Lloyd Alexander, The Arkadians

This must be Lloyd Alexander week.

This is a delightful short novel that kindly pokes fun at old Greek myths--as well as at old writers of novels. Other than one talking poet-turned-jackass, there is no magic or fantasy in the book, though one meets characters that, in repeated retellings, could become Odysseus, satyrs, the Trojan horse, and so on and on.

I once again feel he really knows how to write about a boy and girl falling in love. This is surprising since he did not really devote many sentences to it, and one thinks it a little unlikely that the main couple in this book spend rather little time together before eagerly marrying. Nevertheless it is not a "no way could that happen" surprise, it is more like a "hey, that can't be the whole story" surprise, and at least from a man's perspective, he gets the whole atmosphere and mystery of it right. In that regard Mr. Alexander's approach reminds me of my reaction to the boy-meets-girl story of the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Lloyd Alexander, Westmark

The Prydain books have been some of my favorite since I first read them out loud with my family about 10 or 15 years ago. I just discovered that this book existed and read it last night.

I liked it. I will try to figure out why and add to this post.

Stephen C. LeSueur, The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri

In this day and age it seems almost ridiculous that the National Guard would be called out to shoot at members of a religious group rather than to protect their basic civil rights. But the Mormon War in western Missouri was real. This was a different time and place: in 1839, the Missouri militia stood toe-to-toe across the border from the Iowa militia over a border dispute, and the future Kansas City area was very much the frontier, where insulting a gentleman might get you killed.

I read this book a year or two ago for several reasons. I had ancestors in northwestern Missouri in the 1830s. I dabble in reading Mormon history. I attended the "Mormon Experience" conference a couple of years ago at the Capitol building in Jefferson City. I found this book very interesting.

The book includes a brief but markedly understated anticipation of some fascinating historical research presented at the Jeff. City conference and I believe published recently. "The Mormons, like their Missouri neighbors, were 'squatting' on their claims, waiting to purchase the land from the government. The principal Mormon settlements in Daviess County, including Diahman, would become available for public purchase on 12 November. Sidney Rigdon claimed that, shortly after the Saints left DeWitt, Sashel Woods called his men together and told them, 'if they could get the Mormons driven out, they could get all the lands entitled to preemptions.' The Carroll vigilantes hurried their preparations, hoping to reach Daviess and drive the Mormons from the county before they could make good their claims to the land." (p. 110)
The Jeff. city presentation I referred to above was by a historian who mapped 1838 land purchases from public records and confirmed that the feared land grab did happen, and that the largest buyers of the land on the day the government opened it for sale--while the Saints were held at gunpoint for a week by the Missouri state militia--were Lilburn Boggs (commander in chief of the militia) and his minions. "Follow the money" worked on the 1830's frontier just as well as it works now.

Overall I feel the author was pretty even-handed in his coverage of problems on both sides. I felt he was too generous in treating the state's one-sided prosecution after the surrender. Nevertheless he does point out, "The reexamination of Mormon claims regarding the Richmond hearing may lead the reader to conclude that justice was served by this judicial inquiry. Just the opposite is true. ... Missouri officials made no effort to prosecute anti-Mormon vigilantes who drove Mormon settlers from their homes, plundered, and burned. There was no court of inquiry to investigate ... the slaughter of Mormon settlers at Haun's Mill. Western Missouri officials conducted a one-sided investigation." (p. 216) As Parley P. Pratt wrote to Judge King, "When the authorities of the State shall redress all these wrongs, shall punish the guilty according to law, and shall restore my family and friends to all our rights, and shall pay all the damages which we, as a people, have sustained, then I shall believe them sincere in their professed zeal for law and justice; then shall I be convinced that I can have a fair trial in the State." (pp. 217-218)

Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose, translated by William Weaver

I read this about 6 months ago. It had been on my list forever, partly because his nonfiction work "The Search for the Perfect Language" was on my list first.

I must say I was disappointed. I was not disappointed by the author's skill: he writes well, his characterization is wonderful, the plot is reasonably complex yet grabs one's attention and won't let go, and the book builds toward teaching a message. But I don't like the message: fear piety, fear those who are convinced of the truth, but don't fear God (see the last few pages before the epilogue). Perhaps it was especially frustrating to build anticipation for the conclusion for 600 pages only to get that conclusion.

Plus, after Angels and Demons and the Da Vinci Code I am tired of reading books by authors who must really hate the Roman Catholic church. I know there was misconduct in the monasteries, but this reads as if there was nothing more.

Like many modern works, I lay this in the pile of "great work was done here ... great but misdirected."