second book about the ASOIAF series I read after the professional Beyond the Wall and while it has entertaining value, the amateurishness here is quit...moresecond book about the ASOIAF series I read after the professional Beyond the Wall and while it has entertaining value, the amateurishness here is quite painful on occasion. At best when it takes the series as given and discusses aspects of it (most notably prophecies and the Dunk and Egg essays) but descending into utter silliness in some essays (the one about crime detection for example where a pro with knowledge about medieval criminal law and application could have brought something to light, but an amateur like the one here just writes utter trash) or "power rankings" where the author's NFL habits (who cares????) are brought in as justification for fan silliness
While Beyond the Wall had its share of failures especially when modern ideologies like feminism or pop-psych were brought to bear with seriousness (cannot see the point unless one wants to pop-psych the author), it was a pro book in many ways, while this is rank amateurishness, forum like though again with enough entertaining value to make it readable and worth spending 45' on it, but I expected more
overall depends on price, at the current 5.99, not worth in any way shape or form, but for 1-2$ could be worth(less)
While I browsed the other volumes of the series The History of the Romanian Coups D'Etat, this was the one I was really interested as it covered the 1...moreWhile I browsed the other volumes of the series The History of the Romanian Coups D'Etat, this was the one I was really interested as it covered the 1933-1947 period, more specifically the murder of prime minister Duca by the Iron Guard, Carol II's institution of his personal rule, the Iron Guard and Antonescu deposition of Carol, the Iron Guard putsch, August 23 and the deposition of the last king in December 1947 by the communists under Soviet orders; a dense book with lots of food for thought, lots of tidbits and anecdotes; maybe too sympathetic for the iron Guard at least in the Codreanu years, and with the general ideology that Romania needed a different path to modernization suited to its social and cultural needs rather than the one imposed more or less by France and the Western powers, ideology (of which Mihai Eminescu was a main exponent btw) that reads well on paper but I simply see it as unworkable in reality when the need to avoid incorporation in the Tsarist empire meant the need for western patrons; actually in another context even the author recognizes this when comparing Ion Antonescu with Franco and noting that the main (and huge) difference was the geographical location...
Anyway a highly recommended read for anyone interested in the history of Greater Romania in the 30's and the disastrous carlist regime that led to its collapse in 1940(less)
another book I read in drips and finished a while ago but never had the time to write about it; while the history is not necessarily the most authorit...moreanother book I read in drips and finished a while ago but never had the time to write about it; while the history is not necessarily the most authoritative and the book is an old style saga of "great men" (mostly murderous nobles whose ambitions stopped at nothing) with the occasional "great woman" (said except that usually the power had to be exerted through sons/husbands or more rarely married daughters) sprinkled in - so not unlike modern fantasy after all - but a compelling tale which makes for gripping and fascinating reading nonetheless(less)
This is the US edition (2013) of a pop-history book released in the UK in 2012; narrative history focused on the kings and their entourage/enemies - s...moreThis is the US edition (2013) of a pop-history book released in the UK in 2012; narrative history focused on the kings and their entourage/enemies - starts with the civil war between Steepen and Matilda but essentially focuses on the kings from Henry II till Richard II
Very old fashioned history with narrative pull that reads more like fiction (either historical fiction or fantasy) and should appeal to the lovers of such more than to people wanting to understand history as there is no modern analysis of economic, political or social trends; just the lives of the kings (with a few queens here and there) told very well (less)
This is a huge book (ok the title Dreadnought implies huge...) and it took me a while to read in smaller chunks, but it is very compulsive; there is a...moreThis is a huge book (ok the title Dreadnought implies huge...) and it took me a while to read in smaller chunks, but it is very compulsive; there is a sequel about the actual war as this one ends with the British Cabinet of August 1914 watching the clock ticking and then beating the hour when the ultimatum to Germany expired...
Before that we are treated with a history of Germany and Britain from the Napoleonic wars but with an emphasis to the period from Wilhelm II (oldest grandson of Victoria) ascended the throne of Imperial Germany and his relationships with his grandmother and more generally British family; also the British Imperial history of the late 1800's and early 1900's is treated (1878 and the confrontation at Constantinople between the Russian army camped near the city and the British fleet in the Golden Horn, the Fashoda incident, the Boer war..) and the inevitable sliding of Britain towards historical enemy France and current enemy Russia, to stop the rise of aggressive and dominant Germany
Excellent book and while there is a lot of naval history as the title implies, the book is much more than that and I highly recommend it as a compulsive read too(less)
"J.-C. C. Fifteen years ago there was a movement of American writ...moreseems to be a must for any book lover
read 1/2 and I would just put this quote for now:
"J.-C. C. Fifteen years ago there was a movement of American writers who protested against the computer on the grounds that because early drafts of a text appeared onscreen already in typeface, they possessed an innate authority that made them harder to analyse or correct. The screen gave them the dignity and status of a text that was already almost published. Another school, on the other hand, believed – like you – that the computer offers infinite possibilities for correction and improvement.
