Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser *****

Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser or how the best and worst of America inspired school children and funded right-wing conservatives. So many stories in one volume. One: the true story behind the Little House literary empire. Two: how said empire funded isolationist, small government, libertarian causes. Three: one hundred years of Midwest history and how the people most needing government came to hate it. Four: how people came the believe the myth of the American farm.

One: the true story behind the Little House (LH) literary empire.

In her late fifties Laura Ingalls Wilder (LIW), an avid reader, but barely educated, wanted to record the story of and stories by her father. To her aid came her daughter Rose Wilder Lane (RWL), a writer of fictionalized “true stories” and a libertarian. The RWL and LIW were opposites, spend and save, dramatic and thoughtful, privileged and poor, world-traveler and stay at home, lost and found. Together they crafted an enduring American myth from LIW’s life of deprivation and RWL’s flair for sensational fiction. Fraser researches the true story behind the LH. The bulk of this book is LIW’s biography prior to writing the LH books starting her late 50s. LIW’s story is one of hope, deprivation, a failure. Growing up, her family searches for the impossible dream—a self-sufficient small farm. The LH books celebrate this dream…myth…nightmare.

Two: how said empire funded isolationist, small government, libertarian causes.

When LIW died she wanted her legacy to support her daughter and then pass to her favorite library. Her daughter used the resources to support her libertarian philosophy. Over her lifetime, RWL “adopted” a number of young men. The last was Roger McBride, forty years her junior, who ended up owning the LH books, authorized the TV shows, and ran for president as a Libertarian candidate. His heirs still own the books.

Three: one hundred years of Midwest history and how the people most needing government came to hate it.

In the Midwest frontier, pioneers had a love-hate relationship with government. When the government supported them against the native Americans, they loved it. On the other hand, even when they were starving, they hated government assistance and regulation. These ideas opposed to taxes and bureaucracy began in the 19^th century and continued today. These ethics fought the New Deal and accepting Jewish refugees. Throughout this history, self-sufficiency trumped self-interest and even survival. The LH myth of the small farm has supported these ideas for over 150 years.

Four: how people came the believe the myth of the American farm.

The various Homestead Acts,  the railroads, and the LH books celebrated the small farmer, while LIW’s family tried time and time again to achieve this dream, but always failed. Why? Statistics reveal that the average income of an American family farm is negative. Growing up, LIW’s family alternated between working in town to save money, and homesteading until they were starving. Regardless of this reality, with the help of the LH books, the myth survives.

P.S. for writers: Since these LH books were the collaboration of two distant authors and before computers, multiple versions of the books, plus the correspondence has been preserved. LIW wrote without thought of literary conventions, from memory. She was responsible for the vivid descriptions and sympathetic characterizations. RWL acted as editor (chapters, paragraphs), but also contributed (fabricated) dramatic scenes as she thought appropriate. LIW wrote with fond personal nostalgia, while RWL thought of the reader and the market.

P.S. for scientists: Much of the suffering of homesteaders was “self-inflicted,” climate change caused by human activity. In the latter part of the 19^th-century scientists knew about the problem, but the railroads promoted settling the land calling the scientists elite intellectuals.

P.S. for feminist historians: Libertarians owe much of their popularity to “three weird sisters” who published philosophic books during World War II: RWL (The Discovery of Freedom), Isabel May Paterson (The God of the Machine), and Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead). Fraser calls these “an antifeminist trifecta.”

Do you love the Little House books? If so, you might not want to read this American tragedy.

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Dreaming Spies by Laurie R King ****

Dreaming Spies by Laurie R King is a Sherlock Holmes mystery featuring his wife Mary Russell. Mary explains the story like this: “The entire case was about books…I reflected. Bashō’s poems, the Bard’s plays, a countess’s empty Bible.” While the mystery ends with a Watson-like explanation of the complex plot, much of the story is a 1924 travelogue of a steamer trip Bombay to Kobe and a visit to Japan. Well over half the book is gone before the mystery is revealed.

Mary Russell, Sherlock Holmes’ wife, takes the place of Watson as narrator, but also plays a very active role in the narrative, doing her own independent investigations. The third detective is Haruki Sato. She is a member of an ancient family of shinobi (ninja) dedicated to the protection of the emperor. In addition to her ninja training, she went to school at NYU.

The antagonists are Lord James Darley, his younger second wife Lady Charlotte Darley, and his reprobate son Viscount Tommy Darley. All the Darleys have questionable reputations, but nothing specific has been proven.

Much of the plot revolves around an illustrated book of Matsuo Bashō’s haiku—Bashō being the master and inventor of haiku.

As fitting for a Sherlock Holmes novel featuring rare books, the famous Bodleian Library at Oxford University is prominently featured.

If you imagine you’d like both a historical visit to rural Japan and a Sherlock Holmes mystery, I’d recommend this book, as both parts are well written and interesting.

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Two books about long hikes *****

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and Wild by Cheryl Strayed are both books of long hikes. Bryson hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT) and Strayed hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Both trails are arduous and over 2,000 miles (3,000 km) long. On one level both hikers had similar experiences of feeling ill-prepared, satisfaction from getting in shape, isolation, obsession with hunger, especially junk food, giving up on the most difficult sections, obsession with soft beds, clean clothes, and showers, and a sense of pride at their personal accomplishments.

There were also notable differences. Cheryl was a single woman in her 20s and broke, while Bryson had support and was in his 40s and a best-selling author. The PCT is more of a wilderness trail, while the AT is rarely far from civilization. His book was written as a travel book, while hers was a quest to grow beyond her mother’s death, her divorce, and heroin addiction.

