Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice by Joan Biskupic
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"O'Connor enjoyed telling audiences that her husband joked, 'I think it is a tribute to American democracy when a cook who moonlights as a janitor can be elected to high public office.'"
"[...] journalist Howard Kohn described O'Connor in a profile for theLos Angeles Times as 'arguably, the most powerful woman in the nation' [...]"

For such a Supreme Court aficionado as this reviewer Joan Biskupic's biography Sandra Day O'Connor. How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice (2005) is a wonderful read. It is a highly recommended read for anyone interested in the political dimension of life in the United States. After all, who sits on the Supreme Court is in many ways more important for the future of the country than who the current president is or which party holds the control of Congress.

[Warning: the following paragraph is a political rant.] Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court is a conservative. I am certainly not one, but nevertheless I am in awe of Justice O'Connor's tenure on the Court, her accomplishments, and of how much she influenced the lives of all US residents. The country needs conservatives as much as it needs liberals. What the country does not need is lying, self-serving scum embracing conservative slogans for personal gain and to wield power. [End of rant.]

This is a traditionally structured biography, where Ms. Biskupic describes, in considerable detail, the trajectory of the future Justice's life and career. The reader is offered interesting analyses of Sandra Day's childhood and early youth experiences on the Lazy B Ranch outside of Duncan, Arizona. We read about her undergraduate studies at Stanford, which she begins at 16. Then the Stanford Law School, where, coincidentally, William Rehnquist, the future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, is her classmate. In 1952, she graduates from Stanford Law in the top 10%, yet the only job she is offered is that of a legal secretary. Then comes marriage and birth of three sons, which is why her husband refers to her, in jest, as a "cook," and a "janitor."

In the 1960s and 1970s, Ms. O'Connor is active in Arizona state politics, including serving at the state senator. At the end of the 1970s, she assumes a seat on Arizona State Court of Appeals. On July 7th, 1981, president Ronald Reagan announces his choice of Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female justice of the Supreme Court. Ms. Biskupic's account of Justice O'Connor's 24 years on the highest court is a captivating read. Some highlights include observations about the dynamic of power on the court between Justices Brennan and O'Connor:

"In some ways, the start of Brennan's declining influence could be traced to O'Connor's appointment."

In other fascinating passages we read about the striking differences, in the later years on the court, between Justice Scalia, who always held definitive opinions on any issue, and O'Connor, who tended to hold open-ended and pragmatic positions in most matters.

Justice O'Connor's tenure on the Court might be illustrated by an ascending line of her influence on the rulings. The quote about her being "the most powerful woman in the nation" is hardly an exaggeration! What I particularly value about Justice O'Connor and what I believe might make it one of the most important justices in the entire history of the nation's highest court is that she was always a voice of moderation and compromise to the extent that she was sometimes accused of wanting "to have it both ways." She embodies the type of a conservative that I can live with: one who eschews ideology and embraces pragmatism.

An engaging biography of a great Justice, and a must read for anyone interested in the workings of the Supreme Court.

Four stars.


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Red Light by T. Jefferson Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Merci, who had once believed she had the answer to almost everything, realized again, to the embarrassment of her soul, that she had the answer to almost nothing."

An oceanfront condo on Pacific Coast Highway in San Clemente, California. Aubrey, a 19-year-old woman, has invited a man for dinner. A man whom she likes a lot. They eat, he leaves, but she expects his return. And yes, after a while, there is a knock on the door, and Aubrey feels happy that he is now in her control. But then

"[...] her smile died from the inside out and she formed her last thought: No."

Sergeant Merci Rayborn, with the help of another homicide detective, Paul Zamorra, investigates the case. They quickly establish two facts: that the victim worked as a call girl and that she was seen with Marci's boyfriend, Mike McNally, a vice detail detective. Mike becomes the main suspect in the case. Moreover, Marci is given an old and unsolved case of a 1969 murder to work on. The two cases gradually become intertwined.

