Stavridis on Crucial Crucible of Decision

Review by Bill Doughty––

Admiral James Stavridis (USN, Ret.) offers key lessons for Sailors and Marines in “To Risk It All: Nine Conflicts and the Crucible of Decision” (Penguin Press, 2022). Most of the stories will be familiar to readers of Stavridis or his recommended reading list, but one story –– recent and still painful –– is presented with a personal and unique perspective only Stavridis could achieve.

“The Red Flare” describes the crucible faced by Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, former CO of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Crozier was fired for the way he responded to an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard TR in the early months of the pandemic. At that time there were more questions than answers, and self-serving politics delayed a proper national response. (We cover Crozier’s challenge and legacy in several previous Navy Reads posts.)

Stavridis begins The Red Flare by recounting his relationship with Crozier in the final days of Libyan intervention during Operation Odyssey Dawn in 2011 and subsequently as part of the NATO joint task force for Operation Unified Protector when Stavridis became Supreme Allied Commander. Crozier was considered “a talented and quite extraordinary officer.”

Crozier’s job was target selector or “targeteer,” responsible for carefully deciding how to maximize effectiveness while minimizing collateral damage and death to local citizens when planning precision-guided-air-to-ground strikes. Crozier’s decision-making during the Libya conflict was done in a pressure-cooker cauldron of international media and chain-of-command scrutiny, according to Stavridis:

“In the end, Crozier and his team planned and executed 218 air taking orders (ATOs), mammoth action orders that plan out the complex movements of aircraft in combat zones. NATO aircraft flew over 26,500 flights, including 9,700 that attacked ground targets and destroyed over 5,900 military assets, all while deconflicting operations with over 6,700 humanitarian aid flights and ground movements. And they did all this with the lowest level of collateral damage in the history of air operations. It was a stunningly successful military campaign, and Crozier’s part in it was rewarded with two significant medals: one from NATO and one from the United States. I thought then that he’d surely go on to an admiral’s stars, and over the next several years I watched his steady progress toward that goal…”

Then-Adm. James Stavridis tours NHHC, Dec. 7, 2012. (MC2 G. Morrisette)

After commanding the U.S. Seventh Fleet’s flagship, USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), Crozier took the helm of the mighty TR.* During a WestPac cruise, which included a visit to Vietnam, a few members of the crew contracted COVID, and as can be expected on any ship, it spread fast. Crozier tried to get authorization to offload sick and infected Sailors while maintaining enough crew to remain combat-ready.

Frustrated by a lack of action and assistance from higher-ups, he sent a “red flare” message for help. The trouble was, in error, he sent the message as an unclassified email, and he did not include a key leader in his chain of command.

Crozier wrote, “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset –– our Sailors!”

The email found its way to the media, and the crisis aboard TR became a national news story and an embarrassment to an administration that failed to take the pandemic seriously at the time.

Stavridis evaluates Crozier’s decision-making and takes the readers to the moment that the Skipper held his finger over the “send” button before he launched the thoroughly reasoned and carefully worded email that would end his career and lead to a dissing from President Trump, who called him “Hemingway.”

Stavridis looks at the context of the events, considers the stellar record of Crozier, and makes a case for understanding the “important point” that communication is key –– and never more complicated than in the internet era.

“It is also important to remember that so often the hard choice you make is something you have to live with from that moment forward. Had Crozier been so focused on his Navy career instead of the health of his crew, he likely would have continued to go along with the shifting guidance without raising any additional complications or hesitations. Had he done that, I suspect he would have never been fired by the acting secretary of the Navy, never been investigated for the events that led up tot he outbreak, and likely would have continued with his Navy career and pinned on admiral’s stars as I’d envisioned back in 2011.”

Today, we can see clear examples of others who focus first on perpetuating their positions of power. They put their own interests ahead of country, Constitution, or the people they represent.

The sad fact is that Crozier was removed from command and, despite efforts by some senior naval officers to reinstate him in command, he was ultimately relieved for cause.

“In my view, the Navy had it right by recommending his reinstatement, and I believe some level of political pressure was exerted from the White House,” Stavridis observes.

Then-Capt. Brett E. Crozier, then-commanding officer of the U.S. 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), welcomes members of the Japan Self-Defense Force Joint Staff College for a tour aboard the ship, Sept. 18, 2018. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Adam K. Thomas/Released)

“I believe this case study will be examined by generations of naval officers going forward, and with good reason. It perfectly outlines for the Navy the principles of caring for the crew and the difficulty of balancing with getting the mission done.”

“People versus mission is an age-old dilemma for sea captains,” Stavridis writes.

