Jack’s Books Blog: Talking About Empires
“Bringing down the empire” is to July what “No Kings” was to this past spring.
Meaning a vapid slogan for lefty lemmings.
Turns out there’s been some “empire” reading going on here, but I swear it’s coincidental.
“Mafia Kingfish: Carlos Marcello and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy” by John Davis (1989) I had “high hopes” (Kennedy campaign song!) for a book combining two of random interests (the Mafia, and the JFK conspiracies). Those hopes were kind of disappointed by this hefty volume, in that it tended to be factually sloppy. Where it more than makes up for itself is in presenting some of the best analysis of the mobbed-up tentacles wrapped about 1963 Dallas. Best parts are the Marcello history (the book is more about him than anything) and how obvious Jack Ruby’s presence in this story connects the “families” to the whole she-bang. It’s worth delving into, IF you are like me and always want to go deeper on what really (might have) happened.
“God’s Shadow: Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of The Modern World” by Alan Mikhail (2020) Superbly written, engrossingly-told story of the man who vaulted the now-forgotten Ottoman Empire into the powerhouse that, eventually, indirectly, gave us the modern Islamic world. I questioned whether I wanted to know this much about a brief, long-ago chapter of history. I did, and you just might too.
“Fortunate Son” by Lewis B. Puller, Jr. (1991) A somber, brutally-candid autobio of a Vietnam War hero, born to arguably the greatest Marine who ever lived, Chesty Puller. Made more bittersweet by the realization that, despite all of this book’s awards and reception, the author took his own life shortly after publication.
“On Target” by Mark Greaney (2010) Another in the Grey Man series, which is grouped together in my mind with Jack Carr’s “Terminal Man” books and the Nick Petrie “Ash” series. If you like any one of them, you will like them all. And I do.
“Ghosts” by Ed McBain (1980) One of the best (and quirkiest) in the author’s decades-long series about the fictional “87th Precinct” detectives—here called in when a famous author of a supernatural bestseller, and a random woman living in his apartment building, both turn up dead, separeately. Not just a “whodunit”, but maybe a “whatdunit”? Or not?
“The Fire Kimono” by Laura Joh Rowland (2008) A relentlessly great and original series, set in feudal Japan, imagining that the imperial court employs Chief Inspector Sano as a kind of prehistoric Sherlock Holmes. Rowland knows her setting and you’ll let her take all kinds of liberties to shoehorn in murder and conspiracy. I jokingly called it “Law and Order: 1699”
Separation of Power” by Vince Flynn (2001) and Executive Power (2003) I rarely read two books in a series back to back, but these flow seamlessly together, picking up the uneasy transition of lead character Mitch Rapp from field agent/assassin to CIA/White House counter-terrorism honcho, plus just to add more complication, he’s now marrying his network reporter galpal, and his past collides with some pre- and post-9/11 intrigue.
As always, let me know how you find any of these, and share your recommended titles: [email protected]