I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

Every year we choose a month to read a biography for our Gables Book Club discussion. It just so happened that I am Malala appeared in my BookBub feed This was an eye-opening read for sure.  

Malala Yousafzai is a Pashtun girl from the Swat Valley in Pakistan. Born in 1997 to a father committed to education and a mother who adhered to the Pashtun ways, Malala is the personification of what we would wish for all the girls held hostage in a regime where women don't count for much beyond bearing children and keeping house. As her father, Ziauddin,  struggled to establish schools in his homeland, he also encouraged his daughter to become as learned as he would have if she had been born a male. Ziauddin was convinced that the "power of the sword and pen" was eclipsed only by the power of women. 

Malala, with her curiosity and her ravenous desire to read was the top student in her class. It was at this time that the Taliban arrived in her village. The terror that she felt was acerbated by the fact that all the schools for girls were closed. As described in the book, one cannot even comprehend the tragedy and horror that were inflicted on the people. She and her family were forced from there home because of the bombings and killings. During this time, at age 12, Malala began writing a blog that the BBC published. She and her father also were featured in a documentary. It was evident that she was articulate and mature beyond her years. 

When the family returned home after 3 months, they found that the school had actually been used as a hideout for the Pakastani  army against the Taliban - a truly defiant act. Returning to school was a bit of normalcy for the girls, despite the fact that they needed to be ever vigilant as to their travels back and forth. It was on the way home one day in 2012 that Taliban attacked the "bus" on which Malala was riding and shouted, "Who is Malala?" and then proceeded to shoot her in the face. 

Through a series of fortuitous moves from street to hospitals and, finally being flown to Birmingham, England, Malala began the recovery and healing process. And with not capitulating to the mores of her country, she has never hidden her face, a face that has become the face of her nation. At 16 she stood defiantly in front of the United Nations Youth Assembly and spoke eloquently in support of education for women. What an impressive young woman she is. This is a must read for an understanding of just how horrible the actions of the terrorists is. It is written at a level that could and should be included in every school's curriculum.

Grace: A Biography by Thilo Wydra

December was biography month for the Gables Book Group. It's always tough to decide what to choose for these discussions. When Grace was one of Amazon's deals of the day, and I wanted a book for my iPad to take on a trip, I decide on this one. 

Grace Kelly has always had a bit of fascination for me. Although I had only watched a few of her films, it seemed that the "rags to riches" story of a princess was what dreams were made of. This biography dispelled so many preconceived notions I had about her. 

Her childhood was not a happy one. Her father's nearly abusive treatment of her because she wasn't an athlete and she wanted to follow her heart to become an actress. She had some help from an uncle, but her understated glamour paved the way to her successful career. The book details many of the affairs that she had with her leading men, However, the real hallmark of the treatise is the insight into the movies in which she starred. I did go back and rewatch High Noon and To Catch a Thief.  I realized I had never seen the movie for which she won her Academy Award, The Country Girl. What a powerful performance!

The circumstances surrounding her meeting and marriage to Prince Ranier of Monaco was quite interesting and so orchestrated. The lasting friendship that she forged with Alfred Hitchcock was a lifesaver for her in an otherwise somewhat unhappy life. She became pregnant on her honeymoon and from that time her role was a dutiful wife and nourishing mother.  She did give much of her time, in addition, to charitable causes in the principality. 

Her tragic death as a result of a horrific car accident on the cliffs of Monaco sent reverberations around the world.

I remember that I watched the funeral saddened by the loss of an American princess and a loving mother. 

I was very fortunate to have visited the palace and her grave while on a trip to Nice. It was a very simple tomb and certainly not the elaborate or embellished memorial that you would imagine. 

Wydra's book was an easy read, but it could have used some tighter editing. There were numerous sentences that were repeated or events that were rehashed. It almost seemed that the editor didn't read it straight  through to catch those repetitions. All in all,  an informative read, but there are probably better biographies of Grace Kelly.

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

The Bohemian life of the Lost Generation has been a fascination of mine for a while. It is remarkable how much has been contributed by the artists, writers, and philosophers of that time period. From Picasso to Braque to Gris and Hemingway to Fitzgerald to Stein and Jean-Paul Sartre to Simone de Beauvoir to Albert Camus. When it was time this month to read a biography for our Gables Book Club, I turned to The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein. Stein, in a conversation with Ernest Hemingway, is the person who coined the phrase, saying, "you all are a Lost Generation."

