The IBIC Guide to Books About Colin Powell
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October 1995
Dear fellow book-lovers,
Sometimes what we read
is less revealing and meaningful than what we choose
not to read.
For example, I won't be reading
anything more by, or about, O.J. Simpson .
I
have also been exerting great effort to avoid reading the
sometimes seemingly omnipresent MY AMERICAN
JOURNEY by Gen. Colin Powell with Joseph E. Persico (Random House).
My
reasoning is that although I have no doubt that Powell is an
admirable and well-integrated personality and, from all
accounts, he has written a literate and enjoyable autobiography,
he hasn't really done anything. I mean, let's face it,
he's a staffer.
He hasn't initiated anything big, or
taken many stands on principle, except perhaps "The Powell
Doctrine"--which is merely a policy of extreme caution in using
American military force against substantially inferior
opponents. Desert Storm wasn't D-Day, and Powell's not Ike (or
even George C. Marshall, the more apropos comparison).
It
hasn't been easy to resist reading General Powell's book. I do
like a well written autobiography. Why, just a few days ago
there was a very interesting article in the Sunday New York
Times all about Persico's collaboration with Powell. I was
tempted.
Just as I was about to cave in to the overwhelming
number of environmental cues telling me "you must read Colin
Powell's autobiography," I came across two very pleasant
reminders of what an autobiography can really be.
- James & Sybil Stockdale's IN LOVE AND WAR (Books on Tape,
1984) is the story of how they survived his 7 1/2 years in a
North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Suffice it to say that
this book made me understand why Stockdale earned his Medal of
Honor. (It also caused me to revisit some of my preconceived
notions about the history and politics of the Vietnam war.)
Stockdale and his wife are genuine American heroes. Highly
recommended.
- A HREF="http://www.hmco.com/">Houghton
Mifflin has released GREAT BATTLES AND LEADERS OF THE SECOND
WORLD WAR, an illustrated edition of selections from Winston S.
Churchill's THE SECOND WORLD WAR, with an illuminating
introduction by the noted military historian John Keegan. Now
there was an autobiography! There are passages of great beauty
in this compilation. Unfortunately, the copy editing bears
signs of haste and unprofessionalism; I found at least three
blatant typos in the first ten minutes of leafing through the
volume, and the accompanying press release includes the
atrocious misspelling "niether." Shocking.
So if you're in
the mood to read the autobiography of a great man of war, I
suggest you go to your local library or used bookstore and find
IN LOVE AND WAR">the Stockdale book, or else start making your way through all
six volumes of THE SECOND WORLD WAR (Houghton Mifflin, 1951).
Comments from IBIC readers are welcome.
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Editor's Recommendations, Summer 1996
In this inaugural edition of IBIC's Featured Books, I'd like to
draw your attention to several titles which have helped to shape my life
and thinking.
- When I was around fifteen, I came across Larry Niven and
Jerry Pournelle's science fiction novel, INFERNO. This '70s remake of Dante's
classic describes science fiction writer Allen Carpentier's
descent into Hell. It's still a very fresh, accessible take on
the classic. What a great movie it would make!
- The Niven/Pournelle INFERNO
immediately inspired me to read the original Divine Comedy.
I've read a number of translations over the years, but my
favorite is the one by Dorothy Sayers (INFERNO;
PURGATORY;
PARADISE). The notes
are excellent, and Sayers had such a knowledgeable and witty mind that reading
her prose is a pleasure in itself. (For those interested in a more contemporary translation, I should mention that Robert Pinsky received excellent notices for his 1995 THE
INFERNO OF DANTE : A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION; it's a very handsome book.)
- I also want to tell you about the late Henry Fairlie's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS TODAY,
which probably did more than any other single book to galvanize me into a lifetime interest
in Christianity that led me, eventually, to faith. Ironic, because Fairlie was a self-proclaimed agnostic socialist! But
reading between the lines of this insightful and deeply feeling book, one realizes
that the love of God cannot have been far from Fairlie's heart.
- Finally, I should draw to your attention a more recent
acquisition, the very handsome NIV
STUDY BIBLE (10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) from Zondervan, indexed and bonded in leather in
IBIC's theme color, burgundy (black
and brown
are also available). The notes to this Bible are amazing. They
appear to provide you with a very substantial portion of what you need to
know to have an intelligent layman's appreciation of the
linguistic and historical issues involved in understanding
Scripture.
|
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