"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Avatar (December 27, 2009)

All seven of us attended, with Pat Herrera. My first movie in a theater for about a year and a half (last saw Wall-E).

I bought into the movie from the beginning, and really liked it.

We saw the IMAX 3-D version, and it was captivating. I just liked looking around the screens. The critics who comment that James Cameron bridged the gap between live action and CGI, are correct, it's almost seamless.

I also liked the lead actors.

I also can see the points made by various critics who found the story line unoriginal, plus found other things to pick at. Including a cartoonish military guy and some lame dialogue moments. The movie had elements of Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness, Braveheart, Independence Day, Lord of the Rings. And I guess Dances with Wolves, which I've never seen.

But in the end I was a big fan. Grateful for movie makers who try to do something new. Even if demonstrably imperfect, so much more going on than the pedestrian TV junk with which I'm bombarded regularly.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Sea of Faith - Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World (Stephen O'Shea, 2006)

This was a very helpful follow-up to related books described here and here and here and here.

O'Shea builds the story around seven key battles involving Christianity and Islam around the Mediterranean during the middle ages.

Poiters in 732 (only 110 years after the hejira).

Baghdad was a new city in 762 - supplanting Damascus.

Spain is really complex - interaction between Islam, Christianity, Jews; always a bit geographically removed.

"Horns of Hattin" - effectively ending Crusader states in 1187.

And Constantinople "falls" in 1453.

Monday, December 07, 2009

Plain Tales from the Hills (Rudyard Kipling, 1888)

As with The Light That Failed, I read this as a result of working through Kipling's biography.

This book includes a series of short stories that were published in some British newspaper that served the expat community in the 1880s. Kipling was widely praised for his originality; had a good feel for the interaction between the communities based on residing there as a child.

Entertaining. But I didn't find this terribly interesting either. Quit about a quarter of the way through.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Stanley - The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer (Tim Jeal, 2007)

I had read Jeal's biography of David Livingstone (summarized here), so was quite interested in reading this biography. And was surprised to find it even more enjoyable. The subtitle ("Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer") sounds quite hyped but ends up seeming to be pretty accurate on both counts.

Stanley was Welsh; pretty much abandoned by family; spent years in a workhouse; took a chance on working a ship to the United States; spent some time in New Orleans; somehow got involved in the Civil War (fought at Shiloh); deserted; ended up in the Navy somehow; on and on. One point of comparison to Livingston - Stanley also had a background from which almost no one emerged into prominence. The author contends this led to insecurities which accounted for behaviors which harmed Stanley's reputation (sounds simplistic but makes some sense when it's all laid out).

Ended up as a newspaperman in the midwest, then took the job with the New York Herald; had developed the idea of an expedition to "find" Livingstone - though often there was doubt that he was "lost." Somehow obtained funding and succeeded - with very limited background for this kind of thing - and struck up a close relationship with Livingstone. Supposedly he never said "Dr. Livingstone, I presume" - the author think he put this in his journals/letters because he thought it sounded "right."

Not very popular in England despite his achievements - in part because they thought he was American, and certainly he wasn't of the correct class. Wanted back in Africa, best available route was working with King Leopold of Belgium. Leopold fooled pretty much everyone, but Stanley was tarred with responsibility for the atrocities in connection with rubber gathering, etc. He was competing with French explorers, though this was prior to the "Scramble."

He made one final unbelievable journey in support of Emin Pasha. Who also wasn't sure he wanted any help.

He married late in life; sounds like this worked out ok, though his wife wouldn't let him return to Africa and he didn't care for hanging around in England. They eventually adopted a boy.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

The Light That Failed (Rudyard Kipling, 1890)

I was interested in reading this after working through this biography of Kipling.

Per the biography, the knock on Kipling was that his short stories were amusing and clever, but he never really could pull off a full-length novel. This book was one of his first attempts to do so - and it is a dud. I wouldn't have read all the way through except for the interest in Kipling generated by the biography.

It really does track his boyhood experience in a foster home in the early stages. Uses an artist instead of a writer to stand in for Kipling. All the jolly good banter among the boys is represented.

I dog-ear pages when something strikes me as memorable or interesting. No dog-eared pages in this one.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A History of Histories (John Burrow, 2007)

Talk about ambitious - this author tries to cover just what the title states - he reviews historians (and history as a discipline) starting from ancient times. Covers Herodotus and Thucydides early on. Spends quite a bit of time on Roman historians.

It was interesting how much these writers thought about the rise and fall of the great powers. Polybius saw a cycle of kingship into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, democracy into mob rule; almost considered inevitable.

Also interesting how the writers even then lamented how things had been so much better back in the old days.

Josephus wrote about things Jewish though he had crossed over to assist the Romans. Detail about Palestine and yes, zealots in the area.

Then onto Christian historians, many of whom were interested in teaching. Into Renaissance, etc. Detours where politics (always) and nationalistic considerations (later) influenced the writing of history.

The latter parts of the book were difficult to follow - far more historians, many more threads.

Friday, October 30, 2009

The Man Who Would Be King - The First American in Afghanistan (Ben Macintyre, 2004)

This book seemed interesting as backdrop to the continuing adventures of the U.S. in Afghanistan, and fit into other books about the region I've been reading.

