John David Washington, Adam Driver and Laura Harrier in the Spike Lee movie ‘BlacKkKlansman’

Integrating law enforcement in Colorado Springs, Colorado is the first serving of the biographical, crime based, dark humor tale shared in the Spike Lee directed movie BlacKkKlansman (2018). The second serving delves into a law enforcement effort to become a member of the Ku Klux Klan. At the center of these 1972 events was Ron Stallworth, the first black officer of the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD). The film is inspired by Ron Stallworth‘s book Black Klansman: A Memoir.

(From left, John David Washington as Detective Ron Stallworth and Laura Harrier as Patrice Dumas in the Spike Lee movie BlacKkKlansman).

John David Washington portrayed Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman, with Stallworth applying for undercover work after tiring of harassment in the records room of the CSPD. Stallworth is assigned to infiltrate the organization of national civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael (born Kwame Ture), wherein Stallworth meets Patrice Dumas, president of the Black Student Union at Colorado College. Dumas is a fictionalized character for this movie. Laura Harrier portrayed Patrice Dumas.

(From left, John David Washington as Detective Ron Stallworth, Adam Driver as Detective Philip ‘Flip’ Zimmerman, Michael Buscemi as Jimmy Creek and Ken Garito as Sergeant Trapp in the Spike Lee movie BlacKkKlansman).

Getting reassigned to the intelligence division shortly after the rally, Stallworth responds to an advertisement for a local division of the Ku Klux Klan. Having called the group and made successful contact with Walter Breachway, as portrayed by Ryan Eggold, Stallworth finds that he needs to meet with the chapter in person. Breachway too is fictitious, though the contact is legitimate. Having used his real name over the phone, Stallworth recruited Jewish colleague Philip ‘Flip’ Zimmerman, as portrayed by Adam Driver, to make the physical contact that interacts with the local chapter. Zimmerman is reportedly a real person, though presented fictionally in the movie as well as the book.

(From left, Ryan Eggold as Walter Breachway and Jasper Pääkkönen as Felix Kendrickson in the Spike Lee movie BlacKkKlansman).

Felix Kendrickson has some initial suspicions of Zimmerman as Stallworth, promoting some sense of stress in the manifestation of the two police officers. Meanwhile, Zimmerman learns of the vague outlines of an attack from Klan member Ivanhoe while Stallworth seeks expedited membership with members of Louisiana. Contact with Louisiana leads to direct contact for Stallworth with head of the large Klan organization David Duke. Jasper Pääkkönen portrayed Kendrickson as Paul Walter Hauser portrayed Ivanhoe and Topher Grace portrayed Duke.

(Topher Grace as David Duke in the Spike Lee movie BlacKkKlansman).

The contact with Duke leads him to come to Colorado Springs to induct Zimmerman as Stallworth into the local Klan chapter, coupled with a civil rights attack involving Connie Kendrickson, as portrayed by Ashlie Atkinson. The induction coupled with the planned attack against a civil rights rally leads to legitimate storytelling stress when Ku Klux Klan member Walker, as portrayed by Nicholas Turturro, remembers Zimmerman from an arrest in his past. The film’s messaging offers clear parallels between goals of justice and injustice between those seeking civil rights gains posed in contrast to goals of hate and harm to those unlike members of the Klan.

(From left, actor Adam Driver, actor Jasper Pääkkönen and director Spike Lee onsite of the Spike Lee movie BlacKkKlansman).

The political messaging of BlacKkKlansman clearly articulates injustice as it has existed overtime in the United States. The adding of context from the contemporary year of the movie’s release, with statements of racially based hate from David Duke and then president Donald Trump felt neither gratuitous nor sensational to me; the context felt necessary. The symbolism of the United States in black and white while simultaneously top-side-down evokes provocatively emotional content clearly stated and understood. The request to see this with the same emotion symbolized by the Klan seems inescapable. Accepting the statements and the tale as told by the movie, I grant BlacKkKlansman as directed by Spike Lee 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, January 19, 2022

The Year 2020 in Books

Matt Lynn Digital had respectable year reading in 2020. Today we walk down memory lane for the 40 book reviews made in 2020. We’ll refresh your memory of the books we felt were the biggest successes first. Look for repeat efforts in this listing from Vince Flynn, Stephen King and Ernest Hemingway.  Charles Dickens and Erik Larson, while having a single book in the 40 this year, have been reviewed here in the past.

