Secret Servants of the Crown: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence (Claire Hubbard-Hall)

The British Secret Service Bureau was established in 1909. Over time, the agency evolved into two distinct groups that we know collectively as the MI5 and MI6. The British equivalent of America’s CIA is known for its counter-intelligence and surveillance. Think James Bond and you have a fictionalized idea of MI6 (and Ian Fleming did work in intelligence in World War I while serving in the Navy). 

It’s important to note that many women served Great Britain in valuable intelligence-gathering during the 20th Century. Claire Hubbard-Hall’s Secret Servants of the Crown: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence amplifies the contributions of several British women who served their country in intelligence-gathering. It’s a powerful, fast-moving account of Margaret Priestley, Kathleen Pettigrew, Dorothy Henslowe, and others who provided valuable information on Bolshevik-era Communists, Nazi sympathizers, and others that the British had concerns about.

These women led double lives, providing valuable intelligence in one role while working as secretaries or in roles that were traditionally assigned to women in the early 20th century. Pettigrew, in particular, was an inspiration for Miss Moneypenny in the Bond novels. 

Hubbard-Hall’s book provides a great platform in telling the stories of these women beyond what Ian Fleming cooked up.

MY RATING: 4.5

The Name of This Band Is R.E.M. (Peter Ames Carlin)

R.E.M. was one of the bands I listened to a lot as a kid in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They were one of the first concerts that I attended as well. This iconic band from Georgia helped shape and enhance the alternative and indie music scene in America for over a decade, with their music helping influence countless other alternative bands in the 1990’s and beyond. 

Peter Ames Carlin’s The Name of This Band Is R.E.M. is a chronicle of the band’s development in Athens, GA in 1980 and their subsequent rise to stardom in the years that followed. As Carlin tells the band’s history, each of its members is also woven in with biographical background and stories of their evolution. R.E.M. arguably reached its peak in the early and mid 1990’s before Bill Berry’s departure in 1997. While the remaining members continued on for nearly 15 more years, the subsequent records the band put out failed to reach the heights of Automatic for the People and Green.

Carlin’s book is well-researched and entertaining. For fans of today’s indie rock scene, R.E.M. can be considered in many ways the forefather of helping indie break out of the college radio and underground scene and into mainstream rock. Whether or not fans of the band felt R.E.M. “sold out” to corporate music or not, their influence on rock music is still felt to this day.

MY RATING: 4.5

The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice (Simon Parkin)

The siege of Leningrad during World War II resulted in the deaths of over 700,000 civilians from starvation and related food scarcity, not to mention the additional deaths of soldiers who fought the Nazis in defense of the modern-day city of St. Petersburg. Within the city stood an old palace that had been converted by scientists into a laboratory that housed the world’s largest collection of seeds. This collection was put together by a team of Soviet scientists under the direction of Nikolai Vavilov, who Stalin’s government considered a dissident because of his cooperation with other scientists in the West around crop research. Vavilov was taken into custody by the NKVD (predecessor to the KGB) early in World War II, which meant the scientists would be without their leader as the Nazi siege started up in 1941.

Simon Parkin’s The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice is a gripping tale of the perseverance and dedication of these scientists to safeguard these seedlings during the siege and to ensure the collection could survive potential theft, destruction, and one of the harshest winters on record. The story of these scientists parallels what the city went through, often in graphic detail, over the winter of 1941-42 and in the balance of World War II.

The Forbidden Garden is arguably one of the best books I have read in the past year. It read very quickly and kept this reviewer captivated and wanting to turn the page. It’s a great tribute to the dedication of scientists to continue their research and ensure they do everything they can to keep their seed collection intact and to survive the war.

MY RATING: 5

The Power and the Glory: Life in the English Country House Before the Great War (Adrian Tinniswood)

In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, an influx of wealth infused much of the West. In America, we refer to it as the Gilded Age. In Britain, new money found its way into the life of genteel country nobility, who built and renovated homes and estates in the rural countryside. The Power and the Glory: Life in the English Country House Before the Great War is Adiran Tinniswood’s account of life in the English “country house” during the peak of the British Empire’s influence and control.

The period of time that Tinniswood focuses on ranges roughly from 1860 to 1920, showcasing the changing norms of high society due in large part to the influx of wealth that worked its way out of the noble class and into unexpected sources (such as burlesque entertainers, guano dealers, and foreign resources). Change happened fast for the era, whether it be modern technology such as indoor plumbing and electricity, or social norms such as divorce and remarriage outside of the blessing of the Church of England. The Power and the Glory showcases how much British life changed and how those in the 1% of the era adapted.

Tinniswood’s book reads as part gossip column for the era and part history of English affluence and exuberance during the British Empire’s peak. The Power and the Glory was an entertaining and informative read, well worth your time if you’re a fan of Downton Abbey or similar shows.

