Friday, July 18, 2008
The Last Spike
Pierre Berton
1971
This is a history book about the actual construction of the rail road in the 1890's. It is the continuation of a story started in The National Dream.
This book is perhaps Berton at his best. The story continues, told as much as the story of the people involved as the story of the railroad itself. I don't think that everyone is all that into railroad history, but it seems that a lot of people are. For those people, this book is a pleasure. Railroads, I suppose, have a bit of romanticism still attached to them, and their construction is so real and human that a railroad can't be built without thousands of stories coming into existence. Berton connects the best of these stories. I read this book preparing to take the train from Toronto to Vancouver and I couldn't be happier that I did. The train route is steeped in history, and there's no better compliment to the trip than this book.
Pierre Berton
1971
This is a history book about the actual construction of the rail road in the 1890's. It is the continuation of a story started in The National Dream.
This book is perhaps Berton at his best. The story continues, told as much as the story of the people involved as the story of the railroad itself. I don't think that everyone is all that into railroad history, but it seems that a lot of people are. For those people, this book is a pleasure. Railroads, I suppose, have a bit of romanticism still attached to them, and their construction is so real and human that a railroad can't be built without thousands of stories coming into existence. Berton connects the best of these stories. I read this book preparing to take the train from Toronto to Vancouver and I couldn't be happier that I did. The train route is steeped in history, and there's no better compliment to the trip than this book.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The National Dream:
The Great Railway, 1871-1881
Pierre Berton
1970
This is the first of two books chronicling the planning and building of the transcontinental Canadian railway.
Pierre Berton has over a dozen excellent books. Any area of Canadian history towards which he has turned his attention has been fortunate. I only wish he had focussed on even more. Two of his books are about the history of the railroad, and they are two books that any full study of Canadian history would be impossible without.
As usual, Berton's history is a story of characters. It focuses on John A. MacDonald and his commitment to build the railroad. Sandford Fleming, George Grant, Hugh Alan, George Etienne Cartier and Edward Blake play their roles in the first round of political fighting. Once MacDonald's government falls and returns almost a decade later the only one who is still around and fighting is MacDonald himself. His political skill and persistence is remarkable. He is genuinely committed to the building of Canadian unity, and he risks his political life, health, and income to realize it. By the end of the book, after 15 years, the railway is still a long way off, but MacDonald has assured that it will be built.
Attention, not enough, but at least some, in this book is devoted to the inevitable bulldozing of the Native way of life by the railroad. The book isn't about natives, but it is such a glaring side effect of the railroad that it would be insulting to avoid it. The railroad symbolizes so much, good and bad. To the natives it was a spike driven right through the heart of their territory. For nomadic plains tribes, the railroad was the end.
The book is excellent. At some points heavy on parliamentary dialogue, but it's scope, while thick sometimes, almost adds an element of respect to the debate. That an entire book can be devoted to solely political dealing without even touching the actual building of the railroad is a tribute to how important those dealings were. That the book can be readable and nearly riveting is a tribute to Berton and his storytelling.
The Great Railway, 1871-1881
Pierre Berton
1970
This is the first of two books chronicling the planning and building of the transcontinental Canadian railway.
Pierre Berton has over a dozen excellent books. Any area of Canadian history towards which he has turned his attention has been fortunate. I only wish he had focussed on even more. Two of his books are about the history of the railroad, and they are two books that any full study of Canadian history would be impossible without.
As usual, Berton's history is a story of characters. It focuses on John A. MacDonald and his commitment to build the railroad. Sandford Fleming, George Grant, Hugh Alan, George Etienne Cartier and Edward Blake play their roles in the first round of political fighting. Once MacDonald's government falls and returns almost a decade later the only one who is still around and fighting is MacDonald himself. His political skill and persistence is remarkable. He is genuinely committed to the building of Canadian unity, and he risks his political life, health, and income to realize it. By the end of the book, after 15 years, the railway is still a long way off, but MacDonald has assured that it will be built.
Attention, not enough, but at least some, in this book is devoted to the inevitable bulldozing of the Native way of life by the railroad. The book isn't about natives, but it is such a glaring side effect of the railroad that it would be insulting to avoid it. The railroad symbolizes so much, good and bad. To the natives it was a spike driven right through the heart of their territory. For nomadic plains tribes, the railroad was the end.
The book is excellent. At some points heavy on parliamentary dialogue, but it's scope, while thick sometimes, almost adds an element of respect to the debate. That an entire book can be devoted to solely political dealing without even touching the actual building of the railroad is a tribute to how important those dealings were. That the book can be readable and nearly riveting is a tribute to Berton and his storytelling.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A Long Way Gone:
memoirs of a boy soldier
Ishmael Beah
2007
This is a memoir of a boy in Sierra Leone who fought in a guerrilla war for two years as a teenager before making it to New York.
The book is gripping and quick to read. The stories are shocking and the narrative is real and emotional. It's a world so far disconnected from anything I've known that it fails to resonate deeply. That's my shortcoming though, not the books. It move from one tragic event to another so rapidly that it almost becomes formulaic. Is it important to read books about such wildly different life experiences? What is gained by the awareness brought by this book? It makes me humbled, privileged. It doesn't spur me to act (again, my shortcoming, not the book). The book has to be shocking or no one will read it. But, as shocking as it is, by being published in the book, it becomes just another part of the mass of real and outrageous literature and film that is always being produced. It makes me feel guilty, not for my privilege, but because the massive loss of life and suffering has served to augment my worldliness and make me feel I'm more aware. The story, I think, was cheapened. The book was riveting, but I can't help feeling that is was reduced to typical exploitive shock journalism by being published. I don't know. It made me feel a lot. It made me aware, and it gave the author power.
memoirs of a boy soldier
Ishmael Beah
2007
This is a memoir of a boy in Sierra Leone who fought in a guerrilla war for two years as a teenager before making it to New York.
The book is gripping and quick to read. The stories are shocking and the narrative is real and emotional. It's a world so far disconnected from anything I've known that it fails to resonate deeply. That's my shortcoming though, not the books. It move from one tragic event to another so rapidly that it almost becomes formulaic. Is it important to read books about such wildly different life experiences? What is gained by the awareness brought by this book? It makes me humbled, privileged. It doesn't spur me to act (again, my shortcoming, not the book). The book has to be shocking or no one will read it. But, as shocking as it is, by being published in the book, it becomes just another part of the mass of real and outrageous literature and film that is always being produced. It makes me feel guilty, not for my privilege, but because the massive loss of life and suffering has served to augment my worldliness and make me feel I'm more aware. The story, I think, was cheapened. The book was riveting, but I can't help feeling that is was reduced to typical exploitive shock journalism by being published. I don't know. It made me feel a lot. It made me aware, and it gave the author power.
