Lt. Col Scott Mann (Ret.) (2022). Operation Pineapple Express: The Incredible Story of a Group of Americans who Undertook One Last Mission and Honored a Promised in Afghanistan. Simon and Schuster.
This book should be required reading for anyone planning to vote in the Presidential elections next year. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand why the military recruitment levels are abysmal. And it should be required reading for anyone who loves the U.S. and hates the divisive politicking that headlines the legacy news.
The book is the story of the volunteers who rescued Afghans and Americans after the shameless rapid withdrawal from the country in 2021. Biden deserves the criticism against him for insisting on exiting the country in such a way that the Taliban were back in place before the last flights left Kabul. But there is plenty of blame to go around. Trump's deals, Obama's disdain, and GW Bush all played roles in a war that could not be won. Mann wrote, Biden wanted the glory of ending an unpopular war. At what cost?" (164). The last years of the conflict were a failure of bureaucracy and ego, as U.S. leaders abdicated their duties to ensure that all Americans and Afghan nationals who worked for the U.S. were safely extracted.
Now under strict Sharia Law, Afghanistan has reverted to religious politics of the Middle Ages. Women's rights have been eliminated. Girls may not be educated. Anyone speaking against the Taliban is executed. At the same time, the U.S. lost face with her allies in the region as an untrustworthy player. How many Americans died in those 20 years? Too many. And it seems now, for nothing.
Read the book. Watch the play. Be ashamed of leadership's ego. Vote accordingly.
Madeleine L'Engle (1997). Bright Evening Star: Mystery of the Incarnation. [Audible]. Narrated by Pamela Almand.
Madeleine L'Engle (1997). Bright Evening Star: Mystery of the Incarnation. WaterBrook Press.
I listen to and/or read this little book every year about this time. L'Engle is my favorite American author for many reasons, but her theology makes me think. I don't always agree with her conclusions (I am not a universalist, for example), but her love for Jesus and her ability to find God's blessing in nearly every experience motivates me to default to grace more consistently.
The book is made up of stand-alone anecdotes, as most of her non-fiction tends to be. The golden thread holding it together is the wonder and awe of Jesus, fully human, fully God. She wrote, "Don't try to explain the Incarnation to me! It is further from being explainable that the furthest star in the furthest galaxy. It is love, God's limitless love enfleshing that love into the form of a human being." (3). Isn't that beautiful?
Lisa Jackson (2022). The Girl Who Survived. [Kindle]. Narrated by Siiri Scott. Brilliance Audio
Too many characters, too many murders, too many red herrings. I listened to it at 1.7x speed and didn't miss a thing. Jackson offers too many details and too much repetition unfolding the mystery of a woman who was the sole survivor of her family's slaughter. It's not a terrible book, but crosses the thin line of plausibility once too often.
Johanna Frank (2022). Jophiel's Secret. [Kindle]. Marrow
This adventure through spiritual and physical realms contains some important truths, even if the theology is a little off. Angels are angels and humans are humans; they don't swap out. Having said that, Frank ensures her readers understand that the King is wholly good and the enemy entirely evil. Caught between realms, people do choose their eternal positions during life on earth.
Whimsical angels keep the heaviness of the events at bay and there is always a sense that eternal justice is perfect.
I do wish I had read the first book. While it isn't necessary, it might have proved helpful.
I hope you have enjoyed these reviews! I will continue to write them because they are good for me, but it’s much more fun with company.