Through the Brazilian Wilderness

In two chapters Edmund Morris managed to size up the incredible Expedicao Scientifica Roosevelt- Rondon (some incredible footage in the site) better than Candice Millard did in a whole book. For starters, Morris explained why the mission was initially so heavily laden with foods and supplies. Roosevelt had never planned such a mission. Instead, Father Zahm had imagined a much less formidable collecting trip along the Orinoco providing more stuffed animals for the Smithsonian. Roosevelt had been intent on bagging a jaguar, a dream since childhood. But, the Brazilian government saw a golden opportunity in Roosevelt to advertise its interior lands to the highest bidder, by tempting him into an exploration mission with Colonel Rondon, mapping out a relatively unknown river.

Morris also describes how Rondon and his officers similarly had a large haul of tents and chairs and other paraphenilia which was even more weighty than all the tins of food, jars of spices, candies and other delicacies the Roosevelt team had brought along. Eventually, they each agreed to lighten their respective loads, including shedding Father Zahm, who seemed more intent on saving souls along the uncharted river than in collecting specimens.

In the end Rondon and Roosevelt became great friends enduring an incredible journey of discovery that in many ways rivaled that of Lewis and Clark. Fortunately, Roosevelt survived to finish his travelogue, as he was felled by a wound to the leg that became deeply infected.

Dylan in America

Whoever it was in 1969 who named the very first Bob Dylan bootleg album “Great White Wonder” may have had a mischievous streak. There are any number of ways you can interpret the title — most boringly, the cover was blank, like the Beatles’ “White Album” — but I like to see a sly allusion to “Moby-Dick.” In the seven years since the release of his first commercial record, Dylan had become the white whale of 20th-century popular song, a wild, unconquerable and often baffling force of musical nature who drove fans and critics Ahab-mad in their efforts to spear him, lash him to the hull and render him merely comprehensible. --- Bruce Handy, NYTimes ____________________________________________ I figured we can start fresh with Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist this photo of him striking a Woody Guthrie pose. Looks like only yesterday. Here is a link to the comments building up to this reading group.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Team of Rivals Reading Group

''Team of Rivals" is also an America ''coming-of-age" saga. Lincoln, Seward, Chase et al. are sketched as being part of a ''restless generation," born when Founding Fathers occupied the White House and the Louisiana Purchase netted nearly 530 million new acres to be explored. The Western Expansion motto of this burgeoning generation, in fact, was cleverly captured in two lines of Stephen Vincent Benet's verse: ''The stream uncrossed, the promise still untried / The metal sleeping in the mountainside." None of the protagonists in ''Team of Rivals" hailed from the Deep South or Great Plains. _______________________________ From a review by Douglas Brinkley, 2005

Dispatches from Vilnius

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