Southern Bookman

James Wood details Eton ties to Brexit

"The sun sets on Britain," the London Review of Books' July 4 cover proclaims.

No, the provocative headline has nothing to do with the American Revolution.

Outlined in red above the cover illustration of a darkening sky at twilight, the headline refers to literary critic James Wood's illuminating article on Brexit's connection to Eton, the English school for boys that has bred the country's establishment since its founding by Henry VI in 1440.

Running as the review's regular Diary feature, with no other headline, Wood's piece is informed by his own experience at Eton as a middle-class scholarship student. Unlike Wood, many of the school's young men came from the country's ruling class and generations of school alums, known as Old Etonians.

Etonian David Cameron when he was prime minister called for the Brexit referendum, and left office when it was unexpectedly approved. Brexit proponent Boris Johnson, now the leading Conservative candidate to replace Theresa May as prime minister, attended the school, as did Jacob Rees-Mogg and other Brexit supporters.

Wood echoes author Fintan O'Toole in finding that the Etonians' Brexit advocacy rose from "a combination of Thatcherite lust for economic deregulation and postwar nostalgia for lost imperial might."

The Etonian Brexit supporters all took a general history class at the school at age 13, reading Jan Morris's book about the rise and fall of the British empire, "Heaven's Command." For Johnson, Cameron and Rees-Mogg, Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965 marked the sunset of British glory, briefly restored by Thatcher.

Johnson's admiring biography of Churchill reflects his belief that Britain can revive its greatness apart from Europe. Rees-Mogg has expressed similar views. The Brexit supporters share a resentment that Germany, which lost World War II, leads Europe economically while Britain, a war victor, has declined.

Wood points out that Churchill's great-grandson, Etonian Hugo Dixon, is a main Brexit opponent. Yet old school ties are stronger than political beliefs: Johnson in the acknowledgements for his Churchill book thanks Dixon, at whose Greek home he wrote a chapter.

Unlike Etonians who have joined Britain's ruling class, Wood has enjoyed success in the United States writing for the New Yorker. A Harvard professor, Wood is one of the few literary critics who has achieved widespread readership. Also a novelist, Wood is married to author Claire Messud.

For Wood,  an exit from the European Union will mean "the sun sets on Britain." But he understands that the sun never sets on Old Etonians, whose wealth and power never wane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York Times daily critics lend hand to Sunday Book Review

The Sunday New York Times Book Review for undisclosed reasons tapped the newspaper's daily book reviewers to compile the 50 best memoirs of the last 50 years.

Times daily critics have traditionally remained separate from the Sunday Book Review, given over to outside reviewers. But that longstanding editorial wall was breached Sunday without any explanation.

Daily critics Dwight Garner, Parul Sehgal and Jennifer Szalai compiled the list and wrote capsule summaries of their selections. In years past, the feature would have appeared in the daily Arts section rather than the Sunday Book Review.

The list appeared conclusive. The New York-centric No. 1 choice, Vivian Gornick's "The Odd Woman and the City," was a surprise. Celebrated memoirs such as Mary Karr's "The Liars Club" and Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" appeared down the list.

Another curious choice was the inclusion of Keith Richards' "Life" over Bob Dylan's "Chronicles: Volume 1." The Rolling Stones guitarist's book was written with journalist James Fox, while Dylan, a Nobel Prize winner, reportedly wrote his book by himself. That increases the literary value of Dylan's book, although it was hampered by accusations of plagiarism. If true, at least Dylan lifted passages from great writers like Mark Twain.

And what about Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run?"

I don't know the cutoff date, but Michelle Obama's recent best-seller "Becoming" wasn't on the list. Nor was Tara Westover's "Educated." A few other recent best-sellers were also excluded, such as J.D. Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy."

The daily Times reviewers' feature gave a needed shot of readability to the Book Review's dreary pages. Garner, Sehgal and Szalai however succumbed too often to Times reviewer-ese. Could the Times ban the word "indelible" from its reviews? That word gives me indigestion when I see it.

Also, either Sehal or Szalai resorted to the cliche "at the the end of the day," which probably would have been excised in the days when The Times had a copy desk.

The feature should be useful for those looking for outstanding memoirs, although I've never quite grasped when autobiographies turned into memoirs. There's some technical difference, but no one writes autobiographies anymore. Also, writers like Karr once turned personal experiences into novels, rather than pushing their life stories as nonfictional. There wasn't even a separate memoirs genre until Karr's book.

