Review: George Washington's Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade & Don Yaeger

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A statue of Nathan Hale, famous for his remarks before execution – “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country” – stands out front of the CIA headquarters. Hale was a Patriot spy during the American Revolution, and truth be told, was a failure at it. This is no way diminishes his loyalty or sacrifice, and perhaps because of it, serves as the public face of all colonial spies during the times that “try men’s souls”, as Thomas Paine would say.

George Washington’s Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger examines those colonial spies largely lost to history who did far more to win the cause of liberty than most will ever know and are known as the Culper Spy Ring. Five of the six spy’s names are now known to us: Caleb Brewster, James Rivington, Austin Roe, Robert Townsend, and Abraham Woodhull. The sixth name belonging to a woman is likely lost forever, and we can only honor her by the anonymous code name, Agent 355.

These six, along with their handler, a soldier reporting directly to George Washington by the name of Benjamin Tallmadge, uncovered Benedict Arnold’s treason; discovered the naval codes to give the French the winning hand at Yorktown; thwarted a British counterfeiting ring; and delivered false information to the British in order to keep them penned up in New York, while the French fleet arrived safely.

Such is the nature of people of this caliber that after the war, they sought nothing for their services but their expenses and remained largely humble and anonymous. Only Austin Roe would talk much of his time spying, and then only over pints in a tavern. That we know who they were and what they did is in thanks the secret letters preserved through time. Without them, only legend and myth would remain.

The book is an easy, exciting read, and Kilmeade and Yaeger have done a fine job of honoring these brave patriots with their story. While Nathan Hale’s statue stands out front, inside the CIA, new recruits are taught about the Culpers’ and how they pioneered most every modern spy method.

If the Culpers’ shall remain largely anonymous to this nation who owes them a debt, it would be what they preferred in life…

“But even if their story was not known across the nation, the fruits of their labors, their letters, and their lives were – and continue to be – felt from sea to shining sea in the freedoms and independence all American citizens enjoy.” - George Washington's Secret Six, Brian Kilmeade & Don Yaeger

Review: The Prince And Other Writings by Niccolo' Machiavelli

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Note: This is a review of the Barnes & Noble Classics The Prince and Other Writings, translated by Wayne Rebhorn. This review is limited to just The Prince which is perhaps the most famous of Machiavelli's writings.


Where could I even begin to start? The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is the playbook, the instruction manual, the end-and-be-all how-to guide for politicians looking to better themselves and/or maintain power by the manipulation of society. It is at once disheartening, and a relief, to know some things (even the exact same things!) never change.

Much like the illuminating Screwtape, Machiavelli’s instructions on how to maintain power do much more to enlighten us on human nature, in fact, showing just how much we desire to be oppressed, therefore making tyranny that much easier to create. Take the following three paragraphs from Chapter 3 for example:

“…men change rulers willingly, hoping to better their lot, and this belief makes them take arms against their ruler, but in this they are deceived, as their experience shows that things have become worse.”

A clear indictment against modern voters who have no sense of history, and who in fact will vote for whoever promises them, as individuals, more freebies from the public coffers.

“Thus you will find enemies in all those whom you have injured by occupying that principality, and you cannot maintain the friendship of those who have helped put you there, since you will not be able to satisfy them as they expected, nor can you treat them with strong medicine, since you are obligated to them.”

Clearly the problem with special interest groups and campaign donors.

“…when lands that have reblled are re-taken, they are not lost again so easily, for the ruler, now using the rebellion as a pre-text, is less averse to secure his position by punishing offenders, clarifying suspicions, and strengthening himself in his weakest places.”

Incumbents tend to stay in power purely because they are in a position to demonize opposition parties and use the machinery of government to hold power.

The whole of The Prince is just as quotable and just as illuminating. Take the following quote as a good allegory for the Primaries, Media bias, PACs, and so on in US politics:

“…when the nobility see that they cannot resist the people, they start directing their support toward one of their won and make him prince, so that, under his protective shade, they can satisfy their appetite. The people, also, seeing that they cannot resist the nobility, start giving their support to one of their own and make him prince in order to be defended by his authority.”

Machiavelli’s observations also make a strong argument in favor of the 2nd Amendment:

“For, between an armed man and an unarmed one there is no comparison whatsoever, and it is not reasonable that one who is armed should willingly obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed one would be safe among armed servants.”

I could easily spend this entire essay quoting Machiavelli, such is the nature of his wit and insight. Let me just encourage you to read it on your own, for when you do, you will never trust a politician of any side, ever again. You will recognize with ease the very same guidance Machiavelli gave the Prince, as the Politician will try to use on you. The Prince is a primer for critical thinking in politics and society.

Review: The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann



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“Exploration, however, no longer seemed aimed at some outward discovery; rather, it was directed inward, to what guidebooks and brochures called “camping and wilderness therapy” and “personal growth through adventure.” – David Grann, The Lost City of Z

Under this lens, one can appreciate the story David Grann tells primarily of Col. Percy Fawcett, a man obsessed with finding a lost city of the Amazon jungle and disappearing forever because of it ; David Grann’s own obsession with finding out what happened to Col. Fawcett by following his footsteps; and in reflection, all of society’s needs to obtain, whatever shape it takes.

Every single person on this planet is fixated on something. Where it is the preoccupation for money or fame, the passion to create, the infatuation with someone else, or the mania, fetishes, and addictions for ideas, personal desires, or the psychological or physiological need for something…we all obsess.

It is with this understanding that makes David Grann’s book, The Lost City of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon strike far closer to home than one might imagine. One does not need to roam actual jungles, facing danger at every turn, to see that a jungle is just a metaphor for losing our own way in our rush to obtain that which we desire.

The absolute horrific conditions in which Col. Fawcett found himself, fighting disease, poisonous insects and plants, infections, hostile Indians, and predators of every nature are aptly (and grotesquely) described at length, but then to imagine that Col. Fawcett did not run from such hardships of the mind and body, but rather embraced it, and returned as often as he could speaks volumes about how humanity keeps returning to the same metaphorical well of poison for a cool drink we desire. What is it that drives us on despite the hardships and dangers, what was it that drove Col. Fawcett back to the Amazon despite a near guarantee to lose his life?

“But before long he found himself unable to sit still. “Deep down inside me a tiny voice was calling,” Fawcett said. “At first scarcely audible, it persisted until I could no longer ignore it. It was the voice of the wild place, and I knew that it know was part of me for ever.” He added, “Inexplicably—amazingly—I knew I loved that hell. Its fiendish grasp had captured me, and I wanted to see it again.” – David Grann, The Lost City of Z

And his obsession became the obsession for others after he went missing, including the author (a modern New York urbanite) and others. In visiting a local Indian woman who may have had some knowledge about Fawcett’s last known whereabouts,

“…she said, other people came from far away to ask about the missing explorers. She stared at me, her narrow eyes widening. “What is it that these white people did?” she asked. “Why is it so important for their tribe to find them?” – David Grann, The Lost City of Z

Indeed, why? David Grann does a marvelous job in relating his initial discovery of Col. Fawcett, the details of Fawcett’s life, the various expeditions into the Amazon, and the shock that Fawcett may have been right all along about the Lost City of Z. I won’t spoil the ending, but I recommend that for an evening or two, you put down your own obsessions and vicariously live someone else’s. And who knows…maybe you will find what you have been desiring all along: Understanding that our obsessions are place holders for something more primal.

“Civilization has a relatively precarious hold upon us and there is an undoubted attraction in a life of absolute freedom once it has been tasted. The ‘call o’ the wild’ is in the blood of many of us and finds its safety valve in adventure.” - Col. Percy Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett