All Blood Runs Red (Phil Keith with Tom Clavin)

All Blood Runs Red: The Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard - Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy
Phil Keith with Tom Clavin
Hanover Square Press
Nonfiction, Biography
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Born in the late 19th century to a former slave father and Native American mother, Eugene Bullard's parents considered him the "lucky" child as the seventh of their family... but being a half-Black boy in Jim Crow Georgia was about as far from lucky as one could get. From an early age, Eugene was determined to escape the rampant, violent racism that he saw all around him, determined to reach the shores of France, where his father told him true equality was possible. Despite only having a second-grade education, the boy ran off as soon as he could manage - little imagining what he'd accomplish in the coming decades, from becoming one of the first Black fighter pilots in the Great War to rubbing shoulders with celebrities in his own jazz bar to spying on Nazis and more.

REVIEW: Eugene Bullard's life reads like an adventure novel, a tale of a boy coming from almost nothing to achieve more than his dreams, for all that many tried to deny him recognition and rewards. It is sadly telling that little of what he accomplished could have happened in the country of his birth, America, where racial animosities and prejudices remain sadly entrenched to this very day, well over a hundred years after his childhood. (In 2025, we're seeing just how shallow Jim Crow's grave really is, unfortunately... But I digress.)
Switching between distant overviews and closer, detailed moments of Bullard's incredible life, the authors paint a portrait of a man who was far from flawless, but principled and determined and unwilling to let the world grind him down. That portrait has some vague spots and blurred edges; between war damage and poor records, there are parts of his story that are just plain impossible to bring into focus, as his own story - recorded in a never-published autobiography - sometimes contradicts what can be determined as actual events. Other parts, though, have been corroborated, such as his impressive war record and long and varied careers, and these are more than enough to make his relative obscurity in modern America a disgrace (and further proof that, even nearly a century later, this country still has trouble grappling with accomplished non-white people and the virulent systemic racism that too often forms a backdrop to their deeds; even now, stories like this are being banned and erased by a regime that makes no secret of catering to white supremacy and alternate-facts history). Not that France was entirely free of problems, either, but it was only in France that a man like Eugene Bullard could flourish as he did for as long as he did, when he did. Proven parts of his story involve acquaintances and friendships with a galaxy of stars of his day, from war heroes to boxing legends to artists and authors to the many prominent entertainers who, like Bullard, found a warmer welcome in France than in America because of who they were. His well-earned loyalty to his adopted country landed him on the front lines in not one war, but two, with the medals and scars to show for it, as well as lifelong friendships that wound up being pivotal in his later years. The telling can be a bit dry and uneven at times, prone to tangents on other remarkable figures of the day, and there are some frustrating gaps that are simply impossible to fill in, people and events lost to time, though it managed to keep my interest even in the slower bits.
Stories like this can be, by turns, inspiring, depressing, and haunting. Inspiring, as they depict a life lived fully in the face of great adversity. Depressing, as such lives inevitably cast one's one rather pitiful existence into that much harsher a glare. Haunting, as such stories as Eugene Bullard's should have been guiding lights and stepping stones to a better and brighter future for our country and world, one where old prejudices and society-warping hatreds are outgrown at last and left in history's dustbin, but instead we find ourselves in a present that looks all too much like the world in which he struggled and fought to be seen as even a human, let alone a truly remarkable man, with nothing but fading ghosts of what could have - what should have - been.

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Lost in the Valley of Death (Harley Rustad)

Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas
Harley Rustad
Harper
Nonfiction, Biography/Survival/True Stories
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: For most of his life, Justin Alexander Shetler was driven to test himself against the wilderness, always pushing to climb higher and hike further and endure harsher and more primitive conditions. He was a restless soul, always searching for a connection or transformative experience that would give him peace and meaning, which always seemed to be just beyond the next bend or over the next hill. Justin chronicled his travels on social media, garnering a devoted following, even as he often dropped off the grid for more extreme adventures. As with so many restless souls seeking adventure and enlightenment, he eventually found himself in India, a land long elevated to mythological status by outsiders. Here, in the wild and nearly lawless hinterlands of the Parvati Valley, Justin hoped to discover the spiritual answers and peace that had always eluded him. He found a cave to live in, and a sadhu, or holy man, to teach him. Then, in late summer of 2016, the 35-year-old adventurer announced online that he was going on a trek to a holy lake high in the mountains in hopes of a transcendental experience. If he didn't come back, he told his audience with a winking emoji, don't look for him.
Those were the last words he would ever share.
As his days of silence grew to weeks and months, family and friends around the world began to worry, and realized something was very wrong. The Parvati Valley, after all, is not just known for its spiritual sites and natural beauty, but for a thriving (and illegal) cannabis trade and numerous unexplained disappearances. The sadhu he was last known to be associated with had a less-than-holy reputation, and some were concerned by how Justin seemed so enraptured by the man. And the local police were unmotivated to look into the whereabouts of yet another foreigner who was most likely just there for the high-quality hash and had probably fallen afoul of a trafficker, if he hadn't just slipped off a trail into the ever-hungry Parvati River. As overseas efforts to search out the truth coalesced, many reflected on Justin's life and the path that led him to India, and if that path suggested a way for him to still be alive when all evidence suggested otherwise...

REVIEW: Yet another random audiobook selection, this is the story of a man living a life without guardrails who seemingly finally took one risk too many. Rustad chronicles his life from a restless, nomadic, and troubled childhood where wilderness schools and programs were his only refuge to the man who never quite grew up or figured out how to settle or find peace, unwilling or unable to form deeper human connections while his inner turmoil and unanswered spiritual questions tormented him. He tried and discarded numerous spiritual teachings and personas, none seeming to offer what he needed or wanted, never at home in his own skin or life. Even his online persona was curated to present an image of himself that was more truth-adjacent than unvarnished reality, which ultimately hindered efforts to search for him, as too many believed he was indestructible or had just hared off on an even more extreme adventure than he'd started on. There is a faint hint of a possibility that maybe that is what he did - as more than one person pointed out, if anyone was capable of cutting all ties with civilization and living completely off the grid and out of contact, it was Justin Alexander - but Occam's razor suggests a more straightforward and ultimately tragic end, for all that no body was ever found. Along the way, Rustad explores how and why so many people seem compelled to turn to the "other" culture, or rather their outsider's distorted view of that culture, in search of greater meaning: for instance, appropriating sweat lodges and vision quests and mishmashed teachings from various Native American cultures without regard for the real roots and nuances and meanings of those rituals and teachings, or even honoring where they originated. India may well be the ultimate target of this mentality and has been for centuries via rhapsodic travel writing and literature, transforming the country in "Western" minds into something so exotic and steeped in spirituality and larger than life that there is an actual (unofficial) term for visitors who become overwhelmed and experience mental health episodes: India Syndrome. (The fact that there are certain native plants and drugs with potentially devastating effects, sometimes used by the unscrupulous to facilitate crimes, also may play into some outsiders' ideas that simply setting foot in India is enough to trigger a transformative spiritual experience.) Something about India exerts an inexorable pull on certain people, many of whom never return home for various reasons (not always accidents or foul play; every year, local authorities round up dozens of foreigners who simply chose to overstay their visas, unable to bring themselves to leave).
There are times when Rustad seems to be repeating himself, and later on he reveals some pretty important information on young Justin's formative years that might explain some of his unresolved pain and unprocessed traumas, the holes he was forever trying to fill, which casts his extreme life and probable death in a whole new light. He also ventures into the weeds a bit discussing other unresolved disappearances in the Parvati Valley that foreshadow Justin's fate, even as he offers a glimpse of just what it was about India in general and the Parvati Valley in particular that was so alluring. Ultimately, though, Rustad does a decent job summing up a man determined to live as full a life as possible and push himself as far as he could go, always hoping that the next adventure would be the one to give his life meaning and find peace, for all that he often seemed to be chasing phantoms so ill-defined he couldn't even say for certain just what "meaning" or "peace" would look like if he glimpsed them. One can only hope, whatever happened to him, that he found that peace he was searching for in the wilds of the Himalayas.