I can think of only a couple of memoirs that might have been included. Russell Baker's "Growing Up" was definitely a must selection, but another Timesman's memoir, Arthur Gelb's "Newsroom" could have been part of the list.

Joan Didion's "A Year of Magical Thinking" was a worthy choice, but I would have liked "Harp," by her husband,  John Gregory Dunne, chosen as well. A few other strong memoirs were left off in favor of trendy favorites such as "Priest-Daddy."

Times watchers might wonder if the feature will set a precedent for Times reviewers to appear in the Sunday Book Review. Book coverage is less and less prevalent in the newspaper's  daily Arts section, and Times book coverage had been consolidated under one editor in recent years.

Shifting the daily critics to the Sunday Book Review would mark a major change in the newspaper's editorial philosophy. In the past, readers received a broad field of criticism from the newspaper, with Times daily reviewers followed by outside reviewers in the Sunday Book Review. Placing daily reviewers in the Sunday Book Review would mean fewer critical voices.

Remembering John Fowles and "The French Lieutenant's Woman"

Along with other events of 1969, this year marks the 50th anniversary of John Fowles' "The French Lieutenant's Woman."

Fowles' spicy and atmospheric novel drew international acclaim and controversy to an extent unimaginable for a book today.

Author James Campbell in a recent Times Literary Supplement article looks back at the book's sensational reception in 1969 and Fowles' disdain for literary fame.

I remember the book as one of the first novels I read as an adult, making me feel like a worldly sophisticate. Alas, I have little memory of the book beyond the moody atmosphere of Lyme-Regis, the British seaside town in which it is set.

As Campbell recounts, the book had dual plots, one taking place in Victorian England and the other in the late 20th century. The author of the 1867 romance that makes up one part of the narrative is himself a character in the book. The book blends an erotic love story with refined literary technique, making for the kind of high-class porn that Lenny Bruce satirized.

A film version didn't arrive until 1981, starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons in dual roles from the Victorian and contemporary parts of the narrative. The movie received five Academy Award nominations, including Streep for best actress and Harold Pinter, of all people, for best screenplay. Along with the book, my recollections of the film have been erased by time.

Before "The French Lieutenant's Woman," Fowles wrote the best-seller "The Magus," a supernatural tale that matched the hippie mindset of the 1960s. He also gained success with "The Collector."

As Campbell relates, Fowles shunned the London literary scene. Despite his popular success, he dismissed mass culture, believing in the superiority of an intellectual elite.

After "The French Lieutenant's Woman," Fowles' career plummeted. He published several other novels disregarded by critics and readers. He died in 2003.

Before Campbell's piece, Fowles and "The French Lieutenant's Woman" had faded from cultural memory. Now the book might join the growing list of rediscovered works.

 

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' summer retreat goes on sale for $65 million

Another vestige of Camelot is passing away .

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' secluded estate on Martha's Vineyard is on sale for $65 million, according to an announcement by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

The sale of the 300-acre compound with more than a mile of Atlantic Ocean beachfront was reported by the Wall Street Journal's Katherine Clarke in a fascinating article Friday in the newspaper's always excellent Mansion section.

Caroline Kennedy explained that the time has come to sell the home because her children are now grown, and she and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, are ready for new horizons. The couple renovated the home for their family after Mrs. Onassis' death in 1994 at age 64.

The property is a short ferry ride away from the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis on Cape Cod, according to the WSJ's scoop, unreported by The New York Times.

The price would set a record for a single-family home on Martha's Vineyard, the WSJ said. The record was set in January, when the estate of the late Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham sold for $32.5 million.

Another icon from the Kennedy presidency appeared Friday with the The New York Times' obituary of noted black photographer John Shearer, who documented Martin Luther King's funeral, the Attica Riot and other 1960s events.

Shearer was also one of the several photographers who captured toddler John F. Kennedy Jr.'s salute to his slain father's casket as it passed by in Washington, D.C.  before his funeral. The photo also shows Jacqueline in black mourning clothes and a fidgety Caroline Kennedy.

Shearer's photo for Look magazine stands out from others taken of the scene because of its classical framing and the beatific light on Jacqueline Kennedy's face behind her black veil.

The grown-up John John had a glittering public career before dying in a plane crash near his mother's summer retreat. Now, with the the sale of her mother's beloved summer home, Caroline Kennedy is closing another chapter in the family's story.

 

 

 

 

 

Farewell, Ed Shearer

Longtime Associated Press sportswriter Ed Shearer covered SEC football as it grew from a regional pastime into a national powerhouse.

Shearer died at age 84 after a fall, according to the news service where he worked for 40 years.

