Good Reads, Etc. - Making History Interesting

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CoachOmar

   As a young student, I often thought that history was really dull and boring.  In later years I realized that it wasn't 'history' that was boring, it was the way it was presented by most of my teachers and school texts.  A very few of the teachers I had were different. They taught me that history was more than dry, dusty dates and events, or the names of famous people and leaders who were long dead and meant nothing to me.

 

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   When I was introduced to 'historical fiction', I found that there were stories that were exciting, full of action and adventure, such as a young boy craves.  The best ones brought the past alive in such a way that I began to see how an understanding of history helped me make sense out of the present, as well. They inspired me to want to know more...

   Movies, too, brought the past alive (not always accurately) and stoked my curiosity.  My dad took us to all kinds of movies, specially when we were at the beach on vacation.  My curiosity was always aroused by the high adventure of movies such as Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) with Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo; King Solomon's Mines (1950) with Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr; To Hell and Back (1955) with Audie Murphy (as himself); Moby Dick (1956) Gregory Peck; Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), Clarke Gable and Burt Lancaste; Zulu (1964), Jack Hawkins, Michael Caine, et al.; The Naked Prey (1965) with Cornel Wilde; and more 'Westerns' than I can count! LOL!  This passion has continued to the present day.  I am overwhelmed by the quantity, and quality, of entertaining and exciting movies and 'documentaries' available on TV, NETFLIX, YouTube, etc. Unfortunately, there is a lot of 'crap' as well, but learning to 'evaluate' and 'discriminate' between various offerings is, or should be, part of the 'educational process'.

   When I was older I read all of C.S. Forester's 'Hornblower' novels,  H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain stories (and She), the 'frontier stories' and historical novels of Louis L'Amour, and others.  I loved to seek out the 'real' history revealed within the pages of Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexander Dumas, James Fenimore Cooper, Sir Walter Scott, and others.  These works brought to life the more scholarly, but often 'dry' and, to me, 'boring', recitation of dates and events.  This, too, continues as a major passion today.  As my time remaining grows shorter, I find my list of 'things to do' grows ever longer! LOL

 

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   As I observe many of my students and other children, today, I find that their knowledge and understanding of their past is practically non-existent, despite ever richer offerings in various media, as well as literature. Even more disturbing is the way they are taught to 'judge' the past by some contemporary ideas of 'political correctness'. Even some of my contemporaries are disappointingly narrow-minded, biased, and inappropriately judgemental in the absence of any real facts.  The lack of historical perspective and awareness often manifests itself in extreme political views and other disturbing behaviour.  My exploration of history assures me that this 'state of affairs' is as old as mankind!

   In this forum I invite the group to share, and debate, their own experiences in trying to understand recent and ancient 'history' and how it can help us to better understand ourselves. I don't really want to see it become about politics but, certainly, politics is an important aspect of history.  Whatever we post, let's keep it civil! Our aim should always be 'greater understanding' of ourselves and each other.

 

 
 
CoachOmar

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"Bernard Cornwell ... is an English author of historical novels,[etc.] ...Cornwell has written ... novels primarily of English history in [several] series ... A feature of his historical novels is an end note on how the novel matches or differs from history, for the re-telling, and what one might see at the modern site of the battles described in the novel. One series ... is set in the American Civil War. He wrote a nonfiction book on the battle of Waterloo, in addition to the fictional story of the famous battle in the Sharpe Series. Two of the historical novel series have been adapted for television; the Sharpe television series by ITV and The Last Kingdom by BBC." --Wikipedia, (8/12/17)


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   Cornwell's fictional character, Richard Sharpe, is used to bring to life the turbulent times in England before, and during the era of the Napoleonic wars on the European continent (late 18th and early 19th centuries). Orphaned at an early age, he winds up in the army to escape prison. His military career takes him from Flanders, in1794, to India (1799), and eventually back to England in 1805.  in 22 novels and short stories, spanning 1799 to 1821, He encounters many historical figures and takes part in many of the era's notable battles. Cornwell brings the period to life in works of well crafted action and insightful story-telling that was often difficult for me to put down.

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   The TV series was commendable but, as usual in my opinion, a poor second to the books.  Having first read the novels, I was able to 'fill in' some of the necessary ommissions  of the films, however. One other benefit was an even better ability to 'visualize' much of the narrative upon a second reading, having seen some of the TV films.

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CoachOmar

 

I have just started re-reading Bernard Cornwell's "Saxon Tales" series (currently 11 books), prompted by BBC's third season of their "Last Kingdom" TV series.  As with the "Sharpe" series, the books are infinitely richer in most aspects, but do provide an increase in one's ability to visualize the narrative of the books.  The TV series basically condenses two books into each season. However, this requires a great deal of omission, which can be partly overcome by having read the books.

A fascinating sideline for me is researching the many historical characters, and other historical aspects of the period.  Cornwell's historical notes at the end of each book are also very interesting and enlightening. 

A great read!! As one of the blurbs put it '...like Game of Thrones, only real!'

CoachOmar


The saga continues... I have finished the latest installment of Cornwell's "Saxon Tales" series and came across several YouTube interviews with the author.  The most recent was Bernard Cornwell at #cheltlitfest (10/10/18), in which "the master storyteller Bernard Cornwell returns to #cheltlitfest in conversation with Julia Wheeler to discuss how England was made, and talk about his new book War of the Wolf. It’s the eleventh book in The Last Kingdom series, which is now a major TV serialisation on Netflix."

CoachOmar

FYI  A search for "Bernard Cornwell" on YouTube reveals a great number of Audiobook recordings, which seem to be "in full."  As I have read most of them already, I only listened to a small sampling to verify that they seem complete (unless someone objects to copyright infringement in the future).  

NattyBumppo

One book I highly recommend to people is this:

 

It focuses on various aspects of daily life in the U.S. from roughly the close of the Civil Wat to the turn of 19th century.  Lots of interesting odds and ends of information to be had (for example one can learn what a used meat shop was!). (Or the fact that traffic fatalities were much higher per capita before the advent of the automobile - odd as that may sound.)

LIfe back then was just miserable for bulk of the population.  

It is a quick read - it is written at a high school level (or what was a high school level when I was in - well - high school.  

 

 

CoachOmar

Sounds great!  I'll have to check it out!

 

NattyBumppo
CoachOmar wrote:

Sounds great!  I'll have to check it out!

 

 

It is a great book in that it manages to offend both progressives and reactionaries.  Progressives because it shows that life is far better now than back then and not the cesspool they wanta make out of modern life/society.  Reactionaries because their vision (and dreamed of return to) of the golden age (which generally is the same time frame as this book) doesn't hold up very well.

 

The book is really not meant to reflect on either position - the unstated message (if any) is that the human condition generally improves - albeit generally slowly and sometimes with setbacks.

CoachOmar

I have just finished reading this book.  I submit this Amazon "review" as I don't have time to write one of my own.  I agree with it, absolutely.

 

 

Phillip Jennings

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2018

The "American Taliban" has set out to destroy our country. James Robbins is not content to sit by and let that happen. The desecration of American monuments and American history should be enough to alert all thinking and dedicated Americans (of all races and places of origins) to the dangers of cultural destruction. Sadly, the left's horrific attack on American history has not alerted enough Americans. Robbins book, Erasing America, is a wake-up call.

The destruction of America's past is the greatest threat to her future. And not only have the criminal minds of the destroyers attacked the past, they have invented its replacement--the idea that America was never great, never honorable, never a saving Grace to a troubled and
dangerous world.

Robbins book is not only a clear description of the insanity of the American left and the rabble it supports, it is a call to arms. No civilization has ever withstood a successful destruction of its history. And America, founded on an idea, that of individual freedom, is perhaps more susceptible than any nation in history.

Read this book and get angry. Recognize how the destruction of a statue of a civil war hero in Dallas is a threat to your American way of life in Duluth or Wichita.
CoachOmar

     "Historical novels are, without question, the best way of teaching history, for they offer the human stories behind the events and leave the reader with a desire to know more."
     ― Louis L'Amour

     "A mistake constantly made by those who should know better is to judge people of the past by our standards rather than their own. The only way men or women can be judged is against the canvas of their own time."
     ― Louis L'Amour