“The Story of Civilization. Volume 2: The Life of Greece”, by Will Durant

 

 

754 pages, Simon & Schuster, ISBN-13: 978-0671418007

 

The Story of Civilization is an 11-volume set of books by the American writer, historian and philosopher Will Durant that focuses on a philosophical understanding of Western history that was intended for the general reader. Written over a period of more than fifty years, Volume 2: The Life of Greece was originally published in 1939, and covers Ancient Greece and the Hellenistic Near East up until the Roman conquest. The extraordinary cultural achievements of the ancient Greeks seems to defy explanation, and Durant really doesn’t try to do so, but this doesn’t take away from their rightful place at the center of Western cultural achievement. But a major (and troubling, in light of the West’s current climate of cultural timidity) theme of this book is when a culture becomes advanced it also risks becoming decadent and, consequently, ripe for conquest by uncultured barbarians. In Greece’s case, those barbarians where the Macedonians (in our own day and age, the barbarians are elitist Leftists). Just ask Durant:

 

No great nation is ever conquered until it has destroyed itself. Deforestation and the abuse of the soil, the depletion of precious metals, the migration of trade routes, the disturbance of economic life by political disorder, the corruption of democracy and the degeneration of dynasties, the decay of morals and patriotism, the decline or deterioration of the population, the replacement of citizen armies by mercenary troops, the human and physical wastage of fratricidal war, the guillotining of ability by murderous revolutions and counterrevolutions – all these had exhausted the resources of Hellas at the very time when the little state on the Tiber, ruled by a ruthless and farseeing aristocracy, was training hardy legions of landowners, conquering its neighbors and competitors, capturing the food and minerals of the western Mediterranean, and advancing year by year upon the Greek settlements in Italy.

 

But the strength of Greek culture is evident is that, despite their conquest by Macedon and then, later, Rome, their culture continued to live, thrive and survive to the extent that their conquerors adopted their language, philosophies and ethics, seeing them as superior to their own (one of the greatest insults a Roman could chuck at another Roman was to say “he has no Greek”, meaning he was uneducated). Our own, Western culture is still indebted to these long-lost people, as well, for amongst their many bequeaths are “schools, gymnasiums, arithmetic, geometry, history, rhetoric, physics, biology, anatomy, hygiene, therapy, cosmetics, poetry, music, tragedy, comedy, philosophy, theology, agnosticism, skepticism, stoicism, epicureanism, ethics, politics, idealism, philanthropy, cynicism, tyranny, plutocracy, democracy: these are all Greek words for cultural forms seldom originated, but in many cases first matured for good or evil by the abounding energy of the Greeks”.

 

For a one-volume study of a long-dead yet still-vital culture, The Life of Greece is surprisingly complete as we get it all in its 700-or-so pages: the governments of the city-states, their strictures on architecture, their achievements in sculpture, their impact on literature. And, of course, philosophy, which was right in Durant’s wheelhouse and with which this second volume really shines: Durant has written a complete survey of the major Greek philosophical movements, from Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages of Greece (circa 600BC), to Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoics (circa 3^rd Century BC). Durant wrote in the preface: “My purpose is to record and contemplate the origin, growth, maturity, and decline of Greek civilization from the oldest remains of Crete and Troy to the conquest of Greece by Rome…Excepting machinery, there is hardly anything secular in our culture that does not come from Greece…We shall try to see the life of Greece both in the mutual interplay of its cultural elements, and in the immense five-act drama of its rise and fall”. And by God we do, for many of the things that so tortured and perplexed the Greeks torture and perplex us, as well:

 

All the problems that disturb us today – the cutting down of forests and the erosion of the soil; the emancipation of woman and the limitation of the family; the conservatism of the established, and the experimentalism of the unplaced, in morals, music, and government; the corruptions of politics and the perversions of conduct; the conflict of religion and science, and the weakening of the supernatural supports of morality; the war of the classes, the nations, and the continents; the revolutions of the poor against the economically powerful rich, and of the rich against the politically powerful poor; the struggle between democracy and dictatorship, between individualism and communism, between the East and the West – all these agitated, as if for our instruction, the brilliant and turbulent life of ancient Hellas. There is nothing in Greek civilization that does not illuminate our own. We shall try to see the life of Greece both in the mutual interplay of its cultural elements, and in the immense five-act drama of its rise and fall. We shall begin with Crete and its lately resurrected civilization, because apparently from Crete, as well as from Asia, came that prehistoric culture of Mycenae.

 

All of this – ALL OF THIS – is with us still, as Greece itself, but in our current climate of cultural self-hatred and historical self-abasement, will we hold onto Greece?

“The Gormenghast Trilogy: Titus Groan/Gormenghast/Titus Alone”, by Mervyn Peake

 

1000 pages, The Folio Society

The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake consists of the novels Titus Groan (published in 1946), Gormenghast (published in 1950) and Titus Alone (published in 1959). This was originally intended to be much more than a trilogy, as Peake intended to write, at least, two other books (tentatively titled Titus Awakes and Gormenghast Revisited), but the Parkinson’s disease Peake was battling and his ensuing death in 1968 prevented him from writing more than a few hundred words and ideas for further volumes (another short book, Boy in Darkness, was published in 1956 and describes a brief adventure by the young Titus away from Gormenghast, although it does not name the castle).

This did not prevent Peake’s widow, Maeve, from writing Search Without End in the 1970s, using her husband’s notes for Titus Awakes as a guide; furthermore, her children rediscovered this book at the end of 2009 and published it as Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast, to coincide with the 100^th Anniversary of Peake’s birth. Besides all that, Gormenghast has been included in “Fantasy: The 100 Best Books”, “Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels” and “100 Must Read Fantasy Novels”; as all of these honors would suggest, it has been praised as one of the greatest fantasy works of the 20^th Century.

And…I really don’t see what all the hype is about.

You probably want more than that, so here it is: Gormenghast concerns the Earldom of Gormenghast, a remote and reclusive land dominated by Castle Gormenghast at its center, a sprawling, decaying, gothic-like structure that seems to have a life of its own. All is ruled by the noble family of Groan since time immemorial (Titus is to be the 77^th Earl upon his father’s death). Gormenghast Mountain gives its name to the earldom, which is isolated from the outside world by inhospitable regions on each side of it: marshy wastelands to the north, quicksand and a tideless sea to the east, salt grey marshes to the south and a rocky plain to the west (needless, perhaps, to say, this is a fictitious world with no bearing on our own). And so the whole population of this strange place lives as though the rest of the world doesn’t exist and, as far as the story is concerned, it doesn’t.

I bought this edition of the Gormenghast Trilogy ages ago, and for years it sat on my dresser until I finally got around to reading it – and couldn’t wait to put it right back down again. As an investigation into how stilted tradition and meaningless ritual can stultify and crush a people, then I guess it has merit, but, really now, do I need 1000 pages to tell me that? It’s as if a bureaucrat, having grown tired of writing instruction manuals for how to dispose of excess leavings, turned his hand to writing a novel – about bureaucrats. Is Gormenghast entertaining? Nope. Is Gormenghast philosophical? Nah. Is Gormenghast moving? Please. What Gormenghast is, is frustrating. I don’t need fast-paced action or meaningful insights or emotional outbursts on every page to keep my interest, but what I do need is a point.

What is the point of Gormenghast, then? Well, I guess about how one young lad – Titus Groan, the 77^th Earl – bucks society’s plans for him and sets himself free. But, again, this tale could have been told in a novella; it didn’t need a damn trilogy – and more, if Peake had gotten his way. And Titus himself is not much of a protagonist: he has no character arc, despite Peake’s regularly insistence that, after this life-changing event or that one, he is at last growing up. Rather, he remains a childish, whiny and manipulative brat who, in spite of his antics, demands to be treated like a lord – only to run away when anybody expects anything from his grace the Earl, other than to take their money, food and clothing. It’s one thing to make an antihero your protagonist, but Titus isn’t even that. He’s just…Titus, and there’s not much there. Many people the world over see Gormenghast as a classic, but I am not one of them. Pointless, exasperating, meandering, LONG and ultimately a waste of dead trees.

“A Man on the Moon: One Giant Leap/The Odyssey Continues/Lunar Explorers”, by Andrew Chaikin

 

960 pages, Time Life Books, ISBN-13: 978-0783556796

The Apollo Program (or Project Apollo, if you like) was the American human spaceflight program carried out by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) which succeeded in landing the first humans on the Moon from 1969 to 1972. It was first conceived during the Eisenhower Administration as a three-person spacecraft, as opposed to the one-person Mercury Program, which put the first Americans into space. This is easily forgotten, as the Apollo Program was later dedicated to the memory of President Kennedy; in his address to Congress on May 25^th, 1961, he had made it a goal of NASA of “landing a man on the Moon by the end of this decade and returning him safely to the Earth”.

For anyone interested in the Apollo Program, Andrew Chaikin’s three-part work A Man on the Moon: One Giant Leap/The Odyssey Continues/Lunar Explorers, is a must-have addition to your library. As a special edition put out by Time Life Books, you can bet that it is a lavish and detailed as these things always are. The photographs are epic, the descriptions are crisp and the format is, in a word, beautiful. But its more than just the machines, for the men behind them – yes, they are mostly men; and white, too – come to life, as well, as the pressure to land a man on the moon and then return him safely wore on everybody. But damnit, that Yankee can-do attitude and know-how got the job done.

As hard as it may be to believe, Chaikin is the only author to interview twelve of the Apollo astronauts about this landmark program. In so many ways these men – again, all men and all white. Deal. – are humanized, after NASA propaganda did so much to turn them into larger than life heroes. Granted, NASA had a program to sell, not only to the public at large, but also to Congress, and so they had to be inflated somewhat. While it cannot be denied that these men were hardly average, to read their thoughts about Apollo – the selection process, the training program, their moonwalking peers, and naturally, what it was like to be in the select fraternity of Men Who Walked on the Friggin’ Moon – is a revelation.

But a book about the Apollo Program must needs delve into every aspect of the Moon Landings, from its inception to its sad cancellation more than a decade later. Chaikin explores the politics, the science and technology, the personalities of the astronauts and others, the exhilaration of the experience of flying in space and landing on the Moon, and does so with a simple, direct, forthright relating of the facts which, nevertheless, conveys so much raw emotion and spirit, rather in the manner of the moonshot itself. I challenge you to read this book and not be inspired by fantasies of spaceflight. A Man on the Moon is as complete a record of how and why the United States at long last saw fit to travel to an alien world.

And what for? For the answer to that question, we turn once more to Kennedy (and his primo speechwriters): on September 12^th, 1962, in Houston, TX, Kennedy gave the reason why human beings could and should do anything: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. Would that current and future generations of Americans had the same attitude, today and tomorrow.

“Court Lady and Country Wife: Two Noble Sisters in Seventeenth-Century England”, by Lita-Rose Betcherman

 

400 pages, William Morrow, ISBN-13: 978-0060762889

I have read other books on English history during the tumultuous 17^th Century, especially concerning the Civil Wars: The Tyrannicide Brief: The Story of the Man Who Sent Charles I to the Scaffold by Geoffrey Robertson (reviewed on February 18^th, 2012), Cromwell: The Lord Protector by Antonia Fraser (reviewed on May 7^th, 2014) and Cavaliers and Roundheads: The English Civil War, 1642-1649 by Christopher Hibbert (reviewed on January 15^th, 2015) – oh, and The King’s Peace, The King’s War and A Coffin for King Charles, all by C.V. Wedgwood – none of which I’ve reviewed yet. All in due time, Dear Reader, all in due time. As this listing shows, I believe it is good and necessary to see a portrait from different perspectives, and that is what Court Lady and Country Wife: Two Noble Sisters in Seventeenth-Century England by Lita-Rose Betcherman does, as it displays this time period from the viewpoint of a pair of aristocratic women who witnessed everything from the front row.

And who were these women? Well, they would be Dorothy and Lucy Percy, daughters of Henry Percy, the 9^th Earl of Northumberland (that would be the “Wizard Earl”, a sobriquet given him from his scientific and alchemical experiments, his passion for cartography and his large library – and, perhaps, his penchant for treason). Dorothy, the elder, became the Countess of Leicester upon her marriage to Robert Sidney, 2^nd Earl of Leicester, and gave him 12 children. From this time on she became the “country wife” who, in-between pregnancies, was her husband’s constant champion and promoter, even if they didn't always see eye-to-eye. Lucy, the younger, became the Countess of Carlisle upon her marriage to James Hay, 1^st Earl of Carlisle, though the couple remained childless. She was the “court lady” who meddled in business and political affairs as a hobby and took on a series of extramarital lovers, evidently with her husband’s approval or, more likely, his inability to stop her.

Both sisters were swept up into the maelstrom of the English Civil Wars when they each precariously balanced family, finances and loyalties in order just to survive. Canadian historian Betcherman dwells particularly on Lucy’s charms, as sources praising her are abundant, while she is rather less generous to Dorothy, trusting too much in the often bitter assessments of her husband (I mean, how could he not be hostile at times? The woman only ever loaned him money with high interest rates. You read that right: Dorothy never loaned her own husband money interest-free). Where Court Lady and Country Wife is really invaluable, I believe, is showing the familiar tale of these conflicts from the vantage point of these aristocratic siblings who were privy to insider knowledge, straddling, as they did, both the parliamentary and royalist camps. Thus, we start with the rule of King James I and onwards through decades of strife, civil wars, invasions, beheadings, imprisonments, affairs, deaths, accusations, betrayals and spousal fights, introducing an overwhelming number of historical figures.

Court Lady and Country Wife is written in a calm, methodical tone as one would expect from a Canadian. Betcherman provides an exceptional outline of 17^th Century England – the political, social, and economic situations of the time – as well as an interesting analysis of the sisters’ implicit connection with each other and to the power struggles of the times. But the lack of emotional connection to the central figures may leave the reader feeling somewhat disengaged. Still, this book is a good read for British history buffs, with just enough story to keep things intriguing, and just enough fact to aid in personal research.

“Racing Cars (Rand McNally Color Illustrated Guides)”, by Piero Casucci

 

256 pages, Rand McNally, ISBN-13: 978-0528881404

This was one of my Dad’s books. I don’t know where he got it from, but it was printed in 1982, so he held onto it for a goodly amount of time. Racing Cars by Piero Casucci is much like Plane Spotter’s Guide (reviewed on December 1^st, 2021) in that it is just a general overview of a series of race cars from about 1901 to 1980. This book, however, differs in a number of ways; first, it is organized chronologically, showing how race cars evolved from the beginning of the sport to the present day (well, to what was then the present day). Each entry features an original artwork displaying the car in question and important specifications, but also features a longer and more detailed entry on the car by Piero Casucci – who, as far as I can tell, was a preeminent car nut. It can’t be denied that a book which is now 40-years-old is dated, but this is still a great little read. At only 8” tall it can be taken and enjoyed anywhere, and when you consider that it was released at the beginning of one of the greatest decades in human history, that just makes it doubly enjoyable.

“Plane Spotter’s Guide”, compiled by Tony Holmes

 

216 pages, Osprey Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-1780960517

I forget when, or where, or how I got Plane Spotter’s Guide by Tony Holmes, but gosh, is it neat. There are over 70 entries of classic and iconic (combat) aircraft from across the years and from around the world. Each entry consists of a piece of original artwork (sometimes more than one) featuring the aircraft in question, specifications detailing the technicalities of the aircraft, along with a brief description of the aircraft and the role it was used in. Also, there are small narratives concerning the pilots of the planes displayed (when their identities are known), which adds a special element to the book. Just a few pages of detail, so, y’know, there’s no in-depth discussion of any of the planes, just a thumbnail introduction to each. And, it’s organized alphabetically, which as good a manner as any, I guess. A word of warning, however: Plane Spotter’s Guide was released by Osprey Publishing in 2012 and, basically, is a compilation of previously-published works from the Osprey library; so if you already have one or more of their aircraft-themed books, this will look very familiar. Still, a great little book to while away the time with.

“The Story of Civilization. Volume 1: Our Oriental Heritage”, by Will Durant

 

1049 pages, Simon & Schuster, ISBN-13: 978-0671548001

The Story of Civilization is an 11-volume set of books by the American writer, historian and philosopher Will Durant that focuses on a philosophical understanding of Western history that was intended for the general reader. Written over a period of more than fifty years, Volume 1: Our Oriental Heritage was originally published in 1935, and covers Near Eastern history until the fall of the Achaemenid Empire in the 330s BC, as well as the history of India, China and Japan up to the 1930s. Funny story: I actually read Volume 11: The Age of Napoleon first, as I was still on my junior high Napoleonic kick and read everything I could on the Corsican Ogre I could lay my hands on. It wasn’t until many years later that I began this series at the beginning when I purchased the complete 11-volume set from Edward R. Hamilton, a mail order (now online) bookstore; this particular edition is a reprint of an edition published by Simon & Schuster in the late 80s. Anyway…

Forewarned is forearmed, so be advised that, seeing as this history was originally published in 1935, the writing can only be described as outdated; indeed, if archaic and cringeworthy terms and phrases that were just fine in ’35 but would get you burned at the stake today are enough to make you blow an artery, then stay away from Our Oriental Heritage (the title alone should be enough to dissuade you; I mean, the “our” in Our Oriental Heritage refers to the West, which is bad bad BAD!). But this book and series are also histories in and of themselves, as by reading this book you learn not only about the ostensible topic it is about, but about the era in which it was written, for better or for worse. Modern research may indeed disagree with some – if not most – of the content Durant assembled in this volume; indeed, modern research as a rule always disagrees with the viewpoints of previous generations, but this is irrelevant, for this is a grand view of humanity and all that was, then, known about it.

In order to facilitate this history, Our Oriental Heritage has been divided into five broad sections: “The Establishment of Civilization”, “The Near East”, “India and Her Neighbors”, “The Far East” and “Japan”. As stated above, this series was written with the general public in mind, and so the tone is an easy, conversational style that very few academic writers can wrap their heads around (I guess we can thank Durant’s past as a teacher at the Ferrer Modern School and as a lecturer at Presbyterian churches for having helped developed his easy-to-follow style).  Durant begins with an overview of the Mesopotamian civilizations – Sumeria, Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Judea and Persia – from their rise and fall before moving on to Egypt from the earliest kings to the death of Alexander the Great. From there he moves into the Far East where he handles Indian, Chinese and Japanese civilizations up until the early 20^th Century. As should be obvious, this is a general history, as the histories of India, China and Japan need volumes on their own.

But seeing as Durant began life as a philosopher and cut his teeth on that not-for-the-fainthearted subject, one must be ready for a philosophical bent to everything he touches upon:

A nation is born stoic, and dies epicurean. At its cradle (to repeat a thoughtful adage) religion stands, and philosophy accompanies it to the grave. In the beginning of all cultures a strong religious faith conceals and softens the nature of things, and gives men courage to bear pain and hardship patiently; at every step the gods are with them, and will not let them perish, until they do. Even then a firm faith will explain that it was the sins of the people that turned their gods to an avenging wrath; evil does not destroy faith, but strengthens it. If victory comes, if war is forgotten in security and peace, then wealth grows; the life of the body gives way, in the dominant classes, to the life of the senses and the mind; toil and suffering are replaced by pleasure and ease; science weakens faith even while thought and comfort weaken virility and fortitude. At last men begin to doubt the gods; they mourn the tragedy of knowledge, and seek refuge in every passing delight. Achilles is at the beginning, Epicurus at the end. After David comes Job, and after Job, Ecclesiastes.

Deep, right? But this is what you may expect with Durant, not only in Our Oriental Heritage but across the length and breadth of The Story of Civilization as a series. Insightful, philosophical, meaningful and yet always accessible, prepare yourself for a mind-opening experience as the whole of the human experience is brought forth and laid at your doorstep.

“Magnificent Corpses: Searching Through Europe for St. Peter’s Head, St. Chiara’s Heart, St. Stephen’s Hand, and Other Saints’ Relics”, by Anneli Rufus

256 pages, Da Capo Press, ISBN-13: 978-1569246870

Like Anneli Rufus, I am not Catholic, and so much of what goes on with the reverence of saints and their relics – that would be the physical remains of these holy men and women – is beyond me; indeed, it kinda grosses me out. Dead bodies (in whole or the parts thereof) populating churches and holy places is just…weird (that must be my past Lutheran upbringing coming out). But Rufus does yeoman work in exploring and discovering these relics in Magnificent Corpses: Searching Through Europe for St. Peter’s Head, St. Chiara’s Heart, St. Stephen’s Hand, and Other Saints’ Relics. First things first: this is not an easy topic, but focusing on the morbid or gruesome aspects of the damn things will only anger the devout, while focusing on the spiritual beliefs behind relics will do precious little to convert the nonbeliever. And so Rufus attempted a journalistic – not to say irreverent – approach to the topic; while she never expressly discounts the relic in question nor insults the believer, through her accurate physical descriptions she does more to undermine both than any fire-breathing atheist could.

Not that I blame her. One of my first internal critiques of Magnificent Corpses was the lack of pictures of what Rufus was describing – that is, until I Googled these relics myself and recoiled; looking at picture after picture of dead bodies or, maybe worse, parts of dead bodies is no way to spend an afternoon, and after the first several chapters I stopped and stuck with the author’s descriptions. And believe me, brother, she was indelicate in the extreme with said descriptions and minced no words of the same. But, really now, how delicate is a mummified corpse, or a decapitated head or – I shit you not – a jawbone with the tongue and vocal chords still attached? Do people really need to see and revere such objects in order to find solace and comfort in their faith? (I’d rather not know). Oh, it’s not all bodies and stuff with Magnificent Corpses, as Rufus proves that she has explored the lives of these saints by providing a thumbnail sketch of each and how they came to be saintly. But it is their bodies and their reverence that concerns her here, a reverence I still don’t get.