Charles Ashbacher Reviews

 Review of Norwegians in Wisconsin, by Richard J. Fapso, ISBN 9780870203343 Four out of five stars Largely fact-based description of the immigrants  An aged lifelong resident of Wisconsin once told me that a local handyman of Norwegian extraction once told her that when faced with a difficult task the first thing you must do is cuss it in Norwegian. Although the numbers were not large, the value given in this book is 30,000 Norwegians left their native land to settle in Wisconsin, their influence in the area is significant. There is a significant Norwegian presence in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota as well. The name of the sports teams of Luther College in extreme northern Iowa is the Norsemen.   The first known individual from Norway that settled in Wisconsin arrived in 1838. As was the case with immigrants from other countries, the primary reason for Norwegians to go to Wisconsin was the presence of available land capable of growing crops. With all of the lan...

 Review of Shoeless Joe, by W. P. Kinsella, ISBN 0395957737 Five out of five stars The ultimate baseball fantasy  The premise of this story, that if you build a baseball field in an Iowa cornfield, then deceased major league baseball players will arrive and play on it, is one that initially sounds absurd. Yet, it is one that works so very well. The main character is Ray Kinsella and the first hint of what he is to do is when he hears, “If you build it, he will come.” He is the legendary player, Shoeless Joe Jackson.   No less a player than Ty Cobb openly stated that Joe Jackson was the best baseball player he had ever seen. Unfortunately, Jackson was indirectly implicated in the famous Black Sox scandal, where some of the Chicago White Sox players conspired to throw the World Series. Even though there was no evidence that Jackson decreased his game, the fact that he knew about it led to his permanent banishment from baseball.  Furthermore, Kinsella departs from ...

 Review of Isaac Newton, by James Gleick, ISBN 1400032954 Five out of five stars Emphasis on the personality There is no real dispute that Isaac Newton was the greatest scientist of all time. The list of his original accomplishments are amazing, from optics to physics to cosmology, he altered the fundamental understanding of the world. His theories of gravity explained everything from how the apple fell from the tree to the concept of orbitals to the explanations of why the planets orbit the sun in the way they do.   The fact that increases the level of incredulity is that in many case he had to invent the mathematics needed to justify his theories. While there remains some dispute as to who was first in the development of calculus, there is no question that he created it independently of anyone else. However, Newton was a very irascible person, he had an obnoxious personality fueled no doubt by the fact that so few people understood his work.   In this book, Gl...

 Review of Nazi Mega Weapons: German Engineering in WWII, a PBS DVD Five out of five stars Descriptions of the power of German industry  The first and second world wars are demonstrations of how a modern industrial state can commit enormous resources in the waging of war. There was no greater demonstration of this than when the German leadership engaged in World War II. The scale of some of the projects is amazing, the amounts of steel and concrete and human labor, which means lives, that were spent in bringing the projects to their state at the end of the war are difficult to grasp, even when you see them.  Using modern experts to describe the various projects, historical footage, CGI generated action and actors playing the major roles, all are interwoven to explain the project, its’ origins, the goals of the German leadership and the end results. Fortunately for the outcome of World War II in Europe, some of the most effective weapons were under resourced, especially th...

 Review of Yalta: The Price of Peace, by S. M. Plokhy, ISBN 9780143118923 Five out of five stars Inside the negotiations to remake Europe  The Yalta conference featuring the big three of Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt tool place almost 80 years ago. Yet, there is still resounding debate regarding which of the three did the best in achieving their goals, which were quite distinct and in some cases mutually exclusive.   Being a product of the British Empire, the primary goal of Winston Churchill was to maintain and if possible expand the influence of the Empire. Having experienced multiple invasions of the area in the Soviet Union over the centuries, the goal of Joseph Stalin was to achieve the domination of Eastern Europe in order to preclude any future invasion. The primary goal of Franklin Roosevelt was to convince Stalin to enter the war against Japan as soon as possible.   The battle for Iwo Jima had just begun and it was clear t...

 Review of The Wall: A World Divided, PBS Video DVD Five out of five stars Sometimes history is made fast  When World War II ended, the Allied nations had to implement agreements made over the course of the war, specifically the meetings of Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin and Yalta. While there, they divided Germany into three parts, where France, Great Britain, the United States and Russia each had a zone of occupation. The German capital of Berlin was also split into four occupation zones.   As the 1950’s passed into the 1960’s it was clear to the Communist rulers of East Berlin and East Germany that the vast numbers of people passing from East Germany to West Berlin would quickly make the economic viability of East Germany unsustainable. Therefore, on August 13, 1961 a barrier of barbed wire and concrete blocks was quickly erected to keep the people from passing into West Berlin. At first it was a makeshift barrier, and some people were abl...