Adventure Divas: Searching the Globe for Women Who Are Changing the World Perhaps one of the greater adventures in "Adventure Divas: Searching the Globe for Women Who Are Changing the World" by Holly Morris is the concept of a mother and daughter team attempting to create a PBS Television documentary series without a sponsor. Holly and her mother, Jeannie, produced a series of programs which explored the lives of women around the world who are unique in their culture and are changing lives around them. Holly could easily be considered an "adventure diva" herself. She decided to leave the print world where she had been a successful editor and work in a media with which she was unfamiliar. Jeannie's main experience in the field had been as a sports editor at a Seattle television studio. Together they took the risk of creating a program with an unusual concept on a very limited budget. They took the risk that they could find absorbing stories to tell, would be able to create a visually appealing product, and would be able to do that without the constraints of being dictated to by money people. Their crew visited every continent, often going to primitive places in third world nations. In many of the cultures which they visited, women were still struggling for equality and influence, so that made what these remarkable women did even more outstanding. There were spectacular stories to be told.
There was Kiran Bedi, the first female beat cop in India, who was disciplined by being forced to take over the administration of an extremely dangerous prison. Her philosophy of acknowledging the worth of each individual improved the discipline so thoroughly that the building became a model prison. Other remarkable women visited include an ex-Black Panther who went into exile in Cuba, a publisher who puts out a feminist magazine in Iran, the reclusive Booker Prize winning author Keri Hulme who lives and fishes in New Zealand, and an elderly woman who paints portraits in a Muslim country where the religion prohibits portrayal of the human figure.
The team and the project are also an important component of this book. The difficult situations endured on location provide the flavor of dirty, dangerous areas. What Morris does to retrieve a mirror dropped into a pit toilet provides a gag moment. She emerges from her writing as a committed storyteller prepared to endure tremendous discomfort to get the story right. [12-7-08]
The Whiskey Rebels It is difficult to imagine Alexander Hamilton, an iconic figure on our ten-dollar bill, as a manipulative, scheming politician, but this is the author's characterization of him in "The Whiskey Rebels" by David Liss.
Ethan Saunders is a shadowy figure who was a spy during the American Revolution. Close to the end of the war, he was exposed as a traitor. Instead of being placed on trial, he and his superior were allowed to leave the army in disgrace. Shortly after this Richard Fleet, the man Saunders had worked for was supposedly killed in a barroom brawl. Saunders had degenerated into a drunk while he was searching for the men who framed him. He feared that he might have been framed by Fleet and this dread was enhanced because Saunders was in love with Cynthia, Fleet's daughter. When the novel begins, Saunders receives a message from Cynthia. She had known Saunders as an extremely competent man who was able to manipulate others and find any necessary information. After her father was disgraced, then killed, Cynthia had married Jacob Pearson, a wealthy, older man. Now he is missing. His fortune had grown from financial speculation. At this time, Alexander Hamilton is the Secretary of Treasury and is working to maintain the financial stability of the country. Cynthia is concerned that financial speculation may have become a blood sport. Although it is obvious she has no great love for her husband, she is worried about the financial stability of herself and her children if her husband does is not found.
The novel also follows events on the western frontier. Joan Maycott and her husband, Andrew, have traded his promised Revolutionary Army bonus for land in western Pennsylvania. There they hope to prosper. The frontier is a brutal place, full of deceitful men. When the Maycotts find they have been cheated, they turn to the production of whiskey as a means of survival. Whiskey had become a tradable commodity in the west, since it was much easier the ship than grain, but Alexander Hamilton engineered an excise tax on whiskey to finance a national bank. You might vaguely remember hearing about the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 whenever you studied American history. These fictional characters and many who had a real existence interact in ways that illuminate the ambitions and conflicts that culminated in our early nation's first rebellion. This gifted historical writer portrays the cold, dirt, hunger and pain endured by our early patriots. [12-21-08]
A Most Wanted Man John LeCarre has been writing spy novels for over three decades and has managed to produce books which are timely and interpret world events in ways that lead the reader to question the way he or she may feel about the typical villain in the news. His newest, "A Most Wanted Man," begins in Hamburg, Germany. We are quickly reminded that this was the city in which three of the 911 hijackers had spent time.
Melik Oktay and his mother, Turkish Muslims living in Hamburg, take in a street person who calls himself Issa. They quickly realize that they are providing shelter to someone who can jeopardize their lives. They are trying to become German citizens and have realized that Issa is not only mentally ill, but has entered Germany illegally. Association with him could force them to be deported. Issa gradually reveals that he could make a claim that would provide him with millions of dollars. He does not wish to file a claim because it is money that is tainted according to Muslim beliefs. The Oktays are finally able to convince him that a lawyer associated with a refugee protection group can help him sort out the legalities of his situation. The first thing Annabel Richter does is to contact Tommy Brue, Chairman of the private banking firm Brue's Bank about a "Lipizzaner" account. It is revealed that Issa is actually Ivan Karpov, the son of Red Army Colonel Grigori Karpov and a Chechan captive. Anatoly had loved the woman who had been his prisoner, and the son she bore him. He had tried to care for this son, but Issa had become a radicalized Muslim. With funds obtained from a gangster-like past, Karpov had established a Lipizzaner fund for his son with Tommy's father. When the claim is made, intelligence services from several countries are interested in Issa. This is the type of conflict which LeCarre is such an expert at describing. There are volatile connections between Issa, Annabel and Tommy. Gunther Bachman is a German who is trying to reform and improve German intelligence. His philosophy is that they are spies, not policemen. They do not arrest their targets. He expects to develop them and direct them so bigger targets can be captured. When a showdown occurs, the American contingent receives the blame from a somewhat anti-American author. [12-28-08]
by Helen Davis