Some American named Josiah Harlan headed for Central Asia in 1822 or thereabouts. After knocking around in a few British outposts, he somehow had the idea of emulating Alexander the Great, or at least finding wealth, fame and perhaps a kingdom in the area of Afghanistan. Somehow he made it work, all the way to being named a prince of an area known as Ghor.

This was in the early days of adventuring in the region; the British were developing interests in the area, and developing concerns with Russian intervention (this contest later to be known as the "Great Game").

Somehow Harlan gained trust and familiarity with key figures; was involved in rebellion; easily switched sides; mixed with leading figures in Kabul; eventually was eased out of the country by the British.

The book recounts the British disaster in 1842; they underestimated the Afghans. But then again Alexander the Great and the Soviets had troubles in this area also. The painting at bottom shows the remainder of the British army returning to Jalalabad.

The British would have been better served with Harlan's philosophy: gain some trust, or at least heavily bribe, the local chieftains.

Rudyard Kipling wrote a famous novel based on Harlan, named "The Man Who Would Be King." I hadn't known that Sean Connery starred in the movie version.

Harlan himself came back to the U.S.; (tried to) fight in the Civil War; (tried to) introduce camels into the southwest U.S. Interesting fellow.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackery, 1848)

After reading (a bit over half of) The Pilgrim's Progress, it seemed likely that Vanity Fair was going to be more interesting. And it was.

I wasn't sure what to make of this book, but I certainly enjoyed reading it. Could have been compressed without losing much, I think (700 pages). But I was in no particular hurry, and like a long movie, it permits more acquaintance with the characters and more development of the plot. Definitely reminded of Balzac and Dickens. Like so many of the novelists, he sees us and is able to describe us.

Like Dickens (and others), this was published in serial form. This one from 1847-1848. So it was an interesting period in history, with revolution across Europe.

Becky Sharp is a very original character. The first few pages - where she leaves the finishing school - are very well done. She says that she could have been an honest woman for 5000 (pounds, I suppose) a year - which is a pretty perceptive comment. And it builds from there. Amelia is a bit of a twit; Dobbins is a fine character; Jos Sedley is a dork; Rawley Crawdon and the entire Crawdon clan; the dashing George Osborn; chasing the aunt's inheritance; O'Dowd and the regiment; the principality of Pumpernickel (Thackery spent some time in Weimar with Goethe); on and on it goes. Thackeray famously describes this as a novel without a hero, but I don't know that I entirely agree.

Edith Wharton must have had Becky Sharp in mind when writing about Undine Spragg (Custom of the Country).

Thackery's take on Waterloo was interesting. His drawings added a lot.

Friday, September 18, 2009

The Ottoman Centuries (Lord Kinross, 1977)

Trying to get better acquainted with this part of the world, and this book was helpful. And most interesting throughout.

Seljuks were supplanted by Ottomans - around 1300. The Muslim conquering waves - starting from Arabia around 700 and working up into Spain, east into Persia, etc. The Arab wave then slowing and consolidating; Ottoman wave coming on. Mehmed the Conqueror; Suleiman the Magnificent.

The story reminds of the Roman Empire in some ways - hardy military types with tolerant government that works very well in expansion mode. Osman's descendants figured out how to settle down and govern. Strangling rival brothers seemed to add stability. The Janissary corps was quite an idea - rely on highly trained Christian slaves, prevent local nobles from building competing constituencies.

Finally took down Constantinople in 1453. Took control over much of what we refer to as the Middle East, much of the Mediterranean. Seems like the Persians could maintain quite a bit of autonomy, benefitting from distance.

It's interesting to think that the Balkan populations and Eastern Europe were bouncing back and forth - Roman, Eastern Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Muslim. The Ottomans were regularly pushing up through Hungary, fighting folks like Vlad the Impaler (a model for Dracula). Ottomans controlled Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungry, etc. for a long time. Ottomans pushed up to Vienna as late as 1683 (Poland's Jan Sobieski was a hero; and Vienna had coffee shops for the first time as the Ottomans left huge stores behind as they fled).

The downhill slide lasted a long time. The Janissary were like the Streltsky or other palace guards - too much power, too many demands, no Peter the Great to take them out. Sultans spent too much time in harem. An attitude that there was nothing to learn from inferior westerners - an attitude that initially had some basis, but became increasingly inaccurate over time.

Some of the problems sounded so typical - large intractable bureaucracy sucking the producers dry. In later centuries, competing interests from Russia, France, Britain. Interests in maintaining the "sick man of Europe" for balance of power purposes. Armenian genocide. German influence into World War I; Ataturk; some very serious efforts to modernize and reform, one can see the genesis of the secular state (so rare in that part of the world, fragile even now).

The book touched on Lepanto and the cultural progress described in this book.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Rudyard Kipling, A Life (Harry Ricketts, 1999)

This was interesting, a quick read. I didn't really know much about where Kipling fit into things, so it was helpful.

Basically he spent a good chunk of his early life being exposed to India because of his father's job there (along with interludes being educated in England, including an unpleasant stay with what amounted to a foster family). Obvious talent for writing. Took a job with a Brit newspaper in India, and eventually put together a number of stories that brought him celebrity at a young age. Lived in the U.S. for a few years, then back to England.

He never produced a great full-length novel, and apparently it was quite the fashion for the intelligentsia to criticize him after the initial acclaim wore off. Yet he remained very popular with the reading public (which probably explains some of the criticism). Sounds like some of his work was quite good, including a piece that Forster must have had in mind when he wrote A Passage to India.

He became the poet for the (declining) British Empire, though I don't know that he planned for this. His background spanning India and England gave him the right perspective, and he was a true believer. Including the (now in)famous phrase about the "white man's burden." Big admirer of Cecil Rhodes.

His son was killed in WWI, and Kipling devoted lots of energy in support of the war effort. In later years he offered lots of political commentary - much of which sounded quite current as he opposed expansion of the welfare state, emphasized individual reliance, etc. The kind of talk that always decreases one's popularity among the greater portion of the arts community.

So this was an interesting look from a different perspective about the Empire, the Boer War, colonialism, WWI, etc.

I like stories involving intersection between the cultures, and think I shall read some of his works.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Shadows on the Rock (Willa Cather, 1931)

I recently re-read this novel in preparation for our upcoming trip to Montreal and Quebec. It's one of Cather's later works. I just really like her novels.

In this book, Cather describes "the quiet, isolated life of Cecile Auclair and her father, the town apothecary." It is set in the early days of old Quebec. Cecile's father (with wife and young daughter) left France as personal physician (or whatever) to Count Frontenac, the governor of New France. As such, he had special privileges to bring along furniture and what-not; his small house (and attached apothecary shop) felt more like France than most other houses in Quebec. His wife died after a few years, and his daughter (then ~10 years old) took up the task of maintaining the old customs, while building a life, in a new world.

Which she came to love, even though the father had always planned to return to France.

I can't say why I find this story so effective; it's certainly not one of Cather's more famous books. It doesn't have a strong plot line (by design), yet it completely gets my imagination going about what this type of life may have been about. What about the idea of these folks - isolated on a rock in the wilderness - watching the last set of ships head back to France in October - with a wait of eight months for replenishment? The trappers, the old bishop, the townspeople, the missionaries, the feeling of being on the edge of civilization alongside the dark never-ending forest.

I really want to see this area for myself.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Lost Illusions (Honore de Balzac, 1837-1843)

Like Cousin Bette, this is part of the large group of novels in Balzac's The Human Comedy. Lucien Chardon has some talent and wants to make it big in Paris. So he leaves the provinces, with Mme de Bargeton (a leading light in the provincial town), who quickly dumps him. Chardon falls in with a group of hard-working artistic types, but leaves them behind to pursue tabloid journalism.

Chardon's sister (Eve) marries David Sechard, who was always in trouble at the hands of his scheming competitors in the printing business, the Cointet brothers. Funny passages about David's skinflint father.

Balzac see us - and can write about it - so always worthwhile. He was around the printing business and also was an attorney, so gives lots of detail in both fields. He clearly looked down on the journalists. If his version is accurate, there wasn't much of what we think of as "journalistic ethics." (Not that this would distinguish all that much from today's environment.) Interesting to read about how favorable press notices for plays or books were bought and sold.

Lucien Chardon reminded me a bit of Julian Sorel.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Custom of the Country (Edith Wharton, 1913)

Last of a group of full-length Wharton novels in a "Library of America" compilation. This novel was really quite good, but I didn't like it as much as the other three. Perhaps because the central character (beautiful and vacuous Undine Spragg) and several of the other main characters just weren't very likable. (Which no doubt was the author's intent.)

I was reading this at the gym concurrently with reading Balzac's Lost Illusions at the house, and there were quite a few similarities. Ralph Marvell reminded me of Lucien Chardon in a backwards sort of way. In both books, folks were trying to penetrate societal classes to which they didn't belong. Both stories were quite focused on business dealings, though Wharton could never match Balzac in that arena.

Friday, July 31, 2009

The Reef (Edith Wharton, 1912)

I just enjoy Wharton's novels a lot. This one perhaps not as much as The Age of Innocence or The House of Mirth, but it was very good reading at the gym (or would be elsewhere).

Basically, a widow (Anna Leath) is getting married to someone (George Darrow) with whom she was in love earlier in life but didn't marry for various reasons; her stepson (Owen Leath) is getting married to Anna's daughter's governess (Sophy Viner). This plays out in a French chateaux that has been in the family of the widow's in-laws. The relationships have some complications. And yes, there is a sort of reef on which the relationships are on the verge of foundering and around which the main participants seek to steer. The ending is nice and ambiguous.

Wharton has an unusually good feel for how people think and speak. Which I think is helpful as we look at our own behaviors . . . but who knows. In any event, it is much enjoyable to read.

Monday, July 27, 2009

The Pilgrim's Progress - Part I (John Bunyan, 1678)

This one is widely recognized as a classic, and I've had it on my list for quite some time. But I didn't like it at all. And quit after Part I. (Missing Part II, which recounts a similar journey by the pilgrim's spouse and children.)

The back cover describes it as the "supreme classic of the English Puritan tradition," which may have been the problem here.

Anyway, some guy named "Christian", accompanied by "Hopeful," makes his way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Christian talks about being humble, but seems pretty smug to me. They succeed on the journey through a combination of fortitude and lucky interventions from third parties. Other pilgrims, such as "Ignorance," aren't so lucky.

So what was this all about?

Anyway, now I know the source of "Vanity Fair," which supposedly is a good novel. So put it on hold at the library.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Robert Frost - A Life (Jay Parini, 1999)

I continue reading biographies of artists in the hope that it might give some glimpse of the "creative process." I don't know that that's happening at all, but I am enjoying the bios (Goethe, Lizst, Tolstoy, Goya, now Frost).

Didn't know Frost actually grew up in San Francisco - he didn't get to New England until age 11 or 12 or whatever. The author comments that this might have helped him become such an effective observer of New England - not having grown up there, he didn't take for granted the look of the place, its folkways, its speech patterns, etc.

Didn't know that he lived in England for a few years, and that that interlude was a catalyst for putting his poetry into publication and bringing him into the public eye. Came back just as WWI was breaking out.

Interesting stories of his parents - the father was a hard living newpaperman, the mother a saintly figure. Frost was quite interested in Darwin's work, and loved being out in nature on long hikes, "botanizing."

Frost learned by reading; interesting that he was such a fan of Prescott's work on the conquest of Mexico - this author says that he wrote his first submitted poem on this. He didn't much care about being in college. He actually did try farming in a number of settings, after a fashion. Dramatic love affair with his bride-to-be; children in a what seemed to be a pretty undisciplined household; mental illness with children.

Also spent many years teaching, and then many years as a famed public figure doing minimal work for excellent pay at various colleges. Also was perhaps the first poet to do widely attended public lectures. It seems that he developed a certain on-stage persona, and really enjoyed playing it.

Also interesting - and seems contemporary - he was out of step with many of the university types because of his opposition to the New Deal - expressed belief instead in limited government and individual freedom and responsibility. This was particularly interesting to me because of the current intensified debate along these lines.

And then the poetry - no need to list favorites here, it would be long. Just re-read "Death of the Hired Man" the other day. I just really don't get how poets do it, but wish I had a better feel for this. Basically incredible to think about how much is packed into each line, once somebody breaks it down for me.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

To the Heart of the Nile - Lady Florence Baker and the Exploration of Central Africa (Pat Shipman, 2004)

I am always fascinated reading about African exploration (most recently, this one). This book was also very interesting. But not that great. It felt like it was written for a junior high class where the teacher was interested in touting the "woman's perspective." I wouldn't chase down any more of her books.

The story line is another one of these unbelievable situations. 38-year-old widower (stalwart Englander) traveling in eastern Europe (Ottoman territory, I think) spontaneously bids on a 14-year-old Transylvanian girl being presented at a Turkish slave auction as a high-priced virgin (harem product) who could speak a European language. He had never seen the girl before. Outbid by the local headman. So he did the only logical thing: abduct her (before ever having spoken to her) and head for the border.

So of course they fall madly in love. Samuel Baker is an adventurer and shortly thereafter takes up the idea of searching for the source of the Nile (inspired by similar efforts of Burton, Speke, etc.) His new wife (Florence, as Anglicized) tags along on all of his trips, facing the usual litany of awfulness that those trips involved. High risk for anyone, super high risk for a woman.

It is pretty amazing.

They didn't find the source - Speke gets credit - but they did quite a bit of useful geographic work and came back to England as heroes. They were so popular that Florence's past - a non-starter in Victorian society no matter how much it wasn't her fault - was generally overlooked.

A few thoughts:

1. Florence had ended up a slave as part of the unrest in the 1848 revolution where Louis Kossuth sought to gain a measure of independence from Austria for Hungary. Kossuth was viewed in America as some sort of patriot and freedom lover, thus there are places named for him. Like the Iowa county in which I was born (and which was laid out shortly after 1848).

2. Samuel & Florence were mightily frustrated trying to get the natives to function in anything near the manner that folks back in Europe would have functioned. Much commentary that definitely wasn't PC.

3. Allowing for that - unfortunately it all sounds too familiar in many key aspects going back to these very early European incursions into Africa. Western powers in it for a mixture of trade and territorial ambition and to reform the benighted natives (including I think some sincere motives). Main method of dealing with the locals seems to be to endlessly provide gifts (then: trade beads and weapons to the leaders, now: cash (outright aid, or loans that won't be repaid) and weapons) to the leaders. The leaders typically kept, and keep, the lion's share of the gifts with pretty much zero benefit to the society as a whole. Ugh.

4. This book was helpful in sorting out the Ottoman empire relationship with Egypt. Nominally it was part of the Ottoman empire, but Egypt took counsel with England before doing much of anything. Which is how folks like "Chinese" Gordon ended up as a pasha in Khartoum when the Mahdi overran the place (Baker also was a pasha on the Egyptian payroll for a few years.)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton, 1920)

I had much enjoyed Wharton's The House of Mirth almost three years ago, but liked this better. Not sure (or perhaps incapable of articulating) why, but I very much like Wharton's writing.

In this one, New York upper society is changing (something Wharton lived through). Newland Archer is scheduled to be married to a prize catch of New York society, but things get very complicated as he helps out his fiancee's cousin.

I liked the way Wharton ended the book.

I also like that while she is quite focused on the foibles of this segment of society, she also obviously appreciates some of its strengths and charms - very little black and white here.

Didn't know this was a significant movie in 1993, with some pretty big name stars involved. I think I would be scared to watch it as I have nice memories of the book. Even found myself wondering what might have happened with the principal characters after the final events in the book, which is a pretty weird thing to wonder about in a novel.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

The House of Wisdom - How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization (Jonathon Lyons, 2009)

Great follow-on to two books just completed (here and here). Though per my usual reading approach this takes place by happenstance, not planning.

