The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned

By John Strausbaugh

Far from being a technological wonder, the USSR space program was marked by rickety machines and poor decisions, says this close-up examination.  Strausbaugh has written a number of interesting books, and his droll sense of humor fits very well with this examination of the Soviet space program. It was, he says, a comedy of errors held together with duct tape and bureaucratic obfuscation.
The leader who did the most to drive the program, Kruschev, was more interested in the potential for propaganda victories, although he also wanted to use the technology for inter-continental missiles. He repeatedly pushed the scientists in the program to move far more quickly than they wanted, to beat the U.S. and garner global headlines. The result was that rockets and capsules were often cobbled together at the last moment, using cosmonauts with minimal training. And yet with ingenuity and luck the program achieved some remarkable firsts: the first satellite, the first manned orbit, and the first spacewalk.
Strausbaugh, working with newly-available research material, shows how the background to the successes was repeated, and often tragic, failures. He readily admits that sending humans into space is intrinsically difficult but he traces many of the program’s problems to the system itself. “The Soviets were happy to hide how fantastically dysfunctional they were,” says Strausbaugh. “The truth was that if anyone was good at making communism work, it wasn’t the Soviets.”
By the time the USSR collapsed, the space program had effectively ended, out of money and hope. Strausbaugh has a good time with all of this, and The Wrong Stuff adds up to an accessible, enjoyable story about an era which, for better or worse, is nearly forgotten.

Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged from Roosevelt’s Shadow and Remade the World

By David Roll

Penguin, $75

The presidency of Harry Truman is often seen as little more than a footnote to the tumultuous FDR era. Nothing could be further from the truth, says historian Roll. In Ascent to Power he examines the period between Roosevelt’s death in 1945 and the 1948 election which saw Truman unexpectedly win office in his own right. The two men had known each other but not particularly well, and bringing Truman onto the Democrat ticket in 1944 was largely a way to displace the far-left Wallace. As Vice-President, Truman had been cut out of important decisions and information, so he was entirely unprepared when Roosevelt died.

Roll describes how he initially focused on continuing Roosevelt’s policies about fighting the war and winning the peace but he gradually implemented his own ideas, and became entirely his own man after the 1948 victory. He was logical and systematic on issues such as the decision to drop the atomic bombs, the rebuilding of Germany and Japan, opposition to the Soviet Union, and support for a Jewish homeland. On the domestic front, he moved much further on civil rights than Roosevelt had done, winning support from black leaders. Many of his policies were bitterly opposed but he mostly prevailed, always emphasising that the buck stopped on the presidential desk.

Roll tells the story with authority although some of his detours, such as the chapter on Roosevelt at the Tehran conference in 1943, seem to be a long way from his theme. However, for readers who are not familiar with Truman, Ascent to Power is informative and accessible. It is, in the end, the story of a man who rose to the position when he sat down in the chair.

Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories

By Amitav Ghosh

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $78

“It is a measure of opium’s peculiar ability to insert itself into human affairs that it has created many echoes and rhymes between past and present,” says Indian novelist Ghosh. The idea of opium as a malignant force permeates Smoke and Ashes, and Ghosh traces its role in the development of global trade as well as the growth of countries and corporations. There is not much, he says, that opium has not touched in some way in the past two centuries. He became interested in it while doing research for his acclaimed Ibis trilogy, and Smoke and Ashes can be read as a background addendum to those novels or as a stand-alone book. Ghosh examines how opium, under British colonial direction, became a major part of the Indian economy during the nineteenth century and the primary export to China.

The social impact in both countries was devastating and, according to Ghosh, fed into a breakdown of trust in governing institutions in China. Opium spread with Indian and Chinese immigration around the world, and in many countries it was not illegal until more recent times. Despite many attempts, the cultivation of poppies has proved impossible to eradicate; it is, after all, incredibly lucrative. Ghosh calculates that there is now more opium produced than ever, and in more countries. Much of the growth is tied to the rise of opioid addiction in the U.S., which Ghosh sees as a key reason for the fraying of the country’s social fabric. Some readers might feel that Ghosh overstates his case in describing the opium trade as the crucible of rampant capitalism yet his central thesis of opium’s destructive nature is hard to deny. Smoke and Ashes stands as a dark and disturbing journey from this prolific, remarkable author.

Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age

By Chip Conley

Little, Brown – $45

Living is a process of growing older, and in youth-oriented cultures the midlife period is often seen as “one endless sand trap on the golf course of life”. But it does not have to be like that, according to Chip Conley, founder of something called the Elder Academy and author of numerous self-help books. Midlife, generally described as the 40-65 bracket, can be a time when life is reconsidered and reorganized. The key is to make a conscious decision about what sort of future you want, including what Conley calls a “Great Midlife Edit”. This means letting go of mindsets and obligations that have outstayed their welcome. For some people, this can mean a change of career or lifestyle, perhaps stepping off the 9-to-5 treadmill and finding a new use for hard-won experience. True, after 40 wrinkles will start to appear and hairlines will begin to recede. Accept it and become comfortable in your skin, says Conley, although he offers advice on maintaining overall health.

Staying active is the best medicine. The connection between mental condition and physical capability increases in midlife, and people with strong relationships, religious faith, and a willingness to try new things live longer, healthier lives. Don’t be afraid to seek new challenges, says Conley, noting that his father took up scuba diving at 60. “Midlife is the time to rediscover our love of old movies, jazz music, impressionist painters, and anything else that makes life worth living,” he says. “Aging is a privilege, a gift of time.”

Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet

By Hannah Ritchie

Penguin, $50

At some point, despair over climate-related issues became fashionable amongst the Progressive set, to the point where many of them have chosen to not have children. This attitude, says Hannah Ritchie, an Oxford academic specializing in environmental science and lead researcher at the authoritative Our World in Data group, is mere foolishness. In Not the End of the World she sets the record straight, drawing on a wealth of data to show a pattern of steady improvement in everything from infant mortality to air pollution.

On the issue of climate change, she notes that global per capita emissions are steadily falling, and the trends point towards an absolute decrease in the foreseeable future. For example, emissions in the U.S. have fallen by a quarter since 2005. Ritchie makes clear that she is a firm believer in climate change; her point is that improvements have happened, and should continue to happen, through concerted action at the government and regulatory levels, as well as technological advances. Hand-wringing and whining gets you nowhere, but there is never a shortage of it. She points to other environmental issues that have been addressed, such as acid rain and the deterioration of the ozone layer, to show that co-operative answers are achievable.

She has sharp words for journalists who take a few lines from a detailed scientific report out of context in search of a sensational headline, and even sharper ones for those people who want to unequivocally believe the worst and will loudly advertise their feelings to anyone in earshot. “Doomsayers are not interested in solutions,” she says. “They have already given up. They often try to stand in the way of them.” Ignore them, Ritchie suggests, and get to work instead.

The Twentysomething Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age 

By Meg Jay

Simon & Schuster, $30

The time between the ages of twenty and thirty is often depicted as a time of freedom, experimentation, and personal growth. Jay, a clinical psychologist who specializes in this age group, disagrees. Her experience, backed by medical statistics, is that twentysomethings are more likely to face depression, anxiety, substance abuse and loneliness than any other age group, and their common responses – to reach for therapy, medication, recreational drugs, or social media – often makes their problems worse. They seem to have little idea on how to make friends and build relationships, and are constantly worried that any emotional connection will leave them hurt and scarred. They crave certainty but, says Jay, that’s not going to happen. 

She has plenty of stories to illustrate her points, and is constantly surprised that the people she treats seem so unprepared for adult life. She has covered some of this territory in an earlier book, The Defining Decade, and Twentysomething Treatment can be read as a follow-up concerned mainly with remedies. Even with her solid psychotherapy credentials, Jay’s focus is on non-medical solutions. Combining therapeutic knowledge with personal insight, she offers practical advice on developing social relationships, choosing a suitable job, finding a purpose, and even falling in love. Learning to cook – actual cooking, not throwing something into the microwave – is surprisingly beneficial. So is physical movement, whether it is a dance class or a stroll around the block. And twentysomethings should accept that some scrapes and bruises are an essential part of growing up, not catastrophes. “Life is the best therapist of all,” Jay concludes. “And it is affordable, accessible, and right outside your door.”

The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians 

By Carlos Lozada

Simon & Schuster, $45

According to the advertising for this book, the thesis of The Washington Book is that books penned by Washington political figures, if read closely, can tell us more than their authors intend. This is an interesting idea, so it is a surprise and a shame that Lozada makes very little attempt to follow it up. The book is a collection of his essays published in the Washington Post (where he was an editor and book reviewer) and the New York Times (for which he is an opinion columnist). Instead of analysing books by politicians he quickly veers into the territory of political advocacy. This might not be surprising, given that both the Post and the Times have Trump Derangement Syndrome apparently embedded in their DNA, but it makes for a fundamentally dishonest book.

The pieces dealing with Obama, for example, are so hagiographic as to be almost embarrassing, and those about Hillary Clinton are laudatory. On the other hand, the numerous essays on Trump are extended exercises in abject hatred – there is really no other phrase for it. Lozada has only snarky insults for Republicans in general (with the exception of George H. Bush), while he applauds far-left figures like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Stacey Abrams.

Overall, he appears to be mostly concerned with praising everyone on his side of politics and condemning everyone on the other side, rather than actually reviewing books. Even more, several of the essays in The Washington Book, like the ones discussing the shooting at Columbine High School in 1997 or the prospect of war with China, seem to have no connection with the theme of books by politicians at all. 

This is hardly the first book that this reviewer has read that starts with a purported thesis and then somehow travels to the land of Orange Man Bad. It is almost as if an author has to parade their anti-Trump credentials at some point in order to get a book accepted by a major publisher.

As for Lozada, it should be noted that he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism a while ago, although this might say more about the Pultzers than Lozada. If there was a prize for Most Misleading Book Title, he would probably have won that too, for The Washington Book.

Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World 

By David Van Reybrouck

Penguin, $45

Despite being the fourth most populous country in the world, Indonesia often seems to float on the periphery, unknown and ignored. Van Reybrouck, an historian with long connections to the region, sheds valuable light on the country’s fight for independence, which became a liberation model. Before the Dutch arrived with imperial dreams in the nineteenth century Indonesia was a sprawling archipelago of disparate kingdoms and sultanates. It was forcefully unified under a colonial administration but there have always been cultural, ethnic and religious divisions. 

When the Japanese conquered the region in World War Two they were at first welcomed as liberators although it soon became clear that they were worse than the Dutch. There was, however, the emergence of a national consciousness and a generation of anti-colonial leaders, most notably the charismatic but volatile Sukarno. He declared independence soon after the Japanese surrender but making the new country work was problematic. Sukarno unified the communists, nationalists and Islamists, although once the colonialists were expelled the coalition fell into disarray, leading to a cycle of violence and retribution. Dutch, British and Australian troops sought to end the bloodshed but could not do much: the chaos had to play itself out. It eventually did, but Sukarno’s government became increasingly incompetent and socialistic, and when he was displaced by a U.S.-sponsored coup there was another round of bloody strife. Suharto eventually grabbed the reins, bringing stability but also repression.

Van Reybrouck manages to keep this convoluted account straight, punctuating the story with interviews to provide a human dimension. At nearly 600 pages Revolusi is not an easy read, and there is a huge cast of players. Nevertheless, anyone who wants to understand Asian political development and the process of decolonization will find it a useful and important text.