Learn History Through Fiction: Chemical Warfare 100 Years Ago

Two of my NOVELS (On the Shore and A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve.) feature WW I veterans. While researching the books, I was horrified to read about the immediate and lasting effects of mustard gas. The gas is so named because its color and odor resemble mustard. It causes large blisters on the skin or lungs, which fill with yellow-brown liquid, and swells the eyelids, resulting in temporary blindness; The gas vaporizes easily, penetrating clothing even in areas not directly exposed. Mustard gas can also damage DNA and decrease the formation of red blood cells in bone marrow, causing aplastic anemia, the same condition caused by radiation poisoning. Read more about both books and the WW I characters affected in NOVELS. Learn more interesting history in BEHIND THE STORY.

What I’m Reading: Olive Kittridge by Elizabeth Strout

My Amazon review of Olive Kittridge by Elizabeth Strout (Rated 5): A thorny woman who will prick your heart – Elizabeth Strout laces together stories in a rough weave with great tensile strength. Told direct and slant, the interlocked tales introduce readers to Olive, her family and friends, and people she barely knows but whose lives she has touched for better or worse. What emerges is a large, difficult woman determined to live her small life, filled with passions and regrets, until the very end. (See my REFLECTIONS on excerpts from interviews with Elizabeth Stroud published in The New Yorker (posted 05/08/17) and The Writer Magazine (posted 08/14/17).

Learn History Through Fiction: The Deadly Radium Fad

Glow-in-the-dark watches worn by WW I soldiers in the trenches were the rage in the post-war years. U.S. Radium Corporation, a major defense contractor in Orange, NJ, marketed the luminous paint under the brand name “Undark. ” After the war, they hired 70 young women to paint watch dials for popular consumption. Although they knew the radium, the company told workers it was harmless. The women mixed glue, water, and powder made of radium and zinc oxide, then used camel hair brushes to apply paint onto the dial numbers. The brushes lost their shape after a few strokes so supervisors encouraged the women to point the tips with their lips or tongues to keep them sharp. After 3-5 years, the women began to suffer from anemia, bone fractures, and necrosis of the jaw. Known as the “radium girls” in lawsuits, many subsequently died. See “Undark” (winner of the Walter Sullivan Prize) in STORIES to learn more about this tragedy. Also check out BEHIND THE STORY for corollary information on this era.

 

What I’m Reading: A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

My Amazon review of A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline (Rated 5): Christina’s world painted in words – As surely as Andrew Wyeth captured Christina’s world in paint, Christina Baker Kline captures her world in words. From the small details of daily existence in rural Maine, to the bigger question of how we fashion a life with what we’re given, the book strikes a fine balance between bitterness and beauty. A painterly novel.

Learn History Through Fiction: Blame the Divorce on the Cat

Discovered while researching the story “Felines at Fault” – In the 1910s and 1920s, cats became pets instead of just mousers. An uptick in the number of house cats was accompanied by an increase in the number of divorces. Back then, couples had to prove a valid reason for dissolving their marriage. Cats often provided the excuse, with husbands claiming abandonment over their wives affection for their cats, or wives angered by their husband’s mistreatment of the animals. After no-fault divorce laws went into effect (late 1960s), the number of cat-related divorces declined. One suspects there was more to these marital spats than feline infelicity. Read more in BEHIND THE STORY.

What I’m Reading: Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance

My Amazon review of Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance (Rated 5): Flaws and foibles, love and loyalty – J. D. Vance teaches us to love and admire the people he loves and admires, with their flaws, determination, and above all, their loyalty to one another. He gives credit to them for saving his life. Humility and gratitude aside, he also deserves to take credit himself for breaking with tradition while at the same time honoring, and maintaining, it.

ON THE SHORE meme

Vine Leaves Press is promoting its current publications with memes selected by the authors. Here’s the On the Shore meme: “Shame made my father envious, envy made him feel guilty, guilt made him angry.” Read more about the book and click the link to the trailer in NOVELS. Discover other Vine Leaves Press publications — literary novels, story collections, vignette collections, memoir, poetry, writing reference books, creative nonfiction, and essay collections — at http://www.vineleavespress.org.

What I’m Reading: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

My Amazon review of The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Rated 5): Making the implausible “plausible” – Colson Whitehead makes the implausible, plausible, i.e., that the Underground Railroad was in fact a real, subterranean network of tunnels, tracks, and assorted railroad cars built by those “who built everything else in this country.” Even more accomplished is how Whitehead brings to life the heroic, and often tragic, existence of the slaves who dared to travel and lead others along its byways. Alas, their stories are too plausible and while the sum total is heartbreaking, readers will come away with admiration and the hope that their courage and determination persist today.

Learn History Through Fiction: An Unusual Jail for Draft Dodgers

Unearthed while researching Chicago for the Al Capone story “Blood and Sand” – Chicago’s Navy Pier (originally named “Municipal Pier”) opened to the public on July 15, 1916. It was intended as a dock for freighters and passenger traffic, and a space for indoor and outdoor public recreation. Indeed, many events were held at the pier, including expositions, pageants, and other entertainments. Less well known is that in the summer of 1918, the pier was used as a jail for World War One draft dodgers. To read more unusual history lessons, see BEHIND THE STORY.