I love a horrific tale of hardship in the cold remote regions of the world, and this one certainly fits the bill. I often get through one of these stoI love a horrific tale of hardship in the cold remote regions of the world, and this one certainly fits the bill. I often get through one of these stories thinking, "Haven't I read about this before," but not this time. I had a vague idea of who William Barents was, and that there was a sea named after him, but this story seemed new and fresh.
Most of the dramatic stories of survival in the arctic regions come out of the 19th century, but this one stretches way back to the late 1500s, as the newly rising Dutch empire was seeking new markets and opportunities for trade and colonization in the east. One approach, championed by William Barents, was to travel across the north of Asia, a possible shortcut to the far east as compared to the longer trip around Africa. In the process of his three voyages, Barents helped discover Spitzbergen, Bear Island, and Nova Zembla (Novaya Zemlya). It was this last location that ended up being the stage for his longest arctic struggle as he and a group of Dutch sailors were frozen in there over the winter of 1596-97.
The horrors these ill-prepared and poorly clothed sailors endured were incredible. The unbelievable cold, storms, ice, scurvy, months of darkness and regular visits by hungry polar bears nearly did them in, but somehow they held it together. And as the spring approached with their ice-filled ship useless, they focused on rigging up some small boats to attempt to sail home. And that's when their trouble really began. I probably would have just laid down and died way before these men did.
While this book is nominally about Barents, it's really about the whole group, most of who remain anonymous throughout. Their teamwork, compassion and faith enabled them to pull together for this arduous journey. It's a great story, and Pitzer does a great job of telling it....more
I'd been on a waiting list for this book at my public library for ever (The Oprah Book Club effect), when one showed up in my own community college liI'd been on a waiting list for this book at my public library for ever (The Oprah Book Club effect), when one showed up in my own community college library unexpectedly. Lucky me!
This is such a great way to interleave developments in the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia with the story of a family hit hard by this disease. Kolker interviews researchers and psychiatrists, delves through the records of state institutions, and most importantly, works with the family themselves to get their story told.
The Galvin family had twelve children over 20 years -- ten sons, and then two daughters. Six of the sons went on to develop schizophrenia in their teens and early 20s. Their parents, ever conscious of their position in society and knowing that parenting styles were considered a major contributing factor to the condition at the time, tried to sweep it all under the rug, making the problem worse. On top of all this, some of the children were sexually abused by a family friend, and then some of those sons went onto abuse their younger siblings. Amidst all of this, the boys seemed to handle all of the differences with violent outbursts -- even before their breakdowns.
This is so well researched and written. A great story of a large family coping with a devastating disease and for the most part, sticking together to do it.
Note: At the top of each chapter was a list of everyone in the family, and the person(s) being covered in that chapter were in bold type. This was so handy, and a great design decision....more
I didn't exactly bail on this book, but my checkout period from the public library expired, and at that point, I'd thought I'd read enough.
This book iI didn't exactly bail on this book, but my checkout period from the public library expired, and at that point, I'd thought I'd read enough.
This book is quite good for people interested in the development of scholarship and the form of the book, but it does skew scholarly and can get a bit bogged down in details. The most interesting aspect of this was how revolutionary the concept of alphabetical order was to scholars in religious or political settings, who were much more used to organizing by a concept's relationship to deity, or by social rank. Today, alphabetical order seems so obvious, but for a very long time, it wasn't. Note the century-long existence of detailed instructions on how to use an alphabetical index when it was first introduced -- this concept really isn't as intuitive as one might imagine.
I appreciated the side-stories about catalogs and indexes and they developed over time, but my interest started flagging toward the end -- and my time just ran out. I'm going to give this three stars because it is a very good book on this topic, but maybe not the most entertaining read. Which is a tall order for this topic, for sure....more
As another librarian who works with health science students, it was wonderful to read this book. Rosenbloom works as a medical librarian at a CalifornAs another librarian who works with health science students, it was wonderful to read this book. Rosenbloom works as a medical librarian at a California medical school and works with a group that identifies and verifies (through testing) examples of anthropodermic biblioplegy -- books bound in human skin.