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The Lady from the Black Lagoon (Mallory O'Meara)

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
Mallory O'Meara
Hanover Square Press
Nonfiction, Biography/History/Media Reference
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: When she was a little kid, sitting in front of the TV at her grandparents' house, Mallory was entranced by the demon lord Chernabog in Disney's iconic animated feature Fantasia. Thus began a lifelong love affair with movies in general and horror in particular. The Universal classic monster pantheon held a special place in her heart, particularly the iconic Creature from the Black Lagoon. The costume, a stunning melding of man and fish, was officially credited to makeup master Bud Westmore, but it was not until the advent of the internet that most modern fans learned who really designed it: a woman named Milicent Patrick, whose identity and legacy others tried to erase. To rectify this injustice, O'Meara sets out to uncover the truth about Patrick, an enigmatic woman whose life and struggles in Tinsel Town seemed at times to parallel her own journey.

REVIEW: The story of Milicent Patrick is a story that should be relegated to the history books: a woman struggles to break in to an industry where her talent shines through, but instead of a brilliant future finds herself shut out by men who cannot stand a girl in their clubhouse or "stealing" the limelight they think should be theirs alone, where legacy names and money and soothing a tyrant's ego matter more than justice and truth. Unfortunately, it's a story that has played out numerous times before and since, up through today. O'Meara does not paint her subject as a superheroine or flawless icon, or as a relentless fighter who pushed back against the patriarchy at every turn, but as a human whose only extraordinary gift was staying true to herself no matter what happened. From a childhood under an iron-fisted father (an architect and structural engineer whose work kept the family traveling for years, eventually contributing to Hearst's massive California estate) and conservative mother, Milicent grew up to study art and land a job with Disney's animation studio - then one of the best places for a woman artist to be, for all that Disney was no saint or savior himself - while also pursuing acting work to capitalize on her striking looks, though she never moved much beyond bit parts. Eventually, her on-set sketches caught the attention of Bud Westmore, but the man's notorious cruelty, petty jealousy, and fragile ego would eventually cut her down just when she stood on the threshold of movie immortality. Even at the time, many people knew just how wrong it was, but not a one managed to stop it from happening, nor did they do anything to mitigate the aftereffects.
O'Meara intercuts the story of Milicent Patrick with her own efforts to research a woman who proved remarkably hard to track; she had a habit of changing her name and reinventing her own backstory over the years, making it that much harder to figure out her movements. She was also estranged from her family from an early age, which further limited the potential pool of resources. Add to that the way that women are still generally overlooked and undervalued in the entertainment industry, their contributions conveniently swept into the corner and forgotten, and the task became that much harder. Still, even though she's primarily a film producer and not a researcher, O'Meara pushed onward, finding more reasons to admire Milicent Patrick even as she acknowledges the woman's faults... and more reasons to be incensed that, since Patrick's day, the needle on industry misogyny and under-representation of women and nonwhites and other minorities has still not moved much, despite moments like the #MeToo movement shining spotlights on the ugly secrets of Hollywood. There are several incidents in Patrick's life that directly resonate with O'Meara's, and doubtless others who push their way into spaces and industries that have traditionally been dominated by white cishet males. The way in which someone who created such an important movie icon can be nearly forgotten - when she was the subject of numerous public interviews and served as a major face of Universal's promotion of The Creature from the Black Lagoon - all because one monster of a man couldn't stand seeing a woman outshine him and a studio decided appeasing him was more important than cultivating the talent so obviously visible in her is unsettling. One is left wondering how many other people have been erased through the decades, and are being erased right now, because the same dynamics that led to Milicent Patrick's removal from movie history are still very much evident. (And that's not counting the ones who are cut down long before they got in the door in the first place.) Will anything ever change? Can anything ever change? I honestly don't know, but that's why we need more Milicent Patricks... and more Mallory O'Mearas to make sure the Milicent Patricks aren't left on history's cutting room floor.

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The Red Canary (Tim Birkhead)

The Red Canary: The Story of the First Genetically Engineered Animal
Tim Birkhead
Bloomsbury USA
Nonfiction, Animals/Biography/History/Science
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: Since its discovery by Europeans, the canary had fascinated the western world with its enchanting song, if not its original drab greenish coloring. Captive breeding became a booming industry, and soon gave rise to both brighter colors and greater song variations, but it wasn't until the early 20th century, in the canary breeding hotbed of Germany, that anyone thought to turn the fledgling concept of genetic inheritance to the matter of deliberately creating a canary not seen in nature or any domestic random mutation: a red canary. To do this, one would need to introduce genes from a related species and somehow get the hybrids to breed true without otherwise compromising the basic canary makeup: selective genetic introduction. The idea sent shockwaves through the highly competitive world of canary fanciers and breeders around the world. But even as amateur scientist Hans Dunckler turned his prodigious intellect to the task, aided by local Bremen fanciers, Germany was developing another, far less wholesome interest in the matter of genetics, one that would derail the experiment and bury its originator under a generation of scandal.

