SEPTEMBER 2023 UPDATE . . . I completed revising my novel in mid-July, slashing about 28 pages in the process! The search for a Literary Agent to represent me is now underway. 
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Battleship Potemkin blog
​Commentary on current events, never lacking in fury and possibly even signifying something.

                                                               
[NOTE: Previously published articles can be viewed on the Past articles page but you must click on "Details" on that page to view content.]
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September 2023--THE BLOG WAKES UP! (But is it "woke"? Ah, a topic for a future post.) Two book reviews coming up, both memoirs, first one authored by Erik Edstrom, to be followed by review of Chelsea Manning's book.
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Book Review:  UN-AMERICAN—A Soldier’s Reckoning of Our Longest War by Erik Edstrom
​ Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020; 291 pages.

Posted September 17, 2023

[NOTE: This is an expanded version of the review I posted on Amazon. See note further on.]

Erik Edstrom grew up in a smallish town in Massachusetts, in a social environment that encouraged and perpetuated what he would later come to recognize as “lobotomized patriotism.” In the war-hungry atmosphere in the US in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he committed to attending West Point while just 16, arriving there at age 17. This is a very impressionable age for a young man, needless to say.
     As a militant opponent of the unjustified American wars of aggression over the decades, this reviewer is not easily shocked by the doings of the US military, but what I found on page 35 (first edition, hardcover) not only shocked me, but turned my stomach. The young men in training to be “officers and gentlemen” in the world’s most heavily-armed military were being indoctrinated, trained really, to commit war crimes against civilians in primarily Muslim societies.
     [The following details, from page 35, I did not quote in the Amazon review because I wanted readers to buy the book and see it for themselves. It would have been a spoiler. Verbatim from the book: “Early on we were sent to Robinson Auditorium—‘Rob Aud’ in cadet vernacular—for a ‘motivational spirit briefing.’ On the way, our cadet platoon sergeant—two years older than us—marched us to cadence: ‘Left right, left right, left right KILL!/Left right, left right, you know I will/I went to the mosque, where all the terrorists pray/I set up my claymore AND BLEW ‘EM ALL AWAY!/Left right, left right, left right KILL!/Left right, left right, you know I will/I went to the store where all the women shop/Pulled out my machete AND I BEGAN TO CHOP!/Left right, left right, left right KILL!/Left right, left right, you know I will/I went to the playground where all the kiddies play/I pulled out my Uzi AND I BEGAN TO SPRAY!’” (end of excerpt) Phrases in all upper case letters are that way for emphasis in original; boldface comments are my own emphasis. The “motivational” session consisted of films of US weapons inflicting damage on targets in, what else, Muslim countries. The cadets were whipped up into a testosterone-fueled frenzy of wild enthusiasm for this murderous mayhem. This blatant and obvious encouragement to commit war crimes surely should have merited a Congressional investigation and disciplining of the command structure at West Point. But of course no such thing happened.--GL] 
     This could not have happened without the approval/encouragement of the administration at West Point. This attitude would inevitably trickle down to the enlisted personnel serving under the newly minted lieutenants when they arrived in the field to engage in the “Global War on Terror” concocted by the Cheney administration. (You don’t actually believe that George W. Bush was in charge during those eight years, do you?) Lt. Edstrom had his awakening to the reality of what the US was doing to the people of Afghanistan quite soon after arriving for duty in Afghanistan. I will withhold the details, as I urge you to read this book for yourselves. From page 60: “[West Point] taught us . . . that, a few bad apples aside, throughout its history the United States has always been ‘the good guy,’ never the perpetrator [of unjust war]. . . . U.S. war crimes and atrocities are denied, euphemistically recategorized, mitigated or otherwise excused.”
     Edstrom completed his tour of duty (nine years: four at West Point, five on active duty) to honor his commitment without becoming a public whistleblower (though he did convey his concerns about US policy running amok to his superiors in the Army and his hometown Member of Congress). But since exiting the military, he has spoken loudly and clearly, which has earned him a good deal of hostility, he reports, from those who continue to practice that “lobotomized patriotism.” From page 249: “The truth is that, by participating in the War on Terror, I participated in a crime, not a tragedy. A secondary tragedy is that America lacks the courage and conviction to say so.” That is undeniably true, and the United States will continue to insanely attempt to rule the whole world, wreaking death and destruction while our infrastructure—and the very fabric of our society—crumbles unless a heck of a lot more citizens wake up to the truth told in this book. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!


[POSTSCRIPT: When I emailed Mr. Edstrom to alert him to my praise posted on Amazon, he did not show me the courtesy of a reply. But that is not unusual for writers who have sold their books to established publishing houses, in contrast to those of us lacking that luxury.—GL]

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Why "Battleship Potemkin"? Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 movie about the mutiny in the Tsar's Black Sea fleet during the failed 1905 Russian revolution is acknowledged as a masterpiece of cinema. The author of this website endorses the film's message: To rise against cruel oppression is not only justified, it is essential for the preservation of human dignity. ​
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Previous two blog articles, available on Past articles page:

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My current writing projects

I am having fun writing my first novels--yes, plural. The third I launched into ended up the first to be completed. I am currently seeking a Literary Agent to represent me.
This blog site addresses and comments on these topics (among others!): peace, war, US politics, American politics, political analysis, climate crisis, climate change, climate change deniers, Donald J. Trump, social commentary, social criticism, social satire, current events, racism, anti-war movement, anti-racism, religion, religious extremism, religious fundamentalism, atheism, Buddhism, fascism, anti-fascism, socialism, communism, American war in Vietnam, the Vietnam War, Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, "The Vietnam War" PBS TV series, GIs, GI resistance to war, US Army, US military, militarism, anti-militarism, 'Bowe' Bergdahl, national debt, Pentagon budget, literature, books, authors, writers, cinema, music, movies, environment, ecology, anthropology, evolution, human race, humankind, misogyny, homophobia, philosophy, resistance, "Star Trek," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," United States Constitution, The Federalist Papers, James Madison, "The Simpsons," Bob Dylan, "Tombstone Blues," Commander-in-Chief, al-Baghdadi, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, endless wars, Major Danny Sjursen, Fritz Lang, Peter Bogdanovich, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, M, The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, Josef Goebbels, Hollywood, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Carl Sagan, Joe Biden, "With God on Our Side," TAKE THIS WAR AND SHOVE IT! A Most Unwilling Soldier 1967-1971, Albert Einstein, Nuremberg Trials, sexual identity, non-binary sexual identity, sexual orientation, suppression of right to vote, human rights, civil rights, Erik Edstrom, UN-AMERICAN--A Soldier's Reckoning of Our Longest War, Chelsea Manning
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