Non-Fiction Review: Finders, Keepers, by Craig Childs

 

Title: Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession
Author: Craig Childs. Read by the author.
Publication Info: Hachette Audio 2018. Hardback: Little, Brown & Co. 2010 (288 pages)
Source: Library digital resources

Publisher’s Blurb:

To whom does the past belong? Is the archeologist who discovers a lost tomb a sort of hero--or a villain? If someone steals a relic from a museum and returns it to the ruin it came from, is she a thief? Written in his trademark lyrical style, Craig Childs's riveting new book is a ghost story--an intense, impassioned investigation into the nature of the past and the things we leave behind. We visit lonesome desert canyons and fancy Fifth Avenue art galleries, journey throughout the Americas, Asia, the past and the present. The result is a brilliant book about man and nature, remnants and memory, a dashing tale of crime and detection. 

My Review:

I'm a fan of Craig Childs for the above-mentioned "trademark lyrical style," which has given us in several other books a paeon to the desert Southwest and the traces of the people who came before. In this case, it might not fit quite as well. Or maybe it does.

The book is half a hymn to the remnants of the past, and half an investigation into what we do with them. There is no question that to Childs, those archaeological remains are something more than objects, and more than history, too, and his passion for their right to be left alone is eloquent. His argument for leaving artifacts as and where they are (a decision he concludes every researcher must make for his or her self) is comprehensible and emotionally powerful. His exploration of the ways artifacts have been plundered in the past and are still being plundered may leave the reader angry, but I felt that Childs himself is less willing to judge, or perhaps finds his judgements derailed by sympathy for those who just want to have and hold bits of history.

But the history of archaeology isn't pretty, and neither is the present fate of many such objects, as pot hunters damage whatever is in their way in the search for the valuable items. What Childs left me with was an unsatisfied feeling of sorrow for what is lost and being lost, and anger at those who ravage history for profit. But he also imbues the book with his own reverence for the objects themselves, pieces of history in out-of-the-way places. I may not agree with everything he says, but his book forces me to think about it all, from the pot sherds we collected as children to the artifacts in museums, in a new and more critical way.

My Recommendation:
This is excellent reading for anyone interested in archaeology, particularly of the US Southwest, but also in a broader sense. Prepare to be angered and saddened at times.

FTC Disclosure: I borrowed an electronic copy of Finders Keepers from my library, and received nothing from the author or the publisher in exchange for my honest review. The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  

 

#AtoZChallenge I is for Aunt Isabel

 

In a Nutshell: Aunt Isabel is the aunt of the main characters in Fiona Ingram's The Secret of the Sacred Scarab. She's an experienced world-traveling journalist on the trail of something interesting that just happens to get her nephews (Justin and Adam) into a lot of trouble.

It's been too long since I read it for me to pull out a favorite quote, so instead, I'm just going to share my review of the book from January 2015. And it makes a nice reminder that I'm overdue to read the second in the series!

 

Click the cover for purchase link.

Title: The Secret of the Sacred Scarab
Author: Fiona Ingram
Publisher: iUniverse 2008, 272 pages
Source: I'm actually not sure; it's been on my ereader for quite a while. I either won it in a give-away or picked it up on a free day, I think.

This fast-paced adventure is by one of my fellow BookElves. 

Publisher's Summary:
A thrilling adventure for two young boys, whose fun trip to Egypt turns into a dangerously exciting quest to uncover an ancient and mysterious secret. A 5000-year-old mystery comes to life when a scruffy peddler gives Adam and Justin Sinclair an old Egyptian scarab on their very first day in Egypt. Justin and Adam embark upon the adventure of a lifetime, taking them down the Nile and across the harsh desert in their search for the legendary tomb of the Scarab King, an ancient Egyptian ruler. With just their wits, courage, and each other, the boys manage to survive … only to find that the end of one journey is the beginning of another!

Review:
This was a great adventure, with a lot of history and archeology thrown in along the way. For the most part, the story moves along well, and the two boys are depicted clearly and engagingly. I might have liked for Gran to have a bigger role--she was pretty one-dimensional until near the end, when she proved delightful, but I can see why I might be more interested in her than a kid would.

A few times, especially near the beginning of the book, I thought the story got bogged down in the history/geography lessons, but for the most part they were well-integrated into the story, as the boys tried to find out what they needed to know in order to solve the mystery. The book also had to deal with the usual problem for kids' adventures: keeping the adults from taking over. I thought it was well-handled; they see it all as a great adventure and want to solve it themselves. When things get a little scary, they kind of want an adult to help, but worry their aunt won't take them seriously. The adults eventually get involved, but by then the boys have to cope with some things on their own regardless.

The exciting conclusion is gripping--I definitely stayed up to finish! Then there is the set-up for the next book in the series. I'm not a big fan of making a too-obvious "to be continued" sign at the end of a book, but I have to admit it has me wanting to read the next in the series!

Recommendation:
For lovers of adventure and mystery and exotic settings.

Full Disclosure: I bought, won, or was given a copy of The Secret of the Sacred Scarab at some unknown time, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  

H: House of Rain (book review)

 

 

For H-day: a review of House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest, by Craig Childs.

Craig Childs is well known in certain circles for his almost poetic meditations on the land, water, and creatures of the southwestern U.S.  His books resonate deeply with those of us who also love the land of little rain (that's another obscure literary reference.  Go ahead and go look it up).

In House of Rain, Childs takes on the great mystery and fascination of the region: the ancient culture(s) that built the silent ruins preserved in Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon, as well as those that you may stumble on unexpectedly in a cave or overhang in any canyon or wash.  Half travelogue, half archaeological discussion, and half fantastical recreation of a world that is--and isn't--vanished, at one point while reading I jotted in my journal that the book is "the work of archaeologists filtered through the mind of a poet."

And that pretty well sums up both the strength and the weakness of the book.  Childs has a vivid imagination, a boot-soles-and-spirit knowledge of the region, and enough knowledge of archaeology to present the science cogently--and then to draw his own conclusions.  Many of his conclusions do not bear the stamp of approval from the archaeological community.  They may be no less valid for that.  He is a powerful proponent of the idea that a gut feeling might be the final tool needed to put the story together.  And he is willing to walk through country that would not only daunt but kill many of us, in order to string together the story.

Chapter by chapter, mile by mile of walking in blazing summer heat and blowing winter snow (yes, the region is extreme in both seasons, though the snow is never deep--it is, after all, desert), Childs tracks the movements of the ancient people around the Colorado Plateau, down into Arizona, and finally into northern Mexico.  Sometimes he travels alone.  Sometimes with others who share his interest, amateurs or experts.  Sometimes he travels with his wife and infant son.  Always he travels with the ghosts of those who went before.

This is by far the most thorough and most brutally honest account of what archaeology tells us--or implies to us--of the people who inhabited the southwest before Europeans arrived.  Childs is not afraid to tell of the evidence of violence, nor of the evidence that drought and possibly mismanagement of resources drove people from place to place.  In the end, he also reminds us that the cycle of drought and uninhabitability (if that's a word) isn't a thing of the past.

Five stars, for great literary non-fiction and an education in 500 pages.

As a bonus: a sampling of my own photos from just a few places on the Colorado Plateau.

 

Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon National Historic Park

 

A lone wall, Wijiji, Chaco Canyon

Stone dwellings and caves in the rhyolite cliffs of Frijoles Canyon, Bandelier National Monument

Hovenweep National Monument.  I particularly like this picture, as it was the last trip we took with my Dad.