The above presents the excellent - well-written and captivating - setup of T. Jefferson Parker's Red Light (2000), an Edgar Award nominee for the best novel, which follows the author's outstanding The Blue Hour . I loved the realistic, vivid portrayal of Marci in the former novel. The new book does not add much to the characterization of the female detective; fortunately, neither does her depiction lose any believability. Aubrey's character is also written well and, to me, realistic. Of the two male protagonists, the portrayal of Paul Zamorra seems stronger. There is something slightly out of focus about Mike's characterization. Naturally, the ambiguity might have been intended by the author and misconstrued by this reviewer.

As always, Mr. Parker is strong on descriptions of Orange County landscapes. Mike lives in Modjeska Canyon, a charming place on the western slopes of Santa Ana Mountains, a place I know from several visits. Just a few sentences of the author's prose bring the images of the canyon to life. Another great aspect of Mr. Parker's novels, which is on clear display here, is his skill of showing the mechanisms of Orange County politics: the interconnected workings of county government and various business interests. For me, the most memorable fragment of the novel is the compelling story of farmer Jesse Acuna beaten by right-wing assailants.

Another highlight of the novel is the dramatic moment when Merci visits Det. Zamorra's wife in the hospital - the fragment is so well written that it made me sick for a few minutes. No histrionics there; instead an almost clinical account of human pain and fear. And then, the powerful scenes of Det. McNally's interrogation. Alas, almost as a rule, my wonderful memories of the novel are spoiled by a cliché ending. Considering the ending, I would not put this novel on the Edgar Awards' shortlist. I would definitely put The Blue Hour there. Well, that's why I am not a literary critic.

A great read, anyway.

Three-and-three-quarter stars.

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Khrushchev: The Man and His Era by William Taubman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"William Taubman's monumental, long-awaited biography of Nikita Khrushchev is the most important book on Khrushchev to appear in English since the deposed Soviet leader's own memoirs in 1970. It is rich in analysis and factual detail, shedding new light both on Khrushchev's life and on the Soviet state."
- Robert Cottrell, New York Review of Books

A personal reflection: Khrushchev was the first politician whom I remember from childhood. Until the 1990s, Poland was in the Soviet sphere of influence so the Soviet party leaders were bigger than God for us, the Polish children. I remember one night in October 1964 when my mother woke me up saying "No more Khrushchev!" and it was like the end of the world. I remember exactly how the room looked from my bed when I heard the news.

This is the eleventh book on Russian and Soviet leaders that I am reviewing here on Goodreads. The full list is included below the rating. Also, it is the second biography of Nikita Khrushchev that I am reviewing, and a very different one from Medvedev's work. I completely agree with the sentiment expressed by the professional reviewer and quoted in the epigraph. Let me steal yet another blurb, this time from Simon Heffer in The Spectator:

"A monumental book....A masterpiece, magnificently researched and well written, bringing out the true dimensions of his subject"

Note the use of the word "monumental" by both reviewers. Yes, that's indeed the best adjective to describe of William Taubman's Khrushchev. The Man and His Era. (2003) Not only is the biography monumental - in size, scope, and depth of detail - but it also is "definitive," in the sense that it will be next to impossible to improve upon. When reading the bio one is overwhelmed by the breathtaking thoroughness and completeness - almost as if every month of Khrushchev's life and every aspect of his activities has been meticulously documented. Note the volume of the book: 651 pages, plus over 200 (!!!) pages of notes, bibliography, and index.

Not being a historian, political scientist, or a writer, I am not qualified to properly review a superb biography. I will just offer a few comments on some of the fragments of the bio that made the strongest impression on me.

Khrushchev (three years younger than my grandmother) spent his youth in rural Russia, in extremely primitive living conditions, which would be unimaginable for most modern people. Not only poverty - which is ubiquitous today even in the richest countries - but also famine and hunger-driven cannibalism. Add to this the extreme political persecution - extreme as in never-ending mass killings of so-called political enemies. If anything seems more shocking than eating other people to survive, it is having to sentence other people to death in order not be sentenced to death. The passages about Khrushchev, a young activist rising in the ranks of the Communist party, calling for executions of "enemies of the party and nation" during Stalin's purges are extremely hard to read.

Soon after the purges comes World War Two and the blood-curdling stupidity of Stalin, the "Greatest Genius of All Times and Nations," which cost millions of people their lives. When the mass-murdering tyrant finally dies in 1953, Khrushchev gradually grabs the power. The author's detailed explanations about why it was Khrushchev who won the succession power struggle are fascinating. In particular, I have been captivated by the detailed discussion of the so-called "anti-Beria plot," with its double twist.

Khrushchev's famous "Secret Speech" on February 25, 1956, when he began disclosing the unimaginably huge extent of Stalin's crimes against humanity and, in particular, against his nation, was the beginning of the great ideological thaw that stopped the avalanche of political killings and brutal persecution in Eastern Europe (naturally, the persecution remained unabated as it is one of the essences of human nature, but became less lethal).

In a particularly depressing fragment of the book the author writes about the people's of Soviet Georgia unyielding love for their Greatest Son, Stalin, who - despite that the Greatest Son spilled more Georgian blood than that of any other region - "carried flowers to the Stalin monument" during protests against Khrushchev's Secret Speech; twenty people died during protests against sullying Stalin's immortal name.

The Berlin Crisis of 1961: Thanks to reading Mr. Taubman's work I feel as if I finally understand the exact dynamics of the political events of that year, although I acutely remember the concern and nervousness of the Polish radio broadcasts 60 years ago. Almost immediately after this, the Cuban missiles crisis happens, when the world gets the closest to being destroyed in a global nuclear war. I have read about the crisis in several other books, yet Mr. Taubman offers new insights and details, especially on the bumbling execution of the Soviet plan to bring nuclear missiles to Cuba.

The Cuban crisis was one of the major factors in the unraveling of Khrushchev's political leadership. The author describes the events preceding and surrounding Khrushchev's ouster in October of 1964 with great clarity. Finally, in a harrowing passage, we read what the deposed Soviet leader regretted about his life:

"'Most of all the blood [...] My arms are up to the elbows in blood. That is the most terrible thing that lies in my soul.'"

It is a strong indictment of the failure of human race that Mr. Khrushchev, despite being instrumental in his youth in executing hundreds of people for fictitious political crimes in order to save his own life, undoubtedly deserves credit and praise for greatly contributing to ending Stalin's brutal reign. Mr. Khrushchev had laid the foundations for future reforms by Gorbachev and Yeltsin.

Reading about humanity's lukewarm response toward Stalin's crimes makes one notice how constant the human nature is. Millions of people in ex-Soviet Union still cherish Stalin's memory. I know of another country where tens and tens of millions of people have voted for an utterly incompetent, corrupt, and failed politician.

Four-and-a-half stars.

My previous reviews of books on Soviet leaders:

Why Gorbachev Happened: His Triumphs and His Failure - by Robert G. Kaiser

The Struggle for Russia - by Boris Yeltsin

Gorbachev: Heretic in the Kremlin - by Dusko Doder and Louise Branson

The Andropov File - by Martin Ebon

Against the Grain - An Autobiography - by Boris Yeltsin

Lenin to Gorbachev: Three generations of Soviet Communists

Brezhnev, Soviet Politician - by Murphy

Khrushchev - by Roy Medvedev

Gorbachev and His Revolution - by Mark Galeotti

Andropov - by Zhores Medvedev

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Cold Pursuit by T. Jefferson Parker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"That night the wind came hard off the Pacific, an El Niño event that would blow three inches of rain onto the roofs of San Diego. It was the first big storm of the season, early January and overdue. Palm fronds lifted with a plastic hiss [...]"

