"Killers Of The Flower Moon" by David Grann, A Reflective Look Back On A Previous Reading

 

"Killers of the Flower Moon" spent a total of 5 weeks on the NY Times Best Sellers List, was a massive financial success, and has recently been turned into a major Hollywood movie.  It tells the story of a long string of murders of Osage Indians in the 1920's in Oklahoma on and around the Osage Reservation.  David Grann, the author, has had a long career as a major writer for several important American magazines including "The New Republic", "The Atlantic Monthly", and "The New York Times Magazine".  He has also published at least five major books most of which have been best sellers.  He is a prolific writer, a highly productive and successful writer, a truly commercial writer.  But, based on this book, which is a wonderful read, he is not now and not likely to ever become a "great writer".  This book is written in a compelling fashion intended to hold the average reader's attention to the very end.  It is well crafted for the commercial market but one should remember that the average American reader is poorly educated with less than a high school education, reads only about 15 minutes a day, and almost never reads a newspaper. Their ability to discriminate between good and lesser quality writing is almost nonexistent. The book will hold your attention and, in my opinion, it is well worth reading because it tells an important historical story about one of our many minority groups in this country, and actually led me to read further about the Osage tribe in fiction.  In addition to being the product of extensive research both in historical documents and interviews with living people, the book is copiously supported with genuine photographs of many of the principal people in the story, both victims and perpetrators.  

During the 1920's and, perhaps, both before and after that decade numerous members of the Osage tribe were murdered in order for their government appointed guardians to assume control of the vast amounts of money tribe members were collecting from the sale of oil drilling rights on the extensive acreage of the reservation.  During that time period, the Osage were collectively and individually among the richest people in America because the reservation land, which the government had assumed was worthless before designating it as the reservation, proved to be the richest oil field in the country at the time.  It became common practice for the Osage to be designated by courts to be incompetent to manage their own money and they were given guardians who were always white and nearly always corrupt.  In the long run, many of those court appointed guardians became the murderers and financial successors to their Osage wards.  The plot of the book is the story from murder to arrest and conviction of what seems to have been only a small percentage of those felonious guardians. The book also leaves little doubt that many more deaths of Osage tribe members were likely also uninvestigated murders.  This book is worth reading and any negative statements I have made about it are indictments of the overall book publishing industry and the average American just as much as they may be directly about the author and his writing style.  I can give him one unreserved commendation in that he is, or his staff are, tremendous researcher(s).   

Reflections On Reading "Accordion Crimes" by E. Annie Proulx

E. Annie Proulx, or Annie Proulx as she is sometimes known, is one of America's best known and most successful authors.  She is the author of the short story on which the movie "Broke Back Mountain" was based and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for her novel "The Shipping News" in 1994.  This is actually the third of her works which I have read and yet I have not yet written about any of them on this blog which is an unjustifiable error.  At times, she is a wonderful writer and her prose can flow smoothly, interestingly, and in a manner which consistently draws the reader deeper into her works.  But, in my opinion, at times her work falls measurably short of her best.  I like this book as much or better than either of her others which I have read.  But I have to admit that I enjoyed the earlier reads enough to go back for another dip in this one. Perhaps part of that higher level of pleasure on my part comes from the fact that, as a child in grade school in Knott County Kentucky, I was exposed on a monthly basis to live gospel accordion music from Alma Heibert, of the two "Bible Women" who were allowed to visit each small, rural grade school in the county on a monthly basis as a part of their missionary work with Camp Nathaniel in the county.  As always when I mention my experience with these two women and that fact that missionaries were allowed to visit public schools in the county, I am morally and ethically bound to state that the fact that they were allowed to do so in public schools was a clear cut violation of the Separation of Church and State and never should have been allowed to happen. But, yes, I do have fond memories of having known those women and of accordion music.  

The main character in this novel is not a person but an accordion, hand made by a native of an Italian native who emigrated to the United State with the instrument he had made and eventually sold it.  The human characters come and go in the novel as the accordion passes from hand to hand, being used by members of different ethnicities to play the particular music of each culture as the instrument passes along its life.  The accordion is variously owned and played by Mexican Americans, African Americans, Polish Americans, Irish Americans, and other members of other cultures. Along the way during the story, Proulx weaves in a great deal of historical and musical information about accordions, their instrumental relatives, and many of the cultures which are historically connected to accordion music.  along the way, the instrument is loved, played, admired, and sometimes abandoned much as a human character might have been.  It is an interesting and unique method of constructing a novel and, I believe, is some of Proulx's best work.  In my opinion, the language and written structure of the novel is more skillful than that in either "The Shipping News" or "That Old Ace In The Hole" both of which I have also read and will, perhaps, also write about on this blog.  The accordion becomes a living, breathing character in the book.  It is more than just a musical instrument.  It is a delivery vehicle which deposits musical and cultural history at the reader's doorstep. It becomes the glue which brings all the other characters, cultures, and histories together.  And those histories are both documentations of cultures and of people, families, and individual and shared lives.  It is a book well worth reading, especially if the reader is not familiar with the work of Proulx it is a fine place to begin a relationship with the author and her work. 