A know a lot of people might stop right there -- and I get it. This is a squeamish topic. But Rosenbloom's approach is respectful and thoughtful. She always looks at these objects, their verification and their preservation in light of what they can teach us about history, the physician/patient relationship, medical ethics, the concept of consent, and attitudes about race.
It turns out that many of the books her group has tested have turned out not be bound in human leather. Others, however, are quite clearly authenticate, with well-documented histories of how they came to be. Some of these stories are sad, and somewhat gruesome, but Rosenbloom is determined that they be told so that we can fully understand these objects and what they have to tell us.
Along the way, she explores attitudes toward death, laws and traditions related to what happens with human remains, and talks about the use of cadavers used for medical education. Books bound in human skin are shocking, indeed -- but they have complicated tales to tell that are worth preserving....more
**spoiler alert** I'd read Mcintyre's The Spy and the Traitor a few years ago. He told that story so well, so I knew this one would be good. And it wa**spoiler alert** I'd read Mcintyre's The Spy and the Traitor a few years ago. He told that story so well, so I knew this one would be good. And it was.
Ursula Kuczynski was born into a middle class German Jewish family in Berlin in the decade before WWI. She grew up rather comfortably but still gravitated to left-wing and communist causes even in her youth. She even carted leftist literature around Berlin in a wheelbarrow as a kind of portable lending library. She married a similarly minded architect and moved with him to Shanghai when he got work there. And that's where she was recruited.
Sony (her code name) became the ultimate spy -- almost undetectable due to the attitudes of the time. There was no way a young housewife with a toddler could be a spy! But spy she did, providing information to communist causes in China and Russia. She was trained as a radio operator and learned how to build, break down and operate hidden communication stations. She was sent to Manchuria on assignment -- still married to her unsuspecting husband -- and posed there as husband and wife with another -- with whom she had a child.
As WWII broke out she was in Switzerland, running agents herself and continuing her radio communications with Moscow. She married a British citizen and moved to the UK during the latter part of the war - and had a third child. There, she was instrumental in the passing of nuclear weapon secrets from the UK and USA to Moscow. Slowly, MI5 and MI6 (agencies themselves riddled with double agents) began to clue in -- thanks to another woman in their ranks who wasn't distracted by the stereotypes that affected her male colleagues. As the noose tightened, she fled with her three unsuspecting children to the new East Germany, and there lived out her life, mostly working in publishing. She died in 2000.
She really did lead a remarkable life -- calmly doing a job she believed in, and not getting caught. Turns out most spy work is far from the world of James Bond. Agent Sonya's story is all the more fascinating for it....more
Whew! I had to renew this one past it's three-week checkout period at my local public library. At 829 pages (and almost 3.5 lbs) reading this book is Whew! I had to renew this one past it's three-week checkout period at my local public library. At 829 pages (and almost 3.5 lbs) reading this book is quite a workout. But, I think, quite worth it.
Harrigan, a writer for Texas Monthly, tackles the history of Texas in a unique and quite readable way. While he works chronologically from prehistoric times to the present, he has a way of inserting personal recollections that isn't distracting, and is able to re-introduce figures from history in a looping, arcing manner that illustrates how all these names I've heard for years were interconnected. As a person whose family has deep Texas roots, I enjoyed thinking about where my ancestors were and how they related to some of the big events and themes of Texas history, like cattle drives, the Civil War and farming. He writes especially well about the weird world of Texas politics.
Harrigan clearly loves Texas and admires the traits that it and its more famous sons and daughters are known for, but he doesn't gush -- and he definitely doesn't shy away from Texas' more shameful and darker chapters. He makes a real effort to illuminate the experiences of indigenous Texans, Mexican-American and African-American Texans, and women.