In this book, Stein actually writes her memoirs, but in the guise of the autobiography of her partner, Alice B. Toklas. The two were among the most prominent "socialites" of the the Paris scene, living at 27 rue de Fleurus, just blocks from the Tuileries Garden. Stein was born in Allegheny City, now incorporated into the city of Pittsburgh and the book starts there. The chapters go on to detail life before the war, Paris, and life after the war. They are filled with accounts of the salons, the artists, and the writers. Much of it mirrors the descriptions of Parisian life as described in Zelda or A Moveable Feast. Toklas recounts how she is relegated to time with the wives when Stern "entertains" Hemingway or Picasso.  One of the most enlightening quotes in the book was about F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"Gertrude Stein had been very much impressed by This Side of Paradise. She read it when it came out and before she knew any of the young American writers. She said of it that it was a book that really created for the public the new generation. She has never really changed her opinion about this. She thinks this equally true of The Great Gatsby. She thinks Fitzgerald will be read when many of his well known contemporaries are forgotten. Fitzgerald aways says that he thinks Gertrude Stein says these things just to annoy him by making him think that she means them, and he adds in his favourite way, and her doing it is the cruelest thing I ever heard."

The book was enlightening on many fronts. It detailed their lives as they bought a Ford and traveled around France volunteering for the American Fund for the French Wounded. At one point, to make some much needed money, Stein traveled to England to lecture on her writings. The turmoil over their passports and reentry to France was illuminating to say the least.

This book would not be high on every one's list of must reads. It often reads like a diary of someone who is self-impressed and who is trying to create that sense of importance by name-dropping. But, that is the way the Lost Generation worked. This incredibly talented and creative group of people did play off one another and did thrive in doing so. How they lived and traveled with their limited incomes has always intrigued me. But they did and for that I am grateful.

Gertrude Stein's Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

Alice B. Toklas' Grave Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris (on the back side of Gertrude Stein's grave)

Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

As one whose reputation can polarize an audience, Bill O'Reilly has tried to transcend that position by writing a treatise on the last days of our 16th president. Killing Lincoln was a very readable account of the end of the Civil War with the description of the end strategies of the North, the spiraling descent of John Wilkes both into an obsession of assassinating Lincoln, and the tragic end of Lincoln's life.

The narrative alternates between Booth's movements, the ending battle plans of the Civil War and the actions of Lincoln. It is an interesting way of combining the events into a singular story and shows how the interactions influence each other. Booth's original plan and the one under which he conscripted his co-conspirators was to kidnap Lincoln. But as the plan was being put into motion, Booth's obsession escalated to assassination of Lincoln, Vice-President Johnson, and William Seward. Killing Lincoln concludes with the capture of Booth and the flurry of trials and executions of those who were ultimately connected with the plot. 

O'Reilly has been criticised for a number of errors in the book and his political motivation for painting a picture of Lincoln that exalts him with reverence. The errors do not seem as egregious to me as they did to Rae Emerson, deputy superintendent of Ford's Theater who banned the book from the shop at the historical venue. They are troubling for an erudite scholar of American history, to be sure. But one cannot help but think the reviews and banning are politically motivated. O'Reilly has since responded and changed the mistakes in subsequent publications of the book.

The book is fast-paced, an easy, fascinating, and interesting read. There are hints that Booth was part of a larger conspiracy that involved Edward Stanton. These theories have been passed around for decades and leads the reader to further investigation of the real history and there is nothing wrong with that. Combined with two recent movies, Lincoln and The Conspirator, Killing Lincoln, adds to the unending cache of materials surrounding a most disturbing time in the history of our country. There just isn't enough time to digest it all.

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

In the Garden of Beasts was the October Selection for The Gables book group. Ironically, I had purchased this the day before I got the reading list for the year. I was excited that I was going to read a book that was actually on my "To Be Read" list. Larson has extensively researched (nearly 30 pages of references and citations) the tenure of William Dodd as U.S. ambassador to Germany during the rise of Hitler and Nazism.

This is the first Larson book that I have read and I found the writing to be interesting, engaging, and thought-provoking. William Dodd was a learned professor at the University of Chicago. His interest was southern history and he was in the midst of completing a major treatise on the south when tapped to be the U.S. ambassador. He had studied in Leipzig, was fluent in German, a liberal, and seemed to fit the bill when no one could be found to take the position. He was given two hours by President Roosevelt to accept or refuse the post after it was offered. Upon his acceptance he moved his family: wife Mattie, son Bill and daughter Martha to Berlin. He was an atypical ambassador in that he didn't have a lot of money and he lived and acted frugally. As such he did little to ingratiate himself into the German diplomatic circles and was often the brunt of their jokes.