During his career, Shearer covered three Olympics, the World Series and the Masters. He also wrote the story that appeared on front pages across America the day after the Atlanta Braves' Henry Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record in 1974.

But I and other longtime SEC fans remember him best as the author of the SEC Seer, the weekly predictions column that appeared in newspapers across the region. Shearer also covered the biggest Southern football game each week.

An old-time sportswriter, Shearer loved cigarettes and hot peppers, according to his obituary. A native of Shreveport, Shearer started his career at the Shreveport Times. His first AP job was covering politics in Little Rock, Ark.

Transferred to Atlanta, Shearer played a big part in chronicling the rise of Southeastern football, and the emergence of professional sports in the region.

 

Times staffer Taffy Brodesser-Akner's novel receives boost in newspaper

Remember when the novel was dead?

That was just a few months ago. Now, the novel is back.

The marketplace is packed with novels, many of them by young women.

In the age of Twitter, cellphones and Instagram, the novel turns out the main narrative vehicle for the millennial generation. From sexual abuse, the criminal justice system and international intrigue to the political and social games of MFA creative writing programs, the novels cover a range of subjects. Frothy "chick lit" no longer rules.

The latest hot novel is "Fleishman Is In Trouble," by ace New York Times profiles writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

Broadesser-Akner pulled off a noteworthy coup this week in pushing her novel in a Times Insider column.  

The Times used to try to avoid any hint of conflict of interest involving books by Times staffers. Looks like that's no longer the case.

While ethically questionable, the piece was interesting. Brodesser-Akner admits to eavesdropping on colleagues' newsroom conversations.

"Fleishman Is In Trouble" examines divorce among young millennial couples.

And I thought divorce was dead too. Like the novel, divorce has come back.

 

 

 

Tony Awards fall flat

Watching college baseball, I missed much of the Tony Awards Sunday night. The few musical numbers I caught lumbered with the worst excesses of Broadway, making me glad that I'd mostly remained at the ballpark.

The lackluster and disjointed Tonys show did have the surprise of "Hadestown" winning seven more awards than "To Kill a Mockingbird."

On a night where "Network's" Bryan Cranston beat out "To Kill a Mockingbird's" Jeff Daniels for the aging white male leading man award, "Hadestown" dominated the musical field. It looked more interesting than productions based on Cher, the Temptations, Tootisie and Bettlejuice.

The legendary Elaine May's wry and gracious acceptance speech for her best leading actress award increased my desire to see her performance in Kenneth Lonergan's "The Waverly Gallery." But then I discovered the play had already closed.

I liked host James Corden's collection of jackets, but his cloying, overeager performance wore out its appeal. After mocking the Tonys' low TV ratings in a promising opening production number, he generated more groans than laughs. Corden should remain in the steppes of late night TV.

Oh well, Broadway is booming, according to The New York Times, and the "Hadestown" bonanza and best play recognition for Jez Butterworth's "The Ferryman" indicated an approval for imaginative theater over commercial, crowd-pleasing productions.

Too bad that Broadway couldn't put on a better show for its shrinking national TV audience.

 

Those who served at D-Day

D-Day's 75th anniversary brings a gallery of stories.

Most who served and died in the Normandy invasion of June 6, 1944 remain unknown heroes.

Those who survived to remember make up a distinguished gallery.

Some were already famous: Henry Fonda. Atlanta golfer Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones, at age 44 one of the oldest men who served on that long and violent day.

New Yorker writer A.J. Liebling gave the magazine's readers a three-part account of the invasion. The United Press's Walter Cronkite landed in a glider behind German lines with the 101st Airborne. Later, he joined Edward R. Morrow's CBS News. Robert Capa took famous photos of the invasion's early moments.

Some found fame after the war. Soldier J.D. Salinger carried parts of "The Catcher in the Rye" in his backpack when he hit the beach. He later joined Liebling in the club of famous New Yorker writers.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's experience made him a pacifist poet and publisher. He recently celebrated his 100th birthday.

Andy Rooney joined Cronkite at CBS News and delivered acerbic commentaries for "60 Minutes."  Charles Durning, David Niven and Alec Guinness went on to stellar acting careers.

Larry "Yogi" Berra led the New York Yankees to 10 World Series championships.

All remembered D-Day as the most memorable experience of their lives.

 

Walt Whitman, Herman Melville and Julia Ward Howe: 19th century titans were born 200 years ago

It looks like a Walt Whitman summer in New York City.