It's a cheap trick to use the first sentence of a novel for the epigraph, but it so happens that when I am writing this in late January the first storm of the season is blowing over half of inch of rain onto the roofs of my home town, San Diego. The novel begins when homicide detective Tommy McMichael has just received a phone call from his lieutenant that Pete Braga has been bludgeoned to death in his estate on the bay side of Point Loma. Mr. Braga had been a longtime fixture on the San Diego scene: a tuna fleet captain in the 1970s, then a Mercury dealer, then the mayor, the port commissioner, and one of the most famous San Diego city boosters. There happens to be a lot of dramatic history between the victim and Det. McMichael's family. In 1952, Mr. Braga had shot McMichael's grandfather, ostensibly in self-defense; he was not charged with the killing.

Cold Pursuit (2003) is yet another novel by T. Jefferson Parker, that brings the works of Ross Macdonald, the quintessential California mystery writer, to the reader's mind. As in Macdonald's novels, the plot is composed of entangled threads of past and present; the main difference seems to be that Mr. Parker tends to be more explicit about the connections. In both authors' works the past and the present threads of the plot usually display an elegant symmetry.

The victim's young and attractive nurse is the first suspect and the author offers the reader quite a subtle beginning of a romantic thread in the novel. Alas, a love scene later in the plot is written at the level much below the author's usual mastery of prose. On the other hand, I love the beginning of the ninth chapter:

"'Psittacidae,' said Dr. Robert Eilerts, chief ornithologist for the San Diego ZOO."

As usual in Mr. Parker's novels the complex plot abounds with political and business connections. To me, this is the main strength of this novel and most other works by the author. Mr. Parker, an ex-journalist, is very good at understanding and depicting the mechanisms of city and business politics. Accounts of the Port Commission's personnel politics, exposition of various issues related to planning the new airport and cargo terminal for San Diego and construction of an inland railroad through Imperial Valley provide fascinating reading. The presentation is so plausible that I had the feeling I was reading the metro and business pages of the San Diego Union Tribune, the main local paper.

Unfortunately, as it very often happens with mystery/crime novels, even the ones written by a very good author like Mr. Parker, the ending is the weakest part. While the Tijuana bit is well written and interesting, we also have a cliché shootout and a cliché chase. One of the local sightseeing attractions is featured towards the end of the plot. No four-star rating even if this is a very good novel, well written, absorbing, and hugely realistic except for a few bits.

Three-and-a-half stars.


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Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all of our societies eventually will."

This terrifying statement can be found in the first chapter of Anne Applebaum's newest work Twilight of Democracy. The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. Ms. Applebaum, an eminent American-Polish historian and journalist, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Gulag. A History, explains and justifies the statement in her newest book. I an unable to read Gulag as I would probably die of sorrow reading how political ambitions of few people totally destroyed the lives of tens of millions of other people. However, I read and enthusiastically reviewed on Goodreads Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956 So I expected a lot from Ms. Applebaum's newest work and I am not disappointed. This is again an extraordinary work, a must read for anyone interested in understanding our world. This is a must read for anyone trying to figure out why populism seems to be winning all over the world while liberal democracy is on its deathbed.

The book begins with a stunning description of a New Year's Eve Party on December 31, 1999, that Ms. Applebaum and her husband held in their house in Chobielin, Poland, for many friends and acquaintances, both English and Polish native speakers. These were the times of great hope. Times when the total triumph of liberal democracy seemed just around the corner. All the guests were "on the same team." They agreed "about democracy, about the road to prosperity, about the way things were going." But then, after almost 20 years, world is in an altogether different place: liberal democracy seems bankrupt, the populist call for authoritarian governments is growing, and scoundrels are in power in many countries, as presidents, prime ministers, or party chairmen.

"[...]nearly two decades later, I would now cross the street to avoid some of the people who were at my New Year's Eve party. They, in turn, would not only refuse to enter my house, they would be embarrassed to admit they had ever been there."

Ms. Applebaum then begins describing the symptoms of the "twilight of democracy." She begins with Poland, then moves to the events and situation in Hungary, England, Spain, and finally the United States. The descriptive layer of the book is superb, rich in facts and acute observations.

But why is this happening? For instance, why do huge segments of societies vote for grossly incompetent and corrupt people to become their leaders? Ms. Applebaum states:

"There is no single explanation, and I will not offer either a grand theory or a universal solution."