U. E. Of course it does, because the text you see on the screen is already a stranger’s text. And thus fair game for critical ferocity."
Excellent book - erudite, international and with lots of anecdotes and quirks from the history of the book, printed, collectable, manuscripts etc
A great discussion about what makes a masterpiece and a good argument for why there is no such a thing as a forgotten/hidden masterpiece which I completely agree with (as essentially a masterpiece is a social thing which becomes such by interaction with society, by reaction from various ages to it etc...)
Highly recommended for anyone interested in books(less)
I read the Romanian language (2012) reissue of the book (Lumea de Ieri) but i will keep the book under the English language edition for obvious reason...moreI read the Romanian language (2012) reissue of the book (Lumea de Ieri) but i will keep the book under the English language edition for obvious reasons; many years ago (one can say in another life) I read all of the available Zweig' works in Romania under the communist regime (mostly non-fiction, biographies, but also The Chess Player, the turning points in the history...) and I greatly enjoyed them at the time as a breath of fresh air among the stuffiness of official history, but I have to say I never opened another Zweig book since
This one is worth reading for its first part though the author (from a rich Viennese Jewish family) sort of swims high in the air and misses the undercurrents with some notable exceptions - any book about Austro-Hungarian empire and especially a nostalgic one like this that does not take into account the huge nationality conflicts, the forced Magyarization and the oppressive Magyar laws against the local majorities in Transylvania, Slovakia and even Croatia to a lesser extent is a book I cannot take truly seriously; here the dominant versus oppressed fracture that we see today in other context in fiction, rears its head for me and I (of Transylvanian origins) react correspondingly...
The second part when the shoe is on the other foot, the author and Austria find themselves as pariahs (and later the author doubly so as Austrian and Jew) comes to some extent as the retribution of history against the empire and as the reward for blindness that allowed the glitter of Vienna on the backs of the oppressed peasants of the provinces
The last Hitlerian part is poignant but dated(less)
same excellent style (Cicero, Augustus) that makes it hard to put down; on the other hand while the mythical beginnings are covered well, the book sta...moresame excellent style (Cicero, Augustus) that makes it hard to put down; on the other hand while the mythical beginnings are covered well, the book starts becoming very diluted after that and even the narrative pull suffers. There are still some good parts - the story of Pyrhus for example, but by the Punic Wars the book becomes really mediocre and you can read Wikipedia for better stuff.
Overall for early Rome, I still recommend the extant Titus Livius (Livy) on which i grew up, but this book will do; for the Punic wars on, much better stuff out there (for example A. Galsworthy book on the subject or of course Livy again) and for the later Republic from the Grachii on Rubicon by Tom Holland is an incomparable better book
In fiction, Steven Saylor Roma is a great overview of the history from 1000 BC till Augustus and a great companion to any book of the story of Rome.
On the other hand for a total newbie to the subject, the book is generally very good to adequate (less)
I finally got a copy of the book itself and a little to my surprise I found it very entertaining and the authors present a convincing case for most books (I still do not get Temeraire which is still mediocre fantasy with no place on either a sf list or a best of anything but how to churn endless sequels that go nowhere) and while I disagree in a lot of cases with the choices as noted in the post above, I felt the authors did a good selling job for most novels.
The style is generally jargon-free and the arguments to the point with a short overview of the author's work and a description of the novel in cause, sometimes (but not always) an argument for why it was chosen from among the author's work rather than why the author has been chosen.
As for content again imho it has several notable misses and it has a heavy "soft sf" orientation rather than the epic-sf - space opera and its cousins, mil-sf and epic alt-history which i tend to favor, so i think that it will be much less relevant 20-30 years from now since I would argue that in the 1985-2010 period, sf moved decisively towards the more epic form plus a strong post-apocalyptic branch (not that well represented in the book either), while the softer side moved into mainstream, thrillers, YA, urban fantasy (which is a misnomer to a large extent as its topic used to be sf once upon a time) and is much less prevalent today in what is packaged as sf(less)
INTRODUCTION: As a huge series fan and also as I own the art books inspired by the novels, I was very curious about this essay book since I hea...moreFBC Rv:
INTRODUCTION: As a huge series fan and also as I own the art books inspired by the novels, I was very curious about this essay book since I heard about it some months ago.