Maybe naivete is too strong of a word, but Dodd really did not find the situation in Germany as alarming as it looks from the 21st century upon his arrival in Berlin. Despite the fact Jews and American Jews were being attacked and murdered, he seemed powerless to bring the urgency of the situation to Roosevelt or the German government. In reality, he believed as did most Americans that Hitler would lose his power base and fall from the leadership ranks. In the four years that the book covers the reader through Larson watches this belief change to one that reflects the urgency and abomination of the situation. He spoke out vehemently on one occasion, saying,

“You cannot expect world opinion of your conduct to moderate so long as eminent leaders like Hitler and Goebbels announce from platforms, as in Nuremberg, that all Jews must be wiped off the earth.”

In the Garden of Beasts chronicles not only William Dodd's life and work, but also that of his daughter, Martha's. In fact, she is almost the focus of the book. Martha was, to say the least, socially motivated and promiscuous. As a literary agent in Chicago, she was a very close friend of Carl Sandburg and Thornton Wilder. Later she added Thomas Wolfe to her conquests. As a resident of Berlin, she was enamored of the Nazi movement and counted a number of them as suitors, including Rudolf Diels, the first head of the Gestapo. But it is with Boris Vinogradov, an NKVD (Russian Secret Police) agent that she continues a prolonged love affair. Could it be that he is interested in her for the access to information that she has? Martha's story is intriguing and disturbing. She returns with her family and without Boris to the U.S. when Dodd resigns his post, but continues her intelligence collecting and eventually flees the country with her husband, Andrew Stern, when they are investigated as moles and communists.

It is easy to see why In the Garden of Beasts rose quickly to the top of the NY Times best seller list. It is nonfiction, but reads like fiction. It gives insight, heretofore unchronicled, into the life of an ambassador in the most troubling time of a century. Larson investigates all the German hierarchy of the Third Reich and the reader can't help but be fascinated by some of their private lives. But more than that it is the life story of a down to earth family man who is trying to do what he can to preserve peace among nations and peoples. Don't miss this one.

Madam Secretary: a Memoir by Madeleine Albright

The first woman to hold the office of Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, has written, with Bob Woodward, a comprehensive and detailed personal account of her life and public service in Madam Secretary. The memoir is accessible, very readable, and thought provoking. I knew very little about Madeleine Albright before reading this book except for the facts that she was a Czech, graduate of Wellesley College, and Secretary of State. The Flower Library Book Club chose this as their first book of the year and my new book club at The Gables requested that the members read a biography of choice. And so it was that I picked up Madam Secretary.

Born in Prague in 1937, Albright was the daughter of Josef and Anna Korbel. Her father was a diplomat and supporter of democratic Czechs who with his family was forced to leave his native land during World War II and live in England. After the war and the liberation, the family returned to Czechoslovakia and Madeleine was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. In 1949 the family was granted political asylum and moved to Long Island. Eventually Josef Korbel moved to Denver and began teaching at the University of Colorado. He was well-known for his treatises on Communism in Eastern Europe and actually had another Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, as a student. Albright graduated from Wellesley College in 1959 and immediately married Joe Albright, a well- connected journalist from Chicago. After a series of moves the couple settled in Washington where Joe became Newsday's Washington Bureau Chief and Madeleine continued to balance raising her family (3 daughters) and continuing her education - PH.D degree from Columbia University. She was married to Joe Albright for twenty-three years before he decided that it wasn't working for him.

Suffice it to say that no moss grew under Albright's feet. She is incredibly intelligent, driven, and committed to making the world a better place. Madam Secretary relates Albright's journey from a legislative assistant to Ed Muskie to the end of President Clinton's second term. She not only details the behind the scenes machinations of international diplomacy, but she also brings a personal side to the strategies involved. During her tenure as Ambassador to the U.N. and then as Secretary of State, global conflicts erupted with a vengeance. At times I felt that Albright was playing the arcade game of "Whack a Mole" as she tried to handle situations from Somalia to Bosnia to Iran, to Korea. Although the book at sometimes got bogged down in names and policy making, it served to illuminate all that is involved in trying to get nations to talk to one another instead of acting like kindergartners fighting over a cookie. Her description of an Israeli-Palestinian summit at Camp David was indicative of all that she was willing to do to affect a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Perhaps her greatest efforts were in the area of Kosovo, Sarajevo, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. Her dealings with Milošević were tough and unrelenting. This was an area of the world that meant so much to her and she was determined to make it safe for all people regardless of their ethnic or religious background. She likens her diplomacy to Bobby Fischer playing chess as a child prodigy when he would go from table to table and make his moves against opponents. Albright remarks,

"I was no child prodigy and the faces I saw as I proceeded from one table to the next were those of Saddam Hussein, Muammar Quadhafi, Fidel Castro, and Ayatollah Khamenei. The games were complicated because a change in the momentum of one altered the dynamic of every other; our moves were decided by committee and leaked in advance by those who disagreed; new and contradictory strategies were being shouted out by a chorus from Capitol Hill, and the chessboard for the Middle East keep tipping over, requiring the contest to begin again. The game room was already crowded to overflowing early in 1998 when yet another familiar adversary—Slobodan Milosević—came crashing through the door." (p. 481.)

