“The Story of Civilization. Volume 3: Caesar and Christ”, by Will Durant

 

 

768 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 3: Caesar and Christ was originally published in 1944, and covers the history of Rome and Christianity until the time of Constantine the Great. I mentioned in a previous review of this series that, while the language and attitudes expressed by Durant in those books may offend the easily offended (get over it, snowflake), that language is also rather novelistic in its descriptions of these long dead civilizations. This is history written by a man who loved history, and it shows in every word and syllable. As stated above, this is principally a philosophical history of the West, written before academics learned to hate the very subject they are studying (we are reaping what our betters have sown). As with Volumes 2 & 3 of The Story of Civilization (and, indeed, all of the Volumes in this series), the length and breadth of this book is both a strength and a weakness: a strength in that we get a whole lot of history in a relatively brief amount of space; a weakness because when you cram that whole lot of history into 700-or-so pages, a lot of stuff is going to be left out. But if you just keep in mind that this whole series is meant to whet your appetite and not send you away stuffed to the gills, then you'll be alright, like this bit on Roman road-building:

The consular roads were among their simpler achievements. They were from sixteen to twenty-four feet wide, but near Rome part of this width was taken up by sidewalks (margines) paved with rectangular stone slabs. They went straight to their goal in brave sacrifice of initial economy to permanent savings; they overleaped countless streams with costly bridges, crossed marshes with long, arched viaducts of brick and stone, climbed up and down steep hills with no use of cut and fill, and crept along mountaintops or high embankments secured by powerful retaining walls. Their pavement varied with locally available material. Usually the bottom layer (pavimentum) was a four- to six-inch bed of sand, or one inch of mortar. Upon this were imposed four strata of masonry: the statumen, a foot deep, consisting of stones bound with cement or clay; the rudens, ten inches of rammed concrete; the nucleus, twelve to eighteen inches of successively laid and rolled layers of concrete; and the summa crusta of silex or lava polygonal slabs, one to three feet in diameter, eight to twelve inches thick. The upper surface of slabs was smoothed, and the joints so well fitted as to be hardly discernible.

(I should send this passage to the Michigan legislature; they could learn a thing or two – or a thousand – about road-building from the Romans).

What Durant provides is an overview as to how this City on Seven Hills spread throughout the whole of the Mediterranean before falling into ruin, all while this peculiar Jewish cult from Palestine spread its influence throughout the same (and then the world). And what an overview it is, too, told in a manner more inclined towards a novelist than an historian. It was also invaluable in describing just how revolutionary Jesus and his teachings were and how the Apostles and the Church expanded while Rome collapsed under its own weight in the background. Will Durant was not a concise historian; he didn’t see the history of humanity as a series of scattered conquests of monarchs or states with stagnation and dullness in between great wars. Rather, he saw historical eras for what they were: epochs in which human beings lived their entire lives. History is the history of people, not the reigns of monarchs (unless the reigns of said monarchs impact the lives of the people), and so he paints as comprehensive a portrait of history as is possible. But as with Volume 2, Caesar and Christ shows itself to be still relevant in that the Romans knew all too well the dangers of too-much government and not-enough virtue:

 

The best form of government is a mixed constitution, like that of pre-Gracchan Rome: the democratic power of the assemblies, the aristocratic power of the Senate, the almost royal power of the consuls for a year. Without checks and balances monarchy becomes despotism, aristocracy becomes oligarchy, democracy becomes mob rule, chaos, and dictatorship.

 

Caesar and Christ, then, is the interweaving histories of Rome and Christianity, the lives of the people who lived in those times and how the rise and fall of the Roman Empire altered the way people lived, and how all of these lessons on how great empires rise and fall are there to be learned – if we would but take the time to do so.

“Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph”, by T. E. Lawrence

584 pages, The Folio Society

Be honest: the very second you hear the name “Lawrence” – as in “Lawrence of Arabia” – the Maurice Jarre theme popped into your head. The 1962 epic is so very out of style, I know, what with a white Englishman organizing and leading a lot of not-white Arabs in a revolt against other not-white Turks (are the Turks not white? I dunno; being woke is so dreadfully confusing) in a war in which the West came out on top in the Middle East. But anyway, after the dust had settled, Colonel Thomas Edward “T.E.” Lawrence wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph about his adventures in organizing guerrilla forces while serving as a liaison officer with the Arab tribes during the Revolt in the Desert against the Ottoman Turks from 1916 to 1918. In so doing, he met and overcame several obstacles that, ultimately, enabled the Arabs to effectively support General Allenby’s conventional forces that defeated the Turks. After several years and numerous drafts, Lawrence completed his book in February 1922 and published it in December 1926; this edition by the Folio Society was published in 2000.