(The books Hard Times by Charles Dickens and Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Al Switzler and Ron McMillan earned the top rating of 4.5-stars by Matt Lynn Digital for books reviewed in 2020).

We offered two books rated at 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five in 2020. Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Al Switzler and Ron McMillan combined to write Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. The book shares specific skills to improve listening, facilitation, and safe feelings when having productive, meaningful conversations. Charles Dickens offered a satiric “Dark” novel in the form of Hard Times. Hard Times comments on the harsh realities for families with business and governmental policies designed to fight against them.

(The Dale Carnegie book How to Win Friends and Influence People leads a group of seven nonfiction books that earned a rating of 4.25-stars by Matt Lynn Digital in 2020).

We rated seven nonfiction works at 4.25-stars in 2020, with the book Mafia Cop Killers in Akron: The Gang War Before Prohibition by Mark J. Price leading the listing. Fans of true crime would appreciate the journalistic tendencies of the writer for this piece. The Pulitzer Prize winning book  Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond takes a serious look into extreme poverty, affordable housing and economic exploitation. Richard Rothstein takes a different look at a similar subject with the book The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie rates well as a book offering training on public speaking and leadership development. The book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein turns the notion of specialization in life or the workplace on its head in an interesting way. Carmine Gallo offers practical advice through a series of relatable stories in the book The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don’t. Erik Larson looks into the early 20th century with his narrative nonfiction book Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History.

(Stephen Markley and Josh Ritter offer a pair of fictional books that earned high marks of 4.25-stars from Matt Lynn Digital of 2020).

Josh Ritter offers one of the two fictional works earning 4.25-stars from Matt Lynn Digital with the book Bright’s Passage. The storytelling approach uniquely and ambitiously increases emotional tension across timelines with a revelation that really works. A similar, growing tension makes the book Ohio: A Novel by Stephen Markley in offering a stunning yet mysterious sense of vengeance and confused understanding.

(Ron Chernow offers a biography of Ulysses S. Grant that earns 4.0-stars by Matt Lynn Digital).

The book Unsolved Murders and Disappearances in Northeast Ohio by Jane Ann Turzillo, as another work of true crime, offers the first of nine nonfiction books earning 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five in 2020. The Robert A. Musson book Akron Beer: A History of Brewing in the Rubber City sticks in the same region while looking into a niche market impacted by Prohibition and other economic factors through time. Phil Rosenthal looks into the life of a sitcom writer in the book You’re Lucky You’re Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom. The book A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway autobiographically looks at the life of the writer, autobiographically as did Rosenthal. Ron Chernow offers a revealing biography of eighteenth US president Ulysses S. Grant with Grant. Jonathan Kozol returns to a theme of opportunity inequality running through our books this year with the book Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America. Tara Westover‘s book Educated: A Memoir is unique in offering a firsthand account of educational difficulty prompted by extreme familial difficulty. Rachel Carson started an environmental movement with her book Silent Spring. Michael Michalko approaches fundamental creativity as a learned approach with the book Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques.

(Stephen King‘s The Stand earned 4.0-stars by Matt Lynn Digital in 2020).

The Ernest Hemingway collection of short stories called In Our Time begins a group of fictional books earning a rating of 4.0-stars by Matt Lynn Digital. Romantic chaos is the fare of the Ford Madox Ford book The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion. The character Mitch Rapp makes his first appearance in our listing with Vince Flynn‘s book Extreme Measures. The Stand by Stephen King proved to be a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy book to be reckoned with this year.

(The Margarat Creighton narrative nonfiction book The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World’s Fair earned 3.75-stars from Matt Lynn Digital).

The book Alexander the Great: His Life and His Mysterious Death by Anthony Everitt is a review of the life of the military and political leader Alexander the Great, who lived almost 2,400 years ago. The first of six books earning 3.75-stars for nonfiction. Getting more contemporary, the World’s Fair of 1901 was the fare of Margaret Creighton‘s narrative nonfiction book The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World’s Fair. The exercise of political power gets earnest reviews with the David Maraniss book A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father, the Tom Brokaw book The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate, and the Peter Bergen book Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos. The Robin DiAngelo book White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism admittedly is uncomfortable subject matter for many that serves a legitimate purpose that all are not ready to confront.

