Letter from a Reader 7.4.25
Prince William honors one of my oldest friends, and why it's good news for other writers, too
Note: Letters from a Reader are normally for paid subscribers, but this one’s free to all in honor of the patriots who opposed “taxation without representation” and died for the freedom America is celebrating today
Happy Independence Day! Mayberry on the Bay celebrates the Fourth by shooting off fireworks over its quarter-mile-long pier and serving fried chicken and Silver King corn at barbecues, one of which I’ll be heading for soon. You’d think those fireworks would scare off the brown pelicans, but they keep coming back to plunge-dive for mullet in Mobile Bay.
I don’t know if there’s a barbecue at the American Embassy in London. But I can say this: Nobody can accuse King Charles of holding a grudge against those upstarts in the colonies and what they did on July 4, 1776.
On New Year’s Eve I had a thrilling email from my old friend and fellow journalist Erich Hoyt saying he’d been named an OBE, short for an “Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire,” on the King’s New Year Honors List. Erich was honored as a "whale researcher and author, for services to marine conservation."
If I may take the liberty of translating His Majesty’s language into my American English, that means: “Erich has been writing wonderful books about science and nature, especially whales and dolphins, and working to protect marine mammals, for decades.” The honorees had to keep the news a secret until the official announcement. But they were allowed to tell family and a few friends, and as godmother to Erich’s younger daughter, I qualified.
The palace spaced out the investitures of the OBEs and others, including the new knights and dames, over the year. Erich’s moment came on June 25, when Prince William presided over the ceremony at Windsor Castle.
That event ought to cheer anyone who believes we should celebrate more than just the authors who have their books tapped by Oprah, write New York Times bestsellers, or collect multimillion dollar advances from Penguin Random House. Erich hasn’t had that kind of attention but has persisted, anyway.
I first came to appreciate his work when I read his Orca: The Whale Called Killer, which describes his experience of swimming with killer whales off Vancouver. He could have sensationalized that adventure, reducing it to a clickbait headline like: “I Swam With Killer Whales…And You Won’t Believe What Happened Next!” Instead he made a quiet but eloquent case that the world misunderstands orcas, seeing them as far more menacing than they are.
Since then, Erich has written or edited more than 20 science or nature books, many of of which have won awards or had rave reviews in high-prestige publications. They include Insect Lives (Harvard University Press, 2002), Weird Sea Creatures (Firefly, 2013), and the Encyclopedia of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises (Firefly, 2023). Some of the titles have deservedly remained in print for decades when, as Calvin Trillin once observed, the average book has the lifespan of a container of yogurt.
The reasons to cheer his OBE medal go beyond his stellar work. Born in Akron, Ohio, Erich holds dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship, though he’s lived in the U.K. for half his life now. In other words, he is, as he said in an email, “a foreigner,” albeit one with a Commonwealth tie.
Erich is also an outsider with no pull or inside track with the palace. The honors list recognizes people who have “made achievements in public life” and “committed themselves to serving and helping Britain.” A committee makes recommendations to the prime minister and then the monarch, who awards the honor. Anyone can nominate someone for it.
In my experience, the Brits say “Well done!” more often than “Congratulations!” for such achievements. So I’d like to say “Well done” to that honors committee, Keir Starmer, and King Charles III. Thanks for forgiving us for July 4, 1776, and honoring an American writer. If there’s a barbecue at the embassy, I hope those diplomats have their priorities in order and have laid out the Coors and instead of trying to get away with tea. We remember—with fireworks—what happened in Boston Harbor with those 342 chests of British East India Company tea.
Want to know more about Erich Hoyt’s books and work on marine mammal conservation? Here’s a gift link to a story I wrote about them on Medium.
Selected Notes
https://erichhoytbooks.com/
https://www.gov.uk/honours
My background: I’m an award-winning critic and journalist who’s been the book columnist for Glamour, the book editor of a large newspaper, and a vice president of the National Book Critics Circle. My reviews or other articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Salon, and many other print and online media. I’ve taught writing at two large U.S. universities and spoken at many writers’ conferences.
The purpose of Jansplaining: In this newsletter I try to show—through spirited reviews and commentary—the best and worst of books and the media. I celebrate the winners and fault the sinners in related fields, whether they’re editors, publishers, and authors or the journalists who cover them. My inspirations include Dorothy Parker, E.B. White, the late Phoebe-Lou Adams of the Atlantic, and the baseball umpire of yesteryear who said, “I calls ’em like I sees ’em.”
How you can help: I live in a small town in Alabama, and much of my income from paid subscribers goes to buy books and reading materials unavailable on a timely basis from our wonderful but limited library, which recently had all of its state funding revoked for refusing to bow to the demands of pressure groups like the Moms for Liberty. When that happens, you help to support not just my work but that of the authors whose books I buy in order to review them here. Thank you!
What an eloquent tribute to our independence holiday as well as to your friend and his achievements. Thank you!
Brilliant, well-played indeed!