Lady, Go Die

Author: Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane

Publisher: Titan

Publication Date: May 8, 2012

Pages: 272 (Ebook Edition)

     Mickey Spillane introduced iconic private investigator Mike Hammer in 1947's I, the Jury.  Spillane passed away in 2006 after a long and illustrious career and appointed Max Allan Collins, a noted writer in his own right (The Road to Perdition), as his literary executor.  Collins has completed many unfinished Spillane works including this novel which is, in fact, the long lost sequel to I, The Jury.  

     Collins has done a masterful job of maintaining the traditions of Spillane and Mike Hammer.  This reads as the logical and artful follow up story.  The basic plot is familiar.  Trouble finds Hammer who is on vacation with his secretary Velda in a seaside resort town north of Manhattan.  A missing person investigation turns into a murder case and leads Hammer on a wild ride through high stakes gambling, local police corruption and, eventually, to an unlikely villain.

     The trademark Spillane tough-guy dialogue is here and the male chauvinism remains intact.   The sex scenes are a bit more explicit (possibly representing Collins' contributions) but the rampant racial prejudice in I, The Jury is absent.   I think the plot here is a bit tighter which is interesting given that this is a collaborative writing effort.  All in all, this is a very readable and entertaining story which is well worthy of being the sequel to I, The Jury.

Book Review: I, The Jury by Mickey Spillane

I, The Jury

Author: Mickey Spillane

Publisher: E. P. Dutton

Pages: 287 (e-book edition)

Publication Date: Original Hardcover, 1947

                                                                                       

     Mickey Spillane was a World War II veteran (Army Air Forces) and prolific writer of crime fiction who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2006.  He was awarded a “Grand Master” Award by the Mystery Writers of American in 1995.  He initially began his writing career crafting stories for comic books and then moved into short fiction for pulp magazines of the 1940s.  In order to make a down payment on a new home he wrote his first novel I, The Jury in 19 days and it was published in 1947.  The book sold over 3.5 million copies before the first movie version was filmed in 1953.  A subsequent remake was filmed in 1982.  Most importantly, this novel introduced readers to the iconic main character, ultimate “tough guy” private investigator Mike Hammer.

     

     The story is a good one.   It is told in the first person perspective by Mike Hammer.  Jack Williams, one of Hammer’s war buddies (like Spillane, Hammer is a WW II veteran) is killed following a cocktail party which he hosted.  Jack is a former police officer who lost an arm in the War and works as an insurance investigator.  Called to the murder scene by a mutual friend, detective Pat Chambers, Mike Hammer makes a solemn vow to find and kill the perpetrator, not wanting to rely on the justice system to avenge his buddy.

     

     What follows is a classic procedural as Chambers and Hammer conduct parallel investigations, focusing on the party guests.  Both investigators have problems finding anyone with the opportunity or the motive to commit the crime.  The difference in the investigations is that Hammer procures information in unorthodox and often illegal ways.  The characters are complicated and the perpetrator, when finally revealed, is surprising.  The author writes in short, descriptive sentences illustrating that he honed his writing skills on short fiction.  This does not detract from the novel.  In fact, it is actually refreshing to read a story not encumbered by unnecessary facts or digressions:

“The sorrow drifted from her eyes, and there was something else in its stead.  It was coming now.  I couldn’t tell what it was, but it was coming.  She stood tall and straight as a martyr, exuding beauty and trust and belief.  Her head turned slightly and I saw a sob catch in her throat.  Like a soldier.  Her stomach was so flat against the belt of her skirt.  She let her arms drop simply at her sides, her hands asking to be held, and her lips wanting to silence mine with a kiss.’       

