Summer Reading
Our new Coffee House editor Lila Shapiro has asked the TPM staff to share our summer reading lists here at TPMCafe's Coffee House blog. And I must confess that while I frequently fantasize that I'm going to read more Nabokov or any other sort of highbrow literature, I almost always end up spending whatever free time I have reading history. And that usually spending some span of months digging into one era before getting my fill of it and moving on to another.
At the moment I'm reading a series of books on World War I and World War II, mainly the first -- not so much the wars proper, but the periods leading up to them and what factors pushed the countries to war.
Most of my interest is just characterological. I've been on history kicks like this for my whole adult life. And at this point I just figure it's a permanent condition. But reading these books -- or in several cases rereading them -- has helped me work through, though not in any particularly linear or direct way, my thoughts about the Bush years and the last two decades, going back to the end of the Cold War.
Normally, anything so recent as the 20th century doesn't quite do it for me in the history department. But this is an exception.
So, what are the books. I'll list off a few of them. Castles of Steel, classic old-fashioned narrative history, about the war at sea between Britain and the Germany during World War I. Loved it. Was deeply bummed when I finished. It's basically a follow-on to the author's Dreadnought, a history of the Anglo-German antagonism. Also very good, but not quite as gripping.
Europe's Last Summer, Who Started the Great War of 1914? The author is David Fromkin, author of the classic A Peace to End All Peace. But this is a concise examination of a specific question: why did Europe go to war in 1914? I'm rereading it now. And it's the one which has made me think most about American foreign policy in the last decade.
In the main this is a popularization of scholarship from the second half of the twentieth century which has made its way into the popular consciousness to only a limited extent. In short, World War I wasn't an unavoidable tragedy or the result merely of secret treaties and alliances. It was engineered intentionally by high-ranking political and military leaders in Germany and Austria who believed time was against them and that it was in their interest to bring about a major war sooner rather than later. Militarism and imperial paranoia are the issues. Fascinating, brief book. A little over clever at times. But fascinating.
The Road to War, a clear overview of the internal politics (both popular and at the highest levels of government) of the World War II combatant countries in the years leading up to World War II. A very helpful overview and does a good job brushing away a lot of the cobwebs and cliches about appeasement and rearmament. Good stuff.
Strange Victory, Hitler's Conquest of France. I read this when it came out back in 2002 and actually did a brief review of it on TPM -- used to do a lot more book reviews. The title is a play on Marc Bloch's posthumous classic Strange Defeat. And Ernest May turns the question on its head. Why did France lose the battle of France when France was, at least arguably the militarily stronger combatant? We tend to treat this as a given -- the fall of France sets the stage for the war in Europe, at least as it plays out in the West. But May explains why the real question to be asked is not so much what is it about France that made her lose? But why did Germany win? May's answer comes in an extremely compelling and readable argument about the nature of intelligence -- particularly military intelligence and the way France's failure in this regard led to her defeat and the way Germany's intelligence, though in many ways disorganized and imperfect, led to her victory. Really one of the most thought-provoking books I've read this decade. I think I'm going to go back and read it again.
Question for readers, I've been mulling over the issues raised by Europe's Last Summer for a bit now and I'm eager for a little more naval history diversion. Who has good recommendations?
I liked "The Great Influenza". it could happen again....
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Influenza-Deadliest-Plague-History/dp/0670894737
"In this sweeping history, Barry (Rising Tide) explores how the deadly confluence of biology (a swiftly mutating flu virus that can pass between animals and humans) and politics (President Wilson's all-out war effort in WWI) created conditions in which the virus thrived, killing more than 50 million worldwide and perhaps as many as 100 million in just a year. Overcrowded military camps and wide-ranging troop deployments allowed the highly contagious flu to spread quickly; transport ships became "floating caskets." Yet the U.S. government refused to shift priorities away from the war and, in effect, ignored the crisis."
July 1, 2008 10:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
And to tie up pre-WWII reading, Ian Kershaw's Fateful Choices.
July 1, 2008 11:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the run-up-to-WW2 category, if you haven't read Richard Evans's syntheses THE COMING OF THE THIRD REICH and THE THIRD REICH IN POWER, they're just terrific, fascinating studies of what precisely laid the ground for such a regime to take (and hold) power. The third volume of three, THE THIRD REICH AT WAR, hasn't been published yet. Still worth reading those two.
SF
July 1, 2008 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Er, Josh.
Just sayin'
FREE MassDem!!!!!!
Thank you.
July 1, 2008 11:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seconded!
July 2, 2008 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thirded
July 2, 2008 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and you might like
http://www.google.com/books?id=512rL7waCXsC&dq=touchpoints&pg=PP1&ots=qJIWRlAtps&sig=ji8yJbcpn5LSKs5gBbLKXPJ97M8
:D
Very illuminating.
July 1, 2008 11:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
This type of subject always brings to mind the Peanuts cartoon, where Lucy, Linus and Charlie are laying on the ground looking at the clouds. Lucy says,"Isn't it amazing how many pictures you can see in the crowds?" Linus says, "Sure is. Over there is the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and over there is the Mona Lisa, and I see Washington Crossing the Deleware over there. What do you see Charlie Brown?" Charlie says, "Well, I was going to say I see a horsie and a doggy and a frog, but I changed my mind."
I changed my mind about listing my reading choices.
July 2, 2008 12:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
On WW I, there is the classic miltary history by B.H. Liddell Hart which has a couple of versions. I prefer "Strategy", Praeger, 2nd revised edition, 1967. This is the cite for my copy which I have had since I read it at Duke; it puts WW I into historical, strategic context; it was first published in 1934 and has not "aged"; if you have not read it and are interested in the first half of the last century, you have missed an important work. It was the "bible" of the Germans in the interwar years and also taken seriously by a few Americans, notably Patton and George C. Marshall. Also, A.T. Mahan's "Influence of Seapower on History" was, and still is to a substantial degree, the single most influential work on Naval strategy (note I am, and have been, talking about strategy, not tactics); just apply the theory of choke points to today's technology.
On a different subject matter but relevant, perhaps, to your post, I also suggest the following: Lynn Hunt, "Inventing Human Rights: A History", W.W. Norton & Co., 2007 (this is somewhat controversial here but is quite respected in the UK); Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, "Defyng Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights: 1919-1950", W.W. Norton & Co., 2008 (an importatn contribution to understanding the underlying politcs of the South but I wish it had a greater examination of the Textile General Strike as well as the use of religion as a tool of worker repression; this book is quite controverial in some circles); and, finally, William E. Connolly, "Capitalism and Christianity, American Style", Duke U. Press April, 2008 (I have just started this but I think it is well worth a recommendation). For lighter reading, there is Alan Furst's latest novel and then there is Padura's final book of the Havana Quartet, "Havana Gold," which has just come out in translation.
July 2, 2008 7:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Much to my chagrin and remorse, I already got Nixonland and burned through it like a Steven King novel, which was good as far as the experience, but bad as now I don't have any beach reading. In an act of rebellion, I may get the Gene Wolfe "Wizard" series. Or possibly not.
Note: "Castles of Steel" is actually about WWI, and features an incredibly detailed section on the Canopus. Personally, I liked Dreadnought better. Also, don't tell me you don't have the Hew Strachan book!
July 2, 2008 8:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
it's fiction and 100 years earlier, but there's always Patrick O'Brian
July 2, 2008 9:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not on naval history, but Henry Ashby Turner's Hitler's Thirty Days to Power was fascinating, I thought.
July 2, 2008 9:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
For an account of the US role in the Spanish-American War and WWI, I recommend Walter Karp's 1979 book The Politics of War.
July 2, 2008 10:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Claudia Koonz's The Nazi Conscience is a fascinating read on how the National Socialists in the run-up to WWII and during, managed to create an ethos based on tribalism and "germanic values" to validate their expansionist and racialist policies.
July 2, 2008 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
For a classic account of the Drang nach Osten horrors of the eastern front Alexander Wirth's Russland im Krieg is hard to beat.
July 2, 2008 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you haven't read "The Looming Tower", you must. As history, it's exciting and spellbinding. And if you have read and liked it, you now must read "Human Smoke", a history of WWII by novelist Nicholson Baker - history presented in a compelling, dramatic tale. Two f the greatest non-fiction books o the 21st century.
Happy reading and playing with the two boys.
July 2, 2008 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! Is that what Josh Marshall reads at 4:00 in the morning, post blogging? ;)
Like, totally cool, dude.
I just finished a book a friend had gifted me a year ago - The Imperial Archive Next on the list is Bury Me Standing and The Metaphysical Club.
Summers should be nice, long and chewy, no? Have a nice summer with new baby and books, Josh.
July 2, 2008 11:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not sure whether you'll take fiction recommendations, but you might enjoy John Biggins's, "A Sailor of Austria" featuring naval officer Otto Prohaska in a sideshow of the Great War, the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. All of Biggins's Otto Prohaska novels are great fun, and present a rare fictional portrayal of the age of the dreadnoughts and the first submarines.
For myself, this summer, at the age of 54 I am embarking on Gibbon's "History of the Rise and Decline of the Roman Empire". Philip K. Dick's refrain from the novel, "Valis", "The empire never ended", has echoed in my mind over the years.
Doing what you do, you are probably not a gamer, but for anyone who is curious I'll mention two naval sims, "Shells of Fury", (WWI submarine warfare), and "Distant Guns, The Russo-Japanese War at Sea".
July 3, 2008 12:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Me too on history.
Just got Russia Hand, history of Clinton's relationship with Yeltzin. Also just got Arthur Schlesinger's three volume history of FDR.
A friend once suggested I should major in American Studies because he knew I liked to read the histories and novels of an era at the same time.
For me, The Strange Career of Jim Crow and Light in August were both spellbinding. Reading them at the same time was especially satisfying.
July 3, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Best thing I've read recently was "1491," about pre-Columbian societies in the Americas.
Right now, I'm going through "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms," and realizing how many allusions I've seen to it before without knowing.
July 6, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink