Collected Miscellany

Those of us who have enjoyed Olen Steinhauer’s Eastern European crime series continue to be perplexed by their failure to break out into mainstream success. Although the books have been shortlisted for a variety of awards, they seem unable to break free of their genre label and reach the larger audience they deserve.

This week marks the release of the fifth and final book in the series, Victory Square. Appropriately, the book not only brings the series full circle by again featuring the lead character from the first book, but it also brings Steinhauer back to the subject of his first attempts as a novelist.

After getting his MFA and spending a year in Romania on a Fulbright scholarship Steinhauer returned to finish what he hoped would be his first novel. The resulting manuscript – a “sprawling epic” set during the Romanian Revolution of 1989 – revealed enough talent to spark some interest but it clearly needed work. Agents asked: got anything else?

The answer was yes. Inspired by reading Raymond Chandler, and his time in Romania, Steinhauer had decided to write a “straight story” something that didn’t set out to be the “experimental” novel of a recent MFA grad. This non-experimental experiment became The Bridge of Sighs a hardboiled detective story set in an unnamed country in communist occupied post-war Eastern Europe.

As it turned out, Bridge of Sighs was the first in a five book series centered on the homicide division of the People’s Militia in this unnamed country. Each book focuses on a new character and brings us forward a decade. In Bridge of Sighs Emil Brod is a 22-year old rookie investigating his first case, the murder of a popular national songwriter, when he uncovers evidence that a party leader worked for the Gestapo during the war. He ends up marrying the songwriter’s widow and sending his killer, the disgraced party leader, to a labor camp.

Victory Square, the fifth and final book, returns the focus on Emil and brings the series to a close. And it also brings Steinhauer back to the subject of that first manuscript: the revolutionary year of 1989 in a country very much like Romania.

Emil, now homicide chief, is called by the Ministry for State Security to complete the paper work for an apparent heart attack of one of their officers The stubbornly persistent Emil, however, uncovers evidence of foul play and a list of six people all connected to the very first case of his career. Two of the six have recently turned up murdered and the party leader Emil had sent away has disappeared. The other important name on the list? His own.

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I mentinoned previously that I planned to re-read Olen Steinhauer’s People’s Miltia series in order to fully apprciate the final book in that series Victory Square. Having done so, I wanted to offer some thought on the series as a whole prior to posting my review of the last book.

In thinking about the series I keep coming back to something I wrote in my review of 36 Yalta Bouevard:

What is so captivating and entertaining about Steinhauer is that each book tackles a new character and brings a new perspective. Steinhauer is not just cranking out sequels to make his publisher happy. He is using the history and culture of Eastern Europe as a setting and as a source for an imaginative tweak on a host of genres. Aspects of hard boiled detective story, police procedural, psychological mystery, espionage thriller, and historical fiction are all included as he tells the story of these unique characters.

And yet their is more. Steinhauer explores deeper issues than just who did what, where, and how. Thorny personal, political, and cultural issues are addressed while the mystery unfolds. Taken together they paint a thought provoking portrait of time and place; and yet each work stands satisfyingly on its own. “Literary crime series” may seem like an oxymoron to some, but it seems a perfect description of Steinhauer’s work.

This is indeed the appeal of this fascinating series. There is always more than meets the eye.

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Threshold of Terror: The Last Hours of the Monarchy in the French Revolution by Rodney Allen is an exciting and engaging piece of work. Allen brings to life the last vestiges of Louis XVI’s reign.

The book primarily centers on August 10 and 11, 1792 – when “the mob” stormed the Tuileries to end Louis’ reign. Allen pays particular attention to the fate of the Swiss Guards – a unit charged with defending the king after his personal guard was disbanded. In describing their fate, Allen dispels many myths about the Swiss Guards – one of which is that the Guards were overwhelmed and in many instances massacred, Allen contends through his research that many Guards were killed, but the unit was far from being completely annihilated.

Although Allen has a particular affinity toward the king, he justly criticizes Louis when he failed to act at certain points (Allen argues that the Revolution could have been halted in its tracks if Louis had just shown some leadership and backbone). For example, Allen argues that the monarchy may not have fallen if Louis had allowed more ammunition to be disbursed to the Swiss Guards and other loyal national guardsmen.

I think that Allen may have been able to make the book more succinct if he had cut down the number of chapters devoted to the escape of four men (each man’s story of escape had a chapter). Although the stories were different, I just do not think that including all four adds anything extra to the book.

All in all, I think the book is an entertaining and enlightening look at the last hours of the French monarchy in the French Revolution.

Threshold of Terror: The Last Hours of the Monarchy in the French Revolution by Rodney Allen is an exciting and engaging piece of work. Allen brings to life the last vestiges of Louis XVI’s reign.

The book primarily centers on August 10 and 11, 1792 – when “the mob” stormed the Tuileries to end Louis’ reign. Allen pays particular attention to the fate of the Swiss Guards – a unit charged with defending the king after his personal guard was disbanded. In describing their fate, Allen dispels many myths about the Swiss Guards – one of which is that the Guards were overwhelmed and in many instances massacred, Allen contends through his research that many Guards were killed, but the unit was far from being completely annihilated.

Although Allen has a particular affinity toward the king, he justly criticizes Louis when he failed to act at certain points (Allen argues that the Revolution could have been halted in its tracks if Louis had just shown some leadership and backbone). For example, Allen argues that the monarchy may not have fallen if Louis had allowed more ammunition to be disbursed to the Swiss Guards and other loyal national guardsmen.

I think that Allen may have been able to make the book more succinct if he had cut down the number of chapters devoted to the escape of four men (each man’s story of escape had a chapter). Although the stories were different, I just do not think that including all four adds anything extra to the book.

All in all, I think the book is an entertaining and enlightening look at the last hours of the French monarchy in the French Revolution.

Few things are as popular among conservatives as internecine philosophical battles. In magazines, Op-Eds, and book length treatises conservatives of various stripes regularly lay out the reoccurring battle for the soul of conservatism. And as others have pointed out, this is probably healthy. Conservatives believe ideas are important and worth fighting about.

But let’s face it, not all of these battles are intelligent and civil debates over first principles. And that is what makes The Future of Conservatism edited by Charles W. Dunn and published by ISI so refreshing. Rather than a diatribe about which faction hijacked the movement, or which politician betrayed it, it is an intelligent and thoughtful discussion about the various perspectives within conservatism, the principles at issue, and how these debates might play out in the future.

There is a lot to chew on in this slim volume and I have been contemplating a longer essay/review for weeks. But I simply don’t have time at this point. So let me simply outline why you should read this book if you are interested in conservatism past, present, or future.

For a brief outline of essays involved click below.

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Few things are as popular among conservatives as internecine philosophical battles. In magazines, Op-Eds, and book length treatises conservatives of various stripes regularly lay out the reoccurring battle for the soul of conservatism. And as others have pointed out, this is probably healthy. Conservatives believe ideas are important and worth fighting about.

But let’s face it, not all of these battles are intelligent and civil debates over first principles. And that is what makes The Future of Conservatism edited by Charles W. Dunn and published by ISI so refreshing. Rather than a diatribe about which faction hijacked the movement, or which politician betrayed it, it is an intelligent and thoughtful discussion about the various perspectives within conservatism, the principles at issue, and how these debates might play out in the future.

There is a lot to chew on in this slim volume and I have been contemplating a longer essay/review for weeks. But I simply don’t have time at this point. So let me simply outline why you should read this book if you are interested in conservatism past, present, or future.

For a brief outline of essays involved click below.

Continue reading →