Rowman Now 2022

2022

ISSUE

02

#ROWMANNOW

rowman now EXCERPTS

AND

INSIGHTS

FROM

THIS

SEASON’S

BOOKS

welcome

JANUARY TO JUNE 2022

“

Happy 2022, one and all.

space oddities P.12

After two years of nigh on unprecedented disruption, we are cautiously inching our way back to something approaching normality in the book trade. Bookshops have reopened, those pesky sales reps have recommenced their flying visits, London Book Fair has returned and it increasingly feels we can turn our attention to why we all love this industry: the books.

Rowman Now serves as an introduction to the breadth and quality of Rowman & Littlefield’s latest publishing from across our consumer imprints, including Globe Pequot imprints.

Through selected extracts and author interviews, we’ll introduce seven of our best trade books publishing (pretty much) now.

There’s something for everybody here, from a deep-dive into a Paul McCartney classic to a forensic analysis of General George Patton’s greatest gamble.

There’s so much that we wanted to include in this guide, but sadly couldn’t. Visit issuu.com/rowmaninternational or scan the QR code below to read and download our Trade Highlights Catalogue, which features almost a hundred forthcoming titles.

take a sad song P.22

If you’ve any questions about the titles in this guide or comments on Rowman Now, please do get in touch.

Tim Hardy thardy@rowman.com

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Contents

WWW.ROWMANINTERNATIONAL.COM

ISSUE

02

history 2

MARK TWAIN’S HAWAII: A Humorous Romp through History

4

John richard stephens interview

8

PATTON’S LAST GAMBLE: The Disastrous Raid on POW Camp Hammelburg in World War II

12

SPACE ODDITIES: Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space

14

joe cuhaj interview

music 20

33 1/3 Revolutions per minute: A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era (1955-1999)

24

take a sad song...: the emotional currency of “hey jude”

28

under their thumb: How a Nice Boy from Brooklyn Got Mixed Up with the Rolling Stones (and Lived to Tell About It)

Popular culture 30

planet of the apes: a complete history

34

story mode: Video Games and the Interplay between Consoles and Culture

psychology 36

duped: Why Innocent People Confess – and Why We Believe Their Confessions

38

saul kassin ph.d interview

HISTORY

Below: Twain, photographed in 1907 Facing: Kihei, Hawaii

Introducing

MARK TWAIN’S HAWAII

Mark Twain’s Hawaii: A Humorous Romp

unaccustomed to. In place of the grand mud-

roofed rear additions or in bedroom windows,

through History (TwoDot, July 2022) combines

colored brown fronts of San Francisco, I saw

I saw luxurious banks and thickets of flowers,

Twain’s timeless wit and wisdom in his own

dwellings built of straw, adobes, and cream-

fresh as a meadow after a rain, and glowing with

writings on Hawaii with personal reminiscences

colored pebble-and-shell-conglomerated coral,

the richest dyes; in place of the dingy horrors

by others who met him at that time, and traces

cut into oblong blocks and laid in cement; also a

of San Francisco’s pleasure grove, the “Willows,”

his journey through the region just as he

great number of neat white cottages, with green

and the painful sharp-pointed shrubbery of

experienced it in 1866.

window-shutters; in place of front yards like

that funny caricature of nature which they

billiard-tables with iron fences around them, I

call “South Park,” I saw huge-bodied, wide-

In this extract, Twain reflects on his first

saw these homes surrounded by ample yards,

spreading forest trees, with strange names and

impressions of Honolulu.

about like Portsmouth Square [in Chinatown,

stranger appearance—trees that cast a shadow

_____________________________

San Francisco], thickly clad with green grass,

like a thunder-cloud, and were able to stand

and shaded by tall trees, through whose dense

alone without being tied to green poles; in place

The further I traveled through Honolulu

foliage the sun could scarcely penetrate; in

of those vile, tiresome, stupid, everlasting gold-

the better I liked it. Every step revealed a

place of the customary geranium, calla lily, etc.,

fish, wiggling around in glass globes, assuming

new contrast—disclosed something I was

languishing in dust and general debility on tin-

countless shades and degrees of distortion

2

through the magnifying and diminishing

bay, I saw on the one side a frame-work of

qualities of their transparent prison houses,

tall, precipitous mountains close at hand, clad

I saw cats—Tom-cats, Mary Ann cats, long-

in refreshing green, and cleft by deep, cool,

tailed cats, bob-tailed cats, blind cats, one-eyed

chasm-like valleys—and in front the grand

cats, wall-eyed cats, cross-eyed cats, gray cats,

sweep of the ocean; a brilliant, transparent

black cats, white cats, yellow cats, striped cats,

green near the shore, bound and bordered by a

spotted cats, tame cats, wild cats, singed cats,

long white line of foamy spray dashing against

individual cats, groups of cats, platoons of cats,

the reef, and further out the dead, blue water

companies of cats, regiments of cats, armies of

of the deep sea, flecked with “white caps,”

cats, multitudes of cats, millions of cats, and

and in the far horizon a single, lonely sail—a

all of them sleek, fat, lazy and sound asleep. I

mere accent-mark to emphasize a slumberous

looked on a multitude of people, some white, in

calm and a solitude that were without sound

white coats, vests, pantaloons, even white cloth

or limit. When the sun sunk down—the one

shoes, made snowy with chalk duly laid on

intruder from other realms and persistent in

every morning; women with comely features,

suggestions of them—it was tranced luxury to

fine black eyes, rounded forms, inclining to

sit in the perfumed air and forget that there

the voluptuous, clad in a single bright red or

was any world but these enchanted islands.

white garment that fell free and unconfined from shoulder to heel, long black hair falling

____________________________

loose, gypsy hats, encircled with wreaths of natural flowers of a brilliant carmine tint;

Stephens:

plenty of dark men in various costumes, and

Coming to Hawai‘i is like going from black

some with nothing on but a battered stove-pipe

and white to color. It’s like in the Wizard of Oz

hat tilted on the nose, and a very scant breech-

when the tornado abruptly relocates Dorothy’s

clout [rag]; certain smoke-dried children were

house and she opens her front door to see

clothed in nothing but sunshine—a very neat

the wonderful Land of Oz. You are suddenly

fitting and picturesque apparel indeed.

confronted with an endless summer filled

In place of roughs and rowdies staring and

with flowers in myriad hues, singing birds,

blackguarding on the corners, I saw long-

majestic rainbows (which are often double

Island

rainbows), the most flavorful fruit you’ve

maidens sitting on the ground in the shade of

ever tasted, languorous palm trees swaying

haired,

saddle-colored

Sandwich

corner houses, gazing indolently at whatever or

lazily in the tropical breezes along soft, sandy

whoever happened along; instead of wretched

beaches. Hawai‘i is the land of hula dancers,

cobble-stone pavements, I walked on a firm

luaus, volcanoes, tikis, and Mai Tais, but it’s so

foundation of coral, built up from the bottom

much more than that, as Mark Twain quickly

of the sea by the absurd but persevering insect

discovered.

of that name, with a light layer of lava and

Oddly, some people are immune to Hawai‘i’s

cinders overlying the coral, belched up out of

charms. I just don’t get it. It’s as though they

fathomless perdition long ago through the

are color-blind. But for most people, this exotic

seared and blackened crater that stands dead

paradise makes a lasting impression, so much

and harmless in the distance now; instead of

so that if you’re like me, you’ll think about it

cramped and crowded streetcars, I met dusky

every day you’re not here—wishing you were

native women sweeping by, free as the wind, on

back—as I did for years before I was finally

fleet horses and astride, with gaudy riding

able to move here. For the rest of his life, Mark

sashes

Twain was haunted by Hawai‘i and continually

streaming

like

banners

behind

them; instead of the combined stenches of

dreamt of returning here to live out his days in

Sacramento Street, Chinadom and Brannan

peaceful indolence. This was the start, when the

Street slaughter-houses, I breathed the balmy

scales fell from his eyes.

fragrance of jasmine, oleander, and the Pride

But while at heart Twain was a sentimentalist,

of India; in place of the hurry and bustle and

he also had the practical streak of a realist.

noisy confusion of San Francisco, I moved in the midst of a summer calm as tranquil as dawn in the Garden of Eden; in place of the Golden City’s skirting sand hills and the placid

3

“People who didn’t know twain often thought he was drunk.”

San Francisco. Twain always joked about how lazy he was, but my impression is that he just wanted to be free from the stress and pressures of society. Americans knew Hawai‘i was an exotic paradise. The US had business interests there and the missionaries in Hawai‘i regularly conducted fund raising tours in the states, so news from the islands regularly appeared in just about every newspaper.

Twain’s first impressions of Hawai‘i were formed as a boy in Missouri when he was asked in Sunday school to donate pennies to help convert and educate the “savages”, despite the fact that they had already converted en masse and were actually more literate than many Americans. A year or two before he left for the islands in 1866, Twain became good friends with Charles Warren Stoddard, who was then a poet and later became a famous travel author.

John Richard Stephens, a resident of Hawaii, is

Stoddard had just returned from touring the

the author/editor of 23 books, including Wyatt

South Seas and was loaded with stories. Twain

Earp Speaks, Gold, Commanding the Storm and

knew other people who had gone there and

The Wildest Lives of the Wild West. John’s books

dreamed of going himself, but he turned down

have been recommended by the Preferred

his first chance because of commitments. He

Choice Book Club, the Quality Paperback Book

almost immediately regretted it and within two

Club, the Book of the Month Club and the Civil

months finagled a second chance.

War Trust.

NOW: For his new project, Mark Twain’s Hawaii: A

Twain was still a relatively young man when

Humorous Romp through History (TwoDot,

he undertook the trip, around 10 years away

July 2022), Stephens traces Twain’s journey

from writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

through the island just as he experienced it in

Could you sum up his circumstances – and the

1866. In this exclusive interview, NOW spoke

direction his life seemed to be heading – in

to Stephens about the formative nature of the

1866?

author’s trip, the world’s impression of Hawaii and Twain’s views on the British.

Stephens: Twain left school after the fifth grade when

NOW:

his father died to become an unpaid printer’s

As you explain early in Mark Twain’s Hawaii,

assistant for local newspapers. When he was

Twain clearly held great desire to visit Hawai‘i

eighteen, he set out on his own working for

for a while prior to his maiden trip. Why do you

newspapers in New York City, Philadelphia,

think the islands particularly appealed to him?

Cincinnati, and St. Louis. Then he changed

in Hartford,

careers and became a riverboat pilot on the

Connecticut. By

Stephens:

Mississippi River.

Twain was enticed by the idea of carefree

Facing (left): The book’s cover Facing (right): Mark Twain House

Kenneth C. Zirkel - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://

living on peaceful, laid-back islands, escaping

When the Civil War halted trade on the river,

the drudgery of being a newspaper reporter in

he and his brother headed to what was then

4

commons.wikimedia. org/w/index. php?curid=21778275

the Nevada Territory where he soon became a minor reporter for newspapers there and in

Originally I intended to include everything

surrounded by rain forests, amazing sights,

San Francisco, but he kept landing himself in

he wrote concerning Hawai‘i, but I found that

weird food, scantily clad maidens, rainbows,

hot water with newspaper feuds, provocative

would have added an addition hundred pages to

tikis, skeletons, volcanoes with fiery lava,

humour, and attacks on police corruption and

the book, so I very carefully had to trim it. Still,

ancient gods, and long sandy beaches dotted

racism. After skipping through the frying pan a

I made sure I kept all of the best material and I

with swaying palm trees. Where else can you

couple of times – having to temporarily flee both

even devised ways to keep a few good best bits

read about Twain’s experiences at a nude beach?

Nevada and California – he felt it was a good

that aren’t quite related to the islands. I doubt

He even tried surfing. It’s a perfect recipe for a

time to go exploring.

that anyone will miss what I had to leave out. I

great book that will easily hold your interest.

also felt I needed to add background information On the other hand, he was building up a name

and explanations to provide a full understanding

NOW:

for himself as a humorous writer on the West

of the history and culture of Hawai‘i to

Finding and collating this quantity of Twain’s

Coast. His excursion to Hawai‘i to write a series

illuminate what Twain was experiencing and

material must have been a herculean challenge.

of 25 articles for the Sacramento Union allowed

sometimes didn’t comprehend. Hawaiian culture

Were there any sources that proved particularly

him to expand his talents as he experimented

is particularly fascinating.

tricky to hunt down?

reporting, and critical opinion pieces, although

NOW:

Stephens:

he couldn’t help throwing in some fiction, satire,

What do you think people who enjoy Twain’s

The accounts written by people who met him

and lots of humour. He developed a casual,

more popular work, but know little of his time

while he was traveling through the islands

intimate style that his readers found very

spent travelling in Hawai‘i, will gain from

originally appeared a long time ago in small

refreshing.

reading your book?

publications and privately printed books, many

NOW:

Stephens:

research is my specialty and over four decades

You mention in your introduction that you sadly

Twain was the quintessential American. He was

I’ve become quite good at it, having learned a

had to winnow down your Twain material to the

part Southerner, Midwesterner, Westerner, and

number of tricks for finding obscure things with

most relevant parts. Do you have any favourite

New Englander. And he was very funny. You take

little to go on. I’m also more persistent than a

Twain stories or anecdotes that you couldn’t

him halfway around the world and drop him in

bloodhound. It’s those candid accounts that

include?

the middle of a totally alien culture in a place

provide an unvarnished glimpse into Twain’s

Stephens:

that’s like heaven on earth, where he’s suddenly

personality and add a whole new dimension to

with travel writing, business journalism, society

of which were difficult to get a hold of, but

5

the book.

is why I felt it was important to include that in this book. This is my third book on Hawai‘i,

NOW:

so I’ve written bits about it before, but I’ve

Hawai‘i was, as you note in your book, a Kingdom

mostly researched it on my own just because I

at the time. Could you sum up the prevailing

personally find it very interesting. It was nice to

attitude of the time from Hawaiians to foreigners,

be able to incorporate more of it into this book. I

and Americans specifically?

think people will find it eye-opening.

