This is a feat of research and writing about Ukraine in the 1930s, and how Stalin's policies intentionally targeted Ukrainians, resulting in widespreaThis is a feat of research and writing about Ukraine in the 1930s, and how Stalin's policies intentionally targeted Ukrainians, resulting in widespread famine and what many consider genocide. From collectivization to dekulakization, the author shows how Ukraine was stripped of its resources and culture and then punished further for not being able to provide more. I was shocked this time period is still highly debated/contested - largely by the Russian government - well shocked might be too strong of a word, after all Putin borrows from Stalin in categorizing Ukrainians as Nazis in order to justify his decisions.
For my tastes, there are so many names and so many details that the reading was sometimes a slog. However I don't know how the author could have written it without those details since she has done so well pulling them all together. I just don't read a lot of history.
This is one of the books I selected for the non-fiction quarter of Reading Envy Russia (#readingenvyrussia) - April was month 1 so you can still join in with 2 more months of non-fiction reading to go....more
Sara Lynn Burnett named this book her favorite read of 2020 in my annual best books of the year episode, and I was so excited about it I nominated it Sara Lynn Burnett named this book her favorite read of 2020 in my annual best books of the year episode, and I was so excited about it I nominated it for my in-person book club to consider as well. it fit so nicely into last month's Readtheworld21 challenge that I couldn't resist reading it a bit early.
The -Stans are a fascinating part of the world I knew practically nothing about, but now know quite a bit more about thanks to the book, especially the Soviet and post-Soviet eras. Erika Fatland, a Norwegian journalist, spent 8 months traveling between them, interviewing people and experiencing the wide range of places and cultures. It is translated by Kari Dickson, who only gets a title page mention.
Definitely some content warnings for violence and oppression, displacement, and rape/ forced marriage....more
I've been wanting to try this author for a while, because I've also noticed her more recent book on the Biltmore Estate, The Last Castle: The Epic StoI've been wanting to try this author for a while, because I've also noticed her more recent book on the Biltmore Estate, The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home, which I will also plan to read. I don't read a lot of history but she made it go down easy by alternating between chapters on the backstory of the technology leading to the actual applications of atomic energy, and chapters about the characters, largely women, moving to Oak Ridge for mysterious jobs during World War II.
I remember reading a book on Nagasaki last year where it talked about how Americans didn't see images from Hiroshima until the 1950s when Life Magazine published some. But that didn't mean they didn't hear reports of those bombs, the bombs built by pieces manufactured at Oak Ridge, right after they were used. So many people worked at Oak Ridge not really knowing what they were contributing to. Maybe I'm not enough of a patriot, but I found it pretty upsetting actually. Also upsetting - the stories of nonconsensual medical testing on some of the African Americans working at the camp, including plutonium injections and tooth removal.
But it is amazing to read about the building of this energy city that didn't officially exist during the war, how fast the process moved to creating the elements of these bombs, how much science (and war technology) moved forward during this time. And it was nice to see women involved in the process, from the scientist forced out of Berlin and then Vienna who made all the connections between some of the ideas and allowing fusion to be a reality instead of a theory to the women with PhDs in physics being employed in their areas of expertise. Still others had to stop working as soon as they married, and the women were policed by guards at the dorms within Oak Ridge.
I've kind of missed the boat so far (har harrrr, oh come on, I couldn't resist) but this is the first book I've read by Erik Larson. And I only ended I've kind of missed the boat so far (har harrrr, oh come on, I couldn't resist) but this is the first book I've read by Erik Larson. And I only ended up reading it because it is the final pick of the season for my in-person book club. I put it off for a while but ended up breezing through, using the approach I take with most histories - read the bits carefully that I'm interested in and skim those I am not.
Those I am not: -transcripts of military commands -Woodrow Wilson's depression and dating life (if this were the focus of a novel, I'd probably be really into it, but since his actions and emotions have absolutely zero to do with what happens on or to the Lusitania, I don't know what the author was thinking.... if this was a World War I book, it might make more sense... but like Bryan A. says in his review, this is a book about a ship and its demise, a la Titanic)
Those I am: -quotes and summaries of individual narratives the author found during his research. I wanted more of this. He had access to amazing materials and sometimes used only a part of a sentence. I will never see the Sound of Music the same, having read Captain von Trapp's views of killing people in war (and of course, he was on the other side! So long, hero.) -Stories of the people on the ship and all those fun happenstances... Alfred Vanderbilt not going on the Titanic despite having a ticket, and then dying on the Lusitania (by the way, the Vanderbilt Estate in Asheville, NC had an interesting exhibit about the Vanderbilts and the Titanic yet I do not remember them mentioning this key detail!) - this is one example of many, and as far as this book is almost like a gossip mag, these bits were the juiciest.
Outside of the research, the writing has some great moments, where I can picture Larson typing a sentence and feeling proud of it. For me, this can be sustaining as a reader who more often reads fiction. The only one I marked is "When he came back to the surface, he found himself in an archipelago of destruction and death."
This is likely going to be a good discussion in my book club, so I may have more to say at that point....more
This book was one of the selections for my in-person book club. When it was selected I assumed it would be more like Girl With a Pearl Earring or GirlThis book was one of the selections for my in-person book club. When it was selected I assumed it would be more like Girl With a Pearl Earring or Girl in Hyacinth Blue, novelizations of the story of how a painting was made.