    

     I, The Jury is certainly dated.  Sexism and racism abound.  The author’s characterization of African-Americans is absolutely brutal.  Spillane’s stereotypical black dialogue and roles (maid, bartender, shoe-shine boy) reflect the extreme prejudice and segregation which existed in the 1940s.  The book was considered decadent at the time and was generally dismissed by critics because of the amount of explicit sex and violence which Spillane included in this and subsequent novels.  There is a definite chauvinistic attitude towards women here and the sex and violence is far from subtle but I, The Jury is still very tame by today’s standards.   Interestingly enough one of the most outspoken early advocates of Mickey Spillane’s work was none other than Russian-Ameerican novelist, philosopher and playwright Ayn Rand.

      I enjoyed reading I, The Jury and I expect that I will read more Mickey Spillane.  It is fairly obvious how much contemporary crime fiction writers owe Spillane for almost single-handedly creating the genre.   The man could certainly tell a great story.  

Book Review: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date Published: November, 2008 (Hardcover)

Pages: 336 (Trade Paper)

“Outliers are those who have been given opportunities –

And have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”

-          Malcolm Gladwell

     Malcolm Gladwell is a former business and science reporter for “The Washington Post” and is now a staff writer for “The New Yorker” magazine.  He has written many best-sellers including The Tipping Point and Blink.  He uses counter-intuitive logic to take new and different looks at our world and how humans interact.  In Outliers Gladwell uses both well-known and obscure stories to explain why certain individuals are super successful or become “outliers” – that is their performance deviates greatly from their cohort.

    

        In the opening chapters the author explains that sociologists feel that success is a result of what they call The Matthews Effect or “accumulative advantage.”  Most folks would feel that the biggest advantage a child could have would be being blessed with above average intelligence or ability. Gladwell contends that IQ is just a threshold and that “practical intelligence” (knowing how to say the right things, what’s appropriate behavior in certain situations, etc…) is just as important.  There are many other factors in play which determine if an individual is to become and “outlier”.  He uses the Canadian National Hockey team as an example of the advantage of birth date.  Because the cutoff birthday for the select youth hockey teams is arbitrarily set at January first, the teams tend to be stacked with kids born in the first few months of each year.  These kids are bigger and more physically mature than children born later in the year in their same grade level.  The players on the select teams then receive better coaching, play more games and eventually become the elite players that go on to receive college scholarships and even play professionally.  Gladwell backs up this contention with real data from the Canadian National Hockey team and the National Hockey League, showing that most of the players have birthdays in January, February or March!

    

     Gladwell then goes on to explain what he calls the “Ten Thousand Hour Rule.”  He contends that in order to perform any skill at the highest “outlier” level, an individual must practice his craft for at least ten thousand hours.  He notes how hard that is to accomplish, not only from a personal commitment standpoint, but also from an opportunity level.  Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time for those ten thousand hours to be attainable.  He uses two examples of this rule coming into play.  The first is Bill Gates, who happened to go to a high school where a “personal computer station” was available  and through family connections was able to access computers at the University of Washington to further hone his passion for software design.  By the time he was a young adult he had his ten thousand hours of computer experience under his belt when none of his contemporaries came even close.  Another fascinating example of this the author uses is The Beatles.  In the late 1950s The Beatles were just one of hundreds of young British bands playing clubs and getting by.  They were hired to play bars in the red light district of Hamburg where they were forced to play eight to ten hours a day, seven days per week.  After several stays in Hamburg, The Beatles had their ten thousand performance hours and rose above their contemporaries in their ability and stage presence.

     

     The author does not neglect the influence of cultural and socio-economic class difference.  He notes that there are different parenting approaches to education.  He expounds on the fact that middle and upper class parents practice a style of “concerned cultivation” of their children, generally being very involved in the child’s education and often extending the learning process at home.  The poorer class tends to utilize a style of “accomplishment of natural growth”, tending to leave the education of their children to the schools themselves and being more “hands off” in their approach.   

    

     Gladwell uses the last half of the book to delve into the factor of cultural influence.  He studies a group of Jewish lawyers who were all born in the era of The Great Depression.  Their parents were all immigrants with strong work ethic who worked exceedingly hard to succeed in the garment industry in New York.  These young men did not have the cultural advantages of their non-Jewish peers, went to lesser law schools (being denied admission to the Ivies because of their ethnicity and religion) and took work that the bigger established firms felt were beneath them.  This work involved corporate mergers and take overs, work the larger firms wouldn’t touch.  Along came the 1970s when these men were approaching their most productive years and the laws changed and corporate work became very important and lucrative.  These lawyers were in the position of having the most experience and over the next several decades prospered greatly, becoming the legal “outliers” of their generation.  Gladwell notes that these men were indeed lucky AND they helped themselves through the rigid work ethic they learned from observing their parents.  “Luck is winning the lottery.  They were given an opportunity and they seized it.”

Movie Review: "Argo" directed by Ben Affleck

"Argo"

Directed by Ben Affleck

 Warner Brothers Pictures

     Argo is a remarkable true story about a dramatic rescue of six Americans during the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979 and 1980.  Ben Affleck directed this tight drama and also stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA specialist in "exfiltration" (removing people from hostile environments).

     The movie opens with a fairly brief summary of the political and historical background which precipitated the Iranian takeover of the U.S Embassy in Teheran. The Iranians, under the leadership of the Ayatollah Khomeni, held fifty two Americans hostage.  They demanded the return of the deposed Shah of Iran who, suffering from lymphoma, had obtained political asylum in the United States.  Six Americans escaped the embassy during the takeover and hid in the home of the Canadian ambassador.  

     Multiple plans to remove the six isolated hostages were constructed and discarded and finally, in desperation, the CIA turns to Mendez.  He devises an outlandish plot to enter Iran and leave with the six hostages, all posing as a group of Canadians planning to film a "Star Wars" knock-off movie in Iran.  The story moves to Hollywood where Mendez (Affleck) enlists the aid of renowned make-up artist John Chambers (played by John Goodman) and producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to aid in the ruse.  The audacious plan goes through multiple levels of review, including President Carter and his chief of staff Hamilton Jordan (Kyle Chandler).  The political implications of success vs. failure play heavily in the discussions.

    The movie balances the absolute terror of the hostage situation with humor and the total absurdity of the plan to rescue them.  Alan Arkin is terrific, injecting levity and irony into the nearly impossible situation.  There is also a cinematic balance between the beauty of the city of Teheran and the surrounding Iranian mountains and the horror of the terrorist acts of the Revolutionary Guard. The movie makers have also re-created the look of the late seventies complete with the large eye glasses, the wide lapels and tight jeans.  The soundtrack also lends authenticity to the setting of the era. 

     "Argo", though, is really the story of Tony Mendez and his tremendous heroism  and bravery.  This is a story about prioritizing the safety of others above your own and doing the right thing.  It is a story of a brave and principled man who completes his mission against enormous odds and at great risk to his own safety and well-being.  The courage this man displays is unbelievable.  The skill with which Ben Affleck brings this character to the screen is equally incredible.  Affleck's performances (both as actor and director) are Oscar-worthy.

      I was a young adult during this time period, trying to survive the first years of my surgical residency.  I remember the Iran Hostage Crisis and the impotence that America felt as the situation dragged on for 444 days.  I remember the harsh criticisms of Jimmy Carter and his seeming reluctance to do anything to resolve the crisis, even as this clandestine operation was in place.  The criticism of Carter reached new heights when an attempted military hostage rescue resulted in the loss of eight American servicemen and two aircraft in the Iranian dessert.  Carter's loss to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election was largely blamed on his perceived lack of leadership during this time.  The hostages were released one hour after Reagan's inauguration.  The film casts new light on the political decision making and behind the scenes actions that were, in fact, taking place.

    "Argo" is a fantastic film, a fascinating recreation of the time period and is also a critically important history lesson.  I recommend it highly.

