Newsletter: May of 2022
Much has gone on since the last newsletter both in our life (a grandson!!) and, most certainly, in the world. As I write this, a previously unimagined war is reshaping the world, inflation has returned after an almost 40-year hiatus and our politics are as nasty and unproductive as ever. It is hard to keep the catastrophic dogs at bay with Putin glibly mentioning nuclear weapons, the Fed admitting it may be too little too late and all the while the droughts continue, and the heat waves get worse. This must be the worst of times … right? Maybe not …
In this newsletter are a couple books that provide a badly needed sense of perspective. One is The Shattering, a history of the Sixties and early Seventies written by a prize-winning historian/journalist that reminds you we have been here before and it MAY have been worse then. The distortion of 24/7 news, instant phone notifications and endless alarming email and text “links” surely has made the goal of gaining perspective a Sisyphean task. The Shattering reminds you that we have always lived in a chaotic and unnerving democracy and that much has been achieved amidst the chants of Chicken Little. The other book is a work in progress … MY work in progress … as I will start a cliff note version of this epic history on this website. Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the 17th Century is a book worthy of all the glowing descriptions that decorate its covers. All seem to agree that it is one of the great history books of the recent ages, written nine years ago by Geoffrey Parker and simply too long and dense for most readers. I believe its relevance to the times we are living in, however, is astonishing and thus I hope to create a “Reader’s Digest” version of this vital history.
Before I get to the latest additions to the website, I would like to suggest a couple books if one wants to go even further under the broiling hood of the war in Ukraine. I suggest you return to my review of A Short History of Russia and consider reading this, in fact, very short history. While it does not excuse the “shock” of the 1939 “back to the future” feel of this war, it provides valuable insight into the role history has played in this invasion and in the mind of the man who engineered it. The other book is Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder. It is a brilliant, brutal retelling of Stalin’s and then Hitler’s and then Stalin’s destruction and genocidal plundering of greater Ukraine. This centuries old breadbasket of Europe is defined by the darkest and richest soil in the world, soil drenched in centuries of blood. This may not at all be a salve, but it certainly suggests that, once again, the saying that “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is as current in these times as any. In fact, that may be the theme of not only this newsletter but most of what I recommend in this letter’s list of books. If fiction is your thing, then consider reading Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. It is the 20th century’s War and Peace and revolves around the battle of Stalingrad. Like Tolstoy’s masterpiece it is long and involved but utterly readable and gripping. Our current war in Ukraine lives in the shadows of history and this book captures all of it. Finally, a little bit of Viking history helps get a grip on the barbaric origins of the Russian state and this is a time of great revisionist histories about these violent Scandinavians who really did reshape the world as they plundered it. There are so many to choose from, but I might recommend The Edge of the World by Michael Pye. It is a riveting history that has the Vikings at the heart of the narrative but also puts them into a broader context.
There are now 81 books on the site. After a few years, some books have risen, and some have fallen in my mind as time does its thing. A few that continue to rise as consistently as Amazon’s share price used to, are The Year of the French, High House, Prisoners of Geography, The Inevitability of Tragedy, These Truths, Mothering Sunday, The Overstory, Crashed and A Savage War . This is a very incomplete list.
The new additions are …
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr … as good as the title is bad
The Shattering: America in the 1960s by Kevin Boyle … the best book I have read on this time that shaped ours
Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather by Mark Seal … the epic film’s epic origin story.
This Is Happiness by Niall Williams … he’s right, it was
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler … as profound and familiar as your best conversations
French Exit by Patrick DeWitt … may be the best airplane read I have ever read
The Ship Asunder: A Maritime History of Britain in Eleven Vessels by Tom Nancollas … not what it sets out to be but if “naval stores” resonates with you, read it
The Leopard by Guiseppe di Lampedusa … a perfect novel – really is
Churchill’s Shadow: The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill by Geoffrey Wheatcroft … a brilliant and disturbing reveal of the man and his self-made myth
Making Darkness Light: A Life of John Milton by Joe Moshenka … beats reading Paradise Lost
Foster by Claire Keegan … the perfect predecessor
April in Spain by John Banville … out in the open and loving it
The work in progress is Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century by Geoffrey Parker. I try to update this on a regular basis. Finally, for Audible fans, the infinite number of Inspector Gamache remains the go to for me and many close to me. I shot through a military geek thriller by Patrick Robinson, Nimitz Class, and despite its jingoistic drumbeat and Top Gun feel, was a fun and even prescient dive.
Enjoy the summer and keep reading. Every minute reading a good book is a minute not looking at something on your phone because “it is there”.
New lists to follow …
Peter
