Title: The Final Days

Authors: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

Publish Date: November 1, 2005 (first published in 1976)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 480 pages

Source: Personal copy

Date Read: April 16-22, 2020

Review

A thrilling day by day account, starting around late January 1973 and going to August 9, 1974. This book is both a stand alone on what happened to end Nixon's presidency and yet it also a great sequel to All the President's Men. I think this book is better written than Men because there is no focus on Woodward's and Bernstein's working relationship or how to publish articles in the paper while lawyers from the White House and the Washington Post went head to head in court. The sole focus of the story was how the house of cards that Nixon built came crashing down around everyone. 

I have to say there are more than a few similarities that a reader can make between Judy Nixon and Ivanka Trump. Man, Judy was a real dope to believe her father past the time of his resignation and how she coddled him when Dick was living up to his name. I can't believe she married an Eisenhower, much less the former president's grandson - what the fuck did he see in her, I don't know. I do know that dear David Eisenhower believed in his father-in-law's guilt and tried to open Judy's eyes; for that she lashed out at David and dug in her heels. David was as astute as to Richard M. Nixon's darker side as his grandfather. Pat Nixon was pretty much drunk the entire time (I mean EVERY DAY), probably since summer of 1972 after the news broke. She didn't even try to get herself involved in her husband's PR campaign. 

Seeing how Nixon threw Haldeman and Ehrlichman under the bus, then backed up that bus and drove it over them again and again was fun, especially after reading what these three stooges did in Men. At the same time, John Dean had already turned state's evidence, so watching Dean throw Nixon on under that same bus and driving it over him and his very special personal attorney from Boston gave me a downright giddy feeling. 

I was surprised by new VP Gerald Ford's insistence of keeping a low profile, but enough public support of Nixon to show an united front. Ford didn't want the job in the executive branch - he was happy on the legislative side of Washington DC. It was as if Ford was in a wholly different administration while the rest of the White House was crumbling. He was as big of a rube as Judy Nixon. But this book did make me want to read more about his presidency. 

A fun and interesting ride through politics.

Date Published: May 27, 2008

Format: Paperback

Source: Own copy

Date Read: May 31, 2019 - June 5, 2019

Read for BL-opoly 2019, Nixon Reading List, and COYER Summer 2019

Blurb

Nixon and Agnew were an odd couple whose political love affair disintegrated over five years into a calamitous denouement. Agnew's divisive rhetoric skyrocketed his popularity, but he grew weary of exclusion from the Nixon inner circle. Nixon, concluding that Agnew was not the man to succeed him, conspired to dump him in 1972 and later to remove him from the line of presidential succession. But before Nixon's presidency collapsed in Watergate, a tawdry scandal of payoffs to Agnew in the White House accomplished the job. Jules Witcover, a leading political reporter of that period, wrote political biographies of both men and coauthored the acclaimed account of the Agnew resignation, A Heartbeat Away. Now, with three decades of perspective, a trove of new material including Nixon's White House tapes and interviews with close Nixon-Agnew associates, Witcover has written a captivating narrative that reveals how the foibles, pettiness and weaknesses of each man destroyed that marriage, and ultimately their careers. Very Strange Bedfellows' revealing look into the flawed and fascinating Nixon presidency will be catnip to anyone interested in American politics and American history.

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Review

I wanted to read this book the minute I found it in my search to build the Nixon Reading List. Luckily, I found a used copy at Half Price Books.com and had it in my possession in less than a week after ordering. I have been interested in the Spiro Agnew dimension of the Nixon presidency since I listened to Rachel Maddow's eight episode podcast "Bagman." Highly recommend to listen to it, as it goes in depth both personality wise and actions that led to Agnew's resignation during the Watergate scandal (but not a part of the Watergate scandal). This book also goes into detail about what Agnew did to earn a resignation from the second highest position in the country.

Spiro Agnew was not a Nixon guy at first - he was for Rockfeller up until the Republican Convention in 1968, when unexpectedly announced that he would be Nixon's running mate. Agnew hadn't been governor for a year before this announcement came out of the blue. Since the announcement was unexpected, Agnew wasn't too worried about how he was left out of planning and strategy meetings that Nixon's inner circle held often. Once the Nixon-Agnew won in the fall of 1968, Agnew was hoping to enter this inner circle. He didn't realize at the time how paranoid and insecure Nixon was and how Nixon's inner circle handled him. 

Agnew became a lightning rod, becoming Nixon's Nixon - he acted like how Nixon acted during the Eisenhower years, stirring up controversary and going after the media. This delighted Nixon, who could then play the statesman while Agnew was the hatchet man. This uneasy partnership worked until the 1970 mid-term elections, when the Republicans lost the House. Nixon and his team then tried to put a muzzle on Agnew, but the cat was already out of the bag and walking the streets. Agnew was also left out of any leadership positions within the White House and his cabinet dwindled down to three or four people, with HR Haldman and John Ehrilchman blocking every one of his attempts to directly deal with Nixon. Agnew was staunchly anti-Communist and against the China détente, so it was a surprise to Agnew when he read about Nixon's trip to China in the paper. There were other, smaller snubs and misdirections given to Agnew by the Nixon team, including the creepy bromance between John Connolly (governor of Texas) and Nixon. I wanted to vomit reading about these two.