Instead, she offers an array of factors that might have aided this dramatic social change. She mentions the people's inability to tolerate complexity, the lure of apparent clarity of simplistic worldview, appeal of powerful symbols and simple language. Finally, she mentions the factor that to me is crucial: the emergence of social media, platforms like Facebook. Ms. Applebaum rightly points out that the advent of social media eliminated "single national conversation" that provided a coherent reading of reality for majority of people. Yet what I find not emphasized strongly enough in the analysis is that social media relativize the concept of truth: everybody's truth counts the same - an expert's or an idiot's spouting conspiracy theories.

The author refers to works of two prominent thinkers: Julien Benda, French philosopher of the first half of the 20th century, and Svetlana Boym, a Russian-born Harvard professor, who worked mostly in the 1990 - 2015 period. From Mr. Benda and his famous book The Treason of the Intellectuals, Ms. Applebaum borrows the concept of "clerks", meaning the intellectuals who betray their high ideals and sell their skills in the service of nationalism, racism, and populism (one of the later passages of the book contains a critique of Mr. Trump's clerks). From Ms. Boym, the author borrows the concept of "restorative nostalgia," the business of nationalist mythmaking, which is creating a simple, unambiguous, cartoon versions of history.

This is a small yet a very important book! I enthusiastically recommend it, even if I am rounding my final rating down to four stars rather than up to five. I am aware of my arrogance in criticizing the author, who for me is an unsurpassed authority on politics and contemporary history and a super talented writer, but I would prefer less Benda and Boym (fascinating reading as it is) but more on the topic of the evil role of the social media in destruction of democracy.

Four-and-a-half stars.

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Black Water by T. Jefferson Parker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"[...]the milk-and-orange-blossoms smell of Gwen, bass scent of his life. All the other notes that came to him - coastal sage and the ocean, the new car leather - were just the riffs and fills."

We meet the Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Archie Wildcraft as he is driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, past Crystal Cove (a scenic place I visited last month) with his beautiful wife Gwen. It is Gwen's birthday and they are just returning home from a party. They will make love on the beach, and later that night, when they are back home, Gwen will be killed and Archie will have a bullet lodged in his brain.

Leading the investigation is Marci Rayborn (for me, an unforgettable character from The Blue Hour), who is battling her own demons, personal and professional. The Newport Beach Sheriff's department is divided about her because of her testimony that exposed corrupt cops. Marci discovers that Archie and Gwen had made some amazingly profitable stock investments. More and more circumstantial evidence points to Archie's being the killer, yet Marci does not want to believe it; quite likely because he had defended Marci when many in the department ostracized her. Archie regains consciousness and ... that's it for spoilers from me.

Like The Blue Hour, this is a very good procedural. Handling the crime scene, autopsy, goings on in a firearms examination room are shown with meticulous attention to detail and exude plausibility. Scenes of conversations with the victims' families, friends, and business acquaintances offer great characterizations of minor characters. Most importantly, for me anyway, we are getting outstanding writing, for a thriller. I liked several metaphors a lot, for instance, "[...] now the sentence hung in the air, blatant and tactile, like a spider at the end of a strand."

Marci comes across perhaps a bit less believable than in the previous novel, but she still feels almost like a real person. I am happy to meet "well grounded" Francisco again (now called Frank) - what a wonderful touch by the author! On the other hand, I am shaving my rating by half a star because of the histrionic, melodramatic, and implausible scene on Santiago Peak. Still, I think that T. Jefferson Parker's Black Water (2002) is a very good novel and recommend it highly.

Three-and-a-half stars.



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The Great Movies by Roger Ebert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls. They allow us to enter other minds - not simply in the sense of identifying with characters, although that is an important part of it, but by seeing the world as another person sees it."

Roger Ebert was to me the best film critic ever. No one else could write about movies with such passion, wisdom, and literary talent. Yes, there was Pauline Kael, and I read two big collections of her reviews. Yet for me, she was too opinionated in a mean way, and I sensed too much of a cold brain and not enough heart in her reviews.