"Kentucky's Last Frontier" by Henry P. Scalf--Reflections On The Book

 

Henry P. Scalf was a newspaperman, genealogist, and Appalachian writer who lived from 1902 until 1979.  For many years, he worked for the "Floyd County Times" in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and wrote on nearly every subject that a small courthouse town newspaper might cover.  He was also an avid student of the history of Eastern Kentucky and wrote and published several works which ranged from several pamphlet sized works including one about Jenny Wiley, an early Eastern Kentucky pioneer woman who was captured by and escaped from a band of native Americans, and about a half dozen genealogical books during his lifetime.  Much of his writing, documents, and books are in the Special Collections Department at the University Of Pikeville Library which I have used more than once in my research. I own one of his dozen or so self-published genealogical books about the Stepp-Stapp Families of America.  His best work was done in the fields of newspaper writing and genealogy.  Most of his books and pamphlets were self published in small editions and can be difficult to locate on the open market.  

I was able to purchase an autographed copy of the book we are discussing here, "Kentucky's Last Frontier" which was self published as a hardback in 1966 with a foreword by the eminent Kentucky historian Thomas D. Clark.  My copy of the book was part of the estate of another Kentucky newspaper writer, Helen Price Stacy and I was lucky enough to buy several works by other regional writers from her collections after they had passed into the hands of a friend who buys and sells antiques.  The book covers a "12-county area, centered by the Big Sandy, Licking, and North Fork Kentucky rivers...With a few southeastern counties of the state, it constituted "Kentucky's Last Frontier."  My copy is, sadly, not in great condition but due to the difficulty of finding a copy in any condition, I was glad to find it.  The book covers a large segment of the history of Eastern Kentucky from the times of early settlement to about 1955 or so.  It is possibly, at least partially, derived from earlier newspaper articles written by Scalf.  While the book is a wonderful resource for the student of Eastern Kentucky and Appalachian history, it does have several weaknesses including Scalf's unique style of documentation of sources and inclusion of notes.  Many times in the book, quotations are not clearly identified in the text and there is a section of notes which covers 109 pages in the back of the book and the notes are not cited in the text by any currently recognized system.  But these issues are offset by the fact that the Bibliography is 6 pages long and well documented.  Any reader with the desire to read all those documented sources would have a strong background in the history of the region up to the time this book was published.  

The book is composed of 25 chapters which are presented chronologically from an opening chapter about the geologic and prehistoric origins of the region to the final chapter about, in part, the widespread coal, oil, and gas extraction in the region which has served to greatly damage the beauty of the land.  There is a fine discussion of the consequences of the 1957 flood which devastated the region and, until the recent Eastern Kentucky flooding of the summer of 2022.  While the book can be a slow read, it is well worth the effort to find and read a copy if you are a student of either Eastern Kentucky or Appalachian History.  I know that there are copies in both the University of Pikeville library and at the library of Big Sandy Community and Technical College.  I suspect there might also be a copy in the collections of the Johnson County Library in Paintsville since they own a large, publicly available but non-circulating regional books.   I hope you can locate a copy if you are interested in the area which it covers. 

"The Big Sandy" by Carol Crowe-Carraco--Book Review

 This book is a bit dated and only covers the history of the Big Sandy River Basin from about 1675 to 1978, about a year before the publication date in 1979.  The book was one of about two dozen books published by The University Press of Kentucky in order to offer wider documentation of Kentucky history.  The author, Carol Crowe-Carraco, was a distinguished professor of history at Western Kentucky University and has an impressive list of publications in the field of Kentucky History. The book is well reserched and has a very useful six pages of notes which, while they do not comprise a true bibliography, can be utilized as such.  The book also lacks an index which would be very useful to the average reader.  

I read the book as a part of a much more sizeable project in which I am currently involved about the Big Sandy River Basin and its place in American History.  While I am certain this will not prove to be the best or most important book I read as a part of this project, it has been useful and I can recommend it to the average reader who is interested in the history of either the Big Sandy River Basin in particular or Kentucky History in general. For my purposes, the book was particularly informative about the history of the river with regard to navigation, the involvement of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in the history of the river, and the history of early steamboat usage on the river prior to the coming of the railroads.  As a person who grew up in the headwaters of the Big Sandy on Right Beaver Creek in Knott County and walked to and from grade school for 7 years along the railroad of the C & O, it was particularly interesting in its discussion of the building of the railroads.  The book also can be informative for the average reader in the area of the coming of the coal camp towns in the river basin.  But as one who has spent his life living and working in the region and also studied coal camp towns extensively, the book did not offer anything new to me in that area.  For the average student of the coal camp towns, it would be worth reading.  

