Carl Wells Books

Would it be a good idea to try to have a third major political party in the United States? After all, the Democrats have become so left-wing that they seem to be aliens from another planet, and the Republicans don’t seem to stand for anything much except perhaps for making war on foreigners. Ordinary people don’t seem to have good choices when it comes to national elections.

While I am a fan of neither the Democrats nor the Republicans, I think organizing a semi-sane national third party would be an almost impossible task. My recommendation is instead that semi-sane people who are interested in politics begin thinking locally.

Why not dozens or hundreds of local parties? Why not principled people who run as independents? Why not principled people who run as Republicans or Democrats?

One of our major problems is that we don’t really know what we believe in. As an American people, as a partially Christian people, as a partially conservative people, what do we believe in?

In small government? Really? Then why do we tax our friends and neighbors and enemies to pay for the education of our children? Why do we warn politicians to keep their hands off “our” Social Security and “our” Medicare?

No, we are a confused people, and we seem to become more confused as the years unfold.

Do we want a semi-sane government we can respect? Many of us don’t, and those of us who do are far from sure what a semi-sane government would look like.

Our situation reminds me of that of the lost travelers who stopped at the home of the country bumpkin, asking for directions to their desired location, only to be told, “You can’t get there from here.”

It doesn’t seem like we can get to semi-sane government from here.

We need to face hard facts.

First of all, there is no political solution to our problem. That is because our problem is not fundamentally political. Our problem is fundamentally theological. We have a flawed brand of Christianity. I do not mean primarily that theological liberalism has caused us to think in wretched ways. It is certainly true that theological liberalism is causing us a lot of problems in terms of our ability to think. But the problem is far, far worse than that. The deeper problem is that our supposedly conservative, supposedly Bible-believing Christianity is simply not very biblical. We are part of the problem rather than a brightly shining beacon in a dark world.

If we hope to see a change for the better politically, first of all we Bible-believing Christians are going to have to stretch ourselves intellectually and morally, and to accept responsibility for what has happened. If we don’t do so, things are likely only to get worse.

I’ve said it several times in recent months, but I’ll say it again: in my opinion there are large reserves of goodness in our Christian people. I think we have very high potential for good. But to reach that potential we are going to have to be more honest with ourselves.

I don’t see that we are ready for that honesty yet, but maybe God will continue to give us more time.

Long-term, I hope to see the break-up of the United States. As Leopold Kohr showed us in The Breakdown of Nations, large nations almost automatically turn to doing evil things. The United States has proved to be no exception to this rule. We are a hog on ice. We need to break up into many constituent nations–into dozens or even hundreds of small nations. (Why not thousands, ultimately?)

Most Americans are used to thinking of the U.S. as a mighty force for good in the world. This is a delusion. We need to start thinking with moral honesty about ourselves.

The break-up of the United States seems unlikely to most people right now, but it may be much closer than we realize. The U.S.S.R. seemed unlikely to break up, to most people–until suddenly it was gone. It was bankrupt financially. It was bankrupt morally long before.

Our situation is similar. We too are bankrupt morally. Financially we are bankrupt but don’t realize it yet. When we realize it–when the welfare checks no longer buy anything–at that point the break-up of the U.S. may become possible.

Meanwhile, God keeps on giving us more time before the collapse or dissolution or reorganization of the U.S. Great! It is wonderful that He is giving us more time. He is giving us time to think about what we want our country (a small part of the ex-U.S.) to look like. He is giving us time to think theoretically. He is giving us time to decide what we believe, and how we think our new, small nation should be organized politically.

It really is unlikely that the nation as a whole can be salvaged. We really “can’t get there from here.” Remember, 65,853,514 million people voted for Hillary Clinton. These were adults. It wasn’t just poor people or uneducated people. Most of our educated, wealthy, powerful elite voted for Mrs. Clinton.

A country so far gone that 65,853,514 people vote for Hillary Clinton can not be salvaged.