His book explores weighty decisions made by Capt. John Paul Jones, Lt. Stephen Decatur, Rear Adm. David Farragut, Commodore George Dewey, Cook Third Class Doris “Dorie” Miller, Adm. William “Bull” Halsey, Lt. Cdr. Lloyd M. Bucher, Rear Adm. Michelle Howard, and Capt. Crozier. There’s a bonus story right at the outset, too; Stavridis’s introduction leads with the story of Cdr. Ernest Evans, CO of the USS Johnston (DD-557), and his heroism in the Battle off Samar, 78 years ago on October 25, 1944.

Each story methodically evaluates the circumstances, personnel, and ramifications of decisions made in moments of often extreme stress, with lives on the line, and when there appears to be no perfect response.

Stavridis writes with his usual panache and passion. His book is accessible to any deckplate Sailor or rifleman Marine, who will be inspired by the courage and grit of Dorie Miller at Pearl Harbor. This book is also written for leaders of leaders –– military or civilian –– who want to understand the decision-making process, even when there is “no way out,” as was the case with Lloyd M. Bucher, skipper of USS Pueblo (AGER-2) after his ship was seized by North Korea on January 23, 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War.

The final chapter “To Risk It All” deploys practical advice for leaders who face hard decisions in their life’s voyage. Personally, I love Stavridis’s mention of a personal favorite book I read in high school, Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather,” which Stavridis calls “one of the greatest books ever written about leadership and decision-making…”

Thank you, Admiral, for another great collection of terrific stories, unexpected book suggestions, and indispensable insights, especially your take on a hero for Sailors, whose sacrifice will be even more understood and appreciated in years to come –– Capt. Brett Crozier.

*Top photo: Capt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), and Capt. Carlos Sardiello cut a cake in the ship’s hangar bay during a change of command ceremony reception. Crozier relieved Sardiello to become the 16th commanding officer of TR. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Olympia O. McCoy)

Washington’s Navy, Privateering & ’Rebels at Sea’

Review by Bill Doughty––

George Washington wasn’t just “father of our country.” He was also father of our Navy, according to “Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution” by Eric Jay Dolin (W.W. Norton, 2022).

Washington first dismissed the idea of deploying a seagoing force, especially to face the great Royal Navy. But during a stalemate on land and after listening to advice from his officers, he saw a need for American vessels to capture munitions and other supplies from British ships. So Washington armed and commissioned the schooner Hannah and soon followed up with orders for two more vessels. His ships were not privately operated since sailors were paid from his army’s funds.

While there was a question whether he had authority from Congress, nevertheless Washington moved forward, according to Dolin. “On September 7 (1775), the Hannah set sail. Washington had launched his own navy.” His minuscule naval force joined hundreds of “privateers” operating outside of government control along the Atlantic Coast and beyond.

Early in “Rebels at Sea,” Dolin tells the story of the Machias Affair in Maine/Massachusetts, in which colonists clashed with British autocracy over trade, authoritarian rule, and even voting rights!

The Machias Affair, called by James Fenimore Cooper the “Lexington of the Sea,” was “a clarion signal that Massachusetts men and, more broadly, Americans were ready and able to fight at sea.”

“Privateers were armed vessels owned and outfitted by private individuals who had government permission to capture enemy ships in times of war. That permission came in the form of a letter of marque, a formal legal document issued by the government that gave the bearer the right to seize vessels belonging to belligerent nations and to claim those vessels and their cargoes, or prizes, as spoils of war. The proceeds from the auction of these prizes were in turn split between the men who crewed the privateers and the owners of the ship. Typically, governments used privateers to amplify their power on the seas, most notably when their navies were not large enough to effectively wage war. More specifically, by attacking the enemy’s maritime commerce and, when possible, its naval forces, privateers could inflict significant economic and military pain at no expense to the government that commissioned them. Privateers were like a cost-free navy. One late nineteenth-century historian dubbed them ‘the militia of the sea.’”

There’s no question the maritime militia and other sea fighters made a difference.

“By early 1776, the upstart Americans had made considerable progress in taking the fight to sea. Between state navies, Washington’s navy, privateers from the individual colonies, and the nascent Continental navy, the colonies were demonstrating their maritime creativity and potency. But one major feature of their maritime strategy was conspicuous in its absence: privateers commissioned by Congress.”

And as Britain cracked down further on the Colonies, it only made the Americans’ resolve stronger.

The British Parliament drove the Colonies to codifying privateering when Britain passed the Prohibitory Act in February 1776. Also known as the Act of Independency, Parliament’s act cut off trade, permitted British ships to seize colonial vessels, and allowed American sailors to be impressed –– kidnapped, conscripted, and forced into serving in the Royal Navy.

