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Books November 28, 2018

Dan Snow’s latest book

Introduction

I recently attended an event at Waterstones Book shop in Piccadilly to celebrate Dan Snow’s latest book. “On this day in History” dedicates one event to every day of the year, including February 29th, which means we have 366 anniversaries to consider. It was an extremely interesting talk (particularly if you have a love of history), and gave rise to a lot of reflection after the event.

Dan Snow is a well known historian, and tells us that he is tall, thin, and with bad teeth, traits that he has inherited from his Welsh forefathers. History is ingrained into his family, over several generations. Family birthdays and anniversaries are important to all of us, and so Dan’s latest book seeks to attach a fact of historical importance to each day of the year. On picking up the book, we all of course go to our own respective birthdays to see what happened, and then possibly to family member’s birthdays. He has tried to avoid simply listing the dates of famous battles and deaths, and gone for events where things have happened, and perhaps have an influence on the events of today.

My Birthday

My birthday falls on the 29th May, the day on which, according to Dan Snow’s latest book, Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire fell to the forces of the Ottoman Empire. Constantinople, or modern day Istanbul, has remained an Islamic City ever since. The fall itself was suitably gory, with “bodies floating out to sea like melons in a canal”. The result of the fall was an influx to the West of historians, artists, philosophers and writers, bringing with them classical texts and scholarship, which in turn ignited the Renaissance and helped to mould the world in which we now live. The 29th May may not have the excitement of say, 18th June, the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, but surely is of much more significance in the sweep of European History.

The Talk

Dan Snow gave an introduction to himself and his family, as well as to the book, On this day in History. He speaks with the authority of someone in complete command of his subject, with topics from Ancient Rome to modern day politics. For it is our knowledge of history that helps us make sense of the present and the future. He picked out certain event (via their days in the year) that he thought were of particular significance. He then went round a few members of the audience, asking for their birthdays and explaining the significance.

He finished by taking questions. I asked about the way in which history is taught now, compared to methods used in previous generations. When I was at school, we learned history by starting with Julius Caesar and studying chronologically until we got to the Second World War. My children were taught in a completely different way: just picking out particular bits of history and studying them perhaps in more depth. I have always thought that that was completely wrong, that to take bits out of context gave no sense of how historical events were linked together. Dan to a certain extent did not agree with me. He feels that what was important was that a teacher should pass his enthusiasm for a particular subject to the children, and it did not really matter if areas were not covered. This certainly would have resonated with my daughter, whose love of history was ignited by a programme on the Tudors by Blue Peter.

Most important of all, however, in Dan’s opinion, was that proper methods of historical research should be passed on to alter generations. Fake news is successful because we are losing the ability to question and to test our sources of information. When one looks at the huge damage that is being caused through the promulgation of fake news, it becomes so important that the next generation have a better handle on recognising what is properly sourced and grounded and what is simply made up.

Two interesting questions were raised on what Russia’s intentions might be in the Ukraine and in the Baltic States. We perhaps think of “History” as things that happened in the past, and yet here is a historian being asked about what might be happening in the future. Dan answered by saying first of all that no one could be too sure, but that with Russia pressing every trigger it could, testing and probing, one could not be too surprised at anything that might happen in the future. On the day that Russia was capturing Ukrainian ships and acting very aggressively, the one person that we might expect to speak out, the President of the United States, did not. Instead he chose to undermine the authority of the Prime Minister of what is supposed to be his closest ally, the United Kingdom. As Dan point out, it does not really matter if Trump is in cahoots with the Russians or not: he is acting as if he were.

Reflections

I thought that Dan’s comments on the importance of historical research as being an important means of sifting out the good from from the fake was extremely interesting. It was illuminating seeing how a historian might view the events of the future through the past. I have to say I still question whether we learn much if anything from history in the sense that each generation seems to make the same mistakes as the previous one, although sometimes the consequences seem more magnified now. The Great War, the war to end wars, did not. The Holocaust seems a walk in the park compared to some of the other genocides and crimes against humanity that have occurred since. Indeed, Israel seems to have learned how to oppress rather than than to sympathise with the oppressed. it is disturbing to see the modern day parallels with the rise of the Nazis, how it is becoming normal to demonise a particular sector of society, be it migrants or other peoples who do not fit in, or to celebrate the tear gassing of helpless women and children.

