unanswered, the operator redirected the call to Mr Colsons office as that was where Hunt might be. Colsons secretary told Woodward to catch Hunt at a PR company which they did. Hunt was aksed why his name was in the addressbook of 2 burglars arrested at the democratic headquarters. Hunts reply was "Good God"

James McCord's picture was recognised as someone who worked for the Presidents committee to re-elect the president (CRP). In less than 48 hours the Post had traced a third rate burglary deep into the White House. The next question was WHY??

And that is how it all started - by good investigative journalism.