It’s truly a trip to turn on the TV over the last few weeks and see all the back-to-school commercials inundating the airwaves as if this is a fall like any other. Corona-who?
At the beginning of the pandemic I read Madame Fourcade’s Secret War by Lynne Olson. It’s a fascinating account of the woman who ran the largest Nazi resistance intelligence network in France during WWII.
I can’t recommend this one enough.
In the 2nd half of the 18th Century the Brits last America and won India. And ended that century with a colony based on racism and maximum resource extraction that 60+ years later would make any Jefferson Davis CSA-er blush.
The East India Company (aka ‘The Company’) subdued the richest part of a falling Mughal Empire (an empire who’s remit of revenue to Delhi were 10 times that of the Court of Louise 14th), caused a catastrophic famine, corrupted the entire British political system with their profit, became “too big to fail”, and whose officers had been impeached in Parlament for these corruptions. And all this just BEFORE Americans began their revolution. Through the voices of sopohisticated contemporary Mughal chroniclers- some of whom were later employed by the Company-, Dalrymple reveals their lament at the lost of this vast wealth, might and spender. And the kicker: the new price of admission to play with these “twin dragon’s teeth” of history (Capitalism and Colonialism) was the idea of a publicly traded corporate common stock certificate. Dalrymple calls our attention to the fact that today we are on the threshold of a possible new anarchy- Surveillance Capitalism- and invokes the words of those Mughal chroniclers who witnessed the anarchy while our own Republic was being born: “Study these past events, so they may guide your future”. History served haunted and chilled.
About to finish second volume of Stephen Kotkin’s Stalin biography. First was great, but understandably Russia-focused. Second expands scope to what was going on in Spain, China, and Germany leading up to Hitler’s invasion. Learned so much especially about Spain and China during that time. And Kotkin continues to dive deep into Stalin’s personality and political philosophy, and how they influenced the purges. I recommend heartily especially if you are a history geek like myself who enjoys the footnotes almost as much as the actual text.
An unwritten rule of any book about The Troubles is that the title must include a song reference.
It’s not a song reference. It’s what the kidnappers told Jean McConville’s children when they took her away to be murdered.
That is an excellent introduction to an excellent book.
And also writing footnotes almost as much as the actual text.
Thank you.
CHURCHILL
Walking With Destiny
By Andrew Roberts