MY RATING: 4.5

Eavesdropping on Animals: What We Can Learn From Wildlife Conversations (George Bumann)

Chirping birds, hooting owls, and barks from foxes and coyotes are all ways that those animals communicate. Many times, those chirps and barks are to others in the same species. However, according to George Bumann, those same sounds could be messages to us and others within the animal kingdom. Eavesdropping on Animals: What We Can Learn From Wildlife Conversations is Bumann’s guide to animal communication and a call to us to take a step back, breathe, and listen with intent to the outside world around us.

Bumann really loves nature, especially the animal kingdom. He lives near Yellowstone Park and often talks about the encounters with various wildlife at Yellowstone and at his home. The book is equal parts chronicle of his interactions with animals and guide to those who aspire to forest bathe (or shinrin-yoku as it’s known in Japanese). Bumann advocates that even those who don’t live near a forest but live in the concrete jungle of Manhattan can listen with more intent to the communication of animals when in the park or in a less noisy part of the world. 

The book’s most useful section lies in the appendix, offering a summary of each chapter’s takeaways to help those who aspire to follow the author’s journey into deep listening and thinking. I also can see a path for usefulness to those who aspire to think more clearly and intentionally regardless of whether they choose to listen to chirping birds or a chirping co-worker in the office. There are some strong parallels with other books that showcase a path to better listening in day-to-day living and the advice Bumann puts forth in the book.

Reading Eavesdropping on Animals made me think that Bumann is a modern day St. Francis of Assisi, walking through the wilderness and blessing wildlife on his journeys. While that is arguably hyperbole, Bumann’s guide to better listening can be useful regardless of whether you’re listening to a crow or a co-worker.

MY RATING: 4.5

Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson (Jane E. Calvert)

You may know John Dickenson as a man whose writings helped unite a patchwork arrangement of colonies 3,000 miles away from England into a protonation. Dickinson was one of the nation’s founding sages - a man who was a part of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, state legislatures, and even was the governor (then known as Presidents) of two states. He was arguably as instrumental to America’s beginnings as most of our more well-known founding fathers. Jane E. Calvert’s Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson is a well-written, well-researched biography of one of the important thinkers in 18th Century America.

Calvert chronicles Dickinson’s life and political career from Philadelphia, where he was involved in Pennsylvania government in the 1760’s and 1770’s. In addition, he helped Delaware earn its motto as “The First State” for ratifying the Constitution that Dickinson himself was involved in putting together. He also served in the Continental Army during the Revolution at various ranks and helped defend Wilmington from the British. Despite all of these accomplishments, Dickinson was dogged by the fact that he did not sign the Declaration of Independence, believing it to be too violent of a document because of his increasingly strong Quaker beliefs of pacifism. 

Dickinson was a man of varying levels of moderation and driven to compromise. Some of the frames of American government, such as a bicameral legislature, were ideas Dickinson promoted at various points in his life. Dickinson, a one time slave owner, also gradually evolved into an abolitionist and tried to more strongly limit slavery in Delaware in later years. Calvert’s biography of one of our nation’s early statesmen is a timely example of how leaders can lead not with absolute ideology but on principle and with the conviction of helping their fellow state and nation improve.

MY RATING: 4.5

Dream: The Life and Legacy of Hakeem Olajuwon (Mirin Fader)

Hakeem Olajuwon had a remarkable basketball journey, starting in Lagos and ending his career in Toronto. However, a 20 year stay in Houston and the fame that came with it is what Olajuwon is best known for. His collegiate career at the University of Houston included three trips to the Final Four and two losses in the title game. His NBA career included three trips to the NBA Finals and winning the two championships that Chicago did not win between 1991 and 1998. Olajuwon’s statistics are among the best in basketball history, yet for many reasons he isn’t as well-known as other superstar players from the 1980’s and 1990’s. Mirin Fader hopes to change that with Dream: The Life and Legacy of Hakeem Olajuwon.

This biography of Olajuwon tracks his story from a kid who played handball and soccer to his display of raw basketball talent that was behind his superstar collegiate and NBA player careers. Olajuwon’s personality and devotion to his faith are also woven throughout the book. Fader describes how Olajuwon was drawn back to Islam, using it to harness his talent, control his temper, and become a much better teammate. His Rockets eventually became a Western Conference power in the 1990’s, winning back-to-back titles and in 1995, becoming the only NBA team to eliminate the four best teams in the league by win-loss record as they won the second of those titles.

Olajuwon retired as one of the greatest players to have played in the NBA, known for his defense and also his “dream shake” fadeaway jumper. He was also its first truly international star, helping pave the way for countless others to join the NBA from overseas. Dream is an inspiring story about one of the greats in NBA history.

MY RATING: 4.5