Within weeks, Congress was ready to order authorization and letters of marque to privateers. It did so April 3, 1776. Privateering, therefore, pushed the Colonies more in the direction of independency. “It was another tear in the gossamer fabric holding the colonies and Britain together,” Dolin writes.

“Congress had no alternative but to provide for the defense and security by authorizing the colonies to fit out privateers to cruise against the enemy,” Dolin writes. He provides a number of surprising anecdotes about people, unknown and well-known, who were involved in privateering.

We learn about black patriot James Forten, whose great-grandfather was brought to the Colonies as a slave and whose grandfather obtained freedom. Forten was one of only a few black families in Philadelphia, where some historians argue the U.S. Navy was born. (A drive to the Philadelphia airport today and a glance toward the East shows the evidence of Philadelphia as a big Navy port.)

Forten served aboard the 450-ton Pennsylvania privateer Royal Louis captained by Stephen Decatur Sr., father of Steven Decatur Jr., hero in the first Barbary War at the turn of the century and later in the War of 1812. Forten went on to become a successful business leader in Philadelphia as the city’s leading sailmaker, according to Dolin.

This book is packed with photos, vignettes, and colorful characters. Thomas Paine, author of the earthshaking “Common Sense,” had a near-death brush with privateering. For a short time Paine was a crew member of the Terrible, a British privateer captained by William Death. Great names.

Check out these names of the privateer ships mentioned in this book: Rattlesnake, Hibernia, Tyrannicide, Black Sloven, Active, Thorn, Revenge, Enterprize, Eaglet, Impromptu, and Grand Turk; sweet names like Betsey, Nancy, Diana, Patty, and Sally, and inspiring names like General Washington, Marquis de Lafayettes, Liberty, Union, Hope, Yankee Hero, Retaliation, and Independence.

Hundreds of privateers and their captains and crews risked a great deal to fight for liberty. “When the United States was only a tenuous idea, they stepped forward and risked their lives to help make it a reality,” Dolin says.

Portrait of John Barry by Gilbert Stuart, circa 1801. (White House, NHHC)

“For many young men, joining a privateer represented an opportunity for adventure and fortune and also, perhaps, a chance to escape stultifying manual labor.” Privateering proved a training ground for the new United States Navy. Consider the names of some crew members, backers, and captains of privateers: John Barry, Thomas Truxton, Silas Talbot, Henry Knox, David Porter (father of Commodore David Porter, of the War of 1812, and grandfather of Adm. David Dixon Porter, hero of the Civil War.)

In 1781, the Privateer Pilgrim captured the Duke of Gloucester with an impressive science library aboard. The great mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch then gained access to the resources to write “The New American Practical Navigator” (1802), known to sailors as “the Bowditch,” a landmark work explaining accurate nautical and navigational information for mariners.

Some powerful leaders backed the concept of privateers. They included John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin (for a time), and, notoriously Benedict Arnold, who helped the British spearhead “the deadliest raid of all,” targeting American patriots at New London.

Some privateers became intertwined with the slave trade. Dolin calls it the “greatest blemish” of privateering.

HMS Jersey, used as a prison ship during the Revolutionary War. Painting by R.B. Skerrett from drawing by one of the prisoners held in captivity there. (NHHC)

Americans captured by the British for privateering usually found themselves in fetid and septic prison ships. Dolin calls the use of the floating prisons, especially the Jersey, “one of the most horrific and shameful chapters in the history of the Revolution.” Dolin's account of the foul and disgusting depravity in the prison ships rivals that of many historians’ descriptions of POW camps. Jersey, nicknamed “Hell Afloat,” held up to 1,200 prisoners, many of whom were mariners who'd served aboard privateers.

Eric Jay Dolin

Privateering, Dolin says, was not the same as piracy since it was federally endorsed. Nevertheless, opposition to the practice grew. “Part of the reason privateering was scorned was that many believed the practice undermined the republican ideals of the Revolution, which called for the sacrifice of private interests in the pursuit of liberty.”

Benjamin Franklin, who supported privateering early on, did an about-face after he saw rampant greed and lawlessness. Another strong opponent was William Whipple Jr., a “fervent patriot devote to the republican ideals of the Revolution, signer of the Declaration, and hero of the Battle of Saratoga.”

Whipple called privateering “the most baneful to society of any that ever a civilized people were engaged in.” Dolin writes about Whipple: “His main concern was that privateers were draining the Continental Navy of men, because so many chose privateering over naval service for financial reasons.”

Navy hero John Paul Jones agreed.

There was much less effectiveness in individual states’ navies or privateers compared with he power of a United naval force. Resources, including sailors, needed to be directed to the Continental Navy, according to Jones, Whipple, and others; the fledgling American navy struggled to survive, some frigates never making it to sea.

