Witold Gombrowicz, Bacacay ** 1/2

I reread this collection of Gombrowicz's early stories, which I rated at three stars several years ago. His perennial theme is how we contort the world so that its facts fit our preconceived notions, and its already in place in the best of the stories. My favorite stories were "Adventures," with its account of floating glass eggs and cannibalistic lepers, and "A Premeditated Crime," about a magistrate who tortures a grieving family by insisting that their father was murdered.

As is always a danger with experimental writers, most of the stories failed to engage me, which converted their oddness into tedium. Not even Gombrowicz's great use of metaphor was able to rope me back in.

Kevin Krajick, Barren Lands ****

The main subject of Barren Lands is the discovery of diamonds in Canada's Northwest Territories. Along the way, it describes the history and geography of the far north, the history and geology of diamonds, and the dirty business of mining speculation. It also tells the story of one small-time prospector who managed to make the big strike.

I was surprised to learn how little we knew about how diamonds formed or how to find a mine. It was truly a matter of trial and error until within my lifetime! Most of the world's diamonds come from a very small number of viable mines. The De Beers consortium happens to own the most productive of them, which (combined with shady business practices) gives them the upper hand in the industry.

The author is a science journalist, so the explanations of geology and geography were very clear. I loved learning about cratons and eskers. On the other hand, I was disappointed that Krajick didn't provide the same level of insight to the diamond prospecting business. He lists all of the complicated business dealings and lawsuits that followed from discovering the mines at Lac du Gras, but missed the opportunity to provide context for it. More generally, I'd say that the writing became more superficial as the narrative picked up steam, with Part IV feeling rushed compared to the rest of the book.

Henry Bromell, Little America ***

Little America has all the elements of a classic espionage story: America spies in the Middle East during the Cold War, informants with murky motives, geopolitical maneuvering, revolts, and assassinations. I especially liked how Bromell captures the Arabs' dilemma of the time:

We see ourselves from the point of view of the West and find ourselves lacking... With self-hatred comes a terrible nostalgia for the way things were, or at least the way we imagine things were... This nostalgia of defeat is dangerous and breeds tyrants. (p 282)

However, the book suffers from two fatal flaws.

First, our narrator jumps willy-nilly from the present to the past and from person to person. I'm sure Bromell would argue that it's intended to reflect the fragmentary nature of experience, but the effect didn't work for me. It just concentrated my attention on the aspects of the story that our narrator couldn't possibly have uncovered.

Second, the stakes never seemed sufficiently high to engage me with the story. We know from the beginning that the King of Kurash will be assassinated. We even have a pretty good idea of why he's killed. The only question is whether the narrator's father pulled the trigger. I didn't really care. 

Robert D. Kaplan, The Revenge of Geography ****

In his preface, Kaplan says that he intends The Revenge of Geography as a corrective to the numerous tomes about the coming triumph of globalization. Regardless of how "flat" the world is becoming, the fundamental facts of geography will continue to be a key influence on the geopolitics of the 21st century. For example, the fact that Iran is the only country with coasts on both the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf will continue to influence its policies, not to mention its relationships with neighbors China and Russia.

The book gives a great overview of the macro-geography of major world players -- Russia, China, India, the United States, and the Middle East -- and how their topography and position "explain" their history and worldview. It's full of delightful tidbits of geographical wisdom, such as the fact that human innovations tend to spread along lines of latitude where the climate is similar, or that North Africa and the northern countries of South America align with their neighbors across the Mediterranean/Caribbean rather their their continent-mates because of a major barrier to the south (the Sahara and Amazon basin respectively).

I don't think Kaplan manages to weave all of his interesting insights into a coherent geopolitical story. It's not for a lack of trying: Part 1 of the book spends far too much time describing the theories of analysts from the past -- all the way back to Herodotus! I also found his analysis of North America less convincing than his analysis of Asia.