Germania: In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and their History (Simon Winder, 2010)

Winder notes that Germany is pretty much a dead zone for tourism (at least compared to France, Italy, England, etc.) yet finds that he is fascinated by the place. He ends up putting together an informal history that I found tremendously useful. Background from Fritz Stern, Frederick the Great and Bach, Goethe (and other books tagged with Germany on this blog) helped provide some perspective that made this book useful.

He admits up front that he's not a historian. For all I know many of his musings may be off target.

I've been baffled by the history of the area: late maturation to statehood; tiny independent regions for centuries; how did the area generate the super-high quality musicians, authors, scientists; how did the area generate the Nazis; etc.

My usual method is to dog-ear pages I find interesting; this book was left full of dog-ears.

Tacitus - almost a noble savage description - aimed more at uplifting Roman virtue than any attempt at accurately describing Germany. But this resonated right up to 1933.

Holy Roman Empire - fixation with medieval glory days. Perhaps as a way of legitimizing a disunited area looking at France and England with their long histories as a single nation. Building and restoring castles and monuments after other countries had moved on.

Differences between southern Catholic areas - identifying with Italy - and northern Protestant areas - identifying with Netherlands, England, Scandinavia. Amazing overlap with English monarchy.

So many available princes and princesses that they were married off throughout Europe, even sent to places like Greece and Mexico.

Prussia up in marshy northeast - Protestant - socially progressive it seems earlier than most - success in Napoleonic wars (which wiped out so many of the smaller states).

Winder points out that for all the talk of German militarism - other than a few successes in a seven year period in the 19th century (most notably the Franco-Prussian war, described here) - they never fought after that until WWI, and never really succeeded after that in any war. The short run of success probably created unrealistic expectations.

How the rush to develop a navy - in large part to service worthless, johnny-come-lately colonies - broke up a natural affinity with England and contributed to 20th century disaster.

Lots of entertaining stories about all of the small independent (or partially independent) areas. Somehow this seems to have been an incubator for the arts etc. Weird local museums, buildings, traditions.

WWI failure, the myth that the army hadn't been defeated in WWI, the Weimar republic problems, the rush to blame outsiders who must have undermined the army (Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, etc.), disaster with Nazis, disaster with Soviets. What a history.

The Complete Short Stories of Evelyn Waugh (1998)

I've seen enough favorable references to Evelyn Waugh (he of "Brideshead Revisited" fame) that I thought I needed to check out something he's written. This volume included 39 short stories. 500+ pages, so it took awhile to work through (at the gym).

"Love Among the Ruins" was an enjoyable shot at state-ism - certainly resonates with USA circa 2011. There was a story about a dog who took his job perhaps too seriously, it was funny. I liked "Basil Seal Rides Again".

I don't know much about Waugh (including whatever it is he's known for as an author) . . . he certainly is wonderful with the language, insightful, another excellent observer of human nature. I'll read more.

Dr. Johnson's London (Liza Picard, 2000)

This book was pretty well-reviewed, but I didn't find it all that interesting. Lots of information and facts about London from the period 1740 to 1770; but presented in choppy bites to the point where it felt too much like reading an encyclopedia or the like. The three-decade focus period pretty much correlates with Dr. Johnson's active years. The author was trying to give some perspective on "ordinary" folks.

I noted that dog-fighting was popular. So some things don't change much.

I learned a little about the inception of Methodism (John Wesley) - who reached out to the lower classes and offered a "method" for behaving in a manner that might earn salvation.

A little more perspective on how "German" the British kings were. And I guess Britain didn't ever want a meaningful standing army - thus hiring soldiers from German provinces like Hesse when troops were needed in a hurry.

Very popular to hire folks to carry oneself in a "chair" - easy way to get around, plus permitted avoiding the filthy streets.

Apparently the "gin" craze was pretty serious.

Not that great.

The Ninth - Beethoven and the World in 1824 (Harvey Sachs, 2010)

I find many book ideas in the review pages of The Wall Street Journal. A couple months ago, I was reading a WSJ edition from back in July (saved specifically for the review pages) and saw a reference to this book - sounded interesting and I reserved it at library.

In the meantime (as discussed in separate link), I auditioned for the chorus in something known as "Arizona MusicFest" - which I've learned is a pretty talent-laden grouping that is performing - Beethoven's 9th. So that upped my interest in the book.

Which I would recommend. The author has a varied background in music, and I think does a very nice job of discussing Beethoven, Europe in 1824, what the 9th might stand for, etc.

Concepts:

1. He emphasized the Romantic ideal of the artist as unique genius earning a place in posterity. This was partly the "great man" notion in reaction to Napoleon. Interesting that, by comparison, folks like Bach and Mozart were doing lots of commissioned works and, at least in Bach's case as I understood it, viewed more as a skilled craftsman than an artist.

2. Beethoven studied with, among others, Salieri and Haydn.

3. How difficult to be going deaf at a young age - huge interference with social relations, etc.

4. Discusses the theory that the Romantics in part were reacting against the repression instituted after the French Revolution and Napoleon spread dangerous ideas throughout Europe. With political avenues barred, expression came via the arts. Makes some sense to me.

5. Compares to Pushkin, Byron, Delacroix as active in 1824.

The author goes through a long explanation of the 9th, how the four movements work together, how the use of a chorus in the fourth movement was entirely groundbreaking, etc. Despair-anger-acceptance-joy. The "brotherhood" message was revolutionary for its time.

This gave me some ideas why I sometimes find Beethoven music less enjoyable than other . . . a big factor would be the preparedness the listener brings (or doesn't bring).

And now - constant use at Euro events.

B Minor Mass (Johann Sebastian Bach, in segments between 1724 and 1748)

PJ and I had the good fortune to attend a performance of Bach's "Mass in B minor" on Saturday evening (1/15/11) - part of the Arizona Bach Festival. Performance was at Central United Methodist Church. We arrived reasonably on time by our standards, but the place was packed. Our luck (and PJ's find): they were putting up some additional chairs in the transepts, and we ended up in the front row. So had a great side view, could see the conductor throughout - somewhat like the view we have when performing with Choral Union.

After listening to it so often on CD, it was quite an experience to hear a fine live performance. Unoriginal observations: the CD doesn't pick up all the depth of the sound, and certainly doesn't pick up the echoes and reverberations in a church setting.

Quoted at the bottom of the post is a summary from NPR which I like (relating to a CD it's selling). I'm posting the album cover of the version we have on CD, which really is quite fine.

The Phoenix Chorale sounded wonderful - which was good news, since this is primarily a choral work. The festival orchestra also sounded very nice. We weren't completely sold on the soloists, but there were many nice moments.

For me: I still like the Kyrie section best. The first part is almost hypnotic; then a change of pace with two soloists doing the "Christe eleison"; then I much like the final Kyrie eleison as it leads into the Gloria. But the entire thing is a delight, even if two hours is a bit long to be sitting.

After: late dinner at the Vig with my pal.

NPR's take:

"April 7, 2009 - The Mass in B minor is as lofty in design, scope and expression as anything written by the hand of man. It's one of several instances in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in which a piece is created as an ideal type, rather than crafted for a practical use. As such, it represents an attempt to both summarize the tradition of the mass in a single perfect specimen and leave a statement on the nature of sacred music as a bequest to the future.

Most of the work's component parts date from various times in Bach's long residence in Leipzig; they were assembled to form a complete mass only near the end of his life. The earliest section is the Sanctus, from 1724. The Kyrie and Gloria are taken from a 1733 mass that Bach dedicated to the electoral court of Saxony at Dresden. The last major addition was the Credo; the keystone to the whole archlike structure, and itself a wonderfully symmetrical arch, it was written in 1748-49. Bach never heard the work in its entirety, but it represents a collection of movements in diverse styles; the Mass in B minor transcends the inconsistency of its origins."

The Education of Henry Adams (Henry Adams, 1907)

Ranked by the Modern Library in 1998 as the No. 1 American nonfiction book.

I was interested for several additional reasons. This book had discussed Adams in the context of the change starting circa 1900 (and the power of the "dynamo"). Also, I've done almost no reading from this period other than fiction.

In the end, though, I wasn't all that moved, so obviously I was missing something. I read this is described as an "odd" book, and I agree.

Adams had an absolutely unique perch. Starting with his grandfather, John Quincy Adams, who walked him to school, etc. He worked with his father as a diplomat in Britain during the Civil War (when Britain was flirting with the Confederacy). Apparently knew all the US politicians during the period, up to and including a dozen or so presidents.

Adams spent tons of time in Europe; loved the cathedrals; focused on 13th century; Chartres and Mont St. Michel. In Europe in 1870. Tried to make sense of Darwin.

"Between the Civil War and World War I, an old world began to die. Some were aware of it. Others weren’t. Still others knew but labored mightily to pretend, deny, hold it off. Nevertheless, as history will, the change came, and after it blew past, all was different. What we call “the modern world”—a world of politics, technology and attitudes we’re still largely living in—had arrived. . . In The Education of Henry Adams, Adams, readiest of the unready, wrote about what it was like to live through the change, in the change, trying and failing to understand the change. Privately printed in 1907, it was not generally published until after his death in 1918; it won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize. . . .The climax of the book is the famous chapter titled “The Dynamo and the Virgin (1900),” in which Adams beholds the coming role of technological power in human life. He sees the steam turbines at the Paris Exposition of 1900 and writes that for him “... the dynamo became a symbol of infinity.” As he grew accustomed to the great gallery of machines, he began to feel the 40-foot dynamo as a moral force, much as the early Christians felt the Cross. ... “Before the end, one began to pray to it; inherited instinct taught the natural expression of man before silent and infinite force.” . . . He sees the dynamo as a symbol of force itself, of the gods of the future, as distinct from the Virgin, the spirit of the past, reflected in the urge to the arts and philosophy, an urge Adams feels may be swallowed up by the surge of the dynamo."

To Hell and Back (Audie Murphy, 1949)

I've seen numerous positive references to this book. Including comparisons to "All Quiet on the Western Front" (discussed here), but set in WWII.

I didn't find it all that compelling. One indicator: I don't like to write notes in books; instead, I dog-ear pages with passages I find interesting. I didn't dog-ear any pages in this book.

Murphy did have an unbelievable career in the army, and worked his way through Italy, France and Germany. And the stories are very interesting (especially as I have quite a bit of interest in the Italian campaign due to interest in Cassino, etc.) But too much space was devoted to wise-cracking repartee between folks in his unit.

Also interesting that he started out in extreme poverty - share-cropping background - and was able to thrive in the army and in Hollywood.

The End of the Affair (Graham Greene, 1951)

This was quite different from Our Man in Havana and The Quiet American. Set mostly in WWII London; protagonist has an affair with wife of an acquaintance; various characters deal with the question of belief in God in a Catholic sort of way; this takes an unexpected turn in the latter part of the book. The private detective's son recovers; the rationalist's facial markings disappear.

I liked. Perhaps should try the movie version(s) (1955, 1999).

The Age of Wonder - How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science (Richard Holmes, 2008)

I liked this. Entertaining, informative, and a good fit with other things I've been reading recently about this period. The book primarily revolved around several discrete biographies - but the subjects overlapped, and were linked, somewhat, by association with Joseph Banks (in his role as President of the Royal Society - an organization promoting science in Britain).

The bios:

1. Joseph Banks - very interesting story of his travels around the world; especially in the South Pacific; specifically to Tahiti (first arriving there in 1769). JB was great at collecting data, sketches, etc. But his notebooks etc. about native life in Tahiti created quite the stir in England. JB was open-minded about the lifestyle there. And he was spending time before booze, Christianity and venereal disease permanently changed the Tahitian atmosphere. Sufficiently well-thought of to be elected as President of the Royal Society - a position he held for decades.

Contributed to development of viewpoints on man in "state of nature."

2. William Hershel - came over from Hanover due to hard times there; eventually brought over his smallpox-scarred sister (Caroline), who wanted to be a singer. Hershel was an excellent musician and had meaningful gigs in England. Avocation was astronomy - something like John Harrison, he somehow taught himself the techniques for grinding lenses for marvelous telescopes. Unlike Harrison, he was generally supported by the Astronomer Royal (Nevil Maskelyn). (Harrison situation discussed here.) Made his reputation by discovering Uranus - the first "new" planet since ancient times.

Caroline's story was most interesting - she did progress to where she was starting to have performance opportunities as a singer, but she ended up working hand in hand with William on astronomy matters. Eventually gained her own recognition.

All sorts of famous folks visited - Hayden supposedly was inspired in writing the "Creation."

Led to discussions about the infinite number of stars, the likelihood of life on other planets given the huge number, whether Christ could have redeemed all these worlds, etc. A discussion continuing to this day.

3. There was a mostly uninteresting chapter about balloonists.

4. Mungo Park - Scottish - toured Africa. I do love the stories of 19th century explorers there.

5. Humphrey Davy - sold the scientific community (and the public) on the importance of chemistry. Experimented with various gases and how they might be used - if he had stuck with this, might well have pioneered anesthesia - did test, on himself, all sorts of dangerous mixtures and amounts. Hung closely with various poets (Coleridge), especially after a society marriage. Invented the Davy Lamp (trying to make coal mining safer).

6. There were shorter passages on other scientists, including Hershel's son.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (Dava Sobel, 1996)

Quick and easy read. I didn't realize that determining longitude for sailors was so difficult, nor the attendant dangers. Basically, folks far out at sea were able to find latitude - but were guessing at longitude. Especially on a longer voyage, this could be deadly.

Apparently there were numerous attempts over the years, but no good solution. Reliance on tactics like "dead reckoning" was dicey.

A British ship returning from battle ran aground with great loss of life; with other disasters, the government was prompted to throw some serious money (>$4.5 million in today's dollars) behind finding a solution.

There were two main approaches thought most likely to succeed: a highly accurate clock (permitting the navigator to know the difference in time from London); or extensive star charts.

This book focuses on John Harrison, who worked on a clock. I didn't realize how inaccurate clocks were up to this point (Harrison was working on this in the mid-18th century). He had to figure out a way to keep the clock precise on a pitching ship that faced extremes of temperature and humidity. He seemed to have absolutely no background for the task, but somehow figured it out. The powers-that-be that ran the prize commission favored the star-chart approach, and placed all sorts of roadblocks in Harrison's way. But he succeeded.

I had no idea "Longitude" would overlap with concepts in this book by Umberto Eco - including the race for a solution, the idea of using a wounded dog on ship to bark in sympathy with a dog on land (hopefully not a serious idea), the clocks, etc.

And - by another coincidence - this book overlaps with another that I'm reading about the royal society (under Maskelyne) that mistreated Harrison (but supported folks like Herschel).

Memoirs of Hadrian (Marguerite Yourcenar, 1951)

I don't quite know what to make of this book. Reviews were highly favorable; it seemed like a topic I'd enjoy a lot. Probably I'm missing something. I do believe one of the problems is that some of Hadrian's musings sounded like Montaigne essays, only not as compelling.

But still.

The story is quite interesting; the comments from the author about her experiences and goals with this work are fascinating. She was struck by a quote from Gustave Flaubert: "Just when the gods had ceased to be, and the Christ had not yet come, there was a unique moment in history, between Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, when man stood alone."

This led her to a multi-decade effort to write memoirs from Hadrian's perspective.

I don't know much about the various emperors, but Hadrian apparently was one of the greats. He did far more than construct a big wall in Britain. The book goes through his ascent to power, military career, loving Antinuous (in an Achilles-Patroclus sort of way) (with the Antinuous thing resulting in significant follow-through, as described here), dealing with issues in Germany, Egypt, Roman politics, etc. Ruminations on impending death; this was written as a guide of some kind to Marcus Aurelius at the time Hadrian's health was failing.

A minor note: he recognized that stretching Roman interests all the way up into the Afghanistan area would be a mistake . . .

It seems that a movie version is in the works, scheduled for release in Italy this year (2010).

Five Germanys I Have Known (Fritz Stern, 2006)

I would highly recommend this book - it was unexpectedly personal, interesting, even moving. Also unexpectedly helpful for me in piecing together some threads of German history.

Stern lived through "five Germanys": a few years as a youth in Weimar Republic; Third Reich; postwar West and East Germany; unified Germany after the Berlin wall came down.

But he also wrote interestingly about pre-World War I Germany. About how political immaturity of the area compared to at least some other nations - Germany didn't come together until 1870 - persisted into 20th century. Germany energy went into Bildung (self-formation and education) (Bildungsroman stories popular to this day) and Wissenschaft (science); if at risk of Bildungsphilister (cultured philistine); at any event, not much opportunity to put energy into politics. ( This resonated with themes in the Goethe and the Holy Madness book, among others.)

Stern's family included a line of eminent physicians. Had converted away from Judaism a couple generations back. Plenty of interesting family connections, including Einstein. The religious conversion, such as it was, didn't help in the Third Reich. The family emigrated to NYC just in time; Stern ended up as a student and long-time professor at Columbia (along with many other roles).

Some items:

1. He had a great relationship with Jacques Barzun (whose recent book I like so much) - who also was at Columbia.

2. Had a good way of writing about how Jews and liberals were scapegoated for the WWI defeat.

3. Interesting to think about how Jews converted to Christianity in Germany and elsewhere . . . we had touched on this when performing "Elijah" by Felix Mendelssohn. Pressures everywhere . ..

4. His retelling made the Nazi dangers seem more personal - folks losing positions in universities, etc. Hiding books in home library. Watching conversations. Even in the early days before Nazi power had been consolidated.

5. What an interesting, difficult idea - shifting borders - Stern's family was in Breslau -which ended up in Poland (as "Wroclaw") after the war - some pretty hard feelings about this which took awhile to resolve.