(Consent to Kill, Act of Treason and Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn earned 3.75-stars by Matt Lynn Digital in 2020).

The fictional work The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West, in earning 3.75-stars by Matt Lynn Digital, plays in a similar playground to The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion by Ford Madox Ford.  2009 Pulitzer Prize winning book Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout brings together short stories like Hemingway‘s In Our Time.  The Dead Zone by Stephen King brings the notion of multiple head traumas to an extrasensory tale mixed with political intrigue. Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn began a sequence of three books featuring Mitch Rapp to earn 3.75-stars by Matt Lynn Digital. The others were Act of Treason and Protect and Defend.

(John M. Barry and Richard Preston wrote on similar subjects and earned a similar rating of 3.5-stars by Matt Lynn Digital).

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History as written by John M. Barry and Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History, and of the Outbreaks to Come as written by Richard Preston are nonfiction accounts of the response to deadly disease that, if read by people in leadership, could offer learning for how to effectively respond to pandemic. Both earned a 3.5-rating from Matt Lynn Digital.

(The fictional book The Consultant by Bentley Little earned 3-stars from Matt Lynn Digital).

The Pro Football Historical Abstract: A Hardcore Fan’s Guide to All-Time Player Rankings by Sean Lahman offered an interesting book for my analytical style. The work is speculative nonfiction. Bentley Little wrote The Consultant, a work of fiction that came recommended by Stephen King. Both offered an interesting premise with a something that we had hoped would resonate with us a bit more than they did. That they earned 3-stars on a scale of one-to-five rings true for us today.

Share the Matt Lynn Digital blog with your friends if you see value in what we are doing. Before the end of this year, a similar review for entries on movies will also be coming. We feel these reviews provide excellent content that we would like to continue offering.

Matt – Tuesday, December 29, 2020

John M. Barry and the book ‘The Great Influenza’

During the height of World War One, the world’s deadliest pandemic apparently erupted in an army camp in Kansas and killed as many as 100 million people worldwide. John M. Barry wrote The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History with a mindset of documenting the process undermining the identification, vaccination, and aftermath of the influenza. The book became something quite different.

(John M. Barry wrote The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History).

The first third of the book was a history for how the medical profession became scientific and credible in the United States. The point in all this was to explain the delay in getting an effective investigation into the underpinnings and understanding of disease that was genuinely lacking when the influenza itself hit. This was mildly interesting, yet not the thing that brought me into reading this book in the middle of COVID-19. The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919. My larger intention was to take a look into the role society and its leaders had in responding to the illness roughly a century ago.

A fair amount of the book dealt with the message delivered to the public about the nature of the influenza disease, how the medical and large scale response to it was developing, and the measures in play to understand the disease and come to a cure. A major complication with that was the internal governmental conflict between assigning competent medical personal to the military, getting the military to respond effectively to medical personal while trying to mobilize army and navy efforts for military conflict in Europe during world war, and efforts to pay for that war. Many things at a governmental level brought into conflict the notion of mounting a war with the notion of mounting an effective campaign against an infectious disease. A story included in The Great Influenza that appeals to readers that like fiction is the pull of medical service for the military and the medical service for the larger public.

(Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States and commander in chief at the time of the influenza of 1918-1919).

With this pursuit in mind, the press of the period was putting the best face on morale for the sake of the war effort. Everything spoken of through the government was putting a good face on the story of the pandemic, claiming victory over the illness prematurely while inflicting penalties on news sources (primarily newspapers in the day) for reporting the truth forthrightly, squarely, honestly. This seems to have come on order straight from United States President Woodrow Wilson, and cascaded through the burgeoning medical service. John M. Barry argued in The Great Influenza that efforts to mitigate the death associated with the disease of 1918-1919 was slowed by the lack of transparent communication and government policy agendas in play at the time of the war and pandemic.

(George W. Bush was the 43rd President of the United States and in office when The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History was published).

