"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, May 20, 2018

The Rise of Luxembourg - 1815-2015 - A Historical Portrait (Emile Haag, 2016)

(314 pages)

Christmas gift from Martine & Jose et al.  Seems like a timely read given that a path to Luxembourg citizenship has emerged for us.

Congress of Vienna - much discussed in this book - creates the Grand Duchy as a separate state in 1815 - but "independence" is difficult.

It was interesting to read this book pretty much in tandem with this history of Prussia.  Both discuss the events of the late 1860s - Bismarck defeats Austria in 1866 and is moving toward uniting Germany, more or less, under Prussian leadership - the Prussian book describes an 1867 "Luxembourg crisis" orchestrated by Bismarck (behind the scenes he encourages Napoleon III to annex Luxembourg but then leaks that very news, to predictable outrage); at the end of the process Bismark succeeds in uniting Germany but all the European powers agree (in 1867) that Luxembourg thenceforward would be an independent neutral state; war between Germany and France is avoided (or at least delayed for a few years).

That episode was part of Luxembourg consistently needing to navigate the boundary zone between France and Germany; the area seems to have been more directly influenced (if not controlled via economic zones and the like) by Germany, but felt a greater affinity with France (hard to measure, and perhaps this is because France seemed less threatening?)

Being in that boundary zone of course led to deep consequences in the two world wars.

Author reviews the roles of leading industrialists and statesmen; it also turns out that the leadership from the royals has mattered quite a bit - Grand Duchess Charlotte apparently quite important.  Also goes over developments in the fine arts, sports, etc.

As Europe centralized - via EEC and then EU - Luxembourg has benefited from being a small, less-threatening nation - important offices have been headquartered here from the beginning of this project.  No doubt it also took lots of skill to achieve this; multi-lingual population was helpful. 

Author gives some history on Letzebuergesch - used in daily life, legally recognized in 1984 - interesting how (as elsewhere in Europe) some of the unwritten, or at least less-written local languages were revived and treated more formally than in their heyday.

Lovely book; pictures, maps, etc. are very helpful.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

American War (Omar El Akkad, 2017)

(413 pages)

Book club selection (via POC; session held 16 May 2018).

Post-apocalyptic; author is exploring how the United States might split up in the future; interestingly, or oddly, the split pretty much tracks the 19th century Civil War territory.  With fossil fuel usage as the main divisive factor.  (Earth has warmed considerably; coasts tend to be swamped; national capital has moved inland to Columbus, OH.)

An African empire (Bouzazi) keeps the southern "resistance" afloat.

Protagonist is Sarat Chestnut, but she's not much of a hero.  Pretty much brainwashed and weaponized by elders.  Spends time in a Gitmo-style camp, with waterboarding - in this story, yields zip in terms of usable intelligence. 

Northern violence/punitive-ness provokes continued Southern resistance.  Including germ warfare - two rounds of it - severe. 

Echoes of World War I - where Allies lose control of the narrative - the "losers" in this war (i.e. the South) are allowed to message - though story line ends before we see how this might have played out.