I have a tie for favorite non-fiction books albeit if I want to read a fun non-fiction book it will be Shea Serrano (Illustrated by Arturo Torres) Basketball and Other Things. But the tie is between two books that explore the same history albeit their focus differs.
One is Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile which was the first audio book I made a point to purchase (as opposed to schlep back and forth from the library) and felt quite sad when I upgraded my car ("You got a new whip" as one co-worker told me. Note that harboring a tiny work crush on her I had no heart to say "what is a whip?" But I put it together.) and it had no CD player. I know, first world problem but Blackstone Audio version read by Christopher Lane is poetry. There is an art to voice work and if my time watching maybe too many cartoons has thought me is that it matters. But that is for another post.
The second is Ghost Wars by Steve Coll which has a very haunting closing line that I recall quite often.
Some people cross themselves when they hear or see something awful. Another school shooting? Then let me put this down and cross myself "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." There. Or "Thoughts and Prayers" I once worked at place whose primary donor base was predominantly wealthy Jewish folks and they thought me something that was quite lovely "May their memory be for blessing" From one of my favorite fiction books, Watership Down, I have line for grief and loss that goes "My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today"
Some people play with their hair. Or have verbal cues. They fill in sentences with empty wordy pauses. Like and you know and actually. A director at my school bites her lip. Tap pens. I once got told by an office mate "Hey stop shaking the damn floor with your leg! Nervous!?"
Whatever makes you feel better.
But, the closing line in Ghost Wars is "What an unlucky country."
It makes sense in light of the story which the author frames as ending on September 10, 2001. No spoiler alerts (Its non-fiction and history) but the reference is made to maybe if this one anti-Taliban leader had not been assassinated then the history of 9/11 (and the US and Afghanistan) would be radically different. And note that none of this is narrative stretching. This all happened 9/9/01 and into 9/10/01. Unlikely the wheels of the Saudi plot would have unraveled but such eerie confluences are why we enjoy history. Or, at least, I do.
And this quick "aw shucks" (Note that it's attributed to Hamid Karzai who would become Afghan President after the NATO invasion) moment is not meant to be dismissive but burdened by years of violence and tribal war in Afghanistan. You need to read the book but I say it whenever the violence or tragedy of our world seems inevitable. And that what separates us from it is indeed our race, class, and wealth but also a decent amount of chance.
I say it often after mass shootings and their inevitable not just occurrence but "burn and turn" on our consciousness. "What an unlucky country"
You can't drink the water in the western basin of Lake Erie because of toxic algae blooms? "What an unlucky country"
Being very 2016...The Comey Letter. The Pussy Grabbing Clip "What an unlucky country"
Don't dismiss this as just poetry. If you have read this blog then 1)I am sorry and 2) You know I enjoy a good geopolitical thriller and 3) Harbor a reptilian desire to throw it all away and join the foreign service. I would have likely been one of those international volunteers that died in the Spanish Civil War. Maybe I would have run into Hemingway!?
And these books have them in spades particularly Charlie Wilson's War which is the more biographical/adventure one (focused on the history of the US intervention in the Soviet-Afghan war and one character in particular) then the other which is a broad history of Afghanistan and all the countries who (for what seems no good reason) decided to muck around.
I make it a point to re-read these books regularly (maybe once a year) and I am half way through Ghost Wars on this 9/11 anniversary. What I enjoy about the book is that, as one review says on the back of my copy, has "few heroes, many villains."
The world made by 9/11 (The War on Terror, Axis of Evil, etc) seems old in light of a new dynamic of Fake News, climate change, and increasing hyper nationalism. Threats now feel internal instead of some mysterious force scrambling up rocks in the Khyber Pass. This is not to dismiss the complexities of why this all happened and what a "War on Terror" means* but while the memory of 9/11 will never fade for me (If nothing for its salience and tangled history) the world it supposedly changed forever now feels reset. And loaded anew is something blunter.
I have often said that tragedies can't be zero sum. In college, during the 1 year anniversary of 9/11, it was very popular to say (or see) signs on my mostly left leaning campus that any US overseas ballyhoo (The War on Drugs for example) caused X number of 9/11s. So think of that! And while this is true I think it is foolish to quantify pain especially in light of such naked violence. This is not something we judge on one on those charts in your doctor's office. So, even 18 years later, I hope that those 3000 so people's memories be for a blessing.
*If you want my big fat guy on his random blog take then terrorists inherently want headlines and not necessarily violence. So a global war against them by say invading Iraq seems foolish when changing hearts and minds would be better. This is my "Jimmy Carter" school of neo-conservatism (something you may only hear on this blog) and the idea that certain American ideals, along with agendas, can be pursued through international escapades.
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