By the time Alexander Butterfield admitted to Congress that there were White House tapes, Agnew was under FBI investigation for extortion, dating back to the time he was Baltimore city councilman and through his time as Maryland governor and VP. He had hoped that Nixon could pull strings and get the investigation squashed, but Nixon was already over his head with Watergate and Agnew was once again on his own. The book follows the two men through their respective resignations and post political life. A fascinating look at how thoroughly Agnew through away his political convictions and personal morality to play second fiddle to the paranoid and insecure Nixon. 

Date Published: September 11, 2018

Format: Print

Source: Library

Date Read: April 30 - May 5, 2019

Blurb

Chef José Andrés arrived in Puerto Rico four days after Hurricane Maria ripped through the island. The economy was destroyed and for most people there was no clean water, no food, no power, no gas, and no way to communicate with the outside world.

Andrés addressed the humanitarian crisis the only way he knew how: by feeding people, one hot meal at a time. From serving sancocho with his friend José Enrique at Enrique’s ravaged restaurant in San Juan to eventually cooking 100,000 meals a day at more than a dozen kitchens across the island, Andrés and his team fed hundreds of thousands of people, including with massive paellas made to serve thousands of people alone.. At the same time, they also confronted a crisis with deep roots, as well as the broken and wasteful system that helps keep some of the biggest charities and NGOs in business.

Based on Andrés’s insider’s take as well as on meetings, messages, and conversations he had while in Puerto Rico, We Fed an Island movingly describes how a network of community kitchens activated real change and tells an extraordinary story of hope in the face of disasters both natural and man-made, offering suggestions for how to address a crisis like this in the future. 
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Review

I come from an emergency management background, as that was my job in the Air Force, so I was coming from that perspective to this book rather than a foodie who wanted to read a book from a chef. I would like to nominate Chef Andres for the top job of running FEMA after reading this book. FEMA is an unwiedly, bloated government agency that can't find its way even with a map and GPS and a guide person. But this book also solidified my decision not to support the Red Cross whenever they do their disaster campaigns and look to other organizations to support or just a local bank fund to give to. 

It was telling that Chef Andres and his team/non-profit had experience in disaster relief (especially on islands) and had a what he, Chef Andres himself, described as a more "libertarian" response to feeding Puerto Ricans and that it was surprising to him that the conservatives back in Washington, DC didn't see that and support him. It showed that nobody gave a damn about Puerto Rico and that the government needs to overhaul it's disaster management and response, starting with FEMA.

Highly recommend. 

Barbara Kingsolver's fifth novel is a hymn to wildness that celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature, and of nature itself. It weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives amid the mountains and farms of southern Appalachia. Over the course of one humid summer, this novel's intriguing protagonists face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with which they necessarily share a place.

Amazon.com

I had so many smiles, pangs and other feels from this book that I've had to really think about what to say about the whole thing (isn't that the way with the books that really hit ya? ;-D). It might still come out all over the place but I'll do my best to get my thoughts right here. 

One of the things that made this novel tricky to follow at times is the fact that there are 3 different storylines going on at once and you have to pay attention for small, subtle details that link all of them together. Things kick off with Deanna, a forest ranger living in a remote part of the woods in order to study a small pack of endangered coyotes (endangered in that they are uncommon to the area, so when a small family of them makes an appearance, it's a big deal to Deanna). While at her post, she meets mysterious hiker Eddie Bondo, whose behavior turns a wee bit shady when she asks him about what brought him to this remote area of the woods. Though she's not sure she can entirely trust him, the two do have this immediate spark between them and fall into a tempestuous, earthy kind of coupling (and I will say here, I like that Kingsolver was able to write this in a way that was different but kinda still sexy without making it weird or unnecessarily vulgar). Deanna struggles with the realization that while she feels a powerful bond with Eddie, it's soon clear that they view the world through fundamentally different lenses. She doesn't know how to make peace with the two of them moving together through life with differing moral codes. 

"What did you teach?" {Eddie}

 

"Science and math and Please Shut Up to seventh graders. I liked the kids sometimes, but mostly I felt like I was under siege. I'm an introvert. I like being alone. I like being outside in the woods. And there I was. Living in a little brick house in a big-city suburb, spending my days with hundreds of small, unbelievably loud human beings... I'm not all that maternal." {Deanna}

 

"You. You spend more time making sure you don't hurt a spider or a baby bird than most people do taking care of their kids. You're maternal."

The second story introduces Lusa, a Polish-Arab woman who marries an Appalachian farmer. While Lusa's story mainly focuses on cultural struggles between her heritage and what she married into, she has her own ties to the coyote plot. 

