The prolific author Nelson DeMille
uses his experiences as a former history major and Viet Nam
veteran to write compelling stories. His latest book, The
Quest, draws upon events of the 1970s. Readers will find
it fascinating how this book and many of his other books can
be compared to today.
The Quest is a reminder of the brutality of Marxist
regimes. The setting is Ethiopia during the 1970s as the 3000-year-old
dynasty came to an end at the hands of the Marxists rebels.
Just as today, the ruthlessness of the African and Muslim
nations is emphasized as he writes about the revolution, in
the quote, “Men like that are taking over the world…what
the hell has gone wrong.” In explaining it, DeMille
notes, “They just shot three hundred members of the
royal family. I wanted to write how Marxists typically tried
to kill and eliminate the aristocracy. The brutality against
the ruling class was a knee jerk reaction, which unraveled
that society. The violence can be a history lesson for today
when all this cruelty is being inflicted on the Coptic Christians
in Egypt and Syria. I find it interesting that no one is saying
anything about this yet during the Serbian-Bosnian War, when
the Muslims were killed, everyone was outraged.”
The book also gives readers a strong flavor of the 1970s.
DeMille considers that decade very depressing considering
the defeat in Viet Nam, the gas shortages, and the super inflation.
He thinks that era began “the erosion of American supremacy,
including Western values and culture that led to political
instability in the world. Look no further than the Middle
East where demagogues took advantage and came to power. Just
as today, in the 1970s, there were weak Presidents in both
Ford and Carter. We were lucky, because America elected Ronald
Reagan who was able to bring back America’s status.”
Many of his books discuss the current threat of Islamic extremists.
His early books, such as The Lion’s Game, published
in 2000, are cautionary tales, a wake-up call to the dangers.
Last year he wrote a gripping tale, The Panther, that
is based in Yemen, has the USS Cole as a backdrop, and is
about fanatical Muslims. Showing Yemen as a backward country
culturally he hopes readers will comprehend how “the
Muslim religion has not evolved into the 20th and 21st Centuries.
The way they treat women, their political system, and the
culture leaves no room for diversity.” There is also
his anger over the political correctness of the politicians,
as stated in the book, “The Navy’s Rules of Engagement
that were rewritten by some committee of politically correct,
ball-less wonders in the bowels of the Pentagon.”
Another of his books, Night Fall, (2004) is about
TWA Flight 800. This past July a documentary asked questions
about the reasons why TWA Flight 800 crashed. But DeMille
raised these questions much earlier. In the back of his mind
he thinks a missile brought the plane down. The book makes
a convincing argument by referring to the more than two hundred
eyewitnesses who reported they saw a rocket. He stated, “Someone
I know was on a yacht with his family. His young son pointed
out the “fireworks,” which everyone said later
was a rocket that exploded. What I cannot believe is how the
FBI used 19th century technology to interview the witnesses.
Statements were taken down with a note pad instead of videotaping
or at least audiotaping their recollections. This is ridiculous
considering something of this magnitude. The effect of the
current documentary is that there is much more of an impact
when you see and hear what people said instead of reading
a transcript.”
A few of his books including The Talbot Odyssey and
The Charm School centered around the Cold War. In his
next book he hopes to show how the Russians are still the
bad guys even though the Cold War has ended. “Putin
was able to regain power and take the advantage because of
the weakness projected by this administration. Everyone is
up in arms about what Putin said about America’s exceptionalism
but forget Obama said the same thing. He never learned how
to be a Commander-in-Chief.”
Whether writing about current events or past incidents, as
in The Quest, DeMille sounds the alarm. He reminds
his readers of the brutality of nations due in large part
to their Dark Ages ideology.
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