Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Bully Pulpit, summarized by Laura Flippin by laura-flippin Laura Flippin has been reading "The Bully Pulpit" and recommends the book for anyone, especially those who are particularly enthralled with United States history and/or government. The book is based off real documents and events and offers a whole perspective of the times during the Progression Era, when William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt were best friends up until 1912, when their disagreements lead to Wilson's presidency.

Fleming: The Man Who Would be Bond

Recently, on a long flight from London to Singapore, I discovered the BBC America 4-part miniseries, “Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond” and immediately was almost grateful for the 12-hour flight allowing plenty of screen time. For fans of the 007 books and movies, this show is a new window into the life of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. Fleming served in Naval Intelligence with the British government in World War II, albeit in a desk job, but with plenty of imagination and a desire to be thought of as the dashing hero he would one day create. Fleming and Bond had plenty in common – a playboy reputation with women, a disdain for rules, alcohol in copious amounts and at all times, and fascination with the finest things in life: a great martini, a fabulous antiquarian book, Dunhill cigars, and bespoke suits.

The miniseries, which actually premiered in the USA before airing in Britain in early 2014, covers Fleming’s years during the war. While the creators admit they have taken some liberties, the show is largely true to life, including with respect to Fleming’s ideas for subterfuge and deception of the Nazi military machine. One of his concepts may have held some weight with his superiors, who otherwise seemed to view the future author as a dilettante. Fleming suggested using a corpse dressed in British military attire as a plant for the Nazis, leaving it on the beach with fake military papers in its pocket.

The plan as described by Fleming was never enacted, but the British did use a remarkably similar approach in 1943, when they initiated “Operation Mincemeat,” a plan to leave the dead body of a hobo with military documents that suggested the Allies had battle plans which were in fact fake. The plan actually was carried out and was a success, with the Germans believing, as a result of the faked papers, that the Allies were planning to invade Greece and Sardinia in 1943. Instead, the invasion was planned for Sicily, and took the Nazis by surprise.

Whether or not Fleming was really the creator of this wild scheme is uncertain – although he did work in the same room in the Naval Intelligence Unit where it was planned and developed. But it makes for good history, just as “Fleming: The Man Who Would be Bond” makes for good guilty pleasure and enjoyment.

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Mr. Selfridge

This ITV/Masterpiece series is now in its second season, and has already been booked for a third. Based – loosely – on the life of Harry Selfridge, an American businessman who built the very successful Selfridge & Co., a British department store. Mr. Selfridge had developed his expertise in this industry from his time at Marshall Field department store in Chicago, where he rose from stockboy to junior partner. After that, he founded his own store in Chicago, and shortly thereafter went to London to establish an American-style department store there.

Selfridge’s was a new kind of store to the British, allowing customers to see goods on display and examine them before buying, an idea that was radical in London in 1909. It was a huge hit, and also became known for its now-well repeated slogan: “The customer is always right.” Mr. Selfridge was also something of a showman, hosting exhibits that would attract customers, such a demonstration of the new technology of television in 1925.

The series focuses less on the store, and more on Mr. Selfridge, his wife and a number of employees – many of whom are composites or entirely fictional – who work there. Like “Downtown Abbey” at its finest, “Mr. Selfridge” is guilty of soap-operate drama, and often having rather tortured story lines where everyone panics and then ends up happy before the end of the hour-long episode. That said, the costuming and historical details are a delight to watch, and in particular the second season gives an interesting perspective on life in London at the beginning of the

First World War. That war, often lingering in the shadow of World War II (both in history books and in PBS miniseries), was truly the Great War of its time, and it shows as the characters of “Mr. Selfridge” confront the war at home.

In short, “Mr. Selfridge” isn’t the greatest of British miniseries, but it’s an interesting and enjoyable diversion – Masterpiece Theater at its best.

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