Category: Uncategorized

This is a short but thought provoking Book. It melds the author’s experiences as a war-journalist with conclusions from anthropological and psychological research. Why did so many Europeans in frontier and colonial America join native tribal groups, but virtually no-one made the move in the opposite direction? Why do many war survivors, from the London … Continue reading Review: Tribe; on Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger ( 2016) Assessment 7 out of 10

Recommended; reading it made it less likely I shall return to Japan  I read this book having cycled in Japan. Entranced by its beauty and the courtesy of its people, I wished to return. The book is lyrically written by a Japanese speaking, Oxford educated, American. Throughout it is tinged with regret, for the damage … Continue reading Review: Lost Japan by Alex Kerr ( 2015) Assessment 8 out of 10

A sweeping account of how the First World War ended not cleanly, but in chaos The Central Powers expected victory after their successes in 1917, defeating Russia and with the near collapse of Italy. This lead to the perception of “being stabbed in the back” when, in November 1918, the war on the Western Front … Continue reading Review: The Vanquished; Why the First World War Failed to End 1917-1923 by Robert Gerwarth ( 2017) Assessment 7 out of 10

Oral history, which helps explain Albania’s strangeness, but not in a good way. Albania is a strange mountainous country, little known and little visited by other Europeans. Six Albanians tell how they survived the Communist dictatorship which continued for 47 years, 40 under the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha. All were affected, variously compromised or persecuted. … Continue reading Review: Life is War: Surviving Dictatorship in Communist Albania by Shannon Woodcock (2016) Assessment 5 out of 10

A beautifully written elegy for the last Hunter-gatherers. Brody suggests the greatest contrast and source of displacement in the human past was that by farmers of hunter-gatherers. The modern unequal capitalist world is the direct outcome of what farmers became, those who had left or been expelled from Eden Hunter-gatherers are those living on the … Continue reading Review:The Other Side of Eden; Hunter-gatherers, Farmers and the Shaping of the World (2002) Assessment 8 out of 10

The Book has fine qualities, but limitations. The fine qualities It is a pleasure to read, with numerous beautiful colour illustrations. Reading it, you hear the voice of the polymath, Neil MacGregor. He shows, through objects, places and rituals, how religious impulses built communities and how community built religion and states. “Who do we include … Continue reading Review: Living with the Gods; on Beliefs and Peoples by Neil MacGregor ( 2017) Assessment 6 out of 10

Superb, both an impeccably researched history and a page-turning thriller. British intervention in Norway in 1940 was a shambles, its targets unclear, the country’s geography misunderstood. Army and Navy officers were at odds. Troops arrived without equipment or air support. The Navy’s success in capturing the Altmark and freeing its British prisoners awakened German interest … Continue reading Review: Six Minutes in May; How Churchill unexpectedly became Prime Minister by Nicholas Shakespeare (2017) Assessment 9 out of 10

A re-writing, from a different perspective, of the History of the First World War. McMeekin describes the Great War as “the War of Ottoman Succession”, running not from 1914 to 1918 but for Turkey, at least, from 1911 to 1922. Throughout campaigns and atrocities are viewed in the context of diplomacy, politics and what was … Continue reading Review: The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908-1923 by Sean McMeekin (2016) Assessment 8 out of 10

Short and informative; a very readable introduction to Guernsey’s Landscape History. Example locations and sites are cross-referenced to the maps in the “Perry’s Guide”, so the guide will assist when exploring Guernsey, preferably by bike. There are numerous photographs and a very useful synopsis on Guernsey house types, derived from John McCormack’s detailed studies. The … Continue reading Review: Guernsey’s Countryside: An Introduction to the History of the Rural Landscape by Richard Hocart (2010) Assessment 6 out of 10

Takes the long view over a wide geographic area. Bradley argues the importance of metal objects has been over-, the general makeup of deposits and location of find spots, under-emphasised, and the sacrifice of living creatures, combined with feasting, over the long period is more important than the deposit of valuables. Deposits were made repeatedly … Continue reading Review: A Geography of Offerings: Deposits of Valuables in the Landscapes of Ancient Europe (Oxbow Insights in Archaeology) by Richard Bradley (2016) Assessment 8 out of 10