The lessons that history can teach us remain as vibrant and as essential today as they have always been. On this day in History is not a book to dip into from time to time and to remember trivial facts around our birthdays: it is an essential tool to show us where we have been and where we are going.

Books May 9, 2018

Alone in Berlin

“Extraordinary…..redemptive” is the way in which Penguin describes Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada, on the front cover, and it is hard to argue against that opinion.

The story is relatively straightforward, and is based upon real events. The son of an ordinary couple living in wartime Berlin is killed. They do not feel the elation that other Germans feel over the successful invasion of France. Tthey feel the loss of their son, and for what?

The Quangels decide to carry out little acts of resistance, writing messages against the regime on postcards and leaving them in public places for people to read. Questioning the regime is of course treasonable in Nazi Germany, and punishable by death, but they believe that these little acts of resistance will influence other people and that if enough little people believe that the regime is wrong, the regime will fall.

Alone in Berlin is really about the small characters. The heroes, the Quangels, are little people, not entirely lacking in heroic character, but not obvious choices for the lead characters in a major novel. There are a host of other small characters who play an important part in the novel, the dead son’s former fiancé, a petty crook, the Gestapo officer investigating the postcard crimes.

Purely by chance, at the time I was reading the book, I also saw the film on TV, starring Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson. The film had at best a lukewarm reception, and perhaps suffers from stripping the story of the much of the involvement of the smaller characters. Possibly it is important for the visual flow of the story to concentrate on the main characters and story, but to take away the smaller characters is to detract from the impact of the book. The message of the story is that small acts of defiance can and do have an impact, small ripples extending ever larger over a pond, and draw more and more people into its sphere. At the end, we ask ourselves are the little acts of defiance of the Quangels a waste of time and not noticed by the people they hoped to reach, or do they triumph, even in death?

Another criticism of the film is that the depiction of Berlin does not match the intensity of the book, and is far too clean and tidy for a city at War. True, but slightly unfair. I would be surprised if the film’s budget would stretch as far as rebuilding a war-torn Berlin. The City now is incredibly clean and tidy, running with typical German efficiency. It is very hard to see anything of war time Berlin in the modern city. The City does play an important role in the book, creating atmosphere and suspense, but the film concentrates purely on the story of the Quangels. Pretty much everything else can be discarded, and that includes a realistic depiction of wartime Berlin. I refer to modern Berlin in my blog post on Berlin in this blog and also on my travel website, http://www.notjusttravel.com/anthony-kingsley/willkommen-bienvenue-welcome-to-berlin/

In conclusion this is an important book, with a message that is just as relevant today as it was in the 1940s. It is a perfectly acceptable film, which suffers from a comparison with such a strong book. Read it and Watch it!

Books January 21, 2018

Yves St Laurent

It was the Graham Nash song Marrakech Express that took me to Marrakech, but it was Yves St Laurent which made the more lasting impact. Just before going out there, I read an article in a Newspaper on the opening of the new museum dedicated to the famous designer, and having then visited La Jardin Majorelle, I became determined to find out a bit more about him and the impact that Marrakech had upon him. I should say that my interest in fashion extends as far as “The Devil wears Prada” and not much further.

I picked up Alice Rawsthorne’s biography, written in 1996, so long before his death in June 2008; It is a good solid read, particularly good on the early years when St Laurent established himself as one of the most brilliant and celebrated designer. Equally interesting is the business side in that early period. I felt that in the latter part of the book, Yves St Laurent the designer is subsumed by Yves St Laurent the brand. Perhaps that reflects the reality of the situation.

St Laurent was inspired by the colours of Marrakech. He said that he discovered colour in Marrakech. It is easy to see why he was so inspired. It is therefore a little disappointing that the photographs in the book are in black and white rather than in colour. It is hard to visualise the extraordinary use of colour St Laurent employed from black and white pictures. St Laurent would return to Marrakech every year to design. He drew his inspiration from the colours and the Berber people. Walking around the Jardin Majorelle, it is again so easy to see where he found the peace and calm to work.