Professor Crowe-Carraco writes well in a professional matter but her prose is not the kind that leaves a reader awestruck.  It is geared more toward students of history who often prefer more staid, dry fact statements than any form of flowery literature.  That is not a fault in this type of book.  I simply offer it as a way for anyone considering buying and reading the book to determine if they are likely to enjoy it.  The bottom line of the entire impression the book made on me is that, even with its one or two minor faults from my point of view, it is a book worth the time and money to spend on it.  It has legitimately piqued my interest in reading more of the Kentucky Bicentennial Bookshelf publications.  It might do the same for you.    

Some Thoughts On A Quote From Pearl S. Buck

"Yes, it was a great country, and he was part of it.  Men like him chose a common man and bade him to go to Washington and run the nation for them, and so long as they willed, he obeyed them.  When they willed, they sent him home again, and he went back to some little place...and was no more than anybody else.  It was a glorious idealism,

its only weakness the weakness of the individual."  (Pearl S. Buck, "The Townsman", Chapter 38, published under the pseudonym John Sedges)

During the course of her life, after returning to the United States from China, Pearl S. Buck wrote and published five novels under the pseudonym John Sedges because at the time her publisher believed that the American people simply thought of Pearl S. Buck as a Chinese or Asian writer and would not accept her writing fiction about America.  This is the only one of the John Sedges novels I have read at this point.  But I will complete them all in time based on how much I love this one. As I have been reading "The Townsman", I have come to love it and was particularly struck by the quotation above when I came upon it near the end of the novel.  What an important and accurate quote it is especially in these turbulent and terrifying times in America, the America which both Pearl S. Buck and I have loved.  But I do not intend to write at length in this post about the entire novel.  I only want to address the quotation above.  For these times, in March of 2020, with America facing the worst pandemic in the world since the polio outbreak of the early twentieth century this quote is both accurate and fraught with warning for this country and its people.  Taking the quotation line by line, let us examine it.  

"Yes, it was a great country and he was part of it." Yes, this is a great country, or was a great country.  But over the last four or so years, since the day the TRAITOR Trump announced he was running for president, the country has deteriorated sadly and immensely due primarily to the idiotic, unpatriotic, destructive, racist, violent, and ignorant speech from the TRAITOR Trump.  A coalition of the most gullible, criminal, and Right Wing Radical people in the country, including many who mistakenly claim they are Christians, has supported him and his TREASONOUS activities and the country has deteriorated morally, ethically, and legislatively as a result.  Our respect, as a nation in the eyes of the world has deteriorated greatly and now we are facing an unforeseen crisis which will turn out to be the worst health care crisis in the world since the polio epidemic of the early twentieth century.  Sadly, we have no leadership at the top fit to deal with it.

Men like him chose a common man and bade him to go to Washington and run the nation for them, and so long as they willed, he obeyed them.  From 1789 until 2012, the truths in the preceding sentence were upheld in America.  But in 2016, TRAITOR Trump, with the assistance of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and Russian hackers stole a US presidential election and now nothing in that sentence above is true.  Men and women like the average citizen had their election, their presidency, their White House, and their country stolen from them and on January 20, 2017, a TRAITOR was actually allowed to illegally occupy the White House and he has never done the will of anyone except his Russian Master Vladimir Putin.  There have even been intimations, at times, both from TRAITOR Trump and his Russian master Vladimir Putin that he might not even step down at the end of this illegally obtained term. At no point, has TRAITOR Trump obeyed the will of the people.  The only will he has obeyed has been the will of his Russian Master Vladimir Putin.  He does not, has never, and will never obey the will of the electorate and only obeys the will of Vladimir Putin under duress which began when Russia bailed him out of his disastrous casino bankruptcies in 1989 through Deutsche Bank and Alfa Bank. At that time, no American bank with sufficient assets to do so would loan TRAITOR Trump enough money to save him from total financial collapse.  He belongs to Russia and he has always belonged to Russia since the day that first Russian backed loan was granted to him and he will belong to Russia until the day he dies or until the day they consider him no longer useful to Russian interests.

