Peter Hargreaves

Review: Walls; a History of Civilization in Blood and Bricks by David Frye Assessment 8 out of 10

November 26, 2019May 14, 2020No Comments

I had high expectations which weren’t quite met. I loved its opening, “The mere concept of walls divides people more thoroughly than any structure…..For every person who sees a wall as an act of oppression, there is another urging the construction of newer, higher and longer barriers. The two sides hardly speak to each other”. … Continue reading Review: Walls; a History of Civilization in Blood and Bricks by David Frye Assessment 8 out of 10

Review: Escapism by Yi Fu Tuan (1998) Assessment 9 out of 10

November 26, 2019November 11, 2022No Comments

Culture is viewed as escapism from nature. Yi Fu Tuan, the doyen of humanist geography, summarises human geography as focused on migration and a desire to change our surrounds. Escapism is the construction of culture away from nature and in denial of our animal selves, which we seek to avoid, in the way we eat, … Continue reading Review: Escapism by Yi Fu Tuan (1998) Assessment 9 out of 10

Save our CoastLine Petition

November 19, 2019November 26, 2019No Comments

The National Trust for Jersey has organised a Petition “to Save Our Coastline”. I circulated a WhatsApp post encouraging all Members of the Jersey Canoe Canoe Club to sign. Included in the positive responses I received was one from Andy Sibcy , a skilful paddler and editor of the “Jersey Evening Post”. He asked me … Continue reading Save our CoastLine Petition

Review: The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (2019) Assessment 9 out of 10

November 18, 2019December 15, 2019No Comments

From the bestselling author of The Shadow of the Wind: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books 4 A wonderful novel beautifully written in translation from the Spanish original. I rarely read, still less review, works of fiction. However I loved this wonderful novel, post-modern, Gothic and retelling modern Spanish history, all at the same time. “ … Continue reading Review: The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (2019) Assessment 9 out of 10

Review: The British Channel Islands Under German Occupation 1940-45 by Paul Sanders (2005) Assessment 8 out of 10

November 14, 2019December 15, 2019No Comments

Published in 2005, 60 years after the end of the Occupation, with assistance from Jersey Heritage Trust and Société Jersiaise, it is based on extensive documentary research. It is both scholarly and admirably balanced. • Showing that the situations in the four separate British Channel Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark, were different. In Jersey … Continue reading Review: The British Channel Islands Under German Occupation 1940-45 by Paul Sanders (2005) Assessment 8 out of 10

Review: The End: Germany, 1944-45 by Ian Kershaw (2011) Assessment 9 out of 10

November 14, 2019September 27, 2021No Comments

Sir Ian Kershaw notes that continuing to fight on to the bitter end in a war is rare. Casualties spiralled, German military losses in the last 10 months of the war were equal to those in the four years to July 1944, 350,000 German soldiers dying in each month of the final cataclysm. Allied bombing … Continue reading Review: The End: Germany, 1944-45 by Ian Kershaw (2011) Assessment 9 out of 10

Review: Culture in Nazi Germany by Michael H. Kater (2019) Assessment 7 out of 10

November 14, 2019December 15, 2019No Comments

Addresses the questions of whether High Culture, art, music and literature, changed under an authoritarian regime and how Culture was adapted as means of control and influence. Book burnings and cultural exhibitions, “The Degenerate Art” exhibition which toured Germany and “The Eternal Jew” exhibition and film, showed what to dislike. There was a failed search … Continue reading Review: Culture in Nazi Germany by Michael H. Kater (2019) Assessment 7 out of 10