Book Review: The Spymaster of Baghdad (2021). Margaret Coker.

This excellent account by a notable U.S. war correspondent tells the personal stories of several families and individual Iraqis caught up in surviving the post-US invasion period of sectarian violence in Iraq, followed by the rise of ISIS, and the war against them by Iraqis, Kurds and U.S. supporters.  

At the center of the story is an Iraqi man who became brilliant at identifying ISIS terrorists and constructing maps of their social networks, with the help of his older brother, the disgraced “oldest son” of the family, who went underground for more than a year in the ISIS movement to gather critical information about the terrorists, their organization and their bombing campaigns.  

Their paths are contrasted with a bright young woman from another family, who was driven by her rage toward the American invasion and its violent sectarian aftermath to become a leader in the ISIS movement, despite their appalling treatment of herself and other women. 

This is a thrilling, disturbing and powerful account of how the Iraqi people and their society were impacted by the U.S. invasion and occupation, and some of the ways they chose to fight for their very different versions of a better world for their families and communities.  Recommended.

Book Review: Under the Sky We Make: How to be Human in a Warming World (2021). Kimberly Nicholas (PhD).

This is a different kind of climate crisis book, which focuses more on the personal impacts of climate change: how we think about it, our grief at what will be lost, and what already has been lost, but also what each of us can do to try to minimize the future losses, and give our own lives meaning. 

The author talks about how climate scientists try to cope with their own grief, depression and feelings of futility in the face of a massive human ecological catastrophe that seems impossible to prevent, and about what each of us can do and must do to stay sane, and make good choices in the areas of our own personal, family and work lives we can affect, to try to save the planet. 

This book is a very moving, thoughtful and constructive guide to how each of us can make a difference, and add to our collective positive response as humans to the climate disaster we have created.  Recommended.

Book Review: The Woman Who Smashed Codes (2017). Jason Fagone.

This is one of several recent books about Elizebeth Smith Friedman and her husband William, the "parents" of the NSA and modern American cryptology.   

William Friedman, as the male in the couple, tended to get more contemporary fame and historical recognition, but this book, based on extensive notes and documentation from Elizebeth that have only recently been declassified, shows that she was at least as brilliant and prolific in her code-breaking career as he, and made her own unique and until now largely-unrecognized contributions.  

Of particular note were the chapters on her early work during the 1920s and 1930s with the U.S. Coast Guard cryptology unit, which was formed during the Prohibition era, and led to her being able to identify smugglers, map their networks, and break up many of their rum-running operations.  

From there, she and her Coast Guard colleagues transitioned to breaking Nazi codes during the World War II U-boat war in the Atlantic, and also disrupting extensive Nazi spy operations throughout South America, for which J. Edgar Hoover largely stole the credit (the F.B.I. had to use her and her team for most of their code-breaking, since they had no such resources or abilities of their own).  

This biography is another inspiring addition to recent books about the previously unknown contributions and heroism of women in World War II, and a detailed account of the famous spy couple, and their careers, love and family as well.  Highly recommended. 

Movie Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018). Movie, Netflix.

This is the lovely and moving story of a young woman in the post-World War II London literary and social world of 1946, based on a 2008 book of the same name. 

The main character Juliet (played beautifully by Lily James) is a successful author of a series of popular children's books, engaged to be married to a wealthy American.  But after reading an intriguing letter she receives from a stranger, she discovers and then falls in love with a small group of eccentric book-loving survivors of the Nazi occupation of Guernsey (in the Channel Islands). 

In the process of going to Guernsey, meeting and getting to know the members, and learning the deeper history of their wartime experiences, with all their difficult compromises, sacrifices and bravery, she comes to know herself and her own true desires as well.  Highly recommended.

Book Review: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right (2016). Jane Mayer.

Jane Mayer, the author of this essential book, is a gifted staff writer for The New Yorker, as well as the author of several other titles, and a specialist in researching and documenting complex political phenomena. 