The title comes from Proverbs 9:1, “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars”, which makes perfect sense, as there are brilliant passing insights into the Semitic inspirations for all the revealed religions, and their relation to the beautiful descriptions of the desert terrain, the harsh weather and the numerous obstacles encountered. Lawrence’s prose is nothing short of poetic, with the desert making for a vast dry sea of inspiration. But his subjects are wide and variable – as wide and variable as the desert itself. In one instance he speaks of his time with the Arabs, about while he could lead the Arabs in revolt, he “could not sincerely take the Arab skin: it was an affectation only”. In another he describes the Arabs in combat and “as time went by our need to fight for the ideal increased to an unquestioning possession, riding with spur and rein over our doubts” and how motivated they were “since the Arabs fought for freedom”. The desert is seen by the Arabs as theirs and theirs alone, for “men have looked upon the desert as barren land, the free holding of whoever choice; but in fact, each hill and valley in it had a man who was acknowledged owner and would quickly assert the right of his family or clan to it, against aggression”. Hell, he even talks about the Arab penchant for pederasty as “they were an instance of eastern boy and boy affection which the segregation of women made inevitable”.

Reading Lawrence’s descriptions of the multiple tribes and differing customs of Arabia, it is all too clear that the invented nations created by the Western powers were neither governable nor stable. The Sykes–Picot Agreement, the thing that created this mess, was the secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France (with assent from the Russian Empire and Italy) to create mutually agreed spheres of influence and control after the inevitable partition of the Ottoman Empire. Britain was to gain control over areas roughly comprising the coastal strip between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan, Transjordan, southern Iraq and an additional small area that included the ports of Haifa and Acre. France got control over southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Russia was to get Istanbul (at long last), the Turkish Straits and Armenia. The controlling powers were left free to determine state boundaries within their areas. Given the Ottoman defeat in 1918 and the subsequent partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, the agreement effectively divided the Ottoman Arab provinces outside the Arabian Peninsula into areas of British and French control and influence.

One could almost call Seven Pillars of Wisdom a how-to guide for revolting against an empire for amateurs. You will learn a great deal about blowing up railroad bridges in the desert, about how to ride a camel, the agonies of thirst and hunger and the heroism and brutality of war. The thumbnail portraits of Faisal bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi (the third son of Hussein bin Ali, the Grand Sharif of Mecca, who had proclaimed himself King of the Arab lands in October 1916…Alec Guinness, if that helps), Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi (the leader of the Banu Hashim clan and the Sharif and Emir of Mecca…y’know, Omar Sharif) and Auda Abu-Tayeh (the leader of a section of the Howeitat tribe of Bedouin Arabs…that would be Anthony Quinn) are full of insight. The nobility and savagery of the desert tribesmen, contrasted with the cold stoicism of the British and the inculcated cruelty of the Turks, are just some of the themes addressed during the course of the work. When Lawrence says that, from the beginning, he believed the Arab revolt would succeed because it grew out of a sympathetic population that was opposed by a modern army that could not garrison the territory it occupied, one wishes that modern-day leaders had read this book.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the wonderfully written and deeply profound story of the Arab revolt during World War I which, in itself, did much to guarantee victory for the allies, while bringing the West into the Middle East once again after centuries of forgetfulness. Lawrence exposes more than he, perhaps, had intended, as the rank hypocrisy behind this game in the Middle East – a game in which he was the principle pawn – ate away at him throughout, and can be glimpsed between the lines of his book, if you look closely enough. However, give yourself a bit of time to do it; Lawrence was a man from a vanished age that did not rush about like we do, and it shows in his writing; he has something to say and he says it in his own time and in his own fashion, and rushing through his book will only make it both unbearable and frustrating. But do read it, for even after a century after the events described, the Middle East as described by Lawrence seems as unchanged and challenging now as then…more’s the pity.

“The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership”, by Yehuda Avner

 

715 pages, The Toby Press, ISBN-13: 978-1592642786

In the forward to his book The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership, Yehuda Avner warns his readers that his “is not a conventional biography or memoir, nor is it a work of fiction”. Well, then, what is it? It is, if I may be so bold, an interpretation of people and events as he understood them, which is what anyone can claim of any memoir ever written; in Avner’s case, however, he goes beyond mere the mere recording of events or impressions of people and has actually “taken certain story-telling liberties by resorting to time-honored literary devices of narrative, dialogue, scene-setting, and reasonable constructs of conversations, without impinging too much…on historical truth”. In other words...he made stuff up; perhaps not out of whole cloth, but there are times throughout this book in which dialogue is invented to recreate scene and events he was not party to. Hmmmmm…alright, then.

But just who was this guy, anyway? Yehuda Avner was born Lawrence Haffner in 1928 in Manchester, England; he emigrated to Israel in 1947. Over the course of his not-boring career, he would work as a Speechwriter and Secretary to Levi Eshkol (third Israeli Prime Minister from the HaAvoda, or Israeli Labor Party) and Golda Meir (fourth Israeli Prime Minister, also from the HaAvoda), and as an Advisor to Yitzhak Rabin (fifth Israeli Prime Minister from the HaAvoda), Menachem Begin (sixth Israeli Prime Minister from the Likud, or National Liberal Movement), Shimon Peres (eighth – and three-time – Israeli Prime Minister, first from the HaAvoda and then later from the Kadima, or Forward Party). Avner also served in various diplomatic positions at the Israeli Consulate in New York and in the Israeli Embassy to the United States, and as Ambassador to Britain, Ireland and Australia.

There is a reason for Avner’s peculiar, as I see it, title, for the Israeli PMs he worked for are at the center of his book. After the beginning chapters – in which he records his early life in Manchester, his emigration to Israel, his actions after Israel declared independence, his work on a kibbutz and return to England (all accomplished in six chapters and less than a hundred pages!) – he writes a one paragraph “interregnum” in which seven years of his life (his marriage included) are dispatched. For this is first and foremost a professional history if his life. Though his book is long – 58 chapters spread over 700 pages – and can drag when the author reminisces about this or that, Avner is a quite the gifted writer and provides an enlightening insider’s look at the state of Israel, from its foundation to his retirement in the mid-90s.

After having read Israel: A History by Martin Gilbert (reviewed on August 14^th, 2017), as complete a history of the modern State of Israel as one could hope for, it was wonderful getting another, insider’s take on the history of the Jewish State from someone who witnessed it rise from the very beginning and who had a hand in some of the most important decisions to affect not only his nation, but the Middle East and the World, as well.

“The Complete Roman Legions”, by Nigel Pollard

 

240 pages, Thames & Hudson, ISBN-13: 978-0500251836

The Complete Roman Legions by Nigel Pollard is by no means a complete history of the Roman legions, but is rather a general overview and introductory work and, as with most other Thames and Hudson’s books, is a brilliant addition to anyone’s library. One of the aspects I most enjoyed about it is that it tries its level best to use all available resources, both archaeological and literary, and all written for a general audience; this means that, for you intellectual types, the absence of footnotes and refusal to delve into the marshes of academic controversy may very well disappoint you, while for the rest of us it is a grand resource on the Legions of Rome.

There is an excellent representation of color photographs and illustrations, each of which helps to bring the legions to life once more as they display the author’s particular points. The book is also plenty-stocked with maps – 11 in all – that help to show the length and breadth of the empire the legions were tasked to defend (keep this in mind while reading; the fact that the Roman Empire lasted as long as it did, under siege from enemies within and without, is testament to the legion’s durability). Lastly, there are a series of “data boxes” that add various tidbits to the general prose of the book and that add necessary detail that need not clutter Pollard’s narrative.

The three sections the book is divided into cover, in order: the legions during the republican period, the legions during the imperial age (and takes up the vast majority of the book), and the legions of late antiquity (when they suffered their greatest trials). Added to this is a wonderful introduction that sums up the many challenges any historian has when attempting to record the records of the Legions of Rome; a brief chronology of the campaigns and battles the legions took part in; and, something I appreciated, a glossary of the most important terms one needs to know when reading about the legions.

Altogether, then, The Complete Roman Legions is a great one-volume introduction to the Roman Legions. Beautifully illustrated, clearly laid out and well-written, while it is meant primarily for a general audience, the references to and quotations of ancient authors, supplemented with a fairly thorough section on further readings, mean that it can be used by serious students to gain basic and important information.