Stephens:

NOW:

Native Hawaiian culture was, and to some extent

It is noticable throughout his time on the

still is, extremely generous. Twain relates how

islands that Twain seemed to be immediately

he witnessed a Hawaiian row his canoe over

liked by most he met, even amongst those who

treacherous and stormy seas to the boat he was

had not previously heard of him. What was it

on, just so the Hawaiian could give the Captain

about Twain the person, not the writer, that so

some chickens, refusing payment. When such

enraptured and intrigued people, do you think?

a giving culture was confronted by the Western taking culture, it was stressful and adjustments

Stephens:

had to be made, particularly as the taking culture

Twain was awkward, clumsy, and spoke very

began to dominate life on the islands.

slowly with an unusual drawl. People who didn’t know him often thought he was drunk. Yet he

The Hawaiians were acutely aware of how small

captured their attention with humorous stories

their kingdom was and they dreaded that it

and outlandish anecdotes. He was so funny that

could be taken away from them. A rogue British

people were immediately drawn to him. People

officer actually did take over the country for a few

were mesmerized by him.

months, but his superior restored it. Then the French invaded and threatened it. Finally a group

Franklin Austin, who was a boy when Twain

of businessmen, backed by US marines, overthrew

stayed at his ranch on Hawai‘i Island, which we

the monarchy and established a republic, with

usually call the Big Island, put it best when he

it eventually being absorbed into the United

wrote, “I cannot help remarking the strange,

States. Much like the Native Americans, just

apparently hypnotic influence this man’s

about everything was taken away from them

personality shed about him upon everyone,

by a handful of foreigners, but the country was

for sheer joy, happiness and gladness by

thoroughly Christian, so they didn’t fight back.

simply being in his presence.[…] even the tall, handsome athletic Kanaka, who had just guided

NOW:

him out of the canefields, with bright happy

Twain’s early correspondence is littered with

eyes, and who could not understand what he

falsehoods about Hawaiians. While Twain took

said, just laughed from sheer joy when he looked

care to correct these later on, presumably such

at him, and Kekau, the faithful and solemn, would

stereotypes and falsehoods were common at the

look at him, lingeringly, with his one bright eye

time. Is it fair to say that Hawaiians were widely

and, as was his nature, in his doglike way, would

dismissed as a primitive people in the 1860s? If so,

surely have cheerfully laid down his life for him

when did this general perception start to change?

if he had ever been in a fix. He seemed to have a personal and voiceless affinity for all things

greatest writers, described it best when he wrote, “Somehow, the love of the Islands, like the love of a woman, just happens. One cannot determine in advance to love a particular woman, nor can one so determine to love Hawai‘i. One sees, and one loves or does not love. With Hawai‘i it seems always to be love at first sight. Those for whom

natural and human.”

the Islands were made, or who were made for

1970s with the rise of the Hawaiian cultural

NOW:

moments of meeting, embrace, and are embraced.

movement. Things are considerably different

Mark Twain’s Hawaii reads like a love letter to

now, but most people still know very little about

Hawai‘i, via both yours and Twain’s writings. Does

the Hawaiians, their culture, or their history.

your love of Hawai‘i predate discovering Twain’s,

Of course throughout history there have always

or are the two linked?

Stephens:

the Islands, are swept off their feet in the first

I’d say it really didn’t begin to change until the

[…] Truly, Hawai‘i is a woman beautiful and vastly more persuasive and seductive than her sister sirens of the sea.”

Before my first visit, everything I knew about

been people close to the Hawaiians who’ve known

the islands came from the media. I knew it was

it all along, but the general public tends to rely

Stephens:

on stereotypes. Even in Hawai‘i there are big gaps

It predates it, but there’s something universal

in people’s knowledge and understanding, which

going on here. Jack London, another of America’s

6

tropical and exotic, with lots of birds, flowers, and lush vegetation, but I also knew it would

Left: Twain photographed in 1908 via the Autochrome Lumiere process Facing: Queen Lili‘uokalani (1838-1917), the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom

be expensive to go there. My girlfriend Elaine,

are always blowing, its summer seas flashing in

primarily known as a comedian. Newspapers

now my wife, had been there and wanted to

the sun, the pulsing of its surfbeat is in my ear;

routinely dredged up old one-liners of his and

return. When we landed on the island of Kaua‘i,

I can see its garlanded crags, its leaping cascades,

reprinted them. Even in the early 1900s they

I was completely bowled over. Everything was so

its plumy palms drowsing by the shore, its

were reprinting funny bits from his forty-year-

much greater than I could ever have imagined.

remote summits floating like islands above the

old articles and lectures on Hawai‘i. But even his

Afterward I thought about returning every day

cloud-rack; I can feel the spirit of its woodland

most serious books and articles contain ironic,

and we began planning to retire there. A few years

solitudes; I can hear the plash of its brooks, in

sardonic, and humorous flashes. That’s just who

later we were able to go to the Big Island. Elaine

my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that

he was.

was practically crying when we had to leave, so

perished twenty years ago.”

NOW:

we dropped everything, packed up, and after exploring the four main islands, we ended up on

During the construction of his mansion, he

As a Brit, I must ask: did Twain ever express any

Maui. That was in 2010. It was probably the best

wrote in a letter to Stoddard, “The house is full

feelings on Britain or the British? I ask this with a

decision we ever made. We absolutely love it here.

of carpenters and decorators; whereas, what we

hint of trepidation...

really need here, is an incendiary. If the house For me, Twain and Hawai‘i were separate, but I

would only burn down, we would pack up the

Stephens:

realized I could bring the two together. Some

cubs and fly to the isles of the blest[…]. What I

Twain was very popular in Britain, stemming

of what he wrote about the islands has been

have always longed for, was the privilege of living

from his Hawai‘i lectures in the early 1870s and

reprinted in other books, but I knew there was

forever away up on one of those mountains in the

he eventually began publishing his books in the

more. Also these books reprinted his articles

Sandwich Islands [Hawai‘i] overlooking the sea.”

UK months before they came out in the States. He built up quite a following. So Brits were able to

in the order they were published, but Twain skipped around and mixed things up. I decided

NOW:

read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer more than

to tear everything apart and reconstruct it to try

Late in the book, you convincingly relate Twain’s

six months before it was published in America.

to recreate his journey as he experienced it. I’ve

lectures to a modern stand-up comedy routine.

added dates and locations, so you can come to the

Do you think there’s value in modern readership

When he went to Hawai‘i in 1866, he was very

islands and follow his footsteps day to day to see

viewing Twain as a comedian, rather than simply

prejudiced against the British. British soldiers

where he was and what he was doing. It’s amazing

a writer?

had sacked the White House half-a-century

to stand on a spot where he once stood or walk

earlier and patriotic fervor in the US was still

where he walked while reading his description of

Stephens:

very anti-British, but Twain’s prejudices were

what he saw and encountered.

There’s definitely value in appreciating all of

completely reversed by the time he arrived in

his abilities. He was a great author, comedian,

London in 1873. He later wrote, “Travel is fatal

NOW:

satirist, critic, travel writer, opinion writer,

to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,

Do you think Twain’s time in Hawai‘i changed

essayist, and public speaker. He wasn’t a very good

and many of our people need it sorely on these

him? How did he subsequently reflect on its

newspaper reporter, though. For him, catching

accounts.” He came to love Britain.

significance?

and maintaining people’s interest was much more important than accuracy. But his other

______________________________

Stephens:

talents more than make up for that deficiency.

Just as Jack London described, Twain was

All of those talents feature prominently in this

Mark Twain’s Hawaii: A Humorous Romp through

completely smitten with Hawai‘i and it haunted

book. There’s even the story behind his one great

History (Hardback, 9781633887848, £20.95) edited by

him the rest of his life. Years later in a dinner

news scoop. Now we remember him for his classic

John Richard Stephens publishes July 2022.

speech he reminisced, “For me its balmy airs

novels, but throughout most of his life he was

7

HISTORY

Patton’s last gamble

Eisenhower at his headquarters. “I have just pissed in the Rhine.”

Then, when he got to the end of the bridge and started to set foot on German soil for the first time, he pretended to stumble, fell down on one knee, and grabbed some mud and dirt in each hand. Holding both hands up for everyone to see what they held, he proclaimed proudly, “Thus, William the Conqueror.” He was

The Disastrous Raid on POW Camp Hammelburg in World War II

recreating the gesture made by the Norman duke who, when he set foot on British soil in 1066 for the first time, said, “See, I have taken England with both hands.”

Patton knew his history. Three months earlier, he had said, “I’ve studied military history all my life. Georgie Patton knows more about military history than any other person in the United States Army today. With due conceit—and I’ve got no end of that—I can say that’s true.” And he also knew how to make his own history.

Patton’s Last Gamble: The Disastrous Raid

He was once again at the height of his power

on POW Camp Hammelburg in World War II

and glory that month of March 1945. A week

(Stackpole Books, June 2022) recounts one of

before he crossed the Rhine, he had written in

George Patton’s greatest mistakes: creating a

his diary that he and his victorious Third Army

special task force to venture more than fifty

were “the eighth wonder of the world.” He was

miles behind enemy lines and liberate a POW

not exaggerating, at least not by much. He had

camp near Hammelburg, Germany. The camp

done the seemingly impossible time after time,

held some 1,500 American prisoners, including

becoming one of the most famous generals in

Patton’s son-in-law. Hampered by ambushes

American history.

and a lack of fuel and even maps, the raid was a

The year before, in August 1944, while driving

nigh on total disaster.

through a battlefield in France strewn with hundreds of bloated and blackened dead

In this adapted extract, author Duane Schultz

soldiers amidst fields of burned-out tanks, he

explains how this ultimately doomed mission

had turned to his aide and said, “Just look at that,

came to pass.

Codman. Could anything be more magnificent? . . . Compared to war, all other forms of human

____________________________

endeavor shrink to insignificance. God, how I love it.”

George Patton walked confidently across a

Three months before crossing the Rhine, on

hastily constructed pontoon bridge over the

December 26, he had broken through German

Rhine River leading from France to Germany,

lines to relieve the besieged American troops at

looking like the conquering hero he was. He

Bastogne in one of the most brilliant military

stopped halfway over, checked to make sure the

feats of the war. He had quickly shifted three

photographer was ready to record the historic

divisions of his Third Army 90 degrees to the

event, and then undid his fly. “Time out for a

north and sent them through roads covered

short halt,” he said to his aides. “I have been

with snow and ice in only forty-eight hours, to

looking forward to this for a long time.” Later

the astonishment of everyone.

that same day, he sent a message to General

Then, in March 1945, his tanks covered 65

8

Right: Patton atop a tank near Brolo, Sicily, in 1943

miles from their former front line in only two days, speeding along on a single highway from the German Siegfried line, in a column that was only about 25 feet wide, all the way to the Rhine. His flanks were entirely unprotected, but Patton did not concern himself with that.

He happily let the Army Air Corps worry about his flanks, and they obliged, strafing and bombing every enemy target they could find, and doing an excellent job of it. The important thing for Patton was simply to keep moving relentlessly, as far and as fast as possible every day. And so his tanks and men stopped for nothing, not even, so it was claimed, for a retreating German parachute division, which they beat in a race to the river. And Patton’s force crossed the river with the loss of only twenty-eight men.

But more important to Patton, he had beaten his hated British rival, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who had been preparing for days to make a massive crossing of the Rhine farther north. So swift was Patton’s crossing and consolidation of a huge bridgehead on the other side that nobody at headquarters knew about it yet. The next morning, March 23, Patton telephoned his immediate commander, Gen. Omar Bradley, and shouted over the phone.

“Brad,” he said, “don’t tell anyone, but I’m across.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Bradley replied. “You mean, across the Rhine?”

“Sure am,” Patton said. “I sneaked a division over last night. But there are so few Krauts around there they don’t know it yet. So don’t make any announcements. We’ll keep it a secret until we see how it goes.”

The news did not stay a secret for long. A few hours later, Patton’s liaison officer at Bradley’s headquarters proudly told the press about Patton’s crossing of the Rhine. By then, it did not make any difference because the Germans had found out on their own, and the next day they sent 150 fighter planes to strafe and bomb Patton’s troops and the pontoon bridges they had built across the river. The German attack did little damage, however, and that evening Patton called Bradley again and screamed even louder over the phone in his curiously squeaky, highpitched voice.

“Brad, for God’s sake, tell the world we’re across!

We knocked down thirty-three Krauts [aircraft] today when they came after our pontoon bridges. I want the world to know Third Army

9

made it before Monty starts across.”

“This operation is stupendous,” he wrote to his wife, Beatrice. Congratulations and praise poured in from Eisenhower, Patton’s fellow

Left: The book’s

generals, President Roosevelt, Secretary of

cover Facing: Patton with

War Henry Stimson, and Winston Churchill.

Henry Kent Hewitt,

Public opinion polls conducted back home in

off the coast of North Africa, 1942

the States showed that Patton was consistently rated as the most popular of all of Eisenhower’s generals. Even the enemy, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, said later that Patton was the best American general of them all.

Newspapers and magazines devoted huge coverage to Patton—more than to any other

mean one thing—something bad was about to

general in the European theater, which irked

happen. Patton himself wrote to his wife on

both Eisenhower and Bradley. Two weeks after

March 23, ‘I am really scared by my good luck.’

he crossed the Rhine, Time magazine did a

He was right to be worried. Perhaps the most

cover story on Patton, reporting an alleged

controversial episode of Patton’s career was

incident involving Eisenhower. “When asked

about to unfold.”

where the fast-moving Patton was, Ike replied,

That was when he decided to take the biggest

‘Hell, I don’t know. I haven’t heard from him in

gamble of his career and put into effect what

three hours.’ ”

one army historian called “the most fascinating

On March 25, Palm Sunday, the day after Patton

yet enigmatic military escapade in the

pissed in the Rhine, his beloved 4th Armored

European theater during World War II.” It was a

Division raced ahead to the next natural

mission to a POW camp located 60 miles behind

barrier, the Main River. The first unit to reach

German lines in a tiny town few Americans had

the river, Combat Command B, was led by

ever heard of, called Hammelburg.

newly promoted, thirty-year-old Col. Creighton

If the mission to Hammelburg failed, and the

Abrams, who was one of Patton’s favorite

real reason behind it became known, he would

officers. His men found a railroad bridge still

end his illustrious army career in absolute

standing, though they could see bombs that

disgrace and shame. He would go down in

the Germans had strapped to the girders. It

history as one of the most reviled military

was ready to be blown up to stop the American

commanders of World War II for having

advance.

deliberately exposed his men to mortal danger

Men of the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion,

for what everyone would know was a highly

led by Lt. Col. Harold Cohen, made their way

personal and selfish reason on his part. Even if

cautiously out onto the bridge and, one by one,

the mission succeeded, he could still be vilified

disarmed the bombs. The battalion then

for risking several hundred lives to save one

went over the bridge and set up a defensive

man who might not even be at Hammelburg.

perimeter on the other side.

The consequences would be far worse than

Patton’s men were once again deeper into

what happened to him after the slapping

Germany than any other Allied unit, and both

incidents two years before in Sicily, which had

Abrams and Cohen, as well as a bad case of

almost cost him his command.

hemorrhoids, were about to play leading roles

He survived that embarrassing setback to his

in what happened next. It seemed that nothing

career and again became a national hero, but

could stop Gen. George Smith Patton Jr.

he knew he would not be so fortunate if word

“Patton was a hero,” historian Michael Keane

got out about the real purpose of his mission

writes, “to his men, to his superiors at SHAEF

to Hammelburg. The war in Europe was going

[Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary

to end in a matter of weeks, and he would not

Force], to the public, and to the press. In the

be needed anymore. His service, his career, his

experience of George Patton this could only

reputation, his role in history would all be in

10

“Caravaggio threatened to beat up painters who imitated his style. He did beat up a waiter, ostensibly for having served him a plate of overcooked artichokes.”

jeopardy. But that did not stop him.

Pass, Patton was frantic with worry and

The mission to Hammelburg would last only

The incidents in Sicily could be explained away,

personally sent a graves registration team to

forty hours over two nights and a day from start

his defenders argued, by the stress he was under

comb the dead in search of this one man at the

to finish, a blink of an eye in the many months

at the time leading his successful campaign

battle site. They did not find him. Patton himself

and years that World War II in Europe lasted. It

there. They could even be described as a one-

walked among the debris of the battle and picked

was only one of hundreds of decisions Patton

time overreaction on the spur of the moment.

up an ammunition clip from what was left of an

made during the war. Yet, it stood out enough for

His defenders said it was simply Patton being his

American tank; he sent it to the man’s two young

Patton’s biographer to describe it as “the most

usual impetuous self. Even one of the soldiers

children to serve as a memento of their father if

controversial military decision of his career, and

he slapped seemed to almost rally to Patton’s

he did not return.

one that many would argue ranked as his worst.”

defense when he said, “I think he was suffering a

Finally, several weeks later, the man’s name

Before it even began, Creighton Abrams and

little battle fatigue himself.”

appeared on a prisoner of war list of the

Harold Cohen, who had to plan the raid, both

The Hammelburg operation would, in sharp

Germans. John Knight Waters was Patton’s son-

called it a suicide mission. So did Capt. Abe

contrast, be recognized as a deliberately

in-law. Patton would later deny to everyone,

Baum, the man chosen to lead the rescue force

planned, conscious decision made for a highly

including Waters, that he knew Waters was at

to Hammelburg. Sgt. Nat Frankel, a tanker who

personal and selfish reason that had nothing to

Hammelburg, and, indeed, he did not know for

made it through the war in Patton’s 4th Armored

do with defeating the Germans and ending the

certain that he was there. Patton would also

Division, called the mission “stupid and selfish.”

war.

claim that the purpose of the mission had been

Patton’s gamble, as Bradley later wrote, “began

Patton was willing to take such a gamble to save

to rescue all of the POWs at Hammelburg, not

as a wild goose chase and ended as a tragedy.”

just one man. The man was a lieutenant colonel,

just one man.

Bradley called it “foolhardy” and said it was

a graduate of West Point who had been captured

Patton was so worried about public criticism

“doomed from the start.” He was right.

in North Africa two years earlier, in 1943, by

and possible censure for what he was about to

______________________________

Erwin Rommel’s famed Afrika Korps. He was a

do that he classified the mission as top secret,

Patton’s Last Gamble: The Disastrous Raid on POW

tanker and former cavalry officer like Patton.

meaning that nothing was to be said to the press

Camp Hammelburg in World War II (Paperback,

When he was listed as missing in action not far

and that his men were not to talk about it to

9780811770903, £16.95) by Duane Schultz publishes

from the major American defeat at Kasserine

anyone.

June 2022.

11

HISTORY

Introducing

SPACE ODDITIES

Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s

To say that mankind’s voyages into space would

reassembling them for test flights. Along with

Exploration of Space (Prometheus, August 2022)

not be possible were it not for test flights

Cambridge Research Laboratories, the Air Force

brings unknown, offbeat and obscure stories of

conducted with a multitude of animals is an

modified several of the rockets, increasing the

space to life. Author Joe Cuhaj also sheds light

understatement. But these unwitting heroes of

body length by sixty-five inches and configuring

on the human aspects of space travel that have

the space age—frightened and alone in a tight-

the warhead section so that it could be used to

remained industry secrets – until now.

fitting sealed capsule—often paid the ultimate

hurl scientific instrumentation and biological

price in the name of science and exploration.

specimens to the edge of space.

The most famous animal astronaut was the

Early test flights of the modified V-2 rockets,

Soviet Union’s dog Laika, but before Laika’s

complete with fruit flies onboard as their initial

Before a human could safely fly into space, a

ill-fated journey, the United States had already

payload, exploded only minutes after launch.

myriad of questions had to be answered: What

been sending animals to the edge of space. It all

Still, Project Blossom forged ahead as engineers

are the dangers of cosmic radiation? How will

began with Project Blossom.

prepared to begin experiments using rhesus

the body handle weightlessness? Can a human

As the German rocket scientists that surrendered

monkeys as their test subjects. Monkeys, they

handle the forces exerted on it during launch?

to the Americans at the end of World War II

believed, were docile and able to learn and

How can we find the answers to these questions

began settling into their new assignments

perform complex tasks. And, of course, they

without sacrificing human life?

in the deserts of Texas and New Mexico, the

were as close to a human subject as they could

The answer to the last question was simple for

team was reunited with the parts from their

get without actually flying a human.

engineers—launch animals into space.

captured V-2 rockets and began the process of

The capsules that were designed for the flights

_____________________________

12

were a snug fit to say the least—a cylindrical enclosure measuring three feet long and twelve

Facing: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, photographed by Neil Armstrong Below: The book’s cover

inches in diameter, just big enough to secure a nine-pound monkey and cram scientific equipment around it in the nose cone. The anesthetized monkey was placed in a foam seat attached to a metal rack. A net suit then was placed around the monkey before he was strapped in. The entire unit—monkey and all—was slid into the small capsule, sealed inside, and the cabin pressurized.

The pressurization of the capsule proved to be a thorn in engineer’s side. When fully pressurized, the walls of the capsule bowed out much like a balloon. Metal reinforcements were added to prevent this. The following test revealed numerous holes in the capsule, which allowed oxygen to shoot out like geysers.

Technicians made the decision to re-weld all of the seams and, for good measure, added a healthy slathering of caulking around those welds. Consider it a high-tech duct tape fix.

While the capsules were being readied, several test subjects were training at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. During training, one of the monkeys escaped from his handler and was on the lam. Military police and base personnel scrambled to find the missing monkey, but he was elusive.

Three weeks after his great escape, the project manager, First Lieutenant David Simons,

“general besmirchment of her clean kitchen.”

decided to press on with the launch.

received a message from the Tampa Police

With the monkeys back in their proper place

On the launch pad, the V-2 emitted a short-

Department stating that they had caught a

and all of the kinks in capsule design having

lived puff of white smoke from its tail section.

monkey and asking if it belonged to the officer.

been ironed out, another V-2 was prepared

Within seconds the engine ignited, sending

As Simons later described:

for launch and, for the first time, would have

a pool of orange flame radiating across the

“It seemed this monkey was tired of the Air

a monkey as a passenger. The launch occurred

ground around its base. The rocket’s engine

Force base and wandered off into town a

on June 11, 1948. Engineers strapped a rhesus

burst fully to life and the black-and-white

few miles away. It stuck its nose into a lady’s

monkey named Albert into his seat, attached

rocket shot off the launch pad, its flame cutting

kitchen one morning and began to snoop

sensors to his body, then loaded him into the

the desert sky like a knife.

around. The lady happened to be a meticulous

V-2. According to Simons, Albert’s capsule

At an altitude of thirty-eight and a half miles,

housekeeper, especially in the kitchen. Her

was so small that the monkey’s head had to be

the engine prematurely shut down. An engine

concept of neatness naturally did not include

“placed into a cramped, forward position with

valve had failed. The rocket began plunging

having a monkey crawling around among her

the neck acutely flexed.”

down. Upon reaching 25,000 feet, the nose cone

saucers and teacups. So, she made the mistake

After Albert was sealed in and the countdown

separated and continued its plummet toward

of trying to remove the monkey from her

clock started, the mission team settled in to

Earth. The parachutes deployed but couldn’t

cupboard by force. The monkey took exception

track Albert’s vital signs during the flight.

flare due to the thin atmosphere at that

to her attack. He started throwing teacups and

Not long after, the team discovered that they

altitude. By the time the nose cone reached the

saucers in her direction. She and the monkey

were not picking up any readings from Albert’s

thicker lower atmosphere and the parachutes

then began running around and around her

sensors. Engineers began troubleshooting

grasped enough air to unfurl, the impact ripped

kitchen, until it became rather the worse for

the issue and realized that there were only

the chutes apart, the nose cone carrying its tiny

wear!”

two possible answers: either the sensors were

passenger hit the desert floor, tumbling end

The incident was settled in court with the

defective or Albert had died. This late in the

over end. If Albert wasn’t dead at launch, he

woman winning several hundred dollars for

countdown, the engineers did not want to open

surely died on impact.

emotional damages, broken dishes, and the

the capsule and check on its passenger and

13

“There are so many stories that didn’t fit into the pages of Space Oddities.”

eloquently about your earliest memory of witnessing space travel on television. Is this a project you’d been planning – consciously or otherwise – for a long time?

Cuhaj: I guess you could say it has been in the planning stages for many years. I just didn’t know it. I would read or hear many of these stories over the years and tuck them away in the back of my mind. It wasn’t until I had finished writing another book on the history of the town and area I currently live in – Mobile, Alabama – that I realized just how much I love history and writing about it.

When writing that book which became Hidden

History of Mobile, I found myself gravitating to obscure stories found in the city’s early newspapers that have been long since forgotten.

Joe Cuhaj grew up in New Jersey as a space

Tales about everyday life here in the Port City

fanatic. He would skip school to watch every

– the struggles and humorous anecdotes that

launch and recovery from the late Mercury

made the city what it is. The book went from

missions to the final Skylab mission all while

a stodgy old history book with “this happened

building and flying model rockets. Cuhaj, a

on this date”, to retelling those lost tales, the

Navy veteran and former radio broadcaster, is

human side of city’s history that has been lost

now an author and freelance writer.

for years.

In his new project, Space Oddities: Forgotten

That got me thinking about those odd and

Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space

obscure space stories I had heard and my love

(Prometheus,

author

of the space program. I told a couple of the

demystifies nigh on every element of the

stories to some friends in casual conversation

increasingly forgotten space race. In this

just to see what their reaction would be, and it

exclusive interview, NOW spoke to Cuhaj about

was what I had hoped for: “There should be a

the human side of space travel, the possibility

book about that!”

August

2022),

the

of Apollo 11’s failure and wake-up call songs.

And now there is.

NOW: Could you sum up Space Oddities in one

NOW:

sentence?

You note at the start of the book that you’re not ‘your standard rocketry nerd’, instead being

Cuhaj:

drawn to the ‘stories behind the story’. You

Space Oddities tells the unknown, offbeat, and

seem, in your writing, more interested in the

obscure stories of spaceflight, bringing the

human side of the space race. Why do you think

human side of man’s greatest adventure to life.

this is?

NOW:

Cuhaj:

At the start of Space Oddities, you write

When I was a kid, I used to love getting up at

14

Below: Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell arrive on the aircraft carrier USS Wasp after the Gemini 12 mission

2am and pull out my dad’s portable radio that had

astronauts and engineers. A lot of material was

the lunar samples brought back by the Apollo

shortwave bands on it. I would tune in to radio

pulled from video interviews preserved by NASA,

missions. There was a real fear that there

stations from around the world. Every station

C-SPAN, and the Library of Congress. I can’t tell

could be organisms in the samples that could

would start the broadcast with the news, but for

you how many times I will be watching television

contaminate and endanger life on Earth. Special

most stations, that was sheer propaganda, but

or flipping through our cable provider’s guide on

precautions and facilities were established to

after that, they would air shows focusing on the

the TV and hear or see something that would

quarantine the astronauts and samples and

country’s history and culture. That fascinated

grab my attention. It could be a simple word, a

protect the planet.

me – hearing first-hand how people lived, their

phrase, but it was always something that related

beliefs, their history from various parts of the

to what I was writing about. I would jot it down

After Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins

world.

then off I would go to research it, heading

had issues with NASA’s plan to keep the Earth

down the rabbit hole to find books (I built quite

safe. According to the astronauts, lunar dust

That side of life fascinates me. There are so

a library), videos, audio, a treasure trove of

would cling to everything so dusting off the

many people who contribute to our life that

sources to build the story upon.

moon walkers before entering the command module for the return trip home was virtually

go unseen, their stories untold. They all have a story to tell. We all know the headlines, but what

NOW:

impossible so one would think that it would get

– and who - went into making that moment?

There are some hilarious anecdotes and stories

into the capsule. After splashdown, when Navy

in the book. Do you have any favourites? Are

SEALS opened the capsule, presumably those

NOW:

there any that narrowly missed the cut or

organisms would escape into the atmosphere.

The level of detail you profile oft-forgotten

couldn’t be included for other reasons?

The astronauts would then don special

space race figures in is remarkable. How difficult did it prove to research the score of individuals

Cuhaj:

protective suits with respirators before hopping

you’ve written about? Presumably, you had to

Oh, yes. There are many more stories that

into a life raft. Before getting on board the

consult numerous archives and sources.

just didn’t fit into the pages of Space Oddities.

helicopter that would transport them to the

In fact, I am currently completing a 10-part

recovery ship, the SEALS would take rags and

Cuhaj:

podcast series to tell a few of these stories that,

disinfectant and scrub the astronauts down. The

It was remarkably easier than you might think.

if I finally finish producing them, will debut

rags would then be tied to a weight and tossed

The NASA history department is incredible,

March 14th. More details to come.

into the ocean. Now the moon organisms would contaminate the ocean.

documenting every little detail of every mission ever flown, preserving interviews with

One that stands out deals with the handling of

15

Later when scientists were examining the

tragic death. There was no plan by the Soviets to

samples, one researcher ground up a piece of

bring her back alive. A horrible death that could

moon rock and was injecting the material into

have been prevented.

eggs. Don’t ask me why. I’m a writer not a scientist.

Anyway, the hypodermic needle with the material

NOW:

the researcher was using slipped off the egg

John F. Kennedy’s longstanding offer of a joint

puncturing her glove and injecting her with the

space venture with the USSR is very surprising to

material. She was the first person vaccinated with

a modern reader. Do you think there was ever any

lunar dust. After quarantining, it was determined

realistic chance that could happen?

that the material had no effect on humans.

Cuhaj: NOW:

I don’t believe so. The Cold War was getting

I particularly enjoyed the sections raising serious

chillier. The Soviets believed that they were ahead

ethical questions concerned with the space race.

in the space race and that their technology was

Where do you stand on the recruiting of German

far more advanced than the U.S. While there were

rocket scientists to lead American rocket efforts

some narrow agreements reached, I do not believe

after WWII?

that an actual joint manned mission was possible in the 1960s.

Cuhaj: That is a complicated question, about as

NOW:

complicated as the man who led the scientists,

Your book touches on an interesting point: that

Werhner von Braun. We are all grateful that his

congress had substantially slashed the Apollo

team launched the west’s first satellite, put our

missions’ funding even before the first moon

first man in space, and landed us on the moon

landing. What factors contributed to this, do you

giving the U.S. unprecedented technological

think?

prestige and which resulted in many benefits through spinoffs for all of us. He also supported

Cuhaj:

the effort to desegregate NASA facilities.

You must remember the time we were living in,

But then there is that war record. Their dream

what was happening across the country at the

was to always use rockets to explore space and

time: civil rights battles were being waged; the war

eventually send a man into space but developing

in Vietnam was raging on; poverty was ravaging

rockets for the NAZI’s and building them with

the country. Those in Congress had enormous

slave labor from POW camps with a blind eye.

pressure on them to address these issues. As

That’s where it gets complicated. I can see where

it was becoming clear that the U.S. would reach

it was a means to the end for the rocket scientists,

President Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on

but at what cost?

the moon, even before the first landing occurred,

Again, a very complicated

these Earthbound issues had to be conquered and

question.

re-directing funding was the answer.

NOW: Laika, the first animal to orbit the earth, receives

At the same time, though, it seemed like the

her due in the book. However, the chapter also

politicians could not see beyond the immediate.

covers myriad other animals who achieved

Space exploration, with its promise and hope for a

aviation firsts. Why do you think Laika captured

better life here on Earth, seemed to escape them.

the world’s imagination so much, to the degree

To me, it almost looked like they had the attitude

that she’s still widely remembered today?

of, “ok, we land on the moon. That’s the end of it.”

Cuhaj:

It’s good to see they eventually came back around.

While it was an incredible feat to send a live animal into space and orbit the Earth, I think

NOW:

Laika is mainly remembered today because of her

Your writing is effective at humanising those who

16

Top to bottom:

participated in space missions. Do you have a favourite of

A replica of Sputnik 1

the individuals profiled in the book?

John F. Kennedy inspects the Mercury capsule, 1962 Romanian stamp from 1959 with Laika (the caption reads “Laika, first traveller into cosmos”)

Cuhaj:

Facing: Astronaut John Glenn wearing his space suit

Thank you for that. There isn’t any one favorite from the

before the flight of Project Mercury, 1963

book overall. There are too many.

For astronauts, Wally Schirra stands out. After writing the book I had a newfound respect for him. I knew everyone called him a “jokester”, but I didn’t know how deep his sense of humour went until I started digging deeper. He was quite a funny guy but when it came to a mission, he was dead serious. In the first flight of the Apollo capsule after the Apollo 1 fire, he made sure that the entire flight of Apollo 7 was by the book. There would be no deviations from the flight plan even when Mission Control tried to add new items to their checklist.

Another name that comes to mind after writing Space

Oddities is former NASA administrator Thomas Paine. His meeting with civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy just before the launch of Apollo 11 and his words with the reverend were heartfelt and sincere and really touched me.

NOW: The “In the Event of Moon Disaster” document in the Nixon archives is incredibly detailed, making the thought of Apollo 11’s failure very palpable. What do you think the mission’s legacy would be today had Armstrong and Aldrin died on the moon’s surface?

Cuhaj: The U.S. came back from the tragic Apollo 1 fire to eventually land the first men on the moon, but I don’t know how you come back from something like that. I imagine that eventually, years later, we would probably regroup yet again and make a successful landing and return. We are like that – tenacious, but it would take quite a while before NASA and the public could move forward.

Imagine looking up at the moon every night, knowing that two men from Earth will be there for ever more. It’s a chilling vision.

NOW: If you were an astronaut flying a mission, what would your preferred wake-up call song be, and who would perform it?

Cuhaj: Good question. My first thought was about my old band that

17

started in high school and still get together every

hope that all necessary precautions are taken to

few years and record a song or two just for fun.

prevent a tragic accident which could set getting

I could see my bandmates writing a special song

civilians regularly into space back years.

for the occasion. They’ve done that in the past and surprised me. I would love that.

NOW:

But thinking about a true wake-up song, it would

If you could be involved in any space mission,

have to be the classic Beatles’ song, Penny Lane.

which would you pick and why? What role would

That song always reminds me of a small town in

you want to fulfil?

northern New Jersey where I grew up. The main street through town had the same vibe to it as the

Cuhaj:

song conveys. I had great times there growing up.

Personally, I’m not as interested in going to the

Now, if you could get Paul McCartney to perform

moon and Mars as I am in orbiting the Earth. I

it for me…

have heard so many astronauts return from their first flight into space talk about the awe-inspiring

NOW:

view of the planet far below and the realization

Where do you stand on the recent trend of

of how fragile it really is that I would love to

billionaires launching their own space race? I’m

experience that feeling. Just look at the reaction

sure there’d be more than few outlandish stories

actor William Shatner had to his short 15-minute

to mine for a future book...

flight on the New Shepard spacecraft in 2021.

Cuhaj:

I’d be happy with spending some time on the

I have mixed feelings about billionaires in space.

International Space Station as a journalist or

On the one hand, I see it as a publicity stunt. Jeff

writer to document life aboard the ISS from the

Bezos is sending celebrities into space to get media

perspective of an average person. When I was

attention. While I think it’s great that one of the

in radio, I applied for NASA’s Journalist in Space

Mercury 13, Wally Funk, finally had a chance to

program during the space shuttle years but never

fly, “Captain Kirk” (William Shatner) finally made

heard back. Maybe one day.

it to space, and the daughter of the first American astronaut Laura Shepard Churchley, followed in

______________________________

her father’s footsteps, it’s a dangerous business that has very little, if any, regulations and isn’t

Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s

something to play around with.

Exploration of Space (Paperback, 9781633887848, £16.95) by Joe Cuhaj publishes August 2022.

On the other hand, isn’t that how the airline industry began? Once the airplane first took wing, inventors built upon the technology one step at a time. To make that happen, they needed public support. The more outlandish a test flight was, the better chance that the media would cover it and if it was successful, the chances of gaining financial backing increased.

To get more exposure, celebrities would take a seat on these flights and the aircraft company would gain even more exposure and more backers.

Millionaires would buy seats on flights helping to ensure money was coming in to fund further research.

I guess we’ll have to see how it plays out and

18

Above: Space Shuttle Columbia in 1996

2022

Outdoor Pursuits Catalogue

Available to read and download now on Issuu issuu.com/rowmaninternational 19

MUSIC

33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute

33

1/3

Left: The book’s cover Below: Mick Jagger, 1965. The first Rolling Stones single was released in 1963 Facing: Joan Baez and Bob Dylan perform at 1963’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Revolutions Per Minute: A Critical Trip

Through the Rock LP Era (1955-1999) (Backbeat, September 2022) is a history of the rock LP era told though critiques of a very personal selection of nearly 700 albums. It follows rock and roll from its earliest days in the 1950s to the explosion of the British Invasion, soul, folk rock, and psychedelia in the 1960s, on through the classic rock and punk albums of the 1970s, new wave classics of the 1980s, and alternative rock discs of the 1990s.

In this extract, author Mike Segretto explains how popular music changed forever in 1963. ____________________________ Albums weren’t a huge concern in the rock and

as the arrival of the very first Beatles album.

that reached the shores of Liverpool and

roll world of 1963. Until that point, Elvis Presley

Moving forward, we shall pay special attention

snagged even more when they hooked up with

and Ricky Nelson were the only rock and rollers

to this band, and if you don’t already know why,

manager Brian Epstein, who also managed the

to have number one albums in the United

then this book may actually have some value

record department of his father’s music shop,

States. The single continued to be the preferred

after all.

NEMS, where the boys discovered songs by the

medium, and it would remain in that position

But it wasn’t just the Beatles pushing rock and

likes of Barrett Strong and the Donays that

until 1967, the first year a group of electric-

roll forward, up the hill, and to the cliff’s edge

would fill out their own LPs. Down in Dartford,

guitar pickers had the number one album of the

of art. Not everyone of their countrypeople the

Mick Jagger had the brain wave of placing mail

year (though More of the Monkees was the one

Beatles dragged along with them would play an

orders with Chess Records, and he and Keith

album the Monkees released that year on which

integral role in the evolution of the rock and

Richards totally geeked out when Richards

they didn’t do much guitar picking).

roll album (sorry, Gerry and the Pacemakers;

spotted Jagger toting his latest acquisitions

There had been great rock and roll LPs

forgive me, Freddie and the Dreamers; sincerest

by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, which

before 1963, though most were more like

apologies, Herman’s Hermits), but the ones who

reignited a childhood friendship and led them

singles compilations fattened with filler than

would—naturally, I’m thinking of fellow A-list

to form their own band. Pete Townshend had

thoughtfully conceived statements. However,

British invaders such as the Rolling Stones,

his own bout of drooling after his American

in 1963, artists such as Phil Spector, Sam Cooke,

and the Who—would impact the art in ways the

roommate at art school, Tom Wright, was

Roy Orbison, and Bob Dylan set the changeover

Beatles did not always think to do first. The guys

deported for pot possession and left behind his

in motion with truly fine LPs conceived to be

in these groups were not only among rock and

enviable collection of blues and jazz discs.

just that.

roll’s biggest superstars but also its highest-

Rock and roll may have straight up ceased to

Yet no element of 1963 was as alchemically

profile record geeks. The Beatles snapped up all

be if it wasn’t for these geeks. Following a

integral to zooming the rock LP into the future

the latest and most obscure American records

period when many of the first wave of rockers

20

were out of commission—jailed, drafted, or

neighbors. Americans tended to stereotype

lack of melanin also explains why his utterly

fiddling with born-again salvation— America

England as a tiny, quaint burg of manners and

lifeless renditions of “Ain’t That a Shame” and

had Roy Orbison, Del Shannon, Dion, and the

repression. Yet no white American rockers

“Tutti Frutti” outsold Fats Domino’s and Little

Beach Boys but few other new rockers of depth.

of the period captured the spontaneity,

Richard’s vital originals. The Beatles were great

Chuck Berry eventually managed a respectable

excitement, and commitment of their R&B

songwriters and studio innovators, but they too

return with “Nadine,” “No Particular Place to

countrypeople with the authenticity of the

got their start performing the songs of Chuck

Go,” and “You Never Can Tell” in 1963. Back

new wave of singers emerging in the United

Berry, Little Richard, Smokey Robinson, Ray

from the army, Elvis still produced tremendous

Kingdom. Although none of them had anything

Charles, the Shirelles, and many other artists

work on occasion, such as “His Latest Flame” or

on, say, Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett, they

they outsold by vast quantities. When a quintet

“Little Sister,” but his spark was largely gone.

were still capable of delivering their own

of white kids from London called the Rolling

The charts were dominated by old-fashioned

impressive brand of fierce R&B.

Stones began recording in 1963, they ransacked

crooners and vapid teen idols: Shelley Fabares,

However, with that white appropriation of

the art of black artists even more fervently than

Connie Francis, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vinton,

the sounds that black artists originated came

Elvis had. In 1965, Billboard revived its “Hot

Neil Sedaka, Tommy Roe, Steve Lawrence, and

one of rock and roll’s more troubling shifts.

R&B” chart after fourteen months of dormancy

Bobby Vee. By far the most vital American

A form of music that grew naturally out of

during which rhythm and blues records were

music of the period was coming from the soul

black rhythm and blues started to become

so popular with white rock and roll fans that

and R&B artists enjoying their initial successes

predominantly white. A lot of commentators

the magazine deemed a segregated chart

on new labels like Tamla/Motown and Stax or

lay the blame on Elvis Presley, who fashioned

redundant.

with wunderkind producer Phil Spector and his

his act by appropriating the sounds and

Black singles would continue to place on the

fabulous roster of artists, particularly Darlene

dance moves of black artists and who became

magazine’s central “Hot 100” chart, but the

Love and the Ronettes.

a superstar not because he was a better

perceived need for a separate chart suggested

In Great Britain, young musicians were

artist than Chuck Berry or Little Richard but

that there was no longer a place for black

listening intently to their more soulful

because of the way he looked. Pat Boone’s

musicians

21

in

“mainstream”

guitar-based

rock and roll. When African American rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Prince, and Vernon Reid broke into the increasingly white rock world in the coming years, the industry often treated them as novelties, interlopers, or nonentities. Prince’s lightning licks rarely electrified rock radio stations during his 1980s heyday. Living Colour, who could run rings around every single white hard-rock band of their day, had a hell of a time getting signed because of their race and their willingness to deal with issues of race in their songs. Even some of those who worshipped Hendrix had no compunction about describing him in freakish terms. In a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, guitarist Mike Bloomfield celebrated Hendrix as a “super spade” and stated that Hendrix deliberately built the threat of rape into the image he’d constructed. The mind boggles; the gag reflexes kick in.

1963, it was just a matter of time.

Understandably, most black musicians turned their backs on that pivotal form of music they

The Beach Boys: Surfin’ USA

created to fashion new forms, such as soul,

The common misconceptions of those skeptical

reggae, disco, and hip-hop. White musicians

of the artistic value of the Beach Boys’ music

would infiltrate all of these forms with some

and the cult it inspired is that the group didn’t

success but failed to take them over as they

show signs of progress until Pet Sounds, and

took over guitar-based rock and roll. As

in the words of Rolling Stone magazine’s Dave

popular as, say, Vanilla Ice or Michael Bolton

Marsh, “Brian Wilson became a Major Artist by

were during their respective fifteen minutes

making music no one outside his own coterie

of fame, no self-respecting music writer would

ever heard” (Marsh was talking about SMiLE).

have ever spoken of them in the same breath as,

This is wholly untrue, and evidence of Wilson’s

say, Snoop Dogg or Sam Cooke. The same could

“Major Artistry” (those are Marsh’s smugly

not be said of, say, the Rolling Stones and Chuck

mocking caps, by the way) is apparent as early

Berry.

as the Beach Boys’ second album, Surfin’ USA.

As new forms of guitar-based rock and roll

For those who don’t think the hit title song

emerged—from heavy metal to punk to

is enough to qualify Wilson as an important

grunge—there was rarely any place for black

artist, there’s “Lonely Sea.” In this one largely

musicians at all.

forgotten ballad is all of the harmonic

Meanwhile, artists such as England’s Rolling

inventiveness and heartfelt pathos that would

Stones would be praised for the “authenticity”

help make Pet Sounds a formidable classic.

of their Chicago-influenced blues and R&B

Unlike Pet Sounds, the arrangement is as

recordings and chastised when experimenting

sparse as could be. Some lightly brushed drums,

with more English idioms on controversial

barely-there bass, and a gently picked, heavily

albums such as Between the Buttons and Their

tremeloed guitar are the only decorations

Satanic Majesties Request. The mind continues

that backdrop Brian’s chilling lead vocal and

to boggle.

the guys’ gossamer harmonies. Gentle vocal

Despite the overwhelming whiteness washing

tracks such as “Farmer’s Daughter” and “Lana”

over rock and roll, 1963’s best albums were

are also excellent, but Surfin’ USA as a whole

still pretty varied. Live albums, proto–concept

suffers from too many pure surf instrumentals,

albums, holiday albums, and the usual singles

and with all due respect to the velvet-voiced

collections all shared space on the shelves. The

Carl Wilson, he was no Dick Dale.

rock LP era had not arrived as a significant artistic and commercial force yet, but as of

22

Above: The Beach Boys on Zuma Beach, 1967 Facing: EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios), where Please

Please Me was recorded

The Beatles: Please Please Me The Beach Boys were innovative, but no band reshaped pop music as radically and peerlessly as the Beatles did. A scruffy quartet from the port town of Liverpool, England, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr got their education from the American soul and C&W records imported into town and honed their skills with marathon performances at home and in Hamburg, Germany. Lennon and McCartney developed a fruitful songwriting partnership with each other and a tremendously creative recordmaking relationship with producer George Martin, who signed them to Parlophone, the branch of EMI Records he ran. Their personal politics of universal love embodied by songs such as “The Word” and “All You Need Is Love” would help shape the current generation’s attitudes and set it in stark relief against their parents’ hawkishness and acceptance of the status quo. So would their personal style of long hair and flamboyant clothing, which blurred established gender roles and made that older generation more than a little uncomfortable.

Most importantly for our purposes, the Beatles developed the rock and roll album into a genuine work of art with nearly each of their successive releases (unconsciously at first and then with more acute self-awareness mid-

that year went to number one.

incidental music for the play of the same name.

career). As we shall also see, the disrespectful

Elsewhere, their songwriting genius is already

It may not be exciting, but it does underscore

treatment their albums received in the crucial

budding with the brisk title track with its

the breadth of the band’s eclectic interests and

American market forced the Beatles to revise

coy sexuality and tension-building “come

abilities.

their contract with the American label, Capitol

ons,” Lennon’s first brushes with self-pity

Please Please Me did not change the album

Records, as a veritable Rock and Roll Bill of

(“Misery”) and introspection (“There’s a Place”),

overnight, and its impact in America was

Rights allowing them the control over their LPs

and McCartney’s opening salvo of filthy rock

watered down when Vee-Jay Records lopped

that officially decreed the medium’s artistic

and roll (“I Saw Her Standing There”) and the

off the Capitol single “Love Me Do”/“P.S. I Love

legitimacy.

traditional craftsmanship that would make

You” and released the LP as Introducing . .

Perhaps their first album in the United

it not ridiculous to speak of him in the same

. The Beatles in early 1964. By that point, the

Kingdom, Please Please Me, no longer sounds

breath as Cole Porter or Hoagy Carmichael

Beatles had already taken command of England

as if it is heralding in the most important

(“P.S. I Love You”).

and released their second album there, but

artists of the rock album era, but it must

Rock and roll artists always filled out their

that is more a matter of history than artistry.

have been pretty revelatory in 1963. Their

LPs with covers in those days, but few did

In retrospect, Please Please Me is still a great

combination of pumping Chuck Berry riffs,

it with the imagination of the Beatles. By

album by the greatest album group, and it’s

girl-group harmonies, and a peculiarly English

adapting girl-group and R&B hits such as

hard not to look back on its release as the

use of melody and chord structure was totally

“Boys,” “Chains,” “Baby It’s You,” and “Twist and

dawning of a new era.

original.

Shout” to their four-British-guys-with-guitars

____________________________

Not all of the material is fantastic. “Love Me

format, they made recordings completely

Do” lacks dynamics or an interesting lyric

unlike the originals. Their performances are

33 1/3 Revolutions per Minute: A Critical Trip

or melody. Harmonically, it is as primitive

as committed on the covers as they are on John

Through the Rock LP Era (1955-1999) (Paperback,

as a nursery rhyme, and it most likely went

and Paul’s songs. The Beatles also toy with non-

9781493064595, £31.00) by Mike Segretto publishes

to number one in the United States in 1964

rock material by tackling Bobby Scott and Ric

September 2022.

because nearly everything the Beatles released

Marlow’s “A Taste of Honey,” which began life as

23

MUSIC

Below: The 7-inch single of “Hey Jude”, backed with “Revolution” on the B-side Facing: Sir Paul McCartney performing at the White House, USA, in 2010

Take a sad song...

The Emotional Currency of Hey Jude Take A Sad Song: The Emotional Currency of

You have found her . . . now go and get her . . .

Hey Jude (Backbeat, July 2022) dives deeply into the song’s origins, recording, visual

After a winter with his band in India studying

presentation and eventual influence, while also

Transcendental Meditation with the Maharishi

discovering what makes “Hey Jude” a classic

Mahesh Yogi, McCartney has reassessed his

musical expression of personal comfort and

pursuit of fame as a false elixir to his search for

societal unity.

truth in music, drugs, spirituality, and love. He’s especially moved by the Maharishi’s expression,

______________________________

“The heart always goes to the warmer place.”

This single maxim seems to underscore his

“I just dive right in and hope for the best. And it

need for the embrace of a loving woman—which

seems to work.”—Paul McCartney, Conversations

leads him to Linda, whom he finds relatable and

with Paul McCartney

comforting, unlike his fiancée, the erudite and driven actress and model, Jane Asher. Beatles

June 1968, sometime around his twenty-sixth

biographer Philip Norman wrote in his 1981

birthday, Paul McCartney is experiencing a rare

Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation that Linda

convergence of invincibility, romanticism, and

“idolized and pampered him in precisely the way

nostalgia. He’s emerged as arguably the significant

in which Jane had always refused to do. Gripping

figure in the Beatles, the most influential band

his arm, she would gaze at him with awe. She

in the world. As such, he is a spokesman for

would say in his hearing what an honor it would

his generation in rhetoric, comportment, and

be to bear his children.”

creativity. An accomplished, celebrated, and chart-

The career-driven Asher, not yet ready to settle

topping songwriter for his band and others, he is

down into family life, prompts Paul to end their

immersed in London’s art community, helping to

five-year relationship to marry Linda nine months

finance and launch both the Indica Bookshop and

later. The couple will have three children and

Art Gallery as well as an underground newspaper,

be together for twenty-nine years until Linda

the International Times. The Beatles, having spent

succumbs to breast cancer in 1998 at age fifty-six.

the past six years dramatically transforming the

McCartney is talented, famous, successful, and

pop world, recently incorporated their brand

newly in love, a man completely in control of

into Apple Corps with hopes of launching an

his destiny. Much of his success is due to his

egalitarian mixture of music, fashion, film, and

songwriting partnership with bandmate and

technology.

friend of eleven years, John Lennon, who is

Perhaps most important of all, having just

coincidentally leaving his wife of six years,

returned from a trip to the United States to act

Cynthia, to pursue what will soon become a very

as point man for Apple, one of the planet’s most

public affair with thirty- five-year-old Japanese

eligible bachelors consummates a tryst with a

avant-garde artist, Yoko Ono. McCartney’s

twenty-six-year-old

photographer

relationship with Lennon has been simultaneously

named Linda Eastman, whom he had first met

prolific and complicated since their early teens

the previous year. Linda will become the great

and is partly the impetus for the trip he’ll take out

love of his life, and he seems to know it almost

to John’s home in Weybridge this sunny summer

immediately.

day to visit the tattered remnants of his partner’s

American

24

The movement you need is on your shoulder . . .

personal life. No one has endured Lennon’s radical

as he did all the youngsters in his life, including

personality shifts between affection and derision

Ruth, the eight-year-old stepsister from his

more intensely than Paul and Cynthia. McCartney

father’s second marriage, and Linda’s five-year-

Paul had always known how to instinctively

sees in Cynthia the fragility of his cherished

old daughter Heather from a previous marriage.

tap into the muse, whether dreaming his most

rapport with John and, in turn, his band.

Thus, Paul thinks nothing of taking the hour’s

popular song “Yesterday” or drawing from

Cynthia is an indelible link to their younger days

drive from his London home in St. John’s Wood

juvenile memories in the chart-topping “Penny

in Liverpool when it was all out in front of them—

on Cavendish Street to visit Lennon’s abandoned

Lane.” During a previous chauffeured trip, Paul

the adorable, blonde art student who managed

family to “try to cheer them up.”

made small talk with the driver about his busy

to quell his mate’s outwardly rebellious fury

Ostracized from the impenetrable Beatles’ inner

schedule, to which the gentleman sighed that

while he and John were just beginning to unlock

circle for fear contact might upset the always

he’d been working “eight days a week.” It would

the secrets of the beloved music that had given

volatile Lennon, Cynthia and Julian are holed

become the title for the Beatles’ seventh #1 hit.

them purpose and direction. When she became

up in their twenty-seven-room mock-Tudor

Other Beatles classics like “Help,” “Day Tripper,”

pregnant, John did what he felt was right and,

mansion called the Kenwood Estate, the Lennons’

“Drive My Car,” “Norwegian Wood,” “In My Life,”

just before her twenty-third birthday, when he

place of residence since July 1964. The sprawling

“Paperback Writer,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and many

was only twenty-one, he married her.

acreage and suburban refinery exemplifies the

others were begun or finished by the songwriting

Around the same time, Paul was engaged to a

spectacular largesse of the Beatles. During the

duo there.

young woman who also became pregnant and,

band’s halcyon days, Paul and John, as they did

During this particular drive out, Paul might

like John, he believed the honorable thing to do

in their childhood homes in Liverpool, composed

well remember the time when Julian, then only

was to marry her, but fate intervened when she

some of the most beloved and inventive music

four, had shown his dad a drawing he’d made for

had a miscarriage.

of the era in a tiny music room in the attic. Each

school—a fanciful rendering of his schoolmate

trip to Weybridge held the seduction of creativity,

Lucy floating in a sky filled with stars that a

as music always percolated inside McCartney,

teacher had thought looked like diamonds and

incessantly pondering a melody or clever lyrical

entitled, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” John

aside to share with John when he arrived.

couldn’t wait to show Paul. The two immediately

Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders . . .

McCartney had always felt a connection to Cynthia and John’s son, whom he joyfully coddled

took it as a song title and went to work.

25

Below left: McCartney on the set of the Swedish television show Drop-In, 1963 Below right: The book’s cover

“He seeks out political, social and philosophical thinkers, accomplished composers and literary Beat heroes.”

