2016 – Justin Daniel

This is a list of the books I read in 2016. All the reviews were written in 2016 and are archived on this site in (roughly) the order I read them in.

Book Reviews 2016

A Confederacy of Dunces, John Toole (2016)

October 10, 20192016I read this book last year (you can check out my review here) but it was too good not to read again. This has become my most favorite fiction work and I think it will be a yearly read for me. You can read what I wrote last year but here are some things that struck me a second run through: There is a lot of philosophy that undergirds the narrative that is easy to lose, particularly if you’re not well versed in Medieval literature. One of the more striking things that I noticed was the reference to “Lady Fortuna’s wheel.” This is all explained in the book, but somehow I missed it the first time through. Apparently, luck in Medieval times revolved around “cycles.” If you had bad luck, you were going to be in it for awhile, at least until the cycle had passed. The same with good luck. Ignatius constantly references “Fortuna’s wheel” as he runs into a string of bad luck that begins with his attempted arrest, his mother backing into an iron patio that she has to pay back, and continues with a host of other zany adventures that stem from Ignatius having to get a job to help pay for the patio. In addition, I think I caught on to the plot a little better this time around. I’ve read some reviews that the general consensus of Confederacy is that you either love it or get 50 pages in and stop reading altogether. Ignatius is a piece of work and some people are so repulsed by him they can’t stand to read any farther. I think reading through a second time prepares you for his disgustingness. Further, some of the best parts of this story, in my opinion, are Ignatius’ interludes where he writes down his thoughts as a “working boy”; essentially, these are a compilation of writings that he hopes to form into his greatest work. Ignatius is an interesting character because he is such an old soul. But not just an old soul: a Medieval soul. So when you’re reading his very thoughts, he incorporates a lot of material from philosophy and culture that would have been accepted in those times. There’s a lot of nuances that can be missed. One of my most favorite lines of the entire book is when Mrs. Riley (Ignatius’ mother) enters his room and steps on these chief tablets of all his writings: he says to her “you are stepping on my worldview.” Obviously this is a very funny book that almost has to be listened to. I bought the paperback version to read through the second time, but the allure of Barrett Whitener’s spectacular voices was too strong. Although it is very funny, I will admit that I, again, did not laugh out loud much. Funny as it may be, I must have a heart of stone. [...]

Napoleon, Felix Markham

January 14, 20202016I have always found the person of Napoleon fascinating. When I was in Paris last year, I went to a place called Les Invalides. There is a chapel there that houses some of France’s most memorable leaders. Enshrined in that place lies the grave of Napoleon that attracts millions of visitors every year. But Napoleon has been described in history as the first dictator; a tyrant; a radical; and an emperor. But what makes Napoleon so special, and why is he still considered one of France’s heros? Well I think Felix Markham presents Napoleon is a balanced way in this book, “Napoleon.” I have often wanted to read a book on Napoleon, but in order to understand Napoleon, you have to understand the French Revolution. Earlier this year, I reviewed a book for a class I had to take on the French Revolution and Napoleon. I reviewed William Doyle’s book “The Oxford History of the French Revolution” which was a great introduction to the time Napoleon found himself in. Napoleon grew up in Corsica, which was an island in the Mediterranean south of France. It was always a contested island, and the French invaded it around the time Napoleon was born. Napoleon’s father and mother were freedom fighters for the small island nation, but succumbed to French rule. Napoleon never forgave his father for this treachery. As he grew up, he went to school on mainland France and eventually found himself enrolled in a military school where he was to become an artillery officer. When he became an artillery officer, he never really had a chance to ascend through the ranks because in the old regime (see my review of the French Revolution to understand this), the nobility were the only people who could advance far into the military. When the French Revolution happened, this did away with the old regime and Napoleon won a decisive battle against the English. He was promoted to Brigadier General and eventually put in charge of the French Army that was to conquer parts of Italy. In the Italian campaign, Napoleon won victory after victory with his brilliant military tactics. The government was very poor and his troops had not been paid for some time; Napoleon won the confidence of his men by allowing them to gather the booty of Italian treasures and they charged through the land. Paintings, statues, gold, coins, ancient antiquities were all liquidated to France during these campaigns. After the Italian campaigns, Napoleon devised a plan to halt the British dominance in the Western world. It would be near suicide to invade the British mainland, so Napoleon would strike at the British colony of Egypt. In the Egyptian campaign, Napoleon again found his mark as he conquered the land. Unfortunately, his entire fleet was shipwrecked by the British, stranding Napoleon and his men in Egypt. Napoleon, seeing events in France progress to the point where a power vacuum was coming, made his way back to Paris to take advantage of the situation. Eventually Napoleon orchestrated events to where he would become the defacto dictator of the country. This stabilization was actually ultimately good for France; what was not good was the wars that ensued. Napoleon wanted complete power, and he instituted himself as Caesar of the French Empire. Following this, he took to Prussia and Russia where he won victories at places such as Austerlitz that demonstrated he was in total control. Napoleon’s fatal mistake came in his assault into Russia. He was stymied that Spring into the summer, and the cold came upon the Le Grande Armee before they reached Moscow. When they did eventually get to Moscow, there was no one there to strike up a peace deal; rather, the Russians had set fire to the city. Defeated, Napoleon set off for France as his army continued to dwindle. The cold, lack of food, and attacks from the cossacks continued to drain his numbers. Just over a million set out to conquer Russia and only around 10,000 returned. Napoleon built up another army but it wasn’t enough; he had to capitulate and was sentenced to exile in Elba. He wasn’t there for long however; he broke free of his imprisonment and set out to Paris. He regained control and fought one last decisive battle at Waterloo with a coalition of forces against him commanded by the British. He lost this last battle and was sentenced to exile on St. Helena where he died sometime later. You can see that the legacy of Napoleon is mixed; on the one hand, he somewhat strengthened and saved France from the democratic disaster of the previous decade. The French Revolution took a toll on the people and Napoleon brought stability and order to chaos. And Napoleon was in all regards a genius. He was a tactician whose skills would only be dwarfed by men like Rommel in Italy and Africa. But on the flip side, he was brutal and took massive risks that endangered the French warriors of the time. He did a lot of harm to France mixed in with the good. Napoleon’s legacy is difficult. But one thing is for sure; he is a very interesting character to study. I think Markham’s brief study on Napoleon is palatable enough for both the novice and the ardent historian. [...]