Meanwhile, I think it would be wonderful if articulate, principled Christians who are in favor of semi-sane government would run for office. Start your own local political party, or run as an independent. Or even run as a Democrat or Republican–as long as you make it clear to the leaders of those parties that you will run strictly on your own principles and not on the assumed principles of either national party. An anti-abortion Democrat running for local office? Wonderful! Why not?

Run, get trounced, or now and then win, but gird up your loins beforehand. Anyone striving for semi-sanity is going to have to say things that offend a lot of people. You are going to have to be ready to be hated. That is not easy to do. You will need great moral courage. Whether you win, or lose badly, if you speak the truth you will be helping your neighbors. Most people don’t get to hear much truth. You will be giving people something that they need to hear.

Maybe the lack of moral courage is why we conservative Christians have been willing to sit back and let other people run our nation. Moral courage is hard to come by. I think it can be developed, but it is not something we have automatically.

There are no easy answers to our immense problems as a nation. It took us a long time to get in this mess, and it is going to take a long time to get out of it.

Meanwhile, I hope there will be no efforts to organize a national third party. I hope Christians will begin to act locally. Your local town and your local county are a great place to start trying to institute reform. (Of course keep in mind that reform in your local church and in your own Christian thinking and acting are even far more central.)

God keeps giving us more time! We are going to be given lots of time, apparently, one way or another. God is not going to rapture us out of our problems. He wants us to think His thoughts after Him. If we do that, we might accomplish more good than we currently expect.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn did not give in to the evil of the Soviet Union. He did his courageous best as a novelist/historian. (He discussed political issues, but he worked as a writer rather than as a politician.) He outlived the Soviet Union by over 16 years.

God asks of us our courageous best. If we do that, I predict that He will find a way to bless us.

By now most of us have heard the sad and shocking news, that Chick-fil-A has changed its donation pattern. It now donates to groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-Christian hate group. Chick-fil-A has claimed in the past to be a distinctly Christian company in favor of Christian principles. That seems to be a thing of the past.

Here is one link to the whole sordid story: https://amgreatness.com/2019/11/27/shock-and-betrayal-chick-fil-a-has-donated-to-splc-and-many-other-left-wing-groups/.

And, just when you thought it was safe to go outside again, we hear of a Sprite commercial which supports transgenderism. The ad is a wonder to behold. One scratches one’s head even to figure out who is advertising what, but at the end the name Sprite appears. Sprite is a Coca-Cola product. It has long been a blessing to those of us, myself included, who don’t handle caffeine well. Now it apparently is also a blessing to those who don’t handle well remaining in the gender which they were given at birth. A versatile product.

These are a few examples of the things that are going on in the business world. We could go on at greater length, however. For example, we have Jeff Bezos of Amazon, who bought the “Washington Post.” Not to turn it into a good and honest newspaper, but to use his fortune to keep it safely left-wing. Or we could listen to the mad ravings of Tim Cook at Apple. Corporate America is apparently determined to bring Christian civilization to an end.

One might, theoretically, have expected something different from these people. After all, the free market is to a large extent a byproduct of a Christian worldview. The Eighth Commandment tells us not to steal (Exodus 20:15). The deeper we go into the Christian faith, the more likely we are to want to protect our neighbor and our neighbor’s property. We are not even to covet what he has (Exodus 20:17–the Tenth Commandment)! All that is a solid background for a world in which people earn money and keep it, without the rest of us relieving them of as much of that money as we can.

What we find is probably what we should have known all along: those who benefit by there being a free market are not necessarily intellectually and spiritually capable of understanding the intellectual/spiritual foundations of a free market.

People who are good at making a lot of money are good at making a lot of money. That is especially what they are good at. They are not necessarily good at thinking, nor are they necessarily good people. Of course, they could also be good at golf or chess, or a million other things. But they are not automatically good at moral reasoning just because they became rich.

