Best of 2011 Countdown: #21

We're going non-fiction today.  Whip out those holiday gift idea lists--these two are perfect for Uncle Bob and Cousin John...and Aunt Suzie for that matter.

Gianna:

In the Garden of Beasts
Erik Larson
Crown

Larson’s fascinating book is set in 1933, just as Hitler begins his reign of power. America’s first ambassador to Germany has relocated to Berlin with his wife, son and uh, how to say it nicely…rather outgoing daughter Martha. Martha is like a Kardashian; she enjoys the limelight, the nightlife and the men of Germany. Of course, instead of professional athletes she favors the men of the Third Reich, including the head of the Gestapo.

The Dodd family

The Dodds are initially content in Germany, but they quickly become disillusioned. In hindsight, they were slow to understand what is about to unfold, yet when William Dodd does begin to alert the United States of Hitler’s actual motives, he is largely ignored. As William learns more about Hitler’s plans and Martha moves her way up the Third Reich food chain, they both become major players in Hitler’s Germany.

This is a terrific piece of history written only the way Larson can. There are many Larson wannabes, but in the end he is the master. Isaac’s Storm, Thunderstruck, and The Devil in the White City are all amazing, yet this is his best book to date. 

Liz:

The Destiny of the Republic

Candice Millard

Doubleday

Readers might remember Millard from her previous book, The River of Doubt, the true story of Theodore Roosevelt's failed expedition to navigate a previously uncharted river in the Amazon Basin.  (It's a must-read.)  Now Candice Millard is turning her historical eye to another President, James A. Garfield.  

If you were paying attention in the fifth grade, you might remember that Garfield was one of four Presidents assassinated, and if you saw the Stephen Sondheim musical, you might even know that Charles Guiteau was the guy who shot him.  Chances are, though, that you don't know that Garfield was one of the greatest statesmen this country has ever known.  He was dedicated to ending the Gilded Age corruption in Washington.  And that he didn't die from Guiteau's bullet.

James Garfield was a legislator, but he never sought the Presidency.  During the Republican convention, Garfield was giving a speech to nominate a colleague and his oration was so powerful that when he rhetorically asked at the end of his speech, "Who do we want?," somebody yelled back "We want GARFIELD!"  Days later he was the Republican nominee.

Garfield

Millard also gives the engrossing back story of Charles Guiteau (and you know I love any story that involves weird, cultish commune living), and the details of the assassination.  As I stated earlier, the bullet didn't instantly kill Garfield, and The Destiny of the Republic is as much a history of 19th Century medicine as it is a Presidential biography.  In fact, Alexander Graham Bell, telephone inventor, raced time and disease to find a method to save the President.

The Destiny of the Republic is a compelling read about a mostly forgotten President, and Candice Millard is the perfect writer to tell the story.

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 26

Day 26: Favorite Non-Fiction Book



Technically, non-fiction



I hate "non-fiction" as a category.  Are we really to assume that The Oxford English Dictionary and Penis Pokey belong in the same category?  And for that matter, isn't The Feminine Mystique non-fiction too? It's stupid.  (I hope Gianna didn't pick Penis Pokey.  I haven't looked at her choice yet.  I'm safe, right?....I should be safe, but she does love to be inappropriate.  Do you all understand how difficult it is to put together this little blog?)

Gianna:

This should come as no surprise but I am going to sort of cheat. Some of these questions if answered truthfully...well, you would repeat books and what fun is that? So in an effort not to repeat books, and also in order to talk about books that maybe don’t get talked about enough in my opinion, I am going to pick a really controversial book as my favorite non fiction book. [Crap.  It's Penis Pokey, isn't it?  And not Gianna is going to give me hell.] Let me say however this book is absolutely one of my favorite books.

The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison. Oh, how this book surprised me. I was working as a receiver at a bookstore when this book came in and I read the jacket copy, and you know, I am not made of stone…adult daughter has affair with father? Sold. I am going to read that book. Congratulations, you found your audience. But nothing could really have prepared me for that book. It is completely heartbreaking and it drains you. It is one of those books you don’t forget, and not because of the subject. Harrison is such a beautiful writer (if you haven’t read anything by her please pick this up, or Seal Wife or Exposure); this book very easily could have been a disaster. It is not. It is beautiful and terrible and hopeful.

I am surprised more people have not read this memoir. Random House just published a new addition so I hope to see it in more bookstores. Gail Caldwell wrote a really great review of The Kiss, and here is a small piece from it:

Harrison had the good sense to write The Kiss with the most bare-bones approach imaginable, letting the awful force of her story dictate its lean style. Devoid of prurient detail, it is a spare, painful book that saves its most dramatic words for the day she capitulates to her father's need, when ``God's heart bursts, it breaks. For me it does.'' How do you ever come back from a moment like that?

One more thing about Kathryn Harrison…balls o' steel. She was vilified in many places for writing this book, which as you can imagine pisses me off.

Liz:

Penis Pokey.

Just kidding.

I listed a bunch of my favorite history books on the day we talked about books that turn us on, but in an effort to avoid repeats I'm going to pick another work of narrative history that's on par with those other favorites.  I don't know if this book officially is my favorite non-fiction title; I don't know that I have a favorite.  However, The River of Doubt by Candice Millard is pretty darn wonderful.

Millard tells the story of Theodore Roosevelt, former President who had lost his bid to return to the White House, and decides to engage his mid-to-late life crisis by traveling to the Amazon.  Teddy Roosevelt, jungle explorer.  TR puts together an expedition including his son Kermit and Brazil's most famous explorer of the time and they set off into the middle of the rain forest to chart the course of a previously unmapped river.  Roosevelt's hubris almost kills him, and the doomed expedition encounters piranhas, rapids, indigenous peoples, and any number of perils.  The River of Doubt rivals Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air as one of the greatest adventure books ever written, but what makes Millard's book special is that she creates such intensity and life for her story without the benefit of first hand experience.  She's a terrific storyteller and she brings to life a mostly forgotten period for one of this nation's favorite subjects.