When they willed, they sent him home again, and he went back to some little place...and was no more than anybody else.  There are several separate key segments to this deceptively simple little sentence from Pearl S. Buck.  "When they willed" is a segment we have discussed at some length in the segment above which discusses in part the use of the very similar words "so long as they willed" and we will not repeat ourselves here.  But when you combine the words "when they willed" with the following phrase "they sent him home again", we arrive at a very important issue as regards the TRAITOR Trump and his lack of obedience to the will of the American electorate, his related total obedience to the will of Vladimir Putin and Russia, and the aforementioned doubt as whether or not the TRAITOR Trump will even obey the will of the people when he is defeated in the 2020 election and willingly leave the White House, the scene of most of his crime spree from January 20, 2017, until today, as I write, March 24, 2020.  Now, let's look at the last phrase in the sentence: "he went back to some little place...and was no more than anybody else".  That entire phrase and the totality of its validity rests on whether or not the occupant of the White House, whomever he or she may be, is willing to leave willingly at the end of their term whether that term was legitimately or illegitimately achieved.  In the case of the current illegitimate occupant of the White House, serious doubt exists among many of the most astute and intelligent people in the country and the world as to whether or not he will actually leave the White House willingly.  Their doubts are based in well documented statements both from TRAITOR Trump and those closest to him including his Russian Master Vladimir Putin.  Naturally, the question remains unanswered as to exactly what other public officials of the United States, including governors, senators, congress members, the Supreme Court, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff , would do in the event that an election were held, TRAITOR Trump were defeated, and then he refused to concede and leave the property of the taxpayers who had just rejected him.  Let us all hope that we never need to learn the answer to that question.  But if it does become necessary to learn, it is my fervent hope that the Joint Chiefs would do their duty and forcibly remove the usurper from the Oval Office.  It is also interesting from a psychological point of view to realize that the TRAITOR Trump has never believed, and mistakenly so, that he is "no more than anybody else" when in fact for every day of his criminal and TREASONOUS existence he has been far less than any other randomly selected and honest citizen of the country.  His ordinariness, his criminal nature, his limited intellectual skills, and his bone deep dishonesty indicate in an incontrovertible way that he is far less than the average voter who will, God willing, order him to give up his usurped office and leave to await further indictment, prosecution and eventual imprisonment for his TREASON and assorted other crimes.  

It was a glorious idealism, its only weakness the weakness of the individual."  At the time Pearl S. Buck wrote the book "The Townsman" and wrote the paragraph we have been examining, she had no way of knowing whether her words would ever be applicable to any political situation in America such as the one we are mired in as a country today.  Although she was expressing her own deeply held beliefs about America, American Democracy, and the Presidency, she had no way of knowing just how prescient her words would become seventy-five years after the book was published in 1944.  But prescient they are.  The entire concept of American Democracy and the US Constitution and everything it governs including the presidency does represent "a glorious idealism".  In the two hundred plus years since the US Constitution was written, several other democracies and constitutions have been modeled after ours.  Our democracy has managed to survive every assault which has risen against it since 1789.  We have survived multiple wars including two world wars.  We have survived prior economic collapses and health care epidemics including the Great Depression and the polio epidemic.  But in all those years, this country and this democracy has never been faced with a double breasted crisis such as the one we are facing now.  We are in the throes of the worst world wide pandemic since the 1918 Influenza Epidemic attacked the world.  We are in the throes of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930's.  Simultaneously, we are forced to face this two-pronged assault with the White House under occupation by an illegitimate claimant to the title of US President who claim to that title arose in a criminal nature and was facilitated by TREASON in cooperation with the worst geopolitical enemy this country has.  "The weakness of the individual" as Pearl S. Buck wrote it is at the heart of our worst crisis in American history.  The criminal weakness of the TRAITOR Trump has placed us in an untenable position as a country and a people.  We must survive this crisis and he must receive the punishment he deserves for the damage he has done to this country.  When is removed from office by vote, and if necessary by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he must be indicted, prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated for his TREASON and assorted other crimes against the government and the people of the United States, and he must be forced to serve his sentence in a secure federal prison to the literal end of his miserable, TREASONOUS life.   

An Updated Reading List For The Resistance

In early January 2017, I posted  A Reading List For The Resistance which was primarily a list of historical works both factual and fictional which placed the recent illicit and TREASONOUS rise to power of Donald Trump into its proper perspective.  I am now amending that list with a sizeable collection of recent memoirs and historical works and will also add some further dystopian literature since we are now in the middle of the worst constitutional crisis since 1861 and our very form of democracy is under daily attack by the Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate which occupies the White House illegally based on the TREASON of Donald Trump.  There has been a long list of recent memoirs, biographical works, and investigative books which have furthered the body of works which every American should be reading.  I have not read all of these highly important books but they are on my "To Be Read List" and most of them are already in my possession.  They need to be on your lists of future reading also and the sooner you read them the better.  I have reviewed nearly all of the books I have read on this blog and will continue to do so with future reading.  I do have a complex life and never find myself up to date and saying "I wish I had something to read."  It would benefit all of you to lead a similar life of reading, study, and research.  If every American had read and studied this way over the last three years, this country would not be in the current deepening crisis.  Russia would not have been able to hack our election in 2016, and we would have a legitimate president instead of a TRAITOR living in the White House.  You can also always go to the bottom of the home page of this blog to the list called "Books I Have Read Lately" to find what I have thought was worth my time and effort to read.  

I have had a few recent encounters which have motivated me to do this update and I admit that it is somewhat overdue based on our increasing political peril in this country.  Try to read at least one of these books between now and the federal election of November 6, 2018.  If it is not too late in your state, be certain to be registered to vote.  Register as a Democrat!  Vote the straight Democratic ticket.  It is the only way we can stop the ongoing treason in America and stymie the ongoing Russian effort to destroy America, American Democracy, and the entire free world.  If you have enough courage to find out what is actually happening in America today this list of books will assist you greatly in that effort.  Notice two things, please, about the additions to the first list.  The authors include a former US Presidential nominee, a former US prosecutor & FBI Director, a former US Director of National Intelligence, 27 of the best psychiatrists in America, a former US Secretary of State, and the man who broke the Watergate story.  The second thing to notice is that two of the titles from two of the most experienced people on the list use the word “Fear”. 

