Which book are you reading now? Volume XI

[Traitorfish]

Spain: A History by Raymond Carr. I know that CFC traditionally disapproves of these broad-sweep histories, but I know basically sod all about Spain, so it's some good background reading for my class on the Spanish empire.

 

[Kozmos]

I always thought that best history is what historians found on what peasants from all societies agreed upon, the idea behind that being educated writers were biased one way or another.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform - Adeeb Khalid

 

[Smellincoffee]

I just finished An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris, a recounting of the Dreyfuss via in novel form, from the perspective of Colonel Picquart, the intelligence officer whose investigations helped exonerate Dreyfuss.

 

[Masada]

exonerate Dreyfuss

god i wish that'd happened. people were still dragging that up in the 1940s.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I know he wasn't legally acquitted, but people still believe he was guilty?

 

[Dachs]

I know that CFC traditionally disapproves of these broad-sweep histories,

only if/when they are wrong

 

[sophie]

Spain: A History by Raymond Carr. I know that CFC traditionally disapproves of these broad-sweep histories, but I know basically sod all about Spain, so it's some good background reading for my class on the Spanish empire.

They have their uses, especially as mines for further reading. You gotta start somewhere, right?

 

[danjuno]

That book is on my wishlist after I read about it somewhere. How is the writing? I can handle long but well-written. Long and, shall we say, meachamesque is another thing.

I'm not familiar with Jon Meacham, so I'm not sure what you're looking to avoid, and I'm also rather new to the idea of differentiating in the style of non-fiction writers.
That said, this book is not something I can put down with ease. It's rather detailed, and not at all repetitive in language, if that's what you're looking for.

Also, have you seen Tip O' Neill's autobiography Man of the House? I liked it rather a lot. He provides plenty of detail of legislative and machine politics, or at least more than I've seen most politicians willing to admit.

My grandmother is a former member of the Maryland Democratic Central Committee and a life-long campaigner, so she's showered me with more political biographies (and anecdotes) than I can count.

 

[Masada]

I know he wasn't legally acquitted, but people still believe he was guilty?

the point of the affair was never whether or not the jew, dreyfuss, was guilty but rather if the jew, dreyfuss could be french.

as to the other issue, the french defense department closed ranks and refused to have a statue of the jew, dreyfuss, put in front of their military academy in 1985. i guess feelings are still a little raw.

 

[ParkCungHee]

the point of the affair was never whether or not the jew, dreyfuss, was guilty but rather if the jew, dreyfuss could be french.

Which is funny, because wasn't it a Hungarian that was actually guilty?

 

[Masada]

Esterhazy's only link to Hungary was his name which was a hold-over from some distant ancestor who had migrated to France like a century and a half beforehand.

 

[Dachs]

Esterhazy's only link to Hungary was his name which was a hold-over from some distant ancestor who had migrated to France like a century and a half beforehand.

it's always the hungarian

 

[Antilogic]

They have their uses, especially as mines for further reading. You gotta start somewhere, right?

That's how I feel, especially for unfamiliar countries where I haven't had a classroom introduction.

I'm not familiar with Jon Meacham, so I'm not sure what you're looking to avoid, and I'm also rather new to the idea of differentiating in the style of non-fiction writers.
That said, this book is not something I can put down with ease. It's rather detailed, and not at all repetitive in language, if that's what you're looking for.

Also, have you seen Tip O' Neill's autobiography Man of the House? I liked it rather a lot. He provides plenty of detail of legislative and machine politics, or at least more than I've seen most politicians willing to admit.

My grandmother is a former member of the Maryland Democratic Central Committee and a life-long campaigner, so she's showered me with more political biographies (and anecdotes) than I can count.

Jon Meacham wrote the book American Lion on Andrew Jackson's presidency, and I can say without any qualification it is the worst biography I have had the misfortune of reading. It focuses exclusively on his presidential years (which I thought I would like), but that ended up meaning it was hundreds of pages of gossip about the Eaton affair with the odd passage on Indians or the National Bank thrown in. The editors apparently forgot to review the work or were drunk, I remember hating the way sentences were structured and how the thing was organized.

I would say it was The Room of presidential biographies, but I have watched that movie a few times. I will never read American Lion again.

I haven't read too many recent [auto-]biographies, including Tip's book, nor anything else from the last fifty-ish years. I think the latest figure I've read on was Earl Warren (Justice for All by Jim Newton, which I would recommend). I will check it out, though, when I have the time this summer.

 

[Traitorfish]

only if/when they are wrong

They have their uses, especially as mines for further reading. You gotta start somewhere, right?

Well, it was meant half in jest.

 

[Cutlass]

Also, have you seen Tip O' Neill's autobiography Man of the House? I liked it rather a lot. He provides plenty of detail of legislative and machine politics, or at least more than I've seen most politicians willing to admit.

I read this when it first came out. Which mean long enough ago that I don't remember it well. I seem to recall it was a pretty good read. I don't see it on my shelf, so probably gave it away at some point.

 

[Phrossack]

Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam. Pretty good so far. A lot has changed in the last 14 years, though.

 

[Bulldog Bats]

I have two categories of books that I like, one I have been collecting for a while, and one I recently started on:

1. US presidential biographies (I find it often give diffferent perspectives on history, since it tends to accentuate the people rather than just the events);

2. Alternative history (what if the Germany won WWII, what if Kennedy or Lincoln had not been killed in office, what if Jesus had not been killed, etc).

Always looking for recommendations for the second topic, as I recently started that. Thanks.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Brazil: Five Centuries of Change by Thomas E. Skidmore, second edition. Good read so far. I find it curious that the colonial era was more interesting, especially with the idea of using miscegenation to whiten the overall population and the relocation of a European royal court to its colony followed by the colony instituting its own monarchy. Not to say that its modern history hasn't been fascinating so far. The planned capital and the president with the Czech surname stand out in particular.

 

[Joecoolyo]

I finished A Dance With Dragons a couple weeks ago. Fantastic stuff, now to wait half a decade for the next book.

Don't think I'm going to pick up a book for side reading anytime soon though, I have too much reading for my classes to spare anytime.