Wholesome History Reads Group discussion
What I'm Reading
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Gia
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Oct 12, 2020 04:34AM
I'm currently reading Basin and Range by John McPhee. It may not count here as a "true" history book (even though history does seem to leap from every page in the descriptions of the land itself). From the back cover: "Basin and Range is a book of journeys through ancient terrains always in juxtaposition with travels in the modern world---a history of vanished landscapes, enhanced by the people who bring them to light..." I guess this is really a geology book in the end:) I find this book so comforting though (I have no idea why) and I'm enjoying all the unique words geologists use to describe things!
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Sounds interesting Gia, I hope you enjoy the trip :)
@'Aussie Rick' Thank you! So far so good:)
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"When the French Government decided to send a large expeditionary force to help Denikin's White Russians against the Bolsheviks in the Ukraine, and found themselves short of men, Clemenceau turned to the Greeks. Unhesitatingly Venizelos promised his support. French troops landed at Odessa in December 1918 and the two Greek divisions followed in January. The expedition was a disaster and broke up in confusion within a few months. The French troops were not prepared to fight in this cause so long after the war in western Europe was over. The Greeks fought creditably. But although there were Greek communities in the Crimea. there was no Greek interest at stake in the campaign. In so far as Greek intervention affected the Greeks of Russia it made their lives more difficult. Venizelos threw in the Greek army purely to raise stock with the French in Paris in the important negotiations at the Peace Conference."
Ionian Vision: Greece In Asia Minor, 1919-1922 by Michael Llewellyn Smith
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"Nevertheless the whole attitude of the Peace Conference towards Turkey was so harsh that Right had now changed sides. Justice, that eternal fugitive from the councils of the conquerors, had gone over to the opposite camp ... In the tapestried and gilded chambers of Paris were assembled he law-givers of the world. In Constantinople, under the guns of the Allied Fleets there functioned a puppet Government of Turkey. But among the stern hills and valleys of 'the Turkish Homelands' in Anatolia, there dwelt that company of poor men ... who would not see it settled so; and at their bivouac fires at this moment sate in the rags of a refugee the august Spirit of Fair Play."
You have to give it to Churchill, he knew how to write!
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http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/prin...
I wrapped up Paul Ham's Sandakan yesterday - a very good, very terrible book, a microcosm of the Far East PoW tragedy that it's all too easy (and necessary) to write large.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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http://origins.osu.edu/milestones/may...
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The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War by Giles Tremlett
In general, I'm pretty pleased with my childhood... there was a bit of daftness, and some really good years hiking and generally arsing around (occasionally with aircraft!) In the Air Training Corps. Nothing like this though..."This lack of parents, and of parental supervision, could sometimes have unexpected perks. Andrzej C., for example, acknowledges the hardship of his childhood, but remembers with some relish some of the games that he and the other boys used to play in and around the displaced persons camps of southern Germany. Andrezj himself had opportunities to play with toys that most children today could only dream of.
We children were like feral dogs. Life was very interesting then! The fear was gone, the sun was shining, and there were interesting things to find... Once we found an unexploded artillery shell. We knew that it was dangerous, so we kept it in a stream for a time because we didn't know what to do with it... Eventually we put the shell in a bonfire and ran to the opposite side of the valley to see what happened. There was a massive explosion. We never thought that maybe someone might come along at the wrong time – we were completely thoughtless. Another time we found some German machine gun ammunition, lots of it. So we put it in a metal stove someone had thrown away in the forest, put some wood in and lit the stove. That was fantastic! It blew holes in it until it was like a sieve!
On another occasion Andrzej and his friends built bonfires out of jerrycans full of petrol, burned their eyebrows off by setting fire to smokeless powder, threw mortar shells at one another, and even found and fired a Panzerfaust anti-tank rocket: ‘That was also very good!’ His greatest fear throughout all this was not that he might be seriously injured, but that his mother might find out what he had been up to.
Once he even walked across a minefield in order to pick wild raspberries that were growing alongside some abandoned German army bunkers. ‘This was a few years after the war,’ he explains, ‘and all the mines were visible. We decided that we could walk across – after all, we could see them, so we were safe... We were stupid, and lucky. If you haven't got brains, you've got to have luck. But they were lovely raspberries...’"
Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II
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A few words from Richard J. Evans about applying our own values to history - and how we need to better understand historical mindset before offering up blanket condemnation:"The further in time we get from Nazi Germany, the more difficult it becomes for historians living in democratic political systems and in cultures which respect the rights of the individual to make the leap of imagination necessary to understand people’s behaviour in a state such as Nazi Germany, where imprisonment, torture or even death might await anyone who dared to voice the slightest criticism of the regime and its leaders. Those who approved of such repression were in all likelihood a minority, active supporters and functionaries of the Party like the Block Wardens, and a good number of middle- and upper-class, conservative Germans who thought the best place for Marxists to be was in prison anyway. Even they, however, knew well enough that they had to be careful about what they said and did, and the dangers of not doing so became abundantly clear once opposition began to spread among these groups too. The shots that killed Kurt von Schleicher, Herbert von Bose, Edgar Jung, Gustav von Kahr, Erich Klausener and Kurt von Bredow at the beginning of July 1934 were also a warning to upper- and middle-class conservatives to keep their heads down if they did not want them to be blown off."
The Third Reich in Power, 1933 - 1939: How the Nazis Won Over the Hearts and Minds of a Nation
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I'm reading:The Peninsular War: A New History
and looking forward to reading this one next:
Peninsular Eyewitnesses: The Experience of War in Spain and Portugal 1808-1813
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Kingdom Overthrown: The Battle for Ireland 1688-91 by Gerard Fitzgibbon
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"Those who could still fight were 'weakened with hunger', and the civilians they were defending were little better. Food was so scarce that people were buying and eating rats, mice, salted hides and dogs that had grown fat from picking at rotten corpses. Traders sold quarts of horse blood and weeds for making soup. The hunger was so acute that 'a certain fat gentleman' reportedly locked himself in his house for three days, afraid that of the city turned to cannibalism he would be in danger. It was a wretched time and place to be alive."
The Siege of Derry:
https://www.culturenorthernireland.or...
https://sluggerotoole.com/2020/03/31/...
https://www.historyireland.com/early-...
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"By Walker's count over 2,500 of Derry's garrison had been killed - one man out of every three. A further 7,000 civilians are thought to have died within the city walls. Walker also later claimed that roughly 9,000 Jacobite soldiers had perished during the siege, the vast majority as a result of fever, pox and dysentery. One Jacobite account, however, puts their losses as low as 2,000 men, but among them 'fine gentlemen and several heads of families ... worthy of lasting memory'."
Kingdom Overthrown: The Battle for Ireland 1688-91 by Gerard Fitzgibbon
Looking forward to your review. I never realized the scope of the fighting, at this time.
Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen's EnglandI'm about a quarter into this, in the section on Medicine. Pretty good book.
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Great review, really glad to hear that you enjoyed the book.
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[book:Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen's ..."I quite enjoyed the book as well Al, something a bit different but quite interesting.
I just read The Complete Titanic Chronicles: A Night to Remember and The Night Lives On, which contains both of the Titanic books by Walter Lord. I really enjoyed Lord's narrative style, and he has a true passion, almost a reverence, for the Titanic. The second book is an excellent companion to the first.
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I just finished this. As i stated in my review, I think the value lies in gathering all the things we have always wanted to know about money and making a living, into one place. A good book with an even better bibliography.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian EraThis was pretty interesting.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Igniting the American Revolution: 1773-1775 by Derek W. Beck
Looks like a good one Rick. I keep meaning to learn something about the American Revolution, but keep getting put off (most be cause I'm an evil Brit).I'm starting on a revolution book too, just getting my teeth into
Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion. And I made a start last week on
Ælfred’s Britain: War and Peace in the Viking Agealthough how much of that has to do with a bit of disappointment at the end of Cornwell's books is up for grabs. Not made much headway (last week in January's usually a bit busy for us tax folks) but I'm enjoying what I managed to read.
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Just finished Metropolis. Readable and original book about the role of the city in human development. Review here for anyone interested.Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention
Here's Adam's setup for one of Britain's enduring myths... and a few notes on motivations, which are interesting.In 872 the mycel here, joined from the Continent by another supporting army, stood poised to conquer all. Six years later almost the last Anglo- Saxon king standing, Ælfred, was left ruling no more than a few acres of fetid marsh in the Somerset levels.
This apocalyptic scenario, which conveniently sets up Ælfred as the hero of a pervasive English nationalist narrative, deserves to be balanced by the scrutiny that modern textual critique and sober archaeological witness bring to bear. If the future looked grim in 871, as it must have done, there is no evidence that Scandinavian raiders and would- be conquerors wilfully set about destroying the apparatus of the state, embarked on a campaign of ethnic cleansing, the proscription of Christian worship or, indeed, the obliteration of Insular culture. Far from it. They set no precedent for their Norman descendant William, whose Harrying of the North in 1069– 70 laid waste great swathes of territory, inducing famine and economic destruction. Like earlier (and later) would- be invaders, much of their interest in the Insular kingdoms was fostered by admiration for their wealth, their administrative sophistication and cultural confidence. What they wanted was a share.
The pope in Rome may have demanded that heathens be destroyed but the spiritual antipathy felt by many Christians towards the ‘gentiles’, as the chroniclers called them, was not necessarily reciprocated. Scandinavians, seeing much to envy and many similarities with their own beliefs, were curious, sometimes bemused— amused, even— by Christian worship, by the swearing of oaths on holy relics and by the rites of baptism practised in Christian kingdoms. In the eschatology of the heathen North, death and the afterlife were much greater preoccupations than the beginnings of life or religious induction. They also thought it very odd, not that Christians followed the sayings of the prophet of Judea, but that they had use for only a single God, presumed to be able to control all the forces of nature and of human destiny everywhere, at once and exclusively.
I've got to say, I'm going to be upset if there are no epic bakery falls in the near future...
Ælfred’s Britain: War and Peace in the Viking Age
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[book:Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind's Greate..."
Great review, thanks for sharing with the group :)
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1939: A People's History by Frederick Taylor
I have just finished reading a brief but very good book: 
Poland & Czechoslovakia by Frederick G. HeymannI thoroughly enjoyed reading about the history of these two nations. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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The Blind Strategist: John Boyd and the American Art of War by Stephen Robinson
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"He had served as a junior officer in World War II, fighting in the 90th Infantry Division in Normandy. The soldiers, mostly poorly trained draftees, endured massive casualties while fighting under abysmal leadership. Several officers were relieved of command, leaving DePuy with a burning belief in the importance of training and competent leadership: 'I fought in Normandy with three battalion commanders who should have been relieved in peacetime. One was a coward, one was a small-time gangster from Chicago ... and the other was a drunk.' He added, 'In the six weeks in Normandy prior to the breakout, the 90th Division lost 100 percent of its soldiers and 150 percent of its officers ... That's indelibly marked on my mind.' DePuy remembered the division as 'a killing machine - of our own troops!'
Later in Vietnam, DePuy commanded the 1st Infantry Division and focused on search-and-destroy operations, gaining a notorious reputation for sacking incompetent officers, resulting in the Army Chief questioning this practice as he recalled: 'I either would have to be removed or I would continue to remove officers who I thought didn't show much sign of learning their trade and, at the same time, were getting a lot of people killed. You can't get a soldier back once he's killed'."
He sounds like my type of officer!
William E. DePuy:
https://www.sdstate.edu/military-scie...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...
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"In 1946, the Historical Division established the German Military History Program to make better use of willing prisoners and over 700 Germans worked for the program, writing manuscripts on Wehrmacht operations. After most prisoners were released in 1947, around 400 participants continued their work as paid civilians.
The emerging Cold War changed the program's focus as the Army faced the real prospect of war with the Soviet Union, and its leadership felt that guidance from former Wehrmacht officers would be invaluable as they had immeasurable experience fighting the Red Army. The Americans had originally sought German reflections to help clarify the context of their operations but the Cold War massively increased demand for manuscripts on the Eastern Front. The Germans accordingly wrote manuscripts on how to fight the Red Army, effectively making themselves military advisers. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Army Chief of Staff, realized the importance of their work and supported the program's continuation and the Germans had written over 2,500 manuscripts by 1954."
The Blind Strategist: John Boyd and the American Art of War by Stephen Robinson
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The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price
I've just started reading this book that I found at the local thrift store. I'm not very far into it but it reads kind of like a novel so far, which is fun!
Patriots: The Men Who Started The American Revolution
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[bookcover:Patriots: The Men Who Started..."
Glad you are enjoying the book Gia, let us all know how you go.
I'm currently working my way through Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles; its a bit hit and miss for me (but I was never likely to get terribly excited by developments in British theatre) but good where he hits the mark. I enjoyed this description of the differences in British and American outlooks:Why was there no British equivalent of the McCarthyism that swept through American society in the 1950s? The simple answer is that anti-Communism was never terribly important in Britain. Although the film High Treason was striking for its dark paranoia, it was something of a one-off; neither political nor popular culture was deeply penetrated by the kind of intense anti-Communist populism that was so powerful in the United States. For one thing, the tribulations of life in the rubble and austerity of Britain under Attlee were too exhausting for ordinary citizens to spend their evenings wondering whether Doreen’s new boyfriend might be a Communist. As a character remarks in Pamela Hansford Johnson’s novel A Summer to Decide (1948), the common man was ‘too busy coping with the daily problems of his rationed life, and trying to see a clear road for his own future’ to worry about internal security. What was more, the British had just spent six shattering years working and fighting together against the menace of Nazism, and the dream of national unity still carried considerable force. They had also spent much of the war being encouraged to salute the brave example of Joe Stalin’s boys in the Red Army; they were, therefore, much slower than the American public to enter into the spirit of the Cold War, and remained much less enthusiastic anti-Communists.
The fact was that it was the American experience, not the British, that was the aberration. In Italy and France, where there were sizeable and important Communist parties that could conceivably have posed a genuine threat to internal security, there was no great panic about internal security either. To take a later example, when in October 1957 the Soviet Union dispatched its Sputnik satellite into orbit, shattering the complacent belief of the Western powers in their own scientific superiority, there was an almighty fuss in the United States about the Communists having soared ahead in the technological struggle. Macmillan, always a worrier by temperament despite his phlegmatic reputation, wrote to Eisenhower asking: ‘what are we going to do about these Russians? … This artificial satellite has brought it home to us what formidable people they are, and what a menace they present to the outside world.’ A month later the Soviet scientists sent up another Sputnik, with the dog Laika in it, and Macmillan mournfully noted in his diary:The Russians have launched another and larger satellite (with a little ‘dawg’ in it) which has created much alarm and despondency in US. The English people, with characteristic frivolity, are much more exercised about the ‘little dawg’ than about the terrifying nature of these new developments in ‘rocketry’. Letters and telegrams were pouring in tonight to No. 10 protesting about the cruelty to the dog.Laika, sad to report, did not return in one piece.
Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles
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The Russians have launched another and larger satellite (with a little ‘dawg’ in it) which has created much alarm and despondency in US. The English people, with characteristic frivolity, are much more exercised about the ‘little dawg’ than about the terrifying nature of these new developments in ‘rocketry’. Letters and telegrams were pouring in tonight to No. 10 protesting about the cruelty to the dog.
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"Pius II, born Enea Silvio Piccolomini, had been elected in August 1458 at the age of fifty-two, comparatively young for a pope but he was in poor health, suffering from gout, kidney stones and a chronic cough. Famously the first humanist pope, he was the author of several literary works, including his memoirs, which are a fascinating source for the period. He was unusually well travelled for an Italian and had visited many parts of Europe as secretary first to Cardinal Domenico Capranica and then to Emperor Frederick III, who crowned him poet laureate. He had even visited Scotland, and endured a terrifying storm in the North Sea; 'the men are short and brave, the women fair', he noted, and 'there is nothing [they] like better than to hear abuse of the English'."
Princes of the Renaissance by Mary Hollingsworth
Wholesome History Reads Group
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The Secret Expedition: The Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland 1799 (other topics)
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Defeat In Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912-1913 (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Rick Atkinson (other topics)A. Wilson Greene (other topics)
Geert van Uythoven (other topics)
James H. Hallas (other topics)
Edward J. Erickson (other topics)
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