Elephant Company

A friend recommended Elephant Company (#1,316) by Vicki Constantine Croke.  I found this non-fiction account absolutely fascinating.  It describes life in a post WWI teak logging camp in Burma where the chief sources of labor were Asian elephants.  Although this way of life was already being phased out by the 1930s, the invasion of the Japanese during WWII spelled the end.  The elephants were prizes for the Japanese, but a group of elephant handlers under the leadership of a British soldier snatched the elephants and a group of struggling refugees right from under the noses of the enemy in a daring escape through the jungle and over the mountains into India.  His name was James Howard ("Bill") Williams.

Williams grew up in Cornwall, fascinated by all living creatures, roaming the countryside on his own.  He went directly into the British Army after finishing secondary school as WWI raged.  With the war finally over, Jim, as he was known to his family, could not settle down at home.  He applied for a position with a British logging company in Burma.  The adventure of an overseas post appealed to him, but the real draw was the chance to work with elephants.  He eagerly learned all he could about them and began to develop new ways of choosing and training them for work in the logging industry.

That knowledge would pay off when World War II broke out, and he was recruited by British special forces to continue working with elephants behind enemy lines, supporting the war effort, and spiriting the valuable animals away from the Japanese to the safety of India.  His daring rescue of the families of Ghurka soldiers stationed in Burma made Elephant Bill a living legend.

There was so much interesting information packed into this biographical book I don't know quite where to start: elephants, of course, but also World War II in Burma.  Ms. Croke tells this true story in such an entertaining way that it's hard to put down.  Also included are a number of photographs and watercolors done by Williams himself.  It's not a new book; it came out about ten years ago, but the story is timeless.  Look out for yourself.  I bet you'll find yourself heading for the nearest spot to observe elephants you can find!

The Big Empty

Elvis Cole takes on a missing persons case for a social media influencer in The Big Empty (#1,315) by Robert Crais in his ongoing series.  Needless to say, it does not go well.

Approaching the tenth anniversary of her father's disappearance, Traci Beller wants to re-open the case after fruitless years of searching.  Elvis finds it hard to turn down the cute girl-next-door muffin baker, so he agrees to look, despite the objections of her manager and staff.  He doesn't expect to find any trace until he does...

And people most definitely do not want him looking.  He calls in Joe Pike for assistance but too late to avoid a beating that leaves him for dead.  All that does is make the pair more determined to solve the case and protect those who might still be in danger.  But you can't unsee something, the quandry Elvis and Joe find themselves in.

I thought I had this one figured out part way through.  I did not!  And I didn't even see it coming!!

If a good mystery/thriller is your cup of tea, you can't do better than Robert Crais' Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series.

John Lewis: A Life

David Greenberg has produced a biography of "Conscience of the Congress" civil rights leader and activist John Lewis worthy of your time in John Lewis: A Life (#1,314).  Rising from a poor rural Alabama farm family through multiple arrests and beatings to a seat in Congress, where at the end of a long and fruitful life, he lay in state in the Capitol rotunda in Washington, this book covers it all.  I came away even more impressed with the man after I read it.

That is not to say that this is a hagiography; far from it.  Greenberg captures his foibles and fumbles as well as the highlights.  What he has done is humanize John Lewis and reveal some of the struggles in both his professional and personal life.

Some of the events covered in Greenberg's book occurred before I was old enough to remember, but many of them I can vividly recall.  Coming across two people in these pages whom I met and spoke with makes me realize my own life is passing into history.  It's rather daunting.  It's also excruciating to realize that many of the gains John Lewis and his co-activists worked so hard to achieve are being hacked away in the Washington, D.C. government of today.  Now that's food for thought!