Book learning #79 Humanity- A moral history of the Twentieth Century by Jonathan Glover.

I purchased this book on the 24th of March 2001. In those days the Twentieth century really meant something. Indeed, if you were buying books in those days you had been born and raised in it. The relationship was real and intense and the only thoughts of the next century were of the timid, toe dipping 'what's it going to be like?' variety.

This is a historical and philosophical tour which includes the following delights. My Lai,  Stalin, World War One,  Bomber Command, Atomic weapons,  Pol Pot,  Rwanda, Yugoslavia, The Cultural Revolution and of course, everyone's favourite, National Socialism.

Laugh a minute.

Well written and thought provoking, it looks at the ethics and philosophy behind the actions of those responsible for some of the greatest crimes against humanity in the period covered. There is plenty that is not covered (South American dictatorships, Middle Eastern terrorism, North Korea and that's just for starters). The book raises many issues, for me one of the main points is the willingness of the many to go along with the ideas of a few.

Book learning #73 Revolution 1989. The fall of the Soviet Empire by Victor Sebestyen.

If the man hassles you, threatens or intimidates you, tries to build a cheap and nasty supermarket on the meadow opposite your home, fear not. There is such a glorious thing as people power.

I loved 1989. The actual year at the actual time was a good year for Mondale. I saw the Stone Roses live at Norwich Arts Centre (I don't think I have even sweated so much, not even in a broken subway car in an New York heatwave). I left school (in those days you still 'left school' at 16 even if you went onto higher things) I kissed girls, I wore floppy shirts and ragged jeans, I drank beer, I listened to alot of loud jangly guitar, my skin was perfect, I had no belly, I got stoned, I sailed a helluva lot, I was pure blonde, no grey in sight, I started smoking, I danced, I sang.

I was rock n' roll. I was 16. I was on it!

And I was aware, because that was the year I got an A grade in Modern History GCSE that Europe had been divided in half at the end of WW2. And I was aware, because my mum listened to Radio 4 non stop, that all things were not as they should be in Eastern Europe. And I was aware, because I had had nightmares in the early 1980s about nuclear war that the Russians were baddies. I was also aware of these things because I was a bright lad obsessed with history and politics. Just as I am now an older bloke obsessed with history and politics which is possibly why I enjoyed this book an awful lot.

The Cold War now seems like an odd dream. It's hard to think that we were living on the front line of an armageddon that would have rendered things like 'front lines' irrelevant.

It also seems incredible that The Soviet Union, and Mr Gorbachev in particular allowed the dissent to turn into revolution. This book brings those days back to life, reminds us of the hope that was ushered in during that amazing year. It was the year I began A'Levels, the year I studied 1848 'The year of Revolutions'. Such history suddenly seemed belittled by events in our own time.

I still recall our history teacher, a man in his sixties who vividly remembered the war. His opinions about German and Russian behaviour were often controversial. I shall never forget his face on November 10th as we talked about the Berlin wall coming down.

He could not fathom it.

Neither could we.

Book learning #71 Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor

Unputdownable.

Frozen, vast, incomprehensible.

I had seen the films and the maps, the furthest most reach of the Germans.

The pace of this picked up once it was clear the Germans were defeated. I found the final 100 pages absolutely fascinating, I loved reading the details of the collapse and surrender of the 6th Army.

Book Learning 54:Paris, The secret history. Andrew Hussey.

Paris, The secret history. Andrew Hussey.

Well, This just adds another brick in my tower of admiration for the world of public libraries.


In a state of literary ennui, I was browsing the shelves of the local (and quite fantastic) local library when I came across this. It came home with me. I liked it.

Beginning with the prehistoric stuff and moving through the Romano-Gaulish history (most of which I learned from Asterix and was delighted to discover from a real book that so much of what Asterix had taught me was true) and moving through some disgusting medieval developments, sketchy seventeenth century intruigue, the great French Kings, the 1789 revolution, Napoleon, Commune, World Wars and 1968.

Thoroughly readable, entertaining and really, very sexy, this was a good read. I've known Paris down the years, after New York , London and Norwich* it must be my favourite city.


*Favourite cities. In order.

1.New York
2.Brooklyn (keeping the dream alive!)
3.Norwich
4.Bath
5.Bristol
6.Liverpool
7.Paris (OK, I misjudged this a bit)
8.Boston**
9.Philadelphia
10. Washington DC**

**Based on limited experience and OCD American history fixes.

book Learning 35:The Cold War. A new history by John Lewis Gaddis.

The Cold War. A new history by John Lewis Gaddis.

A zippingly concise little history of the Cold War. Written for students in college who were born after the fall of the Berlin Wall. For the rest of us a swift journey through the old post war world.

I loved the concise nature of it, learned more about the role and impact of the Middle East and the nature of Soviet politics.
A good intelligent summer read.
A few of the things that stood out.

Nikita Krushchev was obsessed with American culture and kept trying to have summits in the USA.

Jimmy Carter increased the ammount of nuclear weapons.

Ronald Reagan decreased the ammount of nuclear weapons.

The first George Bush was really pretty pointless

Book Learning 34:Warriors. Portraits from the battlefield By Max Hastings.

Warriors. Portraits from the battlefield By Max Hastings.
I was unable to find a picture of the title to my liking so I've included a picture of a younger Mr Hastings, probably from his Falklands War "I counted them all out and I counted them all in" days. Except that that quote belongs to TV journalist Brian Hanrahan.
I was browsing the Community Bookstore on 7th Avenue looking for a suitable birthday gift for Neice Flighty-Bat (books are so easy to mail and encourage intellectual stimulation in the tween generation). Of course I ended up with nothing for the neice but found this slight gem for myself.

And a slight gem it was. A dozen or more vignettes concerning different warriors from a range of conflicts over the last two hundred years. The brave, the stubborn, the foolish and the lucky. Oh, the dead also feature.

The compact chapter style suits my life right now, will probably suit my life for the next twenty years. It seems that Hastings is one of those authors I return to every couple of years, just when I thought I wouldn't read a military history.

On a selfish note it's also heartening to see that though my pace has slowed my enjoyment of reading has not diminished.
Now I just need to get my running shoes back on.