Book Review: Blue Zeus, Legend of the Red Desert (OT)(a photographic tale of wild horses and their round-up in the American West)

Blue Zeus, Legend of the Red Desert, by Carol Walker (Living Images, 144 pages, $49.95, 2022) Reviewed by Skye Anderson.

A very special book for horse lovers and animal rescuers of all ages. The author, an extremely talented photographer, has created a loving tribute to a loving equine leader of his extended family. 

A Powerful Pictorial Tale

More than a coffee-table book, Blue Zeus (BZ) tells the story of author Carol Walker 'meeting' and following the patriarch of a wild horse family in the American West and of the government round-up of wild horses and what happens to the stallion Blue Zeus and his family. You will find yourself rooting for him (and his family) all the way to a special ending. 

What We Would Change

We would caption all the photographs, however, and perhaps even include, not a family tree per se, but maybe a picture dictionary of who's who in the fairly large family. 

I also never really understood why BZ was so special or why Walker fell in love with him but I do respect her for respecting wild animals (and we really don't think of horses as being wild animals but we should and this book helps educate us to do so). 

I also didn't really understand the helicopter round-up of horses - did they all go to families? I don't think so. To rescues and sanctuaries? To become dog food? Or is this another aspect of the Western Rancher-Farmer Wars? Perhaps an explanation of the round-ups, neutrally of course, would help the reader learn about them. And the crux of the matter may just be the farmer-ranchers vs the wild horses.

Summary

This is a lovely niche book with fantastic photography (though I think a few fewer photographs would be an improvement). The reader truly grows to know this horse family and care about them!

Book Review: In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat (Iraq, 2003)(OT) Part 2 of 2

In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat, by Pulitzer Prize* Winning Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt and Company, 2005, 352 pp) Reviewed by Skye Anderson (post-military book club discussion)

Yesterday we reviewed the book In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat prior to our military book club meeting. I like to do this, then take notes on the the book club's remarks, just to compare my thoughts with those of the group's. Our book club consists of about 10 people who are veterans or retirees (also veterans!), most of whom are men (I was the token female today.). We have all the services represented and a couple of us have been deployed.

Today's blog will be short - I was late tuning in to the zoom meeting because the start time advertised was incorrect. Nevertheless, I easily found out that most of the others really liked In the Company of Soldiers. I was one of two would not necessarily recommend it (as to why, see the previous blog below). (I think the default is to recommend a book though, rather than to say you disliked it.)

We have a fantastic facilitator, a Naval Academy graduate, and we all know each other, having been together (starting in person, pre-pandemic) for about four years of reading and chatting and, of course, with shared backgrounds in the military (though different services, different ranks, different time periods).

Today's discussion, however, seemed to be more about the topic, especially General Petraeus, than about the book itself, which is fine but still needs to be pointed out. At times, though, a couple of us read from the book what we felt was significant to illustrate something - and the others seems to remember the quote in question most of the time. One standout for me was the coordination of the different services, another was the fact that General Petraeus did not stay in his headquarters but continually moved from unit to unit to check on his soldiers (and the war).

Each year we meet about five times and our books cover everything military - from battle books to memoirs, including those about women soldiers, and we try to read a book from each of the major conflicts each year, from the Civil War to World War I and II, to Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq and Afghanistan. Personal experiences shared with the group are meaningful.

And members of our military book club are truly "in the company of soldiers"!

Book Review: In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat (Iraq, 2003)(OT)

In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat, by Pulitzer Prize* Winning Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt and Company, 2005, 352 pp) Reviewed by Skye Anderson (pre-military book club discussion)

"I thought of Robert E. Lee's melancholy insight, about how fortunate we are that war is so terrible, or men would grow too fond of it." (p 207-8)

It All Started 30+ Years Ago

Do you mix up the two Gulf Wars? The one in 1991 and the one in 2003? Or confuse them with the Afghanistan War which took place during the Second Gulf War? 

Never fear - this book is almost a play-by-play account of the 101st Airborne in the Second Gulf War, from pre-deployment planning and training, through the fighting weeks as reported by a journalist embedded with General Petraeus.

Author Rick Atkinson is no soldier** but he is an accomplished journalist. He tells of the times he didn't pack the suggested items and came to regret it, and the times he misplaced his gas mask and couldn't find it in the dark** and the times he. . . . but, on the whole, this is a war story. A long war story which brought back many memories of my own Army days and my own deployment.

You Will Like. . . .

Atkinson has included an extensive dictionary of acronyms, only a few of which I knew. And male soldiers or airmen or sailors will read the book quickly and understand it all, from the unit names (battalion, brigade) and their numbers (3ID, etc.). Fortunately, good maps are also included for this play-by-play description of the war (but thumbing to them will slow you down as will constantly referring to the 'dictionary' of acronyms). War afficionados will devour the story's timeline but those of us who know less, will soon be bored.

Told by a journalist who hasn't been in the military can be fun when he writes about a surface-to-air missile ambush, a SAMbush but the humor is few and far between. After all, this is a war book, a 'chronicle of combat.'

Percolating throughout the book are many snippets of Arabic history and biblical names from this former history major turned journalist as well as real gems like what the heat felt like, what the smells were as he encountered them, even a few gorgeous sunsets.

Before and During

In the Company of Soldiers is separated into two parts - before and during. This reviewer liked the 'before' part best: the 'during' part was fairly dry and a day-by-day or play-by-play account which might appeal more to infantry types who know their weapons of war.

The Infantry Waddle

"They lumbered past in a column, sweating beneath the weight of body armor, canteens, smoke canisters, knee pads, anti-tank weapons, rifles, night-vision goggles, M-249 light machine guns, gas masks - all the accoutrements of modern combat." (p 197-8) Much like Vietnam. . . . 

Atkinson writes of his soldiers taking a knee and pointing their weapons to the ground, trying to defuse a situation (which probably happened several times) and taking down a statue of Sadam, which also happened in several locations. But most of all, Atkinson shows us General Petraeus who did not stay safe in HQ but constantly moved among his troops. In addition we learn about planners who often would change orders at the last minute and from far away. SNAFU indeed!

*An Army at Dawn

**"Squeezing into the rear seat of the Humvee, I was nearly immobilized by the gear wedged around my feet and shoulders - flak vest, helmet, CamelBak, day bag, camera, notebook, gas mask, map board, and the bank of radios. Almost every day I absentmindedly left one or more items behind - in the tent, on a helicopter, atop a vehicle hood - and only the attentive forbearance of Miller and Fivecoat had kept me from scattering half my possessions in a personal debris field across Iraq." (p 223)

NEXT: Comments from a military book club composed of veterans who read and discussed In the Company of Soldiers