(the general and) THE JAGUAR
The General and The Jaguar
By: Eileen Welsome
Publisher: Little, Brown (2 June 2006)
ISBN: 0316715999
I finished this one up over the weekend, in much less time than I thought it would take. This entertaining history is quite a fast read, which can be good and/or bad. My straight up recommendation is to give this book a shot if you spot it at the store: if you’re a reader you can power through it on a trans-Atlantic flight or a weekend on the beach. Even if you don’t have much time, it’ll only take a week or so to digest if you can find an hour a day for it. Either way you’ll have fun and learn about a little known slice of American history, one that contains some intriguing parallels to what’s happening today in the world.
Eileen Welsome has the knack for turning history into a story, which is a good thing. She does this by introducing you to the figures involved, major and minor, through their own words from letters, diaries, interviews, books and such, which is a good thing. She avoids speculating about motives for the most part, and doesn’t give in to the urge to put thoughts in their heads or words in their mouths, which is a good thing. She goes into details of key events, never neglecting to include temporal and event context, which is good. She gives the story a broader context to play in as well, occasionally discussing the build up to the First War To End All Wars in Europe, which is both useful and good. In the end, Ms. Welsome has published a history both cogent and timely (I love that phrase), both educational and rather entertaining, which is obviously all to the good.
On the other hand…
Ms. Welsome devotes so much effort to introducing all the various personalities present in Columbus, NM before and during Pancho Villa’s inflammatory raid that a reader will rapidly be piled under the names of hotel guests, farmers, store owners, and cavalry officers, which is not a good thing. She gives us just enough backstory and follow-up on each of the personalities that I, for one, started to get interested in a number of them, but few receive the in-depth coverage I hoped to see given their introductions, which was not so good. She goes into great detail about environmental/social/political situations in camps, in town, in Mexico, for the Army, for Villa, but only once in a while, giving shapshots and not an evolving picture, which is not good. Overall she is prone to giving great detail about people, places, events, and environments at random times, then returning to her surface level story-telling for stretches, making for a very uneven understanding on the part of the reader, which is far from satisfying.
I would have liked to see less personal detail in some places, particularly with regards to victims of the raid and other bit players, in favor of more attention to the primary figures. Woodrow Wilson is a distant figure, but one who plays heavily in what happens. General Pershing doesn’t even appear until halfway through the book, despite his titular credit and photo on the dust jacket. Pancho Villa receives a romantic treatment in many ways (though Ms. Welsome does not shy away from reporting his dark side honestly and objectively) and is quite obviously the focus of the book. Her coverage of him, his actions and his impact on Mexico is comprhensive and should be duplicated for Pershing, at the very least.
The biggest gap, in my mind, is the post-Villa wrap-up. I didn’t get a feel for how this episode impacted the US or Mexico in the longer run (if it did). Ms. Welsome includes a “What Happened To Them?” section about many of the characters and the town of Columbus, a nice touch, but it is a very limited picture indeed.
In the end, this book suffers from a lack of depth but, to be honest, that lack is far from fatal. The book is eminently readable, objective, and focused. Would I like more from it? Sure. Am I fair in that request? Not entirely. Would I recommend it despite my personal irritation? Absolutely.
Technorati Tags: Book reviews Sparky reading The General and the Jaguar Eileen Welsome Bill and Olga Witting Pancho Villa
By: Eileen Welsome
Publisher: Little, Brown (2 June 2006)
ISBN: 0316715999
I finished this one up over the weekend, in much less time than I thought it would take. This entertaining history is quite a fast read, which can be good and/or bad. My straight up recommendation is to give this book a shot if you spot it at the store: if you’re a reader you can power through it on a trans-Atlantic flight or a weekend on the beach. Even if you don’t have much time, it’ll only take a week or so to digest if you can find an hour a day for it. Either way you’ll have fun and learn about a little known slice of American history, one that contains some intriguing parallels to what’s happening today in the world.
Eileen Welsome has the knack for turning history into a story, which is a good thing. She does this by introducing you to the figures involved, major and minor, through their own words from letters, diaries, interviews, books and such, which is a good thing. She avoids speculating about motives for the most part, and doesn’t give in to the urge to put thoughts in their heads or words in their mouths, which is a good thing. She goes into details of key events, never neglecting to include temporal and event context, which is good. She gives the story a broader context to play in as well, occasionally discussing the build up to the First War To End All Wars in Europe, which is both useful and good. In the end, Ms. Welsome has published a history both cogent and timely (I love that phrase), both educational and rather entertaining, which is obviously all to the good.
On the other hand…
Ms. Welsome devotes so much effort to introducing all the various personalities present in Columbus, NM before and during Pancho Villa’s inflammatory raid that a reader will rapidly be piled under the names of hotel guests, farmers, store owners, and cavalry officers, which is not a good thing. She gives us just enough backstory and follow-up on each of the personalities that I, for one, started to get interested in a number of them, but few receive the in-depth coverage I hoped to see given their introductions, which was not so good. She goes into great detail about environmental/social/political situations in camps, in town, in Mexico, for the Army, for Villa, but only once in a while, giving shapshots and not an evolving picture, which is not good. Overall she is prone to giving great detail about people, places, events, and environments at random times, then returning to her surface level story-telling for stretches, making for a very uneven understanding on the part of the reader, which is far from satisfying.
I would have liked to see less personal detail in some places, particularly with regards to victims of the raid and other bit players, in favor of more attention to the primary figures. Woodrow Wilson is a distant figure, but one who plays heavily in what happens. General Pershing doesn’t even appear until halfway through the book, despite his titular credit and photo on the dust jacket. Pancho Villa receives a romantic treatment in many ways (though Ms. Welsome does not shy away from reporting his dark side honestly and objectively) and is quite obviously the focus of the book. Her coverage of him, his actions and his impact on Mexico is comprhensive and should be duplicated for Pershing, at the very least.
The biggest gap, in my mind, is the post-Villa wrap-up. I didn’t get a feel for how this episode impacted the US or Mexico in the longer run (if it did). Ms. Welsome includes a “What Happened To Them?” section about many of the characters and the town of Columbus, a nice touch, but it is a very limited picture indeed.
In the end, this book suffers from a lack of depth but, to be honest, that lack is far from fatal. The book is eminently readable, objective, and focused. Would I like more from it? Sure. Am I fair in that request? Not entirely. Would I recommend it despite my personal irritation? Absolutely.
Technorati Tags: Book reviews Sparky reading The General and the Jaguar Eileen Welsome Bill and Olga Witting Pancho Villa
Labels: Good Reads, History, Non-Fiction, U.S. History
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home