I was particularly interested in the personal side to all the strategies and inner workings of her office. She exuded confidence, but still had doubts as to how well suited she was for her job. She knew that she was a "skirt among 14 suits" but at the same time knew that her education had prepared her to be on an equal plane. She stressed over throwing the first ball out at a Nationals game, but did just fine. She was not afraid to accompany bodies back from Somalia, sleeping on a cot in the cargo bay. I am so impressed of all that she has accomplished and the means by which she influenced decisions and got HER point across. At the same time I empathize with her about her self-doubts, illustrated by the possibility of her marriage being salvaged if she had not pursued her career or if Joe had won the Pulitzer Prize. What kind of an ultimatum is that?

With a complete chronology of the major events in her life, an exhaustive list of her travels as Secretary of State and acknowledgments and index, Madam Secretary is an informative and inspiring read. I am looking forward to hearing her speak when she lectures in Pittsburgh in December.

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald

The course of history of our country is more often than not decided by the person in the leadership role of President. Could it have been different if another individual were in that position? For the Civil War era this would definitely been true. Lincoln by renowned historian David Herbert Donald is a hefty read that begins with Lincoln's birth and ends with his assassination. Donald's purpose in writing the biography was to only cover the events that Lincoln saw and in which he was a prominent figure -" what he knew, when he knew it and why he made his decisions." It was an intimidating read, but also an enlightening one.

The reader is immediately immersed into the life of the Lincoln ancestors and family, from Virginia to Ohio to Kentucky to Illinois. Abraham Lincoln left his father's household in 1831 and arrive at New Salem where he lived for six years. He was encouraged to run for the state legislature based on his hard work ethic, his gift for speech, and the need to position the future of the town within the state. And so began his political career. Becoming a lawyer through self-study and taking a place on the circuit court enabled him to become familiar to much of the Illinois population and in turn gave him a forum for his views.

I found the book absorbing for the insights into Lincoln's personality and psyche. I realize that what is presented in Donald's viewpoint and to make judgments based on that alone would not be true scholarship. However, he does cause the reader to rethink many of the "truths" that have been taught in school. Lincoln was not a leader from the get- go. His stance was to react to a situation rather than head it off. I believe that in today's world he would have had a hard time being elected to public office. He changed his stance on issues, was not particularly good looking, and lacked self-confidence.

The military history presented in the book was quite detailed and painstakingly researched. Again, what stood out was his relationship with General George McClellan and eventually with Ulysses Grant. McClellan outright refused to obey Lincoln's orders and commanded the troops on his agenda and according to his plan. Could it be that by allowing him this freedom that Lincoln prolonged the Civil War? He should have been replaced sooner rather than later. Once McClellan was replaced by Grant, Lincoln managed to, in a passive aggressive way, conduct the war in his way (p. 498.). His leadership grew as he grew in the job of President, but he never completely dismissed the fatalism that characterized many of his decisions, including the disregard for security measures when traveling or leaving the White House. Quoting from Shakespeare's Hamlet, ""There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them how we will."

Lincoln believed that slavery was morally wrong, but wavered among solutions to eradicate or contain it. He thought colonization was an acceptable plan, but instead wrote and issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The process by which he did this was fascinating as he gathered his thoughts and those of the political leaders of the time. His firm belief was to save the union at all costs as he writes to Horace Greeley, "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.."

Finally, no biography of Lincoln would be complete without examination of his relationship with his wife and children and their mental states. Mary Lincoln was a strong-willed and extravagant woman. She loved the ability to spend money and did it with abandonment, mounting thousands of dollars of debt. Both in Illinois and Washington, Mary was responsible for family life as Abraham was absent so much of the time. She and Lincoln were both subject to mood swings and times of deep depression. The depression was deepened by the deaths of two of their sons. They were subject to severe headaches and often spent days secluded in their respective rooms. But there was a love and attachment there that often does not get communicated in writing about the President and his wife.

David Donald's portrayal has been subject to criticism by those who think he may be a bit too harsh in his analysis of the Lincoln years. Nonetheless, it remains an account based on primary sources and scholarship and occupies a significant place in the collection of Lincoln treatises.