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I know that Charles Finney's novel "The Circus of Dr. Lao" is a cult classic and loved by many, but I have to offer the other side of the coin, as the book was a huge disappointment to me. The basic plot has a mysterious asian man appearing in the town of Abalone, AZ, to put on the strangest circus the residents have ever seen. Far from being populated by clowns, acrobats, and animals, Dr. Lao's circus is full of mythological beasts that provide insight into human nature. We are introduced to a cast of cardboard locals who, while serving as a vehicle to introduce the oddities of the circus they attend, play no worthwhile part in the story. Finney's writing style is uneven in the extreme - there are a few bits of brilliance that completely overshadow the predominantly unpolished text. It's almost as if the book is a collection of notes for what would have been a much larger novel, and it could be a work of art if expanded upon and given some direction. As the story is only ~100 pages, expansion would have been appreciated instead of the pointless appendix of characters, creatures, items, and study questions (!) which is oddly in-depth for a story with such lightweight content. The ending of the story is very abrupt and has no real explanation. Nothing is solved, and there is no conclusion: did anyone learn anything from their encounters? We never know.
As a final note, think twice before throwing this one at your kids: this is not a book for children, and while some of the situations may seem somewhat tame by today's trash novel standards, it's obvious that the objective was to titillate readers in 1938. So, if you want something with real focus and a message, I recommend that you view the movie "The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao" instead of reading the source material. The only reason I hold on to this book is because of my love for the movie, as well as the beautiful illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff.
The book develops as the residents of the small town visit each of the exhibits. Each exhibit opens up a world of magic. The author attempts to satirise the residents of the town by contrasting their mundaneness with a world of passion and mystery.
The one exception to this is a dialogue between a sea monster and an office clerk. The sea monster is so large that it could destroy any other creature with a flip of its tale. Its power is dwarfed by the power of the clerk who is unremarkable but representative of the power of humanity as a collective mass.
The climax to the book is one of the most humours pieces of writing in science fiction. This book is now sadly out of print and will probably never be published again. Yet it is a work that deserves to endure for ever.
This is a truly fantastic book. It's amazing that something written so many years ago can make such an engaging read today. The relevance and staying power of this intriguing book is a testament to the author's brilliance. In fact, there are few contemporary American authors I have read that can match Finney's skill and mastery of the English language. The subtleties in the dialogues, the multi-faceted characters, and Finney's brilliant economy of words make it difficult to put this book down.
The story is a timeless one, it is set in an unknown small Arizona town but Finney brings the events magically to life.
I found this a brilliant work that doesn't necessarily fit the modern science fiction genre. It's a refreshing and intellectual break from tired "classics" like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Star Wars.
I first read "The Circus of Dr. Lao" as a teenager and it's characters and events have stayed in my mind all these years. I'm very pleased to see it in print again, and I hope to see more of Finney's works on the shelves soon. He obviously deserves to take his place among the "greats" of American literature.
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The book is well documented and is illustrated with many photographs and documents. It favorably reflects the many years of research and effort by its author to capture the substance and spirit of his home town, and it accurately tells an unusual story, because Blocton was not your ordinary little town.
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Wallace begins with a biographical narrative of both Cope and Marsh, from their family origins and early interest in science, to their maturation as paleontologists and their initial encounters with one another, and on to their growing competition with one another and eventual implacable conflicts and feud. Wallace shows how this really was not primarily a scientific controversy, but a conflict between two very different personalities. Both men were exceedingly gifted, both immensely competitive, and both were extremely neurotic. Of the two, Cope emerges as the more sympathetic, if only because he strikes the reader as the more likable of the two. Marsh is less sympathetic because of the ruthless way he attempts to cut Cope off from all governmental support for his research, and the manner in which he attempts to keep Cope, who was probably the more gifted paleontologist, on the scientific periphery. In fact, Marsh comes across as a completely unlikable person; not even his closest acquaintances seem to have liked him. If Cope emerges as more congenial, he also comes across as more manic, more paranoid, and obsessed.
In the end, one is left with a feeling of disgust at both Marsh (especially Marsh) and Cope's massive stupidity in the entire conflict. Although they had some scientific disagreements, most of their antagonism was generated by who was able to get the most fossils, and the efforts of Marsh to cut Cope completely out of government funding. One is left with a sense of regret that the two great founders of American paleontology were unable to coordinate their efforts and be collaborators instead of competitors.
Anyone enjoying this book might also enjoy Deborah Cadbury's TERRIBLE LIZARD, which tells the story of the birth of paleontology in England at the beginning of the 19th century, a few decades before Cope and Marsh. Sadly, that book also tells the story of a needless feud, with Gideon Mantell taking the Cope role and Richard Owen the Marsh one. The two books make great companion volumes, and jointly make a magnificent introduction to 19th century paleontology.
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Though war with fascism forced him into a sort of hiatus, Coughlin's decline had actually begun with the 1936 Presidential Elections. Unsatisfied with GOP front-runner Alf Landon, and seized by an outright hatred for FDR, Coughlin campaigned fiercely for the Social Justice candidate, William Lemke. Those left unfulfilled by FDR and unimpressed with Landon, flocked to Coughlin and his allies. Among them, Francis Townsend seemed more dignified, GLK Smith had more energy and Huey Long had more savvy, but Coughlin possessed something of the qualities of all three. Though Coughlin had the power, he displayed little interest in using it for even his idea of a greater good, and the social justice ticket ballot was dwarfed even by Landon's showing. By then, Long was dead by an assassin's bullet, and his political machine in Louisiana collapsed under the weight of its own corruption. Emboldened by his landslide, FDR embarked on a strategy to fast-track the New Deal with legislation designed to end run a hostile supreme court and thinly veiled threats to pack the high court if the first idea didn't work out. Coughlin, on the other hand, now embittered with politics, lost much of his dignified veneer. Both in his own tone and those of his followers, Coughlin became more closely identified with all that was bigoted in domestic fascism. By 1940, Coughlin had been sufficiently cut down to manageable size for his own church's hierarchy, and the Bishops silenced him. The threat of prosecution for sedition further kept him in line.
Doanld Warren argues persuasively that Coughlin's defeats - both in 1936 and when war broke out against those he had championed - were far from certain. Coughlin and others had long fed anti-Semitic hysteria in their warnings against the war. When the severity of the war was realized, hysteria against the Jews could have exploded in Coughlin's favor. Warren even cites outbreaks of anti-Jewish violence in American cities. Further, despite the consent decree that immunized Coughlin in return for his silence, the radio priest remained active in using the mail system to search for a new generation of adherents among wartime servicemen. Warren highlights the depths of anti-Semitism in wartime America, but doesn't do the same for the horrific conditions of the depression - conditions that made us ripe for Coughlin and his followers. Also, he loses his focus after 1936, when Coughlin and company become more outright in their bigotry. Lastly, Warren frequently telegraphs his own sentiments against more modern day Coughlins like Pat Robertson and the Moral Majority. Whether today's right wing approximates that of 1936 America is a worthy subject, but one that Warren's asides seem to cursorily accept as true - an indisputable yardstick of conservative religious bigotry. Worse, it telegraphs the author's intention to write for a narrow readership - something Coughlin was doubtless famous for, though admittedly on a higher scale. These faults wouldn't matter if "Radio Priest" wasn't already a compelling book. Luckily, the book is not only compelling, but substantive enough to rise above what's wrong with it as well.
It is hard to believe that Father Coughlin was allowed to stay on the air and spew his poison for as long as he did. I wonder what he would have thought of the death camps? Or would he have found a way to deny the fruit of his hateful, unchristian ravings?
How can anyone not see what going on in the media with the soul murder of the American people by the people the good priest warned us about.
God bless Father Coughlin