What are you reading now?

[LMcD]

Quote interesting to read the positive reviews of rhe Max Hastings as my father was an avid reader of his books too.

As a reader of the BBC History magazine , his books often come under criticism by academic historians when reviewed but i vividly recall him categorically denying that British soldiers had mutillated civilians in Kenya during 1960s whist being interviewed on Channel Four. The British Govt later acknowledged this had happened and paid composition to the victims. A book was also published by an American journalist which corroborated the widespread attrocities. It did make me think that Hastings was completely out of order denying this and i became very sceptical about him as a historian.

I am surprised by Sir Max Hasting's popularity and understood he was discredited about Kenya at the very least over 20 years ago. It is incredible that someone like this is still published. My Dad was an avid reader of his books but i think he is a populist historian who is not taken seriously by academics and generally despised on the Left.

I have no interest in military history and especially WW2 so Hasting's books are not something i have explored. I tend to prefer Roman history so read Mary Beard and Guy De La Bedoyiere a lot. I always feel that the Left 'own' history with the consequence that those writing from a Right Wing persepective like Hastings are to be discredited. Andrew Roberts is another i have doubts over. At least Mary Beard is a good Corbynista !

I was already interested in military history when I went on a Battlefields Tour and, with the help of the tour manager, began to unearth the story of my great-uncle, of whose very existence I had previously been kept unaware by my family. I found his name on the Thiepval Memorial, and subsequently discovered the place and date of his death during the Battle of the Somme at the age of 20. The birthday card which he sent his twin brother some 10 months earlier, telling him that he had just enrolled with the Northamptonshire Regiment, has became a precious reminder of what happened to him.

I went on to discover why my grandmother, who spent her entire life in Norfolk and Suffolk, received a thank-you letter from an American serviceman in Iowa, and ended up, not only with an explanation, but with a picture of him. (She did his laundry for him in exchange for nylons and candy bars which he presumably bought in the PX store at the nearby USAAF airfield).

I've always admired the way in which Max Hastings incorporates personal experiences of this kind into the bigger picture while explaining not only what happened but why. He acknowledges that some former RAF personnel wouldn't be pleased with some of the things he says in 'Bomber Command', and wasn't afraid to take a fresh look at the Dam Busters raid.

[smittims]

[QUOTE=Ian Thumwood;n1351926]


'I have no interest in military history and especially WW2 so Hasting's books are not something i have explored. '

...so you're not really in a position to criticise, are you,Ian? I think yourve scored an 'own goal' there.

I think your judgement on the Kenya business is a little hasty. Anyone who wasn't there at the time and didn't see whether or not it actually happened, has to rely on their interpretation of the available evidence. If Hastings denied it I think it likely that he drew his conclusion on that evidence. Those who decided to pay compensation may have done so on their interpretation,or because they felt it was wiser politically to pay up.

I'm far from being 'right-wing' politically but it's never struck me that Hastings has a political bias in his writings. He always appears impartial to me.

It's not uncommon to disagree with what our fathers did. My father used to quote Kipling as if it was Holy Writ, but I didn't blame Kipling for that.

[LMcD]

[QUOTE=smittims;n1351933]

'I have no interest in military history and especially WW2 so Hasting's books are not something i have explored. '

...so you're not really in a position to criticise, are you,Ian? I think yourve scored an 'own goal' there.

I think your judgement on the Kenya business is a little hasty. Anyone who wasn't there at the time and didn't see whether or not it actually happened, has to rely on their interpretation of the available evidence. If Hastings denied it I think it likely that he drew his conclusion on that evidence. Those who decided to pay compensation may have done so on their interpretation,or because they felt it was wiser politically to pay up.

I'm far from being 'right-wing' politically but it's never struck me that Hastings has a political bias in his writings. He always appears impartial to me.

It's not uncommon to disagree with what our fathers did. My father used to quote Kipling as if it was Holy Writ, but I didn't blame Kipling for that.

For a 'right-winger', he's been remarkably rude about (among others) Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, and he offered the opinion, not that long ago, that 'The Tory Party has been taken over by cynics and fantasists'. One could perhaps accuse him of changing his mind, but not, I would say, of any particular bias.
The important thing as far as I'm concerned is that he makes the historically complex readable and understandable without simplifying or distorting it.

[Ian Thumwood]

I finished "Creation Lake" this week. Not quite sure of this spy novel which struck me of a mixture of philosophy and Heart of Darkness in reverse. It got a glowing review on Radio 4 and is really well written.

It is a spy novel where we never know who the protagonist works for nor can we be certain whether the Neanderthal obsessed influencer of the ecology reactionary actually exists. I like the idea of spies operating against people working to protect the environment and where this particular female spy is not a heroine.

I think it was an interesting plot especially insofar that the spy was an American working against Europeans. The book was very different and unusual yet , on reflection, about 75% of the book was a smoke screen.

[Ian Thumwood]

I was already interested in military history when I went on a Battlefields Tour and, with the help of the tour manager, began to unearth the story of my great-uncle, of whose very existence I had previously been kept unaware by my family. I found his name on the Thiepval Memorial, and subsequently discovered the place and date of his death during the Battle of the Somme at the age of 20. The birthday card which he sent his twin brother some 10 months earlier, telling him that he had just enrolled with the Northamptonshire Regiment, has became a precious reminder of what happened to him.

