Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America, by Jared Cohen – a Discussion with the AAUW Readers
Okay, I admit it – I’ve complained about book groups being burdensome and borderline irrelevant. I want to read what I want to read, when I want to read it! Thus have I cried out, the lament of a fanatical reader.
But I have to say, there are times when book groups more than justify their existence. In fact, they can be just plain great. I attended just such a discussion this morning.
First off, Jared Cohen’s Accidental Presidents was so filled with fascinating revelations that it was a joy to read. Cohen’s book covered eight presidents who assumed office upon a president’s death. Four of the fatalities were due to assassinations; the others were due to illness of the Chief Executive.
John Tyler survived a catastrophic explosion aboard the warship USS Princeton. The young woman he was in love with was also on board, escorted by her father. Her mother had been withholding permission for her to marry him; however, after losing her husband, she relented, and they were soon wed. So: a poignant love story emerged from a scene of horror. (Tyler became president upon the death of William Henry Harrison.)
One must, of course, relive the killing of Lincoln and the evils that resulted from Andrew Johnson’s ill disguised sympathy for the defeated Southerners.
I was saddened once again to read of the death of James A. Garfield, surely one of the most honorable, decent, and compassionate men ever to serve the public. He never even wanted to be president, yet chose this path when his party and his friends convinced him that he was needed. Anyone who is interested in what happened to Garfield needs to read The Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard. I never thought a history book could break my heart, but that one did.
There was so much more: Millard Fillmore, who succeeded Zachary Taylor; Theodore Roosevelt, who succeeded William McKinley; Calvin Coolidge, who succeeded Warren G. Harding: Harry Truman, who succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt; and finally, the great tragedy of our own era, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the pursuant struggles of Lyndon Johnson. Stories about each of these critical moments in U.S. history had me mesmerized.
Page after page of Accidental Presidents astonished me. I could not help wondering: Was I ever actually taught American history? Obviously not in a meaningful way, or a way that stayed with me, or a way that awakened to me to the fact that this subject could be so riveting.
It was evident from the reactions of the participants in the discussion that they shared my enthusiasm for this book and its subject matter. The amount of knowledge brought to bear, the questions raised, the points brought to light, all made for an exceptionally stimulating session. Jean’s insights about the South, gleaned from her granddaughters’ experiences; Phyllis’s memories of growing up in Kentucky, Peggy’s perspective as a person of Korean heritage, Doris’s first hand knowledge of the workings of the Federal government – these and many more contributions flowed freely. I sat there thinking, What an exceptional, and exceptionally impressive, group of women!
I felt deeply fortunate and grateful to be among them.
Presidents John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Gerald Ford. (Ford was not included in Jared Cohen’s book.)
‘The night was no longer silent; she could hear the seven billion people who lived on this earth.’ – The Whisperer by Karin Fossum
This was a tough one.
Tough to get through, I mean. The problem was not excessive violence or a byzantine plot. There was, in fact, very little violence – at least until the long-awaited crime actually takes place. And by that time, I was actually relieved. This is because the plot had been moving with all due sluggishness. In fact, it often seemed not to be moving at all.
Instead, we were spending page after page delving into the mind of one Ragna Riegel, a middle aged woman who suffers from an unusual and poignant disability, brought about by a surgeon’s error. Ragna lives alone in the house she grew up in. She has a day job in a retail establishment called Europris. It’s nothing special, but it pays the bills and provides her with a modicum of human contact.
Ragna Riegel dwells in an almost painful obscurity. The one bright light in her life is her son, but he has gone to live and work in Berlin and her contact with him is very sporadic.
We’re delivered from an almost relentless introspection by excerpts of Ragna’s lengthy interviews with Inspector Sejer. Sejer is the continuing character in Fossum’s series. He’s appealing and conscientious, if somewhat low key; his dog Frank, a small but portly Shar Pei, provides the sole comic relief in this downbeat narrative.
I’ve read seven or eight books in this series. Obviously I liked them, or I wouldn’t have kept coming back for more. But I must admit, I found The Whisperer challenging. Jake Kerridge, who reviews crime fiction for Britain’s Telegraph, wrote an article several years ago with the rather piquant title, “Efficient Mystery with Light Emotional Wallowing.” In it, he opined that “The closest most fictional Scandinavian detectives get to making a joke is to point out that man is born only to die…” This novel partakes of that melancholy world view.
One of the reasons I stick with Inspector Sejer is that these books invariably contain some striking passages of prose. They’re not necessarily spectacular, but in their quiet way they make you stop and think.
She looked up at the black sky over the town. They all believed that it stretched on for eternity, whereas in reality, the atmosphere was as thin as a bride’s veil and the sky stopped just beyond the tallest skyscraper, or after twenty minutes in a rocket, Twenty minutes, she thought, and then nothing. Beyond was just dark and cold, and beneath the veil, tiny people lived inside a glass cloche.
(One must of course credit the seemingly meticulous translation from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson.)
Do I recommend The Whisperer? Yes, but cautiously. The ponderousness of the plot could understandably defeat some readers. Yet in some ways, it’s a rather profound work. And there does emerge, toward the end, a small ray of hope for redemption, for Ragna and her constricted world.
Books to the Ceiling 