Flag

What struck me about a Flag for Sunrise was its uncomprimisingly dark view of the world and the politics that makes it function. A world where all that is important is power and strength and your ability to harness these forces for your own self interest. A world where morals have no place, in fact a place where morals will get you killed, often slowly and painfully.

Yet somehow the book remains rivetting. You know that it is going to end badly for those characters that you like, at times it is difficult to turn the page, but you do anyhow and what happens is often worse than your darkest imaginings. But it is also honest.

This is the second Robert Stone novel that I have read and I am certain that it will not be the last.

Saints and sinners compete in this Third World nightmare, each with a different agenda. It's an ideological train wreck and the ultimate victims are the disenfranchised. The name of the game is greed and the players are the usual: privately owned corporations, interested governments, a militia trained to fight insurrection, various criminals, religious zealots and a panoply of hired spies and assorted operatives. Our personal guide is Frank Holliwell, an American anthropologist with "Company" ties from his days in Vietnam, visiting the region ostensibly to give a lecture. Holliwell becomes one more pawn in a dangerous game with incredibly high stakes.

In the final act, no one is who he seems in this Darwinian struggle for dominance. The common people are disposable, the cause is mutable and the quality of civilization a casualty of events. Enter at your own risk, this is Robert Stone at his best. But know this: you step into chaos in this novel (with no separate chapters) that jolts from one state of anxiety to another, watching over your shoulder at every turn.

After the Pledge, there are pages explaining it line-by-line, and then some great information on the American flag. This is a very nice book, one that you will be proud to share with your young reader. My family highly recommends it to yours!

BEAR FLAG RISING is a solid, comprehensive narrative history of the events that brought California into the Union; events that, if they hadn't been taken so seriously by the participants, could have served as the script for a farce. Certainly, all the Keystone Cops were present for the American side: Gen. Stephen Kearny, Commodore Robert Stockton, and Lt. Col. John Frémont. The Mexican side was only marginally better represented, although they at least had the honor of being the aggrieved underdogs: Gov. Pio Pico, Gen. José Castro, Andrés Pico, and José Flores.

The book begins with a brief history of the Spanish and Mexican custodianships of California, and the rise of the Californios, i.e. the actual residents, when the central government in Mexico City decided to leave the province to its own resources. The bulk of the text, of course, recounts the disjointed efforts of the opportunistic Frémont, the puffed-up Stockton, and the martinet Kearny to effect a conquest. (At least Frémont had the charm of being an officer of the U.S. Topographical Corps rather than a "real" army man.) The fact that they succeeded at all is more a commentary on the Mexicans' pitiful lack of preparedness and resources than any competence on the part of the U.S. forces. To underline the dysfunction of the American effort, author Dale Walker concludes with a chapter detailing the subsequent court-martial of Frémont on charges of mutiny and insubordination brought by Kearny.

BEAR FLAG RISING is competently researched, well written, instructional, reasonably entertaining, and sobering. Would I advocate a return of the Golden State to Mexico? Well, decidedly not. California has prospered as part of the Union more than it ever would have under successive corrupt and incompetent Mexican governments. However, as an American and Californian, I'm not particularly proud about the strategy and tactics that resulted in its acquisition.

All said this is a terrific introduction to the filibustering, flim-flamming, foolish, brave, idealistic participants in Califoria History, from Pio Pico and Jose Alvarado to John C. Fremont and Robert Stockton. It has sent me to read more of Walker.

For instance, learning that Alta California's Mexican Commandante, Jose Castro, feared insurrection from his own people due to Mexico City's neglect and mismanagement of its northern territories (which were institutionally populated by criminals, much like Australia to Britain), Castro ordered famed American military explorer Lieutenant Colonel John C. Fremont and his sixty-two soldiers out of his pueblos, especially since a majority of Californio separatists favored American rule. Fremont agreed to leave. But he never left. Instead, he built an American fort on Mexican soil and declared: "If we are unjustly attacked, we will fight to extremity and refuse quarter, trusting our country to avenge our death." With the peaceful mapping mission gone awry, American businessman and salaried secret agent Thomas O. Larkin managed to soothe the situation by ordering Fremont to leave. Leave he did, but ever so slowly--slowly enough to be attacked in the middle of the night by a band of shadowy figures at Klamath Lake, which lead towards a spiral of skirmishes and miscommunications that rival Shakespearian plot twists.

Bear Flag Rising brings to life the people and battles that brought California into the Union. Walker's prose makes for a quick, enjoyable read, without the usually dense fact dumping that accompanies most history books. Bear Flag Rising also sticks to actions. Walker does little theorizing as to why history occurred the way it did in California, which enables the reader to come to their own conclusions.

However, this book "failed" to mention the enormous contributions and the importance of "Pregones"(Musical cries of street vendors used to attract customers...in many cases they were bawdy, double entendre compositions. Lyrics patterned after the "pregon" also appeared in many compositions by Puerto Ricans). Many of these "pregones" were recorded in New York. A perfect example was "El Botanico", done on a 78, inspired by Manuel Jimenez "Canario". He recorded it with his band on June 8, 1929. Pedro Flores, Rafael Hernandez, Mirta Silva, Johnny Rodriguez and many others also recorded "pregones". Johnny Rodriguez did them all from New York. These "pregones" were very important, as they reflected much about the economic and social conditions of the Puerto Ricans.

Nevertheless, Ruth Glasser has made an important contribution to our understanding of the role Puerto Rican musicians have played in the development, growth and evolution of Latin music today.

Highly recommended!

Kent uses flashbacks to re-view later the routine or tedious intervals in the plot while skipping ahead towards the next action. (Conversely, Dudley Pope uses interpolated instructional pieces in his Ramage series to slow the action and build anticipation). Kent also shows here one oddity of Bolitho (as contrasted with Pope's series): Bolitho often misses the really big true actions, like Cape St. Vincent, in favor of minor, peripheral, or perhaps fictitious actions. While there is still much swashbuckling action on view, we are also treated to the cerebrations and considerations of more exalted command levels than before, as we follow Bolitho's rise in rank and breadth of responsibilities.

This tale begins in April, 1797, in Falmouth Bay, as Napoleon continues his struggle to dominate Europe (and England) by land and sea.

Richard Bolitho returns home after a year-and-a-half of continuous sea duty, and is, again, assigned to a commander (admiral) who is insistant upon having his own way. Unfortunately, it is not a way approved of by Bolitho, and it leads to problems. Bolitho is in constant contact with the admiral because he is flag captain.

As usual, in this series, there is a lot of sea action, as well as excursions against the enemy on land, a great deal of bloodshed, and Bolitho is blessed with the company of many of his oldest friends.

This is pure Alexander Kent. If you liked the other books in the series, I guarantee you will enjoy this one as well.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance

Full of journal entries, black and white photos, humor, brutality, major letdowns, fleeting successes, roadburn, a revolving cast of hardcore characters, relentless playing/touring and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, "Get in the Van" grabs you by the throat and dares you to keep reading. The story is so compelling, that even though the music went virtually ignored in its day, the audio version of this book was honored with a Grammy.
Highly recommended!

The pictures were great. The book was really funny, but kinda sad too. I'm lending it to all my friends!

I'd recommend it highly, not only to anyone who has an interest in what the punk rock scene was really like, but to anyone who simply enjoys a good read. My wife was never into punk music, but that didn't stop her from raving about the book, too!

The description of Grayson culture continues to fill out attractively in _Exile_, and many characters from the People's Navy--Harrington's adversaries--begin to receive development. Once again, she shows us that coolness in crisis is as valuable a weapon in politics as it is in battle. What makes Harrington so attractive as a character is that she is strong but not impregnable, brave but not foolhardy, caring but not sappy, and capable yet fallible.

Fans of good SF space opera and great character/universe development should hurry to begin with the first in the series (_On Basilisk Station_) and plan to read straight through.

Besides the flags of all nations, you can learn much from this book about the origin and history of flags and about many other flags in current use - regional, local, state and provincial flags, as well as maritime flags, protest flags (like the Basque separatist flag), organizational flags (like the Red Cross) and commercial flags.

Of course, even in a book this size, it is not possible to cover everything comprehensively, but the author manages to make the development of flags seem interesting, explaining how various basic designs evolved and were copied by other countries.

I have seen the development of the stars and stripes explained and illustrated in greater depth than it is here, but the description here is a good starting point for anybody not familiar with it.

For anybody wanting to explore the history of flags, this is the best book available. Even if you buy this, you may still occasionally want to buy a book devoted to current flags to keep up to date with all the changes.