Nonfiction

Of all the many incredible stories of courage and sacrifice during World War II, the one about Europe's pilfered artwork remains relatively unknown.  Only recently have researchers filled in the details surrounding the loss, and by a hair's breadth, the unlikely recapture of almost all of Western Civilization's significant historical artwork.  Robert Edsel tells the story in The Monuments Men:  Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.

The initial dozen or so men drafted (a few women were later recruited) for this unit were museum curators, art directors and architects, tasked with securing historic buildings after combat forces retook Nazi-held terrain.  The job morphed quickly into a frenzied attempt to save structures and hidden art works from Allied bombardment over hundreds of square miles at the front.  Operating at the front, rather than behind it, resulted in the death of two of the men, but also hastened intelligence-gathering on hidden Nazi art caches.  As the front moved east, the race to find the caches intensified before artwork was either intentionally destroyed (Hitler's orders were ambiguous), or damaged beyond repair by the environment in which they were stored (damp mines, typically).

Approximately 5 million items were stolen by the Nazis - priceless paintings, sculptures and statues, national jewels, medieval manuscripts, religious relics, etc.  Tragically, some major landmarks and great treasures could not be saved, but the Monuments Men, aided by courageous locals and no small amount of luck, saved a vast portion of Europe's artistic heritage. 

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World   by Tracy Kidder

Cover via Amazon

Author Tracy Kidder interviewed dozens of Farmer's friends, colleagues and family members, and spent many weeks with Farmer in Haiti while researching this book.  There are snapshots of Farmer's unconventional childhood, which included several years of living in an old bus in South Carolina with his eccentric father, mother and 5 siblings. We hear about Farmer's undergraduate years on full scholarship at Duke, and his introduction to the plight of poor Haitian farm workers in the fields of South Carolina.   Kidder describes Farmer's ability to function on 4 hours of sleep per night, and work for several weeks without a day off.

Mountains beyond Mountains traces the arc of  Partners in Health, and provides an absorbing portrayal of the complicated, dedicated, uncompromising man who started it.

I have a 2 1/2 year old who will eat pretty much nothing but raisins and cheerios.  This hasn't fazed us, however. We continue to offer him foods we enjoy, like sushi and hummus.  We figure one day he might just surprise us all and try some!

Matthew Amster-Burton is of the same mind.  His book, Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father's Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater, is part memoir and part cookbook.  His anecdotes about his daughter and her interactions with food are hilarious and down to earth. As a proper foodie, Amster-Burton cooks amazingly diverse dishes, utilizing Seattle's bounty of farmer's markets and international grocery stores. He also involves his daughter in every step of the process.  Four year old Iris operates a meat grinder and makes pancakes in her very own electric fry pan.  She memorizes cookie varieties in recipe books, and chastises her dad when he brings home inferior bacon.  Iris is a future foodie in the making, for sure.   Sure, she still wants her burger plain and eschews Brussels sprouts, but her parents continue to cook and expose her to a wide variety of flavors. 

Amster-Burton does mention some of the popular books on feeding children (mainly agreeing with Ellyn Satter, as I do), but this is much more an entertaining read about the quirks of feeding a child and how to make food a fun and interactive experience for your child, even if they will only eat goldfish crackers.

Also, check out Matthew Amster-Burton's blog!

Matthew Amster-Burton will be appearing at the King County Library System Foundation's 2010 Literary Lions Gala.

Did you know that exactly 100 years ago today the worst avalanche is U.S. history took place on a Great Northern railway line near Stevens Pass in our very own state of Washington? 96 people died on that day and several more deaths took place during the days preceeding and following the major slide. Furthermore, a large number of people were severely injured and everyone involved was deeply traumatized. In other words, it was a major catastrophe that, though a historical footnote today, made headlines around the world at the time. The White Cascade: the Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche by Gary Krist is a brilliant retelling of this event that will have you turning pages faster than a speeding locomotive and maybe even biting your nails with suspense. You won't want to put this book down.

Gary Krist brings his considerable skills as an author of fiction into this step-by-step recounting of the extraordinary events that lead to Washington State's greatest natural disaster ("only" 57 people died when Mount St. Helens blew in 1980). Though the author is meticulous in his attention to historical detail, The White Cascade is all about the mounting tension of the narrative. Unlike the mild winter of 2010, the winter of 1910 was ferocious, especially in the Cascade Mountains. In this age before airplanes and transcontinental highways, railroads were the principal means of travel and several railway lines crossed the Cascades, operating even in the worst of weather. In the last week of February, 1910 two trains became stranded during a blizzard (actually, three consecutive storms) at Wellington, a train depot just west of Stevens Pass. Though heroic efforts to open the snow-blocked tracks were made by scores of workers, led by the superintendent of Great Northern's Cascade Division James H. O'Neill, circumstances kept conspiring to reverse every gain they so painfully made. Indeed, the chief protagonist in The White Cascade is O'Neill, who is portrayed as a skilled and tireless leader that was right on the front lines of the increasingly desperate mission to rescue the passengers. Though he ultimately failed, the author clearly wished to exonerate O'Neill for the blame that some, though by no means all, of the surviving passengers laid on his shoulders.

Perhaps my favorite facet of The White Cascade is the setting. Though I've never hiked the Iron Goat Trail (which follows the old railroad grade that was the scene of the disaster), I have hiked all over the mountains in that area and it's cool to see references to Scenic (currently a trailhead but then a lodge that served as a base of operations for the rescue effort), Skykomish (a nearby town which today features the most far-flung KCLS library), Leavenworth (before it's faux-Bavarian makeover), and other familiar places. Those mountains are indeed majestic but in the dead of winter in the middle of a freak storm, I can well imagine that they would be unforgiving. And they were.

