I’ve managed to dive into various strands of history over the course of my summer reading. Here are my brief thoughts on each book…
Written by Norman F. Cantor
This should be required reading for all ancient history students…and those with a passion for the various eras. As a work of scholarship, it neatly divides into the big four progenitors of the ancient world…and analyses their impact on the modern world, especially its legacy to our public school education system. Egypt, Greece, Rome…and surprisingly, Judaism. It strips away the religious layers that have clouded (some might say, prejudiced) many to the accomplishments of Hebrew scholarship, and it offers a superb analysis of how they contributed to the progress of the ancient world, and how that contribution complimented the Hellenistic culture movement. There is an evident progression, no matter how one differs on the fine details, and Cantor demonstrates a focussed brevity that avoids any heavy-handed diatribes. Some other writers might have gone to town with agendas and personal theories. Cantor offers a general survey with enough specific information to avoid chapter after chapter of trivia.
It reads like a dream, it offers fine details without getting bogged down in dull lecturing, and it highlights many of the key contributors to each civilization in interesting (and on one occasion, surprisingly creative) ways. It maintains a fairly jolly objectivity and equilibrium, but doesn’t dismiss outright the religious nature that entwined in many of these civilizations. A definitive primer for its subject matter, and a valuable addition to any historical library.
Written by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh
Well, this book does have an agenda. It takes the same smooth-reading, fast-paced, finely detailed chapter-by-chapter examination of its subject matter as Antiquity. But it has no doubt that the subject it is examining is…well, let’s not beat around the bush…evil.
But let’s also make one thing clear. It’s not the entire Roman Catholic Church the authors are excoriating, but the hierarchy, the unbreakable tradition, and the (sadly, historically accurate) power-hungry men who ran the Church in general, and its punitive arm: the Inquisition. There are many examples where such desire for power and control interferes greatly in the core values of Jesus’ mission (the opening meditation on Dostoyevsky is almost frightening)…and the book makes clear that institutions such as the Inquisition have always interfered when true faith, charity, love and good works seem to be on the cusp of successful realization. Pogroms, crusades, torture, burning at the stake…the Inquistion’s tools of persecution. THEN, witnessing that persecution (and its disgusting zeal) being stymied by those who would stand against such terrible deeds, whether they be royal princes, or common serfs. At times, the sweep of events can be breathtaking.
Frankly, the book will fill many people with shame and anger at what occurred over the course of 800 years, and crave some kind of justice…which may be exactly what the book is ultimately trying to achieve. Exposing the evils of history is one thing, but if even one person comes away from the story saying that something should be done about it, then the work has succeeded beyond its authors wildest dreams. It was certainly a surprising, disturbing, and fascinating read. It will leave you in a contemplative mood, long after finishing its final page…and that’s an ambition all works of literature and scholarship should strive to emulate.
THE INHERITANCE OF ROME - A HISTORY OF EUROPE FROM 400 TO 1000
Written by Chris Wickham
Well, this one took a while…nearly 1000 pages of research and scholarship…and what’s the end result?
Well, if you’re looking for detail, then this book can pretty much claim to be the defacto encyclopedia on the not-so-Dark Ages. From the last days of the Roman Empire, to the not-quite-barbarian invasions, to the establishment of successor states, Charlemagne, the Byzantine survival, and the rise of Islam. There is no stone left unturned, no part of Europe, the Middle East and North African left unexamined, and it stars a cast of hundreds of people - all of whom have some kind of impact on this rather unexplored era.
What you’re NOT going to get out of this book is the fantastic storytelling ability demonstrated by both Antiquity and The Inquisition. There’s literally TOO MUCH going on, no matter how the topics are divided, how the chapters are organized…pages and pages are simply lost in an unbelievable amount of minutiae. The research is staggering, and your brain tries (really really tries) to cope with each and every page…but in discussions of family relationships, soap opera court antics, and tribal systems of government…good lord, how much can a single author pack into one work of research? The Bible is an easier, relaxing summer read by comparison.
It’s astonishing in scope and breadth, but is all descends into swaths of dry and dusty micro-examination that is, quite often, the very dictionary definition of arid (pass that glass of water now…) It had the potential to be an astounding work of epic proportions (something to compliment Gibbon’s Decline & Fall)…but it keeps shooting itself in the foot. A great pity, as I was looking forward to reading this for a long time…and now I’m left with mixed feelings. It wasn’t a waste of time, but it was disappointing.
