I just finished Space by James Michener. Not his best offering but I stayed with it to the end. Interesting cast of characters with compelling lifetime adventures but most of them seemed actually pretty flat. My favorite character, however, was Leopold Strabismus. He was a very intelligent, highly educated scammer. His exploits run throughout the book beginning with his newsletter, available by monthly subscription, that detailed the progress of benevolent aliens that were about to land on earth and straighten things out. He made a fair income deluding people. He was knowingly lying to people but never broke any laws. His next move was a fake diploma factory that eventually became a fake university. PHD’s or masters degrees could be had for a few hundred dollars. Ultimately he became a preacher, realizing that that was where the real money was. Money was a goal but he was really addicted to fame and power. He never broke any laws.
Published in 1982, it could have been written today. I think that what I liked most about this story was Micheners understanding of the phenomenon that leads people down these crazy rabbit holes. Strabismus, an educated scientist, begins a national campaign against teaching evolution. He insisted that earth was created 6000 years ago. When publicly confronted by scientists he doesn’t waiver. Privately he is more forthcoming. He claims to be providing a service to those who are yearning for simpler times and solid truths that can only be found in the Bible. Another character that I found interesting was Elinor Grant, a senators wife, who contributed huge amounts of money to Strabismus throughout her lifetime. Micheners description of her and the satisfaction she derived from this charlatan helps explain some of the action of some of my family and how easy it can be to give yourself over to an obvious fraud. As Michener points out, none of this is new. The rejection of factual information in favor of fantasy and wishful thinking has been with us forever and will likely remain so.
Not the best book that I ever read but was surprisingly relevant.
by punabear