As I keep reading, this era becomes somewhat less cloudy. This book was very helpful.

Quickie chronology items (no particular significance other than they help me keep things in a bit of order):

312 - Constantine/Constantinople
476 - "official" collapse of Roman empire in the west
632 - Mohammed dies
732 - Islam expansion into Europe via Spain halts at Tours; Islam in Spain develops as a somewhat separate branch (al Andalus) (Islam also had expanded (and continued to expand) eastward, including ancient civilizations such as Persia and India)
762 - Baghdad founded - "House of Wisdom" (the subject of this book) founded shortly thereafter - bringing materials from Greece, Persia, India
800 - Charlemagne crowned
[1066 - Battle of Hastings, Vikings had traveled 'round, including southern Italy and Sicily]
1095 - First Crusade called
1100 - Adelard (major early figure in this book) travels east to learn from the Arabs
1270 - Thomas Aquinas (trying to reconcile faith and reason as these issues become more combustible with the spread of learning from Arab sources etc.)
1277 - Catholic church issues another detailed ban regarding various teachings (faith v. reason issues etc.) (this goes on much longer)
1453 - Constantinople taken by Ottomans
1492 - the "reconquista" is completed, Islam is out of Spain (and guess what, the dynamism diminishes rapidly into a super-conservative model, especially when the Jews were also later kicked out)
1517 - Luther's 95 Theses
1543 - Copernicus publishes
1571 - Battle of Lepanto
1633 - Galileo convicted
1683 - Battle of Vienna (last big push up the Danube by the Ottomans)

So what was up with these Arabs? Unbelievable energy; even if there was a power vacuum following Rome's collapse, the territorial conquest in ~100 years is unbelievable

And these were folks who previously had lived incredibly simple lives in the desert.

On top of the conquests, they actively sought to gather learning from areas with far deeper histories (India, Persia, Greece); to understand; to build. Luckily, they didn't have theocrats halting studies in those days. (Plenty in the West at the time.) Though it sounded like there was developing tension already in the Muslim world between religion and science.

Story lines:

1. Consistently low level of learning in the West. Lost access to classics after centuries of barbarian invasions, Muslim territorial grabs. Augustine set the tone - not much to learn beyond faith. (Can hear echoes of blind Jorge from The Name of the Rose to exactly this effect.)

2. Roger of Sicily - open to Arabs (like Lepanto books, can see where these Italian states prospered during these years, including Genoa, Florence and Venice)

3. Medicine, Euclidean geometry, Ptolemy, Aristotle, etc., etc. - the Arabs worked this stuff over, hard. (Even if for astrology (a traditional Persian focus) and alchemy to a significant extent).

4. Translators - including Averroes - constantly referred to in The Name of the Rose as a threat to Western church leaders - brought Aristotle to Europe. Averroes also did extensive commentaries, not just translations.

5. Cathedral schools transition into early universities; not much impressed by orders from church authorities to stop studying various topics.

6. Helped get a glimpse of how learning proceeded under Arabs, stagnated in the West, how a few individuals started the cross-pollination that became a flood.

7. That Muslims - though at odds with the West on various - weren't systematically demonized until the politicians and churchmen needed this for the First Crusade. Like most of these situations, demonizing wasn't applicable for those living on the boundary areas; they interact, trade, learn, etc.

8. With all the learning derived from Arabs - the West apparently later sought to suppress this heritage, instead claiming direct learning down from Greece. Which didn't happen.

9. Very bizarre to think of all the conflict over the centuries, what a shame.

10. And how the two groupings essentially switched sides in fairly short order - the West became a dynamic center of learning and "progress," the Islam world characterized by repression, theocrats, etc. Weird.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco, 1980)

I enjoyed this book a bunch. Moreso than this other book by Eco.

Wealthy abbey in Italy, early 14th century. One death per day for seven days, seeming to follow Apocalypse verses. First death on the day that William of Baskerville (protagonist) arrives as one of numerous visitors for a meeting at the abbey. Important meeting to discuss tensions between Franciscans wanting poverty in their order (reacting to what they perceived as a drift toward materialism and away from St. Francis's teachings), and others who felt too much emphasis on poverty could be a dangerous, destabilizing concept (how far might the impoverished masses go if the concept of renouncing private property took hold?)

Unique abbey: fabulous library, including lots of materials from Arabic and other non-Western sources. But the keepers limit access rather than make widespread availability.

The abbot asks William to get to the bottom of the murders. William references Roger Bacon, William of Occam; uses what would be considered scientific method in a setting where medievalism and superstition tend to control.

In a way this is a detective story, but the "detecting" takes place in the context of so much else.

Long discussions about poverty in religious life (in the context of a very wealthy abbey).

Long discussions about heresy, and how the political and religious leaders pursue heretics to achieve other policies. While little people unable to comprehend (or uninterested in comprehending) doctrinal minutiae are swept up (and used by the leaders) for reasons that have little to do with the ostensible religious issues. Sounds familiar, actually.

Long discussions about the proper role of laughter for man. (Did Jesus ever laugh? Blind Jorge says no.)

Long discussions about appropriate access to knowledge. And the role of the inquisitors.

I read that this was a commercial success. Which seems unlikely given that the book is long and - as should be evident from the above - not focused on pop topics. But it works. Perhaps even gave a snippet or two of insight into life in systems where the civic and religious authorities manage knowledge and doctrine to maintain power and control.

Very good follow-on to this book, which described events a couple hundred years later - but many of the same concepts crossed over.

"The Name of the Rose" shares many concepts with this book, which is another one that I like an awful lot.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Empires of the Sea - The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto (Roger Crowley, 2008)

This book was delightful in two ways. First, the baseline story - two empires with global reach duking it out via siege warfare and naval battles (using galleys) in the Mediterranean - is great. Second, the book is a different look at multiple threads read elsewhere that I've had a difficult time linking up.

Lepanto:  1571.  Just 65 years after Martin Luther; just 79 years after Columbus.

Some items:

1. It helps put Mediterranean geography in context - I've always been somewhat baffled as to the location of various islands that show up in story after story going back to Greek classics. I hadn't really thought of this sea as two separate spheres but it turns out that there is a pretty clear east/west split (running north to south from the toe of the boot - Sicily - Malta - North Africa); now I can finally keep straight (west to east): Majorca and Minorca; Corsica and Sardinia; Sicily and Malta; Crete; Rhodes; Cyprus.

2. And now I can better remember where Genoa and Venice fit, that these northern city-states surrounded Hapsburg and papal state territories, part of the reason why southern Italy is relatively undeveloped, why Italy featured cities instead of developing into a country like France or England or others.

3. Warfare that is startlingly modern - fort descriptions and gunnery positioning etc. reminded me of Verdun (described here); sophisticated cannon and other weaponry, supply arrangements, etc.

4. Yet warfare that is primitive in other ways - I didn't realize that in the 16th century naval warfare in this area was conducted via galleys - hearkening back to Ben Hur or far earlier in history. The situation had not improved about recruiting rowers; galley slaves; the disgusting conditions in which they rowed (and generally died).

5. The Ottoman siege of Malta sounded reminders to the siege of Malta in World War II, described here. Troop staging in Sicily reminded me of the Allies in World War II (described here). Same considerations of geography. etc

6. Rampant piracy - on both sides, though far more coming from the Muslim world. These folks were wrecking towns and hauling off slaves (many headed for the galleys) by the tens of thousands, with a focus on Italy, the Adriatic, Spain, France. (One can see where "the shores of Tripoli" - from the Marines' Hymn about stopping Barbary Coast pirates - could still have been an issue hundreds of years after the events in this book. And now we have Somalian pirates.) This also connected to the Vikings - the raids sounded quite similar (and southern Italy was hit up in both phases).

7. The events help put Spain in context - Moors recently ejected; but "unreliable" forced converts living oh so close to "Moorish" territory. Sounds like inquisition is in order.

8. Prescott discussed how Charles V (key Hapsburg emperor) paid little attention to Cortez; there was interest in treasure but otherwise events in the New World almost were a sideshow to events in Europe; this book puts some specifics around this. There were just a few folks sent to the New World; the bullion returned via treasure ships financed many projects and including in particular the naval warfare with the Ottomans. Cortez participated in a raid to North Africa later in life (trying to retake Algiers in 1541).

9. More context around Christianity v. Islam. This was 400+ years after the Crusades were launched. What an incredible, and incredibly ridiculous, history of fighting. Each side claiming true religion while leadership typically is pursuing far more earthly goals. And watching Christianity split with Protestant reformation. And even the Catholic domains (France and Venice) constantly cutting deals with Ottomans at the expense of Spain.

10. Vision of the Ottomans and the Hapsburgs as true world empires; only places with the $$ to put together significant armies/navies. Ottomans were so highly developed. I have this image of incompetence from all the references to the "sick man of Europe" = but that was ~300 years in the future. Ottomans were still awesome at this stage.

11. Sieges at Rhodes and Cyprus (in addition to Malta). Heroism by defenders; great stories throughout.

12. Miguel de Cervantes in the fighting at Lepanto (with Don Quixote making reference to the battle in the book). Quite the battle - 600+ ships (70% of oared vessels in entire Mediterranean in one spot); the author says the rate of slaughter (however calculated) wasn't matched until this battle in 1915. The fresco shown above shows ships in the lines of battle; compared to Trafalgar; hard to believe they could keep this many ships in order.

13. Apparently western Europe was under such pressure that finally having some success (meaning Lepanto) led to outbursts of joy; a series of famous art works by the "masters;" the story absolutely captured the popular imagination. And now there were printing presses to spread the word (and leave a huge trail for historians). The artwork at the top of the page certainly expresses a point of view as to where the religious preferences fell during the battle.

14. But as it turned out, Lepanto didn't disable the Ottomans, but broke momentum and with other events, ended efforts to go on to Rome when that seemed not only possible but likely. Attentions turned elsewhere. Spain sent a fleet to England. Burning energy fighting Protestants in Holland. Ottomans supposedly focused more on Persia, did keep going up the Danube basin (for over a century).

15. Read a lot about the Templars here; they were pretty much out of business at this point but the Knights of St. John had survived and played key roles in all this, especially on Rhodes and Malta (where they went after the Ottomans kicked them out of Rhodes).

