Book Review: The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston

The Hot Zone was a major bestseller in 1994, a non-fiction potboiler about an Ebola outbreak that occurred in late 1989 outside of Washington D.C. Richard Preston's writing is pop science at its best, engaging in the science of virology combined with a knack for narrative and structure (based on his New Yorker articles). Preston spares no gory detail on what Ebola does to the human body, such as liquifying human organs. It's also a book about how institutions respond to a potentially devastating crisis and how quickly things can go south. A natural follow-up to Michael Crichton's classic "bio-thriller" The Andromeda Strain, The Hot Zone also takes on a new resonance in the post-Covid era.

Preston begins and ends the books at Kitum Cave in Kenya, the spot where the Marburg and Ebola viruses possibly originated, a beautiful and terrifying place. Written in the context of when the virus that causes AIDS was discovered to have come from monkeys, Ebola had similar origins. The earliest cases of Ebola occurred in the late 1970s in Congo and Sudan, but they were contained. Meanwhile, the spread of AIDS commanded the attention of the West. 

By the 1980s the U.S. Government had their own samples of Ebola and were studying the virus, using monkeys as test subjects. The book follows scientists who worked with viruses on a daily basis in "spacesuits" trying to unlock their secrets. In late 1989, a facility that housed test monkeys saw many become sick. It spread like wildfire through the facility, and many of the workers had been in close contact with the monkeys. If the virus had become airborne, the world might be facing an emergency. 

Without revealing too much, there was obviously no major Ebola outbreak in 1989, a virus with a 90% kill rate. The actual story of the containment is not without drama, raising as many questions as answers. There were turf wars between the Army and CDC, and a serious effort to block out the media to avoid mass panic. The scientists and the military acted with good sense, even bravery at times, from preventing the unthinkable. But as the book illustrates, these situations move quickly and can quickly spiral out of control.

Preston observes at the end:

In a sense, the earth is mounting an immune response against the human species. It is beginning to react to the human parasite, the flooding infection of people, the dead spots of concrete all over the planet, the cancerous rot-outs in Europe, Japan, and the United States, thick with replicating primates, the colonies enlarging and spreading and threatening to shock the biosphere with mass extinctions. Perhaps the biosphere does not "like" the idea of five billion humans. . . The earth's immune system, so to speak, has recognized the presence of the human species and is starting to kick in. (406-407)

There's something Lovecraftian about the idea of ancient particles waiting to be unearthed that will bring a horrifying end to humanity, a final reckoning making a mockery of humanity's own hubris. While the Covid pandemic never became an extinction level event, it did provide intelligence on the state of the species. We remain distrustful and irrational but also creative and adaptable to unexpected challenges. We've barely begun to process the long-term effects of the pandemic. Perhaps the viruses are superior to us because they are free of politics, their sole purpose is survival and they've proven quite adept at it when compared to the newcomer primates. 

In 2025, The Hot Zone would be derided in some quarters as deep state propaganda, especially since there's a total crackpot in charge of Health and Human Services who believes letting Bird Flu spread is the best solution, while slashing staff at the CDC. At its heart the book is a tribute to the personnel putting their lives on the line to prevent the spread of disease. At its best, the book is a nostalgic look back at the 1990s when science had yet to become so polarizing. 

There was a bidding war for the movie rights even before the book was published, the film was to be directed by Ridley Scott, with A-list stars Robert Redford and Jodie Foster, but the project collapsed. In 2019, the National Geographic TV network aired a mini-series based on the book to mixed reviews. 

Book Review: Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright

Fascism: A Warning by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright provides a history of fascism and explains its recent resurgence for a popular audience. Written in response to the early Trump administration, Albright combines political memoir with historical analysis, drawing connections to current events and government actions that should raise concern. The book's main purpose is educational, directed towards readers who did not live through the 20th Century. 

Albright defines a Fascist as:

someone who identifies strongly with and claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary - including violence -to achieve his or her goals. In that conception, a Fascist will likely be a tyrant, but a tyrant need not be a Fascist. (11)

During the rise and eventual election of Trump in 2016, pundits and the political class were reluctant to use the F-word towards MAGA and acted like it was "normal populism." Albright deserves credit for writing honestly about Trump when few from the establishment were willing to say so. Albright also places MAGA within the context of global politics, comparing America with Hungary, Poland, and Turkey. A chapter on the rise of Vladimir Putin places the Russian leader as the setting the template for modern authoritarianism. 

