Books Set in North America: United States: South Dakota

Black Hills, by Dan Simmons (2010)

Black Hills is both the location in South Dakota that is home to the presidents carved into Mt. Rushmore, and the English translation of name the Lakota protagonist of this novel.  The novel spans from the Battle of Little Big Horn through the carving of the faces on Mt. Rushmore.

The novel begins when young Paha Sapa (Black Hills) who is counting coup (touching the enemy) touches General George Custer at his moment of death on the battlefield.  From that point on, Custer’s spirit enters the body of the young boy.  Paha Sapa later realizes that he has the “gift” of forward-visions when he makes skin contact with others.  This gift terrifies him and he avoids touching people to avoid seeing his visions of their future.

The novel travels back in time from the Battle of Little Big Horn to the description of how the faces became to be carved into the side of the Black Hills.  The Native American tribes are not in favor of the monument on the Black Hills, known in Lakota as the Six Grandfathers, which is a sacred place.  Paha Sapa, who in 1936 is known as Billy Slow Horse, has a running joke with Gutzman Borglum about dynamiting the faces off the side of the mountain.  Borglum laughs, but Paha Sapa is only half-joking.

During Paha Sapa’s life, he marries and has a son, who we learn, was a soldier in World War I.  We know early on that his son never returned, but it isn’t until the end that we learn that he didn’t die in battle, but rather, of the Spanish Flu.  I say this because I read this book while under Covid-19 quarantine.

A large portion of the book is devoted to the creation of the Presidential monument.  I learned a lot about the Battle and the monument.

The book was interesting, but its constant jumping around from time period was distracting.  For this reason, I gave it only 3.5 stars.

Read:  April 24, 2020

3.5 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Germany: Bavaria

The Play of Death, by Oliver Pölzsch (2016)

In 1633, the Black Plague raged through Europe.  In the village of Oberammergau, 80 villagers died.  The people of the village vowed to put on a Passion play (the story of the crucifixion of Jesus) every 10 years if they would be spared.  The play was first performed in 1634.  This is the backdrop of this 6^th novel in the Hangman’s Daughter series.  We are once again acquainted with Magdalena Fronweiser and her family, which consists of her husband, Simon, her 2 sons, her father, Jakob Kuisl, the hangman, and her sister, Barbara.

The novel takes place in 1670.  The village of Oberammergau is preparing for their next performance, however, it is 4 years early for the 10-year anniversary mark.  This causes some of the superstitious villagers concern.  When actors in some of the key roles are found murdered, concern among the villagers heightens.

The first death was that of the actor playing the role of Jesus.  He was found murdered on a cross just as Simon Fronwieser, the medicus of Schongau, is in the village to bring his young son to boarding school of Simon’s friend and teacher, Georg Kaiser.  The village doctor has recently died, so Simon is naturally asked investigate the murder.  Meanwhile, Johann Lechner, Schongau’s secretary and town leader brings Jakob Kuisl, to Oberammergau because the village’s executioner has also recently died.  He, too, gets caught up in the investigation of the eerie murders.

While Lechner is out of Schnogau is out of town, other members of the town’s council decide to take advantage of his absence to oust him.  When Barbara Kuisl is accused of witchcraft she is thrown in the town’s dungeon and is awaiting torture.  With Lechner out of town, Barbara has no advocate.  Magdalena sneaks out of town to go to Oberammargau to seek Lechner’s assistance.  Along the way, however, she is abducted.

In the meantime, the people of Oberammergau are protesting the immigrant workers from Italy.  They are scorned and their children keep going missing.  Is there a connection between the murders of the actors in the Passion play and the missing immigrant children?

This book has multiple plot twists as it unravels the murders of the Passion play and the abduction of Magdalena.

As with the other books in this series, this book is based on historical facts, which is what I find must interesting.  I enjoyed this book as a light and easy read.

Read:  April 15, 2020

4 Stars

The Hangman’s Daughter; Book I / Read: June 1, 2013

The Dark Monk; Book II / Read: October 6, 2013

The Beggar King; Book III / Read: March 9, 2014

The Poisoned Pilgrim; Book IV / Read: December 28, 2017

The Werewolf of Bamberg; Book V / Read: July 21, 2019

The Play of Death; Book VI / Read: April 15, 2020

Books Set in North America: United States

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, by John M. Barry (2004)

After Hurricane Katrina, I read Rising Tide, by John M. Barry.  It is about the great Mississippi River flood of 1927.  I was struck by how in the intervening 70 years between the 1927 flood and the 2005 hurricane, how very little had changed.  Now that we are in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, I picked up John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History.  Again, I was stuck how little has changed in the past 100 years.  Although there have been significant medical advances, politically, things are much the same.  The government was slow to act and withheld critical information.

The book begins with an overview of the state of medical science at the end of the 1800s.  American medical schools basically accepted anyone and lagged far behind the quality of medical education offered in Europe.  When Johns Hopkins died, he bequeathed a $7M trust to fund a university and hospital.  The Board created to make Johns Hopkins bequest a reality, they build a university that would rival the best schools in Europe, and required rigorous admission standards and classroom work.  The medical course would include classes in chemistry, anatomy through autopsies, and laboratory courses.  These requirements were unheard of in existing American medical schools.

William Welch, the first dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, recruited faculty, many who were European-trained physicians.  Soon students began flocking to the school.  Shortly thereafter, the Rockefeller Foundation for Medical Research was created for the purpose of focusing on medical research.  By the time the 1918 influenza pandemic began, other medical research schools throughout the country had been created and were in operation.  Thus, by the time of the pandemic, the medical community was at least prepared to understand the chaos of the disease.

In 1918, World War I was raging in Europe.  The countries then at war suppressed news of the illness.  Spain, which was not then involved in the war, did, however, report cases of the influenza, thus the influenza became known as the Spanish Flu.  Although the exact origin of the influenza is not definitively known, the most likely theory is that it originated in the United States.  In early 1918, in Haskell County, Kansas, the local physician began seeing a few young men with the disease.  Had the country not been at war, the disease might have simply died out.  Camp Funston, a part of the army base of Ft. Riley, was near Haskell County, and young men from Haskell were sent to the Camp, where tight quarters provided the perfect breeding ground for viral spread.  As these young recruits were sent around to other bases in the United States and Europe, the virus quickly mutated and spread.

The book describes how the leading scientists at the now excellent medical facilities in the United States began the search for the causative agent of the disease.  The leading contender was a bacterial agent.  Richard Pfeiffer had isolated a new bacterium, which was named Bacillus influenzae.  This bacterium was found in many, but not all, victims of the disease.  Vaccines were created against this bacterium but did not provide protection against the disease.  Time was lost before the causative agent was determined to be a virus.

Meanwhile, President Woodrow Wilson did little to assist in the fight against the disease.  Rupert Blue, the Surgeon General of the United States, also took little action.  In fact, according to Barry, he actually blocked relevant medical research and rejected requests for financial support.  Interestingly, after the War, while Wilson was negotiating peace treaties with Europe, he came down with influenza.  After he recovered, it was noted that his mind was never the same.  Barry goes into great detail about how doctors and medical scientist noted that the disease seemed to cause neurological effects on the brain of many patients who recovered from the illness.

Barry concludes the book with a chilling warning that a new pandemic is inevitable in the future.  He warned that, as of the publication of the book (2004), that the United States was unprepared for such a pandemic.  The future is here now.

Read:  April 9, 2020

4.5 Stars

Rising Tide, by John M. Barry.  Read September 6, 2006