The bicentennial of the 19th century poet's birth is being marked with exhibitions at the Grolier Club, the New York Public Library and the Morgan Library, according to The New York Times. Artifacts from the "Leaves of Grass" author's career will be displayed, including manuscripts, first editions and a lock of his hair.

This is also the bicentennial of Herman Melville's birth. The "Moby Dick" author also will be honored in New York City. Like Whitman, who began his career as a Brooklyn newspaperman, Melville is associated with the great city, especially his enigmatic short story "Bartleby the Scrivener."

And, as Elaine Showalter reminds us in a New York Review of Books article, it's also the bicentennial of the birth of Julia Ward Howe, who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and other works and fought for women's voting rights.

The three 19th century titans speak to us of an America haunted by the Civil War and riven by racial violence and economic disparities but bursting with creative and entrepreneurial energy.

Theirs was a raw country, rising to world dominance with new businesses, inventions and literature against a backdrop of persistent poverty and repression, especially in the South. Their words still speak to us.

 

 

Nathaniel Philbrick tells how George Washington orchestrated Yorktown victory, American independence

I spent Memorial Day morning completing Nathaniel Philbrick's "In The Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown."

Along with Washington's patience and leadership in keeping peace among different factions, I was struck by how big a role the French played in the U.S. gaining independence.

The French navy's control of the Chesapeake Bay after a victory over the British fleet ensured the American victory at Yorktown, where  the French army's siege tactics led to British Gen. Cornwallis' surrender.

Philbrick, who also wrote a readable account of the early days of the Revolution in Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill, shows that Washington often was dependent on French leaders such as  Admiral de Grasse. Washington marshaled the highest diplomatic skills to persuade French leaders to support American aims.

Sometimes, they resisted, as when DeGrasse refused to send French ships up the York River, which might have allowed Cornwallis' forces to escape. A sudden storm dashed Cornwallis' plans.

Washington initially resisted moving his army to Virginia to bottle up Cornwallis. At first, he planned to attack British-held New York, a strategy that Philbrick struggles to justify.

Philbrick exposes Washington's repellent actions in regard to slavery. Several of Washington's slaves escaped, and apparently joined Cornwallis's army along with hundreds of other slaves. During the Yorktown siege, with food running low, Cornwallis expelled the slaves, many of whom starved or fell victim to disease.

After the battle, Washington attempted to recapture his slaves, hiring a professional slave hunter, according to Philbrick. After a peace agreement with the British had been signed,  ending the war,Washington sought to prevent thousands of former slaves from leaving New York with British forces. The British insisted on the slaves retaining their freedom and traveling to Britain.

Washington in his later years did criticize slavery, and in his will freed his slaves, upon the death of his wife, Martha. But during his lifetime, he sought to uphold slavery at his home of Mount Vernon. Washington also resisted a venture by Lafayette to establish a farming venture that would operate without slavery.

The American commander agreed to aide John Laurens' proposal to establish black regiments in the Continental Army. I was astonished that Washington commanded the most integrated American army until Vietnam.

Yet, Philbrick notes that Washington's efforts to recapture slaves after Yorktown sowed the seeds of the Civil War.

Philbrick's book is part of a renewed interest in the Revolutionary War in recent years, fueled by the success of the musical "Hamilton" and popular biographies of Washington, Jefferson, Adams and other Founding Fathers.

While the Revolutionary War receives new attention, interest in the Civil War was waned, according to an article Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal's Cameron McWhirter. Visitation to Civil War battlefields like Gettysburg and Chickamauga has declined, McWhirter reported.

One reason is the campaign to remove Confederate monuments, and the violence at Charlottesville over the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, McWhirter found.

Another cause is a declining knowledge of American history among young people. When I was growing up, Civil War interest was high among Southern males. Now, aging Civil War re-enactors are not being replaced by younger participants, McWhirter found.

Books on the Revolutionary War reveal that it was a nasty conflict,  a civil war between the rebels and American British loyalists. Philbrick relates brutal British tactics such as throwing small-pox-stricken slaves into wells to poison drinking water. As another recent book details, the fighting continued for two years after Yorktown in a bitter civil war in the Carolinas.

Now, noted World War II historian Rick Atkinson has turned to the Revolutionary War. Atkinson's recently released "The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777:" is the first of a three-volume history of the war, following his trilogy about the allied victory over Germany in World War II.

The most striking scene in Philbrick's book is Washington bidding farewell to his officers in New York City. As Philbrick relates, Washington stood for a strong central government while refusing efforts to make him an American king.  Our current president tramples Washington's legacy.