"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))

Friday, May 20, 2005

A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East 1914-1922 (David Fromkin, 1989)

Lengthy summary of World War I era in Middle East.  Ottoman Empire had loose control and was assumed weak.  Young Turks took power.  It was believed by many that Jewish interests had meaningful (almost conspiratorial power) and that gaining Jewish support was important to the war effort.  Britain had trouble defeating Ottoman armies (Gallipoli, etc.)  Britain and France are rivals, with France focused on Syria, Lebanon.  Mistaken assumptions from Kitchener and others.  Russia and “Great Game” legacy changed, but only somewhat, by Bolsheviks – they ended up imperialistic after all.  Overtures from and to Jewish leadership; Wilson supportive; end up with Balfour Declaration; left ambiguous whether it would be an independent state or British controlled; Jewish expected Trans-Jordan (now Jordan, east of Israel) would be part of their territory.  In the end, Ottoman control is gone.  Turkey is basically its own country; the Saud family is propped up in Arabia; Kurds are left scattered across Turkey, Iraq, Iran; French have interest in Syria and Lebanon; British in Iraq; also Iran; significance of oil is recognized.  Many episodes of local uprising akin to the last few decades.  Turks kill many Armenians along the way.  Turkey and Greece at war, with bad results for Greece, in 1922.  US withdrew from the peace process after letting the self-determination genie out of the bottle.

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Down the Great Unknown (Edward Dolnick, 2002)

John Wesley Powell’s 1869 journey through Grand Canyon.  Christmas gift from MB Stern.  Good.  Read at La Camarilla.