Category Archives: War

BOOK: Sát Thát by Lê Vân [Illustrated by Nguyễn Bích]

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Sát ThátSát Thát by Lê Vân
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Kim Dong Books

This illustrated book tells the story of the Vietnamese (Tran Dynasty) victories over the invading Yuan Dynasty (Mongolian-controlled China.) It’s a quick read with only a few lines of text per page, while the bulk of each page is a line-drawn monochrome illustration. The illustrations themselves are sufficiently clear and detailed to allow one to follow the general flow of the story.

I used a translator and don’t know how accurate it was or –more particularly — how true to the original it was, except to say that the translator produced a coherent story that seemed to be consistent with other sources.

This book focuses entirely on the military campaigns and takes a bit of a jingoistic tone. As I understand it, it doesn’t tell the whole tale as many consider the Mongol incursions to have been successful because they exacted a tribute from the Vietnamese (which was their ultimate goal,) despite the Mongols’ lack of military success. That said, it was an impressive set of military victories for the Tran Dynasty, and the Vietnamese have every right to take pride in them.

I discovered this book in the publisher’s bookstore in Hanoi and thought it was a small enough text with sufficiently detailed illustration to give me some insight into the story, even without any real grasp of the language. I did find reading the book to be informative and interesting and would recommend it for readers military history.

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DAILY PHOTO: Quán Thánh Temple, Hanoi

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DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea

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BOOKS: “Lost in the Twentieth Century” by Albert Szent-Györgyi

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Lost in the Twentieth Century (Annual Review of Biochemistry Book 32)Lost in the Twentieth Century by Albert Szent-Györgyi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Available Online – NIH National Library of Medicine

This is the very brief autobiography of a fascinating man. Szent-Györgyi is most famous for work in biochemistry involving Vitamin C, work that won him a Nobel Prize. However, his life is not only notable for science before and after the Nobel (after he worked on the physiology of muscular activity, on electron activity in physiology, and on cancer.) He also performed important works outside the laboratory, notably he conducted an espionage / diplomatic mission during the Second World War (“Espionage” in that he traveled to Turkey under false pretenses, under cover of giving a lecture at a university, “diplomatic” in that the trip’s true objective was to negotiate with the Allied powers.)

Szent-Györgyi has some interesting quips and insights that make it worth reading this pamphlet-scale book, even though his Wikipedia page probably contains as much information. He had an interesting way of thinking about matters, both scientific and not, and was politically and socially engaged in the world.

If you’re curious about Szent-Györgyi or enjoy biographies, in general, I’d highly recommend reading this one.

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“Fast Rode the Knight” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

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Fast rode the knight
 With spurs, hot and reeking,
 Ever waving an eager sword,
 "To save my lady!"
 Fast rode the knight,
 And leaped from saddle to war.
 Men of steel flickered and gleamed
 Like riot of silver lights,
 And the gold of the knight's good banner
 Still waved on a castle wall.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
A horse,
 Blowing, staggering, bloody thing,
 Forgotten at foot of castle wall.
 A horse
 Dead at foot of castle wall.

“The Death of a Soldier” by Wallace Stevens [w/ Audio]

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Life contracts and death is expected,
As in a season of autumn.
The soldier falls.
 
He does not become a three-days personage,
Imposing his separation,
Calling for pomp.
 
Death is absolute and without memorial,
As in a season of autumn,
When the wind stops,
 
When the wind stops and, over the heavens,
The clouds go, nevertheless,
In their direction.

“Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

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Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
 Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
 And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
 Do not weep.
 War is kind.

      Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
      Little souls who thirst for fight,
      These men were born to drill and die.
      The unexplained glory flies above them,
      Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom—
      A field where a thousand corpses lie.

Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
 Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
 Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
 Do not weep.
 War is kind.

      Swift, blazing flag of the regiment,
      Eagle with crest of red and gold,
      These men were born to drill and die.
      Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
      Make plain to them the excellence of killing
      And a field where a thousand corpses lie.

Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
 On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
 Do not weep.
 War is kind.

This poem opens War Is Kind and Other Lines (1899.)

BOOKS: “Violence: A Very Short Introduction” by Philip Dwyer

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Violence: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)Violence: A Very Short Introduction by Philip Dwyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Oxford University Press

This is a brief overview of various types of violence, starting with the question of what counts as violence. The book explores violent acts carried out by individuals, mobs, movements, governments, and religions. It reflects upon how the nature of violence has changed over the centuries while hinting at potential reasons for said changes (along with counterarguments.)

This book raised some provocative questions, such as: Why would people go to watch executions? Does Steven Pinker’s hypothesis that humanity is becoming less violent hold water? [Pinker made this argument in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, but it has been refuted on number of grounds — definitional, methodological, etc. Though Dwyer only briefly touches on Pinker’s book and its critics in this book and a detailed critique will require looking elsewhere.] How (and why) do violent tendencies vary across cultures. And, when and how did governments end up with a monopoly on legitimate use of force.

I found this book interesting and informative and would recommend it for those looking for answers as to why and how our species is so violent.

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Pillbox Bunker [Tanka]

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pillbox bunker from
 a war a lifetime ago
  sits in a field.
 what the farmer must think
 as he plants around it.

BOOKS: “The Last Brother” by Nathacha Appanah

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The Last BrotherThe Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site — Gray Wolf Press

When Mauritius made it onto my shortlist for upcoming travel, I needed to find an enlightening work of Mauritian literature, and this book was prominently discussed as one that might fit the bill.

The book is narrated by an old man telling a story from his boyhood. It is a poignant and riveting tale. The book’s title, The Last Brother reflects the protagonist’s (Raj’s) first tragedy, losing his two brothers in a natural disaster in Mapou, Mauritius. Raj’s family then moved south where his father got work in a prison.

Much of the book revolves around a strange historical event — the imprisonment of a large number of Jews on Mauritius during World War II. These Jews had fled Europe and were trying to make their way to Palestine but were not granted entry because of a lack of acceptable documentation. They were then sent to Mauritius where they were imprisoned in a detention camp.

The reader only sees this event through the relationship of Raj and David. Raj is taken to the prison infirmary after being beaten by his alcoholic father. There he meets David, a Jewish boy in the detention camp. It isn’t until the very end of the book that the author presents the facts of the historic event. I think this is a wise move, allowing the reader only knowledge of what the characters would know (which – as nine-year-olds – is not much.) The late reveal adds to the tension and makes some of the characters’ decisions more understandable.

The last part of the book is a little reminiscent of Huck Finn, except without Twain’s lightheartedness and with a more melancholic and tragic tone and ending, but featuring two young men on the lam for different reasons.

I found this novel to be a potent read and would highly recommend it for readers of global literature — especially if you expect to find yourself in Mauritius at some point.

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