I went on to discover why my grandmother, who spent her entire life in Norfolk and Suffolk, received a thank-you letter from an American serviceman in Iowa, and ended up, not only with an explanation, but with a picture of him. (She did his laundry for him in exchange for nylons and candy bars which he presumably bought in the PX store at the nearby USAAF airfield).

I've always admired the way in which Max Hastings incorporates personal experiences of this kind into the bigger picture while explaining not only what happened but why. He acknowledges that some former RAF personnel wouldn't be pleased with some of the things he says in 'Bomber Command', and wasn't afraid to take a fresh look at the Dam Busters raid.

Thanks for posting this.

I did research on my maternal great grandfather who was killed in the Kaiser's offensive in the spring of 1918. My family never understood how non combatant in tge service corp was killed but we found it was during an air raid on Abancourt where he wason sentry duty on a hospital. I have visited his grave and dobe research in Amiens and Rouen library. It was amazing just how wrong the family recollection was.

i used to love Lynn MacDonald's books when i was in my twenties. Her accounts had a lot of personal stories too.

[smittims]

I'm enjoying Michael de-la-Noy's life of Eddy Sackville West,a fascinating person. Among other things it illustrates LP Hartley's (a personal friend of S-W bythe way) famous dictum that the past is another country ('they do things differently there'). Among other things is the way the 'upper ten' took completely for granted their privileged lifestyle before 1914, as exemplified in a letter from Lady Sackville to Lord Kitchener in 1915, a glorious example of unconscious humour.

Complaining about the enlistment of her footmen she says 'I never thought I should see parlour-maids at Knole ... they are so middle-class and not at all what you and me (sic) are used to '.

[Ian Thumwood]

Olaudah Equiano..'interesting narrative'

The elements regarding slavery are truly shocking and depressing in this autobiography but I have been surprised by the account of the author 's experience in the Royal Navy.

An essential read which is fascinating on so many levels.

[gradus]

To the Lighthouse but my word it's a treck.

[smittims]

Keep going, gradus. they do get there in the end (oops, spoiler alert!) .

I try to re-read the Virginia Woolf canon every ten years, but this time I really couldn't face Orlando.

[richardfinegold]

Quote interesting to read the positive reviews of rhe Max Hastings as my father was an avid reader of his books too.

As a reader of the BBC History magazine , his books often come under criticism by academic historians when reviewed but i vividly recall him categorically denying that British soldiers had mutillated civilians in Kenya during 1960s whist being interviewed on Channel Four. The British Govt later acknowledged this had happened and paid composition to the victims. A book was also published by an American journalist which corroborated the widespread attrocities. It did make me think that Hastings was completely out of order denying this and i became very sceptical about him as a historian.

I am surprised by Sir Max Hasting's popularity and understood he was discredited about Kenya at the very least over 20 years ago. It is incredible that someone like this is still published. My Dad was an avid reader of his books but i think he is a populist historian who is not taken seriously by academics and generally despised on the Left.

I have no interest in military history and especially WW2 so Hasting's books are not something i have explored. I tend to prefer Roman history so read Mary Beard and Guy De La Bedoyiere a lot. I always feel that the Left 'own' history with the consequence that those writing from a Right Wing persepective like Hastings are to be discredited. Andrew Roberts is another i have doubts over. At least Mary Beard is a good Corbynista !

There always seems to be some friction between academics and those authors of history that are popular. I suspect most of it is sour grapes jealousy. The academics like to pounce when others make one mistake and then hang the cloud of shame on the wrong doer- one mistake 30 years ago supposedly invalidating an entire career.
I have not read Bomber Command but have read many of Hastings books. I never thought of him as “right wing”. Certainly his book on the Vietnam cannot be characterized as such. I suppose in the current political environment if someone isn’t actively supporting your viewpoint 10 times a day on Social Media then they aren’t in your camp.
I suspect that most Brits don’t read David McCullogh or Ron Chernow. Those are two historians that I think successfully thread the needle of mass popularity and academic prowess

[smittims]

HG Wells: Love and Mr Lewisham.

The sensational side of Wells can make us forget what a fine prose writer he was, especially in subtle asides and characterisation. And although his novels were written very much for their day, I dont think they 'date'.

[LMcD]

Just finished 'East Fortune' by James Runcie (the son of former Archbishop Robert) who also wrote the 'Grantchester' stories on which the TV series were based.
Next up: Jonathan Dimbleby's 'Barbarossa'.

[richardfinegold]

I just finished Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson. A very remarkable book. It revolves around a murder trial in the early fifties of a Nissei who had lost his family farm when his family was interned in WWII , and was embroiled in a dispute with his former White friend who has come into possession of the farm. The Island is a thinly fictionalized version of Bainbridge Island, off the coast of Seattle. I was there for a day last summer and wish that I had read the book prior

[french frank]

I just finished Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson. A very remarkable book. It revolves around a murder trial in the early fifties of a Nissei who had lost his family farm when his family was interned in WWII , and was embroiled in a dispute with his former White friend who has come into possession of the farm. The Island is a thinly fictionalized version of Bainbridge Island, off the coast of Seattle. I was there for a day last summer and wish that I had read the book prior

Cultural question: i checked as many sources as I could but found no answer. Is a 'Nissel' a Japanese American? It's the only meaning I can guess (and I can't find confirmation).

[Petrushka]

Cultural question: i checked as many sources as I could but found no answer. Is a 'Nissel' a Japanese American? It's the only meaning I can guess (and I can't find confirmation).

It's 'Nissei' not 'Nissel' and a quick Google search will confirm that is indeed a Japanese immigrant to the US.