“Vanished Armies: A Record of Military Uniform Observed and Drawn in Various European Countries During the Years 1907 to 1914”, drawn by A. E. Haswell Miller; edited by John Mollo

128 pages, Shire, ISBN-13: 978-0747807391

Archibald Ernest Haswell Miller was a Scottish soldier, painter and historian who studied at the Glasgow School of Art between 1906 and 1909 and becoming a probationary Professor and traveling to study in Paris, Vienna, Munich and Berlin. It was during these travels that he painted the majority of the figures in this book. During World War One He served with the Highland Light Infantry at Gallipoli, Palestine and France, during which service he was awarded the Military Cross, attained the rank of Captain, and continued to sketch and paint as opportunities arose. He became a prolific painter of military portraits and his work was exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Scottish Academy and elsewhere. For the last 25 years of his life, Haswell Miller was an advisor to the Army Museums Ogilby Trust. He died in 1979 aged 92. (92!)

Thank goodness one such as he was around, for his solid, eyewitness full-color watercolors of European soldiers as seen in public in pre-World War One (and a little later) are extraordinary in their simplicity and detail. Many of the uniforms are thus some variation of social or walking-out dress with no close ups of badges or insignia. Also, by the nature of things, bandsmen are well represented, as are some cloaks, capes, and overcoats as worn in colder weather. Great Britain and Germany have the most numerous examples, but smaller countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands can be seen as well. The range of subjects makes no attempt at being comprehensive, but rather is just what chance presented to the traveling artist during this time. Since color photography was rare back then, this is the next best thing.

“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”, by Ransom Riggs

352 pages, Quirk Books, ISBN-13: 978-1594744761

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children offers a unique premise in that it combines an original story with a series of vintage – though peculiar – photographs to present a tale that is both whimsical and chilling. I loved the idea of this book. 16-year-old Jacob grows up listening to the tales of his grandfather’s childhood in an orphanage filled with children with unusual powers and evil monsters lurking in the shadows. As Jacob grows older, he begins to doubt the veracity of his grandfather’s tales, believing that they grew out of his struggles under the Nazi regime. When Jacob’s grandfather is killed under mysterious circumstances, Jacob decides to investigate his grandfather’s past by going to the orphanage where he grew up. Once there, Jacob discovers that the people – and monsters – might be real after all.

This book starts out really strong. The action starts immediately, Jacob is witty and likeable, and a chilling mystery is introduced. Ransom Riggs does a great job in building suspense; I almost felt like I was reading a ghost story at the beginning with the constant references to the past and the expectation of something really scary happening. However, my expectations fell flat, and I realized that this book is a little bit all over the place. For one thing the pacing of the book is off: the beginning moves quickly; the end moves quickly; but the middle just laaaaaags. I felt the middle focused more on world-building (although Riggs does portray a very unique world) and introducing characters rather than actually moving the plot forward. There could have been a better balance. I also felt like there were a lot of flat characters, for while Jacob and Emma are the most well-rounded characters Emma only appears in half of the book; perhaps this is because this is Riggs’ debut novel and he has a LARGE cast of characters. My guess is that the sequel will be much smoother.

The vintage images in this book are haunting and set the tone perfectly. The mystery is creative if a bit inscrutable. I loved Jacob’s search for the truth, but the explanations were fuzzy and the bad guys a bit over the top. I was a little disappointed that the book wasn’t MORE whimsical. It seemed to get a bit too caught up in its structural device without working more on character development. I wish the author had developed the story a bit more. Still, it has a lot of mystery, action and suspense. I am divided on whether I will continue to reading the series, however, I would still recommend this book to most young adult readers looking for something unusual and different to read. It’s worth it for the photos alone.

“Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, 1600 – 1900”, by Stephen R. Bown

336 pages, Thomas Dunne Books, ISBN-13: 978-0312616113

Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, 1600 – 1900 by Stephen R. Bown is a centuries-spanning survey of six corporations that were virtually sovereign governments unto themselves:

• The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC, “United East India Company”) was chartered in 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands and granted a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia and, as such, possessed a vast array of quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies – but within 200 years the VOC was gone - bankrupt, unable to pay dividends, corrupt and the victim of changing tastes, which made spices less profitable.

• The English East India Company (EIC, “Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies”) was joint-stock company chartered by Elizabeth I in 1600 to pursue trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent, Qing Dynasty China, North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan. The company rose to account for half of the world’s trade, particularly trade in basic commodities that included cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpeter, tea and opium. The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India.

• The Dutch West India Company (Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie, GWIC, “Chartered West India Company”) was chartered in 1621 and granted a trade monopoly in the West Indies (meaning the Caribbean) and given jurisdiction over the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America. The area where the company could operate consisted of West Africa (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope) and the Americas, which included the Pacific Ocean and the eastern part of New Guinea. The intended purpose of the charter was to eliminate competition, particularly Spanish or Portuguese, between the various trading posts established by the merchants. The West India Company suffered a long agony, finally succumbing in 1674.

• The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC, “The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson’s Bay”), is the most successful; of all the companies surveyed here as it is the only one that is still extant. Founded in 1670 as a fur trading business, today Hudson’s Bay Company is owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada and the United States, including Hudson’s Bay, Home Outfitters, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue and three Zellers liquidation stores.

• The Russian-American Company (RAC, “Russian-American Company Under His Imperial Majesty’s Highest Protection”) was chartered by Tsar Paul I in 1799 and was expected to establish new settlements in Russian America while simultaneously carrying out an expanded colonization program, yet is remembered mainly for virtually decimating the sea otter population of the Pacific Northwest.

• The British South Africa Company (BSAC) was established in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes’ Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd. which had originally competed to exploit the expected mineral wealth of Mashonaland but united because of common economic interests and to secure The company’s Royal Charter was modeled on that of the British East India Company.

Besides their quasi-governmental roles that made them both the civil government and the mercantile class, they had other factors in common, including charismatic and larger-than-life leaders: The VOC’s Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the British East India Company’s Robert Clive (“Clive of India”), The Russian-American Company was led by Alexander Andreyevich Baranov who not only played an active role in the Russian-American Company, but was also the first governor of Russian Alaska, the British South Africa Company was led by Cecil Rhodes, as ambitious and ruthless a man who ever headed a corporation, while the Hudson’s Bay Company was led George Simpson, “The Little Emperor”.

When a book attempts to profile any number of interesting individuals and situations, the highest compliment is to say it encourages you to go out and read more about those people and events. That is exactly what happened here with Mr. Bown’s book, as he gives interesting insights into the times and the background and characters that shaped much of the world as we know it today. For all their faults, these corporations can be said to have opened up the world to commerce, shaping the international trade we have today. While I could have done without Mr. Bown’s pontifications around slavery, apartheid and the like, in favor of just reporting the facts, I suppose he felt strongly about the abuses that occurred, or wanted to distance himself as much from them as possible. Regardless, it is a good read on an interesting period in the world history.