However, while Kenwood housed many fond

While George and Ringo ease into suburban life,

term relationships in the dust: Lennon’s six-year

memories for McCartney, for the now-absent

John is envious of his songwriting partner, who has

marriage, which has spanned the struggle and

Lennon, the mansion had come to represent

thrown himself into the international art aesthetic,

rise of the most famous band in the world, and

an upper-middle-class trap, the antithesis of

expanding his innovative and intellectual pursuits

McCartney’s five-year, extremely public, affair with

his humble origins which had inspired his art.

throughout mid-sixties London. McCartney gorges

Asher. And as Paul’s car whirs toward Weybridge,

Subjugated by domesticity and the rigors of

on the electronic musical experiments of Italian

he knows that as much as the two men move

remaining at the top of the pop charts, he was mired

composer Luciano Berio, also studying and later

differently through life’s changes, there is still

in depression, gaining weight, and experimenting

purchasing the surrealist paintings of French artist

an impenetrable, almost mystical bond between

with mind-altering drugs, while Paul and Jane were

René Magritte. He seeks out political, social, and

them that has created some of the most gripping,

the “it” couple of Swinging London, frequenting

philosophical thinkers like Nobel laureate Bertrand

influential, and wildly popular music ever, much

underground clubs, art galleries, and theater

Russell, accomplished composers like playwright

of it filled with themes of longing for true love in

premieres. These contrary, personal lives are best

Lionel Bart, and literary Beat heroes Allen Ginsberg

an infinite search for spiritual connection. That is

expressed in one of the Beatles’ sonic masterworks

and William Burroughs. He is the first of the Beatles

precisely why Paul could see in Julian where he had

that closes their revolutionary Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely

to

once been: alone, frightened, and in need of a song.

Hearts Club Band album in the summer of 1967. “A

Stockhausen, introducing his type of experimental

Day in the Life” features Lennon’s dreamy verses

electronic music into the band’s scope.

regurgitating newspaper headlines, war movies,

But now, through his love for Yoko, John will soon

and suburban mundanity in a drugged-out haze,

gain his own entry into the realm of the avant-

Take a Sad Song...: The Emotional Currency of Hey

briefly interrupted by McCartney’s peppy ramble

garde, with renewed creativity and a passion for

Jude (Hardback, 9781493062379, £21.95) by James

into town to be part of the bustle.

the underground. Both men are leaving long-

Campion publishes July 2022.

discover

German

26

composer

Karlheinz

_____________________________

Available to read and download now on Issuu issuu.com/rowmaninternational

New Books Highlights Catalogue

27

MUSIC

Below: Twain, photographed in 1907 Facing (above): Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts at Turku Airport, Finland in 1965 Facing (below):The cover of Issue 19 of

Beggar’s Banquet

Introducing

under their thumb

“I’d like to welcome President Clinton,” Mick

backstage. I’d tell Keith and Ronnie to break a leg,

fall down, now do ya? I had no idea what it meant,

Jagger tells the VIP crowd. “And I see she’s brought

and then I’d visit them after the show. But that’s

but it was impossible to ignore.

her husband.”

not happening tonight. I finagled my way into the

My sister said it was the Rolling Stones. She

The Rolling Stones are at New York’s Beacon

crowd, and the Stones don’t know I’m here.

showed me their album cover, and they looked

Theatre, and Martin Scorsese’s shooting it for

For me, there’s never been a world without the

pretty tough. Like they could definitely beat up the

a documentary. It’s October 29, 2006, and, after

Stones. They came into existence two months

Monkees. Until recently, my sister had listened

decades of drug busts, paternity suits, funerals,

before I did. But I didn’t hear them until I turned

only to “Build Me Up Buttercup” and “I Think I

divorces, rehabs, and chemotherapy, the Stones

ten. To that point, if you didn’t have a Saturday

Love You.” But somehow, in the summer of ’72, she

can still put out. I mean, damn, these guys are

morning TV show, I didn’t know you. The

switched her allegiance from Keith Partridge to

good. But as my eyes and ears fixate on them at

Monkees, The Beatles, and Jackson 5 were the

Keith Richards. She ditched her ‘45s and bought

the Beacon, my mind wanders to another time

only bands I could name. Life changed in 1972,

some Stones albums. One was shaped like a stop

and place.

when an announcement came from my sister’s

sign. Another had a zipper on it. She pointed to

My eyes see Mick onstage, but my mind sees him

bedroom: Everything seems to be ready . . . Are

the blond- haired guy and said he was dead. She

in his house, blotting the orange juice I spilled

you ready? . . . Sorry for the delay. . . .

said the Stones had been busted for drugs, evicted

on his rug. My ears hear Keith Richards plucking

Is everybody ready?

from hotels, and had played at concerts where

“I’m Free,” but my mind hears him offering me

What followed were the strangest words and

people got murdered. I thought my head would

bourbon on his terrace. And Ronnie Wood? I’m

most violent sounds I’d ever heard: I was born in a

explode. The chaotic stories, violent music, and

peeling potatoes with him in his kitchen. I used

crossfire hurricane! And I howled at my ma in the

wild album covers overwhelmed me. But I craved

to pal around with these guys. And if this were

driving rain! Followed by: I think I bust a button

more.

ten or twenty years ago, I’d have begun my night

on my trousers. . . . You don’t want my trousers to

I borrowed the albums and studied them. They

28

contained words I wasn’t allowed to repeat.

I relied on Creem, Rolling Stone, and ’NEW

And while I didn’t understand a phrase like “I

to keep up on the tour. The Stones were a big

laid a divorcée in New York City,” I was certain

story that year, so a lot of outlets jumped on the

it sounded cool and that I wanted to do it. To

bandwagon.

me, the Stones were the most rebellious people

But most of them—local newspapers, local news

on earth, so I instantly became obsessed with

shows—screwed up. They’d miss the Stones’

them.

sarcasm or, worse, get their facts wrong. I

As luck would have it, my sister grew tired of

can’t tell you how many times I’d read that the

the Stones and offered me her albums for a

Stones opened with “Johnny B. Goode” when it

buck apiece. I suddenly had a Stones collection.

was really “Let It Rock.” All I could think was,

When their next album came out, I got sticker

“That guy saw the Stones at the Palladium and

shock. Goats Head Soup cost me $3.48 at

I didn’t?”

Alexander’s Department Store.

The Album Tracks episode is what pushed

The band came to Madison Square Garden in

me over the edge. Album Tracks was a TV

1975, but Mom wouldn’t let me take the subway

show hosted by two DJs from WNBC named

giving you anything TV Guide didn’t, but at

from Brooklyn to Manhattan. I was only 12. I

Lee Masters and Bob Pittman. They featured

least I was accurate.

followed the tour by listening to WNEW and by

a report on the Stones’ ill- fated Altamont

In 1978, there wasn’t a Kinko’s on every corner

scouring the pages of Rolling Stone and Creem.

concert. They said the Stones were performing

and no one had a PC. If youwanted to lay out

I envied the DJs and writers who covered the

“Sympathy for the Devil” when a kid got

a page, you had to do it the hard way: scissors

Stones and desperately wanted their job.

murdered in the crowd, and that the Stones

and glue. “Cut and paste” literally meant to cut

At school, I had no one to share my enthusiasm

have been too scared to perform the song since.

and paste. Typos weren’t deleted, they were

with. The kids in my seventh-grade class were

First of all, if they had watched Gimme Shelter,

covered up by Wite- Out or by powdery stuff

into the Carpenters. My teachers complained

they’d know the kid got stabbed during “Under

called Ko- Rec- Type, which didn’t always work.

about my ratty Stones T- shirts, my dirty long

My Thumb,” not “Sympathy.” Second, if they

A simple page could take you a day. But it meant

hair (patterned after Mick’s), and my semi-

cared the least bit about the Stones, they’d know

that ’zine publishers were extremely passionate

obscene belt buckle (bearing the Stones’ tongue

that “Sympathy” was played plenty of times

people, dedicated to our subjects. We were in it

logo). I was attending yeshiva, the Jewish

after Altamont. I’ve got the bootlegs to prove

for love, not money. I dubbed my ’zine Beggars

version of parochial school, so there was a dress

it. If these guys don’t know the most dramatic

Banquet because I wanted it to be—bear with

code. I broke it every day, but I was a straight- A

scene in Gimme Shelter, I thought, then maybe

me on this—“a banquet of Stones information

student, so they didn’t expel me.

they shouldn’t be rock journalists. (Pittman

that even a beggar could afford.”

When the Stones released their Some Girls

later founded MTV. Masters became president

Back then, copy shops were primarily found on

album in June 1978, I was 15 years old, attending

of the E! channel.) I wrote them a courteous

college campuses. If you didn’t live near one,

public high school. Over the summer, I wore

letter, but got a dismissive response. They said

you had to go to a bank or library. That’s who

that record out. It was as vital as anything

their facts came from a “rock encyclopedia” and

had the copy machines. For 10 cents, you put

from CBGB’s and confirmed the Stones’ take-

that they were sticking to their story.

your library book or bank statement on the

noprisoners attitude. It dripped with sarcasm

I realized I could do a better job than most

glass and, about thirty seconds later, a horrible-

and pissed off Jesse Jackson, women’s groups,

grownups at covering the Stones. And so,

looking copy oozed out. I tried the machine at

and even Lucille Ball.

in September 1978, armed with a borrowed

the Flatlands Avenue bank, but the results

typewriter, I pecked away at the first issue

were illegible. That’s when I remembered my

of my fanzine. It was the week of my 16th

high school’s mimeo room. I knew a student

birthday, and the start of my junior year in

volunteer who had the keys. He snuck me in

high school. Fanzines—or ’zines, for short—

after hours, and we mimeographed a hundred

have been around a long time. But the modern

copies of my three- page issue. All on the Board

version sprouted from the do- it- yourself

of Ed’s dime. When I left school that night with

punk- rock zeitgeist of the late Seventies. ’Zines

my published ’zine, I had no idea what to do

took pride in how crappy they looked, and

next. My hundred copies looked like crap, but

most were handwritten, not typed. Mine was a

at least they smelled great.

combination of both.

____________________________

I had no idea where to print, much less who would read, my little creation, but I didn’t care.

Under Their Thumb: How a Nice Boy from

My primary goal was to report the facts. In my

Brooklyn Got Mixed Up with the Rolling

debut issue, I wrote about Keith’s upcoming

Stones (and Lived to Tell About It) (Paperback,

drug trial and about the band’s upcoming

9781493065080, £22.95) by Bill German publishes

appearance on Saturday Night Live. I wasn’t

August 2022.

29

POPULAR

CULTURE

planet of the apes

who didn’t necessarily visit the cinema much at all.

The book’s adaptation to the big screen five years later was certainly a cut above science fiction movies, which, up until that celebrated Charlton Heston vehicle and the same year’s

2001: A Space Odyssey, had tended to be rather schlocky. Even so, its audience was a very different demographic to Boulle’s.

The generation who saw its famous ending (the remnants of the Statue of Liberty waist deep in sand) when it still had its shock-factor intact

The Complete History

(i.e., because knowledge of it hadn’t leaked out) were pretty much the same people who attended the four sequels that followed over the next five years. However, by the time a Planet of

the Apes TV series began appearing on screens in 1974, much of its viewership comprised a new cohort who were completely unaware that

Planet of the Apes: The Complete History

it had any kind of precedent. In fact, some of

(Applause, February 2022) explores every aspect

the kids of the era only became cognisant that

of this phenomenon—from books to films,

their favourite telly programme was not a

comic books to television shows, and video

wholly original idea when they purchased the

games to merchandise—providing an overview

contemporaneous Planet of the Apes Marvel

that is truly definitive. Author Sean Egan

comic and found to their bewilderment that

argues that the series has always been marked

the TV show’s starring trio – human astronauts

by thoughtfulness, exploring serious themes

Burke and Virdon and chimpanzee ally Galen

alien to most big budget films.

– were nowhere to be seen: the publication contained adaptations of the movies. What we

In this exclusive article, Egan explains how

now call reboots have occurred in the franchise

and why he set out to write a comprehensive

in 2001 with Tim Burton’s film and from 2011-17

snapshot of the iconic franchise.

with the motion-picture trilogy (Rise of/Dawn

____________________________

Peter Chernin: the parents of the young people

of/War for the Planet of the Apes) produced by who consisted of much of those films’ audiences Everybody knows Planet of the Apes – or thinks

had been the child TV viewers of yore.

they do. But Planet of the Apes is an intellectual

All of this means that a complete history takes

property-cum-franchise that has now been

in a lot of artistic talent and vision. It was

around for six decades and different age-

fascinating to research and write about how

groups have very different first experiences of

so many different people have brought their

it.

individual and idiosyncratic approaches to the

Frenchman Pierre (Bridge on the River Kwai)

Apes concept. Writing a book in the middle of a

Boulle kicked it all off with his 1963 novel

pandemic, though, posed challenges.

La Planète des Singes, setting the stage for

It adversely affected to some degree the

endless permutations of the conceit of humans

procurement of interviews, which are always

who wind up in conflict with preternaturally

an important feature of a work of this kind.

intelligent simians. This inaugural take was

Some people on my interview wish-list declined

quite a highfalutin’ affair that was as much

to participate on the understandable grounds

philosophy and satire as science fiction. As

that they wanted to focus on their families at

such, it would have been read largely by people

this unsettled time. However, I was privileged

30

Facing: Prosthetic makeup design for Roddy McDowell in Planet of the Apes TV series (1974)

to be able to obtain original quotes from several

the case that regular makeup Oscars didn’t then

on a world brutally ruled over by evolved beasts.

key figures in the franchise’s history. Among

exist. However, Burman says, “John was dead

In this new telling, the time is today and the

them were: Linda Harrison, who played the

serious because he knew the scope of this film

simians are ordinary apes whose intelligence is

mute beauty Nova in the first two Planet of the

and he knew if he could pull this off successfully

boosted by an experimental drug. Wyatt points

Apes films and was married to Darryl F. Zanuck,

it would be hard for the Academy to ignore.” It

out, “Real apes don’t actually have the same

the Twentieth Century-Fox executive who gave

was even harder for the Academy to ignore the

anatomy as human beings. Their arms are way

the first film the green light; Tom Burman, part

entreaties of a Fox bigwig. “He got him a special

longer, their torsos are much shorter, all of those

of the team responsible for the revolutionary

Academy Award,” Linda Harrison told me of

things. So there was no way we could actually

prosthetics that made the original Planet of

Zanuck. “Dick did that. He was on the board of

do a Planet of the Apes in the original mould.”

the Apes film quintet so visually stunning; and

the Academy Awards and when Dick believes

Instead, Wyatt and his team were responsible

Rupert Wyatt, director of Rise of the Planet

in somebody, he makes things happen. He had

for bringing to the franchise stunningly lifelike

of the Apes, the first instalment of the latest,

that authority.” Zanuck’s intervention to secure

Computer-Generated Imagery. Wyatt only knew

mega-successful Apes series.

Chambers an Honorary Award for Outstanding

in post-production what the simians cooked up

When working on the ‘68 Apes movie, Tom

Makeup Achievement raises issues of propriety,

by New Zealand special-effects company Weta

Burman answered to John Chambers, a “genius”

not least because, the previous year, lobbying

Digital would look like on screen. He recalled to

(Harrison’s word) who by the time of Planet of

by Fox had managed to get the studio’s badly

me of the first evidence Weta provided him of

the Apes had already devised an iconic prosthetic

received flop Doctor Dolittle an eyebrow-raising

their intentions when it came to transforming

in the form of Mr. Spock’s ears. Burman told me

nomination for Best Picture. However, few would

actor Andy Serkis into central character Caesar:

of Chambers, “He came in and picked up the

dispute Harrison’s observation of Chambers and

“It was Caesar behind the bars in the ape

script. That was on a Friday. On Monday, as I

Planet of the Apes, “It was groundbreaking and

sanctuary watching one of the handlers walk

was walking out of the makeup department, I

without Johnny it couldn’t have been made.”

past his cage. It literally looked like they’d taken

see John drive up and get out of his car, waving

With the Chernin trilogy, a whole new approach

Andy’s eyes physically out of his skull and put

for me to come to him. He said, ‘It’s you and

was required. The idea of using actors in

them into a shot and made him into an ape. It

me, Tommy.’ He held up the script, and I saw

prosthetics foundered on the fact that apes in

was unbelievable. It was the thing that made

the title: Planet of the Apes. Then he said, ‘I’m

this narrative are not the simians of previous

everybody just take a breath and realize that we

going to win the Academy Award.’” Some might

projects, wherein humans had been catapulted

actually had the possibility of making a really

have assumed Chambers to be joking, it being

through time and/or space to find themselves

strong film.”

31

There have been Planet of the Apes chronologies before, some of them very good. I like to think that this book offers something new in terms of completeness, and not just because it unusually covers the property right from the beginning to present day. I considered it vital that a proper examination of the Apes phenomenon should fully explore some things that normally get relegated to passing mention. For instance, the Planet of the Apes merchandise craze that raged in the middle of the 1970s was the very first time that people bought in huge number toys, utilities and souvenirs simply because they were plastered with imagery related to their favourite media property of the moment.

Those who assume that it was Star Wars that turned ancillary product from a side issue into a phenomenon have simply not taken into account the simian tsunami that preceded it by several seasons. As merchandise has now become a key part of the financing and marketing of motion pictures, it seemed only right to devote an entire chapter and more to the subject. Comics is a key branch of the Planet of the Apes tree that also merits protracted attention, in this case because the notion of ‘expanded universe’ – as seen subsequently in the thousand-and-one novels and comics tied in to other media properties – was partly created by the stories that appeared in Marvel’s publication, where the adaptations of the original movies sat alongside new and hugely imaginative tales set in the Apes universe devised by Doug Moench, one of the Seventies’ most original comics scriptwriting talents. (I also had the pleasure of interviewing Doug.)

Additionally covered to a far greater degree than usual is the subject of novelisations. The book-of-the-film is a market that barely exists anymore, but in a world prior to video recorders – let alone streaming – people who wanted to re-experience the Sixties and Seventies Planet of the Apes films could only do so via prose adaptations. Ditto for the two Seventies TV shows. (There was a 1975 animated series,

Return to the Planet of the Apes, which veered Above (top): Planet of the Apes Magazine, Volume 1

between thoughtful and buffoonish). Some of

Above (bottom): Charlton Heston, star of Planet of

these books are surprisingly good, numbering

the Apes (1968), at a Civil Rights March in 1963

acclaimed SF writers among their authors.

Facing (left): The book’s cover Facing (right): The lead cast of the Planet of the Apes television series: James Naughton as Burke and Ron Harper as Virdon

32

Planet of the Apes is such a long-running and wide-ranging phenomenon that the potential audience for a book about it is correspondingly large. Not only does it encompass several different generations, but it includes cineastes, science fiction fans, comics readers, the nostalgic and the curious. Happily, the book has already received significant UK print coverage, garnering four-star reviews in Total Film (leading movie magazine) and SFX (a glossy sci-fi monthly devoured by the types who flock to Marvel superhero films). It was also named Book of the Month in Yours Retro (nostalgiathemed offshoot of women’s magazine Yours).

Reviews and ratings on Goodreads and Amazon have so far been largely positive.

The Planet of the Apes saga continues: a new film is in preparation as we speak. No doubt, this and other projects will necessitate an update of my book in future years, but that goes with the territory when it comes to relentlessly successful and expanding franchises. For the time being, Planet of the Apes: The Complete

History hopefully serves as a comprehensive snapshot of what is and what has been in Apes-land, and will satisfy the thirst for more knowledge on the part of those people who have experienced its many and varied iterations. ____________________________ Planet of the Apes: The Complete History (Paperback, 9781493057252, £20.95) by Sean Egan publishes February 2022.

33

POPULAR

CULTURE

STORY MODE

to do to survive and prosper materially, and the truly impractical life of the mind is the place where this recreation takes place when people are unsuited to or uninterested in physical play. And so the poetry, novels, and games that occupy the mind and shock the

Video Games and the Interplay between Consoles and Culture

productive conscience proliferate even as they are attacked by their cultural and moral critics.

These attacks have roots that are millennia old.

In his Republic, written around 325 BC, the Greek philosopher Plato recounts a dialogue involving his teacher Socrates in which Socrates explains why poetry needs to be heavily censored in any perfect state. Plato and Socrates are, as is typical, on the same page about this, and much of current cultural critique takes its inspiration from these two ancient philosophers, particularly concerning “imitation.” For both philosophers, imitation is a philosophical problem because it cannot fully

Video games are now and have always

replicate the model it means to reproduce. Even

been on the cultural defensive. From their

if I take an ideal chair as a model for my attempt

introduction in the home through the Atari

to build a chair as an untrained carpenter,

2600, they have been viewed as a waste of time

for instance, the latter will not live up to the

or a frivolity. Further back, they served as the

former—neither in function nor appearance.

fun counterpart to the real computational

Similarly, Plato and his teacher tell us, the poet

revolution—Deep Blue, the famous early

or author’s imitations of reality cannot live

supercomputer that took on chess grandmaster

up to the model of truth. Since a young mind

Garry Kasparov, may have been playing a game,

“takes the impression that one wishes to stamp

but the match counted for industrial, political,

upon it,” any sort of lie that could influence

and, most importantly, economic stakes; your

those young minds away from truth should not

average game of Pong did not. The intelligence

be told.

that could be marshaled by supercomputers

In the typical nature of a Socratic dialogue, the

promised advances in automation, calculation,

question-and answer cadence regarding truth

and efficiency, after all. In comparison, the

and representation leads us down the road very

gaming that invaded the home and arcade

quickly to “a censorship over our storytellers.”

marketplace might have had profit-making

And if this all sounds a bit antiquated to you,

potential for its creators, but it was ultimately

maybe Socrates’s reasoning will sound a bit

considered a pastime in the tradition of whist

more contemporary. He argues that stories

or charades—unremarkable at best, actively

should be sanitized and free of satire or

distracting and trivializing at worst.

ambiguity because “the young are not able to

But there’s more to the story than productivity

distinguish what is and what is not allegory.”

and profit when it comes to cultural and social

This line of thinking—that children won’t or

impact. Indeed, the consistent presence of

can’t distinguish between fantasy and reality—

cultural objects that are in and of themselves

is what drives almost all reactive critique

unproductive has been a fact of life throughout

against media, from Fredric Wertham’s screed

recorded

need

against comic books in The Seduction of the

recreation to balance the daily work they have

Innocent to Jack Thompson’s decades-long

history.

Human

beings

34

Above: The book’s cover Facing (top): The Super Nintendo Entertainment System sold almost 50 million units globally Facing (bottom): Dedicated Pong consoles made their way to various countries, like this Russian console named Турнир

laser focused on efficiency and production, and the embarrassment over the frivolity of leisure hasn’t entirely disappeared. As a result, gaming is typically seen as frivolous and inessential, and although it certainly is unproductive in a real sense, there is no reason to abandon gaming as a toxic dead end without exploring both its history and its potential as a cultural medium uniquely receptive to its audience. If we are to imagine alternative political worlds from a progressive and, yes, leftist perspective, the simultaneity of reception, critique, and revision that is taking place in gaming today provides the best place to think beyond the seemingly impossibly firm limits of our political and cultural present. Because imitation doesn’t always erode the model from which it draws, it also can surpass it as well.

I try to prove this point by considering the ways that famous gaming series have changed over time as they initially make their claims, are taken in by a mass of fans who interpret those claims in their own ways, and are finally reimagined, the later entries in the series doing their own form of imitative reproduction of the earlier. This feedback process of productioncampaign against video games. Most recently,

accompanies the Platonic concerns does not

Thompson could have been paraphrasing Plato

mean that right-wing or traditionalist politics

and Socrates when in 2018 he said of a recent

are straying away from video games; to the

mass shooting, “What happens in the case of

contrary, video games as a genre are becoming

heavy users of video games is that when they

more and more reactionary as time goes on,

have the virtual reality taken from them, they

representing or misrepresenting reality in

will set out to make it real reality.

service of paranoia and power as opposed to

So we see our cultural critics from 325 BC

progressivism or distancing. This is important,

and AD 2018 both insisting that the reality we

too, because although we’ve given a lot of

live in can and will be tainted by the imitated

time to how imitation is viewed by its critics,

realities we consume and also that only morally

imitation is also the only way to imagine better

and factually true media can instruct us and

or different realities. That these realities

aid our journeys as productive citizens. Video

could be imagined in both a progressive and a

games and television, even more than novels,

reactionary sense is something that hasn’t been

poems, films, or plays, fall directly into this

given enough attention by people who want to

critique: dangerous fluff that by virtue of their

understand the cultural potential of games:

ubiquitous, everyday presence in our lives

the future of video games isn’t necessarily

hides the nature of the world from us more

the homogeneity of reactionary patriotism

effectively than any previous entertainment

and fear. There are paths that we have yet to

technology.

imagine the medium taking.

This distrust has not, of course, curbed their

Story Mode aims to try to imagine those paths

popularity, and video games enjoy increasing

yet traveled and provide a progressive audience

relevance in our current moment as Twitch

a reason to care about a medium that is so often

streaming, e-sports celebrities like Ninja and

given over to angry young white men in popular

FaZe Clan, and the rise of digital downloads

media. Though we’ve come a long way from

make video games more popular and more

puritanical valuations of “hard work” as a

accessible than ever. But the moral panic that

virtue in and of itself, self-care culture is still

35

reception-reproduction is one that I think is unique to serialized media, and the length of time that some of these properties cover makes video games in particular of great interest to this analysis. The Final Fantasy series, one of our objects here, is thirty-three years old and counting; the genre of the battle royale shooter, our youngest and most diverse group of games by far, is at its youngest, seven years old already.

A lot of time has passed between the earliest games in this book and the most recent, and that has allowed these series to change, often in dramatic ways, from their original projects.

How we view their politics and aesthetics— which are, to my mind, political in and of themselves—is changing, and how we might work to influence them in the future is what the book strives to answer. ______________________________

Story Mode: Seattle, Video Games and the Interplay

between

Consoles

and

Culture

(Hardback, 9781633886803, £20.95) by Trevor Strunk publishes January 2022.

PSYCHOLOGY

Introducing

duped

Duped: Why Innocent People Confess – and Why

“Professor Kassin, I’m a producer for ABC News.

to interpret. “It’s the Central Park jogger,” she

We Believe Their Confessions (Prometheus, July

We’re working on a story about an old case

said.

2022) reveals how innocent men, women, and

and wonder if you’d be willing to look at some

Seldom in life am I rendered speechless. This

children, intensely stressed and befuddled by

videotaped confessions for us.” Intrigued, I

was one of those times. I was disoriented. Taking

lawful weapons of psychological interrogation,

asked what case they were investigating. “I can’t

stock, I said nothing. I just kept hearing the echo

are induced into confession, no matter how

tell you,” she said.

in my head: Central Park jogger.

horrific the crime. Starting in the 1980s, author

Scrambling to transition from summer to fall,

On the night of April 19, 1989, a twenty-eight

Dr. Saul Kassin pioneered the scientific study

and too busy to play games, I explained that I

year-old investment banker named Trisha Meili,

of interrogations and confessions. Since then,

had no time to make a blank-check commitment

a Wellesley graduate with two master’s degrees

he has been on the forefront of research and

to a new project. I repeated my question: “What’s

who worked on Wall Street, was intercepted

advocacy for those wrongfully convicted by

the case?”

while jogging, violently beaten, dragged through

police-induced false confessions.

Pushing back, she explained that they were

grass into a ravine, raped, tied up with her own

_____________________________

working on an exclusive story about a highly

shirt, and left for dead in a puddle of mud inside

visible crime from the past and did not want

Central Park, Manhattan’s rambling green

It was a September morning in 2002. I was

word of it to get out. “Can you keep this

wilderness. Her skull was fractured; her brain

preparing for a new semester of psych classes

confidential?” she asked.

was swollen; her left eye was crushed; she had

at Williams College, in western Massachusetts,

Sure, I said, no problem. “What case?” The

lost several pints of blood. When she emerged

when the phone on my desk rang.

producer paused—the kind of pause that’s hard

from a coma one week later, she had no memory

36

Left: Police in Montpellier, France

of what had happened.

Below: The book’s cover

Coming at a time when crack cocaine had become epidemic, violent crime rates were soaring, and racial tensions were peaking, this incident marked an “enough is enough” moment in the city’s history. Local papers were ablaze with headlines like “Nightmare in Central Park!”

Amid the uproar, NYPD detectives solved the crime, or so it seemed. Within seventy-two hours, they announced that five teenagers, ages fourteen to sixteen, of black and Hispanic descent, had confessed.

Each boy implicated himself and the others; their stories were detailed; four of the confessions were on videotape for everyone to see. Case closed.

I had followed this story closely at the time.

Hell, I am a native New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn, then in a beach town in Queens.

Like everyone else, I grew up riding the subway into the Bronx for Yankees baseball and into Manhattan for everything else. For me, Central Park was a rectangular green oasis to escape the city grid for demonstrations, festivals, rock concerts, and the best hot pretzels in town.

I had left the city for graduate school at the University of Connecticut in 1974. But in the

five detailed confessions, four on tape, taken

hypothesis. Reinvestigating the case, however,

ensuing years, I went on to get my PhD in social

in Manhattan in the Central Park Precinct,

the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

psychology and develop a particular interest

recorded by an assistant district attorney, at a

questioned Reyes and discovered that he could

in the interrogation tactics that police use to

time when the whole world was watching.

recount accurate yet previously unknown facts

get confessions—sometimes, shockingly—from

Based

about the assault.

innocent people. Four years before the jogger

uncorroborated by any other evidence, and in

Reyes was able to explain, for example, why

case broke, Larry Wrightsman and I wrote an

fact contradicted by DNA testing of the rape kit,

the jogger had no keys to her locked apartment

article critical of these tactics and the hazard

which excluded all five boys, Antron McCray,

when she was found. Reyes said he took her

of false confessions. In fact, we proposed a

Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond

keys, as he did with his other victims, so he

taxonomy that distinguished between three

Santana, and Korey Wise were tried in 1990,

could break into her apartment. Failing to get

different types of false confessions.

convicted, and sent to prison. This horrific case

her address, he tossed the keys into bushes

This was who I was—New Yorker, research

was all but settled—not only as a matter of law

nearby.

psychologist, and falseconfession expert—

but for the city’s peace of mind.

He also said he was able to sneak up on her

when the ABC news producer rendered me

All that began to unravel for me in the fall of

because she was wearing headphones and

speechless on the phone. Even after I regained

2002 when ABC disrupted my sense of balance

listening to music. Having suffered traumatic

my mental footing, all I could say was, “The

with word that this case was coming back

head injuries, the jogger was amnesic for the

Central Park jogger case, really? What about

into the news. What happened at that time,

entire episode, so in 1989 no one knew to ask

it?”

thirteen years later, that no one saw coming,

about this. After Reyes, the DA interviewed her,

I’m not sure anyone on the planet is more

was that Matias Reyes, a serial offender known

and she confirmed that she used to listen to

inherently critical than I am of police-induced

as the “East Side Rapist,” stepped forward

music through headphones when she ran.

confessions. I am hardly naive. And I will

from prison. Serving a life sentence for three

Then there was the DNA, the evidence that

admit that this case gnawed at me at the time.

rapes and a murder committed after and near

clinched it: the semen samples originally

Something wasn’t right. Then again, I thought,

the jogger attack, Reyes contacted the DA’s

recovered from Meili’s body, clothing, and

this was not a single isolated admission of

office out of the blue to assert that he was the

socks— which had excluded the boys as

guilt allegedly taken in some back alley by

Central Park jogger rapist and that he’d acted

donors—unequivocally belonged to Reyes. The

some small-town sheriff in the middle of

alone. Some suggested that Reyes was just

only semen found on Meili was his.

nowhere when no one was watching. This was

clamoring for attention—not an unreasonable

solely

on

these

37

confessions,

why would an innocent person confess to a crime?

Duped: Why Innocent People Confess – and Why

myths and misconceptions: (1) “I’d never confess to

“stay in their lane,” cite evidence, not allegation,

We Believe Their Confessions (Prometheus, July

a crime I did not commit” – yes you would, and (2)

and most of all, admit that they don’t know what

2022) reveals how innocent people are induced

“I’d know a false confession is I saw one” – no you

they don’t know.

into false confession.

wouldn’t.

NOW:

In this exclusive interview, author Saul Kassin

NOW:

You also explain early in the book that false

PhD explains why this shockingly common

In your introduction, you mention that the ‘Netflix

confessions are a universal phenomenon. Are there

phenomenon continues to be a problem across

true crime’ trope of blending fact and fiction makes

are any nations or regions where you’ve found that

the planet - and could happen to you.

you uneasy. What issues do you feel this trend

false confessions are more common, however? If so,

raises?

why do you think this is?

Kassin:

Kassin:

We live in a time where people get to choose the

There is a long history—in China, for example,

Kassin:

reality that aligns with their beliefs. For this reason,

and other totalitarian regimes, of forcing false

As embedded in its subtitle, Duped is about two

it is important for scientey6and policy makers to

confessions on camera for political purposes.

NOW: Could you sum up Duped in a couple of sentences?

38

Setting aside these kinds of cases, it is clear that

Below: Yusef Salaam of the Central Park Five in 2009, seven years after his conviction

whenever and wherever criminal justice records

was vacated. Credit: By Thomas Good - Next Left Notes (Own work by uploader), CC BY-SA

have been kept, false confessions are documented (prominent examples include but are not limited

3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6826839 Left (facing): A nineteenth century English courtroom in Nottingham, United Kingdom, now preserved as a museum

to the US, England, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, China, and Japan).

As to why false confessions are universal, I’m tempted to offer up the simplest explanation: Human nature.

NOW: Your book is rigorous and far-reaching but also easy-to-read and understand. Was approachability important to you as you put Duped together?

Kassin: Alongside

accuracy,

approachability

was

everything to me. I’ve published in technical scientific journals on this subject for over forty years (my first ever publication with the word “confession” in the title was in 1980). Thanks to DNA exonerations and psychological research, we know so much more now that it’s high time we raise public awareness so that people can protect

Kassin:

theorizing and collecting and analyzing data in

themselves and their loved ones.

Believe it or not, the enforcement community,

the lab than getting involved in other people’s

like the rest of us, does not think like one

lives.

NOW:

homogeneous group. In fact, some of the most

You mention a certain indifference to false

effective advocates for reform in the UK are, and

Then I started to work on those cases I write

confessions amongst some you’ve spoken to, borne

always been, police investigators. They get it –

about. And I talked to innocent people who had

out of a misguided belief that false confessions are

and they’ve developed approaches that are more

confessed, and I brought them into the classroom

only extracted from certain people. Why do you

effective, without the same risks.

to meet with my students, and I met their friends and families, and before I knew it their

feel that such a belief pervades across the planet?

That said, the situation is far different in the US,

heart wrenching stories were inspiring research

Kassin:

where I have sparred my whole adult life with

ideas I would not have generated on my own. I

People can understand how a child or intellectually

police interrogators—and especially those who

don’t overstate this when I say that some of my

impaired adult might be induced to confess to a

train them. Their argument used to be, “false

best theorizing and research was born of their

crime they did not commit. People also understand

confessions don’t happen.” Now their arguments

tragedies.

that they could be

are more nuanced, more defensive.

coerced through beatings

NOW:

or threats of harm and punishment. What the average smart person does not understand is the

NOW:

The degree to which American police officers are

psychological whiplash produced by a modern day

The plights of those you profile in Duped are heart-

allowed to openly lie to force false confessions

and how they too, smart adults, can be duped into

breaking and mind-boggling in equal measure. Is

(for example insisting that somebody failed a

a false confession.

it this human side to false confessions – and the

polygraph) is genuinely shocking. Do you think

tragic chaos that they create – that has motivated

there’s any realistic hope of such tactics being

you to keep researching them for so long?

made illegal in the US over the coming years? This

NOW:

is a great question. The average American HAS NO

You’ve been actively researching and questioning false confessions for several decades. Have you

Kassin:

IDEA that police are allowed to flat out lie to them

run into any active resistance or hostility from

This question makes me smile. When I was in

about evidence—claiming, for example, to have

law enforcement individuals or organisations in

graduate school, I rejected the option to gain

their fingerprints, DNA, or surveillance footage

that time?

clinical experience. I was more comfortable

from the crime scene. It’s what makes this form

39

of trickery so devastating. I mean SO DEVASTATING

of what I don’t know and how my perceptions, like

It is now being used in other countries, including

that it not only can lead innocent people to confess

everyone else’s, can be tainted by strong beliefs,

Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and parts of Canada.

but it can brainwash them into questioning their

police too often are trained to believe that they

In the U.S., slowly but surely, PEACE is starting to

own innocence and creating false memories.

have superhuman abilities—for example, that they

break the ice.

can tell when someone is lying—something they The US Supreme Court rules in 1969 that this tactic

cannot do any better than the rest of us. And that in

NOW:

is permissible. That was over fifty years ago—before

a nutshell is where the problems begin.

You close your book by reflecting on your newfound

thousands of wrongful convictions were discovered,

‘bottom up’ approach – that of raising public

before the science of false confessions was in place.

NOW:

awareness over influencing policy from the top. Do

Yet the Court has not revisited the issue. The good

Your book suggests reforms which could reduce the

you have any other plans for 2022 – or perhaps even

news is, state legislatures are finally starting to get

prevalence of false confessions, including the PEACE

further ahead - to help spread awareness of forced

it. In 2021, the states of Illinois and Oregon – for the

system used in UK policing. Could you summarise

false confessions?

first time – banned this type of police deception in

what the system is and why it has been so effective,

cases involving juveniles. Now similar legislation is

please? Why do you think some are resistant to the

Kassin:

working its way through other states. In February,

system in the US?

In an article for the American Psychologist, I wrote

for example, I will testify in Colorado on this point.

to my colleagues in psychology: “It is short-sighted

Stay tuned. Finally, FINALLY, there is movement to

Kassin:

to spend years addressing a problem of concern,

outlaw this dangerous tactic.

In the 1990s, after some alarming high-profile false

getting funded, designing experiments, analyzing

confessions, police officers in England and Wales

data, and publishing in journals, only to stop short of

NOW:

teamed up with research psychologists and other

serving as a spokesperson when it matters most. If

A recurring theme running through the cases you

academics to develop interview techniques that were

psychologists do not speak up, that void will be filled

cover is that of police intimidation and manipulation.

non-coercive, ethical, and transparent. All sessions

by others less informed.”

Do you believe that, generally, individual police

had to be recorded; the sessions were no longer

officers are to blame for this misuse of power, or is it

called “interrogations.”

more of a structural problem?

This book is now my best effort to date at raising public awareness. Although I used to approach the

The main objective is build a rapport and allow that

news media selectively and with caution, I’ve come

Kassin:

suspect to give their account of events uninterrupted,

to see now that the effects can be transformative.

This is the unanswerable million-dollar question.

before presenting evidence of inconsistencies or

In January 2021 I wrote an op-ed article for the NY

I am not a mind reader so I cannot crawl into the

contradictions. The goal is to gather information

Times on why police should be banned from lying

brains and hearts of detectives who bully and con

about the crime and solve it, not necessarily by

about evidence. With that article as a guiding light,

innocent people into confessions—and then don’t

confession. In the words of one former police officer

two states have already passed legislation and others

turn back no matter what new evidence comes

I know who trains in PEACE methods, “You’d be

now consider it.

forward.

amazed at how much people will tell you when you

My default, always, is to give the individual police

are nice to them.”

Now as a result of this book, I am better armed and

officers the benefit of the doubt and to blame their

more motivated than ever to speak out.

training. Like the rest of us, they are human. Yet

While it started in England and Wales, PEACE was

while my training in psych makes me acutely aware

soon adopted in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

40

NOW: Are there any cases you’ve contributed to (whether included in the book or not) over the course of your career that you’re particularly proud of?

Kassin: In 1985, my colleague Larry Wrightsman and I proposed a taxonomy of three types of false confessions. The third type we drew from the 1976 case of Peter Reilly, described in the book. As a result of a deep dive into his case, we proposed that sometimes innocents not only confess but come to believe in their own culpability, a form of brainwashing. Scientific research on false memories followed and other similar cases became apparent.

I am proud of having extracted this important concept, which I later tested in the lab, from Peter’s case. Years later, he visited my class; we now talk regularly.

In 2002, thirteen years after the infamous Central Park jogger case, new evidence revealed the actual rapist (discussed in Chapter 1). Yet NYC newspapers had not reframed the narrative. For all the attention the boys got at conviction, the city’s news media did not seem convinced now of these men were innocent.

I published my first article for the NY Times titled “False Confessions and the Jogger Case” a few weeks before they were exonerated. I’ve spent twenty years since that time explaining this case to lay people who were fixated on their original convictions. This case has such historic and symbolic value in the US, for so many reasons, that I am pleased with the role I have played in helping to raise public awareness.

I’ve intervened in other cases as well, some of which are discussed in the book (e.g., Anthony Wright, Juan Rivera, Marty Tankleff, Joe Buffey, Huwe Burton).

What I am proudest of in these cases is that I have studied not only why innocent people confess but then why their confessions are so persuasive.

This work has added a necessary layer to the

Above: The full-page advertisement was taken out by Donald Trump in the May 1, 1989,

conversation, enabling prosecutors, judges, lawyers,

issue of the Daily News, calling for the death penalty in response to the Central

etc. to understand how it is that they too were duped. ________________________________

Park Five case Facing: Dr. Kassin in 2020 Scan the QR Code below to read Dr. Kassin’s New York Times article, ‘It’s Time for Police to Stop Lying to Suspects’.

Duped: Why Innocent People Confess – and Why We Believe Their Confessions (Hardback, 9781633888081, £22.95) by Saul Kassin PhD publishes July 2022.

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