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Chronicles the history of fourteen lost European kingdoms and what their stories can teach the modern world, providing narrative accounts of the rise and fall of nations ranging from Tolosa to the Soviet Union.
Holy crap, I finished it! It took me two months, but I did it. (To be fair, I had a 'few' things going on, and finished a few other books over the same period.)
This book is dense. It really is. But it is also really interesting. I didn't think I could enjoy this level of detail about states, family lines, successions, etc.; and in a sense it was as boring as it might sound (depending on your tastes/interests.) But the thing is... it actually was well worth the read, and maintained my interest throughout.
As an American, even one who reads a lot, the rise and fall of political units/states seems distant. Somehow, drowning in detail, this book manages to give a sense of the complexity and enormity of political changes that --even having read some previous history-- I was simply lacking. And not just the human suffering and cost (though there is plenty of that.) The sense of shifting identity, lost identity, just the vagaries of time, etc....
This is a useful survey of kingdoms that were once prominent that have since "vanished" or have become very diminished. Most interesting has been the story of the ancient roots of Prussia and the history of what is now Ukraine, Belorussia, Poland and Lithuanian. Most history books describe history from the point of view of the political entities that replaced these kingdoms so reading history from the perspective of those who vanished is eye-opening. ( )
A curious book: Davies is capable of writing vivid prose (see the initial pages of the ninth chapter, on Galicia) but this book often gets quite, uh, boggy with lists of monarchs and reigns and ... well. Maybe the vividness maps to Davies' own enthusiasm level ... one of the only things I know about him is that he's an expert on Eastern Europe and Poland in particular ... maybe the vivid prose only comes when he's in that element. I don't know. There's a load of interesting information here, but it often feels like a slog. ( )
Oplysninger fra den engelske Almen VidenRedigér teksten, så den bliver dansk.
I'r anghofiedig Dla tych, o których historycy przeważnie zapominają
I'r anghofiedig
For those whom historians tend to forget
Første ord
Oplysninger fra den engelske Almen VidenRedigér teksten, så den bliver dansk.
(from Introduction)
All my life, I have been intrigued by the gap between appearances and reality. Things are never quite what they seem. I was born a subject of the British Empire, abd as a child, read in my Children's Encyclopaedia that 'our empire' was one 'on which the sun never set'.
Citater
Oplysninger fra den engelske Almen VidenRedigér teksten, så den bliver dansk.
All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand. The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the human material is atomized and recycled. But if we know where to look, there is always a remnant, a remainder, an irreducible residue. (p.393)
Sidste ord
Oplysninger fra den engelske Almen VidenRedigér teksten, så den bliver dansk.
Men are we, and must grieve when even the Shade Of that which once was great is passed away.
Chronicles the history of fourteen lost European kingdoms and what their stories can teach the modern world, providing narrative accounts of the rise and fall of nations ranging from Tolosa to the Soviet Union.
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3
This book is dense. It really is. But it is also really interesting. I didn't think I could enjoy this level of detail about states, family lines, successions, etc.; and in a sense it was as boring as it might sound (depending on your tastes/interests.) But the thing is... it actually was well worth the read, and maintained my interest throughout.
As an American, even one who reads a lot, the rise and fall of political units/states seems distant. Somehow, drowning in detail, this book manages to give a sense of the complexity and enormity of political changes that --even having read some previous history-- I was simply lacking. And not just the human suffering and cost (though there is plenty of that.) The sense of shifting identity, lost identity, just the vagaries of time, etc....
Yeah, this was a good book :) (