Monday Question, and Contests!
Crap. Ingmar Bergman is dead. He was only 89, but the good ones always go too young.
*is sad*
We’ll get to Monday questions in a second. First of all, the kids are on a massive Star Wars binge. And despite my protests they’ve watched all six “episodes.” So far Episode III is their favorite–but while watching the ending, now they have Hayden Christensen showing up as Anakin instead of whoever-it-was in the original.
*sigh* I can’t even tell you how wrong I find that. I mean, the most recent three movies were a violation of all that was Star Wars holy. I’m no geek purist, but come on, did we have to do this? Did we HAVE to?
Enough of that! On to Monday Questions! This question was sent in by Reader Elise, and was bumped up the queue because I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately.
You occasionally mention the influence that history plays in your work. So what’s on the “world history” shelf in your bookcase? Which history books are your staples, your inspiration, which books would you recommend to a young person who mostly slept through highschool history classes but suddenly stops to think, just what IS a Huguenot?
Ahh, history. We all know I’m in love with the stuff. It’s a nice clean high, too, pretty much uncut, unless you’re reading a historian with an axe to grind.But even then there are so many different books and sources you can make a stab at the truth by skewing between what Everyone Says.
What’s on the world history shelf on my bookcase? Well, I have about three bookcases’ worth of history. There’s a Roman section, and a French revolution section (with a small Napoleon contingent threatening on the flank) and assorted other stuff. My main historical interests are split between the Roman Empire (the Revolution and the Empire, I should say) including the Byzantine Empire (not really the same thing but they considered themselves Romans) and the French Revolution. Oddly enough, my interest in the French Revolution is part of my interest in American history–Rousseau and Voltaire can be considered godfathers of our country, in a way; and if not for the French our own Revolution would have been a great deal chancier.
Plus, the personalities of the French Revolution–Saint-Just, Robespierre, Danton, Desmoulins, Mirabeau, Talleyrand–I could go on and on. Surely such a constellation of talent in so short a timeframe is the work of some great genius, or of fantastic bad luck. It was bloody and brutal, but in the manner of all brutal spectacles, oddly fascinating. The process whereby revolutionaries co-opted the Constitution they had worked for so hard and centralised government, instilling a repression worse than anything in the last days of the ancien regime, is so stunning. As a matter of fact, it was the relaxation in Louis XV and XVI’s reigns that allowed the Revolution its intellectual fuel–
Stop me. You see how bad it is?
I also have an interest in Warring States Japan and World War II on the Eastern Front. I’ve reached the stage where my historical tastes are very definite, I like what I like, so a lot of “general” or one-shot history books (like Salt, for example) don’t move me. Unfortunately, this is also the stage where one starts needing/wanting books one can’t get without special order. Specialist texts and the like.
It’s not easy, being a geek. Sometimes it’s downright expensive.
Let’s see, what did Elise actually ask? Oh, yeah. Staples and inspiration.
I think there’s no better staple and inspiration than (you know what I’m going to say) Gibbon’s Decline And Fall of the Roman Empire. You can start out with the abridged and move on to the Everyman’s Library six-volume cloth hardbound set. *beams* That’s what I did. The joy of Gibbon is not quite his scholarship; his is the definitive work despite his rather startling bigotry in favor of the English. (Understandable, of course.)
No, the joy of Gibbon is his sense of ironic humor and his footnotes. You have not truly read a history book until you have laughed out loud at a Gibbon footnote. Plus, his analysis of the effect of Christianity on the Roman Empire is stunning. I recommend Gibbon for everyone. It’s like the panacea of history. There’s very little a good dose of Gibbon won’t cure, especially when one is feeling down.
Other staples include John Julius Norwich’s History of Byzantium, also in the abridged before one attempts the three-volume set, and Carlyle’s work on the French Revolution.
An aside about that last: John Stuart Mill had the manuscript, and it got burned while in his possession (I believe it was a chambermaid who needed to start a fire, or some such.) In those days, one couldn’t just print off another copy. Carlyle, the magnificent bastard, got the news and promptly sat down and rewrote the entire goddamn thing, largely from memory.
And people say history is boring.
I could go on and on but I won’t. Elise’s last question was what I’d recommend for young people who slept through high school history classes.
Firstly, I wouldn’t blame them. For some reason, the school version of history is bloodless, juiceless, and a violation of one of humanity’s highest arts. I am lucky that I largely educated myself through voracious reading (in between drinking bouts and beatings) in high school and beyond. As a result, whenever teachers and school textbooks were in danger of pressing any joy in learning out of me (and that is their function, but that’s another blog post) I had a Sekrit Weapon: the books I was already coming to regard as my best friends and faithful companions.
But say They got to you in high school, and now you’re trying to repair the damage.
Start with Gibbon in abridged form, Norwich in the abridged form, and in the General History aisle of Borders/B & N/your local indie bookstore. (Try the latter first, of course.)
I recommend Gibbon and Norwich because studying Roman history is essential for any American, or even any Western European. So much of our legal system, our legislative habits, and even our worldview had its inception with those bloody, awful, bigoted, warlike, and utterly magnificent Romans. Even our languages have their roots twining about the trunk of Latin. There is no better way to get interested in a personal connection to history than when one can see its effects on one’s own daily life.
After you get done with Gibbon and Norwich, poke through the General History section. We live in a time of embarrassment of riches when it comes to cheap, well-written books for a general audience interested in history. While Jared Diamond and Mark Kurlansky aren’t for me, the average and even not-so-average reader will find generally something interesting and worthy of further study in their books. Above all, follow your own interests. Say Napoleon doesn’t thrill you but Kaunitz does? Start studying Empress Maria-Theresa and Austrian history. Say Germany doesn’t interest you but Prussia does? Go for it. If none of this works, branch out geographically–find something about Eastern Europe or Russia, or Thailand, or China–you get the idea.
We think of History as a bloodless little gnome on a boring little dusty shelf. Not so, not so! History is full of war, adultery, gladiators, double-dealing, intrigue, greatness missed by a hair, irony, the blackest tragedy and most grinning comedy.
In other words, it’s damn fine reading no matter which way you slice it. The fact that it educates you about what is likely to happen in the future (since the only constant in human affairs is human nature) is a side benefit. Read History for the same reason you read the tabloids, honey. It’s all–or mostly–Schadenfreude.
My, this blog post is turning out to be a monster.
The very last thing I have to announce is the outcome of a few contests.
What, you didn’t know there were contests? Hm. You must not be signed up for the Dark Side. Heh.
All right! So the winners of the First Come First Served contest are…Readers Daniela K. and Michelle P.! They get signed ARCs of The Devil’s Right Hand.
The winner of the Reviewers Contests is Meara B, who gets an ARC too. Other reviewers will get their email addys sent to Orbit, hopefully Orbit can fix you up.
We have only one winner for the Grand Trivia Contest. This contest is for the first three Valentine books, signed, with the new covers.
The questions are as follows:
1. Name the symbiote inside a Watcher.
2. What is Kaia Steelflower’s House?
3. There is a gargoyle in the Watcher series. Name him.
4. Why does Captain Jack hate Dante so much?
5. Name Jack Gray’s father.
6. What is Polyamour’s birth name, and where did she train?
7. How did Sigma find Cath?
Be the first person to answer them all correctly and send your answers to me in an email with the subject line “Valentine Grand Trivia Contest” and you could win. I have one more set to give away.
There. See how I save the best for last?
Have a great Monday, Readers. I have a Kismet book to revise…