Dolin writes: “The American Revolution was the Navy’s first hour, but not its finest.”

“The Continental navy’s record in battle is not an enviable one. Twenty-eight vessels were captured or destroyed, and many others were out at sea, sold, returned to France, or burned to keep them from being taken but he enemy (as in the Penobscot Expedition). Only seven of the original thirteen frigates authorized by Congress actually made it to sea, and one of those survived long enough to witness the victory at Yorktown in 1781, a year in which the entire naval fleet was comprised of only nine vessels, with a total of 164 cannons. The Navy’s only truly large ship, the 74-gun America, took six years to build, and by the time it was ready to sail, in November 1782, the war was essentially over. Instead of fighting for the American cause, America was given to the French as gift. At war’s end just a few navy ships were left. These were sold, and the navy disbanded.”

Carving of Franklin at U.S. Naval Academy, circa early 1900s. (NHHC)

The (non-Navy) privateers, as the “militia of the sea,” were similar to the colonial concept of a non-Army armed citizenry: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…” per the Second Amendment. Whipple, Jones, and Franklin saw privateering as more harmful that good. Franklin called it an “abomination.”

Eventually, the new nation would evolve to see the need for unity in the maritime domain. This was especially true as platforms, armaments, logistics, strategies, training, and capabilities modernized.

But in the War of 1812 the Navy was still “puny,” in Dolin’s words. “Just a handful of frigates, sloops, and gunboats.”

So President Jefferson returned to privateering.

“Despite Jefferson’s dream of a privately waged war on the seas,” Dolin writes, “the U.S. Navy, small though it was, had some notable and heroic engagements that burnished its reputation, contributed much to America’s success, and won the respect of the British.”

Privateers proved successful again in those days of wooden boats, but their days were numbered.

Model of privateer Rattlesnake.Scale: 3/16”=1’, built by Raymond W. Stone of the Washington Ship Model Society. (NHHC)

A generation later, the concept of privateering became part of a seditious conspiracy as the Confederacy embraced the strategy. The Confederates’ attempts at privateering were ill-fated, however, as the United States Navy and Union itself in Washington, D.C., grew stronger. Washington's navy became Washington's Navy.

Individual states’ navies were not as strong as the centralized U.S. Navy. Dolin closes his book with this bottom line: “America now has the most powerful navy in the world.”

This review barely scrapes the surface of a book that puts the reader on blood-stained wooden decks, running with the wind, cutlass in hand. Accessible history. Highly recommended.

“Rebels at Sea” dedication: “To librarians everywhere who, through hard work and dedication, support writers, researchers, learners, and book lovers alike. This writer couldn’t have done it without you.”

Adm. James Stavridis (ret.) offers wholehearted endorsement: “Yet another maritime masterpiece by one of the top historians of the oceans! Rebels at Sea is a brilliant exposition of a little-understood and under-appreciated part of the American Revolution underway. Like his earlier works, it is full of fresh thinking and sharply observed anecdotes that both inform and delight. Eric Jay Dolin's books deserve a prominent place on every sailor's bookshelf.” Stavridis is author of "The Sailor's Bookshelf: Fifty Books to Know the Sea," reviewed earlier this year on Navy Reads.

Russia Scars ‘The Border’

Review by Bill Doughty––

The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine. It has become a symbol of resistance after a Ukrainian woman confronted a Russian soldier and offered him seeds. She told him to put the seeds in his pocket so sunflowers would grow when he died on Ukraine’s soil. She shouted at him, “You’re occupants, you’re fascists. Take these seeds and put them in your pockets so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here … You are occupiers. You are enemies.”

The sunflower seeds incident is just one of the stories of heroic resistance and resilience in Ukraine inspiring the world for the past two weeks since Putin’s unprovoked invasion.

Erika Fatland

I was interested in learning more about the people and history of Ukraine and was rewarded with a great book by historian and travel writer Erika Fatland, author of “The Border” (translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson; Pegasus Books Ltd., 2017).

In Ukraine, Fatland visits Odessa, Gammalsvenskby, Crimea, Mariupol, Kramatorsk, Donetsk, Poltava, Kiev, Lviv, and other areas in her two-year exploration around Russia’s border. After completing her journey –– more than five years ago –– Fatland had a chilling premonition about Putin’s aggression:

“The borders have changed and multiplied time and again over the centuries, most recently in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. Borders are not set in stone; the new fibreglass boundary markers are easy to move. The world’s biggest country is low on self-esteem; the economy is failing and the population shrinking. Thus the need to assert itself is even greater.”

“Putin, a former K.G.B. officer, stops at nothing to gain power and influence,” she observes. “Rules are only followed if they are in Russia’s favor.”

