Morph
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New history?Is there any piece of History that you have just discovered through a book, TV doc, etc....
This is inspired by the fact i just got a loan of a great book on the Berlin wall which has stared an intrest in communist era Russia
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azzuri
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I am completely obsessed with Berlin.
Had a visit there in October last year and the history is everywhere you look. For me, it was like some sort of history porn - can't wait to go back. What a city...
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Morph
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history porn that could be a new topic all on its own! lol
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Jimbo
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Hi Morph,
| Quote: | | Is there any piece of History that you have just discovered through a book, TV doc, etc.... |
I discovered through this forum (thanks to azzuri) that Rob Roy was a paid Hanoverian spy and not the romanticised hero of folklore. Since then (again thanks to azzuri) I've read two or three books on the subject.
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Morph
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i didnt know that Jimbo, thats pretty cool.
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Cymro
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| azzuri wrote: | I am completely obsessed with Berlin.
Had a visit there in October last year and the history is everywhere you look. For me, it was like some sort of history porn - can't wait to go back. What a city... |
Know what you mean in terms of history being everywhere. Went there with my dad a couple of years ago. Fascinated by Cold War politics and Berlin is pretty much the capital of that part of European History. Saying that, not my favourite city. My overwhelming feelings about Berlin was "It'll be nice when it's finished"!
Belfast has to be my favourite place in terms of seeing modern history at work. Love the place.
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Lord Pitsligo
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Hannibal Barca and the Punic wars is something I stumbled upon last year. Check out the Battle of Cannae if you have any interest in military history, it was an astounding success.
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Morph
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onto Chinese history now. Although books like 1421 are flawed in areas they still provided a good alternative idea to 'mainstream' historical thought. The book is basically the thesis that China discovered and settled in N., S. America and Oceana before Europeans. As i say some of the book is thin on evidence but in other areas it is compelling.
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Hazel
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I just learned last night that the Icelandic sagas are historical fiction and not legend and myth as I'd been taught somewhere along the line. Don't know why I didn't catch onto this long ago. I've had the books for several years and never opened them what with other books I was reading. Always good to learn something new and broaden interests. Yes?
Hazel
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Stevie
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Marlene Dietrich was a lesbian. You see her dressed in top hat and tails kissing a woman in one of her first films.
I guess it's not really history but she was German and she rather liked Berlin till Adolf decided to destroy the world.
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Dave Coull
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Re: New history? | Morph wrote: | | Is there any piece of History that you have just discovered through a book, TV doc, etc.... |
I've just been reading "Late Victorian Holocausts" by Mike Davis. The sub-title of the book is "El Nino famines and the making of the Third World". Basically, this book argues that a desperately poor "Third World" in which famines caused by droughts often occur is a modern invention. Up to the middle of the 18th Century, the standard of living in Europe was, if anything, a little bit lower than in the rest of the world. Farm labourers in southern India were a bit better off than farm labourers in England. But by 1900 countries like India, China, Brazil, etc, had become "Third World". Mike Davis argues that this wasn't an accident, and it wasn't because of climate, or "overpopulation", or "under-development", or anything like that, it was because of European military force, imperialism, and being forced into a world wide capitalist market which was loaded in favour of the European powers.
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Dave Coull
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Re: New history? | Morph wrote: | | Is there any piece of History that you have just discovered through a book, TV doc, etc.... |
| I wrote: | | I've just been reading "Late Victorian Holocausts" by Mike Davis. |
By the way, of course 19th Century imperialism wasn't "new" to me. The thing that was "new" to me was the idea that, up to the 18th Century, the poor in India, China, etc, were no poorer than the poor in Europe, and they were no more subject to famines than folk in Europe, and in fact in some ways maybe they were a bit better off. That was "news" to me, and Mike Davis presents a lot of evidence for this.
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Morph
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I would say the same of Africa Dave. The evidence of kingdoms with great power and wealth in Africa before we stuck our oar in is saddening. Expecially now we are doing such a crap job of making it right.
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