1920: The Year that Made the Decade Roar, Eric Burns

January 14, 20202016I am intrigued with the 1920s and I’ve always wanted to know more about them. Last year, I was really interested in World War I and I read several books of that nature. But just like World War II is incomplete without the reconstruction efforts, so is World War I incomplete with reconstruction. This text provides an interesting thesis regarding the reconstruction efforts post-World War I. The thesis that Eric Burns purports essentially is this: the 1920s typified an era that dealt with social, political, and economic problems that we still face today. It opened a way for the rest of the “boom” of the 1920s era and with it prosperity and upheaval. Some of the areas that Burns looks at are: Prohibition – an example of government regulation and the deregulation of the 1920s Margaret Sanger and Susan B. Anthony – female birth control and woman suffrage, respectively: an example of the feminist movement of the 1960s and the debate over women’s rights that has continued until the present. The Ponzi Scheme – a now illegal business practice in which one person promises an investment return to many people and profits from the pool of money but is short when a run occurs. Made famous by Charles Ponzi who utilized and made famous such a scheme in 1920. Typifies the dark side of capitalism and the problems with deregulation. Wall Street bombing – one of the first examples of domestic terrorism in America. An example of the modern War on Terrorism. The Rise of Jazz – Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, King Oliver and others brought this truly American art form to the forefront, starting in New Orleans and then moving to centers like Chicago and New York. Woodrow Wilson – By the time the 1920s rolled around, Wilson was just a figurehead. His wife was the real “President.” Also an example of the sex war in this country. F. Scott Fitzgerald – an example of the excesses of the 1920s. There are other threads that are spun throughout this book, but these are just some of the more memorable ones. Burns makes a compelling argument and weaves them together through a journalistic perspective. This has been enough to get my palette wet for more. [...]

Holiness, J.C. Ryle

January 14, 20202016This book has to be one of the greatest on this subject ever written. Ryle is a genius at communicating and grandly espousing this complicated but necessary topic. Holiness literally means “to separate.” Therefore, the holiness of God is His separateness. He is unlike anything in the universe. So this has different implications: God cannot be compared to anything in the physical universe because he is intuitively outside of anything we understand. He is separate. But it also tells us something of what God desires of us as His children. Throughout the Bible, there are commands to be unlike the world. Such analogies as “salt and light” in Matthew 6 come to mind. So just as God is separate, so we too are to be separate from the world in the sense that we run counter to it. This is not only in our behaviors and actions, but also in the moral sense. Holiness is not merely to act of following a certain pattern for your life (a separateness that defines “salt and light”), but it also entails a certain abstaining from actions that have moral implications. As God does nothing that is outside of His character, and if He is holy and righteous, this means He does no wrong. A Christian strives to be holy in the sense that he does nothing that would be inconsistent with what God prescribes for His children; that is summed up in the quintessential phrase, “Be holy as my heavenly father is holy,” said by Jesus in Matthew 5. So we too as Christians have an obligation to strive for this goal. And it’s not easy. But Ryle makes it clear that being a Christian isn’t easy. He says it is akin to swimming upstream. You fight and fight the current pulling you downward. Sometimes you get tired and let the waters take you. But then you go right back to swimming as hard as you can to maintain your current (no pun intended) direction. This book also challenged some of my thinking on this subject. In my (perhaps previous) view, holiness is something that can only be accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit. We can only conquer sin when we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us. It would be as if you woke up one morning promising yourself not to sin in a certain area of your life; inevitably, you would fall because your thinking is preoccupied with not falling. Resting in the Holy Spirit to take control and exercise those things in Galatians 5 then, is the way to conquer sin. Ryle challenges this idea. Instead, he says both extremes are needed in the life of the Christian. We need to fight against sin; we need to swim against this current pulling us. But at the same time, we need prayer and the work of the Spirit in our lives to conquer sin. It is not done in a vacuum of just letting the Holy Spirit “magically” work out sin in our lives. It is a constant struggle. This book is a fantastic read. I highly recommend it for Christians who want to know more about this complicated topic. [...]

Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945, John Toland

October 10, 20192016If last year I was on a WWI kick, I have a feeling this year will be the year of learning about WWII.. I admit; I accidentally bought this book. It was an audiobook that I previewed and inadvertently bought. So I gave it a try. 41 hours later I was finished. 41. Hours. It took awhile. There is a lot to this book and what I thought I would do was dispel some of the myths I thought about the Japanese Empire during WWII. The Japanese were an ironclad fighting force that only were defeated because of the superiority in numbers of the American military machine during WWII. Well.. No. Actually, one of the earliest and only successes of the Japanese campaign in the Pacific was their bombing of Pearl Harbor. The American’s took a little time to recuperate, but after the battle of Midway and the island hopping campaign in the Pacific theater, they sustained relatively few casualties compared to the Japanese. Consider one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific theater: the Battle for Iwo Jima. The Americans sustained around 8,000 dead while the Japanese mustered around 18,000. Pretty much the whole war after Midway followed the same pattern. The Japanese had lots of time to prepare their defenses so they could outlast the Americans; that’s why they were so successful at first. Again.. not really. You have to understand that after the Philippines, the Japanese were resolute in fighting a defensive war. By the time the Battle of Laity was over, almost their entire Navy and much of their Air Force was in shambles. They never really expected the Americans to get to the mainland. So while they were dug in, it was only good enough not to be totally annihilated during the naval and air bombardments that preceded a landing. Even then, the battles after 1943 or so did not last very long. Take into consideration the Battle for Iwo Jima again and you will see that it only last for a few days. Towards the end of the war, many Japanese sacrificed themselves to inflict damage onto the enemy. This conjecture is more right, but still totally blown out of proportion. The Japanese have an honor based culture, and loss at the hands of an enemy was seen as very dishonorable. I was moved to see so many who contemplated suicide in the upper echelons of command. In the Marine Corps, we practice an ideal called tact which is this idea that you must stay strong even when you might lose as to not disrupt a fighting hope for victory. It was strange to me that so many times the commanders of the Japanese, on the cusp of defeat, wished to committed harakiri, particularly after Japan conceded to American powers. The Japanese were prepared to fight to the very last man, woman, and child. I think this is the biggest myth that I discovered was not as accurate as you might think. There were actually many calls to the government to cease hostilities well before 1945 from the public. This also manifested itself into assassination (or attempted assassinations) of high cabinet members and military men. Not every Japanese person was willing to lay their life down for the call of a nation. And in fact, the amount of people who were opposed to the war surprised me. There’s a lot of moving parts to this really broad narrative. I enjoyed reading (or listening) to this book though because the author did such a great job of including stories within the metanarrative. Many times, he personalized the details by examining a person or figure that was personally affected. This is especially clear in the two atomic bombs that were dropped on the mainland of Japan. You have innocent people who were going to work or taking the train and suddenly, they are not just statistics who don’t matter; they are real people who experienced real tragedies and were impacted by those events and continue to pass that along to the next generation. I also think a lot of lessons can be learned about the war in the Pacific. It has special significance to me because, as a Marine, the battlefields of the Pacific are full of graveyards of my own kin; Marines. Further, I think the war in the Pacific is overlooked in favor of the European War. But I think this is a mistake. There is not a lot of notoriety given to the Pacific theater because it is without some of the more controversial elements of war like the mass genocide of the Jews in Hitler’s Nazi regime. Ever since I lived in Japan however, I think that the East-Asian mind is so unique and I think a lot of good things can come from the study of the Pacific Theater. To look over it too quickly is to push important narratives to the periphery. Either way, it’s a long way so buckle in if you pick it up.. [...]