Books Set in the Global Environment

Never, by Ken Follet (2011)

July 29, 2022

3 Stars

Books Set in North America, Canada, Newfoundland, Gander

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, by Jim Defede (2020)

 

On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, after terrorists crashed 4 planes on United States territory.  United States airspace was immediately closed, so the planes bound for the US were ordered to either return to their country of origin, or if they had passed the half-way point, to land at the nearest airport.  Thirty-eight planes were diverted to the remote town of Gander International Airport in Newfoundland.  The airport had once been a military base, so had exceptionally long landing fields.

 

Gander, however, was a very small, remote town in Newfoundland ~ far from any major city.  The townspeople were so welcoming.  When they learned of the tragedy unfolding in the United States, the townspeople opened their arms and welcomed thousands of the stranded passengers.  They immediately opened up churches and schools to make room for the passengers to sleep, they brought their own bedding and towels for the passengers.  Many people welcomed passengers into their homes.

 

No one knew initially how long it would be before planes could once again fly into the United States.  Over the next four days, many of the passengers became friends with the Gander townspeople.  Most of the passengers were grateful for the assistance.  When planes were initially given clearance, passengers believed they would be flying directly back to the United States, but some planes were ordered back to their country of origin.  Most passengers understood this, and accepted this inconvenience.  A couple of families, however, chose to find their own way back home.  (I found I had little sympathy for their behaviour.)

 

One passenger was Werner Baldessarini, the then-chairman of Hugo Boss.  He had been on his way to New York for Fashion Week.  He had the opportunity to have a private jet come and collect him, but he appreciated the kindness and humanity of the residents of Gander, so stayed with his fellow passengers.  As a show of thanks, many of the stranded passengers collected money to provide scholarships and computer equipment for the Gander schools.

 

This book provided the inspiration for the musical Came From Away, which I saw a few years ago and loved.  This book shows that there is good in the world even in the face of evil.

 

Read:  June 20, 2021

 

5 Stars

 

 

Books Set in Asia: the Middle East: Asia

The Waiting Room, by Leah Kaminsky (2016)

Dr. Dina Ronen is the daughter of Holocaust survivors.  As a young girl, she over heard a conversation and learned that her father had been married before and lost his wife and daughter in the Holocaust ~ that she and her mother were the replacement family.

After the War, her parents moved to Australia, where Dina grew up.  As an adult, Dina while traveling she met and married Eitan, and Israeli, and settled down in Haifa.  She believed that Haifa was a safe city in Israel and would be spared terrorist attacks.

When the novel opens it is 2001 and Dina has a six-year old son, is eight months pregnant and is beginning to question her marriage.  She is unsettled by the terror attacks that are occurring throughout the country. She wants to return to her home in Australia.

Dina’s mother, who died when Dina was 18, is always in her mind.  She “sees” her mother through a ghost whenever her mind is especially troubled. Her mother appears to her throughout the day conversing arguing and nagging her.

Possibly due to her pregnancy, the terrors of Israel are haunting her and causing her to wonder how she can protect her family. Her medical practice is an array of varied people of all religions and ages.  Her office manager, Yael, is a young woman who tries to keep Dina on schedule with her patients.

News reports that there may be an attack in Haifa. This sets Dina on edge and she can barely keep herself together while tending to her patients.  While dealing with a possible terror attack, she must also face her parent’s history and decide whether she should try to keep her marriage in tact or return to a perceived safety net of Australia.

I enjoyed the first part of this book, but the last quarter got a bit tiresome.

Read:  April 18, 2018

3 Stars

Books Set in Israel

Terror: How Israel Has Coped and What America Can Learn, by Leonard A. Cole (2006)

I had the opportunity to meet the author, Leonard Cole in 2007, just at this book was about to be released. Cole is an expert in bioterrorism and terror medicine. In this book, he describes how terrorist attacks against Israel have affected the Israelis and how the Israelis have build in mechanisms to deal with the constant terror attacks against their country.

No country has experienced more terrorist attacks then Israel. As a result, Israel has developed innovative methods to respond to such attacks and threats of attacks. It is well known that the best trauma medicine in the world is being developed in Israeli hospitals.

Although there was a method to his madness, the author's narrative was not in chronological order, which made reading somewhat disorienting. Each chapter of the book discusses the effects of terror on different groups of people or events. There is a chapter on bus attacks, for instance, as well as families of terror attacks, and how doctors and nurses cope with treating terror victims. Israeli's, Cole notes, are in "survival" mode.

Still, Israel has, through necessity, developed well defined and structured protocol for dealing with disasters, whether from terrorist or through acts of nature. In contrast, the United States is totally unprepared to deal with a major disaster as evidenced by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Cole concludes that the Israeli experience with preparedness can offer valuable lessons to the United States.

I was struck while watching a recent episode of CSI, that, although in theory and on the television, Americans can coherently deal with disasters, in real life, there is no such methodology.

In writing this book, Cole also interviewed Palestinians, including those imprisoned handlers of suicide bombings. These people felt no remorse for their actions in killing innocent victims of their terror acts. Peace cannot come until all recognize and value each other.


Read: September 26, 2010.