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Dec. 12th, 2006 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mojosmom#s 62-66
A bunch more by Donna Leon:
Uniform Justice
Death at La Fenice
Doctored Evidence
Friends in High Places
Death in A Strange Country
#67
A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry, by Sheila Isenberg
Varian Fry was an agent of the Emergency Rescue Committee, working in the south of France to help Jews and others escape from the Nazis. Fry's prior visits to Germany had made him aware not only of rising Anti-Semitism there, but its violent consequences. So when he was given the opportunity to work with the ERC, he did so. Nevertheless, he found that achieving his goals often meant acting contrary to the means approved by the ERC. It quickly became apparent that reliance on legal methods to get refugees to safety would not be sufficient and that illegal means must be used. One of the true horrors of this history is the fact that the U.S. State Department did not merely fail to assist, but actively prevented the emigration of refugees despite the government's knowledge of the Nazi's "final solution. Fry stood up to them, behavior which, while it saved many lives, ultimately led to his removal from France.
Fry was iconoclastic, anti-authoritarian, contrarian, traits that served him in good stead in his work with the ERC, but made the rest of his life difficult. (In fact, it seems that he may have suffered from bipolar disorder.)
An excellent biography of a fascinating man.
#68
Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, Michael Eric Dyson
Dyson's book will make you furious. He systematically lays out how racism and classism led to the horrors of Katrina, in the failure of the government to protect New Orleans against a major hurricane, to its inability (and unwillingness) to act to provide immediate relief, to the appalling treatment of the refugees. A must read.
#69
Dream Angus: the Celtic God of Dreams, by Alexander McCall Smith
One of the Canongate Myth Series. In Celtic mythology, Angus is a young handsome god, a giver of dreams, son of a god and a water nymph. He retells the story, alternating between myth and vignettes of modern-day people visited by dreams and Dream Angus. A lovely, spare thing.
#70
Rumpole and the Reign of Terror, by John Mortimer
Uh, oh!!! She Who Must Be Obeyed is locked in the box room, writing her memoirs! Mortimer here finally gives Hilda the opportunity to let us in on her point of view, as he shifts between her take on things and Rumpole's. And what's this? The Timsons want a new brief? Yes, it seems Rumpole is going to represent a Pakistani doctor accused of terrorism. His wife is a Timson, and the rest of the family do not approve! As they have provided a substantial part of his employment, Rumpole finds that briefs are thin on the ground. This does, however, give him plenty of time to find a way around the government's evisceration of Magna Carta and get his client a fair trial.
More later.
A bunch more by Donna Leon:
Uniform Justice
Death at La Fenice
Doctored Evidence
Friends in High Places
Death in A Strange Country
#67
A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry, by Sheila Isenberg
Varian Fry was an agent of the Emergency Rescue Committee, working in the south of France to help Jews and others escape from the Nazis. Fry's prior visits to Germany had made him aware not only of rising Anti-Semitism there, but its violent consequences. So when he was given the opportunity to work with the ERC, he did so. Nevertheless, he found that achieving his goals often meant acting contrary to the means approved by the ERC. It quickly became apparent that reliance on legal methods to get refugees to safety would not be sufficient and that illegal means must be used. One of the true horrors of this history is the fact that the U.S. State Department did not merely fail to assist, but actively prevented the emigration of refugees despite the government's knowledge of the Nazi's "final solution. Fry stood up to them, behavior which, while it saved many lives, ultimately led to his removal from France.
Fry was iconoclastic, anti-authoritarian, contrarian, traits that served him in good stead in his work with the ERC, but made the rest of his life difficult. (In fact, it seems that he may have suffered from bipolar disorder.)
An excellent biography of a fascinating man.
#68
Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, Michael Eric Dyson
Dyson's book will make you furious. He systematically lays out how racism and classism led to the horrors of Katrina, in the failure of the government to protect New Orleans against a major hurricane, to its inability (and unwillingness) to act to provide immediate relief, to the appalling treatment of the refugees. A must read.
#69
Dream Angus: the Celtic God of Dreams, by Alexander McCall Smith
One of the Canongate Myth Series. In Celtic mythology, Angus is a young handsome god, a giver of dreams, son of a god and a water nymph. He retells the story, alternating between myth and vignettes of modern-day people visited by dreams and Dream Angus. A lovely, spare thing.
#70
Rumpole and the Reign of Terror, by John Mortimer
Uh, oh!!! She Who Must Be Obeyed is locked in the box room, writing her memoirs! Mortimer here finally gives Hilda the opportunity to let us in on her point of view, as he shifts between her take on things and Rumpole's. And what's this? The Timsons want a new brief? Yes, it seems Rumpole is going to represent a Pakistani doctor accused of terrorism. His wife is a Timson, and the rest of the family do not approve! As they have provided a substantial part of his employment, Rumpole finds that briefs are thin on the ground. This does, however, give him plenty of time to find a way around the government's evisceration of Magna Carta and get his client a fair trial.
More later.
