The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War

Containment. Nicholas Thompson’s new book, The Hawk and the Dove, presents a riveting account of the intersecting lives of George Kennan and Paul Nitze. Thompson is Nitze’s grandson, and had access to personal papers not previously available, and the Kennan family also gave him broad access to materials. I knew a lot about both individuals prior to reading The Hawk and the Dove, and was never bored when I read what I already knew, and I enjoyed reading about many things I had not known. Kennan’s containment strategy in relation to the Soviet Union provided the intellectual basis for America’s approach to the Cold War. Nitze took Kennan’s ideas and militarized them. Kennan was the outsider and Nitze the bureaucrat; Kennan the Dove and Nitze the Hawk. With great sensitivity and balance, Thompson concludes that at various times, both Kennan and Nitze were right. These men were giants of their time, and this account of their lives will enlighten those readers with any interest in world affairs.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

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Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival

Fatherhood. At age eleven in 1979, Norman Ollestad was the only survivor of a small plane crash in the San Gabriel Mountains in which his father, his father’s girlfriend, and the pilot all died. Crazy for the Storm is his memoir of that experience, written in alternating chapters about the crash with his life before and after that pivotal event. Norm’s father pushed him hard during the eleven years they were together, and it turned out that the skills Norman learned from his father gave him the resources to survive against long odds against him. I especially liked the affectionate way in which his father called Norman “Ollestad”. The writing in Crazy for the Storm presents the ordeal and the memories of childhood in ways that keep a reader engaged, and never approach the sentimental or maudlin. By the last page, I realized that rather than a memoir of survival, I was reading about the relationship between a father and son, and how a father’s trial of his son by ordeal prepared a young man for the biggest challenge of his life.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

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Chronic City

Friendship. Jonathan Lethem moves his skills to Manhattan in his new novel, Chronic City. Amid the anxiety and loneliness of life in this tense city, protagonist Chase Insteadman, a child actor now middle aged and living on residuals develops a friendship with quirky cultural critic Perkus Tooth. In part, Chronic City is a finely written satire on life in our challenging times, and the struggle of individuals to find a way to move forward with their lives amid setbacks and challenges. The notion of a war-free edition of The New York Times made me laugh out loud. In other respects, Chronic City is the story of the power of love and friendship in the most unusual relationships. Chase, for example, in addition to being recognized for his child acting fame, is the fiancé of an astronaut who is stranded in space. Readers who enjoy fine writing and literary fiction will find many levels of pleasure on the pages of Chronic City.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

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Spartan Gold

Treasure. Readers who are looking for the relaxed reading comfort that can come from a formulaic adventure novel will find some pleasure in reading the latest Clive Cussler novel titled, Spartan Gold. New protagonists are featured in this book: Sam and Remi Fargo, highly skilled and adventure-loving treasure hunters. Wine bottles from Napoleon’s Lost Cellar lead the Fargos on a multi-country adventure that ends with the discovery of gold. Along the way, Sam and Remi are engaged in physical and mental repartee with a villain who wants the gold. The bad guy, Hadeon Bondaruk, remains an underdeveloped and one-dimensional character, but serves his purpose well in the novel. Sam and Remi are backed up by a paid staff at their California base, about whom I wanted to know more than is presented in this novel. Perhaps next time. In the meantime, Spartan Gold is an acceptable diversion offering some reading fun to those readers who like this genre.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

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The Lost Symbol

Revelation. There’s an exciting and entertaining two hundred page book buried inside the 528 pages of Dan Brown’s latest Robert Langdon thriller titled, The Lost Symbol. For readers who find value in pages per dollar, there’s some benefit here in having more pages to turn, which might prolong a reader’s pleasure. For me, the surplus pages riff with exposition that adds little to the novel. Unlike his earlier best sellers which drew heavy criticism from the Catholic Church and increased sales, The Lost Symbol is unlikely to irritate the institutions that Brown describes. In this case, Masonic ceremonies, symbols and buildings are likely to increase the range of Washington, D.C. tourism rather than lead to ire. The entire novel is the revelation to Langdon of a buried symbol long kept secret in Washington. Along the way, the adventure, suspense and plot twists can be entertaining, provided a reader has the patience to put up with superfluous exposition while awaiting the return of action.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

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