Category: Books

Aly’s thesis is persuasive. It confirms that wars are as much about propaganda, what people think and how wars are financed as they are about fighting. The book was repetitive with conclusions at different points in the text. However, that they were so important, they bore repetition. Maybe the faults were those of translation. However, … Continue reading Review of Hitler’s Beneficiaries;Plunder, Racial War and the Nazi Welfare State by Gotz Aly (2016) Assessment 7 out of 10

Hrdy considers how Humans evolved their large brain size and prolonged childhood. She suggests a key factor was that Hominins were cooperative breeders as are 9% of bird species, generally those which are non-migratory, and 3% of mammals.  Australian fairy-wren females are attracted to a male with its own territory. They are joined by up … Continue reading Mothers and Others; The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (2009) Assessment 8 out of 10

This biography explores a man whose life was critical to the disjunction between Medieval and Early Modern Europe.  Luther was a theologian and linguist.  Roper describes his greatest achievement as the translation of the Bible into German, significantly influencing the creation and development of the German language. What Roper doesn’t say is that he was … Continue reading Review of Martin Luther; Renegade and Prophet by Lyndal Roper (2016) Assessment 9 out of 10

This is a great book, beautifully written, taking a long view of borders and territoriality. They have always been with us, but in different forms, leaving traces which persist. All borders are also stories. It is suggested Paleolithic cave art marked that this was “our” place.  Aboriginal Huner-gatherers buried bodies at the edge of tribal … Continue reading Review: The Edge of the Plain; How Borders Make and Break our World by James Crawford (2022) Assessment 9 out of 10

This is a great book translated from the German. It is focused on the “No Man’s Years” 1945- 1949 before establishment of the Federal Republic and DDR. The phrase “No Man’s Years” is adapted from the territorial  “No Man’s Land”. Throughout there are insights into how the Germany which embraced Naziism and fought the war … Continue reading Aftermath; Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich by Harald Jähner Assessment 9 out of 10

This is not a book I would have chosen to read, so thanks to the Book Club that I read it. It is not a biography of the super star diva and her extraordinary life, but the war story of the group she was involved in who continued the fight after the Fall of France. … Continue reading “The Flame of Resistance; the untold story of Josephine Baker’s Secret War” by Damien Lewis Assessment 8 out of 10

By Alex Woolf (2007) Assessment 9 out of 10. I would have given it 10 out of 10, but found the maps no better than average. The book is divided in three, pages 1-37, the Introduction, 41-271, Events, and 275-350, Process, so 350 pages on what Woolf describes as “an extremely obscure period”. The Introduction … Continue reading Review of From Pictland to Alba 789-1070

Territorial Rights are divided between rights 1) to jurisdiction, 2) to control natural resources and 3) to control borders. The first relies on sovereignty, the second can & should be shared where rivers form international borders, for instance the Rhine & Rio Grande, the third is founded in international law and isn’t unilateral but should … Continue reading Review: “On Borders; Territories, Legitimacy & the Rights of Place” (2020) by Paulina Ochoa Espejo Assessment 6/7 out of 10

Assessment 9 out of 10 This is a superb book. It describes different worlds on earth in increasingly deep time, starting with the most recent and delving into the most different and furthest away from us in time. Halliday comments on the place value of ecosystems, our expectation of what we are familiar with, noting … Continue reading Review: Otherlands (2022) by Thomas Halliday

Plokhy is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard. Hrushevsky himself was a Ukrainian politician and historian, who wrote 10 volumes covering Ukrainian-Rus up to 1660. At 354 pages, plus notes and glossary etc, this makes The Gates of Europe a tearing rush of a book.  Indeed the earlier chapters on steppe tribes … Continue reading Review; The Gates of Europe; a History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy(2015) Assessment 8 out of 10