Book Review: Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Author: Tim Weiner

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Date Published: June, 2007 (Hardcover Edition)

Pages: 848 (Trade Paper Edition, including notes)

This book begins with a quote from 17^th century French literary figure Jean Racine: “There are no secrets that time does not reveal.”  It appears that time, the Freedom of Information Act and author Tim Weiner have revealed many of the most closely kept secrets of CIA.  They also have shattered any myth of competence and exposed the many weaknesses of and abuses of power by CIA in its sixty year history.  Tim Weiner is a respected investigative journalist, having written about American intelligence for “The New York Times” for over twenty years and received a Pulitzer Prize for his work on secret national security programs.

The book is divided by presidential administration, beginning with the founding of CIA under Harry Truman.  The title of the book is derived from a quote by Dwight Eisenhower and summarizes his assessment of the intelligence community’s performance during his administration and what he was leaving for the incoming President, John F. Kennedy.

The purpose for founding CIA was to provide accurate information to the President regarding our enemies as well as allies so that the President and cabinet could then make intelligent foreign policy decisions.  The battle early on was between “information gatherers” and “covert operators”.  Eventually the covert ops advocates took charge, mainly under the influence of the first Director, Allen Dulles.  Covert operations eventually expanded to include fomenting revolution (Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia and more), assassinations and domestic spying.

Two of the more shocking and frightening parts of the book are the accounts of CIA’s involvement in the assassination of President Diem of South Vietnam under the direction of John and Robert Kennedy as well as the multiple CIA attempts on the life of Fidel Castro.  The book implies that the subsequent assassination of JFK was direct retaliation by Cuba.  CIA knew of contacts between Lee Harvey Oswald and the Cuban embassy in Mexico City in the weeks leading up to November 22, 1963.  Some of this information was withheld from the Warren Commission and many on that Commission were skeptical of their conclusions (including a young representative, Gerald Ford, who was keeping CIA briefed on all of the proceedings).

The second shocking revelation is the outright lies that many Presidents have told the Congress as well as the American people about CIA activities.  These include Dwight Eisenhower lying about U2 spy plane missions over the Soviet Union and Ronald Regan stating unequivocally in his State of the Union message that the United States never supplied arms to Iran when CIA had, in fact, done just that with the full awareness of the Chief Executive. 

Parts of the book read like a Laurel and Hardy comedy.  One example is the U.S. Army aiding and supplying President Sukarno of Indonesia as he fought a coup attempt from his own military which was sponsored by and supplied by CIA.  A second example is the attempts at putting agents on the ground in North Korea during the Korean War.  Every agent dropped into the North was immediately captured and either killed or turned into a double agent within twenty four hours of being deployed. 

The recent intelligence failures regarding Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden and Iraq are all well documented and are the final “mind bogglers” in this narrative.  Although there was a Presidential caveat to eliminate Bin Laden during the Clinton administration, CIA missed opportunity after opportunity because (at least in Mr. Weiner’s opinion) of George Tenet’s reticence.  The fiasco of the cruise missile which was launched to take out a munitions cache in Bosnia and instead destroyed the Chinese embassy was based on faulty CIA intelligence.  The now infamous “unequivocal proof” of the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was based on CIA data from one very unreliable source and came second hand from Germany.  That “intelligence” was also years old when it was given to the White House and used as justification for the invasion of Iraq.  All of the pundits who decry George W. Bush’s domestic surveillance and abuse of personal rights and liberties should understand that this type of thing has been going on since the inception of CIA.  CIA was used for domestic spying in the 50s against suspected communists, in the 60s and 70s against civil rights advocates and the anti-war movement and now against suspected terrorists.

This book is a thorough (605 pages plus 175 pages of notes and footnotes) discussion and explanation of American foreign policy over the last sixty years.  If you haven’t read a newspaper in decades or believe that everything that America does in the world is right and just and motivated by good intentions, this book will shock and infuriate you.  If you are cynical about our representative government and believe that power corrupts, this book will do nothing but support that view.  If you are the least bit paranoid, you probably should not read this book at all.  Let’s hope that future presidents have either read this book or have it next on their “must read” list so that they don’t fall into the same traps and temptations as their predecessors.