Putin justifies his invasion of the sovereign democratic nation of Ukraine because it once was part of Russia. But that view is myopic, at best, considering the long sweep of history. Fatland presents history lessons throughout her narrative, and she provides a helpful annex at the end of her book listing key events in Russian History from 862 to 2015.

With regard to Ukraine, she explains the strong ties with Sweden, the role of religion in the region, and the roles of Rural the Run, Vladimir 1, Grand Prince of Kiev; Genghis Khan and the Mongols; Ivan the Terrible; Napoleon; and various Alexanders, Nicholases, and Vladimirs/Volodymirs. Readers learn about the role of the Tartars, the Turks, the Crimean War, Stalin’s war of famine, and the Putin’s aggression in recent years in Chechnya, Georgia, and Crimea.

Monument to Peter the Great, St. Petersburg, Russia

Two Russian leaders leap out of history for Navy readers: Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, each with maritime interest in Ukraine.

“In 1682, Peter I, better known as Peter the Great, was crowned tsar at the tender age of ten. He was no more than a child and liked to spend his time building and sailing boats. As he grew up, his ambitions also grew, without his losing interest in boats and sailing: Peter the Great’s dream was to make Russia a maritime superpower. He first attempted to conquer the port areas on the Black Sea, but was unsuccessful, so he turned his sights west instead. In 1700, his troops besieged the Swedish-controlled town of Narva, on the current Estonian-Russian border. The clearly inferior Swedish army, led by the then eighteen-year-old Charles XII, were blessed by a snowstorm that blew up behind them and blinded the Russians, who panicked and fled, suffering great losses.”

Catherine II, known as Catherine the Great, continued Peter’s revanchist ambitions:

In 1689, when Peter the Great came to the throne, Russia, despite its size still had only one port, in Archangel. This was frozen over for the greater part of the year and was in the far north. Peter the Great managed to secure Russia’s access to the Baltic Sea and built a new capital, St Petersburg, there. But all attempts to conquer the Black Sea coast failed. It was only at the end of the eighteenth century, under Catherine the Great, that ships flying the Russian flag finally sailed on the Black Sea. Like her predecessor, Catherine the Great was ambitious. Her big dream was to conquer Istanbul, cradle of orthodox Christianity. She was not successful in that, but in the course of two long wars with the Ottoman Empire, she did manage to acquire large parts of what is now South Ukraine, from Odessa in the south to Dnepropetrovsk (now known as Dnipro) in the north, including Crimea.

“After the war with the Turks, which ended in 1774, Crimea was given the status of independent khanate. The freedom was, however, short-lived. In 1783, Catherine the Great announced that the khan in Crimea and his people would henceforth be considered subjects of the Russian tsar.” 

Portrait of Catherine the Great by Alexey Antropov

[By the way, later in his life, with few career options after his military service, American naval hero John Paul Jones entered into the service of Catherine the Great on April 23, 1787.]

Fatland’s book and journey begins in, of all places, North Korea, which shares a tiny border but huge history with Russia. Fatland takes us on a fascinating propaganda tour filled with giant statues of the Kims, choreographed mass dances, school visits, and photo-deleting tour guides. Along the way, she contextualizes places and culture with history.

Navy readers will enjoy her brief discussion of the Russo-Japan War, where Tsar Nicholas II’s Russian fleet was destroyed by the Japanese fleet in the Tsushima Straits, May 27, 1905. President Theodore Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize for helping negotiate peace.

Today, in response to Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine, the free world is imposing  more sanctions against Russia. We can imagine what the future could portend for Putin, as a result of those sanctions, when we consider the effects of Russia’s war on its home front –– in 1905:

“In addition to the many thousands of soldiers who had been killed far away in a war that very few understood, it had also resulted in food shortages in the major ciities. On January 22, several hundred peaceful demonstrators marched on the Winter Palace, demanding reform, better working conditions, and an end to the war with Japan. [Russian police were ordered to open fire on citizens]… More than 130 people were killed in what has gone down in history as ‘Bloody Sunday.’ This, in turn, led to strikes, protests, and revolt throughout the empire. In the autumn, following Russia’s humiliating defeat by the Japanese, all the major cities were brought to a standstill by a general strike … Nicholas II’s inability to accept the fact that times were changing, and that the days of the autocrat were numbered, would cost him dear.”

After Putin the autocrat aggressively annexed the Crimean Peninsula 2014 and fomented unrest in eastern Ukraine, he showed interest in fortifying his relationship with China and North Korea. Just a few months after taking over Crimea, Putin wiped out ninety percent of North Korea’s debt with Russia, according to Fatland. Russia has unrestricted access to North Korea’s mineral resources. In addition to other quid pro quo infrastructure initiatives, Putin arranged for a fifty year lease for the use of Rason, a port in the Sea of Japan.

“The Russian authorities plan to transport goods by rail from Vladivostok, which will then be transferred to ships in Rason, which, unlike Vladivostok, is ice-free all year round. Even though more than two thirds of Russia’s border is maritime, the country has very few deepwater ports. This desire for warm-water ports has been the cause of several wars in Russian history: Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Nicholas I and Nicholas II all stopped at nothing in their attempts to make the enormous empire a maritime superpower. A leasing agreement with the world’s worst dictator is one of the less dramatic steps Russian leaders have taken to guarantee the country an ice-free port.”

The problem for the Russians in using the port, however lies in the sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, and many other nations.

Today, President Joe Biden announced the United States was sanctioning oil and natural gas exports from Russia. The U.S. continues to send billions in military aid to Ukraine, and is fortifying NATO allies.

Pallets of ammunition, weapons and other equipment bound for Ukraine wait to be loaded during a foreign military sales mission at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Feb. 28, 2022. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $5.4 billion in total assistance to Ukraine, and reaffirms its steadfast commitment to a secure and prosperous Ukraine and to its sovereignty and territorial integrity. (Tech. Sgt. J.D. Strong II)

There is so much more to discover in this book: meeting the Uyghurs in Xinjiang; taking a group tour to Chernobyl; discovering the connection between explorers Vitus Bering and Captain James Cook and the Arctic; contemplating borders as both real and abstract; and learning more about Putin’s forays into Chechnya, Syria, and Georgia.

The full name of her book is “The Border: A Journey Around Russia Through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and the Northeast Passage.”

Fatland is also author of “Sovietistan,” that, according to Kirkus Review is “A lively, if rarely cheerful, travelogue that fills a yawning knowledge gap for readers concerned with international affairs,” which aptly describes “Border” too. In "The Border," she introduces us to colorful characters, fraught or funny situations, and fascinating landscapes.

Fatland writes with precision and compassion. In Georgia’s Caucasus mountains she visited the Gergeti Monastery, pictured above. She has a poet’s soul, especially when she writes about Georgia:

“Georgia is one of my favorite countries. It is a country that has absolutely everything: some of the highest mountains in Europe in the north, you can swim in the Black Sea in the west and in the east you will find world-class vineyards. Add old, almost untouched architecture (everything from medieval villages where stone towers stand side by side, to some of the oldest churches in the world), a cuisine that can compete with Italian, and people who not only are open and hospitable, but always ready to party and have another drink, and you have Georgia. Were it not for their neighbours, the Georgians would probably be the world’s happiest people”

With her perspective as a citizen of Norway, Fatland has an objective eye, yet she sees the danger of Russian aggression throughout her journeys both on land and through time. “Being Russia’s neighbour has never been easy,” she writes. “Norway is the only one of its fourteen neighbours that has not been invaded or at war with Russia in the past five hundred years.”

“I had travelled through fourteen countries and three breakaway republics,” Fatland writes:

“And none of the countries I had travelled through were without wounds or scars left by their neighbor, Russia. For centuries, the smaller countries and peoples, in particular, had been ground between the millstones of power, torn by wars between the major players, and pulled here and there.

“Nations have not collective memory; nations have no healed wounds. It is the individuals, millions of then, who carry the scars.”

Scars –– deep scars –– are being created right now in Ukraine, where Putin’s Russia is attacking not only military targets, but also schools, hospitals, residential neighborhoods, evacuation centers, and even nuclear power plants, committing war crimes as he spreads disinformation to his own nation.

Analysts say Putin won’t stop in Ukraine unless he is stopped; some say we may already be in World War III –– or WWZ, considering the Russians use of the letter Z as a crooked half-swastika symbol. “The Border” gives us an appreciation of liberty and freedom in the face of authoritarian autocratic governments, and it helps us understand the people impacted by Russian aggression and find the right questions for what's ahead.

“After two years of traveling along Russia’s border –– in real terms, along dusty country roads and across the sea, and in figurative terms, charting its long and complex history –– I now have more questions than answers. Which is not unexpected. My main impression is of a lack of direction and opportunism. The Russian Empire grew to the size it did because tsar after tsar seized any opportunity to expand the empire’s borders, using violence, trickery and war if necessary. And one group of people after another, from the nomadic tribes of Siberia to the Muslim Khanates of Central Asia and Russia’s Slav neighbors, was encompassed by the great empire, willingly and unwillingly. In the borderlands and on the periphery, freedom came and went. History teaches us that those who were once part of the Russian empire are most at risk of falling under its yoke in the future.”