16. Andrea Doria fought in this, along with other luminaries. Charles V apparently loved having court painters show him in war-like glory, as with this example.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Cancel Your Own . . . Subscription (William F. Buckley, Jr., 2007)

This book sounded quite interesting in a couple reviews, so I read it. But I didn't find it very interesting.

Buckley is very well known as a "conservative" spokesperson. This went on for many years, starting with the founding of The National Review in 1955. He just died within the past year or so.

I'm guessing I would have agreed with many of his views, even if the term "conservative" now more properly applies to those that seek to preserve existing big government, unions, favor structures, etc. But I never saw the weekly TV show "Firing Line," and didn't read National Review. So don't have much feel for how Buckley actually sounded.

This book mostly had excerpts from a National Review feature called "Notes and Asides." Lots of clever comments, points of grammer, witty letters, communications with then-celebrities or public figures. Etc. Whatever.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Lili Marlene: The Soldiers' Song of World War II (Liel Leibovitz and Matthew Miller, 2009)

I liked this little book far better than expected. Have seen numerous references to this song in other WWII books so was interested.

A reluctant German soldier (Hans Liep) in 1915 writes a poem about the "girl waiting underneath the lantern, by the barrack's gate". The girl is a composite figure of two women in whom he is interested. He also sets the poem to music; but it goes nowhere, is buried in a compilation of his poetry. Simple, sentimental, focused on the sorrow of separation caused by war and the hope of returning to love.

In the 1930s, a new musical setting is written by a composer (Norbert Schultze) who write much of the propaganda music for the Nazis. Lale Andersen records the new version. Out of step with Nazi martial music; again it goes nowhere. Sells 700 records so they try to publicize via radio. First performance was on Kristellnacht, so received no attention; and Germany moves into war mode.

The German Army establishes a high-powered radio station in conquered Yugoslavia (Radio Belgrade). Way short on records, the station obtains a stack that includes "Lili Marlene." Radio Belgrade plays the song a few times.

And then the magic begins. Literally thousands of letters are received from soldiers in various theaters - from both Axis and Allies! The song threatens to swallow the station's other programming, so it was taken off the air. That provoked a real cascade of letters. A most successful resolution was achieved: the song was played once per day, at exactly 9:57p, just before final news and signoff.

And apparently the soldiers waited just for this, night after night. Neat stories in North Africa, where the lines sometimes were so close that one side would yell across to the other to turn up its radios so that both sides could hear their song. Both sides adopted the song and it was played daily at 9:57p pretty much right up to the end.

The leadership on both sides were troubled. Goebbels hates it - spoke to longing to come home, love; opposite of military machine. At one point he prevented Lale Andersen from performing, and at one point only instrumental versions were permitted. "Monty" also hated it - the song was both German and sentimental. But the military leadership all realized it wasn't worth crossing the soldiers on this point, and versions were released in different languages.

So what connected between this song and the front-line soldiers? Especially the British and Americans who couldn't even understand the words? I try to think about this when listening to Andersen's German version. It clearly had a power that top-down propaganda music didn't. Sounds like the song was particularly popular in North Africa and Italy; what did somebody like Irvin Bormann think of it?

The original Lale Andersen version is first below - this is the recording that the folks in North Africa would have heard, probably the most common one throughout the war.

Other recordings emerged as time went on, including by established stars like Marlene Dietrich. A version from a USO camp is at bottom (gives English translation).

Rather touching finish to the book where they describe how the reunions of certain units continue with dwindling numbers, combined attendance from German and Allied vets. And yes, these 80-somethings - veterans from both sides - sing "lili Marlene" together at each reunion.

Lale Andersen - 1938:





Marlene Dietrich, USO camp version in English:

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1831)

The author was from a then well known literary family; had a quite unstable and unusual married life. She hung around with folks like Lord Byron. These two plus some other literary types were stuck in a rainy spell while on extended holiday near Lake Geneva, and challenged each other to write ghost stories as a diversion. "Frankenstein" grew out of this effort.

Gothic, strange, quick read, enjoyable. Not sure of the take-away, but at a minimum (as an old commercial put it), clearly it's never a good idea to fool with mother nature.

Three long narratives are included from slightly different perspectives - the tale of the narrator; who then hears Frankenstein's tale directly from Frankenstein; and the narrator then hears the monster's tale from Frankenstein (with a finishing flourish direct from the monster).

Awful things happen throughout. It's not hard to see how this became widely read, and transmuted into various pop culture formats.

By the way, I hadn't realized how the monster had learned language etc. (not having had a chance at a formal education). Among his learning opportunities, the monster had access to three books - one of which of course was Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther," the massively influential book described here. The monster apparently sympathized with Werther's version of being "romantic."

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

History of the Conquest of Mexico (William H. Prescott, 1843)

Absolutely fascinating. This detailed history (900 pages) was released in 1843, so quite the different perspective than a current writer might take. I'm not sure how much has been debunked by subsequent scholarship but would be pretty confident that most of the book has survived

I always like the stories of different cultures coming into contact, though usually I run into this in the context of the African explorations. Prescott notes many similarities while emphasizing the differences as well. Many similar values and religious concepts; some not so similar. I much liked one of the appendices, which was a letter from an Aztec mother to her daughter (who was moving into adulthood). Other than the subservient tone toward the male figures (which wouldn't have been out of place in contemporary Europe), it read exactly like sound modern advice - sophisticated, measured, etc.

