Booknotes 5.17

The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society, by Eleanor Janega, published 2023, history, 286 pages. An interesting book. Among other things, it makes a point which hadn’t occurred to me before, that what a society considers attractive typically correlates to what wealth gets you — light skin back in medieval times because you didn’t have to to work outside, nowadays a tan instead because you have leisure time for sunbathing or vacationing, etc. (I don’t think the correlation is 100%, to be clear, but there does seem to be some connection.)

Havana: A Subtropical Delirium, by Mark Kurlansky, published 2017, nonfiction, 202 pages. I went into this having liked Kurlansky’s Cod, but alas, this one didn’t work as well for me. (I stuck with it because one of my family lines is from Cuba and I want to know more about the history and culture there.) I did enjoy reading about Cuban post-embargo constraint-driven creativity and ingenuity, and I didn’t know the sloppy joe originated in Havana, nor that Habaneros apparently hate the sea, because loved ones leave by it and because new people (invaders, historically) arrive by it.

Bunner Sisters, by Edith Wharton, published 1916, fiction, 117 pages. About two sisters, Ann Eliza and Evelina, and Mr. Ramy the clockmaker. Darker than I expected going in, with some unexpected choices by the characters. Liked it. My plan right now, by the way, is to finish up Wharton’s novellas first and then read her novels in chronological order.

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico, by Amy S. Greenberg, published 2013, history, 461 pages. Quite good. I read this because one of my ancestors fought in the war and I realized I knew almost nothing about it. It would, I think, do most Americans good to learn more about the war (whether through this book or elsewhere), to better understand some of the costs of manifest destiny and the annexations that led to the geography we have today. (Saying this as someone who lives in territory seized during the conflict.) I agree that it was a wicked, unjust war, and for me there were several echoes with our current war du jour — a war of aggression sparked by lies, for example, and weak-willed people in Congress mumbling that we simply have to support the president’s war if it’s already been started (balderdash). I have no strong feelings about this, clearly. In the book it was also fascinating to see how the Mexican–American War functioned as prologue to the Civil War, and Lincoln’s part in protesting it. Recommended.