Part thriller and part history lesson,The White Cascade is an unforgettable read. Check it out!

The Discovery Of France:  A Historical Geography From The Revolution To The First World War by Graham Robb.

This history of France does not describe battles; the excesses of Louis XVI or the Revolution; or the exploits of Napoleon.  What interests Robb are the telling details of life led by the common people before industrialization.  To get a feel for this he, in addition to extensive research, rode his bicycle through the countryside, going at the pace of a 19th century carriage.  The resulting book is the result of "fourteen thousand miles in the saddle and four years in the library."

Where else would you learn about packs of smuggling dogs, trained to carry goods across the border, and then hide in the fields while the lead dog made sure all was clear at the destination?  Or learn about the sometime fatal perils faced by brave geographers attempting to accurately map the country?  Or about people whose lives were so marginal that they virtually hibernated each winter to conserve energy? 

It is a bit of a revelation to find that the country whose capital was a brilliant center of literature, science, intellectual life and fashion for centuries was largely composed of very small, very isolated gatherings of people who spoke a bewildering array of languages and dialects.  Most of the inhabitants of what we now call France had no concept of belonging to such a country, no sense of kinship with other "French" citizens, and no knowledge of what life was like in distant Paris.  Nationhood was imposed from above, not without resistance.

Robb's style is lively and insightful.  This book would make an excellent choice for book clubs that read nonfiction and enjoy authors such as Simon Winchester or Timothy Egan.  Or for bicyclists who can sympathize with the winner of the 1891 Tour de France who survived not only the race, but also eighteen consecutive banquets held in his honor.

Nubs tells the tale of the close bond that develops between a U.S. Marine in Iraq, Brian Dennis, and the stray dog he befriends while stationed at a remote fort along the Syrian border, Nubs. When Dennis' mobile unit is reassigned to a different location 70 miles away, Nubs secretly follows him across the snowy desert.

While Nubs' trek across the desert is remarkable, it's a testament to dogs everywhere that tales like this get reported more than one would think. Canine loyalty isn't usually matched by human loyalty, however. In this case, it is Major Dennis' dedication to Nubs and his determined effort to get the dog out of Iraq that makes the story so unique.

Feel good stories for kids are rarely done with such realism and directness. It all feels very genuine, from the less-than-perfect photographs to the matter-of-fact text. The book will appeal to animal lovers of all ages (but especially kids!) Meet Kirby Larson and find out what went into the making of this engaging book at Literary Lions on March 6th at the Bellevue Library.

The Great Influenza: the Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, by John M. Barry is a remarkable story of medicine and science trying to solve the mystery behind the influenza epidemic of 1918.  As an accomplished storyteller Barry takes us on many side journeys as he tells the chronology of history.  It is those diversions into everyday lives that give this story depth. We learn who was there to fight this deadly disease and how they were equipped for that fight. Because of some miss steps plus lies by the media and the government of the time, a climate of fear claimed many lives and threatened the fabric of society. 
 
As so often in history a monumental event starts with a simple convergence of unrelated circumstances.  In this case the theory is that the epidemic's origin can be traced back to the small community of Haskell County, Kansas.  The virus had the advantage of being at the right place and at the right time.  There was a war on and young men and women were being moved across country and around the world.  The virus could therefore travel at will. This virus was like no other in that the very young and the very old survived, instead it chose those in the prime of life their 20's and 30's.  It was a mystery, victims died quickly usually within days of their first symptoms.

Barry helps us understand how medicine based on scientific method was in its infancy, about how the concept of "public health" came into being and about what lead to the founding of our modern medical institutions. During this time medical education was reformed through the efforts and perseverance of a few committed men and women. This reformation occurred in a time of crisis which rather than crippling change forced its hand by an accelerated need.

The movement of humanity in times of war, accounts for spreading many of the world's most devastating diseases. This is about the men and women, who focused on the biggest killer in World War I, not combat, but epidemic disease. With the story of this devastating epidemic as the backdrop we learn how science and medicine came together and gave us the modern discipline of "medical science" we know today.

1910's worst wildfire in U.S. history was not just a tragic loss, but an event that galvanized citizen support for forest conservation.  Timothy Egan, National Book Award winner, chronicles the events leading to the fire, the heroic and tragic stories from those few horrific days, and the nation's response in The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America. 

Although Roosevelt is listed in the subtitle, Gifford Pinchot and, indirectly, John Muir, were the driving forces behind the development of the National Forest system, and Egan spends the first portion of the book summarizing this backdrop.  Pushed through by the force of Roosevelt's will, the expansion of the National Forests was vehemently opposed by some of the most powerful senators in Congress.  Backed by timber, mining, and grazing lobbies, Congress effectively gutted Forest Service funding.  Idealistic young rangers lived a meager existence in towns that made Deadwood look like a kindergarten, desperately trying to control illegal logging and mining in an ocean of graft and hostility.

When hurricane force winds hit thousands of small fires during a summer of no rain, a handful of these poorly equipped rangers (the legendary Ed Pulaski among them) walked into a maelstrom.  Egan, again, marvelously captures a landmark natural event that changed the West.

Timothy Egan will be appearing at the King County Library System Foundation's 2010 Literary Lions Gala.