The third storyline involves Garnett. His family's fortune came about through the milling of chestnut trees, until the blight of the 1950s that ruined the majority of the chestnut tree population. All these years later, Garnett is still pushing to rebuild the wealth that once was, by using a strain of Chinese Chestnut blended with what's left of the American Chestnut line. 

While sometimes tricky to keep all this straight as the reader, I really loved how the connections between them were not all that obvious. It made for really fun "lightbulb" moments when a detail from one story would click together with something I just read from the story before that. (I should probably point out that the three storylines are laid out through alternating chapters, not clearly defined PT1 PT2 etc style). There's also a connecting vein through the use of the Volterra Principle running throughout the novel, though it focuses on the general idea of the principle which says (in very generalized layman's terms here) that the harder you try to get rid of something, the more it's likely to come back at you in increased number, strength, etc. The characters in this novel who understand the idea are trying to convince the other characters to live life in a way that works with nature, rather than against it so much. But then those who encourage this kind of living are labeled as "backwards", "not willing to advance with the times". So this novel as a whole becomes very much a look at man vs. nature, man vs. man, rural vs metro, the push for always advancing things vs. the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. These characters also hash out the rash of rampant consumerism and how the demand for products that fulfill the need for ease of living and immediate gratification end up cluttering the world with low-quality junk products. (I cheered when Eddie asks Deanna to name the one thing she misses most from society and she says being near a public library!) Kingsolver even has the characters addressing the topic of dietary opinions -- meat eaters vs. vegetarians and vegans. 

But through all these major topics, this novel never once came off as preachy to me. A lot of solid "food for thought" moments are gently mixed into engaging storylines filled with characters you really want to know and come to genuinely care about. The characters, through their conversations with each other, point out that there is no one perfect answer, that any lifestyle choice will have a pros / cons list attached to it.

Her body moved with the frankness that comes from solitary habits. But solitude is only a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot; every choice is a world made new for the chosen. All secrets are witnessed. 

~ opening lines of Prodigal Summer

What's stressed in this novel is the idea that however you choose to live -- whether you're meat-eating country folk or salad-lovin' metro dwellers (or vice versa!) -- live gently, be respectful of the planet you live on and be grateful for all it provides. Kingsolver's story simply encourages readers to do their best to be kind caretakers of the Earth, 'cause we got a pretty sweet pad here in our solar system, if we can just get our act together! 

The daughter of a samurai never weeps. But Takiko, whose warrior father was killed in battle, finds this a hard rule, especially when her mother remarries a strange and ugly country potter. To get away from her miserable home, Takiko eagerly accepts a position at the imperial Japanese court. There, her beauty and nightingale voice captivate the handsome young warrior, Hideo -- who also turns out to be an enemy spy. As war breaks out, Takiko flees the court and is forced to choose between loyalty to her people and her love for Hideo. She painfully learns that whatever choice she makes, she cannot run away from her samurai honor.

Amazon.com

Of Nightingales That Weep takes place in feudal Japan, specifically the era of the Genpei War (1180-1185). In this story, Takiko, age 11, suffers the loss of her samurai father. Takiko's mother, discovering that there is little money left to her to live off of, sees little option but to quickly remarry, which she does. Takiko finds she is forced to accept Goro, a local potter, as her new stepfather. Goro does his best to win over Takiko, but well, when your biological father was a freakin' samurai, talk about pottery is a tough sell. Given time though, she starts to see sides to Goro that she does like. Just as she starts to accept her new life situation (by this time, entering her teens), Takiko is offered a position in the royal court, a lady in waiting to the princess. Takiko joins the court crew as a royal hairdresser and singer. Her singing catches the attention of Hideo (still not entirely sure if it's pronounced Hee-de-o or He-day-o), while his looks catch her attention.

"Take care, little one. Love is like a brushfire in August."

~ Lady Kiyomori to Takiko

Bummer for her, she comes to discover her warrior crush is actually a spy. But just as she's trying to sort out her tangled mess of a heart, war breaks out and the entire royal court is forced to flee the area, unsure of when they'll be able to return home. 

I liked the environment building here but as far as the plot and character interactions went, this one didn't quite reach the level of intensity I was hoping for. Many of the characters seemed to have very little depth / dimension to them, too stiff to feel real or relatable. Though I will say, I did end up really liking the character of Goro! He was written well, the way he developed over the course of the story.

Though this takes place during a time of war, the main characters seemed to largely only experience it from afar, hearing stories of other people in battle. There are a few quick battle scenes here and there but they felt rushed to me -- a few arrows shot here and there, something set on fire and then boom. Done. Next scene. 

I gave an extra half star for a scene near the end of the novel because it was pretty dramatic (and cinematic!) in the way things were described and the ceremonial behavior the characters take on. What they choose to do -- I would have never guessed that scene! I was honestly shocked and I wish the entire novel would have left me as tense and awe-struck as that scene. I am curious to check out Paterson's other books with this same theme / time period (though not necessarily same characters, I don't think). There was something to her environment building that I did really enjoy.