This book was first published in 2004. It led to government planning for pandemic response with then president George W. Bush, as indicated in a National Institute of Health article from 2005. Many of the problems warned of in The Great Influenza have come true during the COVID-19 era. The science in the book, therefore, seems to have afforded an ability for mitigation plans, thus lending credibility to the recommendations in the book. The look for the current US President, Donald Trump in the COVID-19 era, is not entirely positive.

(Donald Trump is the 45th President of the United States and commander in chief at the onset of COVID-19).

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History offers the ability for a decent companion piece of the influenza of 1918-1919 and COVID-19 of today, as in reading newspapers, websites, and following the news in comparison to the book. At this level, the book works for those feeling passionately about the nature of politics and leadership on pandemic disease today. For other purposes, some might lose interest in John M. Barry‘s book at a point after the current pandemic. I offer the book The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by Ernest John M. Barry at 3.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Peter Bergen and the book ‘Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos’

Peter Bergen “is a contributing editor at The New Republic and has worked as a correspondent for National Geographic television, Discovery, and CNN. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Time, Vanity Fair, among other publications.” (Simon & Schuster). Bergen‘s book Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos was a gift from blog friend Harp Player, sister to Lynn of Matt Lynn Digital, last winter.

(Peter Bergen wrote the 2019 book Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos).

Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos largely is written as a critique of the first three years of the Donald Trump administration’s national security and foreign policy, as well as the president‘s emotional attachment to disciplinarian former generals who initially staffed his administration. The cumulative effect of the review within the book does not flatter the president.

(United States President Donald Trump and his management style are the subject of Peter Begen‘s 2019 book Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos).

The clear sense that Donald Trump would manage the conduct of his presidency much differently than his predecessor was known to those listening to the man’s rhetoric on the campaign trail. That things would be different started from the point that the transition from elected president to acting president began, wherein the transition largely ignored the mandated transition planning that had been conducted by former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The work that ultimately replaced that led to carryover administrators at the beginning of the Trump presidency, plus experienced military leaders entering the cabinet.

(Former Marine General James Mattis became the Secretary of Defense in the Donald Trump administration).

The foreign policy review of the first three years of the Trump presidency was largely a look at attempting to reverse policies put forward by former president Barack Obama. The selection of former Marine General James Mattis, who had been the head of US Central Command from 2010-2013. Mattis was closely aligned with former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired after publicly siding with longstanding NATO ally the United Kingdom, rather than Trump and Russia on the subject of the poisoning of an ex-British spy. Mattis had firm disagreements with Trump on character and intellectual grounds, which ultimately came to a head over pulling troops out of Syria in the face of the conflict and strategic influence for the United States or Russia in the region. Other points of disagreement, yet Mattis‘ reputation was tarnished for allowing troops be fixed at the US border with Mexico to prevent potential illegal immigrants from crossing the border in 2018.

(Former Exxon Mobil Corporation Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson was Secretary of State in the Donald Trump administration).

Former Marine General John F. Kelly served as chief of staff for Donald Trump, though not immediately from the beginning of the Trump Presidency. As is the case with many who have served Trump as president, Kelly was less aggrieved than many upon leaving, as suggested in this piece by NBC News. Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not come out of that exit interview with Kelly well in that the situation with both people being detained and the family separation were raised. Sessions did not feature prominently in Bergen‘s book Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos.

(Former Marine General John Kelly served as Chief of Staff to Donald Trump).

Besides the separation situation, Sessions merited discussion of his pushing to withdraw troops from Afghanistan as well as the multiple versions of travel bans aimed at keeping people from predominantly Islamic countries from traveling to the United States. Sessions recusing himself from the probe into Trump administration ties to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was not explored in Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos.

(Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions served in the Donald Trump administration).

Former Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster served as National Security Advisor to Donald Trump until being replaced by now former National Security Advisor John Bolton. McMaster replaced former Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who lasted less than a month on the job due to his lying to the FBI about connections he had with Russia.

(Former Army Lt. General H.R. McMaster was the second National Security Advisor to president Donald Trump).

