Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, Notes from A Big Country (New York: Doubleday; 1998), 318 pages.

In 1996 or thereabouts, Bryson relocated with his family from England to a small college town in New Hampshire. Soon after his arrival, he was convinced by a colleague at an English newspaper (The Mail on Sunday Night and Day Magazine) to write a weekly column about America. This book is a collection of these articles that were written between October 1996 and May 1998. The articles are printed chronologically and cover a wide range of topics of potential interest to English readers. The book’s chapters include articles on baseball (written during the time of the World Series), the intellectual poverty of American television programs, the pervasiveness of drugs, advertising, congress, food, politics, obesity (how could there be a book on America without this topic being broached), the unique American holidays and how Americans celebrate them, and the rituals of fare welling a child going off to college. Bryson’s articles also contain a few articles on the oppressive bureaucracies one encounters in America (no doubted more oppressive these days), as well as numerous articles on the strangeness of returning to America after being away for a long time and finding that many things have changed and are not as they once were.

Bryson’s books are known for containing generous portions of smart-arse comments, complaints about stupidity and stupid people, and cruel humor often directed towards people simply doing their job. This book does not disappoint those Bryson fans expecting that kind of writing. You have to give credit to the man: he knows his audience. Nonetheless, this humor is at times forced, especially in articles dealing with new technology and having to file income taxes. Bryson complains a lot – he even quotes his wife who accuses him of writing columns that bitch, moan and complain. She is correct, partly. We should be mindful that these articles were written for an English newspaper and Bryson does well to pick the low hanging fruits of complaining about America in a way that appeals to English superiority and their apparent repulsion of American vulgarity. These are easy targets. Where Bryson really excels is in his descriptions of aspects of America that delight and surprise him. These articles are where Bryson’s writing excels. Smart-arse complainers are common: writers that can convey delight wonder and enthusiasm are rare. This is where Bryson’s real talents lie. In this book he shows glimpses of this special talent. As we now know, it took Bryson a few more years and a few more books for him to develop this talent and leave behind completely the callow smart-arse humor that appears here. This book is enjoyable nonetheless. The short chapters make it an ideal book for commuters looking for something to make their daily journeys quickly pass, as well as for men who like to do their reading in the smallest room in the house. Time has dated a few of the chapters, but on balance, this is an enjoyable book that has something for all adults.

The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, "The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America," (London: Abacus Books; 1990), 293 pages.

In the late 1908s, Bill Bryson, an England-based American writer, returned to the United States to retrace the travels taken on family vacations during his youth. The travels he took were the material for this book. Bryson wanted to visit what he called the magical places of his youth, or perhaps more accurately, the places he visited on family vacations of his youth that formed magical memories for him. Motivated by the recent passing of his father, a semi-famous baseball writer, and looming middle-age, Bryson returned to his home town, borrowed a car, and set out to see small town America. His journey was not just a retracing footsteps of old trips, it also took on a quest to find the dreamy small town of the movie of his youth, a timeless place where Bing Crosby would be the priest, Jimmy Stewart the major, Fred Macmurray the high school principal, and Henry Fonda the owner of the gas station. Bryson called this fictional town Amalgam, a mixture of the picturesque towns encountered in fiction.

Bryson traveled from Des Moines, Iowa to all corners of the lower 48 states of the United States. The book contains detailed descriptions of the places he visited, together with reflections from his childhood. Bryson writes with perception, accuracy and wit. He captures the vast contrasts in the United States, the gaps between the wealthy and the poor, the prevalence of violent crime, and America's large scale abandonment of small town "high street" commercial life in favor of large scale commerce of big box stores and shopping malls. Bryson praises the staggering physical beauty of the United States while simultaneously recoiling at the homogenization of its look alike suburban developments, gas stations, motels and fast food outlets frequented by overweight hicks wearing bad clothes.

The Lost Continent established Bryson's reputation as a humorous travel writer. At times he is a rude smart-alec that prompts deep belly laughs in reader. At times he is cruel when he makes fun of the local residents of the small towns he visits. At the time of the writing of this book, Bryson has lived outside the United States for a long time. This book shows that the America of his youth is gone; Americans' way of life and their towns and cities have changes from how he remembers them. It’s as though Bryson is a foreigner in his own country and he is disgusted with a lot of what he sees. Despite his smart-alec outrage and humorous put-downs, Bryson writes quite beautifully about the places he visits, most notably the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, and numerous small towns in New England and the Mid West. The book also contains many historical fact that enable Bryson to provide a back story to the places he visited thereby acting as a story teller and educator for the reader. Bryson's eye for detail, love of useful facts, historical details, and good yarns are his great strength. His gift is to tell great stories about significant human achievements and follies that move and excite people. In The Lost Continent we see the potential he developed later on in more serious and scholarly books.

If this book has a weakness it’s the uneven pace. Bryson starts slowly, describing in great detail his travels on the Iowa and Illinois back roads. It’s as though he is travelling slowly, but writing a lot. By the end of the book, Bryson covers great distances with less detail. As times it appears as though he is racing across the western states as though he is on a deadline to traverse these great distances in a short period of time and in as few pages as possible so he can flop over the finish line in time for his return flight to England. The pace is that of a sprinter compared to the leisurely stroll at the start of the book. If you can get past this minor blemish, Bryson's "culture shock" and humorous self-obsession with how America has changed, you should enjoy this book for its moments of serious reflection and first-rate story telling about things that both tarnish and make America great. These alone are worth the purchase price of this book.

"Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins," by Rupert Everett

Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, by Rupert Everett (New York: Warner Books; 2006), 406 pages.  ISBN : 978-0-446-57963-6.

Rupert Everett's autobiography is his account of his life from infancy through 2006. Naturally, it covers his school days through his professional acting/singing/modeling career, its various ups and downs, good years and bad years, feasts and famines. Most notable are Everett's accounts of his life's loves. Acquaintances are also mentioned and discussed with particular emphasis on how they affected his life at that time.

Rarely do writers receive criticism for failing to disclose information and facts; however this is a rare example of a book where the author goes to far in his enthusiastic disclosure of his and his friend's and acquaintance's concerns. Everett is enthusiastically indiscreet; he gives us too much information on matters that should be personal, private, or left unsaid. This, of course, is deliberate. Nothing attracts publicity and book sales like the disclosure of scandalous indiscretions.

Who would benefit from reading this book? Very few people, except collectors of trivia about semi famous and famous actors and their friends. Everett's acting skill is perhaps equalled by his ability to befriend famous and notable people. Two useful lessons of this book is how success often depends on winning a patron, and that life as an actor can quickly move from feast to famine. The greatest limitation of this book is its cursory dealing with serious matters, in particular, his apparent lack difficulty in simultaneously being both a practicing catholic and practicing homosexual. His reflections on this rationalization would make for much more interesting reading than a recollection of the latest party at Roddy McDowall's house. But I suppose its the latter that sells books.

"Hornet Flight," by Ken Follett

“Hornet Flight,” by Ken Follett, (New York: Penguin Putnam Inc.; 2002), 420 pages.

The Second World War is the backdrop to many works of fiction. Some books take us to the center of the action at the front lines, while others take us the machinations of high command. “Hornet Flight” takes us to occupied Denmark at the beginning of the Nazi occupation, and provides the reader a mixture of frontline action and central command politics. The exact time in which this story is based is significant because during this time Danish citizens decided whether their loyalties were with their Nazi occupiers, or with their desire for freedom and the emerging Danish resistance movement. The dichotomy, or moral and ethical choice between good and evil drives this story, and sets up the narrative's major theme, namely the struggle between men on whether to live their lives on the side of good, or to live their lives on the side of evil.