To give you a taste of his writing, here's a snippet from the Epilogue, in which he writes about the steady stream of newcomers that continue to flock to Texas:
People viewing Texas from the outside have always recognized that there is something different about it, not just in its expanse but in its attitude also, in its annoying ineradicable mythic presumption. But it's hard to live here and not feel, just a little, that presumption stirring inside of you. So many kinds of people have fought over the geography of Texas for so long, and competed for their places in its ever-changing culture, that there is a kind of harmony of conflict, a hard-earned conviction that the word "Texas" belongs to you as righteously as it does to anyone else.
One criticism I have of this book is the maps. They're pretty crude - they give you a general idea of where things are in relation to each other around the state, but they seem a bit cartoon-ish and lack a preciseness that this book deserves. The copious photographs, however, are very welcome....more
Long ago, my friend Donna told me that she liked to read books about cold places during our hot Texas summers. I thought this was an excellent idea anLong ago, my friend Donna told me that she liked to read books about cold places during our hot Texas summers. I thought this was an excellent idea and adopted the practice as my own. I love tales of arctic exploration, and what better time to read them than during a sweltering summer? And this one is one of the best I've ever read.
I was familiar with the Greely Expedition from previous reading, but this detailed account is unique in its detail and in the way the story gathers momentum. The first part of the book describes Greely's background and the first year the expedition spent at Fort Conger in the northern reaches of Ellesmere Island. But as a few years pass without any relief ships arriving, following orders, the entire group of 25 men head south to what they hope are well-stocked caches of supplies and safety. What they face is a year of hardship, exposure and starvation.
In the meantime, Levy recounts the intense efforts of Greely's wife Henrietta and allies in the military to convince Congress and the executive branch to mount rescue expeditions, the first two of which fail miserably. Politics and bureaucratic inertia placing people's lives in jeopardy isn't just a 21st century problem. And salvation does arrive for the Greely Expedition -- for some of them, at least.
Levy is quite skilled at taking the documentary evidence from this journey and crafting it into a compelling narrative. The descriptions of the cold and it's effects on the men's bodies, the sense of despair, and the intense hunger they faced -- it's enough to make one weep. But he is equally adept at championing their loyalty to their mission, their courage in the face of uncertainty, and the compassion that they (mostly) showed each other. Greely showed excellent leadership skills and like a good leader adapted when he needed to. The number of life-challenging decisions he had to make during this expedition is staggering.
This is a great piece of American history writing, and one that made me shiver more than once during this long, hot summer....more
This is history writing at it's best. And Virginia Hall is the greatest American hero you've never heard of.
Hall was an employee of the US State DeparThis is history writing at it's best. And Virginia Hall is the greatest American hero you've never heard of.
Hall was an employee of the US State Department in the 1920s and 30s, working in Italy, Turkey and Estonia as a clerk. Despite her acing the exams and interviews, the misogyny of the times shut her out of the diplomatic corps. When she ended up in London just before heading back home, a nacent espionage group in the UK recognized her potential. Soon, she would become the most important Allied spy in occupied France.
Originally based out of Lyon under the guise of a New York newspaper reporter, she led a group of saboteurs, radio operators and locals in attempts to undermine the Vichy government and the German occupation. She organized parachute drops of men and supplies, coordinate complicated jail breaks and managed a network of safehouses in both convents and brothels. Her instincts and resourcefulness were top notch and she never failed to impress her managers in London, even though she rarely got the true recognition and authority she deserved.
When her identity was discovered, she narrowly escaped by walking across the snowy Pyrenees in late fall into Spain -- did I mention she had a prosthetic leg? After getting to safety, she yearned to return to France, although her UK handlers wouldn't allow it. So she joined up with US espionage efforts and talked her way back in, this time ending up in the Haute-Loire region managing bands of resistance fighters.
After the war, she worked for the newly-formed CIA, but never really fit in to the cold war mold. Again, she had was supervised by men who couldn't or wouldn't recognize her skill and worth. So she quietly faded away.
