EXCELLENT book, confirms my opinion that the best writers of history are non-historians. African history is mostly a depressing subject, but this book was so well written that I could not put it down. There is a good dose of white liberal guilt sprinkled throughout the narrative, as well as a typical tendency to blame …
Category: Politics
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/01/03/africa-altered-states-ordinary-miracles-by-richard-dowden/
Aug 30 2013
Dickens, Dali, and Others by George Orwell
Aside from a couple of masterpieces that everyone is familiar with, most of Orwell’s fiction is not very good. His essays, however, are nothing short of brilliant. Most of these were written shortly before, during, or shortly after World War II, and even though the subjects are mostly literary his arguments are quite political, in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/08/30/dickens-dali-and-others-by-george-orwell/
Apr 13 2013
A Republic, Not an Empire by Patrick Buchanan
Whatever the merits of Buchanan’s arguments may be, and I believe they are considerable, this book is a refreshing trip through American history. His arguments for non-interventionism seem particularly wise and prescient in light of the fact that this book was written before the Iraq War. And he has caused me to think of World …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/04/13/a-republic-not-an-empire-by-patrick-buchanan/
Mar 22 2013
Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?
Pat Buchanan makes a lot of sense, and on many points I am in agreement with him. But on one point I disagree with him profoundly. Christianity is not the sole property of white people of European descent; the Kingdom of God is open to people of all nations. Like Buchanan, I am concerned that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/03/22/suicide-of-a-superpower-will-america-survive-to-2025/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/06/18/the-march-of-folly-by-barbara-tuchman/
Nov 03 2011
Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran by Elaine Sciolino
I cannot praise this book too highly. I have read other books on modern Iran, but this book gives a much more detailed, complex, and fascinating look at what life in Iran is actually like. The author paints a picture of a vibrant and spirited people struggling desperately against a hated theocracy, and a theocracy …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2011/11/03/persian-mirrors-the-elusive-face-of-iran-by-elaine-sciolino/
Jun 07 2011
Let Our Fame Be Great by Oliver Bullough
Review in brief: Encounters between Russia and the peoples of the Northern Caucasus have not been happy ones, and have generally ended badly for the smaller nations involved. From the Nogai driven into the Black Sea in the 1700s to the Circassians mostly slaughtered or removed to the Ottoman Empire in the 1860s to the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2011/06/07/let-our-fame-be-great-by-oliver-bullough/
May 05 2011
Premature Evaluation: Yalta by S.M. Plokhy
Did FDR give away too much at Yalta? Was Churchill sketching out percentages of influence in Eastern and Southeastern Europe with Stalin? How far did Stalin’s plans for annexations run? And was the Cold War inevitable? In Yalta: The Price of Peace, S.M. Plokhy goes to the literature and the archives with these questions, and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2011/05/05/premature-evaluation-yalta-by-s-m-plokhy/
Oct 12 2010
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
There has been a movement in recent times among historians and political scientists to rehabilitate Machiavelli’s reputation. After reading this book, I cannot agree with these scholars. Machiavelli’s recipe for statesmanship is inhuman and diabolical. He clearly sees power as an end in itself and not as something to be used to serve the public …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2010/10/12/the-prince/
Oct 27 2009
Rory the Tory?
File under “Who knew?” The Guardian reports that Rory Stewart has been selected as a candidate for the UK’s parliament from a safe (10,000 majority) Conservative seat. In one of those moves that makes me think that parliamentary systems are odd sometimes, one of his first actions will be to move so that he actually …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/10/27/rory-the-tory/
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