While the recent A Feast of Ice and Fire is a bit "too out" for my interests, the upcoming map book "The Lands of Ice and Fire" is another huge asap, so this year we will have been treated with a lot of ASOIAF material, from the excellent HBO series, to three related works including the one discussed here!
Note that Beyond the Wall contains spoilers about the series up to and including A Dance with Dragons, though I will avoid such below.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Beyond the Wall" contains 16 essays including the foreword from RA Salvatore and the introduction from the editor, both worth reading by themselves too and they group naturally in a few categories:
The fan explorations of the wonderful ASOIAF universe which are the core of the book and are excellent and make the book totally worth reading. Here we have exceptional contributions:
from Adam Whitehead on the mythical nature of Westeros' chronology:
"In A Song of Ice and Fire, characters live in a world whose very history is uncertain and ill-defined, where myth and legend are hopelessly and inextricably entwined with accounts of real events.The predominant feature of Westerosi history is vagueness.",
from Linda Antonsson and Elio Garcia on the perennial Lyanna-Rhaegar question and more generally on romanticism in a Byronic sense:
"The most prevalent manifestation of romanticism is the view of the past espoused by many characters in the novel. It seems a part of human nature to idealize the past, to suppose things were somehow “better” in days gone by. The same can be said about how characters view the past of Westeros, citing examples of how the realm was once better off and has now declined.",
from Andrew Zimmerman Jones on the multiple and quite intricate religions of the series:
"In fact, the religions portrayed in A Song of Ice and Fire are reflections of the religions in our own world. They require a leap of faith, because the effects of belief are so intangible. The religions of Westeros claim to dictate absolute, perfect truths through imprecise, flawed institutions and beings—just like the religions we encounter every day",
from Jesse Scoble on the way George Martin uses magic in the series:
"What’s intriguing about this is that Martin’s world of the Seven Kingdoms is steeped in magic. But it is not used in a “traditional fantasy” sense."
and from Gary Westfahl on the Egg and Dunk stories, essay which starts a bit ponderously with some generic talk about types of tales as seasons - talk that is very vague and even self-contradictory - but then rights itself with a wonderful appreciation of the three prequel stories to date and of course noting how GRRM actually does not really fit in such a rigid schemata anyway: "Interestingly, there is evidence in the third novel of A Song of Ice and Fire, A Storm of Swords, suggesting precisely such a desire to heighten the import of the Dunk and Egg stories."
There are also three essays that are on the border between the pretentious and the interesting, but overall they fall on the interesting part mostly because they do not follow a particular pet-theory or ideology of the essay author, but stick to discussing the books and their universe.
In Men and Monsters, Alyssa Rosenberg tackles quite reasonably the nature of sexual violence in the series - as I note below, imho, any (faux) medieval world is a world steeped in violence especially in times of trouble as surely we have in Westeros at the end of Robert's reign and men are also tortured and mutilated casually - as we see vividly in the books and the essay author to her credit points this out and makes the discussion more balanced.
In "The Brutal Cost of Redemption", Susan Vaught has a good discussion of the moral nature of the series and I really liked this passage which summarizes my feelings too:
"Westeros is not built upon a shifting foundation of chaos. True, there is no clearly marked, brightly lit path to salvation. Yet characters face a painful retributive justice, born of moral absolutism, that lends reality and depth to the medieval society portrayed in the series."
Actually this topic is one of great interest as I think here the divide between the nuanced fantasy of GRRM and the "four legs good, two legs bad" fantasy especially pre-Martin but also today, is clearest.
In "A Different Kind of Other" Brent Hartinger discusses the role of freaks and outcasts in ASOIAF, and while the essay starts very anachronistically (hey the world of ASIAF is an aristocratic one where even the handsomest man or the most beautiful woman does not really count unless they have the noblest blood) with:
"Who doesn’t love an underdog? As humans, most of us seem to be instinctively drawn to outsiders, to the excluded. At least on some level, most of us sympathize with those who are denied even the opportunity to prove their full worth. We recognize that’s just not fair."
After this very 21st century quote which denotes the author's lack of experience of any society beyond the wealthy modern western one, the essay gets better and has some good stuff to say about its topic, but the beginning jarred badly.
Then there are three essays following a pet modern theory (feminism, PTSD, pop-psychology) which imho are both useless and anachronistic. While they contain the occasional gem they generally read like debating angels on a pin as for example people in a world like Martin's have an exposure to violence which is almost infinitely higher than ours in the modern world so we cannot really comprehend their mindset from that point of view.
