History Books Review

History Books Review has moved

2012-09-21T10:07:00.000+01:00

After 4 years on Blogger I've decided it is time to start hosting my own blog. I've moved all the content from here to a new, though similar, domain.

http://historybooksreview.co.uk

I'll be gradually reducing the posts here to stubs linking to what from now on will be the main blog. I hope you enjoy the change.

Collapse by Jared Diamond

2012-09-06T08:58:00.000+01:00

Easter Island is famously one of the remotest places in the world. It is also famous for its huge statues. They are both relics of and key components of one of the most haunting of tales of environmental destruction. The inhabitants of Easter Island arrived by boat and created a unique culture, of which the erection of their statues was a key part. But this culture was not sustainable. It required the use of large quantities of wood, and over a few centuries all the wood was used up.

Continue reading at http://historybooksreview.co.uk/collapse-by-jared-diamond/

Telstar by the Tornados

2012-08-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

Telstar - the satellite (thanks to Wikipedia)

I was 3 when Telstar came out, so I probably don't remember it when it was actually a hit record. But I heard it often enough as a small boy that it formed part of my experience of growing up. It was always my favourite. It was just so space age.

Read more at http://historybooksreview.co.uk/telstar-tornados/

I predict not so much a riot as a small war

2012-08-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

When it comes to arguments over the ownership of small islands, I think most Britons can legitimately claim some kind of special perspective. Particularly if you are old enough to remember the Falklands War, it is easy to imagine how a group of islands can overnight be transformed from somewhere you have never heard of to a vital national obsession if someone else lays a claim to them in a violent way.

Read more at the new home of the history books review blog

Pussy Riot - the background

2012-08-19T14:54:00.002+01:00

Pussy Riot (Thanks to Wikipedia for the image)

Pussy Riot are the only Russian punk group I have heard of. I think I am in good company on that, as they seem to be a lot more interested in getting publicity for their political protests than their art. On the whole I don't approve of either religion or authoritarian tendencies in nominally democratic governments. So I am sympathetic in a general sort of way to what Pussy Riot seem to be doing. On the other hand, religious people are entitled to hold whatever beliefs they have and to practice those beliefs. And those rights ought to include not having a punk band set up without permission in a cathedral. So I am not sure that Pussy Riot have got their tactics quite right.

Read more on my new self hosted blog at http://historybooksreview.co.uk/pussy-riot-background/

The Second World War by Antony Beevor

2012-08-16T08:00:00.000+01:00

I had reservations when I heard that Antony Beevor had turned his hand to writing a history of the whole of the Second World War. I love his accounts of Stalingrad and the fall of Berlin. But it wasn't obvious to me that the same formula would work. Usually he gives enough background to understand what was at stake and then looks at how individuals caught up in these big events coped with them. Would this work on a larger scale?

Nymphs and their Ways - Covent Garden's Acis and Galatea by Handel

2012-08-09T08:00:00.000+01:00

I still find it slightly astonishing that entire operas can be posted on YouTube. But there they are, and as far as I can tell they are there with the blessing of the producers. If they objected YouTube would have taken them down straight away. I suppose the advertising revenue that they generate is a bonus, though I can't imagine it amounts to very much. Still the economics of opera has never made any more sense than the plots. But it does mean that what used to be the ultimate in elitist entertainment is now available for anyone. In the comfort of their own home. Or you can even watch opera on your phone while wandering about. I wonder if this ready supply will entice people who might not otherwise have considered it to give it a go? I'd like to think so.

Continue reading at http://historybooksreview.co.uk/acis-and-galatea-handel/

Herman the German - A long forgotten English Hero

2012-08-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

One of the fifteen decisive battles of history identified by Edward Creasy was the battle in the Teutoburg Forest where the Roman General Varus lost three legions almost to a man to a huge ambush by the German tribesmen. We have a pretty good account of the engagement from Tacitus and Creasy writes it up superbly to make it into a great piece of writing. It is hard to dispute that this is indeed a decisive battle since it prevented the Romans from establishing a frontier much further east which would have made the empire much deeper and would have reduced the length of the frontier that needed to be defended considerably. Had they succeeded the empire might well have lasted a lot longer.

Continue reading at

http://historybooksreview.co.uk/herman-the-german-a-long-forgotten-english-hero/

Olympic Opening Ceremony London 2012

2012-07-29T14:56:00.002+01:00

I am not a Daily Mail style hate everything in sight kind of person, but I was a bit anxious about how well the Olympic opening ceremony was going to go. The preview had looked dreadful. Sheep and cows in a field? What was that all about. And we had the security fiasco as well. Note to future governments, especially Labour ones, some things shouldn't be contracted to the private sector. One of those things is security at major national and international events. And they definitely shouldn't be contracted out to a bunch of incompetents. Frankly, we'd have been better off giving an agency that hires bouncers a ring. At least they would have turned up.

And the Beijing opening had been so superb, there was a high standard to live up to. So I was ready to spend a few hours cringing.

Continue reading at my new blog site http://historybooksreview.co.uk/olympic-opening-ceremony-london-2012/

A Socialist Reads the Hobbit Part 8 - Eagles

2012-07-25T08:00:00.000+01:00

The dwarfs, Gandalf and Bilbo have now reunited but are still far from out of trouble. Gandalf points out that the Goblins are quite likely to be chasing them soon and on top of that they are in wolf country. As it turns out the wolves and the goblins have a working agreement, if not a complete alliance. The situation is therefore precarious. So it is no surprise that as night falls the party find themselves surrounded by wolves. This is a bit of bad luck because as it happens they are on the very spot that the wolves have arranged to meet with their partners in crime for a spot of village raiding.

Read more at my new blog site http://historybooksreview.co.uk/a-socialist-reads-the-hobbit-part-8-eagles/

Millenium by Tom Holland

2012-07-18T08:00:00.001+01:00

The perfect popular history book should be like a cute little puppy, easy to pick up and hard to put down (literally or metaphorically). And this is just such a book, complete with big eager eyes and a shiny nose. But like a puppy, it isn't quite fully formed. It sets out with the noble objective of creating a coherent narrative of the era around the turn of the first millennium. The framing mechanism is the idea that lots of people were reacting to the imminent return of Christ. It doesn't really succeed. In fact it sort of shows the opposite. But that doesn't stop it from being a cracking read.

Continue reading on my new site http://historybooksreview.co.uk/millenium-by-tom-holland/

A Socialist Reads the Hobbit Part 7: Riddles in the Dark

2012-07-11T08:00:00.000+01:00

The Hobbit has grown in popularity in many ways, but one of the most surprising started in the Seventies. That was when the game Dungeons and Dragons emerged. This was very much a cult thing, I can remember that there was a small group of us at school who knew about and enjoyed D and D. There was another small group who knew about and loathed D and D. But most were totally unaware of it, which gave it a delicious exclusive feel.

Continue reading at my new blog site http://historybooksreview.co.uk/a-socialist-reads-the-hobbit-part-7-riddles-in-the-dark/

Why I don't love my Kindle any more

2012-07-10T10:43:00.000+01:00

I have previously written about how much I love my Kindle. Sadly, like many love affairs, the relationship has come to a sudden and bitter ending when one of the parties let the other one down out of the blue.

Continue reading at the blog's new home http://historybooksreview.co.uk/why-i-dont-love-my-kindle-any-more/

The Huns - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 26 Part 1

2012-07-08T16:50:00.000+01:00

Gibbon was not alone in his fascination for the Roman Empire, and in the following generation Napoleon Bonaparte expressed his interest rather more practically by attempting to effectively refound it with himself as the new emperor. So it is quite fitting that in one his first battles as emperor, at Eylau, he should find himself up against Cossack horsemen armed with bows and arrows. They probably looked much like the Huns, also steppe nomads, who had played such a big role in the destruction of the empire that he was trying to revive.

Read more at the new blog location http://historybooksreview.co.uk/the-huns-gibbons-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire-chapter-26-part-1/

The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence In History And Its Causes by Steve Pinker

2012-07-05T08:00:00.000+01:00

Things are bad. And they are getting worse. Inevitable disaster looms in the not too distant future. The only good news is that life is getting so hazardous that in all likelihood we personally won't survive long enough to see the worst.

Read more at the new blog site http://historybooksreview.co.uk/the-better-angels-of-our-nature-the-decline-of-violence-in-history-and-its-causes-by-steve-pinker/

Command of the Ocean by N.A.M.Rodger

2012-06-28T08:00:00.000+01:00

It doesn't do people or countries any good to dwell too much on past successes or failures. I am old enough to have been taught at school about Britain's naval successes and what I was taught was largely mythical. I think it is a good thing that schools don't do that kind of thing any more. But as is often the case, the truth is a lot more interesting. This book reveals in a great deal of detail just how much went into creating the surprisingly brief period when Britain's navy was able to control the oceans of the world. There was a lot to it.

Continue reading at my new blog site http://historybooksreview.co.uk/command-of-the-ocean-by-n-a-m-rodger/

Reforming the Story of the Reformation

2012-06-24T15:49:00.000+01:00

It is always good to see a meaty historical issue raised in the Sunday newspapers. Today the Sunday Telegraph has done just that by letting Eamon Duffy challenge the conventional view of the English Reformation. It was, according to him, a cultural disaster. Really?

Continue reading at the new blog site http://historybooksreview.co.uk/reforming-the-story-of-the-reformation/

Summer Solstice - The World We Have Lost

2012-06-22T08:00:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice. Here in Britain the weather marked the occassion by soaking the assorted new agers, Druids and general mystics who turned up to celebrate at Stonehenge. The newspapers in turn celebrated the god of cliche by saying that their spirit was undaunted by the weather. Whatever, it was good to see so many people turning out. The Summer Solstice shouts out to be marked in the calendar by some kind of festival. The days have now got as long as they are going to get and will start getting shorter, reminding us to enjoy the summer while it is still here.

Read more here at the blog's new home http://historybooksreview.co.uk/summer-solstice-the-world-we-have-lost/

The Last Roman - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 25 Part 7

2012-06-21T08:00:00.001+01:00

Power is always relative. The Roman Empire had lost some territory to the Persians, but this did not hugely reduce its resources. It remained the big beast in the jungle. For the Persians however, acquiring some new provinces enhanced their capabilities considerably over where they had been before the peace treaty. They were still at a severe disadvantage in an all out fight with the Romans, but they posed a much bigger threat than they used to. This meant the forces deployed to defend against them had to be larger and they had to be treated with a greater degree of diplomatic finesse.

Continue reading at the new blog location http://historybooksreview.co.uk/the-last-roman-gibbons-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire-chapter-25-part-7/

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

2012-06-14T08:00:00.002+01:00

Orwell's account of his participation in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republicans has quite rightly achieved the status of a classic. Orwell pitched up in Barcelona as a journalist intending to cover the war. In the event he got carried away by the atmosphere of the time and ended up signing up to fight at the front. It must have been some atmosphere. Orwell describes it as a formative experience that made him really believe in socialism, something he had done only intellectually before.

Continue reading this review of George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia on the new blog site.

Theodosius in Africa - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 25 Part 6

2012-06-13T23:15:00.002+01:00

From the fall of Carthage in 146 BC to the arrival of Christianity at the end of the 2nd Century nothing much happened in the Roman province of Africa. But although it was uneventful it was far from unimportant. The Romans used Africa as the name for the area around Carthage, modern day Tunisia, and the southern shore of the Mediterranean to its east - the northern part of modern day Libya. At that time it was highly productive and fertile. The bread dole that formed part of the bread and circuses that kept the population of Rome fed and entertained was largely from this region. Read mire at the new home of the blog http://historybooksreview.co.uk/theodosius-in-africa-gibbons-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy

2012-06-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

This book was highly influential when it came out and continues to make an interesting read, though it has rather swiftly slippd from being an interesting look at the contemporary situation to an interesting look at how the world looked in the Eighties. Having read it not long after it came out, I can remember the way it seemed to have some kind of great predictive power. This was enhanced when the Soviet Union collapsed - an event that was foreseen by almost nobody, including Paul Kennedy, but he somehow seemed to have the best explanation.

Continue reading at the new home of the blog http://historybooksreview.co.uk/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-great-powers-by-paul-kennedy/

Theodosius in Britain - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 25 Part 5

2012-06-06T15:04:00.000+01:00

The country the Pilgrim Fathers left for America from in 1620 was England. Britain was purely a geographical expression, and not a particularly widely used one. The United Kingdom of Great Britain came into existence in 1707 when the two states officially united. Americans have continued to call the result England to this day. Read more at the new home of the blog http://historybooksreview.co.uk/theodosius-in-britain-gibbons-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/

Wisconsin and the Gracchi

2012-06-04T10:25:00.001+01:00

There is no particular consensus on who was responsible for the current financial crisis. Credit was definitely involved somewhere along the way. But was it the people who lent it, borrowed it or regulated it who are culpable? Nobody seems to know, though some people have some pretty strong opinions. But there is one group of people who would seem to be in the clear. Organised Labour don't advance loans, issue credit ratings or set the rules for banking operations. So whatever else you think about your local union, you have to at least concede they didn't wreck either Wall Street or the EU.

Or you might think so. Read more about Wisconsin and the Gracchi at the blog's new home.

Diamond Jubilee Special Post

2012-06-03T22:48:00.000+01:00

Well I have just got back from a street party to celebrate the 60th anniversary of our dear Queen's coronation. I have had some beer, almost but not quite got up to dance and joined in with singing God Save the Queen. See more at the new home of the blog http://historybooksreview.co.uk/diamond-jubilee-special-post/