The prelude for a long hike includes guidebooks and extensive preparation. Virtually everything from food and water, to sleeping bags and tents, to shoes, clothes, and packs, is available in a multitude of expensive and high-tech variations. Advice is available from people and books. Both authors agree that all the preparation is insufficient to prepare for the actual hike.

Bryson’s experience was more upbeat for three reasons:

1. The AT goes through the relatively populous each coast (13 colonies). He was never far from basic necessities or comforts such as motel and restaurants.
2. As a family man and an established author, he had plenty of cash, credit cards, and people to show up in a car.
3. Bryson tells the story of the Appalachian Trail with plenty of comic relief and history.

Strayed on the other hand:

1. The PCT passes through the wilderness where even the established towns were often just a general store and a post office. No motels. No restaurants. What is proof of wilderness in the 21^st century? No overnight delivery. Only regular USPS service.
2. As a broke single woman, she was on her own.
3. Strayed tells her personal story of challenge and discovery while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

 Highlights from Cheryl Strayed’s story:

Since the PCT went through the wilderness (and Cheryl was broke), she prepared resupply boxes that were mailed to general delivery post offices along the trail. Resupply boxes included new clothes, food, and cash. She was often broke and out of food, so the resupply schedule provided strong motivation to stick to a schedule determined months earlier.

As a single female hiker (who signed each of the many logs along the PCT), she became a minor celebrity. The other hikers (predominantly in groups, and male) treated her well, but she did have a few encounters with creepy and predatory men.

The weather along the PCT, even in Summer, included significant snow and chilling rain. Many decisions and detours were determined by the weather. Regardless of the risk, she mostly chose to hike on her own. Her resupply boxes always included a book, which she burned after reading to avoid carrying extra weight.

She proved herself to be brave and resourceful. While pack weight was a constant issue, she never discarded her roll of duct tape and used it often in creative and life-saving ways.

Highlights from Bill Bryson’s story:

Bryson and his hiking companion both smoked cigarettes (1995)!

Regardless whether the AT goes through National Parks, National Forests, or National Trails, development pressures are evident in visitor centers, parking lots, and other tourist facilities. As a result, hardcore backpackers (like Bryson) regularly interacted with casual hikers and plain tourists. While the backpackers claimed the moral high ground, the tourists had numeric and financial superiority.

Historically Pennsylvania was an energy powerhouse (oil and coal), today it suffers from its legacy, including a deserted town that is above a burning coal mine that might not burn out for a thousand years.

Risks on the AT includes death from hypothermia (theoretically avoidable) and homicide (not avoidable). Because of the proximity to population centers, there are unlimited stories like:

“They were able to report their [GPS] position…but unfortunately didn’t have the faintest idea what that meant, as they hadn’t brought maps or compasses or, evidently brains.”

If you plan to hike either trail, pick the book that matches your destination. If you’d like some light reading with comic relief and no real jeopardy, Bryson is for you. If you are looking for struggle and victory, go with Strayed. Oprah chose Strayed.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

Tomorrow by Damian Dibben ***

Tomorrow by Damian Dibben is told in the first-person point of view by a dog. If you’re looking at this book, I imagine that, like me, you’ve read and enjoyed other books written from a dog’s point of view. This one is darker, much darker.

Master travels to the Arabian lands and learns the secret of eternal life. The treatment is successful for himself, his dog, Champion, and his eventual nemesis Vilder. The novel spans the 17^th, 18^th, and beginning of the 19^th centuries. These main characters live over 200 years, travel throughout Europe and meet many famous people. They also participate in war from the 30-years war to the Napoleonic.

Much of the narrative happens in Venice. In 1688, after telling Champion, “If we lose one another, my champion, wait for me on the steps,” Master disappears. Loyal Champion waits by the cathedral steps for 127 years.  After 127 years, Champion senses the scent of Master. With his canine friend Sporco, he sets off the find Master. The quest is full of danger and privation.

While Champion, and Sporco, are positive and happy regardless of any setbacks, both Master and Vilder suffer and question the value of eternal life.

If you are looking for a historical novel about the philosophical questionability of eternal life, this could be the book for you. Conclusion: dogs are more suited to eternal life than people.

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Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi ****

You might first think of Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi as a pleasant fantasy. After all, it is a quest to restore magic and defeat an evil king in the kingdom of Orïsha. However, in the acknowledgments, Adeyemi’s true intentions are disclosed.

“If you cried for Zulaikha and Salim, cry for the innocent children like Jordan Edwards, Tamir Rice, and Aiyana Stanley Jones. They were fifteen, twelve, and seven when they were shot and killed by the police.”

This is an allegory about the contemporary black experience in the United States.

Prince Inan and Princess Amari question whether King Saran has to destroy all magic and divîners (people capable of magic). Zélie and her brother Tzain belong the oppressed caste. The plot is complicated because Inan and Zélie and both divîners. Star-crossed relationships form between Inan and Zélie, and between Tzain and Amari.

The four join forces to retrieve the three magical artifacts (scroll, bone knife, and sunstone) to perform the necessary ritual on an island that appears once every hundred years.

The quest includes a trek through a jungle to an ancient temple, a gladiatorial fight in a colosseum that fills with water, the discovery of a lost city, romances, betrayal, and torture.

Just as the real events which inspired this book, the story includes brutal violence and hatred.  

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.