An early impression that Trump expressed to former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon about the Silver Star recipient McMaster in Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos was that McMaster “look[ed] like a beer salesman.” McMaster had the support of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, which didn’t hurt his candidacy. McMaster was included in the euphemistically labeled Axis of Adults that included Mattis, John Kelly and Rex Tillerson, who collectively aimed to “contain and control” the impulsive brand of decision-making they feared in Trump. Bergen argues that McMaster and Trump never had much of a “good relationship”.

(Former interim United States ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton was the third National Security Advisor to president Donald Trump).

Bolton initially had a better relationship with Trump, though that didn’t last. The management style of Bolton also didn’t make him many friends, per Bergen, in that Bolton replaced meetings where discussion took place with position papers where staff was intended to indicate approval or disapproval. Trump fired Bolton over what was reported as policy differences.

(Former presidential chief strategist Steve Bannon served in the Donald Trump administration).

Other items that came up in Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos were the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, North Korea, the shift in American foreign policy towards China, the folly of the tariffs, and many other things. That Trump hasn’t publicly attacked military forces while simultaneously funding them was noted. Overall, I came to the reporting within this document with an open mind, finding much context setting in what essentially is an extended look into the leadership style of Donald Trump. My rating for Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos by Peter Bergen is 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Tom Brokaw and the book ‘The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate’

Former National Broadcasting Network Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw did much of the reputation-building and journalistic work that would land him the editorial and anchor chair with that program due to his coverage of the events that would culminate in Richard Nixon resigning the United States Presidency on August 9, 1974.

(Former US President Richard Nixon, left, being interviewed by reporter Tom Brokaw during Nixon‘s presidency. Brokaw wrote the book The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate).

Tom Brokaw wrote the book The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate. Released in October of 2019, the book in part aimed to offer a comparison to the recent impeachment of current US President Donald Trump. Trump was impeached yet survived the process without being removed from office. History tells us that Richard Nixon would have been impeached yet resigned rather than facing formal articles of impeachment followed by a trial.

(Tom Brokaw on August 8, 1974, reporting that former US President Richard Nixon would resign. Photo credit to Edward R. Vidinghoff of NBC News. Brokaw wrote the book The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate).

Much of the story that Brokaw tells in the book The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate clearly is told without the ability of Nixon to respond, as Nixon died in 1994. The underlying criminal behavior that led to a cover-up from Nixon and others within his administration stemmed first from a burglary perpetrated at The Watergate Hotel in Washington DC. The Watergate Scandal included interlocking political scandals of the administration of Nixon revealed after the arrest of five burglars at Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate.

(This is a view of The Watergate Hotel in Washington DC. The burglary and resulting Watergate Scandal ultimately forced Richard Nixon to resign the US Presidency).

Much of what struck me as interesting about the narrative offered by Brokaw, whose recollection and subsequently learned history recounted within the book I largely trust, came from two main paths. The first of those paths is that the reality of how news was reported and how opinion was formed was much different 45-years ago when Brokaw was reporting things around the scandal. The work of the journalists was constant, for sure, though the pace of reporting with the demand for news that could be made public through the electronic media sources available today were vastly different. In certain ways, this meant that journalism was handled differently. It feels to me that news was  more fully formed when delivered to the public with opinion offering and interpretation offered from the outset.

(An image of Richard Nixon‘s resignation letter to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger dated August 9, 1974).

Second, my sense was that the politics of the day in the early 1970s, which were no doubt cutthroat and in ways meant to enmesh political power to one party or another more than serve the people being governed, compromise and reason at some level among leaders felt more real when push came to shove. Clearly, this is easy and perhaps naive of me to say since the politics of the fifteen years leading to the resignation of Richard Nixon were highly charged, which included two presidents, a presidential candidate, and a vice president departing politics, twice through violence, prior to Nixon‘s resignation.

(An image from Richard Nixon‘s  resignation address from August 8th, 1974).

I came away from reading the book The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate with a better feeling for the people, the lying and the criminality that permeated the Nixon administration in the time leading up to the resignation. I see the common sense of Brokaw‘s sharing insight from his coverage at a time where the United States is facing another round of these questions with a different president and different party leaders. That there likely is and was self-delusion among those in power through both processes of potential impeachment is apparent. I rate The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate by Tom Brokaw at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, February 8, 2020