The early chapters focus on the rise of fascism in the 1930s recounting the rise of Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco, focusing on the methods they used to attain power. There are many definitions of fascism from a theoretical perspective, but the signatures remain the same: nationalistic, subservient to a charismatic leader, demonizing minorities for a country's ills, militaristic in rhetoric and foreign policy, and silencing all critics through intimidation. Many scholars have argued Fascism arose in the 20th Century due to industrialism and democracy's failure to adapt. Just as in the 21st Century, democracies have struggled with adjusting to technology and the post-industrial world, leaving many behind who are angry and open to accepting a dictator. 

The book is most effective when explaining how 21st Century authoritarians have turned to more subtle tactics. They utilize social media to provide their followers with their own truths, outflanking legacy media outlets and demonizing experts. All faith is placed in the leader. Trump's ability to build a coalition of Christian nationalists, Tech Bros, and traditional conservatives mocked all the conventional wisdom of the pundit class. 

Albright passed away in 2022, so she did not live to see the reelection of Trump. The political establishment has failed to deal with him, they've been outflanked at every turn. Biden's antiquated brand of post-war liberalism failed to break the MAGA fever. Neither does Albright acknowledge the mixed legacy of the foreign policy establishment or take some responsibility for the conditions that led to Trump. 

Warnings from denizens of American politics are useful from an educational perspective, but it will take new methods to defeat the new fascism. I'm susceptible to WWII nostalgia like anyone else, the democracies managed to build the alliances to preserve their ideals, but those were strategies of a different time. For democracy to survive it will require courage and creativity - if it's not already too late. 

Book Review: Commander and Chief: FDR's Battle With Churchill, 1943 by Nigel Hamilton

Commander in Chief is the second volume of Nigel Hamilton's study of FDR as a grand strategist, the first volume The Mantle of Command focused on the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the key decisions made by the Allies in 1942, specifically FDR's determination to open a second front in North Africa which led to a confrontation with his generals. As the title suggests, the middle volume takes a close look at FDR and Churchill's clash over war strategy through 1943, specifically whether the Allies were best served by focusing on the Mediterranean front with the eventual goal of overtaking Germany from the south or by opening a front in Western Europe through a cross-channel invasion. Churchill favored the former, while FDR advocated for the latter. 

Hamilton's objective with the trilogy was to compile a narrative of events from FDR's perspective. Much of the discourse around the grand strategy of the war was shaped by Churchill's own six-volume history, which remains invaluable, but must also be recognized as biased and self-serving. From FDR's mindset, recognizing the immediate threat posed by Hitler, while at the same time realizing Stalin was also a monster but an essential ally if the Third Reich would ever be defeated. He worried about the USSR and Germany reaching an armistice that would split the alliance and forever decide the fate of Europe.

But the immediate concern was Churchill's insistence on taking the fight to Hitler through Italy, an idea supported by many in FDR's inner circle. The argument for the Mediterranean strategy was that a cross-channel invasion of France was too risky, Hitler's Atlantic wall would decimate any attempt to land a major invading force. History was on Churchill's side since there had not been a successful cross-channel invasion since 1066. The Dieppe raid in August of 1942 was a small-scale attempt at an amphibious invasion of France by the Allies that ended in disaster. Churchill argued for hitting weak points across Southern Europe to weaken Germany with far less casualties and eventually more leverage in shaping the fate of Europe before the Soviets swept across the entire continent.  

FDR saw it differently and had to play a complicated game of keeping the alliance together while never losing sight of the main goal. He was wise enough to realize preparations for a cross-channel invasion would take time. Many of his generals had favored an attempt in 1942, and many pushed for 1943. From FDR's perspective the situation was far more complex. His military advisors felt landings in North Africa served little purpose in defeating the Axis powers, but FDR saw the importance of engaging German armies to gain experience that would prove pivotal when the time was right for D-Day. Similarly, the July 1943 invasion of Sicily provided experience with amphibious operations. By mid-1943, FDR decided the time for peripheral strategies was over and the invasion of France must move forward the next spring to bring a swift end to the conflict. 

The imperative to ease pressure on the Soviets by forcing Germany to fight on two European fronts cannot be overstated. Churchill fantasized about moving into Italy as a launching point of securing the Balkans. But these "pinprick" operations on the periphery were a way of avoiding the difficult task of defeating the Germans where they were strongest. With the Allied war aim of unconditional surrender, the end could only come with total capitulation, best achieved by landings in France. Churchill also underestimated how fiercely the German army would resist, the Wehrmacht did not collapse after the landings in Italy, and it took the Allies months to secure Rome. By the end of summer 1943, FDR's plan for a cross-channel invasion prevailed, it was the riskiest but surest way to end the war.

Hamilton also lets the reader see things from the German perspective in 1943, although the Soviet invasion had stalled and they had retreated in North Africa, Hitler and the top leadership believed they could drive a wedge into the alliance; confident their domination of Europe was permanent. They welcomed more attacks on the periphery of Europe since they had shorter supply lines and less to lose, and were also confident a cross-channel invasion by the Allies would meet with swift defeat. With fantasies of super weapons and a belief in their national fate, the German leadership in 1943 still saw many paths to victory (or stalemate) despite the recent setbacks. 

Even during the war's darkest moments FDR was planning for the post-war world. He envisioned the United Nations and the end of colonialism (another sore spot with Churchill), creating the structures that would lead to a long peace. If Churchill was the ultimate frenemy, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King was a close confidante who kept records of his meetings with FDR. I can't imagine what FDR would think of an American President antagonizing Canada (apologies for the contemporary reference.) He also had a gift for recognizing talent, he supported Eisenhower even through his shaky performance during Operation Torch. 

While hundreds of studies have been written on the Second World War, Commander and Chief is a clear-eyed view of 1943 and the challenges facing the Allied leadership. Hamilton's sense of narrative is dramatic, and he avoids pushing personal agendas or engaging in armchair generalship. He sticks to the facts and presents readers with the complexities facing leaders at the highest levels during a pivotal moment of world history. 

What is to be done?

Like everyone else, I'm not immune to the "not surprised/still in shock" feelings surrounding the reelection of Donald Trump. It's a time of confusion, anger, and feeling besieged. 

For Trump's band of MAGAs it's a time of vindication and lurid anticipation. Retribution was a major part of Trump's campaign, a primal need to teach the left a lesson and they are salivating at the chance to make them suffer. Thinking about the number of messed up things he can now do with a blank check from the Supreme Court boggles the mind. I think of Children of Men when a character says "I just don't think about it" as the world collapses around him.

Many have written at length about failures of the Kamala Harris campaign and the muted response from the left in the aftermath. While #resistance proved a galvanizing force in the early years of the first Trump administration, at this point in 2024 the left is leaderless and rudderless. 

For the left the temptation to capitulate or go into total apathy is strong. Among "establishment" or "corporate" democrats, there's a willingness to work with Trump, which of course means total surrender. Among the Progressive left there's a realization that Trump must be resisted on all levels. A popular front of resistance is possible, but it will take time.

As someone who's been strongly opposed to Trump since 2015, the sense of defeat is palatable. It's now clear a slim majority of the voting public no longer believes in democracy. They have their strongman and nothing else matters. He's their battering ram and god emperor. As someone who always viewed the Second World War as a vindication of democracy for all its flaws was better than fascism as brilliantly expressed in FDR's Four Freedoms, the authoritarian turn is devastating. 

Many have speculated on what will happen if Trump fails to deliver on his promises or even openly do things that will hurt his base, like impose tariffs that will make the last few years of inflation look mild in comparison. Or blunder the United States into a costly foreign conflict? Go after Medicare or Social Security? Start locking people up? Once again, paying $5 a gallon for gas might hurt, but at least we're owning the libs! Sure, there's a chance of his presidency imploding or becoming unpopular, but that will depend on many factors, and he gets away with almost everything.

As has been written about in books like Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism by Brooke Harrington and American Kleptocracy by Casey Michel, billionaires are starting to coalesce their power around the world. Offshore money has made them free from taxes and any legal consequences for their wide-ranging illegal activities. They hate democracy because it means less money in their pockets and more rights for people they consider their inferiors. Trump's victory was a triumph for the generation of swine. 

You'll find no predictions here. To repeat a cliché, it's impossible to know how things will turn out. Will there be a bird flu pandemic? Will T2 achieve everything and then some? Mass Deportations? End free elections? Deploy the army to pacify blue states? A new Axis alliance of China, Russia, and the U.S.? Installing Trump for life and making Barron the heir apparent, insuring a dynasty into the next century? Will extraterrestrials finally land and set us straight? I'm with Klaatu.

I'm historically minded, which fails to count for much these days, as I'm barely scrapping by while billionaires party and fleece the masses. Waging class war on the less fortunate will have consequences. Many will not quietly obey as their rights are being taken away. Maybe we're just circling the drain as we descend into a dark age of oligarchs and theocrats. Maybe not?

Book Review: Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum

Published in 2020, Anne Applebaum's Twilight of Democracy provides an insider's view of the authoritarian shift in Western politics, blending personal memoir with historical analysis. Applebaum has lived a cosmopolitan life as a journalist and writer of popular histories usually focused on Central Europe. She remains a center-right conservative on most issues and has watched with dismay as many in her former conservative circle have embraced anti-democratic politics.

Some Goodreads reviews I skimmed were not fond of the book due to Applebaum's tendency to blame the left in a book that's supposed to critique the right. For example, she connects the anti-establishment ethos of Trumpism to the '60s New Left and cites Vladimir Lenin as providing the playbook for modern populists like Steve Bannon who want to "drain the swamp" of liberal government bureaucrats and install their own apparatchiks. Meanwhile, there's a notable silence on the long history of racism in the American conservative movement, nor the harmful of economic policies of the Reagan years.

These criticisms aside, the book provides insight on authoritarian politics as a global phenomenon. The number of book length studies attempting to explain the rise of Trumpism in America are legion, and many are deeply insightful, but not many are from a transatlantic perspective. 

Applebaum begins the book recounting a New Year's Eve Party she and her husband hosted in 1999 outside of Warsaw. Twenty years later and many are no longer on speaking terms over politics. The end of history of euphoria at the turning of the Millennium turned out to be a brief respite from the political tensions of the 20th Century, many factors would turn people away from conventional politics:

The people described here range from nativist ideologues to high-minded political essayists; some of them write sophisticated books, other launch viral conspiracy theories. Some are genuinely motivated by the same fears, the same anger, and the same deep desire for unity that motivates their readers and followers. Some have been radicalized by angry encounters with the cultural left, or repulsed by the weakness of the liberal center. Some are cynical and instrumental, adopting radical or authoritarian language because it will bring them power or fame. Some are apocalyptic, convinced that societies have failed and need to be reconstructed . . . Some are deeply religious. Some enjoy chaos, or seek to promote chaos, as a prelude to imposing a new kind of order.

Chapters examine the changing politics of Eastern Europe, specifically Poland and Hungary. Transitioning from communism to democracy brought with it frustration at the slowness of change. In response scapegoats are singled out, misinformation and conspiracy theories proliferate, and a longing for an imagined past that never existed. All the worse tendencies of society are inflamed, xenophobia is usually at the top of the list. Viktor Orban's brand of politics in Hungary has proved a model for the right in Europe and America.

The longest chapter is on the leadup to Brexit in 2016. Exiting from the EU was embraced by many British conservatives who felt the United Kingdom was losing it identity. Many were former Thatcherites who missed the old days of the Cold War yet embraced people like Putin and Orban in their old age, and brought political chaos to their country. While there's yet to be something like the Axis powers of the 1940s, many in the West look to Russia, Hungary, and China as models they would like to impose on their societies. 

With another election less than a fortnight away, Trump is once again on the ballot and has a chance at winning. It goes without saying the consequences of another Trump presidency would be catastrophic for America and the world. Whether societies will find ways to adapt democracy to rapid technological and social change, or whether they will pursue their vilest instincts remains an unknown. Even though authoritarians often appear to have the upper hand, they are not invincible.

Applebaum argues for choosing our allies and friends with like minds who still believe in democracy. The problem of totalitarianism occupied intellectuals through the 20th Century and continues to haunt the 21st Century. Democracy has always existed under existential threat from at home and abroad and the challenge of the 21st century will be fostering its survival. 

Book Review: The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

Published during the first decade of the 20th Century, The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad reads like an eerie premonition of things to come. The novel follows a terrorist cell of anarchists in London as they plot and debate ideology, while a parallel storyline follows law enforcement investigating the bombing at the center of the story. Considered one of the first modern political thrillers, Conrad uses the plot as a mechanism to interrogate the psychology of a complex metropolis under the power of forces no one comprehends.

A real incident inspired the novel, in 1894 there was a botched bombing of the Greenwich Observatory in which the bomber was the only casualty. The novel speculates on what led to the event and the complex machinations behind it. 

The splintered perspective of the novel is best symbolized by the protagonist Adolf Verloc, a middle- aged shop owner who plots with anarchists by night, and also spies for an unnamed foreign government.  His younger wife is oblivious to Verloc's secret life but admires him for saving her from a life of ceaseless labor and poverty. Winnie's mother also lives with them, along with her emotionally unstable younger brother Steve. 

Conrad structured the novel in a non-linear fashion, adding to its disjointed tone. Questions about the various forces that hold society together and threaten to rip it apart always lurk in the background, as Verloc walks through an affluent neighborhood on the way to meet his handlers, he reflects:

He surveyed through the park railings the evidences of the towns opulence and luxury with an approving eye. All these people had to be protected. Protection is the first necessity of opulence and luxury. They had to be protected; and their horses, carriages, houses, servants had to be protected and the source of their wealth had to be protected in the heart of the city and the heart of the country; the whole social order favorable to their hygienic idleness had to be protected against the shallow enviousness of unhygienic labor. (15-16)

A high degree of opulence will inspire both awe and envy, and alienation everywhere Conrad is concerned with the psychological underpinnings of such a society. Curiously, the radical characters in the novel are mostly middle-aged men with their youths far behind them. Their youthful idealism has calcified into something harsh and uncompromising. At one late night meeting, an aging anarchist reflects:

I have always dreamed . . .of a band of men absolute in their resolve to discard all scruples in the choice of means, strong enough to give themselves frankly the name of destroyers, and free from the taint of that resigned pessimism which rots the world. No pity for anything on earth, including themselves - and death - enlisted for good and all in the service of humanity - that's what I would have liked to see. (38)

Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Heat investigates the bombing while contending with his ambitious new superior, the Assistant Commissioner. While the investigation goes smoothly after discovering a few leads, it's the uncovering of the motives that presents the challenge. For it's not a Sherlock Holmes situation when the solution easily follows logical reasoning, but one with so many levels it's unclear who's working with who, and whether even those involved understand their own motivations.

The heart of the novel is the domestic drama with Verloc's family. Winnie is the main female character and provides the emotion core of the story. She wants the best for her family, her sacrifices are of a different sort, for the betterment of her loved ones, as opposed to the abstract ideals of the anarchists. As things begin to unravel, she's driven to desperate and ultimately tragic acts. 

The fin de siècle world was one of diverse ideas and rapid change. The Secret Agent examines the psychological undercurrents of modernity, not necessarily by focusing on ideas and institutions, but on the people making their way within these modern systems. The vaguely dystopian London depicted in the novel, somewhere between Charles Dickens and Phillip K. Dick, directly connects to the alienations of the 21st Century and all its anxieties. 

(There have been many film and TV adaptations of the novel, including Alfred Hitchcock's 1936 film Sabotage)

Book Review: The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982 by Chris Nashawaty

The Future Was Now takes a nostalgic look back at eight-week period over the summer of 1982 when eight classic Sci-Fi and fantasy films were released: Conan the Barbarian, The Road Warrior, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, E.T. the Extraterrestrial., The Thing, Blade Runner, and Tron. Author Chris Nashawaty argues all these films marked high points for the genre and remain influential, charting a course ahead for the future of popular cinema.

Science Fiction movies of the 1970s rarely broke through to become blockbusters, at best they could hope to become a cult film and find a small, but passionate, audience. A counterculture sensibility defined the genre whether it was head trips, dystopias, or midnight movie staples like Eraserhead. The year 1977 was a gamechanger when George Lucas's Star Wars and Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind proved Sci-Fi movies carried a wider appeal. 

Every studio tried to duplicate the success of Star Wars. In 1979, 20th Century Fox scored another Sci-Fi hit with Alien, while Paramount rebooted the '60s TV series Star Trek. Disney even got in the game with The Black Hole. But it was in 1982 when Sci-Fi films would explode into the mainstream. 

The year marked a big one for Spielberg. While Jaws and Close Encounters were blockbusters, they also went way overbudget. His follow up, the wartime comedy 1941, also went deep into the red but flopped with audiences. To recoup his reputation, he teamed up with friend and sometime rival George Lucas on Raiders of the Lost Ark, which came in under budget and ruled the summer of 1981. For the summer of 1982, Spielberg released his most personal film to date E.T. and "produced" the suburban horror Poltergeist, enshrining his place at the top of 1980s pop culture.

While Spielberg's brand of fantasy was mostly family friendly, other visions explored darker themes. Conan the Barbarian, the 1930s sword and sorcery warrior created by Robert Howard, finally made it to the big screen. With a fever dream script by Oliver Stone and the muscular direction of John Milius, the film made Arnold Schwarzenegger into a household name. Its celebration of Nietzschean violence proved a perfect vehicle for the Austrian.

Australian filmmaker George Miller's follow up to Mad Max entitled The Road Warrior was both visceral and dystopian with its outlandish car chases.  Ridley Scott's Blade Runner proved another dark vision of a bleak futuristic Los Angeles with renegade "replicates" causing havoc. But the darkest of all was John Carpenter's The Thing, an update of the 1950s classic, assaulting audiences with gore and paranoia.

On the lighter side, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan finally lived up to the promise of the TV series, offering fans a great adventure with a compelling villain. Disney's cyberpunk Tron offered a unique vision with its innovative use of digital effects. 

Nashawaty crafts an engaging narrative centered around the making of these films. While all these all have been written about at length in other books, crafting them all into a singular narrative sheds light on the personalities and the state of Hollywood at the time. Studios were willing to take chances on bold new material, partly based on the trust they developed with directors. The days of Francis Ford Coppola or Michael Cimino going off into expensive and ego driven productions were over.

Yet a little bit of madness went into all these films. Scott drove his cast and crew on Blade Runner so hard they almost revolted. Many accidents occurred on the Road Warrior set; Miller used his skills as a doctor to treat injuries. Milius also put his star through the ringer, Schwarzenegger took hard falls and was attacked by actual wolves at one point. Carpenter forced his cast and crew to work under extreme cold on The Thing to set the right mood. When The Twilight Zone tragedy occurred later in the year when a helicopter mishap killed three actors, it finally forced a reckoning through the industry about safety on the set.

Technological innovation was also changing how movies were consumed. The home video revolution was in its opening stages, giving movies a life beyond their initial theatrical runs. It was on VHS rentals where The Thing and Blade Runner found their audiences. Premium Cable channels like HBO were providing an alternative to the theatrical experience. As for moviegoing itself, the ritual was becoming further intertwined with consumerism with the rise of the multiplex. 

The Future Was Now juxtaposes the original visions of 1982 to today when everything is tied to a franchise or IP. Without a famous director attached like Christopher Nolan, it's difficult for original films to get made. As has been the case through much of film history, money takes precedence over art, most of the time anyway.

The persistence of '80s nostalgia rolls on. Nashawaty keeps the narrative flowing along well, at its best when capturing these creators at the peak of their powers striving for bold visions. The 2023 documentary 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever that aired on The CW also covered some of the same ground, but also looked at the entire year, serving as a companion piece to The Future Was Now. Yet every summer of the 1980s offered something special in terms of movies, enough for more volumes to be written.