Similarly the world of ASIAF is a world where the powerless and the fallen from power are treated with no mercy and women and children (and the poor and non-noble) are part of the powerless, so feminism which is a modern western doctrine has very little relevant to say about the books beyond what can be said about any "realistic" faux-medieval stuff. Pop-psychology mercifully has not been invented in Martin's world so notions like psychopaths are just silly.
Of course such essays by Mike Cole, Caroline Spector and Matt Stags may appeal to some, so from that point of view their inclusion broadens the book despite that I found them quite uninteresting.
Finally there is general stuff like the Foreword, the Introduction, the essay about where ASOIAF stands in the "genre wars" - the usual bellyaching and moaning of some sff writers that they are "disrespected" by the literary establishment, when imho the correct answer is let the generally mortified canon die in peace and celebrate the vibrancy of genre - which actually here is treated quite well and rationally by Ned Vizzini:
"Martin thus fights the genre wars by sidestepping them. Working from within the system, refusing to apologize for what came before, he writes books that are too bloody, unexpected, and relentlessly story-driven to be ignored. In doing so, he elevates other fantasy along with his own."
Here I would also include the niche essays about adapting ASOIAF to graphic form by Daniel Abraham and the one about collecting the books by John Jos. Miller, neither of which are of particular interest to me, but they provided a good overview of the respective issues.
Overall Beyond the Wall exceeded my expectations and it's a highly recommended book of 2012 and a great companion to any lover of the series though keep in mind the spoiler note above if you have not read all five books to date! (less)
Life of Alexandre Dumas the father of the celebrated novelist, black general (son of a French aristocrat and a Haitian black slave) of the Revolution...moreLife of Alexandre Dumas the father of the celebrated novelist, black general (son of a French aristocrat and a Haitian black slave) of the Revolution who later fell out with Napoleon, was imprisoned in a dungeon and while he was later freed, his health was broken and he died forgotten in 1806
Excellent reconstruction of a life, of a period and of the subtleties of racial relations in the late 18th century; reads like a novel and it is very hard to put down, while the research is impressive and well presented.
While seemingly impressive and erudite, I was a little disappointed with this book for two reasons; the narrative is on the clunky side and i remember...moreWhile seemingly impressive and erudite, I was a little disappointed with this book for two reasons; the narrative is on the clunky side and i remember (maybe wrongly though) that I liked the narrative in Europe and The Isles and thought it flowed.
On the content side, the lesser known states have some interesting tidbits but i found the story of the ones I know about (Duchy of Lithuania, Byzantium or CCCP) on the sketchy "for Martians" side; Byzantium is truly ridiculous and I have no idea why it was included, CCCP is on the silly side, while the Duchy of Lithuania is mostly a dynastic sequence that illuminates little; so while other chapters seemed more interesting, I am curious if someone who knows about them from other sources would find it so.
I also know a little about Burgundy and again I was not that impressed with that chapter, but it read better than the 3 other mentioned.
Overall I expected much more and I think that Wikipedia and Google will give a fairly large percentage of this book content for free so to speak(less)
This is Norman Manea as his best at least as non-fiction goes, with a collection of essays that are lucid, brutal and to the point; no quarter is give...moreThis is Norman Manea as his best at least as non-fiction goes, with a collection of essays that are lucid, brutal and to the point; no quarter is given to the Romanian society and culture - both in the kneeling under communism posture but also in the more nationalistic stage that prospered so well after 1989 too.
Except for the Eliade bashing essay - discussing that is a matter on its own and I think that overall Mr. Manea did very well in bringing the past to life, while noting also that more about the topic came soon after so the topic would have come to light anyway and the hate addressed to N. Manea for this essay is misplaced, while as a matter of principle, shining light on darker corners of revered public personalities is always a good thing because it reminds us that everyone is fallible and however great an author's work is (eg M. Eliade's novel Forbidden Forest aka Noaptea de Sanzien leads my all time favorite book list) this does not make the author a saint, an oracle, a person of worship etc - the rest of the essays deal with the communist regime and the author's life and work under it. A book like this needs to be read when nostalgia for Ceausescu's "years of light" surfaces...
One niggle I had was the translation of the slogan "anii lumina" in "years of enlightenment" rather than the more appropriate imho "years of light" which give the sense in which the slogan was used to encompass all aspects of Romanian society which (in the vision of the slogan of course) under Ceausescu got so close to paradise , while years of enlightenment just remind one of bookish stuff
Anyway this book is highly recommended if you lived through those hell years or if you are interested in the pathology of a regime that started as force-fed Moscow communism, but then, when Stalin was dead and the Russian troops left, it transformed itself into a mixture of "national communism" (oxymoron but national socialism is inappropriate too) with Byzantine overtones that with a few changes here and there (eg substituting the working class worship for Orthodox Christianity and with selling the Jews to Israel for hard cash rather than killing them) would not have seemed out of place if the Legion would have led the country for a few decades...
