Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 28, 2014

B4

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 28, 2014 

Jeff’s Book Picks By Jeff Brown


SEAN’S SHAMELESS 

REVIEWS: 

AMERICAN SPRING: 
LEXINGTON, CONCORD, 
AND THE ROAD TO 
REVOLUTION 

by Walter R. Borneman 

A vibrant new look at the American 
Revolution's first months, from the 
author of the bestseller The Admi-rals 
When we reflect on our nation's history, 
the American Revolution can feel almost 
like a foregone conclusion. In reality, 
the first weeks and months of 1775 were 
very tenuous, and a fractured and ragtag 
group of colonial militias had to coalesce 
rapidly to have even the slimmest chance of toppling the mighty British Army. AMERICAN 
SPRING follows a fledgling nation from Paul Revere's little-known ride of December 1774 and the 
first shots fired on Lexington Green through the catastrophic Battle of Bunker Hill, culminating 
with a Virginian named George Washington taking command of colonial forces on July 3, 1775.
Focusing on the colorful heroes John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Benjamin 
Franklin, and Patrick Henry, and the ordinary Americans caught up in the revolution,...When we 
reflect on our nation's history, the American Revolution can feel almost like a foregone conclusion. 
In reality, the first weeks and months of 1775 were very tenuous, and a fractured and ragtag group 
of colonial militias had to coalesce rapidly to have even the slimmest chance of toppling the mighty 
British Army.

SPIES, PATRIOTS, AND TRAITORS: AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE IN THE 
REVOLUTIONARY WAR by Kenneth A. Daigler 

Students and enthusiasts of American history are familiar with the Revolutionary War spies Nathan 
Hale and Benedict Arnold, but few studies have closely examined the wider intelligence efforts 
that enabled the colonies to gain their independence. Spies, Patriots, and Traitors provides readers 
with a well-documented, and highly readable account of American intelligence activities during 
the era of the Revolutionary War, from 1765 to 1783, while describing the intelligence sources and 
methods used and how our Founding Fa-thers learned and practiced their intelligence role. The 
author, a retired CIA officer, provides insights into these events from an intelligence professional's 
perspective, highlighting the tradecraft of intelligence col-lection, counterintelligence, and covert 
actions and relating how many of the principles of the era's intelli-gence practice are still relevant 
today. Daigler reveals the intelligence activities of famous personalities such as Samuel Adams, 
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Nathan Hale, John Jay, and Benedict Arnold, as well as 
many less well-known figures. He examines the important role of intelligence in key thea-ters of 
military operations, such as Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and in General 
Nathanael Greene's campaign in South Carolina; the role of African Americans in the era's 
intelligence ac-tivities; undertakings of networks such as the Culper Ring; and intelligence efforts 
and paramilitary actions conducted abroad. Spies, Patriots, and Traitors adds a new dimension to our 
understanding of the Ameri-can Revolution. The book's scrutiny of the tradecraft and management 
of Revolutionary War intelligence activities will be of interest to students, scholars, intelligence 
professionals, and anyone who wants to learn more about this fascinating era of American history.

THE GREAT DIVIDE: THE CONFLICT BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND 
JEFFERSON THAT DE-FINED A NATION by Thomas Fleming 

A conflict between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson? Most Americans are unaware of 
this his-torical reality. History tends to cast the early years of America in a glow of camaraderie, 
but there were many conflicts between the Founding Fathers—and none more important than 
the clash between Wash-ington and Jefferson. Their disagreement centered on the highest, most 
original public office created by the Constitutional Convention: the presidency. It also involved the 
nation’s foreign policy, and the role of the merchant, the soldier, and the farmer in a republic. At its 
root were two profoundly different visions of America’s future.Thomas Fleming examines how the 
differing character and leadership styles of Washington and Jefferson shaped two opposing views of 
the presidency and the nation. The clash be-tween these two gifted men, both of whom cared deeply 
about the United States of America, profoundly influenced the next two centuries of the nation’s 
history and persists to the present day.


By Sean Kayden

VACATIONER

Kenny Vasoli, the former frontman of the pop-punk outfit The Starting Line, 
is back with his sophomore album “Relief,” under the moniker, Vacationer. 
The band consists of members from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Brooklyn, New York. Vacationer 
has been classified under “Nu-Hula/ World Wave.” Basically, the band jams out with some light 
electronics, which adds a tropical flair to it. “Relief” picks up where, debut album “Gone,” left off. 
Vasoli and company appears to be at ease second time around. They know precisely what they want to 
set out to do, which allows for them to come off as seasoned pros rather than amateurs. While many 
tracks sound very alike, “Relief” is quite a refreshing summer record. Vasoli’s sweet, crooning vocals 
are the real draw here. The laidback electronics booted with the dreamy guitars bestows a pleasant 
summer feeling we wouldn’t mind experiencing all season long. 

“Relief” is light and lively, but also packs 
emotional enlightenment. “In The Grass” is the 
perfect example of this. It marks the halfway point 
of the record and it kicks it up a few notches. 
It’s a beautiful track that has you dancing along 
every step of the way. The combination of tight 
drums and sharp guitar work keeps the beat going 
strong. It’s the quintessential summer jam that 
has everlasting power unlike other summer pop songs from inferior mainstream acts. The shortest 
tune off the record “Parallels,” is both glorious and heartfelt. Vasoli’s vocals are the smoothest, softest 
around these parts. My only complaint for the abovementioned track is how abruptly it concludes. 
Like many of the songs found on “Relief,” there is a delicate characteristic to it. The second half of 
the album definitely edges out of the first half, but the first half is no slouch. Another fine tune is 
“Glimpse.” It’s summer-soaked, with easy, breezy beats to carry you off to a utopia not found in every 
day life. After experiencing 12 tracks at a length of 40 ½ minutes long, I was completely galvanized. 
In fact, I was anxious to listen through the record again.

“Go Anywhere,” another song that’s too short for its own good, is absolutely wondrous. As far as 
what I enjoy listening these days, it’s difficult for me to knock Vacationer’s sophomore record in any 
negative way. The simple and essentially chilled-out tunes provide more than meets the eye (or ear I 
should say). “Relief” vastly improves upon Vacationer’s debut endeavor. It’s appealing, earnest, and 
utterly joyous. It sheds light where there is darkness and washes away the negativity that is percolating 
within. In the end, “Relief” is for those searching, for those seeking something greater than them. 
Perhaps what they are looking for isn’t clearly defined and yet finding it isn’t necessarily the end. 

Grade: 8.8 out of 10

Key Tracks: “Glimpse,” “In The Grass,” “Parallels,” “Go Anywhere” 

Artist: Vacationer 

Album: Relief 

Label: Dogtown Records

Release Date: June 24th, 2014

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THE WORLD AROUND US

 


CURIOSITY ROVER COMPLETES FIRST MARTIAN YEAR

 
NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover completed a full Martian year—687 Earth days—as of 
June 24, having accomplished the mission’s main goal of determining whether Mars 
once offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

 One of Curiosity’s first major findings after landing on the Red Planet in August 2012 
was an ancient river-bed at its landing site. Nearby, at an area known as Yellowknife 
Bay, the mission met its main goal of determining whether the Martian Gale Crater 
ever was habitable for simple life forms. The answer, a historic “yes,” came from two 
mudstone slabs that the rover sampled with its drill. Analysis of these samples revealed 
the site was once a lakebed with mild water, the essential elemental ingredients for life, 
and a type of chemical energy source used by some microbes on Earth. If Mars had 
living organisms, this would have been a good home for them.

 Other major tasks performed during the first Martian year include:

• Assessing natural radiation levels both during the flight to Mars and on the 
Martian surface, providing guidance for designing the protection needed for human 
missions to Mars.
• Measuring heavy-versus-light variants of elements in the Martian atmosphere. 
Findings indicate that much of Mars’ early atmosphere disappeared by processes 
favoring loss of lighter atoms.
• The first determinations of the age of a rock on Mars and how long a rock has 
been exposed to harmful radiation.


 Curiosity paused in driving this spring to drill and collect a sample from a sandstone 
site called Windjana. The rover currently is carrying some of the rock-powder sample 
collected at the site for follow-up analysis.

 “Windjana has more magnetite than previous samples we’ve analyzed,” said David 
Blake, principal investigator for Curiosity’s Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) 
instrument at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. “A key 
question is whether this magnetite is a component of the original basalt or resulted 
from later processes, such as would happen in water-soaked basaltic sediments. The 
answer is important to our understanding of habitability and the nature of the early-
Mars environment.”

 Curiosity departed Windjana in mid-May and is advancing westward. It has covered 
about nine-tenths of a mile in 23 driving days and brought the mission’s odometer 
tally up to 4.9 miles.

 After wheel damage prompted a slow-down in driving late in 2013, the mission 
team has adjusted routes and driving methods to reduce the rate of damage.

 For example, the mission team revised the planned route to future destinations 
on the lower slope of an area called Mount Sharp, where scientists expect geological 
layering will yield answers about ancient environments. Before Curiosity landed, 
scientists anticipated that the rover would need to reach Mount Sharp to meet the goal 
of determining whether the ancient environment was favorable for life. They found 
an answer much closer to the landing site. The findings so far have raised the bar 
for the work ahead. At Mount Sharp, the mission team will seek evidence not only 
of habitability, but also of how environments evolved and what conditions favored 
preservation of clues to whether life existed there.

 The entry gate to the mountain is a gap in a band of dunes edging the mountain’s 
northern flank that is approximately 2.4 miles ahead of the rover’s current location. The 
new path will take Curiosity across sandy patches as well as rockier ground. Terrain 
mapping with use of imaging from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enables the 
charting of safer, though longer, routes.

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@MtnViewsNews.com.