Purnell does a superb job of writing this woman's life. I'm so glad I read this. The characters in the book really come to life, and I'm so glad to hear that there is a feature film based on it in the works. I'm not normally a spy thriller fan, but this real-life story really grabbed me. ...more
Johnson weaves a compelling case for the pivotal role that pirate Henry Every played in late 17th century world political development. More than just Johnson weaves a compelling case for the pivotal role that pirate Henry Every played in late 17th century world political development. More than just a dashing pirate tale, this history looks at the role that piracy played in the development of the East India Company, international relations between Mughal India and Britain, and the role that the developing press played in the creation of "celebrity."
Johnson points out that, but for a few crucial coincidental events, things could have gone much differently for the history of Britain and India. He makes the best of the scant historically accurate resources to recount this story, and does it quite well....more
A friend involved in Humanist circles recommended this to me. It provides interesting insight into how much of the "civic religion" around us -- In GoA friend involved in Humanist circles recommended this to me. It provides interesting insight into how much of the "civic religion" around us -- In God We Trust, One Nation Under God, national prayer breakfasts, etc. -- was purposely crafted by anti-New Deal industrialists as a way to steer the American psyche away from social democratic movements and toward libertarianism/conservatism. According to Kruse, this all started as a way to tamp down the influence of labor unions and to re-cast America as a land of "up by your boot-strap" individualists. And public declarations of faith were a great way to do it.
I was surprised by how the clergy got in board with this (since it would seem to work in their favor) and evangelists like Billy Graham do not come out well in this book. He gives many examples of ministers promoting conservative ideals that appear to go against Christian teaching, but going along since it increased their flocks. It's all kind of gross.
The chapters on supreme court cases and Congressional testimony surrounding some of these changes can be a bit of a slog -- but that's where all the action is. Or rather, where all the mischief is made. An eye-opening look at how public relations, big industry, government and religious institutions conspired to push America in a whole different direction than it was headed in 80 years ago....more
Oh, this is such a well-written, thoroughly researched book. I'd been familiar with the story of the brother of the subjects of this book, Edward II, Oh, this is such a well-written, thoroughly researched book. I'd been familiar with the story of the brother of the subjects of this book, Edward II, but knew absolutely nothing about his 5 sisters, each of whom had an important role in late 13th and early 14th century European history and their families place at the top of a powerful and unwieldy kingdom.
The eldest, Eleanor, had a long betrothal go awry for political reasons, and ended up marrying the Count of Bar well after some of her younger sisters had already married. Strong-willed Joanna married a Marcher lord on the Welsh border and held a very powerful position as the countries wealthiest landowning woman, as well as being the king's most defiant daughter. Mary was taken by her grandmother to become a nun at the tender age of six, yet still managed to spend time with family, reap the benefits of vast estates, and indulge her gambling habits. Margaret spent the least time in England, married earlier to the Count of Brabant and living in her husband's court in Brussels, in a strategic alliance against her father's French opponents. And lastly, Elizabeth, married to the Count of Holland and widowed at a young age, remarried one of her father's most trusted knights.
One of the things that Wilson-Lee does so well is dispel the trope of the medieval princess locked away in a tower. These women are involved in international affairs, are highly educated, and spend much of their lives training for the dual diplomatic roles they will assume as liaisons between their husbands' courts and that of their father. They have to tread carefully around a very complicated political landscape and for the most part are successful.
It was interesting to me how much of what was gleaned about their lives comes from the records of the royal wardrobe, records of the clothes and gifts they had made and received around weddings, holidays and family get-togethers. And letters from the king granting (and in some cases reclaiming) lands, titles loans and gifts among his daughters also reveal much. It is clear from the record that Edward I wanted the best for and did all he could to support his daughters. But he also expected much in return.
Still, for all the importance of their roles, it is sad that none of the monuments erected to honor these women after their deaths have survived.
