“The Enlightenment: A Brief History with Documents”, by Margaret C. Jacob

 

 253 pages, Bedford/St. Martin’s, ISBN-13: 978-0312179977

Well, what more d’ya want? The Enlightenment: A Brief History with Documents by Margaret C. Jacob – a part of The Bedford Series in History and Culture – is just what it says it is: a history of the Enlightenment (also known as the Age of Reason) which dominated Europe for at least the last half of the 17^th Century all through the 18^th Century, until the French Revolution put paid to any thought of “Reason” in a sea of blood and war. The first half is dominated by philosophers and activists transforming society by demanding free speech, removal of censorship, freedom of religion, separation of church and state, rule by democratic republic instead of kings, the end of slavery, women’s rights and many other causes. Many met in secret Masonic Lodges to avoid prison and possibly death for their views. The second part has essays from some of the great philosophers of that era:

• John Locke talks about the best way to teach children is through niceness, rather than physical punishment (It seems obvious now, but was something new back then), and other practical advice.
• Treatise of the Three Imposters was written with a fake name and published in secret. Penalties would have been harsh for anyone involved. It describes Moses, Jesus and Muhammad as regular people tricking people into believing for their own benefits.
• Voltaire has some great essays. My favorite being that Francis Bacon was the greatest philosopher, even above Isaac Newton, because he discovered the scientific method, which made all modern science possible.
• Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had some fun essays about her travels. Freer German areas were nice and prosperous while the ones with greedy kings were poor. While in Vienna, It was common for wives and husbands to have lovers on the side. If you invite the man out to the theater, don't be surprised if he brings his wife and mistress there together. In Turkey, many wives would meet their lovers for a secret fling at the Jewish shop, and no one would notice, because they always wore those Arabian robes which covered their face and body.
• Denis Diderot published a progressively slanted encyclopedia about the knowledge in the world. He also did a fantasy piece about a priest visiting a paradise land of Tahiti where his conservative ways were insulted.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau had essays which influenced the forefathers of America.
• Immanuel Kant tried to slow the enlightenment down when he realized it may lead to bloody revolutions
• Moses Mendelssohn talked about freedom of religion.

An interesting book, but sometimes difficult to read because as the language is so old. Not an exhaustive treatment, but an excellent tickler to the study of this most important period in the history of human freedom.

“Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna”, by David King

 

448 pages, Harmony Books, ISBN-13: 978-0307337160

I thought I was in trouble when I began reading Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna as the clichés came fast and furiously at me: carriages “rumble”; dangers “lurked”; highwaymen are “cutthroat”; rococo is “ornate”; and so on and so forth…but there’s more, as we are treated to something that reads like an extended People Magazine puff-piece on the lifestyles of the rich and famous circa 1814, rather than a serious diplomatic history. There is far too much attention paid to the menus at various feasts and far too little focus on how important decisions were arrived at by the principals involved. Perhaps the clearest indication that this is a lightweight work, at best, is the utter absence of maps and the ample provision of plates of the various salon seductresses (is the contour of Princess Bagration’s cheek really of greater significance than the before-and-after boundaries of Prussia and Saxony?). I suppose, then, what we have here is a kind of sex lives of the (then) rich & famous, and if you’re okay with that than more power to ya, brother (but you’re still going to have to wade through all those clichés). I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, as King makes clear that he wants to discuss how all of these puffed-up aristocrats “made love” in Vienna, but I was expecting more of the war-making followed by a touch of peace-making, too.

“Gaunt’s Ghosts: The Lost”, by Dan Abnett

 

944 pages, The Black Library, ISBN-13: 978-1784966744 

Gaunt’s Ghosts: The Lost is an omnibus edition from the Black Library that collects five novels together: Traitor General, His Last Command, The Armour of Contempt, Only in Death and The Iron Star. Impressive as ever, Abnett’s talent in capturing the life essences of the Tanith First-and-Only makes me relish each time reading it, as if the reader is part of the regiment itself. You grieve for their sake and celebrate their triumph over monstrous enemies. This is probably the darkest that the Ghosts tales have ever gotten (at least, for now), and even if you can’t love that, you can certainly respect such a bold and unforgiving choice (in fact, one character in particular seems to completely disappear but will, I suspect, reemerge at some point in a future Gaunt story, or maybe in a different series altogether). I can’t help but respect an author who dares to make final and irreversibly consequential decisions concerning his characters, and I think it’s safe to say that pretty much everyone is changed by the events in these four books.

Abnett paints visceral pictures of a far flung future in which there is only war, and he never leaves any doubt as to the brutality of war; the pages damn near turn themselves as you push yourself to read faster just so that you can read more. Seriously, Abnett is very detail-oriented and injects so much action into his writing that I cannot put his books down – I literally spend nights reading until I finish the book and, thus, screw up my sleep patterns but, hey, what the hell? Abnett’s amazing job of balancing detailed descriptions as not to over exaggerate or make things dull and cheesy. Perhaps the best author Black Library has, and I look forward to reading the last chapter in the Ghosts series, with The Victory parts 1 and 2. If you’re a fan of Sci-fi or Warhammer 40k, the Gaunt’s Ghosts series is up your ally; an epic tale if there ever was one and a fantastic conclusion (for now) for the Tanith First-And-Only.