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Beyond a certain point, the lecture is not comprehendable without a prior knowledge of Heideggers philosophy.

The chapter on Franco was very beautiful, after all, although I had my doubts at first. Especially the first return to Pontito, to me.

Really good book. Might end up giving it five stars, but at least four.

Hymn 13 is full of brilliant exegesis, showing Christs power and linking Him to the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Marozzi seems to be good when he's close to the sources, but loses himself in what I can only assume is conjecture or at least uncritical reception of the sources (as sometimes when he relays Timurs inner feelings at pivotal moments). Also, Marozzi has a weak grasp of European history if he thinks 14th century Europe was dark and underdeveloped. See: James Hannam, The Genesis of Science.

Fish-factories around the Aral Sea pay their workers in water melons. Great job standing up for the workers, communists!

Great description of the destruction of the Aral Sea.

"In 1339, the Franciscan envoy brought Uzbeg a superb warhorse as a gift from the Avignon papacy, in recognition of the khan’s protection of the Christian communities."

I'll be honest here, the one thing subtracting from my enjoyment is that I spoiled the ending.

Arrived at Hymn 13. Great Christmas reading.

"He that has sanctity, if he be in danger, lo! Here is his Guardian! He that has iniquity, lo! Here is his Pardoner! He that has a devil, here is the Pursuer thereof! They that have pains, lo! Here is the Binder up of their breaches."

Arrived at Hymn 12.

The Bolsheviks murdered a few thousand people during their short stay in Estonia around 1920. Among other things: They broke the limbs and gouged the eyes of hostages in Dorpat before shooting them; nailed the apulettes of an officer to his body; and murdered archbishop Platon.

The Second Congress of the Komintern was not the slightest bit shy about the intended purges.

Marozzi has some annoying tendencies. He insists Arabshah is an unreliable source, and I think he attributed to Genghis Khan a particularly vicious quote from Timur.

Timurs first political move was to betray his masters to the Moghuls.