Must-reads: A Bell for Adono

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Peace All,

Here's an article from the Tucson Citizen where some books are
recommended for reading -- for very compelling reasons. Any one read
this book?

Anyone have a 'must-read' they'd like to review & suggest? Post a
strand with "Must-read: title" so we can learn a little bit
insh'Allah, and get a discussion going on the issues highlighted.




Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:21 am (PST)
Published: 11.29.2007
Guest opinion: What a novel can teach us about Iraq
BOB KOVITZ
Tucson Citizen

While the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are ever so
real, we may still be able to draw lessons from the
world of the unreal.
Fiction writers are told to write what they know, and
we can learn from novels dealing with issues such as
those our soldiers face in the Middle East and
Southwest Asia.
There is no better example of fiction serving reality
than John Hersey's 1944 book "A Bell for Adano."
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel describes the
experience of Joppolo, an American civilian clerk who
is drafted into the Army to become a civil affairs
officer and the de facto mayor of Adano, Italy, after
the allies "liberate" the country.
Writing in the U.S. Army's "Armor" journal, Lt. Col.
Patrick Donahoe compares the novel's protagonist to
our current soldiers, whom we ask to be "just as
successful as Joppolo, even though they do not speak
the language, have little understanding of the
cultures in which they are immersed, and have no
connection to these countries."
Joppolo faces tasks as seemingly mundane as
determining who can fish locally. But he understands
that even these small decisions affect his
relationship with the townsfolk and help him win their
confidence.
Joppolo's ultimate challenge is to replace the ancient
bell in the town's tower.
His success demonstrates the importance of
military-civilian relationships and that not every
infantryman or tank commander is equipped to change
overnight from potential killer to city clerk.
After the initial U.S. invasion of Iraq, we rightly
called upon trained and experienced administrative
officials to begin the process of restoring the
country's political, social and physical
infrastructure.
That process was rudely interrupted when President
Bush suddenly replaced the Coalition Provisional
Authority's Jay Garner only one month after his
appointment.
Similarly, highly regarded diplomat Barbara Bodine was
booted out as acting "mayor" of Baghdad.
Garner's crime? He wanted to put Iraqis in charge of
their own destiny as soon as possible, and he opposed
the move to "de-Ba'athificate" the government and
military.
In hindsight, we see that Garner's approach was as
appropriate as Joppolo's in Adano.
Both saw the need to involve local citizens in
determining their future, and both recognized the
importance of keeping the working government structure
intact.
In his Armor article, Donahoe writes that "every
cavalryman, turned de facto civil affairs officer,
should read this book to put his new mission in
perspective and to help put himself into this
mission's perspective."
At a time when this country's appetite for reading is
declining, we should be encouraging our leaders to put
down their briefing books and pick up works of fiction
such as "A Bell for Adano."
Not every answer can be found in military manuals, the
Congressional Record or the New York Times.
We should insist that our commanders and
noncommissioned officers also consult these works of
fiction.
Although the stories are made up, the issues they
address have resonance and relevance in the real
world.
Bob Kovitz is a local public management and community
relations consultant. He can be reached at
bobk...@msn.com.