Robert Laxalt (1923–2001)

The journals of a young man from Nevada who is declared 4-F due to a heart murmur. To serve his country during World War II, he used political connections to get him a job as an encoder for a diplomatic legation in the Belgian Congo. What should have been a complete backwater becomes a sideshow of the war because of the Uranium mine located in the Congo.
This book was barely a 100 pages unforunately. I would have liked to read a bit more. The book is a few vignettes tied together. The author describes a troop transport, the diplomatic corp, hunting water buffalo, spying and malaria. The spying done by the OSS against the Germans is the most engrossing part of the book. It isn't until much later in the author's life that he finds out why the Germans and Americans were fighting for the Uranium. The description of malaria was also engaging.
I'd recommend the book to those interested in the Congo or the building of the atom bomb.… (more)

This book is an absolute gem. The Laxalt family became a prominent and well know family in Nevada. Paul Laxalt becoming the governer and a senator for the state of Nevada. Robert Laxalt became a celebrated author whose funeral at the University of Nevada several years ago was one of the largest in state history. In this book he tells the story of his father's experience as a immigrant Basque sheep herder. The rise and fall of family fortune's and the hard luck of raising stock in a terrain of terrible and exacting beauty. The story culminates in a vist home for Dominique, the father. He travels with his son Robert to visit the place of his birth and to see relatives he has not seen in 50 years. It is Dominique's story but mirrors many other immigrant's stories. The author tells this simple story with obvious love and admiration for his father who has been a bit of an enigma to the children raised in America.… (more)