That is not what this book is. It is a non-fiction account of one painting and others, from when Klimt was alive up into the 21st century with the legal battle removing the painting from the Belvedere in Vienna and giving it to descendents of the woman in the painting.
I have to admit to enjoying the first third of the book the most. It focuses on the time of the painting and of the artist. I was fascinated by the Vienna of the early 20th century and the character of Klimt. There were quite a few paintings of his I'd never heard of, and other artists that were unfamiliar. I spent a lot of time looking up images of these paintings, since the book only had black and white photos.
The majority of the book, the second section, tells the story of the painting in the context of World War II. It suffers from not presenting any new information in the bigger facts (art was stolen from Jewish families before they were killed or pushed out of the country, the Holocaust, etc.), but also suffers from too much detail in following all the minor characters even tangentially related to the story. It would have been stronger to focus in.
The last section follows the very recent legal battle and points to a culture of denial in Vienna after the war that allowed stolen property to remain the property of the state. I didn't realize how recent much of the art restitution movements had been, particularly in Austria. Even the Looted Art Commission has only been around since 1999. ...more
It's funny to read other readers' reviews of this book because almost all of them start by saying something like, "Everyone knows Doc Holliday/ Wyatt It's funny to read other readers' reviews of this book because almost all of them start by saying something like, "Everyone knows Doc Holliday/ Wyatt Earp/ Tombstone/ shootout at the OK Corral...."
Well, I guess I'm not everyone. I really had no knowledge of any of the characters or events that this book draws on, so while this may be seen as well-researched historical fiction, I'm forced to just enjoy it as a novel and let the quibbles over specific details be left to historians.
I would never have read this book were it not picked for a book club I am in. I loved The Sparrow by the same author, the only book to make me sob, and intend to one day read its sequel, Children of God. But Doc can be seen as both historical fiction, which I don't seek out, and/or a Western, which... well let's just say that isn't my thing. I don't like dusty towns where the only entertainment is gambling, alcohol, and women. I'm not enamored by the compulsion of western expansion or the gold rush or male-heavy societies.
But Mary Doria Russell has a way of writing about people that humanizes them more than a history book ever could. The focus on Doc, a dentist who is slowly dying of tuberculosis after witnessing his mother die of the same disease, is an interesting spin on what is apparently a well-known tale. The characters aren't divided between good and evil, white hats and black hats, but all of them are complex, inconsistent, and completely believable. I enjoyed it more than I expected.
ETA: Forgot to include a few funny quotes about the south.
"South Carolina is too damn small to be a country and too damn big to be an insane asylum."
"I can always tell Southerners... Northerners'll tell you where they're goin', not where they're from. Southerners... ask who your relatives are until they find out, oh, my mother's sister married your father's uncle, so we're cousins!"...more
I don't often sit and read a history book, but this one manages to be readable while still being well documented. I've been trying to read books from I don't often sit and read a history book, but this one manages to be readable while still being well documented. I've been trying to read books from and about Iceland this year, but I have yet to pick up The Sagas of Icelanders. I feel like I should have read them simultaneously.
Once I got past the idea of using sagas (which feel like myth) as history, it was fascinating to have details woven into historical record to help explain or illuminate some of the facts. Puzzles like did people wear underwear, and were there really human sacrifices?
As someone who wildly embraces her Viking ancestry, I also appreciated the narrow focus of this book - the early settlements of Iceland up to around a little past the "Viking Age," which is usually marked at 1066.
Iceland is isolated enough and has gone through few enough changes in leadership that some things are remarkably the same, particularly the language. Most other European languages made major transitions between 1066 and now, while Icelandic is largely the same. I have a fire to study it at some point....more
This well-researched and well-written history spans about 35 years, from the Parisian performance of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" to brief mentions oThis well-researched and well-written history spans about 35 years, from the Parisian performance of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" to brief mentions of the end of WWII. Different sections focus in on different elements of the arts and political upheaval, including chapters highlighting specific cultural works, cities, or moments in time. I am still pondering the ongoing connection between societal change that could simultaneously create the environment where such important musical and artistic developments could happen, while also being the same breeding ground for devastating war. This makes me uncomfortable, somehow, as if in appreciating the art I have also condoned the violence.
The trio of Stravinsky the composer, Diaghilev the founder of the Ballets Russes, and Nijinksy the choreographer were instrumental in the infamous production of The Rite of Spring in 1913. Intentionally manufactured for a reaction, the author argues that the audience is integral to the experience of the work.
"Surprise is freedom. The audience, in Diaghilev's view, could be as important to the experience of art as the performers. The art would not teach - that would make it subservient; it would excite, provoke, inspire. It would unlock experience."
Eksteins comes back to this argument about every seminal work he mentions, that it isn't just the work itself, but the reaction to it.
When he discusses the end of "The Great War" in the context of books like All Quiet on the Western Front, Eksteins says, "Art had become more important than history." Events fueled the art, and art played a key role in determining events. This is an interesting parallel to follow throughout the book. There are a lot of other bits I am tempted to quote, but they are bits from other sources that Eksteins used in his well-documented research. (I may need to go back and read more of Ludwig Feuerbach and Rainer Maria Rilke.)
Over all, this is a great read. I did get bogged down a bit in the middle when the emphasis was on life in the trenches, but the constant connection to the arts and philosophy saved it from only being about sand bags filled with rotting corpses. ...more
Jenny (Reading Envy)
>
Books:
history
(8)
![The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer [Deckle Edge]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1337086928l/12387319._SY75_.jpg)
Loading...