It is sort of natural for us to think something like this: “Christian civilization is the foundation of the free market. The free market allows these regular people to become rich people. Therefore these rich people are probably big fans of Christian civilization.” Uh uh. It doesn’t work like that. These people are not thinkers, they are not logical. The true pattern of their thought runs something like this: “I have made a lot of money. That means I have life figured out more than everyone else. People need to listen to me about every important issue.”

What has happened is that countless people–not just the super rich like Mr. Bezos or Mr. Cook–including ordinary people making only a slightly better than average living (or people earning even less than that!), have fallen victim to the deceitfulness of riches. Riches have lied to them. The Bible tried to warn us.

‘”And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”‘ (Matthew 13:22)

All of us in this country have, to some degree at least, heard the word of God. For some, the worry of the world got to us. For others, riches tricked us. We were deceived to think that our riches made us smarter than God. Once we become smarter than God, we can and should tell everyone how life really should be lived. Mr. Bezos believes he has found his true calling in telling us how life should be lived, at the “Washington Post.” The people at Sprite/Coca-Cola feel obligated to help us rubes see that transgenderism is really a good thing, not an abomination as we currently believe in our Neanderthal dimness.

As for the poor pathetic people at Chick-fil-A, who knows what goes on in their minds? If they still have some residue of Christian thinking, it is confused. A thoughtful Christian friend has pointed out to me that their betrayal of their supposed Christian principles might be a good business strategy! After all, some markets might continue to be closed to them if they remain committed to biblical Christianity. And on the other hand, moving leftward as a corporation might open up markets! More money to be made!

Great, but what about their Christianity? Aren’t they betraying God? It does seem so. Perhaps they too have been tricked by the deceitfulness of riches. They seem to think that their company was all about making money. But they claimed to be about more than making money. They seemed for a while to want to defend and preserve Christian civilization. Standing for God’s truth was, for a while, more important than only making money.

Making money is wonderful! But it is not everything. Christ told us that ‘”not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”‘ (Luke 12:15) The abundance that Chick-fil-A has gained as a restaurant chain has been earned by giving the world a good product, and not one Christian begrudges them one penny of their financial success. But their corporate life was not just about money. Some of us were encouraged by the fact that for a while they were willing to stand for Christian principles in a world where Christian principles were often the enemy. Now we have lost a friend. More in sorrow than in anger, we ask the leaders at Chick-fil-A to think again. Repentance is always possible.

One lesson we all–Chick-fil-A and the rest of us–should take from this is that we can’t successfully compromise with the enemy. Compromise is defeat. We must learn to stand and face them. This could mean defeat, but on the other hand compromise means certain defeat. If we desert one Christian principle, it will not be enough for our enemies. They want us to desert them all. They want us to admit that we are monsters and deserve to die. Then when we are dead they will spit on our graves. The only thing that will satisfy them is if we become like them. We have to believe the nonsense they believe. We have to think and act like them. Do you think even that will be enough for them? It won’t be. Because, ultimately, their problem is not with us. Their real problem is with God. He made the world with hateful moral laws which are too difficult and too cruel. He must be overthrown. He must be killed.

If we are willing to join with them in trying to overthrow and kill God, they might cut us a small measure of slack. But probably not very much. Do we see much kindness and generosity of spirit among the God-haters? I don’t. I would rather stick with the rubes who try to love God and their neighbor according to biblical teaching. There are some occasional giggles, and some occasional kindliness of spirit, in that crowd.

While Nero Wolfe is a genius at solving crimes, and a unique personality certain to hold our interest, Archie Goodwin is no slouch of a character himself.

Archie has, like Rex Stout, roots in the Midwest. He was born and grew up in Ohio. (Rex Stout, wisely, went him one better and was born in Noblesville, Indiana.) He is a young man with an eye for the ladies–and they often have an eye for him. He is brave and resourceful. He is not the genius at solving crime that Wolfe is, but he is always thinking, and adds much to the process of solving their cases. He does the leg work for Wolfe, but he does so intelligently. Archie’s duties are more than just doing detective work. He helps keep the files on the orchids. He writes letters at Wolfe’s dictation. He does a bit of this, and a bit of that.