REVIEW: I obtained this as an e-book some time ago when it was discounted (possibly even free), and finally got around to clearing it from the backlog. Birkhead touts the long-unsung contributions of amateur scientists and domestic bird keepers and even medieval bird-catchers to modern ornithology (while glossing over the destruction to wild populations and somewhat questionable birdkeeping practices of the not-so-distant past, such as blinding birds so they'd sing more), as well as the long-besmirched contributions of Dunckler to canary breeding in particular and bird genetics in general. The author's opinions show fairly clearly beneath the research and retelling, occasionally compromising objectivity to the point where even I, a notoriously unobservant reader, noticed. He does, however, present a mostly interesting history of singing birds in captivity and the canary breeding craze that was, for a time, a very lucrative cottage industry in various parts of the world. Dunckler was indeed revolutionary in his way, seeing the potential for genetic transfer between species in a time when Darwin was still somewhat controversial. Politics, though, have a way of warping everything and everyone; Dunckler was swept up in the eugenics fervor of the Nazi party, not particularly against his will, and whatever his later rationalizations, a lot of harm was done by him and others like him. Because of that association, much of his work was swept under the rug of history, but his canary breeding experiments led to later breakthroughs, even as they showed that he was overlooking some key ingredients to success. (They also, sadly, likely helped contribute to the near-extinction of the tropical red siskin, the species chosen for the cross-breeding, which remains critically endangered and a target of bird smugglers to this day.) In any event, while the author's ideas and preconceptions had a way of coloring the narrative, overall it's not a bad exploration of its subject.

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She Persisted Around the World (Chelsea Clinton)

She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History
Chelsea Clinton, illustrations by Alexandra Boiger
Philomel Books
Nonfiction, CH Biography/History/Picture Book
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Throughout history and around the world, societies have placed limits on girls... but some persisted against the odds. Thirteen profiles in courage and determination show what women can do.

REVIEW: Given recent national events (and their less-than-subtle message to my gender, that we are to shut up and not make waves because we will not be believed even when we cry out in rage and pain), this is both a timely and timeless reminder that obstructions can be overcome and barriers broken down. Here, Clinton offers an international selection of brave girls and women, along with inspiring quotes. It's both absurd and depressing that the message must be repeated over and over again about women being human beings capable of the same levels of greatness as men, but apparently it must be, because those in power (and the powerless masses) seem to forget at the earliest convenient opportunity. I can only hope that, for all the efforts to repress (even here in the "Land of Opportunity"), strong women persist in breaking through.

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She Persisted (Chelsea Clinton)

She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World
Chelsea Clinton, illustrations by Alexandra Boiger
Philomel Books
Nonfiction, CH Biography/History/Picture Book
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: A dancer, a senator, a doctor, a judge... thirteen profiles in courage show how strong women can be.

REVIEW: A direct challenge to recent efforts to roll back women's rights and diversity, She Persisted showcases women who refused to let the status quo hold them back. Each entry has a brief description of how they took charge of their lives and changed the world, along with a quote. One can only hope the girls who grow up reading this are strong enough to step up to the obstacles that current events seem determined to place before them...

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The Invention of Nature (Andrea Wulf)

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World
Andrea Wulf
Vintage
Nonfiction, Biography/Nature
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Once a household name, Alexander von Humboldt is all but forgotten in many countries, but his life and works continue to influence how we view the world. From the late 1700s to the mid-1800's, he traveled much of the world, viewing nature not as a collection of individual parts but as an interconnected web - and raising an alarm about the disruptive and short-sighted activities of humans and their long-range consequences as strands of the natural web are thoughtlessly snapped. Author Andrea Wulf explores the life and legacy of the first modern environmentalist and the many people he influenced.

REVIEW: It's both chilling and depressing to read of Humboldt even as my nation takes active, borderline malicious steps to eradicate ecological progress, though that makes the topic all the more timely. Like many Americans, I don't recall ever hearing the name Alexander von Humboldt - an eradication partially attributed to anti-German sentiments following World War I, but that's hardly a valid excuse given the man's massive influence that resonates even today. His ability to marry emotion with science, to turn a topic prone to dry numbers and figures into riveting narratives and poetic imagery to capture the greater public's imagination and attention, helped make him one of the greatest naturalists of his age, with books published in dozens of languages around the world. He was not without his flaws, of course, but he was a singular individual who managed to exist at the perfect time and place to create a new vision of the world, possessed of boundless energy and a keen intelligence. As enthusiastic as he was about his many areas of study, he never hesitated to call out our species on its mismanagement of our only native habitat, seeing with his own eyes how deforestation destroyed soil and waterways and poor farming practices exacerbated poverty... calls that, by and large, went unheeded by those with the power to act on them, as witness the state of too much of the world today. Indeed, by the end of his life he had become very jaded on matters of politics. Wulf includes several illustrations from Humboldt's work and others, particularly those who rose in his wake: Thoreau, Darwin, and John Muir, among others who read and fairly worshiped the man's books.
In parts it could be a bit dry, but the message of the man's work is so timely I gave this one an extra half star. I'm seeing it again and again in my reading, how the compartmentalization and isolation of scientific subjects weakens the whole, how the emotions and imagination need to be engaged alongside the intellect if we're going to have any hope of surviving our own tenure on this planet, let alone having any hope of reaching others. Why do we keep forgetting this, and will the lesson ever stick beyond a generation? Where is our Humboldt, with the vision and the drive and the words to teach us again in the face of ignorance and greed so active they seem like viral pandemics poised to wipe us out? I wish I had answers, but I'm just another uneducated reader...

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The Black Count (Tom Reiss)

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
Tom Reiss
Broadway
Nonfiction, Biography/History
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: In the classic adventure tale The Count of Monte Cristo, author Alexander Dumas relates a harrowing tale of a man wrongfully imprisoned. The model for his hero was none other than his own father, Alexandre Dumas. Born in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue, son of an exiled French nobleman and a black slave, Alexandre would rise as one of the great heroes of the French Revolution... only to fall into poverty and obscurity under his one-time colleague and rival, the future emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

REVIEW: I admit to being one of the unlettered masses who hasn't read either The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers, mostly familiar with them through cultural osmosis - works that were, in no small part, the younger Dumas's memorials to his unjustly forgotten father, not to mention a thumb in the eye of those who willfully buried his legacy, at least as much for personal reasons (Bonaparte himself grew to hate the man who overshadowed him literally and figuratively on the battlefield) as political (his mixed-race ancestry made him unpopular in an increasingly racist Empire.) Reiss tracks down obscure memos, letters, and news clippings to piece together the story of the real General Alexandre Dumas, a man who in many ways embodied the euphoric rise and catastrophic fall of the French Revolution and its fledgling ideals of true racial equality. Though his noble bloodline afforded him advantages over many other mixed-raced children, only during the Revolution could he rise to the rank of full general... but, even at its height, the sociopolitical experiment seemed destined to fail through its own overzealousness in pushing its ideals across a Europe that was patently unready for them, under successive leadership models ill-equipped for the long-term prospect of practicing what it preached... models that utterly failed to foresee the growing backlash of those disenfranchised by the Revolution, not to mention a politically savvy opportunist like Napoleon co-opting the whole movement for personal profit and power. (One sees unsettling echoes in how modern democracies seem to be backsliding, the gains of decades or even centuries all too easily undone at the cry of a handful of demagogues exploiting loopholes to gain power... but, I digress.) It's a remarkable story, though it lost a half-star for losing some of its steam in the middle, wavering and wandering enough for my attention to slip. There's also an overall larger-than-life sense to how Alexandre Dumas is portrayed, as though the author were channeling the general's devoted son and painting a portrait of a lionized demigod rather than a man - a very remarkable man, but a mortal man nonetheless. Still, it's a story that deserves to be remembered, one that even modern historians seem oddly reluctant to honor (as witnessed by the "results" of modern-day efforts to see Dumas recognized in a France that still holds his son in high esteem, yet has not one single, solitary statue or official memorial to the father who so greatly influenced his work.)

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