6. A big focus was the lingering question about why the Germans stood by in the face of Nazi behavior; Stern referred to National Socialism as a "temptation" - it's hard to imagine the depth of Nazi participation (whether as enthusiasts, "mere collaborators", or whatever) that ran through Germany in the 1930s and 1940s; how possibly to address this in the postwar era? Fritz Stern - an American - as an unlikely but effective voice in framing the issue.

There was a lot in this book.

The Greatest Battle (WWII - Battle of Moscow) (Andrew Nagorski, 2007)

Interesting. But all in all, one of the less interesting books I've read lately. Mostly because I didn't feel like it added much new to similar items previously read. The author is a "senior editor" at Newsweek (International), which I didn't take to be a great sign.

Anyway, it made for a quick read at the gym.

He recounts the stories of Stalin ignoring Hitler's fairly obvious preparations for repudiating the shaky treaty between Germany and Russia; then panicking as the German army rolls through Russia; then Hitler compounding his belated start by hesitating and dividing his troops, rather than smashing straight through to Moscow. Also the stories of Hitler not sending winter clothes for his troops (limited rail capacity was prioritized in favor of ammunition and food stocks). Stalin did stick around in Moscow rather than evacuating, which no doubt helped save the day.

Also interesting to hear again the stories of the Soviet "blocking" units, and the harsh treatment for any Russian soldier that was captured. Wow.

One new concept for me: I hadn't thought about how it came about that Polish soldiers fought at Monte Cassino - what with Poland having disappeared from the map following the deal between Russia and Germany in 1939. Turns out that Stalin gave permission for Poles to join the fighting in the west by escaping through eastern Europe. Stalin didn't want these folks anywhere near the Eastern front (of course).

The Charterhouse of Parma (Stendahl, 1839)

I liked The Red and the Black so was looking forward to this one. Also because I had for the first time (and quite recently) paid some attention to Napoleon's early military success in Italy in this book - so the setting seemed quite familiar territory. And Zamoya talked about Stendahl and his participation in the retreat from Moscow in this book.

I read that Stendahl is categorized by some as an early "realist". OK.

Numerous strong characters; perhaps the lead is Fabrizio de Dongo - his father is collaborating with the Austrians, but Fabrizio runs off and appears, if ineffectively, at Waterloo. His aunt (Duchessa Sanseverina) is a great character, as is Count Mosca - who works for a despotic prince. Clelia Conti, daughter of the warden at the infamous Farnese Tower, falls for Fabrizio.

Fabrizio - despite lacking any apparent inclination for the job - becomes a leading cleric in Parma. Intrigues with court factions. Etc.

The Complete Essays of Montaigne (Book I) (translated by Donald Frame)

Jacque Barzun had raved about Montaigne; I liked Barzun's work a lot, and decided to take a tour through the essays. 800+ pages, written in late 16th century, looked like something I might scan through at best.

But about 50 pages in, I decided I needed to own this book. So went out and found a lightly-used hardcover version. Worked through Book I (of III, to use Super Bowl numbering) and about half of Book II before pausing. Not that I wasn't interested in going on - there just is too much to absorb.

Not sure how to describe this. Apparently the book was a staple for centuries, sat on bookshelves of most anyone with much education. How neat that folks like Pascal (to pick one from a very, very long list) worked through this, commented on it, praised it? Montaigne covers everyday and not-so-everyday topics in depth, or briefly. His style is conversational; loaded with quotes from classical sources; thoughtful; candid; seems like just the kind of person I would love to sit and talk with. When I went back and read the "introduction" section, it seems that my reaction is not unique (a better description would be "it's commonplace") - readers tend to see themselves in Montaigne's musings, even if different readers bring very different things to the book.

He was writing at a time when religious wars were quite violent in France.

I note a few sections here, but this book just needs to be read.

Of pedantry - includes a good discussion of the age-old distinction between book-learning and wisdom - this discussion never goes away.

I liked his discussion of the value of creating a written record, or diary; and his discussion of keeping written summaries of books he read so that he wouldn't entirely forget them. I'm going to use some of those quotes as a sort of frontispiece on two of my websites.

Much liked his discussion about being a father. Much liked his passages about worrying for the future, finances, etc.

Incredibly modern, incredibly pertinent. One of the few off-key notes is general dismissiveness toward the capabilities of women.

I generally don't write notes in books; I dog-ear pages that I find interesting. Which has led to ridiculous dog-earedness in the case of this volume.