I have already reviewed The Great Movies III and The Great Movies II, so now it's time for the original. The Great Movies was published in 2002 and, like its two sequels, it contains 100 reviews of 20th century movies that Mr. Ebert found the most important. In attempting the review, I will use the same approach as I did for the sequels. Instead of reviewing all reviews, which I am totally not qualified for, I will quote a few beautiful sentences - some stunning metaphors - from the reviews of five movies, which I personally consider the greatest in this set, and add some thoughts of mine.

Coppola's Apocalypse Now: Quite likely the best movie I have seen in my life. It shook me to the core. I was sick all night and most of the next day after seeing the film 41 years ago. Mr. Ebert writes a similar thing:

"Apocalypse Now is one of the central events of my life as a filmgoer."

He continues:

"[it] is more clearly than ever one of the key films of the century."

He offers an attempt at an explanation:

"The whole movie is a journey toward Willard's understanding of how Kurtz, one of the army's best soldiers, penetrated the reality of war to such a depth that he could not look any longer without madness and despair."

Without any doubt, the film has the best intro sequence of all movies in history, with Martin Sheen, and The Doors playing The End. I disagree, though, with Mr. Ebert about Marlon Brando. To me, everybody loved Marlon Brando's part because he was Marlon Brando. It is Martin Sheen and his out-of-this-world phenomenal performance that makes Apocalypse not just a masterpiece but likely the best movie ever made.

Antonioni's Blowup: Mr. Ebert writes:

"Freed from hype and fashion, it emerges as a great film, if not the one we thought we were seeing at the time."

I felt the same when I watched the movie twice about 20 years ago, after I had seen it the first time in 1966, when I was a teenager, and when I was fascinated with sex, The Yardbirds' music, sex, London in the Sixties, the mystery of the possible murder, and did I mention sex? Now I see that what Mr. Ebert writes is accurate:

"Whether there was a murder isn't the point. The film is about a character mired in ennui and distaste, who is roused by his photographs into something approaching passion."

Kieslowski's The Decalogue, which is difficult to fit here as it is a series of 10 one-hour films, each loosely based on a Commandment: Isn't Mr. Ebert's metaphor stunning:

"[...] you see that the Commandments work not like science, but like art; they are the instructions for how to paint a worthy portrait with our lives."

And even more importantly:

"These are not characters involved in the simpleminded struggles of Hollywood plots. They are adults, for the most part outside organized religion, faced with situations in their own lives that require them to make moral choices."

Resnais's Last Year in Marienbad: Hypnotic, hermetic, hallucinatory.

"[...] the three characters would move forever through their dance of desire and denial [...]

To me, watching this movie is closest to listening to classical music and admiring the timeless beauty of structure. Mr. Ebert writes:

"Yes, it involves a story that remains a mystery, even to the characters themselves. But one would not want to know the answer to this mystery. Storybooks with happy endings are for children. Adults know that stories keep on unfolding, repeating, turning back on themselves, on and on until that end which no story can evade."

Cassavetes's A Woman Under the Influence: As Mr. Ebert writes, the film shows "an uncertain balance between hope and fear." He also writes:

"There is no safe resolution at the end of any of Cassavetes's films. You have the feeling that the tumult of life goes on uninterrupted, that each film is a curtain raised on a play already in progress. The characters seek to give love, receive it, express it, comprehend it."

A great, great movie, the only one out of the five that I mention here, along Apocalypse, that would certainly be among the top five movies I have ever seen. I am not sure how much of my love for this movie is due to the director and how much to the screenplay that shows that there is no border between being a normally functioning person and a mentally sick one. And how much to Ms. Rowlands's phenomenal performance.

The review is way, way too long so I will just list the three "honorable mentions." Taxi Driver, The "Up" Documentaries, and Belle de Jour. When reading this great set of reviews enjoy all the wondrous metaphors!

Four-and-a-quarter stars.

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