The Restless Wave by John McCain  "Worse misfits have not been seen in a White House since William Taft got stuck in his bathtub."  (John McCain, p. 327)  When I read that sentence in John McCain's last book, I laughed out loud.  I have not reviewed this book yet, and have a few pages left to read before I finish it but this book is the most pleasant surprise I have had in a book in quite some time.  I began reading it since McCain has recently died and he had up put some level of public resistance to TRAITOR Trump.  However, in 2016, he had failed to go the full mile and endorse Hillary Clinton for president instead of just refusing to endorse TRAITOR Trump. Yet this book is far more positive about Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama than toward TRAITOR Trump.  I had begun the book expecting to hear a pretty standard espousal of fairly Right Wing Repugnican politics and a play by play of McCain's career.  But the book is often very honest about McCain's serious misgivings, distrust, and opposition to TRAITOR Trump.  But once again, he fell short of taking the full step and calling a spade a spade.  But the book is very well worth reading.  

Facts And Fears by James Clapper This book continues James Clapper's public denunciation of the crimes of TRAITOR Trump.  I have reviewed it here.  The one glaring shortcoming in the book is the use of acronyms for literally dozens of branches of the federal government and international agencies which Mr. Clapper worked with or for during his lifetime of public service.  For the person not well versed in the federal bureaucracy, this use of hundreds of acronyms is confusing and irritating in spite of the insertion of a list of full names in the back of the book.  But this book is one of the first on the list that I would suggest that you read.  It is a fine historical perspective on American intelligence efforts over the last forty years and brutally honest, especially so about the Russian collusion and hacking of our 2016 election.   

A Higher Loyalty Truth Lies And Leadership by James Comey  First and foremost, I want to say that this book is about James Comey and his life of public service much more than it is about his firing and public victimization by TRAITOR Trump.  I have reviewed it here.  This book, just as is true of James Clapper's is much more about facts and history than it is about any emotion the author might feel toward the current illegal occupant of the White House.  It is an excellent piece of work which I do not believe would have ever been written if Mr. Comey had not felt that it was his duty as a patriot and lifetime public servant to do so because of the criminality of TRAITOR Trump.  Read it!  Learn from it!  Familiarize yourself with and utilize the truths it contains.  

Collusion Secret Meetings, Dirty Money And How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win by Luke Harding  I have reviewed this book here.  This is the first historical book that I read about the crimes of the TRAITOR Trump. It was well worth the experience and has often guided me in my choices about other subsequent reading.  Luke Harding is a writer for The Guardian and is a tremendous writer, researcher, and fact finder in the very dangerous world of international politics.  He and his colleagues are on that list of journalists whom every American citizen should read regularly.  This book goes a very long way to explain and corroborate the information contained in the Steele Dossier which literally began the revelations about the crimes of TRAITOR Trump.  This book also does a great job of putting the timeline of the crimes of TRAITOR Trump into a logical frame for the less aware reader.  This book "reads like a spy novel" is what my friend and follower of this blog Steve Sargent said about it.  My response to that was "it is a spy novel". However, it is also the farthest thing in the world from fiction. 

The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump Edited by Bandy Lee, M. D. I reviewed this book here.  This is one of those books that every reasonably intelligent citizen of this country should read.  I have been promoting this book ever since the day the initial publicity campaign began when it was released.  This book was written in individual articles by 27 of the best, best known, most experienced, most respected psychiatrists in the country and edited by Dr. Bandy X. Lee, M. D. who is a psychiatrist and professor at Yale University.  Her credentials are incredible and so is this book.  Just as the letter to the senate from 2,400 law professors should have put an end to the legal career of Brett Kavanaugh, this book should have put an end to the public life of TRAITOR Trump.  Read this book even if you do not choose to read another book on this list or another book of any kind for the rest of your life. Do not let the fact that it is written by a bevy of psychiatrists deter you from reading it.  When you are done you will have a far better understanding of the serious and danger mental illness of TRAITOR Trump.

Fire And Fury by Michael Wolf  I reviewed this book here.  This book is not nearly as well written and likely not nearly as honest as any of those I have discussed earlier.  But I read it and reviewed it because it was the first book written and published by someone who was an insider in the so-called "administration" of TRAITOR Trump.  Wolf seems to have begun his research hoping to write a glowing review of the Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate.  It did not turn out that way at all.  However, put this book somewhere later in your reading since it is not nearly as high quality work as most of the others and still attempts to put a positive swing on the actions of the perpetrators.  