Wilson-Lee does such a good job of revealing their influential lives and bringing forward their personalities. A family tree in the front was helpful in keeping everyone straight, although the names of their own children would have been helpful - family name recycling was very popular and it was a bit of a chore to keep up with all the Eleanors and Margarets. I hope she writes more history books. I'll read them....more
A study on the ways the criminal justice system and the media coded and approached crime against gay men in the years after WWI through the early 1960A study on the ways the criminal justice system and the media coded and approached crime against gay men in the years after WWI through the early 1960s. Polchin combed newspaper accounts and crime records to look at the different ways victimized gay men were described in the media, and how the court system (you couldn't really call it the justice system), with the support of some psychologists, protected their abusers and killers. Think of the "gay panic" defense.
The stories get a bit repetitive, sadly, and the parade of violence is a bit much to take. Polchin not only looks at the media in the cities where many of these crimes took place, but looks at how the victims' fates were reported in their hometown papers, where terms like "bachelor" and "artist" and "handsome young man" might mean something to those who knew what to look for. In the worst cases, reporting on these crimes turned entire gay communities into scapegoats for concerns about "sex maniacs," where any sexual crime at all was laid at the feet of the local "perverts." It all seems so medieval and depressing, and unfortunately, is a mindset that still exists.
A very interesting book with a lot of detailed research, but kind of hard to read....more
I've always loved this film -- ever since that time my dad let me stay up long enough to watch it when I was a kid. I usually had a pretty strict bed I've always loved this film -- ever since that time my dad let me stay up long enough to watch it when I was a kid. I usually had a pretty strict bed time when I was younger, but classic science fiction (and any David Lean film) always earned me a pass.
Although the book purports to be a history of this film as a collaborative effort between Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, it ends up covering way more about the film from the production end of things. So it ends up being way more Kubrick than Clarke. As a reader, I found myself sympathizing with Clarke (and the film crew, and MGM studio execs) who were often left in the dark about what the grand plan was. In fact, in reading this book, one gets the sense that even Stanley Kubrick never quite had this film nailed down. I'm a planner, and as a reader I got the heebie-jeebies thinking about how go-with-the-flow this whole production was. Fortunately, Kubrick surrounded himself with talented design, effects and lighting staff who were dedicated to this film and stuck with it. Kubrick must have been so frustrating to work with. But the end product is, of course, amazing.
I've always thought this film has held up, considering when it was made. It was strange seeing how a lot of the sausage was made, and even more so considering there isn't one thing digital about this. Every effect is done with innovative camera-work, lighting and animation. And for the most part, it's so seamless. After reading this book, of course, I had to watch it again. It was still just as glorious, but not nearly as much as it was when I saw it on a big screen a few years ago.
If you're a fan of film and film-making, and this particular film, I highly recommend this. It's worth it for all the weird stories about (somewhat) trained leopards, oxygen-deprived proto-humans and astronauts, transporting African trees and filming on giant hamster-wheel sets....more
Peiss got interested in this topic by learning that her uncle, librarian Reuben Peiss, was instrumental in American efforts to gather European open inPeiss got interested in this topic by learning that her uncle, librarian Reuben Peiss, was instrumental in American efforts to gather European open information sources during World War II. This initiative, headed up by various agencies created by the army and Library of Congress, was trying to learn all it could about Nazi politics, troop movements and strategy by gleaning information from books and newspapers published in Europe.
In addition to this, Kathy Peiss covers efforts to recover the bibliographic patrimony of Jewish communities hoarded and dispersed during the war and the enormous efforts by the Allies to try and make sense of the mess created by it. Amidst the looting and greed they didn't always succeed, but the sheer volume of volumes must have been so overwhelming.
I thought that librarians were bad about using acronyms to describe committees, groups and initiatives, but when you combine them with the US Army -- whoo boy. I did find the cascade of acronyms a bit confusing and found myself glossing over who was doing what because I'd lost track of what they all meant. Still, some individuals stood out. I especially admired former Library of Congress librarian Jose Meyer. She ran around pre-war and occupied Paris scouring shops and libraries for books, pamphlets and posters right under the Nazi's noses.
As a librarian, I was interested to learn that some of the library companies I'm familiar with today, like UMI/Proquest and OCLC were founded by librarians that worked in these programs.
It took me a while to get through this. The sections about organizations and meetings didn't always grab my attention. But the individual stories did. And the final section in which Peiss describes one particular volume given to her by her uncle highlights all the passion of those involved, and raises many of the questions about ownership and the find line between preservation and looting that underlie many of the initiatives taken during that time. A cool little corner of WWII history that I'd known nothing about, this was quite interesting....more
Waited too long to remember much about this. I did like the setup, and I do remember liking the earlier chapters much more than the later chapters. MoWaited too long to remember much about this. I did like the setup, and I do remember liking the earlier chapters much more than the later chapters. Most books are like that, it seems....more
I think the subtitle of this book would have more accurately been, "The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal to Marietta, Ohio.I think the subtitle of this book would have more accurately been, "The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal to Marietta, Ohio." The actual subtitle (to me) implies a much larger area. Even the CIP headings on the edition notice only tag this book with the subject "Ohio River Valley." I'm not mad about it, but this smacks of an editor's decision, and not the author's. I'd love to know if McCullough had arguments with the folks at Simon & Schuster about this.
Still, it's a great book. McCullough uses the incredible local archival resources (including, of course, the librarians) of Marietta College to illustrate the lives of the major figures that pushed to found Marietta as an early outpost in America's new "northwest" shortly after the founding of the United States. Figures like Manasseh Cutler, Ephraim Cutler, Rufus Putnam, and Doctor Samuel Hildreth are the primary representative figures of this story, all New Englanders who sought to develop Ohio, reflecting their abhorrence of slavery and support of education. Along the way characters such as Aaron Burr, the Marquis de Lafayette and John Quincy Adams all make appearances.
The book chronicles the growth of the town, covering economic development, the rise of the Ohio River as a new highway to the west and conflicts with the ultimately overpowered native people of this area. He especially pays attention to the natural resources of this new frontier and writes beautifully about this new landscape that America was pressing into.
I kept thinking of Conrad Richter's The Awakening Land trilogy while reading this, and I was pleased that McCullough mentioned his appreciation of these books in the afterward. I need to read those again....more
Roberts, an avid climber, hiker and historian, and his wife retrace by car the route of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition that headed out from Santa Roberts, an avid climber, hiker and historian, and his wife retrace by car the route of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition that headed out from Santa Fe to explore the American desert southwest in 1776. Roberts knows his topic well, and uses both a bicentennial report from 1976 and Ecalante's journals as guides across the route.
Recent cancer treatments have left Roberts unable to do as much of the on-the-ground hiking of the actual route than he would like to, but it seems they are able to follow much of it by car. Indeed, I was struck by how many of these places I'd been to and how far apart they were. I was amazed that Dominguez and Escalante were able to cover this area (up to Colorado, over to northern Utah, down to the Grand Canyon and back to Santa Fe) by horseback in just four months. Along the way, Roberts stops to find out from the locals what they know about the expedition. It almost becomes a joke to ask about them at local tourist centers, parks and museums and just get blank stares. It's also interesting to see the stories that have grown up around their visit through the area -- stories that can't possibly be true.
Roberts is in turns admiring and critical of the expedition, especially it's chronicler, Silvestre Vélez de Escalante. Although, as a Franciscan friar he desperately want to convert the natives they meet in the journey, he's fully willing to admit that he appears incapable of doing so and never resorts to the levels of violence that often accompanied such efforts. They didn't end up killing anyone they met, and all of the members of the expedition made it home alive.
Throughout the book, Roberts' love of history and the people and landscapes of the southwest comes shining through, despite the discomfort he feels. To me, it almost felt like a goodbye visit. I hope it's not....more
I came at this book from looking into my family history. Bear with me for a moment...
I was filling in some dates for siblings of ancestors when I stumI came at this book from looking into my family history. Bear with me for a moment...
I was filling in some dates for siblings of ancestors when I stumbled across a site mentioning my 6th-great grandfather's sister, Zlipah Andrews Murrell. The site was very defensive about her honor, saying that she was not the wanton thief that she was made out to be in Virgil Stewart's pamphlet about her son, John, the Great Western Land Pirate.
