Reader's Choice: Nonfiction
Your options: 'Conquest of the Useless' by Werner Herzog, 'The Village of Ben Suc' by Jonathan Schell and 'Say Nothing' by Patrick Radden Keefe
I’ve reviewed nothing but novels so far this year, so I figured I was way overdue to get some nonfiction into the mix. But as I was sifting through my TBR to pick books for you to vote on, I realized I didn’t have many choices. Two are recent additions to the pile—and one I had to take from Donna’s TBR! Which should I review first? Remember to scroll down and vote!
‘Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo’ by Werner Herzog
Donna and I had a day off from work last fall and we headed to Bushwick to walk around the neighborhood. We went to a second-hand bookstore called Human Relations. What a treasure trove of used books! As I was browsing, I found myself randomly in the film section when ‘Conquest of the Useless: Reflections From the Making of Fitzcarraldo’ by Werner Herzog caught my eye. The title and the author had me like:
I’ve not seen Herzog’s 1982 film ‘Fitzcarraldo,’ but I know that it involves the dragging of a big boat through the Amazon rainforest. ‘The text of Conquest of the Useless emerged as if out of an Amazonian fever dream: the crew’s camp in the heart of the jungle was attacked and burned to the ground; the production clashed with a border war; two planes crashed during filming; and Herzog had to unravel the logistics of moving a 320-ton steamship over a hill without the use of special effects,’ reads the back-cover blurb. ‘More than just a journal or diary of the shooting of Fitzcarraldo, Conquest of the Useless is a work of art unto itself, which charts the inner landscapes born of the delirium of the jungle and offers an extraordinary glimpse into the mind of a genius during the making of one of his greatest achievements.’ This sounds wild!
‘The Village of Ben Suc’ by Jonathan Schell
I had been looking for ‘The Village of Ben Suc’ by Jonathan Schell for years ever since I saw somewhere that the first-hand account of the early days of the Vietnam War had been the book that radicalized Jane Fonda. It had been out of print forever, so when I saw it at Lofty Pigeon Books late last year after the New York Review of Books brought it back into print, I was like:
‘In January 1967, as President Lyndon Johnson sent more forces to the war in Vietnam, the US military began what was to be the largest ground operation of the entire conflict. Not far from Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, and close to the Cambodian border was an area known as the Iron Triangle, long under Viet Cong control. Operation Cedar Falls set out to eliminate that guerrilla threat by sealing off the region, emptying its villages, and leveling the surrounding jungle. The local population would be transferred to model “New Life Villages” under US surveillance,’ is how the back-cover blurb begins. ‘The village of Ben Suc was the Americans’ first target, and Jonathan Schell, a reporter at the start of his career, accompanied them there. He witnessed the destruction of the village; the frantic efforts of young soldiers to figure out who was or wasn’t a foe; the destruction of peoples’ homes and possessions; and the chaotic transfer of women, children, old men, and livestock to a refugee camp where no preparations had been made for their arrival.’ This book sounds harrowing and deeply relevant.
‘Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland’ by Patrick Radden Keefe
I had wanted to pick up ‘Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland’ by Patrick Radden Keefe for a while, but Donna beat me to it. I think she bought the book, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award, at Lofty Pigeon as well. And good thing she did, because when I was putting together this roundup based on my own TBR, I was short a book. I was like:
‘In December 1972, Jean McConville, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the IRA was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it,’ is how the back-cover blurb opens. Keefe’s ‘mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with.’ This also sounds like a very intense read.
Books on GIF does not solicit or accept review copies. We feature books we purchase at independent bookstores around New York City and on our travels, or were borrowed electronically from the Brooklyn Public Library.
Thanks for reading, and thanks especially to Donna for editing this newsletter!
Until next time,
Mike
I grew up in Ireland, and "Say Nothing" is absolutely the best book ever written about The Troubles. It's a great mini-history written as a thrilling mystery tale.
To back up my vote, here is one of my favorite clips of all time, from Burden
Of Dreams (the documentary about the making of Fitzcarraldo): https://youtu.be/dvbxh2rLcdo?si=wTaIcyofKZ2hQINV