“The Border” is an amazing achievement. Fatland manages to plant dry seeds of history in a compelling, often poetic, travel adventure. At nearly 600 pages, her book is both informative and fun but also melancholy considering the humanitarian catastrophe occurring now in some of the same places she visited –– places where perhaps sunflowers will grow in the future.

Atlas Obscura Shrugged

Review by Bill Doughty

When it comes to strange and wonderful places or things in our Universe, it's not about the who or what or where or when or even why; according to authors of "Atlas Obscura," it's the "how"––specifically, how we choose to see our world and everything around us.

The opportunities to discover, see and catalogue new wonders are "infinite," according to Dylan Thuras, "if you're willing to sort of slow down, look around, listen and start asking questions."

Thuras, Joshua Foer and Ella Morton bring us this book packed with question-asking strangeness, subtitled a Freakonomics-esque "An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders" (2016, Workman Publishing).

Mary Roach enjoys a different perspective including "Atlas"

It goes on sale today.

Once a person chooses to see the world differently, they can discover places in their own neighborhood––or aboard their ship––or in places admittedly farther afield that are strangely fascinating.

That's the approach the authors take as they journey into the world in what Mary Roach, author of "Gulp" and "Grunt," describes as “a joyful antidote to the creeping suspicion that travel these days is little more than a homogenized corporate shopping opportunity. Here are hundreds of surprising, perplexing, mind-blowing, inspiring reasons to travel a day longer and farther off the path."

Some places and things in this book to see in a new light: "Cargo Cults of Tanna" in Vanuatu archipelago, "Slab City" and the "East Jesus" community on a former U.S. Marine Corps training base near Niland, California, "Yamamoto's Bomber" wreckage still in the jungle north of Buin, Papua New Guinea,  "Ghost Fleet of Truck Lagoon" in Chuuk, and the not-to-be-missed (?) "Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum" in Pyongyang (mural at right).

Website Wonders

The wonders of the "Atlas Obscura" spring from the popular website of the same name.

Foer and Thuras are cofounders of the Atlas Obscura phenomenon, who see there work as "never complete" and who are always ready to credit legions of fans who provide tips, photos and edits as "co-authors."

In the introduction to the new book they proclaim, "Though Atlas Obscura may have the trappings of a travel guide, it is in truth something else. The site, and this book, are a kind of wunderkammer of places, a cabinet of curiosities that is meant to inspire wanderlust as much as wanderlust."

Here are just a few of the wonders to be found on their website, on the internationally themed #navalhistory section:



John Paul Jones tomb: 

"Today, Jones rests in a extravagant sarcophagus below the chapel of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The incredible coffin is covered in sculpted barnacles and is held up by legs in the shape of stylized dolphins. The whole thing is sculpted out of a black and white marble that makes it look as though it has been weathered by untold ages beneath the waves."



NOAA's Discovery of USS Conestoga:

"In September 2014, a team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was on an expedition in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, looking for shipwrecks, when they found the wreck ... a seagoing tugboat. It had a metal hull, and though the upper deck had collapsed, the boilers, the anchor and the engine were all still there. They determined that it had been powered by coal, which dated it to the late 19th century or early 20th ... When the Conestoga disappeared, it was the last U.S. Navy ship to be lost, without explanation, during peacetime. Planes and ships were sent out to find it, in the largest air and sea search in Navy history until the hunt for Amelia Earhardt. But for almost 100 years, it remained lost."



USS Constitution

"Commissioned by the first US president, George Washington, the USS Constitution is probably most famous for defeating numerous British warships in the War of 1812. It was during this war, in the battle against the HMS Guerriere, the ship earned the nickname “Old Ironsides,” when her crew noticed shots from the British ship simply bounced off. The USS Constitution is America's Ship of State ... Today the ship is berthed neatly at Pier 1 of the former Charlestown Navy Yard, at the end of the Freedom Trail in Boston, where she stands the oldest commissioned and fully functioning warship in the United States. The wooden-hulled, 3-mast heavy frigate of the US Navy was launched in 1797 ... Today, the ship keeps a crew of 60 officers and sailors to aid in its mission to promote the understanding of the US Navy's role in war and peace, as part of the Naval History & Heritage Command. The crew are all active-duty Navy sailors––an honorable special duty assignment ... Until current restoration work is complete, the ship is in Dry Dock. The USS Constitution is still open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis during their operating hours."



Mare Island Cemetery

"Hidden away on Mare Island in Vallejo is the Bay Area's oldest Naval cemetery, the final resting place of sailors and soldiers and loved ones--and one convicted killer ... Burials began at this hillside cemetery in 1856 and continued until 1921. Although it's not noted for big-name interments, there are some memorable stories among the headstones. Among the approximately 900 buried here are the daughter of Francis Scott Key, murderess Lucy Lawson, and six Russian sailors who were laid to rest near the middle during the Civil War era."



Treasure Island Naval History Mural

"Within the lobby of Treasure Island’s former administration building of the 1939 World’s Fair is a mural that stretches 251 feet long and 26 feet high. Designed by New York artist Lowell Nesbitt and executed by a team of a dozen Bay Area painters, the enormous artwork depicts naval history in the Pacific since 1813, featuring a total of eleven Navy and Marine Corps events. The mural was completed in 1976 to align with the opening of the Navy-Marine Corps Museum, which included artifacts from Treasure Island’s World's Fair, Pan Am Clipper flights and American military operations in the Pacific ... Today, the building is occupied by the Treasure Island Development Authority. The museum artifacts have come and gone, but the impressive mural continues to glow on the lobby’s East wall."

Granted, there is not much from the Navy-Marine Corps team in Atlas Obscura, especially in the new book. But, before you shrug: For anyone interested in "how" to look at world differently, this book––and of course the Atlas Obscura website––is a treasure trove of weirdness and enlightenment.

Mary Roach calls this "...Bestest travel guide ever.”

'Invisibles,' Led Zeppelin and Loving Your Job

Review by Bill Doughty

Led Zeppelin both opens and closes this remarkable book about "the power of anonymous work in an age of relentless self-promotion" (subtitle of "Invisibles," a 2014 book published by Portfolio/Penguin).
You'll want to crank up "When the Levee Breaks" when you read about the role of sound engineer Andy Johns, who is responsible for the sound of John Bonham's drums, Eric Clapton's and Van Halen's sounds, and the Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers."
Johns is one of several invisibles profiled – people who work behind the scenes and find satisfaction in what they they do and create, not in fame, fortune or recognition. 

Invisibles are new master craftsmen who value artisanal workmanship over the limelight. Think of some of the best staff non-commissioned officers, executive officers and assistants, boatswain's mates, and special operators. Their focus is on team success and quiet competence.

David Zweig, author of "Invisibles" quotes a former Navy SEAL who said he prefers the anonymity of the early 90s – prior to the explosion of the Internet – over the "seemingly incessant fascination with the SEAL Teams."

Zweig evaluates three traits of Invisibles: ambivalence toward recognition, meticulousness in their work, and a savoring of responsibility. He shows how "flow" – "the trance-like state mental that occurs when a person is completely immersed in an activity" – brings them joy, satisfaction and pride.

"If you have a pride and confidence in what you do, as Stumpf so clearly does, the rewards you reap come from within, which are, perhaps, the only true and lasting rewards. In this regard pride – and I'm not talking about the biblical connotation of pride as sin, but pride as respect for yourself, your work, your effort – is just an extension of the Invisible core treat of drawing fulfillment from the work itself, not outside acknowledgment of it."

Author David Zweig

Zweig's eclectic examples of Invisibles include a New Yorker magazine fact checker, airport wayfinder, U.N. interpreter, cinematographer, perfumer, architect, guitar technician and piano tuner. He makes references to Homer's "Iliad," Susan Cain's "Quiet," David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest," Alice Marwick's "Status Update," Adam Grant's "Give and Take," and Jean Twenge's "The Narcissistic Epidemic," as well as other texts and literature. And he takes the reader to Atlanta, New York, Shanghai and places in between.

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Taking a global perspective, Zweig compares the United States, where the focus is on the "vertical individualist," with much of the rest of the world, where the emphasis is on the overall collective, the entire team.
In the "so-called Confucian Belt" (which includes Korea, China, Vietnam and Japan and other nations in the region), self-promotion and attention-seeking are frowned upon and seen as immature, Zweig reports. The Japanese phrase en no shita no chikara mochi means, loosely, what's beneath the stage has great strength or power. Those behind the scenes make those on stage successful.
Zweig's insights would be useful to any student of innovation, and "Invisibles" would fit nicely on the book shelf of supporters of Secretary of the Navy Mabus's new Task Force Innovation. Zweig shows how countries that shy away from flashy individualism value soft power and quiet influence over aggressive bullying. 
His insights generate questions:

John Paul Jones met by President Obama after Kennedy Center Honors in 2012.

Is narcissism at the root of moral decay in society? Does extreme individualism fuel the wealth gap and crush the middle class? Could growing self-promotion and the need for more election money be damaging the political system and preventing consensus-building? What happens when the levee breaks?

Zweig has his own epiphany while writing this book, finding joy in the work and not in the accolades.

He wraps up with an unintentionally ironic mention of John Paul Jones – not the flashy, flamboyant and forlorn hero of the early American Navy, but the creative British bass player who, along with John Bonham, backed up Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.