The author tells the unbelievable tale in delightful prose, very scholarly yet completely engaging. Prescott had pretty much lost his eyesight, so had to have many of the source materials read to him by others; he composed text on some sort of device for the blind. This book (and one on the Peruvian conquest that I definitely read) helped him become quite famous. We travel occasionally through Prescott, Arizona, which was the territorial capital and named for this author.

The Cortes story is pretty well known in broad strokes; this book provides the detail that makes the broad-stroke version all the more unbelievable. Some items:

1. Prescott provides immense detail about the various tribes, including why so many were willing to help Cortes against the Aztecs.

2. The characterization of Montezuma is compelling. The circumstance of the Quetzalcoatl story is uncanny. I didn't know Montezuma hosted the Spaniards for literally months.

3. The characterization of Cortes - he seemed to have pretty much incredible leadership ability (not to mention physical strength and stamina). I really didn't know anything about his post-conquest adventures (none came close to matching that success though were also very difficult).

4. Cortez has a handful of men in a land full of enemies, no maps, no knowledge of much of anything - and burned his ships so there was no turning back. There is plenty reason why that action became so famous.

5. The noche triste - and subsequent difficult retreat from Mexico to the land of their allies - this was quite the adventure. The canals and causeways made for difficult urban fighting. (I was just reading that the first poem ever submitted by Robert Frost for publication was based on this event - he was captivated by Prescott's book.)

6. Impressive that Cortes survived this, the intrigues of his fellow Spaniards, and returned to take the city. The actual reduction of the city was quite a process - ended up basically knocking down all buildings other than temples etc. that were too large to be worth the effort. and filled in the canals to give freedom of movement for cavalry, cannon, etc.

7. And then came slavery (in all but name), disease, etc. for the survivors. And some form of religious conversion.

8. Prescott had some interesting observations about the motivations of the conquerors, that they were almost a throw-back to the "knight errant" construct that already was obsolete elsewhere in Europe. But Spain was a throw-back in general; interesting course of development with Islamic presence so different than elsewhere in Europe.

Like so much history I read - but applicable to this one in particular - the story lines are more compelling than fiction. A novelist who tried to write this stuff would be ridiculed.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (Daniyal Mueenuddin, 2009)

This is different than my usual reading, and I enjoyed it a bunch.

The writer is from Pakistan; he puts together eight stories with quite a bit of overlap among the characters. It centers around a wealthy landowner named K.K. Harouni; he is now quite old and has gradually been selling off ancestral lands to cover failed ventures, high expenses, etc. The stories pick up various members of his family, but also focus on domestic servants, his key overseers, an electrician working on his properties, etc. Some of the family members are back and forth among London, America, Pakistan, etc.

So it speaks to the transition from feudal(?) Pakistan to very modern times, and it speaks across the social classes and geographies. All of which works very well. The last story is mostly about an old man who built a box-house that he could take with him when he moves (final move is to work on a Harouni property), nice and very sad.

Birthday gift from the Reghabis. Nice.

Friday, May 22, 2009

The Battle for Spain - The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (Antony Beevor, 1982)

I have been very interested in learning something about the Spanish Civil War because it comes up so often in other things I'm reading.

There are a number of most interesting story lines that are part of the military action, such as:

1. The fascist powers of the day (Germany and Italy) expending great energy on behalf of Franco and the nationalists. The Nazis correctly perceived this war as a great opportunity to test military equipment and tactics; no doubt this was very helpful in the early days of WWII.

2. Stalin and the Russian communists expending great energy on behalf of the republican government. But not as effectively as the Germans. Stalin's interest was in seeing that the Spanish communist party was positioned to take over the leftist coalition after the civil war; he didn't wish to provoke Hitler. It seemed that the communists - one of the largest parts of the coalition - burned so much energy on internal politicking that might have been better turned toward the military. (And odd that Stalin entered into an alliance with Hitler, if short-lived, very quickly after the civil war ended.)

3. A "non-intervention" policy by those countries that might have been thought to be interested in supporting republican Spain - leaving it pretty much alone except for Russia and the folks mentioned in the next paragraph. Places like England and the US were scared off by the large communist streak in the republican coalition, not to mention the US Catholic lobby. Over time, the republican cause lacked resources.

4. Yet the republican cause was viewed by idealists around the world as noble, to the point where "international brigades" with thousands of participants showed up to fight fascism. Amazing. But at this point in the 1930s, the Stalinist purges and excesses were not all that widely known, and unions, communists and socialists were not in disfavor (worldwide depression, etc.)

5. And a big chunk of the celebrity artists and writers were in support of republican Spain. Ernest Hemingway probably most prominent among them. For Whom the Bell Tolls is a great story, set entirely in the Spanish civil war.

6. The Guernica bombing.

7. Spanish vets show up on both sides in WWII, and it's easy to see why they would have been in demand. Republican types fought with the Russians; nationalist types helped the Nazis. There is a strong character in David Robbins' novel about Kursk - a Spanish civil war vet who was a tank expert. Etc.

8. I hadn't realized Franco was so tight with Hitler and Mussolini, or that he was running a first-class dictatorship right up into the 1960s. Retribution after the war apparently was just awful.

The book was quite good, though so detailed that I just blew through much of the military descriptions. I liked Beevor's Stalingrad (summarized here) better.

Click to enlarge: