Great Britain and the American Civil War

Great Britain and the American Civil War by Ephraim Douglass Adams

As the title indicates, this is analysis of the American Civil War from a British perspective. Britain abhorred slavery, but it also feared slave rebellions. Britain also required cotton for many British factories and had experience supporting people's self-determination, especially when it would benefit Britain economically. Britain had expected the south to retain independence. The north had not come out firmly against slavery. (There was a difficult balancing act that American politicians were trying to perform. They wanted to keep border states in the fold but not stripping them of their slaves, yet they also wanted to show their anti-slavery chops.) There are also various challenges in how America treated the south. Depending on the international treaty they were looking out, they may be internal rebels or an enemy force. There were concerns with blockades and other economic impacts. The British tried to be neutral towards the American belligerents. There were also concerns about having a united European front. Britain did not want to get involved in the conflict. Eventually slavery became the important part. The north emancipated slaves. The south had even tried a last-ditch effort to get Europe to their side by potentially eliminated slavery. The book is quite long with copious footnotes. I wonder how the world would be different if the south retained independence? Was Lincoln's goal of keeping union together worth it? Would the US have been such a great power? How would the world wars been impacted?

Mrs. Dalloway

I can oftne gauge by the narrator of an audibook whether or not I will enjoy it. When I heard the upper-class British lady voice, I knew I would be in for an uphill battle. I was expecting some nice stream of conscious introspection. However, what I got was a early 20th century Jane Austen. Mrs Dalloway is is throwing a party. She has a former flame visit her. She reminisces about one of her old girl friends. Yada yada yada. I was exploring the mind of somebody that I was not interested in exploring. Oh well.

The trial

In the trial, Josef K. is arrested, but given no information about what is crime is, or how he should be defended. It is all a very Kafka-eque scenario. (And that is very fitting, since it is written by Kafka.)

The accused wakes up one day to find a couple guards in his house. They tell him he is arrested, and proceed to eat is breakfast. They can't tell him why he is arrested (as they are only guards). They restrict some of his basic activities. However, he is allowed to go on to work and later continue with the rest of his life.

Everybody seems to know about his trial, but to him it is bizarre. The court is nothing like the legal system he knows. It all takes place in a slum neighborhood, and nobody seems to be able to tell him why he is there.

In spite of this being some odd situation that is totally foreign to him, most of his friends and acquaintances seem to know about the trial and feel it is a bad thing for him.

As in Kafka's Metamorphosis, things are absurd, yet normal at the same time. The crime, trial and bizarre court system seem to be way outside the realm of normalcy, yet they are accepted by those around. People who work for the "strange" court system do so even though they have to put up with strange things. However, they don't see any other way.

Other strange events and coincidences seem to happen on the way. Taken on their own, each event could be seen as slightly unusually but still possible in a normal world. Taken together, it is all absurd.

The Trial was never finished in Kafka's lifetime. He had requested that it be burned, but his friend, and later teams of scholars worked to publish and "restore" it. Alas, the approach shows. Some sections seem to be thrown in there without really helping the story. (There are also sections dumped off at the end in an appendix.) While the story is good, don't scholars have better things to do than fabricate a story from something that the author didn't see worthy?

Carry on Jeeves!

P.G Wodehouse's Carry on Jeeves is more a collection of short stories than a novel. All the stories deal with the plights of a rich English bachelor and his seemingly all-knowing servant. Each could easily be read on its own, disjointed from the others. None of the stories are bad, and a have a dry sense of humor. However, I found it difficult to relate or become involved with the characters, and thus lost interest. Perhaps it would be a good "bathroom" book.