“The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy”, by Peter H. Wilson

 

1024 pages, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, ISBN-13: 978-0674036345

If, like me, your introduction to the Thirty Years’ War was through Geoffrey Parker’s The Thirty Years War (reviewed on August 18^th, 2015), then you were left wanting more, for Parker edited what was in effect a grand introduction to this most terrible of European wars, at least until the blood-soaked 20^th Century dawned. In The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy, author Peter H. Wilson goes farther than Parker by riffing deep into all of the multifarious reasons that led to the outbreak of war, especially the sociopolitical, economic and religious controversies. And no nation is short-changed, either, for while Germany and France are-and-must remain center-stage, Spain, Italy and the Ottoman Empire are represented, as well. This is, perhaps, the definitive history of the Thirty Years’ War.

The historian Otto von Habsburg one wrote an article for the Smithsonian Magazine in which he stated that the German view of their own history is one in which a weak and divided German Nation was easy prey to its strong and united neighbors, who treated the Germans as so much chattel to be used, abused and discarded at will. And when you read about the Thirty Years’ War – about how Germany was transformed into an abattoir as first this kingdom and then latter that kingdom invaded, fought, looted and plundered the numerous German microstates at will – it is hard to argue with this conclusion. This theory also goes a long way to explain the resentment the German people felt after the end of the First World War: just the latest example of Europe having its way with Germany.

Backing up for a minute: I keep saying “Germany” when I mean, of course, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which was a massive feudal land divided into too-numerous-to-count feudal realms which were in turn lorded over by the House of Habsburg, nominally Archdukes of Austria but whose true power lay in being Emperors over this polyglot realm. But they were not all-powerful, for they were (in theory, at least) answerable to a plethora of institutions that carried their own rights and privileges, the complexity of which is nothing short of extraordinary (i.e. regions, nations, free cities, duchies and so forth, each with their own historical perquisites in the hierarchy). The Emperor, then, could not order or command his lords; rather, he had to entice or threaten them to follow his wishes.

But why did this war break out when it did? Well, according to Wilson, the Ottoman Empire – the Muslim powerhouse that threatened Europe time and again – began its long decline at this moment, thus depriving the continent of its one unifying agent. Emperor Rudolf II was a particularly weak monarch who was a tyrant, to boot, as he attempted to place loyal Catholic administrators throughout the Empire, even in majority Protestant realms (his successor, Emperor Matthias, was no better). The Habsburgs were short on funds after many years of overspending, which deprived them of the means to defend their territories and promote economic stability. And, there were all the new, rising powers to contend with, from a unified France to the Kingdom of Sweden, all of whom were looking for their places in the sun.

Once the war was on, it was at first confined amongst the princes of the Empire as the struggle was between Catholic and Protestant German rulers. However, after the Catholic Habsburgs appeared victorious, the Lutheran Kingdom of Sweden and Catholic Kingdom of France intervened, transforming the internal German conflict into an international one, and the last religious European war in which people were slaughtered for how they worshipped was instead transformed into a good ole’ secular conflict in which people were slaughtered because they were in the way. And from there the war took on a brutal logic all its own, with occupiers wanting territories for their own ends (or seeking to extricate themselves while saving face) and princes hoping to achieve independence of control over their territory or liberty to pursue their faith.

On and on and on it went, with some regions of Germany losing up to 60% of their people (it is estimated that the Holy Roman Empire as a whole lost a third of its population over the course of the conflict). The resolution of the war is perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the whole, signaling as it does the end of the feudal state and the beginning of the nation state. Replacing the personal concerns and egos of princes, entire nations, based on a shared language and culture, entered negotiations roughly as equals with legitimate concerns and interests rather than as members of a feudal hierarchy with set-to obligations. In addition, religious toleration was finally established, after laborious negotiations of rights of minorities to gain legal sanction for their style of worship. In many ways, it was the start of the modern age.

The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy, then, is an extremely detailed history of this awful conflict. Forewarned is forearmed, for it is not meant for people who are just curious about the war or would lack a basic understanding of what it was about and who won. It gets down to a very granular level, describing troop movements and commanders’ decisions in depth. There is some attempt to discuss developments in military technology, economics, social history and the role of disease in the war, but these topic are not the focus of the book; although these limitations are real, they aren’t fatal. The Thirty Years’ War was very complicated, involving a lot of different parties with different motives, but Wilson never once wilts under the pressure to bring this awful tragedy to life.

“China: A History”, by John Keay

 

608 pages, Basic Books, ISBN-13: 978-0465025183

One can’t help but be impressed by John Keay’s attempt – or perhaps we should be appalled by his presumption? – to tell the 3000 year history of the Middle Kingdom in a mere 600 pages or so, but his book, China: A History, does just that. For the most part, his book is accessible to the general reader who is mostly ignorant of China, outside of current events (thanks again for the worldwide coronavirus infection, assholes!), although all is not well. He begins his record from before unification under the Qin Dynasty to the start of the 20^th Century. In spite of ending his narrative at the cusp of the modern world, there is still, naturally, a lot of history to cover, but Keay succeeds in giving the reader a pretty inclusive overview of the evolution of China.

Keay’s China history is certainly different than many conventional ones written on the subject, and, at least in the beginning, this is not only informative but entertaining, as well. But the author evidently finds it difficult to keep his biases and opinions to himself, and all too soon you see “fact” after “fact” cropping up that are merely his opinions, masquerading as such. Perhaps to compensate for past histories that put the Han Chinese front and center for most of Chinese history, Keay instead dwells a great deal on the non-Han minorities that populate China, alongside the Han. Noble, perhaps, but it felt like, in an effort at fairness, he went overboard and sacrificed much to do so, such as Chinese developments in art, culture or religion.

But there is a further criticism I have with Keay’s book, and that is that it feels like a rush job; a weird thing to say about a 600 page book with reams of notes and an extensive bibliography, but the number or errors throughout the text, inconsistencies in reasoning and conclusions without merit are just too much to stomach. All of this is confusing in the extreme – until, that is, you learn that Keay is a journalist by trade and not an historian (a reason, perhaps, but not an excuse; journalists are held to objective standards of fact as are historians); furthermore, this journalist’s forte is India, not China, and while perhaps he should be applauded for expanding his horizons, maybe greater talks with experts in the field would have done him some good.

China: A History is not any easy read, for the journalist Keay has such a turgid style that I marvel that he still has a job writing. Furthermore, while there may be something to be said for the nonlinear approach to writing, Keay’s tumbling back and forth through decades and, even, centuries creates a confusing story to follow (it is here that Keay’s over-rebalance on Marco Polo becomes obvious). I dunno: this book is informative but frustrating; enlightening but confusing; knowledgeable but opinionated. I’m just going to have to find another, better history of China.

“Art Deco in Detroit (Images of America)”, by Rebecca Binno Savage

 

128 pages, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-0738532288

Another one of my Dad’s books, who collected every book he found on art deco and its related art forms. Believe it or not, but Detroit was once a model American city: prosperous, orderly, beautiful even, if Art Deco in Detroit by Rebecca Binno Savage is anything to go by. Part of Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series, this slim tome is but an overview of some of the Art Deco treasures that can (sometimes) still be found in the Once and Future Motor City. Dad was all about the Deco, and as he flipped through this book I’m sure it brought back memories of the mighty city he was born and raised in, a city that put the world on wheels and in which the modern American Middle Class was, in many ways, born and bred. While this particular art and architectural movement saw its birth and apotheosis in the 1920s – and while it was partially subsumed by all that ugly modernism that infects us still – the artistic impulses that gave it birth are with us still, if one were to only look hard enough.

“Handbook of World War II: An Illustrated Chronicle of the Struggle for Victory”, by Karen Farrington

 

256 pages, Abbweydale Press, ISBN-13: 978-1435108196

Handbook of World War II: An Illustrated Chronicle of the Struggle for Victory by Karen Farrington was first published in 2001 – although much of the text and illustrations were taken from Witness to World War II: An Illustrated Chronicle of the Struggle for Victory from 1995 by…Karen Farrington. Sooooo…is it not plagiarism if you plagiarize yourself? Not all of the text or illustrations, mind you…just most, while some new stuff has been added to this volume – so ya see, it ain’t the same, man! All in all, though, this new volume is superior to the old, for although many pictures are the same the quality has improved. No, that’s not the problem; the problem is in the captioning, as the wording and details are often subpar.

This is really a shame, as at times this book was a rather enjoyable read, filled as it is with bright pictures, detailed maps and other doodads. It is a kind of mini-encyclopedia with a range of topics and subjects, although the organization is…problematic. This Handbook is broken down into a series of essays with such helpful titles like “The War in Africa” or “Sinking the Bismarck” along with some unhelpful titles like “A Forgotten Army” or “Tiger, Tiger, Tiger” (and you can’t even use the Index to find the subject you're looking for, ‘cause there is none). And so rather than a handbook of facts and details, Handbook of World War II is rather a collection of essays of varying quality. Not bad, really; there’s just better books out there.