Wha?!?!?!?!
So I went down a rabbit hole trying to find out about John Murrell my first cousin, 7 times removed. There's all kinds of strange stuff out there, including the fact that his thumb supposedly lives in a little tiny coffin in a museum in Nashville. Novels and movies were made about him, and apparently he was quite the most infamous character in the south in the 1830s. And most of this was due to a pamphlet written by the man who arrested him for stealing enslaved people.
Virgil A. Stewart, the pamphlet's author, was a bit of a rogue himself, and it appears he invented much of the legend of Murrell, who was admittedly a horse-thief, slave stealer and all-around scoundrel, but not really a criminal mastermind. However, this pamphlet caused great social upheaval in the south, particularly in the summer of 1835. Stewart claimed that Murrell was the leader of a widespread "mystic clan" of thieves who were in league to create a slave uprising that would take place on the same day throughout the south, creating havoc and an opportunity for widespread looting during the ensuing mayhem.
Rothman's book is an academic look at the lives of Stewart and Murrell, how Stewart tried to use this case and his role in it to further his own fame, and how the tensions he stirred up about slave insurrections led to panic and vigilantism in the summer of 1835, particularly in western and central Mississippi. The book discusses the recent influx of white settlers into the state and the wild boom that the cotton economy created, and how the heady mixture of boom times, a population in which the majority was enslaved by the minority, and paranoia about maintaining one's wealth and status all mixed to create an inferno of suspicion and violence.
The book focuses on local safety committees that did an end run around what little law enforcement existed, dragging in unliked neighbors or traveling businessmen for sham trials and hangings. As an adjunct to this, gamblers were captured and lynched in Vicksburg. Rothman goes into great detail about the feelings and actions of these communities based on the documentary evidence. It can make for slow reading from time to time, but he does a good job of conveying just how dangerous and horrifying these times were.
I might not have read about this book if there hadn't been distant familial connections to the events described, but I'm glad I read it. I learned a lot about an era I didn't really know much about....more
This book has such a great structure and I appreciate how Moller went about this history of the transmission of ideas during the European dark ages. MThis book has such a great structure and I appreciate how Moller went about this history of the transmission of ideas during the European dark ages. Moller looks at three classical science authors and their most known works -- Euclid (The Elements - geometry), Ptolemy (The Almagest - astronomy) and Galen (a bazillion medical books) -- and tracks them during the 1000 or so years from when they were written (before 500 CE) to the time they were more or less permanently conserved by the invention of the printing press (1500).
The arrangement is geographic as much as anything, focusing on the cities that housed the scholars and libraries that transcribed, translated and curated these works that could so easily have been lost at any point during that millennium. The chain of preservation and dispersal runs from Alexandria through Baghdad, Cordoba, Toledo, Salerno, various locations in Sicily and finally Venice. Throughout, Moller introduces us to the enterprising and brilliant scholars who, in their drive to gather and preserve knowledge, made incredibly journeys to track down these works and keep them alive. She also gives great credit to the large role that Muslim scholarship played during a large part of this history and laments the general public's ignorance of it.
One of my favorite summaries of this great endeavor takes place near the end:
"Each of the cities we have visited in this book had its own particular topography and character, but they all shared the conditions that allowed scholarship to flourish: political stability, a regular supply of funding and of texts, a pool of talented , interested individuals and, most striking of all, an atmosphere of tolerance and inclusivity towards different nationalities and religions. This collaboration is one of the most important factors in the development of science. Without it, there would be no translation, no movement of knowledge across cultural boundaries and no opportunity to fuse ideas from on tradition with those from another."
(A bit of unplanned reading list synchronicity - one of the last chapters of this book mentions Girolamo Savonarola, the Dominican friar who presided over the famous Bonfire of the Vanities. Turns out, the next book I'm reading, Lent by Jo Walton, features a fictionalized version of him as the main character. I love when that kind of thing happens...)...more
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