Posted on 03/05/2005 11:22:06 AM PST by Tanniker Smith
Hello, once again. Welcome to the weekly Free Republic Book Club thread.
The winner of the poll and the topic for this week is historical novels.
For those of you that want to get a jump on next week, the runner up in the last week's poll was mysteries, so grab one off the shelf and get busy reading, so you'll have something for next week. 8-)
I have a suggestion for another category - books by Freepers.
I just finished James Patterson's, *HONEYMOON*
It was quick read, and, I liked it.
But feel Patterson has gotten lazy in his last few books...did not buy his *LONDON BRIDGES*, and don't plan to.
He has been writing with collaboraters, and, most are pretty poor reads. *Honeymoon* had a new helper, so it wasn't too bad.
Am waiting for the mail to bring Anne River Siddeons next book.
I just bought the paper back editions of *North and South*, *Heaven and Hell*, and *Love and War*.
I have liked all of his writings.
His name was Francis Bellamy. He and Edward were first cousins.
I try not to think about it when I say the Pledge, but I have to admit that it does bother me that it was written by a socialist.
Any recommendations?
My husband was going to buy me the DVD's of the movie, but I told him that I'd prefer to have the books. The books are so much better.
add me to ping please
James Michener's Hawaii. Still one of the best novels I've ever read. Also Caravans by Michener.
Leon Uris's Exodus about the founding of Israel and the Israeli/Palestinian/British conflict of 1948. A must-read for anyone who wants to have a foundation for understanding the current Israeli/Palestine/Middle East imbroglio.
Anything by Samuel Shellabarger. He was a terrific author of historical fiction. Prince of Foxes is probably my favorite.
Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstasy about Michelangelo. I guess that's biography, but it's very fictionalized, I suspect.
A biography of Leonardo daVinci published of the same vintage as the above. I thought that Irving Stone wrote that one as well, but I can't locate it. It was by a famous author of that era.
More contemporary:
Bruce Alexander's mystery/crime series set in 1700's London, with Sir John Fielding, the blind justice. Stories are told through the eyes of Jeremy, the boy/young man who assists him. Great books, most are riveting.
Valley of the Horses by Jean Auel. Was not crazy about the others in that trilogy.
I could go on and on, but will stop here! Would enjoy hearing recommendations from others, as I am always looking for a good historical novel.
It bothers me too. But in Bellamy's defense, I can be a bit forgiving of those in the late 1800s who were socialists, because there was not practical experience with socialism at that time, and I can see why it appeared to make sense back then when compared to the sometimes harsh realities of industrial-era capitalism.
Of course, now that the world has had 150 years of real experience with the horrors of actual socialism in practice, there is no longer an excuse for ignoring the clear superiority and comparative humanity of free-market capitalism.
Also, at least back then American socialists appeared to be patriots. Can you imagine any modern American progressive composing something like the Pledge of Allegiance today?
But they would have been familiar with the French Revolution, wouldn't they? Wasn't it a socialist experiment?
I do agree that cultural and moral relativism would prevent today's leftists from writing anything even remotely similar to the Pledge.
I read Exodus last year, and from that went on to Leon Uris' two about Ireland. Trinity and just finished Redemption this week. They were both excellent for the Northern Ireland background, but particularly Trinity. Though Redemption, was called a "sequel", it really was a play on the voices Uris uses to tell the story. Most of the action that happens in Redemption, he had already written about in Trinity, it was told with more detail and from a different point of view.
I'm always looking for good historical fiction. And got these recommendations on Uris, from a FR thread a few years ago.
I don't think the French Revolution represented socialism in the sense that term came to be understood in the 19th century. But even so, they could have made the argument that you can't draw any conclusions from one example.
A very enlightening book I read last year was A Fierce Discontent, a very well written history of the American Progressive era between 1870 and 1920. (Actually, it was this book that prompted me to read the Bellamy book).
There is no doubt that there was a lot of ugliness arising out of the dislocations caused by the industrial revolution, and I can see why some of the alarming social and economic developments would have led many people to think (in the absence of actual observable experience) that a "scientifically managed" economy would eliminate those problems.
Of course, it couldn't,considering how much back breaking brute force labor was required to build an industrial society from an agrarian one. And certainly the American coal miners, as horrible as their lives were, had it better than Russian slaves who were forced to "build socialism" under Stalin.
Also, a lot of the "discontent" that occurred in the late 1800s was due to the fact that for American capitalism created so much wealth that for the first time people were aware that there was such thing as poverty. Before that, it was just called "life."
Thank you for the book recommendation. I'll add it to my ever-expanding list.
I just don't understand why today's liberals continue to hold on to their dreams of a socialist utopia. Millions of lives have been lost proving that it won't work. Why do they still cling to it? How many more have to die before they'll admit that they are wrong?
I guess it is a tribute to the apparently limitless human capacity for engagin in doublething. I go to DU sometimes for laffs, and I am continuously amazed at the people who believe the Progressive mythology.
If you're looking for something closer to home, try Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels. Absolutely compelling book about the battle of Gettysburg.
It's part of a trilogy started by his father. Can't remember the other two titles. One, I believe, was The Generals. Old Sheets Byrd got a bit part in that one. They just made a movie about it.
Brings the Civil War right in to your living room.
Good question. I think that it is a case of the malevolent leading the naive and ignorant. Here in Massachusetts, I know a lot of good people who would never dream of voting against a Democrat, because they somehow have it in their heads that "good people are liberals," and they never think any more deeply about things than that.
I think there are lot of people on DU, for example, who have no idea that slavery and racism in the south was primarily an institution that was promulgated by Democrats.
Also, I think that a lot of Progressives are just average people who feel somehow that they are not in control of their lives, and so just generally feel like victims. They find themselves in jobs they hate, or working with people they don't like, or not getting paid as much as they want, and think they're being exploited. It seems never to occur to them to just take responsibility for themselves and try to find some other way to make a living. They'd rather blame "Corporate America."
I've had jobs I hated in my life, and I may not have as much money as I'd like -- but I have never, ever, blamed anybody but myself for whatever bad choices I've made or the circumstances in which I have found myself as a result.
And I've always taken solace in the fact that whatever has gone wrong in my life, at least it was because I did it "my way." There is a lot of comfort in that. It's tough enough to feel like you could be doing better, or should have done things differently, without also feeling like you're a victim and stuck under the control of someone else.
I guess Progressives just never learn to understand and appreciate what it means to have free will.
I prefer the freedom of knowing that for better or worse I am where I am in life because of who I am. I think Progressives prefer being "free" from the responsibility of having to make and live with one's choices.
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