A key part of Archie’s personality is his clever way with words. He often annoys the local gendarmes with his comments. He annoys Wolfe as well. In The Black Mountain he prompts this response from Wolfe: ‘”By heaven,” he [Wolfe] blurted with sudden ferocity, “you’ll clown at your funeral!”‘ (p. 111) That is likely true. At another place Inspector Cramer, their policeman colleague, sometimes foe of Nero and Archie, says that Archie would be wisecracking in the electric chair. Again, quite in tune with Archie’s character. The score might be electric chair 1, Archie 0, but Archie would get in his licks as well.

Jacques Barzun, a highly respected thinker of the recent past, has this to say about Rex Stout and Archie Goodwin:

‘”If he had done nothing more than to create Archie Goodwin, Rex Stout would deserve the gratitude of whatever assessors watch over the prosperity of American literature. For surely Archie is one of the folk heroes in which the modern American temper can see itself transfigured. Archie is the lineal descendant of Huck Finn, with the additions that worldliness has brought to the figure of the young savior.”‘

And:

‘”Not two characters alone, but a palpable atmosphere exists in that brownstone house on West 35th street. And what sinewy, pellucid, propelling prose tells those tales–allegories of the human pilgrimage, rather–in which there is little or no blood, but rather the play of the mind; no stagy antics, but much passionate drama . . . ingenious and varied in its life-like situations.”‘ (Both quotes are from the dust jacket of The Father Hunt; ellipsis is not mine.)

There is a cast of recurring characters, including the Inspector Cramer mentioned above. We have Lily Rowan, whom we meet in the sixth book and who continues as Archie’s friend the rest of the way. By “friend” it is up to us to imagine the details. Thank heaven Archie’s “worldliness” does not require that we hear too many details about their relationship. Lily is wealthy, attractive, and intelligent, and a wise-cracking match for Archie. She sometimes figures in the plots.

We have Saul Panzer, a gifted private detective operative highly admired by both Nero and Archie. Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather appear often; neither is as brilliant as Saul, but are serviceable. Sergeant Purley Stubbins assists Inspector Cramer. Lieutenant Rowcliff is a recurring much disliked foe of Archie. Archie has figured out what and when to say the words that finally cause Rowcliff to stutter. Doll Bonner is a good female private detective who shows up a few times

A few more words about Fritz Brenner. While the orchids man Theodore Horstman seems to be a mere cipher–Archie finds it frustrating that Theodore “babies” Wolfe–Fritz Brenner is to my mind a character of considerable interest. He is a brilliant chef, but always behaves with humility. He is shy with women. He conducts himself as we would picture an Old World gentleman. He often surprises Archie with his instinctive feel for how things are unfolding in cases. He minds his own business, but is always up for the challenge when he is called upon to play a role in cases.

To my mind, Fritz is a character with a depth and comeliness of personality which makes him eligible for a much bigger part in the stories. He could have his own series of stories. His back story would be fascinating. His personality and intelligence are admirable. Some enterprising author might easily take Fritz Brenner and devote a series of detective stories to him. Rex Stout himself has given us a precedent for such a possible series. He has given Inspector Cramer a book of his own, Red Threads, and Doll Bonner a book of her own, The Hand in the Glove. Why not books featuring Fritz Brenner? I hope it happens some day.

I am glad to report that the death of Rex Stout did not end the careers of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. With the “cooperation and encouragement” of the estate of Rex Stout, Robert Goldsborough came out with Murder In E Minor in 1986. Thirteen more Nero Wolfe novels, written by Mr. Goldsborough, have followed. So clearly the fans of Nero and Archie have found the books quite acceptable. I have read only one of those books, many decades ago. But now having read the complete cycle of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels, I am ready to begin with the first Robert Goldsborough version of our two heroes. Mr. Goldsborough is still living, so maybe there will be more of Wolfe/Goodwin from him. And, who knows, possibly from other authors in the years ahead. Characters as entertaining as Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin deserve to have other writers report on them. We’re glad that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson continue to be written about, and Wolfe and Goodwin deserve the same respect.

