The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable by Carol Baxter ****

On New Year’s Day 1845, John Tawell murdered his mistress, Sarah Hart of Salt Hill. The witnesses saw him escape on the train. That would have been the end of it, except the constables send a message to London using the electric telegraph enabling the authorities in London to arrest him. The 1840s were a time of technological innovation: railroads, telegraph, and forensics. The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable by Carol Baxter tells the story of John Tawell, someone who stayed one step ahead of the law until this new technology caught up with him.

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Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge ****

 While Dostoyevsky, Dickens, and Victor Hugo were exploring the depths of human despair, Mary Mapes Dodge was writing a charming travelogue about Holland (for children): Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates. While the race to win the Silver Skates takes the title position, the book is about much else. The protagonists are Hans and Gretel Brinker two exceeding good children in dire circumstances. Ten years ago, their father lost his strength and intellect. The poor family now cares for his unresponsive body. Call this Dickens-lite. The family bravely struggles but, in the end, everything turns out well (similar to Great Expectations published a few years earlier).

SPOILERS:

In the end, the lost money is found, the father recovers, and the doctor’s lost son is found.

This book tells the story of the little Dutch boy who saved his village by putting his finger in the dike. It also includes the advice not to count your money in public lest someone decides to rob you. (Advice I grew up with.)

Mary Mapes Dodge writes in her time. She praises Dutch author Jacob Cats over his English contemporary William Shakespeare because Cats “has no white women falling in love with dusky Moors.”

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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Weatherford, Jack ****

What do you know about Genghis Khan? Jack Weatherford’s goal is to set you straight. Genghis Khan was for free trade, freedom of religion, multiculturalism, and equal law enforcement. He opposed torture and nobility. He introduced universal education and literacy by building schools. He supported women’s rights and secular governments. For a period in the 13^th century, he brought peace and prosperity to Eastern Europe and Asia. Are you surprised? Read Genghis Khan and the Making of the ModernWorld to learn the real story of this great man.

Genghis Khan was a genius of organization and governing. “The Mongols made no technological breakthroughs, founded no new religions, wrote few books or dramas, and gave the world no new crops or methods of agriculture. Their own craftsmen could not weave cloth, cast metal, make pottery, or even bake bread. They manufactured neither porcelain nor pottery, painted no pictures, and built no buildings. Yet, as their army conquered culture after culture, they collected and passed all of these skills from one civilization to the next.”

He built bridges, literally (“more than any ruler in history”) and figuratively.

When Genghis Khan died his legacy began to come apart because of fighting among his children and grandchildren. The black plague was the final stroke of death.

“The Secret History” has just recently been discovered, decoded, translated, and published. Most of what is “known” about the Mongols is racist or conveniently wrong.

While the history is fascinating, this book is a dry recital of facts.