The white horse was missing as Ceausescu, short and not that impressive physically, would have looked utterly silly on, but the scepter, the pseudo crown, the cape, the Pantheon of Romanian Heroes etc were all there; reading the essays in this book will give you a better sense of how these things worked in a nominal communist and Eastern block country (less)
If you are a fan of Paul Johnson take on things (eg if you consider his Modern times a masterpiece as i do) you will love this book which is a short e...moreIf you are a fan of Paul Johnson take on things (eg if you consider his Modern times a masterpiece as i do) you will love this book which is a short exposition of Napoleon's life illuminated both by the author's observations and by contemporary accounts.
Not a real biography - for that lots of references are around and personally I remembered enjoying the most the Las Casses memoirs and Andre Castelot more modern one - and not as virulent anti-Napoleonic as one would expect.
This book is just condensed Paul Johnson and it's worth reading only for that as the author touches on quite a lot of "major themes" using Napoleon's career and times as a guiding thread; as for the man himself, the summary of Paul Johnson is that in the late 1790's and early 1800's Napoleon was the man of the times, but then his partly intentional, partly unintentional rousing of the people especially in Germany (as the Napoleonic freedom propaganda worked only too well) combined with his essential conservatism, pushed him on the rubbish heap of history(less)
While the book is very well researched and presents all the usual classical sources, I found it a little disappointing as i expected much more about C...moreWhile the book is very well researched and presents all the usual classical sources, I found it a little disappointing as i expected much more about Carthage pre-conflict with Rome; that part is good but seemed a bit skimpy; the Rome part is very well presented in tons of books and here the book falls a little down being even more summary than in the first part.
Overall I suggest to read the much better Punic war books out there as they present enough of the early history of Carthage anyway and this book adds only a little to that part, while being completely inadequate on the Rome part(less)
Scara Leilor (The Stair of the Lions - ie the throwing of eastern Europe and Romania in particular in the jaws of Stalinism and Soviet Communism and t...moreScara Leilor (The Stair of the Lions - ie the throwing of eastern Europe and Romania in particular in the jaws of Stalinism and Soviet Communism and the martyrdom similar to the ones of the Christians in the Roman arenas suffered by the educated classes and by anyone opposing the regime or being a convenient scapegoat ) is a book that uses King Mihai's archives, official memoranda, interviews (mostly but not only with the King himself) and the author's personal recollections and journeys to essentially reconstitute what happened during the Stalinist takeover with episodes both from before (during WW2) and after the December 1989 overthrow of the communism.
Done in large part in 1990 and making a case for the heroism of the king and counteracting both the pro-Antonescu propaganda and the communist anti monarchist such, the book works in large part due to the stark facts presented in official documents.
While the political dimension is dated as the king now (in 2012) closing on 90 is never going to be accepted as leader of the state and Romania will stay a republic for the foreseeable future and the communist regime is dead and buried though of course what came after was (and is) a very corrupt, 3rd world government - but that is different from the brutality of the communists - both the historical facts and the personal notes of the author are presented very well and make for a very compelling reading, quite dark and depressing in many parts and offer a version of "what happened" that is based on facts and not on lies, propaganda or myths.
So while the reader's opinion of the King, Antonescu, August 23 and of course the martyrdom of Romania that started soon after August 23 etc may vary from what is in the book and games of "what if" are generally futile as history is unique and contingent in large part, I highly recommend it for its extraordinary trove of documents and for the engaging style of the author.
For me the big issue with how August 23 happened and what followed - issue that is addressed in the book only in passing - is that the King as the main driver of the regime change (which i tend to accept in large measure rather than the pro-Antonescu king as puppet side) simply did not foresee/was not able to deal with the ensuing power vacuum. The old guard politicians were also passed by events (no surprise here, as they rolled meekly in front of the womanizer King Carol in 1938, how one would believe they could get the spine to oppose Stalin's devils in any effective way is beyond me).
Maybe things were inevitable, maybe the King and his entourage were too trusting in the Stalinist lies (though why one would be so in 1944 shows naivety at best) and the Red Army was able to occupy the country and impose its will without real opposition. Here the Antonescu defenders have their main point - namely that if the Marshal would have signed the armistice and remained in power (both of course huge ifs) like in Finland, Romania may have been spared full stalinization like Finland was.
Of course Finland did not have the oil fields that provided USSR with free oil for a decade or so and the grain fields that provided USSR with free food for a decade or so as the soviets looted Romania to the max, while the geographical situation was also quite different, so I doubt Antonescu would have fared better in the medium term either, but again history is simply not-repeatable....
Norman Manea is a well known Romanian author who lives in the US since the late 1980's after leaving Romania in 1986; he is also of Jewish origins and...moreNorman Manea is a well known Romanian author who lives in the US since the late 1980's after leaving Romania in 1986; he is also of Jewish origins and had the misfortune of being deported in 1941 as a 5 year old child to Transnistria from where his family returned in 1945.
While i was aware of his work and read some of his essays, I never really looked carefully at his books until this year's The Lair (his new novel originally published in Romanian in 2010 as Vizuina) appeared on Net galley and attracted my attention; I have read about a 3rd of it to date and i am quite enjoying it and plan to finish it for an April review, but in the meantime I got his memoirs, his essay collection On Clowns, The Dictator and the Artist, and his previous acclaimed novel The Black Envelope (Plicul Negru) too, and as I was in a non-fiction mood recently I actually read the memoir. To be honest i was slightly disappointed as it was very disjointed and repetitive in parts, while being more about the author's hurt feelings about his treatment in Romania than about recounting his life.
I think it would have worked much better as a novel - The Lair, while not autobiographical per se is in many ways that novel so far - than as non-fiction as it lacks the lucidity of his essays and truly comes as whining and sputtering in parts; the author may understandably and justifiably feel so, but it still makes for occasional cringing reading in a memoir context and it was not quite what i expected after his devastating essays which are so good and to the point.
There are a lot of nuggets in there and a lot of good stuff too so the book is worth reading definitely, but I simply expected better and i really hoped for a "naming names and exposing deeds' account of the mostly servile literary class under communism that in large part reinvented itself as brave dissidents etc and instead I got the "they call me names now as before and I am hurt" on way too many pages(less)
While I was very disappointed by A Time of Gifts - thinking back I guess that the author writing about his experiences of 1933 Germany with hindsight...moreWhile I was very disappointed by A Time of Gifts - thinking back I guess that the author writing about his experiences of 1933 Germany with hindsight in 1977 just did not work as it make him project the upper class Englishness as a false universal in contrast with the false dawn that National Socialism seemed to many in Germany 1933 at the time - this book is wonderful.
Hungary and Transylvania come fully to life and the tension of the time between the former Hungarian masters and the Romanian majority newly in power is presented fairly to both sides - I loved the part where the history of Transylvania is presented by the author from the two perspectives which both are generally consistent and logical (and admitting that the other is like that would have been seen as treason for a Romanian or Hungarian for many years until not long ago - luckily today the 75/25 split which makes Romanians the overwhelming majority and the Nato/EU membership of both countries with free travel have cleared away many tensions), while of course contradicting each other for the most part.
Lyrical prose and for once the author stops pontificating about the wonderfulness of Englishness and just enjoys his trip and is eager to experience as much as he can.
Highly recommended as a historical snapshot of a time and place that sadly mostly vanished under the communist onslaught, though it occasionally can be glimpsed here and there (less)
After all the praise and hyperbolic reviews, a major let down; ok'ish but very dated worldview typical of the English upper crust that in the past was...moreAfter all the praise and hyperbolic reviews, a major let down; ok'ish but very dated worldview typical of the English upper crust that in the past was somehow extended as to be "universal"; sorry, but that's not true and while the style is good and the book is readable, its musings that supposedly make this book transcend the travelogue are really annoying and as mentioned the history moved past them a long time ago.
This an excellent memoir/novel by Emmanuel Carrere a son of French privilege though a grandson of former privileged Russian aristocrats and Georgian i...moreThis an excellent memoir/novel by Emmanuel Carrere a son of French privilege though a grandson of former privileged Russian aristocrats and Georgian intellectuals fallen on hard times due to the Bolshevik takeover.
These are the crucial facts that constitute the core of the book, while the author sure can write superbly.
The book has two threads - the author's coming to terms with the fate of his paternal grandfather, a brilliant but misfit Georgian intellectual living in poverty in French exile, disappeared and presumably shot as a German collaborator by the French resistance after the liberation of Bordeaux in 1944, event that defined his mother - a current bigwig in France's exclusive intellectual circles who still cannot accept the truth in some ways - and the author's profound love story with a beautiful younger girl of inferior social class - France still being a very class based society except that the new aristocrats are the elite bureaucrats like the (in)famous "droit de seigneur" DSK and intellectuals - girlfriend who resents his "my stuff is important, yours is not" that the elitist Carrere exudes daily, though still loving him profoundly.
An unsparing look at the privileged class' emotional insecurities and a very well written book.(less)
While I have not met Dr. Ioachim personally, he has been the residency mentor of my wife in NY so I heard about him quite often. When his memoir was p...moreWhile I have not met Dr. Ioachim personally, he has been the residency mentor of my wife in NY so I heard about him quite often. When his memoir was published I was curious especially considering the brutal times he lived through from the late 30's till his emigration in 1961 and indeed the story Dr. Ioachim tells does not disappoint, being a superb recreation of the atmosphere of the times.
Born in 1924 in a relatively prosperous middle class Jewish family in Bucharest, Dr. Ioachim was educated at a German (!) school in a very multi-ethnic/cultural/religious environment until he was expelled under the racial laws of 1940 which the triumphant Reich imposed on Romania too with sad to say cooperation from many Romanian politicians and intellectuals.
Those times that have been recently masterfully recounted in the journal of Romanian writer Mihail Sebastian - journal that is referenced quite a lot in Dr. Ioachim's memoir for that matter - are now seen through the eyes of a boy and later teen with the usual preoccupations (friends, homework..)
After the 1940 expulsion of the Jewish children and teachers from schools and universities, the Bucharest Jewish community created an alternate schooling system which managed to give a high class education considering the talent employed though many Jewish males had to do hard physical work under the compulsory labor laws of the war, while privations hit their community even harder as the government imposed various extra taxes and all; still a Jewish medical school opened in 1943 and Mr. Ioachim attended it with a lucky break that had him do some bureaucratic work instead of hard labor, school that later was integrated in the Bucharest Medical School when Romania turned against Germany and went to the allied side in August 1944.
The ensuing Russian occupation with its share of brutalities and looting is also masterfully recounted as is the continually building pressure of the Russian occupiers and their Romanian Communist puppets that led first to the overthrow of the few democratic governments of 1944-1945 and the coming to power of the first communist government in march 1945 followed later by the rigged elections of 1946, the arrest of the democratic politicians and intellectuals in 1947 and finally the expulsion of the courageous young King Mihai who led Romania to the allied side in 1944 and was consequently decorated by Stalin with the highest USSR award...
These years and the ones under the communist regime that took full power in December 1947 were quite challenging for Dr. Ioachim - on one hand the Jewish_Romanians oppressed under the previous regime of Marshal Antonescu were somewhat favored by the Communist regime, on the other as the son of a small factory owner, Dr. Ioachim lived constantly in danger of being classified as "class enemy" with all the negative consequences that follow (from being an unemployable non-person to being sent to reeducation or labor camps).
This part (1924-1962) which is about 2/3 of the book is a masterpiece that reads like adventure fiction with Dr. Ioachim being very candid about his life as well as having a few twists and turns that were quite surprising - some recounted by the author for the first time ever here.
The book flows very well and is written in a very clear style, while the narrative voice is distinctive and excellent.
The last part - covering many years in a shorter number of pages is more episodic and while it recounts Dr. Ioachim's impressive professional achievements, it also focuses on his life in the 'free world" as well as his visits to Romania both during the communist years and after the 1989 fall of the dictatorship. Anecdotes and wry observations liven this part quite a lot so I found it quite entertaining, but of course the drama of the first part is now missing.
Overall, "Looking Back: From the Times of the Nazis and the Soviets to the World of Today" is a superb memoir and an impressive achievement which I highly recommend.(less)
An awesome book and as perfect explanation of "natural philosophy" for the 21st century as it gets; while I hold powerfully with almost all of the boo...moreAn awesome book and as perfect explanation of "natural philosophy" for the 21st century as it gets; while I hold powerfully with almost all of the book's theses, I never could explain them as clearly as the author does - this is a must read for anyone interested in both the "big things" and how understanding and explanation - the main leg of we call progress - are so powerful that they have literally changed the world in 2-3 centuries more than pretty much in all its history, that they accelerate and constitute the only antidote for the current or future problems that will (inevitably) appear and also incidentally how persons - of which humans are the one known example so far - are crucial to the life of the universe (less)
Excellent overview of current cosmology state of the art plus an intriguing new theory (conformal cyclic universe) that for once (unlike say string th...moreExcellent overview of current cosmology state of the art plus an intriguing new theory (conformal cyclic universe) that for once (unlike say string theory) is really testable by careful analysis of cosmic background radiation. A short book and not that hard if you are interested and know a little about this stuff, though of course the one must book from Roger Penrose is The Road To reality which is still "the" book for anyone wanting to understand the current state of the art in the still unsurpassed "Standard Model", though that one indeed is a pretty hard book for the casual reader(less)
Excellent recreation of the early years of Nazi Germany through the eyes of the (unlikely and maybe because of that, one of the first clear sighted US...moreExcellent recreation of the early years of Nazi Germany through the eyes of the (unlikely and maybe because of that, one of the first clear sighted US intelelctuals that saw where the Nazis are going, not that it helped him that much as he got named Cassandra and died almost broken and in semi-disgrace in early 1940 when his warnings were starting to come true) US ambassador and his family.
Sometimes people wonder why when all that followed was spelled out in reasonable detail by Adolf Hitler quite early in his Mein Kampf, the powers to be from Europe and USA did nothing until it was too late; this book will add some more insights into that: eg how Roosevelt's #1 priority of shepherding the New Deal through Congress meant that foreign policy was left at the mercy of fate so for example Ambassador Dodd here was picked basically because no one else wanted the job, how the German non-Nazis elites thought the Nazis would not last or they would be tamed and how Hitler and his gang used all their useful idiots from these elites to get a firm grip on Germany while the people mostly cheered when they delivered even modest improvements as long as they gave them scapegoats for their ills
The book has nothing particularly new but it is extremely well written and recreates the atmosphere of 1933-1936 Berlin very well - the emphasis is till the Night of the Long Knives when Hitler truly became the indisputable master and set Germany on the path to world conquest that will end in the ruins of 1945 - but there is a long sort of afterword describing the fates of the main characters, some of them quite strange in their own way
Well written but way too sketchy for what it promises; I thought this kind of sketchiness is passe in history books, but it seems people still are in...moreWell written but way too sketchy for what it promises; I thought this kind of sketchiness is passe in history books, but it seems people still are in love with generalizations. The vignettes realting the classical world with the modern world and the treatment of the early period with Troy and the Minoan civilization are highlights, but the rest is not worth being way better book out there that treat the Greek-Hellenistic - Romnan era; I think that a focus only from 1200-600 BC would have made this book much better(less)
Well written biography with some imagined but plausible dialogue that gives it a little novelistic feel; if the events in cause (1868 Meiji restoratio...moreWell written biography with some imagined but plausible dialogue that gives it a little novelistic feel; if the events in cause (1868 Meiji restoration) greatly interest you, this is a must book, otherwise it's going to be too detailed when analyzing the political maneuvers; the preface summarizes the events, while the author offers a defense of his approach too, while the book is quite captivating when the main events get under way(less)
Great anecdotes about the five writers, but the books has a condescending tone once in a while that grates; recommended for the content but from time...moreGreat anecdotes about the five writers, but the books has a condescending tone once in a while that grates; recommended for the content but from time to time you gotta hold the nose so to speak as tone goes (less)
Very engaging and with great characters, the main problem i had with the book is that its purely materialistic focus ignores the mixed motivations of...moreVery engaging and with great characters, the main problem i had with the book is that its purely materialistic focus ignores the mixed motivations of the players of the day, so the book reads very modern like the 16th century society was a mirror of today's modulo technology, so ultimately the book is very anachronistic in some respects.
Good as an overview of the momentous events from the 1490's to the early 1600's from a commercial perspective and showing well how the more-or-less cash based economies of the time ran against hard ceilings even with all the gold and silver plundered from the Americas and the fundamental reason is that resources cannot be leveraged at the levels pure credit can - of course even leveraging credit has a limit as recent events have shown, but even the primitive credit leveraging that started in England and Holland in the 17-18th centuries allowed for example England to fight and defeat the much bigger and richer to start France in the global war from 1685 to 1815, while the Habsburgs just went bankrupt despite their huge plundered American wealth when trying to fight war after war from the 1510's to the 1600 and despite winning lots of them (less)
Has a lot of great stuff about the Middle eastern contest between Germany and England/France that was started by the Kaiser and culminated in WW1; esp...moreHas a lot of great stuff about the Middle eastern contest between Germany and England/France that was started by the Kaiser and culminated in WW1; especially the background and first part about how science and engineering advanced with "pseudo" colonialism;
The problem is in the tone of the book which is pretty shrill in a "them vs us" kind that kept me "rewriting" passages from this book in my head in a what-if history where America stayed neutral and Germany crushed France and forced England to its knees in 1918 after their coup de diplomacy of bringing Lenin to Russia and keeping him lush in money until he took Russia out of the war succeeded.... Those passages would have sounded perfect as what we came to be conditioned to regard as ridiculous German propaganda too
So good information, good writing but annoying moralizing(less)
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