Wolf Hall is masterful and so is the 3 TV series that came from the trilogy. Interestingly historian Geoffrey Elton also picked up on the character of Cromwell when he first looked at the archives 😊
I have no idea whether the Tudor England of the novel is in any way accurate but Mantel’s skill as a writer makes me suspend my disbelief. This is really hard to pull off- so much harder than we think.
Her characters don’t think like modern people, but she never condescends to them.
I got acquainted with several guys and gals via Irving Stone. In several, he told the stories from their wives' viewpoints of view. No prejudice in either direction
I'd love to collaborate. I'm,77, so my TBR list is shorter and has shorter books. I used to give preference to, books with more than 750 pages, preferably 1500 pages,
I never read a book I don't want to read. So many good authors. I usually find an author who writes well on a given subject.
World, tragically, I need only to look at history. From the time of the 3 Greeks, it's one horrible cycle of death.
Polybius of Rome, a Greek, described it well.
Democracies end with demagogues in violent tyrannies, rescued by a dictator who starts.
The Founding Fathers knew this. It correctly terrified them. The House of Representatives was B tueir solevsop, timidly granted. Andrew Jackson was a grand illustration
I love that you started with EP Thompson and Marshall Sahlins.
They are two masters!
Always an eye-opener, Lisa.
Cheese and the Worms is on my TBR Internet Archives shelf https://archive.org/details/cheesewormscosmo00ginz
Do you have any favorite historical fiction books, ones that don't seem cringe to a historian?
Re internet archive—I should add links to the books available online! Thanks for the reminder!
I loathe historical fiction for the most part. Except for Wolf Hall. Everyone needs to read that book.
Aahh. So what keeps Wolf Hall out of the cringe category?
Wolf Hall is masterful and so is the 3 TV series that came from the trilogy. Interestingly historian Geoffrey Elton also picked up on the character of Cromwell when he first looked at the archives 😊
I have no idea whether the Tudor England of the novel is in any way accurate but Mantel’s skill as a writer makes me suspend my disbelief. This is really hard to pull off- so much harder than we think.
Her characters don’t think like modern people, but she never condescends to them.
It’s also a novel of ideas.
If you haven’t read it you should!
I got acquainted with several guys and gals via Irving Stone. In several, he told the stories from their wives' viewpoints of view. No prejudice in either direction
I'd love to collaborate. I'm,77, so my TBR list is shorter and has shorter books. I used to give preference to, books with more than 750 pages, preferably 1500 pages,
I never read a book I don't want to read. So many good authors. I usually find an author who writes well on a given subject.
Greatcoursesplus.com is also a good source.
In the current w
World, tragically, I need only to look at history. From the time of the 3 Greeks, it's one horrible cycle of death.
Polybius of Rome, a Greek, described it well.
Democracies end with demagogues in violent tyrannies, rescued by a dictator who starts.
The Founding Fathers knew this. It correctly terrified them. The House of Representatives was B tueir solevsop, timidly granted. Andrew Jackson was a grand illustration
I will be reading The Cheese and the Worms. I was sorry to hear Carlo Ginsburg has died.
A great list of books!
Wonderful recommendations, thank you.
How very nice.
I think I've read all of Barbara Tuchman's books.
Her daughter, I'm told, helped her with a lot of the research.
I hoped her daughter would be able to continue, she could have passed in the surplus to another historian.
Maybe she did.
I moved to a 3rd world culture 25 years ago.
My interests are eclectic, but reading in-depth history for a broader understanding is w a big one of those interests.
According to Amazon and my records, the count is now approaching 2,000..
Yes, I do have a very active life in medically related humanitarian work.
But culture is not frenetic
Oh fascinating! What great recommendations. Added to my queue!
I have to read that Ginsburg book — it sounds so fascinating!!!