Now we arrive at the list of books which are still sitting on my "To Be Read" shelf.  I fully intend to read and review all of them but all I can say about that is that I am behind.  If you have or choose to obtain copies of any or all of them go ahead and read them.  I have read reviews of them by others and am aware of the work of most of the authors.  They are all worth your time.  As soon as I finish each of them, I will return to this blog post and update my comments on them. 

Fascism by Madeleine Albright  Former Secretary of State Albright's book has been postively reviewed by most of the media people who have read it.  Secretary Albright was born in Czechoslovakia and immigrated to the US to become our first female Secretary of State and one of our best.  This is her description of a Fascist: "A Fascist is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.”  There is no more accurate description of TRAITOR Trump.  Read this book and if you finish it before I do send me an e-mail or a comment on this blog post.  

Trump/Russia by Seth Hettena  This book provides an excellently researched timeline of the more than 30 year history of interactions between TRAITOR Trump and Russia.  Hettena's reputation as a reporter, researcher, and writer are excellent.  He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and that, in itself, is a recommendation of his mind and ability to function successfully in a high pressure environment.

The Plot To Destroy America by Malcolm Nance Malcolm Nance is a career US Navy man and the author of several books on counter terrorism, intelligence, national security, and Islamic extremism.  He is a trained intelligence expert and cryptologist.  His unique perspective and ability to write about what he knows without endangering his security clearance or his reputation is remarkable.  Malcolm Nance is the kind of person you could expect someday to be a national security adviser to the next duly elected, legitimate administration to occupy the White House.

Russian Roulette by Michael Issikoff & David Corn  These two authors are writers for Yahoo News and Mother Jones Magazine respectively.  This book is another examination of the Russian interference in the 2016 election.  While I consider Mother Jones to be a far more reputable source of news than Yahoo, these two authors also have excellent reputations and their work is well respected.

Fear by Bob Woodward Bob Woodward needs no introductions anywhere in the world.  He is one of the two men who broke the story of the Watergate Conspiracy and eventually could be said to have helped bring about the resignation of Richard Nixon.  His reputation is flawless and he has steadily written political works since the 1970's.  Nearly all his books, more than a dozen, have been best sellers and above average works.  His ability to develop sources deep within sheltered organizations was first seen in the information he and his co-author Carl Bernstein obtained from Deep Throat who eventually revealed himself as a Deputy Director of The FBI.  This might be the first book some of you read or may have already read.  Tell me about it if you have.

The Apprentice: Trump, Russia and the Subversion of American Democracy by Greg Miller This book was written by Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post reporter Greg Miller.  No author should ever need to have their resume bolstered after having been employed at the best newspaper in the nation and winning a Pulitzer Prize.  Place this book high on your list of works to be read as I have.  I can't wait to get to it and neither should you. 

Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever by Rick Wilson  Numerous reputable Republicans who desire to keep their reputations intact have spoken out over the last three years about the crimes and ignorance of TRAITOR Trump.  Many have left the Republican Party over his actions.  The rest should do the same.  Rick Wilson has a more than thirty year career as a Republican political operative and worked in the Department of Defense under Dick Cheney.  His resume and his political roots make this book worth examining. 

House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia by Craig Unger Craig Unger has a Harvard education and a growing list of books written primarily about connections between Republican politicians and less than desirable partners. This book examines the long history between TRAITOR Trump and the Russian Mafia whose upper echelon members own many of the apartments in Trump Tower.  Nothing more need be said about that connection when you look at the list of business deals and money laundering schemes which have been perpetrated between these prinicpals. This book seems to be worth the time to read it.  Let me know what you think if you get to it before I do. 

Now we get to the earlier books which I had put on my first Reading List For the Resistance.  Each of these works is also worth your time and the entire list is intended to lay the groundwork for you to fully understand the actions of the TRAITOR Trump and his Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate.  Each of these books was listed here for an important reason.  Read them to understand those reasons.  Your mind and your self-esteem will thank you for it. 

United States Constitution The US Constitution and individual rights will be under attack from the first second the Republicans take control of the US government.  Donald Trump has already, on numerous occasions, stated a desire to restrict freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and all rights of Muslim citizens and immigrants in general.  Every citizen should have a solid understanding of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.  Every citizen should also be willing to stand up and speak out in defense of these basic principles of American Democracy at any time Trump or his generally uneducated, ignorant, and unprincipled followers make attacks on these concepts.  The Capitol Net publishes pocket copies of the Constitution and many other important American political documents which are cheap and easily ordered from their web site.   Capitol Net will actually send you a free pocket copy of the Constitution upon request. Get a copy, read it, study it, understand it, carry it with you wherever you go, and be prepared to confront ignorance about the foundations of American Democracy wherever you encounter it. 

The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay Do not ever listen to and accept the opinion of another about what the Founding Fathers thought, intended, or wanted.  Read what they said for yourself and form your own opinion.  

