Why Daddy Serves His Country

A great book for military
families, except for one thing.

At the BookExpo America yesterday I saw this coloring book for kids and thought it would be great for military families. Why Daddy Serves His Country is patriotic and provides valuable historical information on wars in which American soldiers were in harm's way.

The illustrations by Scott Novzen are appropriate and appear to be easy to color.

The book includes cute stories that bring home the difficulties that veterans come back from war having to face. My personal favorite story is about ancestors of the book's author, Major R. Scott ("Scotty") Price, Retired, who served from 1978 to 1992 in the field artillery and other branches of the U.S. Army:

Brothers Edward and John Reese fought on opposite sides: one for the North and the other for the South. ... Both brothers survived the four years of war but each lost a leg, Edward his right one and John his left. After the war they became very close again and, as luck would have it, they both had the same shoe size. So each year they would take the train to Richmond together and buy a pair of shoes. 

I think the book is charming and very suitable for military families...

Along with the coloring books for kids, this is for sale.
Funny?

However, I have a problem. The last page of the book advertises four other coloring books, "Machine Gun Inventors," "Machine Guns of World War I", "Machine Guns of World War II", and "Famous People with Their Firearms". This is understandable, since the coloring books are all published by a business that caters to gun enthusiasts, which also produces gun magazines like the Small Arms Review.

For me, the issue is whether the coloring books, especially as a group of four, create the idea that guns are the way to solve problems.

If your reaction is that I must be crazy in thinking this, take a look at the T shirt that is being sold on the website and think about the number of young people who have in recent years decided that their social problems are best dealt with by killing a bunch of innocent people in a classroom or a restaurant or somewhere else in their community.

So there you are. A good book for kids, unless you are concerned that the source of the book advertises a T shirt that promotes the idea that having a gun nearby is a good way to solve problems that come up. What is the impact on kids of this message?

UNABOMBER | How the FBI Nailed Him

L to R: FBI Special Agents Max Noel, Terry Turchie,
Jim Freeman at BookExpo America 2014 in NYC.
© 2014 JT Marlin.

May 30, 2014–As I was walking through the Javits Center at BookExpo America yesterday at 3 pm, a familiar face looked out at me from a blow-up of a book cover.

It was Theodore J[ohn] (Ted) Kaczynski, the Unabomber, the most [in]famous member of my class of 1962 at Harvard, who sent bombs by U.S. mail to his victims starting in 1978.

A new book has just come out by the three FBI special agents that tracked down Kaczynski. They were signing books. My timing was fortuitous and I got the first copy they signed.

Their book makes the point that the FBI was not well structured to deal with random violence of the kind that the Unabomber engaged in. "He was not [the FBI's] normal prey." Although the letter bombs were addressed to individuals, they could have exploded anywhere along the way. The FBI was also not well structured to bring in the kind of cooperation that David Kaczynski eventually provided, in return for assurance that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty for his brother (p. 269).

The authors argue that the Unabomber case helped bring about some reforms at the FBI to address terrorist and random-bombing incidents. These reforms were implemented by FBI Director Louis Freeh in the years leading up to 2001. Freeh left in the spring of 2001 and Robert Mueller took over the FBI. The authors of the book argue that the changes Freeh made helped prepare the FBI to respond to the 9/11 attacks, although they properly avoid giving any credit to the Unabomber for any of the reforms.

The details of the investigation are fascinating. As a general comment, the authors emphasize the importance of the cooperation of the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Unabomber's brother David. In the end, investigators can't do the job by themselves.

It's good to have the conduct of the investigation on the record, and to recognize the hard work of the agents in solving the case.

Comment

When the case was broken, the media tracked down virtually every member of the Harvard Class of 1962. When I introduced myself to Max Noel, the Supervisory Special Agent of the UNABOM [sic, no "b" at the end] Task Force, he said he felt he had met every member of the class. This book should help my classmates get some closure on the shock that one of us could do such things.

Kaczynski's entries in the quinquennial class reports of the Class of 1962 are unusual. His first address in 1967 was in Lisbon, Iowa. In 1972, he is in Lombard, Ill. In 1977, he's in Great Falls, Mont. Then in 1987 and 1992, his "last known address" is given as in Khadar Khel, Afghanistan. Then in his 35th Anniversary report in 1997 his address was listed as "unknown", even though he was arrested in 1996 and his location was the best-known in the class. In his 50th Anniversary report, the address of the maximum-security penitentiary is listed; he lists his Occupation as "Prisoner" and his 1998 "Awards" as eight life sentences.

May 28 - Birthday of Ian Fleming

Bond... James Bond. (As first played
by [Sir Thomas] Sean Connery.)

This day was born Ian Fleming in London in 1908. His father, Valentine, was a Member of Parliament, whose obituary when he died in World War I was written by Winston Churchill. Ian worked as a foreign journalist, banker, stockbroker, and assistant to the director of British naval intelligence, then as foreign manager of London's Sunday Times.

In 1953 he published his first book, Casino Royale, about a character who would make him famous, James Bond. The playboy spy — code name "007" — was accompanied by "M" at headquarters, Miss Moneypenny as his awed secretary, and a host of fast cars and gadgets prepared by "Q" at "Q branch" of MI6. Not to mention a series of sexy women, many of whom pay for their dalliance by being slaughtered in gruesome ways (e.g., pursued by two Dobermans trained to kill).

The first of many successful movies featuring several incarnations of James Bond as Dr. No in 1962. Fleming went along with the idea (from the casting of Bond by Sean Connery in the first movies) that Bond was Scottish, since in his last books he talked about Bond's Scottish ancestry.

The Wikipedia entry on James Bond and his knockoffs and parodies is astonishingly thorough, showing how and why the character now ranks among the top ten or even five of the best-known heroes of all time. The introductory line, when Bond introduces himself - "Bond... James Bond" - has been called the most famous line in movie history, apparently now out-ranking the many oft-repeated-by-me sayings of Rick and friends in Casablanca.

Fleming's fictional character was a composite of spies and "commando types" he came across in the Naval Intelligence Division in World War II. Among them were, says Wikipedia:

...his brother, Peter, who had been involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war, ... Conrad O'Brien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job and Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale.

Cover of new book on Roger
Moore at BookExpo America.

Not mentioned in Wikipedia is Sir William Stephenson, the wartime intelligence liaison between Winston Churchill and FDR. His code name was "Intrepid".  A plaque in honor of "Intrepid" has been posted on the 36th Floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City where Sir William had his office. I am advised by a reliable source that Stephenson "informed" the character of James Bond.

Update, May 29, 2014: A new book is coming out in 2014 on the man who succeeded [Sir] Sean Connery as James Bond - [Sir] Roger Moore, starting in 1973, for a string of seven movies. The cover shown at the BookExpo America has the title One Lucky Bastard.

A TV miniseries called "Fleming" is also out in 2014.