There are years in which I read more and others in which I read fewer history books, but research for this blog alone ensures that there will always be enough for the recommendations at the end of this year....
There are years in which I read more and others in which I read fewer history books, but research for this blog alone ensures that there will always be enough for the recommendations at the end of this year. And so, I’ve read two out of the three books here when preparing for blog posts. Here we go.
You can read the other Farewell 2023 articles here:
Farewell 2023 – New-to-Me Games
Farewell 2023 – Historical Fiction
Farewell 2023 – Non-Historical Games
Robert Dallek: An Unfinished Life. John F. Kennedy, 1917—1963
I had read Dallek’s (very short) biography of Harry S. Truman last year and was not too impressed by it – the sweeping statements in the introduction and the conclusion seemed at odds with the details laid out in the main part of the book. So, when I chose a Kennedy biography for the respective Leader Rating this year, I was reluctant to pick this up. Yet it seemed like a good, up-to-date starting point from a respected presidential historian, and, thinking practically, I could borrow it from one of the libraries I frequent. I did not regret my choice. Dallek has obvious sympathy for Kennedy, but is transparent about his assessments and the foundation for them. Thus, the reader can come to different conclusions (but Dallek makes an overall convincing argument, except that I think he overestimates JFK’s resolve to withdraw from Vietnam – to me it seems like the president, as so often, was exploring several avenues and had not decided on a course of action yet). Should I write a presidential rating about Lyndon Johnson, I might just pick up Dallek’s biography of him.
John Shovlin: Trading with the Enemy
The game which made the biggest impression on me last year was Imperial Struggle (Ananda Gupta/Jason Matthews, GMT Games), and it kicked off a little Anglo-French/18th century reading spree for me. The common narrative of Anglo-French relations in this era is that of constant hostility – after all, the period between 1688 and 1815 has been called the “second Hundred Years’ War”. Yet that’s not all there is to it, as Shovlin’s book shows. While Britain and France chased relative advantages over market shares and political alliances and were convinced that someone’s gain was necessarily someone else’s loss, they pursued their respective policies not only against each other – but also together against third powers (be that the other Western European trading states, the Eastern European land powers, or the states of India). And both of them made flexible use of exclusive and free trade as instruments from the toolbox of state power which could applied on a case-by-case basis. Trading with the Enemy is an indispensable book to grasp the full nature of Anglo-French relations in the 18th century.
Two excellent books! Yet the one that made the strongest impression on me this year was…
Rodric Braithwaite: Afgantsy
Afghanistan has been called the “graveyard of empires.” The British Empire was checked there in the 19th century, and the American-led coalition has withdrawn in 2021 after an unsuccessful two decades of war. In between, the Soviet Union received a bloody nose which contributed to its eventual demise. Rodric Braithwaite’s book covers the political and military dimensions, of course – how Moscow felt compelled to invade, how its daring initial invasion succeeded and why the occupation failed so abominably – but it does not stop there. The individual experiences of the Soviet soldiers and their relatives back at home are important to the author, and with them, he shows how the war alienated both affected groups (as well as the rest of Soviet society) from the Communist Party’s rule. It is excellent history, but also more than that: Beyond its actual subject matter, the book also gives much to chew on about Afghanistan wars and Russian military interventions closer to our own time.
And what were your favorite history books this year? – Let me know in the comments!