There are two TV series devoted to Wolfe/Goodwin. I have seen only one of them, the version with Maury Chaykin (Wolfe) and Timothy Hutton (Goodwin). It had remarkable production values and respected the feel of the novels/novellas. It received considerable critical acclaim, but was not popular enough to last over the long haul. It lasted two seasons. Read the books first, then enjoy the TV series.

The other series featured William Conrad (Wolfe) and Lee Horsley (Goodwin), and lasted only one season The reviews I have seen indicated that it veered from Stout’s characterizations far too much. I own the DVD set but have not seen it yet.

The plots of the Nero Wolfe novels don’t seem to matter to me much. If it all sort of makes sense, with the accent on sort of, I am satisfied. The real attraction is the prose of Stout/Goodwin, and the personalities. The interactions of Wolfe and Goodwin–their mutual respect, and their frustration with each other, are what make us care about the books. Isn’t this true of Holmes and Watson? Archie is sometimes fired, and sometimes quits. Wolfe can’t live with him, and can’t live without him. And Goodwin needs Wolfe as well. Don’t we all need other people–people we love, and who at the same time annoy the socks off us? And isn’t it nice when the people we need really do have some admirable qualities about them? Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, faults and all, are people with admirable qualities. We can grow to respect and love them.

Will the books continue to be read, a few hundred years down the road, or longer? My guess is yes. But there are no guarantees. I know one world class writer who is almost entirely forgotten: Gwendoline Keats, who wrote under the pen name Zack. Maybe she will be rediscovered some day. And maybe Wolfe and Goodwin will never be forgotten. Rex Stout has given us characters who have a chance of living for a very long time–possibly as long as the world lasts. And maybe beyond.

Rex Stout was the creator of the two fictional characters who have captured the public imagination, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. Nero Wolfe was his genius detective. And Archie Goodwin was Wolfe’s assistant, the one who “wrote” the books. Between the three of them they gave us 33 novels and 39 novellas which totaled up to 47 books, between 1934 and 1975.

I just finished all 47, and am glad I did.

Rex Stout and I go back many years. I must have begun reading about Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin in the late 60s or early 70s. It is possible that my father introduced me to the books. He read them faithfully, and quite possibly he alerted me to them. I can’t remember for sure. In any case, it is a good memory to know that he and I were reading about Nero Wolfe at the same time.

I didn’t read all the Wolfe books in those early times. But I read some of them more than once, way back then. At least one I read three times. I read them in no particular order.

In the middle of 2017 I came up with the plan to read all the books in the order published. I read the first one, Fer-de-Lance, in late August of 2017. I completed the job in late November of 2019. So it took me about 2 1/4 years, moving at a leisurely pace. It was quite enjoyable bedtime reading.

Rex Stout, I am glad to say, is an Indiana author, born in Noblesville on Dec. 1, 1886. His family left for Kansas not long after he was born, but still he was born in Indiana and we will take credit for him. (Stout liked to joke that he left Indiana due to his frustration with Indiana politics.)

Oddly, Stout has an unusual connection to another writer born in Indiana, Jessamyn West, author of The Friendly Persuasion. (She was born just down the road from me, in Vernon.) Quakerism ran in both families. By the time of his death on Oct. 27, 1975, age 88, Rex Stout had moved considerably away from any sort of Christian belief. Wikipedia tells us he read the Bible twice by the time he was four years old. He must have been a reading prodigy. Even if that Bible-reading story is exaggerated greatly, we know that he was encouraged to be a reader at an early age. People who read a lot often turn into writers. It seems to be natural hazard connected with reading a lot of stuff.

Stout was a very bright person. He invented a school banking system which earned him a lot of money. (Sadly, much of that wealth was lost in the Great Depression.) He wrote some highly respected literary books, that didn’t sell a lot. Finally, in 1934, he came out with the first Nero Wolfe novel. He was 47 years old, and for us looking back that may seem like a late start to gaining world fame as a mystery novelist. But 47 apparently was his “lucky” number, because he lived to publish 47 Nero Wolfe books, to much acclaim and financial profit.

