One thing is clear from this history: from the founding of the Republic, class warfare was endemic to Rome. Rome was perpetually at war with her neighbors, but was politically at war with herself for much of her history. It seems the aristocracy used war and external threats as a means to stall the popular demands for reform; since Rome was almost always at war, reform was thus indefinitely deferred. Livy is clearly on the side of the aristocracy, yet even he puts some noble and stirring speeches in the mouths of the tribunes. Livy is too conservative and patriotic to be objective, and he has no head at all for military matters, but he captures the divisive politics of early Rome more clearly than he intended, since he makes clear from the beginning that his aim is to show how glorious and virtuous Rome was in the good old days before vice and decadence set in. There is much in this work that could have been left out with no loss to posterity, but the overall theme is timeless.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/09/21/the-early-history-of-rome-by-livy/
Sep 18 2013
The Fall of Berlin 1945 by Antony Beevor
The writing and the research of this book is first rate, but still, reading endless accounts of the orgy of mass rape committed by the Red Army in 1945 is quite disheartening. Stalin from the beginning intended that the Soviet army would reach Berlin before the Western Allies, but he deliberately misled Churchill and Eisenhower to conceal his motives. The German people certainly suffered during this war, but it is disturbing how after the war hardly any of them perceived how they had brought this disaster on themselves. Many had no sense of moral burden and seemed to feel that the only thing they had done wrong was let themselves be defeated. The Soviets likewise did not cover themselves with glory in the war’s aftermath; a large portion of the Red Army that had seen the better living standards of Germany with their own eyes and had begun to doubt the efficiency of state socialism were deemed subversive and sent to Gulags. A miserable chapter in history that is worth remembering.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/09/18/the-fall-of-berlin-1945-by-antony-beevor/
Sep 04 2013
An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson
This book goes a long way toward dismissing the notion that America’s triumph in World War II was inevitable. Operation Torch in North Africa was full of mistakes and setbacks for the Allies, with generals blaming each other for failures and British and Americans viewing each other with contempt and mistrust. The French, contrary to myth of heroic resistance they fabricated about themselves after the war, proved more valiant in fighting for the Nazis than in fighting against them. But above all this is the story of America’s reluctant evolution from isolationist pacifism into the warrior nation it would eventually become, with both soldiers and leaders gradually learning the deadly art of war. This experience transformed Eisenhower from a raw West Point cadet into a first class world leader, and thus he serves as a metaphor for the transformation of America’s role in the world brought about by this war. A very good book, fortunately written by a journalist rather than a historian.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/09/04/an-army-at-dawn-by-rick-atkinson/
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 keeping with his belief that all writing is ultimately political. Although a conservative can quote Orwell to his purpose, most conservatives conveniently forget that Orwell was a committed socialist, and he is as critical of capitalist exploitation and establishment hypocrisy as he is of totalitarianism. This collection of essays shows him at his best, and I will look for more such works in the future.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/08/30/dickens-dali-and-others-by-george-orwell/
Jun 19 2013
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
The biography of Steve Jobs is a study in how a complete asshole can nevertheless be a powerful force for good in the world. It is also a study in successful executive management and business leadership. Jobs was not an engineer; he did not personally design or build any of the hardware or software at Apple…yet the amazing products that Apple developed were indisputably his creations and never would have happened without him. Steve Wozniak created the first Apple computer, yet as he himself admitted, it was Steve Jobs who created Apple and made it the wonder that it was. This book amply illustrates what I call the House Paradox (after the television show “House” about the brilliant doctor): that it is possible to be a force for good by being good at what you do even if you are a horrible human being. Isaacson argues that Jobs as a visionary entrepreneur belongs in the company of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, and this thesis is hard to contest. Not a nice guy…but a great man.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/06/19/steve-jobs-by-walter-isaacson/
Jun 18 2013
Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez
This book offers a story relevant to current political issues as well as a peek into what the warfare of the future may look like. Americans are by now used to drone warfare; that is, drone warfare conducted by US. But what happens when the United States government is no longer the sole operator of these weapons? The scary possibility is that this technology will not just be used by hostile governments, but that they may be controlled by private operators who use them for their own agendas. This novel explores this possibility in great detail, and of course, there is a heroic team in charge of thwarting this fiendish plot, including an entomologist whose research on warrior ant colonies proves to have surprising technological applications. It sounds pretty far out, but it is actually inches away from what is already going on in the world. The story is riveting and easy to digest and offers some fascinating if disconcerting food for thought about future conflict scenarios.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/06/18/kill-decision-by-daniel-suarez/
Jun 15 2013
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
In this memoir, which one gathers is at least semi-non-fictional, Orwell takes a voluntary excursion into poverty to see how the other half lives. He accepts most of the miseries of dire poverty with literary good humor, but all of this in the end is grist for his socialist mill. He seems genuinely indignant that poverty should exist in the modern world, arguing that there is no inherent difference between the well off and the dirt poor that justifies this arrangement, but like most socialists he is better at identifying the problems than proposing a workable remedy. But despite the subdued note of social protest this is quite an interesting memoir, full of memorable stories and characters inhabiting the underworlds of Paris and London, rendered with Orwell’s inimitable English irony. That Orwell’s poverty was voluntary and not forced is testified to by the book itself; most people who fall into the pit of poverty never emerge to tell the tale. A good story by a good sort of bloke.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/06/15/down-and-out-in-paris-and-london-by-george-orwell/
Apr 28 2013
Sexism in Moffat’s Dr Who.
