Things I Read: Fromkin

"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))

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Thursday, December 01, 2005

The Way of the World (From the Dawn of Civilization to the Eve of the 21st Century (David Fromkin, 2000)

I had liked other Fromkin books quite a bit (Europe's Last Summer, A Peace to End All Peace), but didn't find this very compelling.

The author tries to provide a short overview of the history of civilization. Some useful perspectives but inevitably cursory. He does believe the west generally is on the right track in terms of individual liberty, economic freedom, "progress," etc. But who knows.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Europe’s Last Summer: Who Started the Great War? (David Fromkin, 2004)

I found this useful.

Fromkin explores the causes of WWI; says there were two wars (Austria starts v. Serbia, German (Moltke) starts against Russia/France). Believes Germany wanted to start the war before Russia built up strength, and needed Austria to hold Russia in the east while Germany took out France first. Austria's tiff with Serbia played into this strategy (though the assassination probably qualifies as more than a tiff, it needn't necessarily precipitate a world war).

Germany pretty much required Austria to contend with Russia, and the Serbian war became an afterthought (which I believe Austria ultimately lost).