In the Heart of the Sea

This book was passed on to me by a neighbor a few months back. He is one of the most positive and endearing people I have met in a long time in spite of many afflictions. In the course of two years his wife has been diagnosed with cancer, he has been diagnosed with cancer, lost his father-in-law, had his own mother diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, been laid off from a job he held for over 10 years, and most recently had his only son diagnosed with Asperser’s syndrome. Most remarkable is that in no way does he seek sympathy and no matter how much you commend him for his courage he remains as humble as anyone I have ever met. Obviously he has been through many trials and in discussing them with him one night I discovered he was an avid reader (to the tune of finishing 2 – 3 books in a week). I asked him if he had one book to recommend what would it be and he sneaked away to his house and returned with a book titled In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick.
The book chronicles one of the most amazing tales of human will in history. I know we are all familiar with tales of survival such as the stranded Argentinean soccer team and the recent movie “127 Hours” and each time are amazed at the perseverance and fortitude of humans facing the most harrowing of circumstances. We are also all familiar with Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, the story of a salty Captain scouring the seas in an attempt to avenge the whale which attacked and sunk his whale ship. In the Heart of the Sea is an almost unbelievable true story which served as the inspiration for Melville’s masterpiece. Centered on the whaling industry of the early 19th century based almost entirely out of the New England island of Nantucket, the book follows the Tragedy of the whale ship Essex.
Philbrick does an excellent job describing one of America’s first lustful pursuits for oil at any cost, albeit whale oil. Also interesting is the barbaric yet incredibly adventurous manner in which the early whalers brought these beasts of the ocean down. Anyone who has a gripe (PETA) with the seemingly inequitable tactics of the modern hunter and/or fisher who would also like to see a sport where the animal actually has the upper hand would be highly intrigued at the prospect of bringing down a whale in the open ocean 200 years ago. Nonetheless, when successful the whales provided a large profit and many a young seamen set sail in pursuit of the sperm (no pun intended) whale.
The tragedy associated with the whale ship Essex begins when the primary boat, the Essex, is struck down by a whale in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Against inconceivable odds the men attempt to sail to South America facing the brutal heat and endless waves the open Pacific. For 94 days the twenty-one man crew is stranded in three tiny whale ships (each about 24 feet long) battling the ferocity of the Pacific. Without going into too many details the men are well short of the needed supplies to live even 60 days at sea and the protection provided by their whaleboats is at best minimal. Tragedy ensues, but in spite of the overwhelming circumstances, there is also triumph. Philbrick does an excellent job of portraying the story without making the oft-attempted effort of creating larger than life heroes who are in reality just the deserving victims of their own insidious decisions prompted by the pursuit of money. He highlights their poor decisions with no attempt to cover it up as bad luck but also gives fate a fair shake for its part. He openly addresses the fact that no black members of the crew were among the few survivors and goes as far as making bold but altogether believable speculations as to why none survived.
After finishing this book I pondered for a while with astonishment at what humans are capable of when pushed to their limits. While the narrative is nothing exemplary the story surpasses expectations in the end and leaves you with a sense of just how relative of a thing that despair really is.

JFK and the Unspeakable

I've never been big on conspiracy theories.  In college, I picked up Holy Blood, Holy Grail, the book on which Dan Brown based The Da Vinci Code, and knocked it out in a matter of days.  However, after a brief enchantment, I began to note the wide gaps and assumptions made by the authors and easily dismissed them, just as the scholarly community had decades before.  I don't believe in aliens and I think Bin Laden is dead.  So the grassy knoll JFK stuff was not really up my ally.  However, given that I had gotten to know the author's wife, and given that he'd spent 12 years on the book, and given that Jim is a Ph.D. and former university professor, I thought I would give the book a try.  It didn't hurt that names like Oliver Stone had given strong reviews.

JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters by James W. Douglass quickly drew me in.  However, in contrast to the medieval lore and mystery of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Douglass captured my attention with thoughtful reflections on Christianity and the military-industrial complex.  The book is told through the lens ofThomas Merton, a Trappist monk from Kentucky, who as a poet and writer championed peace and faith.  In 1962, not long before the Cuban Missile Crisis and only a year and half before Kennedy's assassination, Merton wrote these haunting lines regarding nuclear war:

"What is needed is really not shrewdness or craft, but what the politicians don't have; depth, humanity and a certain totality of self-forgetfulness and compassion, not just for individuals but for man as a whole; a deeper kind of dedication. Maybe Kennedy will break through into that some day by miracle. But such people are before long marked out for assassination..."

Douglass writes with tireless consistency, and provides a feasible rationale as to how Kennedy would have beeen marked for death.  Using the resources that have been made available in the last decades, Douglass also provides a coherent and detailed narrative for how the event occurred.  Striking contradictions are neglected by theWarren Report, the government's official investigation of the case, which involved Allen Dulles, the former CIA director who was fired by Kennedy.  From Lee Harvey Oswald's intelligence connections to the remarkably similar plot uncovered by Chicago investigators only a few weeks before the assassination, Douglass brings to light numerous loose ends worth considering.


More than the how of the story, the why of the narrative is where Douglass invests most of his time.  He chronicles Kennedy's conversion from a hawkish presidential candidate running on the platform of "closing the missile gap with the Soviets" to, at times, the lone voice against preemption in his cabinet.  In the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, perhaps the moment nearest to apocalypse in the history of the world, Kennedy turned from his cold-warrior mentality in pursuit of lasting peace.  He engaged in secret correspondence with his chief "enemy," Nikita Khrushchev.  He stood against leaders in his government advocating for deceit and violence as a means of winning the Cold War.  He championed Third World liberation, and was ultimately marked as a traitor by those who could not see peace as a viable option.

Can I say for sure that Douglass's postulate is the absolute truth?  No.  But the theory he unfolds is remarkably thorough and consistent.  Even with the critical eye that quickly dismissed previous theories, I have a tough time refuting much of his information.  It has re-shaped the way I comprehend national defense, intelligence and the workings of the military-industrial complex.  The book is certainly worth your consideration.  Highly recommended.

By the way, if you have some time, check out this interview.