"Mein Kampf" by Adolph Hitler Donald Trump's campaign was a carbon copy of the campaign Hitler used to gain power in Germany.  One of Trump's ex-wives has stated that he kept a copy of Hitler's speeches by his bed.  Many of the same techniques Adolph Hitler used to gain and maintain power are the same being used by Donald Trump today and that use is not accidental.  It is deliberate emulation of Adolph Hitler. 

"Night" by Elie Wiesel This is a classic and powerful personal account of the Holocaust by a Jewish survivor who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for his work to bring about world peace. And, yes, it can happen here.  Trump has uncovered, nurtured, spread, and encouraged a great deal of hatred already in this country.  With great power, he will do worse.  

"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak This is a fictional work about the Holocaust written for adolescent audiences.  But it does an excellent job of informing the reader of how the Nazis spread terror during the Holocaust.  It is well worth reading by the adult reader to learn about how terror is spread by unjust governments.  While this book is fiction, the descriptions of Nazi terrorism in Germany are factually based and quite accurate. 

Black Earth The Holocaust As History And Warning by Timothy Snyder One of the most cogent quotations from history comes from the philosopher George Santayana:  "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  Donald Trump is backed by a coalition of extremist groups ranging from the Ku Klux Klan to the American Nazi Party.  Trump has consistently refused to condemn them, their ideologies, or their actions.  Here is a link to a great story from Mother Jones about those groups.  Most of the followers of these groups are psychologically very similar to the German citizens who became Hitler's Brown Shirts and SS Troopers.  And the most important thing to remember about the Germans who carried out Adolph Hitler's crimes against humanity is that before Adolph Hitler rose to power those people were considered to be ordinary German citizens just as most of Trump's followers would have us believe they are ordinary American citizens.  This book by Timothy Snyder looks at the Holocaust both as a historical event and as an event that could be repeated if the people of today do not heed the warnings provided by the Holocaust.  This is one of the most important books to have been written in the last 25 years. 

Stubborn Twig: Three Generations In The Life Of A Japanese American Family For those of you who do not believe that anything remotely resembling the crimes of the Holocaust could happen in America, this book is a must read as Donald Trump rises to power after having preached disrespect, disregard, and unconstitutional labeling of groups in America such as the media, Muslims and immigrants.  It details the life of a very successful and patriotic Japanese American family which had their land and property seized during World War II and were sent off to interment camps simply because of their ethnicity.  Yes, it can happen in America and it already has under the administration of one of the greatest American Presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

The Cherokee Removal A Brief History With Documents edited by Theda Perdue & Michael Green  For those of you who have read "Stubborn Twig..." and still find yourselves saying it couldn't happen here, it already has...twice, once to the Japanese Americans and once to the Cherokee.  In many ways, the disrespect that Trump shows to Muslims and immigrants is a lot like the attitude which Andrew Jackson showed the Native Americans.  

The United States Of Appalachia How Southern Mountaineers Brought Independence, Culture, and Enlightenment To America by Jeff Biggers  This book will teach you a great deal about the birth of American Democracy, especially for those of you who have never heard of the State Of Franklin.  Jeff Biggers will also show you a lot about how a few dedicated citizens can change a country for the better. 

A Nation Defiant Polish Resistance To The German Occupation Of Poland by Richard S. Fuegner  The only way the country will be able to successfully resist, confront, and stop the destruction of American Democracy by Traitor Trump and his henchmen will be by utilizing a committed, determined, and well organized populist resistance.  Such a resistance is forming in America and can win this battle in the long run but that resistance must learn techniques which have been successful in other periods and other places.  This is an excellent book about the Polish resistance and will teach you a lot.

When Even Angels Wept by Lately Thomas During 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin led an effort known as the Communist Witch Hunts which destroyed the lives and careers of many thousand falsely accused Americans.  Senator McCarthy, another classic megalomaniac, led a senate investigation into alleged communism in the country and dragged hundreds and thousands of innocent socially active people in front of the committee where they were pilloried, denigrated, and defamed with little to no evidence in most cases.  Many of these people spent the rest of their lives unemployed, defamed, and in poverty.  But Senator McCarthy was confronted and stopped before he could completely destroy the country and American Democracy.  This is a great book to learn about one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the country and to utilize that knowledge to prevent TRAITOR Trump and his henchmen from perpetrating another such crime.  

I hope every person who reads this post will go on to read at least one of the listed works, especially the United States Constitution, which will be under attack for the next four years by the Republican Party whether or not Donald Trump is successfully prosecuted for treason.  

 “These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." Thomas Paine 

Some Reflections On One Hundred Published Posts

When I began this blog on April 15, 2011, I had some clear cut goals I wanted to accomplish with it and, in some ways, I was not certain exactly what I intended to do with it in the long run.  Now, after almost exactly six years, I am posting my one-hundredth blog post.  I have actually posted a few more than one hundred posts since I have previously posted and deleted a handful for various reasons.  I have accomplished a few things with this blog which have clearly made it worthwhile to continue and I have to say that, in the beginning, I was not exactly certain that I would make it a long term project.  As the masthead for this blog says, I had hoped that it could become "An ever growing site of non-fiction, flotsam, fiction, memoir, autobiography, literature, history, ethnography, and book reviews about Appalachia, Appalachian Culture, and how to keep it alive!!! Also,how to pronounce the word: Ap-uh-latch-uh."  

Partially because of my position on the appropriate pronunciation of the word "Appalachia", I came to know and sometimes converse with one of the best bloggers I have ever found on the Internet,  the man who prefers to be known as Greenbriar Jim who published a blog called "Wayfarin' Stranger".  The Wayfarin' Stranger blog is primarily a photographic blog of Appalachian photographs shot by a fine photographer who also happens to write some damn fine observations about Appalachia and the world.  He has not posted on that blog since March 13, 2014, although he and I have e-mailed some in the interim.  When he quit posting, the world lost a voice it needs to hear from time to time.  In some ways, Greenbriar Jim represents a large group of people who begin and later end blogs which are worthy of living much longer lives. I am also egotistical enough to say that he and I represent another minority group of Internet bloggers who want their blogs to become more than just a means to send trivial rants, autobiographical blurbs, and meaningless drivel.  I believe that in some ways both of us accomplished that.  I have referred his blog to many people who wanted to learn about Appalachia.  

I have also received a few cogent messages either through the blog comments section or by e-mail from people who also obviously wish to see the Appalachian lifestyle and culture continue for the foreseeable future of the world.  I have connected with a few relatives of some of my long dead friends whom I have written about.  I have accumulated 49 followers as of this post which is more than many bloggers ever have.  I naturally have no idea how many of those people continue to read my blog.  Some may have dropped off long ago but forgotten to delete me from their reading lists.  That is the way of blogs and blog readers.  I also have a few on my reading list which I haven't read in far too long.  The blog has had a total of 228,500 page views as of this sentence.  The most page views it has ever had in a month was 20,917 in April 2015.  Most months it has far fewer and I have no idea why for a couple of months it flirted with the 20,000 page view mark.  A few posts such as Appalachia What's In A Name, One Appalachian Man's Opinion Of Gun Control, and The Family Cemetery And Burial Practices In Appalachia are consistently the greatest recipients of attention.  In all three cases I believe I understand the reasons for their popularity.  Appalachia is the homeland for hundreds of thousands of displaced and urban Appalachians who long to come home to the hills whether those hills be in Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia, North Carolina, Virginia, or Tennessee.  That explains why that post has more than 61,000 page views and leads the pack every month.  The blog post on gun control generates strong opinions on both sides of the issue and my side happens to favor strong gun control and rational use of guns as tools not adrenaline generators, substitutes for solid self esteem, or psychological splints for limber penises.  That explains why the gun control post has generated more than 48,000 page views.  In the Appalachian psyche, there is no more important place in all the world than the little family cemetery where each of us has buried our ancestors, siblings, children, friends, and other loved ones.  That explains why the post on family cemeteries has generated more than 24,500 page views and has been quoted extensively in a masters degree thesis at a major university.  There are also other posts which get little attention for reasons I do not clearly understand.  Posts on Appalachian Heroes like Florence and Sam Reece, Albert Stewart, and Cratis Williams receive little or no regular visits and all of them are some of the most important people to ever live and work in the region.  

The blog also brought me a phone call from one of the more famous people I have ever written about here and that person bought me lunch one day so we could talk.  Because that person is a major representative of the most conservative branch of Appalachian Studies and I have friends who have fought loudly and often for many political issues in the region and the world, they referred to me as "pretty radical" and I considered it a compliment although it was probably not intended that way.  I have been contacted by one potential author who interviewed me for a book she was working on about Appalachia.  To date, I have not seen that book or heard from that writer again.  Maybe I disappointed them, who knows.  I am sometimes contacted by people who are doing genealogical research on the Hicks family and wish to question me about my writing or question my ideas in general about the ancestry of most of the Hicks' in Eastern Kentucky.  I love a good, respectful intellectual discourse.  If you fall into one of those groups of people, feel free to contact me at any time.  My e-mails and telephones are listed and can be found on many sites on the internet.  I answer all of them every time they ring or a message pops up.  I have been able to review a few books for some of my writer friends and I hope I managed to sell a few copies for them.  I have managed to cast some of my literary bread upon the waters and I hope that some of it has floated onto fertile ground.  I sometimes find my writing both here and in other venues quoted, misquoted, and even appropriately cited.  If I have generated honest, open thought, I have succeeded.  If I have led someone to work to preserve Appalachia and Appalachian Culture, I have been extremely successful.  I am looking forward to the next six years and the next one hundred posts.  I hope you are too.  

As I reflect on what I can do with this blog in the next five or six years, I would love to continue to write about Appalachian Heroes, Appalachian Values, and Appalachian History.  I suspect that I will post less of my fiction on this blog since it has been published in other venues of late and I hope to continue to do so.