In Dark Money, she takes an in-depth look at the history of the Koch brothers and their right-wing billionaire friends, and explores their lifetime ideology and mission to undermine democracy in favor of a plutocracy that will be favorable to their interests.  In doing so, she provides an exhaustive account of why and how our democracy and its institutions have been systematically shredded at the hands of the Kochs, the Mercers, the DeVos family, the Tea Party and the radical right. 

Mayer shows how this dedicated right wing subset of the ultra-rich have learned to undermine and defeat popular political ideas, by playing a long game of building dozens of self-financed organizations of influence with misleading names, and how in Donald Trump they may have found a near-perfect instrument to enact their far right agenda, while also destroying popular faith in our democracy, its norms and its checks and balances.

If you want to understand how we reached our current political and economic situation in the United States, this book is an indispensable piece of the puzzle.  Highly recommended.  

Movie Review: Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020). Disney +

This unusual concert video of Taylor Swift caught my attention toward the end of 2020.  I had not been a long-term Taylor Swift fan, but it would be hard to live on this planet and not know by now that she is one of the most iconic and popular songwriters, singers, musicians and performers of our era.  

So I took note when I heard that she had released a new album in July, 2020, a total surprise even to her record company, which she produced entirely under COVID-19 isolation conditions.  The album, Folklore, had very strong reviews, due in part to her departure from previous music styles (teenage country music star, then mid-20s-aged pop diva) toward a more ethereal folk rock sound and style.  I listened to it, and was immediately taken with it – it’s a truly great album, full of ear-pleasing sounds and haunting stories.

That's all backstory to this concert film, which was recorded in a rural home studio by the Hudson river, with just Swift, her small group of musical collaborators, and a large supply of guitars, pianos, mixers and other instruments, performing stripped-down versions of every song on the album.  In between songs, there are clips of them sitting around talking and reminiscing about their process of writing and recording the songs. 

It was fascinating to me, and very impressive, particularly when we find out that Swift (like so many other musicians, from famous to amateur and recreational) had to figure out how to do home recording, and remote recording collaboration (not to mention performing!), while also creating all the beautiful new songs she wrote.  Highly recommended.

TV Review: Ted Lasso, Apple TV+, Seasons 1-2.

This offbeat comedy series, which takes place in the English midlands, is based on a hilarious premise.  A wealthy older Englishwoman (played by Hannah Waddingham), who has been abandoned by her philandering English Premiere League team owner husband for a younger woman, gets the team in the divorce settlement.  

She decides her most perfect revenge on her ex-husband will be to turn the team into a laughingstock, by hiring a complete buffoon from America as the team coach, whose only apparent qualification is having won a Division II college (American) football title.  Coach Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) is incurably affable, funny, lovable, and deeply caring -- he just doesn't know anything about soccer.  

But he does know about coaching, people and teams, and he has a heart of gold. Watching him struggle, face predictable and unpredictable setbacks but then succeed in a situation where he was hired to fail is a complete delight.  One of the true gems of the pandemic years' television entertainment.  Season 3 is in the works.  Highly recommended.

Book Review: Girls and Sex (2016). Peggy Orenstein.

A mother and journalist explores the contemporary challenges, ideas and behaviors of young girls and women navigating early sexual experiences, and the associated pressures and issues.  By having candid, open interviews with many young women in high school and college, and detailed discussions with them about their sexual activities and feelings, she was able to show how we as a society continue to fail them, by not providing realistic information about the emotional and pleasurable aspects of sex. 

She discusses the destructive role of ubiquitous pornography online, which is seen by many or most  young girls and boys, as a truly sad alternative to good education, information and advice about healthy sex and women's enjoyment of it.  

She also pays attention to the conflicting social pressures young women face in the modern “liberated” era, where they are expected and encouraged from an early age to be seen as sexually available, “hot” and desirable, yet can be and often are “slut-shamed” (particularly on social media, with terrible  psychological effects) at the same time if they actually act on boys’ expectations or their own desires.  

This is a very revealing, compassionate exploration of the challenges faced by modern girls in  weathering the earliest phase of their sexual lives, as they try to learn how to develop positive sexual relationships and healthy self-images, and have enjoyable experiences, in the realms of sexual pleasure, love and relationships.  Highly recommended.