Follett places these issues firmly in the minds of his characters as they are confronted with a growing realization that their Nazi occupiers are capable of immense cruelty, terror and wickedness. In the center of this morality fight are two extended Danish families, one is the family of a church pastor, another their long-time family rival. The pastor’s family become sympathetic to the fledgling Danish resistance, and through a series of actions of helping out friends and family, makes themselves enemies of the Nazi occupiers. Their rival family, especially one member with a strong grudge against them, is sympathetic to the Nazi's and seeks their favors, ingratiates himself with them and becomes their lackey. His persecution of suspected spies and suspected resistance members brings him into conflict with his old family rivals, whom he mercilessly hunts down, especially when he suspects them of having discovered a secret Nazi weapon. The pastor's family becomes instrumental in obtaining intelligence information and photos that must be sent to London by a certain date to ensure the greater success of the allied aerial bombing of Germany.

Follett is a masterful storyteller who tells big stories through the lives of individuals. Although this is fiction, Follett tells the important part played by resistance fighters and spies in helping secure information vital to the long-term success of the allied bombing effort. With this skill in entwining the lives of everyday people with actual events, Follett tells a fabulous story that both entertains the reader and provides hours of enjoyment. Don't think this is a war novel - its not. The war is a backdrop, but the real story is the drama of everyday life including betrayal, love, violence, loyalty, dedication to duty, dedication to family, and the issues we face everyday, particularly, what to do in life when given a choice between the easy and ignoble path, or the difficult and right path in life. If these are the things that interest you in novels, then this is a book that you will enjoy.

"Spy Catcher," by Peter Wright

Spy Catcher by Peter Wright, (New York: Viking Penguin, 1987), 392 pages.

As the title suggests, Spy Catcher is a book written by someone who used to catch spies. This particular spy catcher was Peter Wright, the former MI5 operative who spent nearly all of his working life in the intelligence and counter espionage business from the 1930’s through to the 1970s. Wright was a self-taught acoustics engineer who, like his father, worked for the English electronics company Marconi M.D. Wright was a particularly gifted self-taught engineer whose expertise was used in many World War II projects, post-war naval communications research, and eventually as MI5’s first scientist. While working in MI5, Wright put his skills to great effect in development and implementing MI5’s communications interception system that included the detection and deciphering of clandestine Soviet spying transmissions and conversations. He explains his role in MI5’s communications interception or signals intelligence counter-espionage activities, MI5’s collaboration with other intelligence agencies in the United States, and how signals intelligence and new technologies along with old fashioned human surveillance methods were used to detect both Soviet agents and British traitors.

Wright’s account of his career is notable for it covers two distinct types of work. The first was his role as a scientist/engineer and his invention of new technologies used to intercept, transmit, and monitor communications across London and various embassies throughout the world. His experiences are at times astounding for they show the great lengths gone to by MI5 to monitor and detect and counter the large scale Soviet infiltration of English intelligence, political, and military institutions. The second part of Wright’s career focused less on his development of scientific and engineering devices, and centered on the signals intelligence material obtained by those devices to identify Soviet agents as well as the famous English traitors such as Burgess, Blunt, Maclean and Pilby.

The strength of this book is its portrayal of successful Soviet infiltration of Britain’s establishment by a generation of men (mostly) educated at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the 1930s, and the great difficulties faced by The West in detecting it and countering it. Wright shows just how complete the Soviets compromised the British military, intelligence agencies (such as Wright’s own MI5) and even parliament. So successful was this infiltration that Wright believes that it included his boss, the head of MI5 itself, Sir Roger Hollis.

This book is a first-rate account of the life of a spy catcher. It is a serious and well written account of the actual life of an actual Cold War era intelligence industry insider. In Peter Wright’s world, spying is a deadly serious business where people were put in life or death situations as players in the very real struggle between the Soviets and The West during the Cold War. This book is a both a damning indictment of The West for the ease at which it was compromised, but it is also a fascinating exposé of the business of spying during the Cold War. It’s a very entertaining and worthwhile book.