Dear Bookclub,
Having Kim join us at Bernardo Winery's Kitchen put the festive evening over the top as we met to discuss our July selection, Cristina Henriquez's "The Great Divide". Circling our table with hugs, order flags, wine, water cups, utensils, etc, we finally sat. Catching up and getting down to business, knowing that Kim's time with us was short, we seemed efficient, choosing two selections from Kim's recommendations, chatting about the book and filling our mouths. However(!), scolded the tortoise, we neglected to get a picture of our giant, wonderful group before Martha, Julie and Kim had to depart. Too bad!
Henriquez captured our attention with the well-developed characters, who helped demonstrate the harsh conditions, inequities of race, medical conditions, scientific thought and engineering of the era. Intrigued by the blatant gold and silver distinctions, the great divide of the classes. I did a little searching. Please read this piece, from The Silver People Heritage Foundation blog, exposing the blatant racism, including the demoting of thousands of skilled and competent black workers:
https://thesilverpeopleheritage.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/the-silver-and-gold-roll-on-the-panama-canal-zone/
Another very interesting piece comes from The State Department Office of the Historian: a 1946 letter from J.C. Mehaffey, governor of the Panama Canal, to the Ambassador in Panama, Frank T. Hines. The letter is a reply to workers' allegations and illustrates the rationale of the times:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1946v11/d47
Diane mentioned David McCullough's National Book Award winning "The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914". This is the real deal:
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Path-Between-the-Seas/David-McCullough/9780743262132
Finally, I knew that in 1926, my father-in-law, Everett Kaufman, lost his father when he was only two years old. Little was known about the situation except that his father, Nathan Kaufman (N8's namesake), was in the Panama Canal area on business. The details have disappeared with the generations. My 98 year-old mother-in-law knows nothing and says that her mother-in-law, Gertrude, Nathan's wife, never spoke of it. Upon doing some online digging, I found a write-up about Nathan's father, my N8's great-grandfather, David Kaufman. The founder of Kaufman & Sons, a scrap metal business in Elizabeth, New Jersey, did indeed get scrap metal from the building of the canal. Being the fifth of seven sons, Nathan had to be there with that business, yet I was unable to find an obituary. Here is some of what I found:
My family was tickled to find this. Moral of the story: keep telling your children and grandchildren all you know about your families.
Kim's suggestions for an upcoming read:
"How To Read A Book" Monica Wood *chosen
"Only The Beautiful" Susan Meissner *chosen
"The Kitchen House" Kathleen Grissom