I had heard that that the Christmas Special of ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’, would show that women are presented positively in Who. But then the Doctor Who fandom say a lot of things I have to wonder about. I thought I’d just watch it without considering the sexism, and just focus on that later. That didn’t last. For a show that the fans said would address the sexism, it is probably one of the worst. Of course this isn’t the say that it was officially presented that way, I have yet to read anything official about the representation of women in Doctor Who.
But back to the Christmas Special. I will say that I have never found jokes based on sexist or racist stereotypes that funny. I can see the bookending joke, the mirroring of the event in the beginning to the event in the end. But use something else than the all women are bad drivers stereotype. And yes, maybe in the scheme of things that is pretty minor, but it shouldn’t go unsaid.
Then we move onto the brother and sister in the episode. The girl is portrayed as stupid, as non-adventurous and scared compared to her brother. It is not just that she doesn’t know things, it is that she is presented as intellectually foolish compared to her knowledgeable brother. Boys are smart, girls are pretty is the message. There is a point where the Doctor calls her stupid. To some degree that works for my idea of the Doctor, he can be socially clumsy at times, this is the guy that eats a stranger’s jam with his fingers, but in this context it was jarring and hurtful, so much so that the actual joke gets lost. It is also the boy that is adventurous, that starts the whole adventure. The girl is reluctant, nervous and uncomfortable with the unknown. Boys it seems are adventurous explorers, running into the world to experience, girls prefer to sit quietly and read about the world instead. The sister does not overcome her fear, does not go to hell with it, I want to see this world, instead it becomes about her nurturing and compassion. She goes forth to take care of her brother, to ensure he is safe. Therefore her bravery is not for herself, but in service of another.
Which brings us to the mother, the supposed heroine of this story. Now I actually admit the fooling your captors by pretending to cry actually worked for me. It was saying don’t believe the stereotype is real, don’t think that the fragile tearful woman is the only version of woman in the world. And for that I liked it. But that also appears to be the only active role she had in the episode. In the end she saves everyone because she is a woman. My first issue with that is this idea that there is one universal meaning of being a woman, that all women will have some essential trait in common. As it turns out this essential trait for the writers is motherhood. I do wonder then if those women that don’t want to, or physically can’t bear children are somehow less, not fully a woman.
The woman that saves the day doesn’t do it because of some strength of character, some wisdom, some creativity, some endurance that makes her special. In fact when I considered it, it actually has nothing to do with her at all. She is not special, she was convenient. Indeed one of the Androzani was a woman and she would have been equally as effective. It wasn’t about who the mother was, it was about her fertility, it was about her reproductive organs. Her ability to carry life made her the right choice, but this ability doesn’t speak to the person, pregnancy does not actually require any active process from the woman. People may make choices about when to get pregnant, and choose healthy living, but it isn’t necessary for pregnancy to occur. What was being praised was a biological process, not the agency of the woman.
And this also gets to be seen in what I consider possibly the worse message of this episode. When the mother was talking about her husband it became clear that she did not choose him, indeed did not particular want to marry him, to have him in his life. He harassed her, he followed her everywhere, and she couldn’t tell him no, because that would have been rude. Again we are shown a woman that has no agency of her own, no ability to make choices, to decide on her own life course. There is no consent, because it wasn’t an option. Even if the other person is being annoying, is being aggressive and disrespectful, girls don’t make a fuss, don’t speak up, that would be rude.
The last issue in this post is about the intelligence of Clara Oswin Oswald. It is a little picky, and if in isolation I would not even be that worried, but as a pattern of women without personal choice, personal value it is yet another one. Oswin was extremely intelligent, the Doctor level of intelligence, but this was not her intelligence. She had no great intelligence of her own before the Daleks converted her. Oswin was not intelligent, the Dalek was. And then again, when she was downloaded, she was declared not particularly intelligent, and then given the upgrade. Her intelligence, her ability to assist the Doctor in finding the Great Intelligence, was not hers, she did not possess it, it was simply a failure to delete a file. Her skill, and perhaps even her value as a companion, has come not from who she is, but what others have done to her.
For the record I am aware this is a television programme, and some may consider that I take it too seriously. But these ideas of what it means to be a woman, how we decide what is of value they are socially constructed, and part of that construction is how we are represented in forms of media. Young people are watching these shows, and are seeing these things. And it gets incorporated in how they construct their meaning of gender.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/04/28/sexism-in-moffats-dr-who/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/04/21/a-distant-mirror-by-barbara-tuchman/
Apr 14 2013
The House of Medici by Christopher Hibbert
Could the Italian Renaissance have flourished without the Medici to finance it? This book supports Will Durant’s argument that art may be the flower of civilization, but money is the root. Yet apart from a few shining stars in the Medici family, the story is mostly one of decline that illustrates how utterly useless Europe’s ruling aristocracy was. The early Medici did some fine things, but their name outlived their glory. Still, as many of my bohemian friends are fond of pointing out, it would be nice if the Medici were around today to sponsor us creative types. Where there are no Medici, there can be no Michelangelos.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/04/14/the-house-of-medici-by-christopher-hibbert/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire