Book review: 'Under Red Skies,' highly recommended

If I were in charge of high school curriculum, Under Red Skies: Three Generations of Life, Loss, and Hope in China would be required reading in World History classes. (Do any high schools teach World History?)

This little (almost 300 short pages) book is an excellent first-person account of the life of a young girl, born in 1989, in China, and her family's familial and cultural practices, and their experiences with restrictions on personal liberties the communist government places on its citizens.

Consider abortion and the Chinese birth rate.  

Implemented in 1979 to slow population growth, the single-child policy was abandoned in 2015 after 40 million female babies were aborted or murdered. Now China is a society with an inadequate supply of workers to fill jobs, stemming from an insufficient number of females (killed off) to marry and produce children in a nation with a rapidly aging population.


(A 2015 article in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated that next year, China will have 24 million more men than women of marriageable age which translates into kidnapping, human trafficking, other crimes, and relocations to other countries by males searching for mates. Come to the U.S. capital, mates!)


The practice of terminating pregnancies up to eight months of gestation during the one-child rule is wrenching. Women had to submit to monthly door-to-door checks to make sure they were menstruating and were not pregnant (!).  

Ms. Kan writes of neighbors forced to undergo abortions. 

If mothers were able to hide their pregnancies beyond the seventh month, the government allowed the baby to be born. Thus, Ms. Kan's parents, who already had a son, had a daughter, the author.

For readers who know little about China, this fascinating contemporary history provides enlightenment and makes me sympathize with the Falun Gongers I see around town and in parades. 

After Falun Gong membership increased substantially, the Chinese government declared it to be a cult in 1999 and forbid anyone from following the group and/or keeping its literature which a member of Ms. Kan's family did.

Authorities went house-to-house to seek and destroy anything connected to Falun Gong.  Fortunately, Ms. Kan's uncle (I think he was) was not killed for his spiritual practices, but thousands were, including persons used for organ transplants.  (See the website.)

The author experiences all the ups, downs, and heartbreaks of a young person when she doesn't make minimum test scores to enter prestigious schools or when boys she likes do not return the romantic favor, much like what happens in the U.S. and around the world!  ("Love" must be the same everywhere.)

I am certain that one of the reasons I picked the book up from the new non-fiction titles at the library (in addition to its smart cover), was having recently listened to the CD of the autobiography of the Chinese pianist, Lang Lang, Journey of a Thousand Miles (no longer available for $164, newer copy, or $64, library copy, at Amazon).

Under Red Skies is equally as impressive, if not more so, since Ms. Kan did not have a parent as driven and possessed as Lang Lang's father who worked feverishly to ensure his son would become the ultimate pianist. (He has.)

Ms. Kan's mother also wanted the best for her children (Ms. Kan's father has a minor role in the book), and she ignored traditional dogmas to mind in-laws. Rather, she moved her family from the country to the city so her children could attend better schools (with their dad along for the ride), a wild scene played out in the front of eavesdropping neighbors who had a wonderful time listening to the screaming and bitter fight.

Another memorable scene was Ms. Kan's outing with a friend to an English bar when they ordered cocktails. You will smile and maybe, laugh out loud.

For the next edition, may I suggest the addition of a simple map of China showing Ms. Kan's route from the country to the city and Beijing, and a character list with their roles (Chunting, Laolao, Laoye, friend, aunt, uncle, cousin, etc.).  

Also, a glossary of the italicized Chinese words (e.g. zao lian, laobaixing, etc.) in case other readers, like me, forget their meanings which I belatedly discovered in the index while writing this review.


You don't have to be young to adopt Ms. Kan's persuasive outlook to keep on trying and never give up. 

It helps an American better understand the Hong Kong unrest and the freedoms we have and take for granted, freedoms unknown to Chinese citizens.

Movie, anyone?

patricialesli@gmail.com

At the think tanks: 'Sandra Day O'Connor' was 'First'

I can't wait to read First: Sandra Day O'Connor by Evan Thomas which he and his wife, Oscie, presented last week at the Washington office of the Aspen Institute.

Evan Thomas said he saw Justice O'Connor, 89, about three weeks ago when he visited her at a care facility to give her a copy of his new book about her. "She was not in great shape," he said.

She was the First woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and now suffers from early stage Alzheimer-like dementia. Last October she withdrew from public life.

Evan and Oscie Thomas at the Aspen Institute, April 2, 2019, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

Thomas and Justice O'Connor have the same publisher, Random House, and when he was brought in on her book project a while back, he figured it was to be her ghost writer.  Random had been after O'Connor to write her memoirs, but "I could tell she didn't want to do it," Thomas said.


The O'Connor family enthusiastically welcomed the Thomases as writers/researchers and granted them access to the justice's letters, papers, photographs, and more materials, not all of which the family had read, including 14 letters from a classmate at Stanford University, William Rehnquist.

Justice O'Connor and Justice Rehnquist later served together on the Supreme Court, years after Justice Rehnquist had asked Justice O'Connor to marry him (one of at least four marriage proposals she received while at Stanford).


She strung him along then, waiting to hear the magic words from the one she really loved, who became her husband, John O'Connor. 


(When Justice Rehnquist died in 2005, I wondered why Justice O'Connor cried so hard, shedding more tears in public than one would have expected. Perhaps, she was in love with him.)

Mr. O'Connor also suffered from Alzheimer's and died in 2009, but not before he developed a relationship with "Kay" at a treatment facility where he lived. It was "terribly painful" for Justice O'Connor when he did not recognize his wife and introduced her to Kay whom he identified as his wife.

When he held hands with "the other woman," Justice O'Connor held his other hand.

After Mr. O'Connor was diagnosed in 2000, Justice O'Connor brought him for a time to the Supreme Court where he watched proceedings from a chair.


When she was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981 and the couple moved to Washington, her husband found transitioning to "Washington law" difficult, said Oscie Thomas. He never succeeded here because his expertise was different from that required in Washington.  

After moving to a second Washington firm, his mental deterioration became evident.  In early 2006 Justice O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court to take care of her husband. 


The authors described their book as "a love story" which, like all love stories, ends tragically.   

In the question and answer session which followed the presentation, a young woman who may have been a student, asked why Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg occupies much more of the public platform than does Justice O'Connor. 

Without realizing the reflexive answer which matched my silent one, Mr. Thomas immediately answered: "Well, she's alive", and he noted that two films were released last year about Justice Ginsberg who cuts quite a public swath in town, out and about like she is.


Justices O'Connor and Ginsburg had a "cordial" relationship, the Thomases said. Justice O'Connor advised Justice Ginsburg about treatments for cancer which they both suffered.

They asked Justice Ginsburg if the rumors were true that she had driven her car twice into Justice O'Connor's car in (presumably) the Supreme Court parking garage.

Throwing her hands up in the air, Justice Ginsburg  confirmed the rumors, adding that she was trying to avoid Justice Antonin Scalia's car. (Thomas said RBG was "the least shy person I've ever met.")

Scalia and O'Connor had a "bad relationship." More than once, the Thomases said that not all the justices like any other. (From their remarks, one can infer that some of the justices "tolerate" each another, more than their public appearances would suggest.)

After Justice Scalia publicly criticized Justice O'Connor, her clerks inserted "zingers" about Justice Scalia in some review materials, all of which Justice O'Connor deleted.

She rarely spoke ill of any of the justices, but, because of his "ideological position,'" she regretted that Samuel Alioto was named as her replacement.

She couldn't stand disharmony and did her level best to discourage it on the court, urging newcomer Justice Clarence Thomas repeatedly to please join the court for lunch when members discussed anything but court matters.

In an interview with the Thomases, Clarence Thomas told them he finally relented, praising Justice O'Connor as the "glue" which held the place together. (Said Evan Thomas: To those of you who don't know him, Clarence Thomas is a very funny man.  (Let's laugh.))


The Thomases interviewed seven justices and 94 clerks, half of were women (why is that important?) among many others. I believe they said they met with Justice O'Connor six times.  The O'Connor family urged all her colleagues, clerks, and others to welcome interviews by the authors. 

To keep up with her Supreme Court tasks,  Justice O'Connor read about 1000 pages daily.

When President Ronald Reagan was presented the opportunity to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court in 1981 and was given the name of a man (somebody Burns?), he said, "'Nope, go find me a woman.'"


Sandra Day O'Connor was confirmed by a vote of 99-0.


She was considered a "swing vote" who cast the deciding ballot in 330 cases and is generally considered the one who ultimately determined Bush v. Gore (5-4), and who, to this day, remains the target of criticism for that vote in the pages of the New York Times.


Evan Thomas said he thinks she cast the vote for Bush because she didn't want to drag out the process for the nation, she didn't like conflict, and "she is a Republican who did not like Al Gore, and maybe, deep inside her heart, that was a factor." 

In 2013 she told the Chicago Tribune that perhaps the Supreme Court should not have taken the case.

When asked about the Kavanaugh hearings, Thomas said: "She would have hated" them "because they were contentious" and she could not bear discord. "I am projecting" here, he said, and "I'm not even sure she saw them."

She liked to cook and entertained her clerks on Saturdays. She made every recipe in a Julia Child cookbook. Her husband was always supportive, and they were quite active on the Washington social scene, often going dancing before they were overtaken by illness. 

Justice O'Connor greatly lamented the termination of a favorite undergraduate class, "Western Civ," which, through her efforts, thrives now as "iCivics." It's taught to middle schoolers, and encourages civil discourse and engagement which, so far, has enrolled about five million students in "her greatest legacy."

patricialesli@gmail.com

Book review: 'Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy'

It's not because of the song in Hamilton, "Dear Theodosia" that I read this book. It's because of my every annual visit to the fabulous sculpture garden in South Carolina, Brookgreen Gardens, and the historical marker in its parking lot about the "lost" Theodosia Burr Alston (1783-1813) that I read it.*  

Thank you, author Richard N. Côté (1945-2015) for compiling a thoroughly documented resource,  Theodosia Burr Alston:  Portrait of a Prodigy, about the daughter of Aaron Burr (1756-1836).  

Mr. Burr trained and guided his daughter to become a cosmopolitan, erudite young woman who could speak several languages and rise to any occasion, he, a feminist, unsmitten by gender roles in the 18th century and enough contained herein about him to warrant consideration of a sub-title, as in: Aaron Burr, Director of a Daughter's Life or Portrait of an 18th Century Umbrella Father.

Mr. Burr enjoyed an exceedingly close relationship with his daughter which may have led to the death of Alexander Hamilton when the two men fought a duel, perhaps caused, Mr. Côté postulates, by whispers Mr. Hamilton circulated about the close relationship of father and child (p. 181-86).

Several times Mr. Côté mentions the oddity Mr. Burr practiced of keeping his daughter informed about his many trysts with prostitutes, after, of course, the death of his wife for whom their daughter was named. When Mrs. Burr died, Theodosia was only 10, but it did not take long for her to assume hostessing duties at her father's estate, Richmond Hill in Manhattan. 

In 1801 Theodosia wed a wealthy Southern planter, Joseph Alston (1779-1816), who was elected governor of South Carolina in 1812, the same year their only child, Aaron Burr Alston, age 10, died of malaria. This tragedy preceded Theodosia's disappearance at sea the next year off the coast of Georgetown, S.C., while on her way to visit her father.

Mr. Alston provided handsomely for his father-in-law when he needed money, including Mr. Burr's wild (or so it seems now) scheme to raise an army and separate the western United States and make a nation, Mexico, for which Mr. Burr would be emperor and his daughter, empress.

Although it is written that Theodosia did love her husband, had she been forced to choose between him and her father, there is little doubt she would have chosen the latter, or, at least, that was my impression.  Her husband was often away, busy with political duties and earning money.

At times, the Theodosia writing is disjointed and repetitive. The first 30-or-so pages drag with too many dates and names which are hard to keep straight, but the book soon becomes a rapid page-turner. 

Without warning or hint that their son was ill, a chapter begins with the announcement of his death.

Why was Aaron Burr considered "a dangerous man" (p. 179) and what were the reasons for his disharmony with President Thomas Jefferson for whom he served as vice-president of the United States?  Neither is adequately defined.

The last three chapters describe the many fictional and non-fictional books, articles, and suppositions about Theodosia's death, including the final, "Nag's Head Portrait," now found at Yale University's Lewis Walpole Library, claiming, without proof, according to Mr. Côté, the portrait is of Theodosia Burr Alston. Mr. Côté presents a convincing case of why it is not. 

The Nags Head Portrait (or "Fake" Theodosia) at Yale University's Lewis Walpole Library

Portraits, illustrations, maps, and photographs of family homes, places, and things enliven the text.  

I wish the oceanographer, Robert Ballard, would take up the cause and find the Patriot, the ship which carried the first lady of South Carolina and others to their deaths.

Mr. Côté hints that Mr. Burr, a ladies man par excellence who relied upon sex for release of many burdens, could be the father of the eighth president, Martin van Buren (1782-1862). Is it time for an exhumation?

*Another nearby marker commemorates President George Washington's visit to Brookgreen Plantation on April 28, 1791.

Anna Hyatt Huntington, 1876-1973, Diana of the Chase, 1922, Brookgreen Gardens, S.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

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