Diligent as he was as a writer, he gave up much of his time in World War II, to write propaganda for the war effort. Apparently he was good at it, and exposed lies of our enemies. (We need a thousand times a thousand people exposing our own country’s lies, but that is another story. That will be the job of the next generation or three. Job security for many people.)

Politically he was leftist, but not an idiot. The details can be found in the Wikipedia article devoted to him. His political leanings do not destroy the Nero Wolfe novels. I hate every form of leftism. When Nero Wolfe supports world government, it is indicative of lack of clear political/religious thought on Wolfe’s (and Stout’s) part, but it doesn’t ruin the books. And when Wolfe embarrasses J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, well, more power to him. Stout was on the right track, and ahead of his time, in seeing how dangerous was the FBI. It is disappointing to read that Rex Stout was pro-New Deal, etc., but if we threw out every writer who had some ridiculous ideas, we would have very small libraries. We have to learn how and when to scrape off extraneous nonsense.

In Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout has created a very unusual character. Wolfe is a detective. He is fat. Archie often describes him as weighing a seventh of a ton, but that seems likely to be short of the mark. Somewhere it the books–I wish I had marked the place–I think we get a larger number. In any case, he was a gentleman of “full habit,” as Jeeves politely describes one chubster. (P. G. Wodehouse [creator of Jeeves] and Rex Stout were friends, and admirers of one another’s work!)

Wolfe comes by his extra weight quite legitimately. Fine dining is crucial to him. He employs a brilliant chef, Fritz Brenner (of Swiss heritage), to cook exclusively for him (and for Archie, and for himself as well). Fritz lives in the basement of the New York City brownstone which Wolfe owns. A bit more about Fritz Brenner next week.

At the top of his brownstone, Wolfe cultivates countless orchids. He employs a full-time helper, Theodore Horstman, to care for the orchids, but Wolfe himself is actively involved in their growing as well.

Nero Wolfe distrusts women, and tries to avoid emotional outbreaks from them. He leaves the brownstone only on rare occasions. He is not a recluse, but he doesn’t like leaving home, and does so only with reluctance. He reads constantly. He has a wide range of knowledge. He refuses to discuss cases at the dinner table. Travel he considers dangerous, and he prefers that Archie drive if he, Nero, must ride. (He is very brave when he needs to be, however.) He is very articulate verbally. Much of the joy of the Nero Wolfe novels is that both Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are clever with words.

Nero Wolfe doesn’t really like to work. He enjoys his daily routine: breakfast served to him in his room by Fritz at 8, plant rooms from 9 to 11, lunch in the early afternoon, plant rooms again from 4 to 6, supper in the early evening, beer quite often–he rings for Fritz to bring it, and keeps track of the bottle lids in a drawer–and reading much of the rest of the time. The cases sort of have to fit themselves to Wolfe’s routine! (They mostly do so, but there are exceptions.) Archie tells us often that part of his (Archie’s) job is to goad Nero Wolfe into taking on cases and actively working on them. The books are full of incidents where Archie works hard to drum up a client likely to be high paying. It takes a lot of money to run a household with a full-time chef, a full-time orchid wrangler, and a full-time assistant. Happily, Wolfe earns high fees, and often finds himself in a tax bracket where further work will bring in only modest net profit. (Oh the joy of progressive taxation.)

Nero Wolfe, most of all, is a genius at catching murderers. Archie is quite intelligent, but he readily confesses that he is a jump or two behind figuring out who committed the crime. It is Nero Wolfe who puts the pieces together and tells us and the assembled suspects, how the crime was committed.

This is going to take a part II. All the Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin novels are available, and as near as I can tell always at reasonable prices. I was able to fill in the gaps in my collection for small sums. Today, the first Nero Wolfe novel, Fer-de-Lance, was available in paperback for just $4.05 (shipping included) at AbeBooks.