Terry
Crowdy
History
as light story. The chapters are short; the subjects sometimes
salacious, sometimes scandalous, always appealing to the lower human
nature; the whole an excellent example of how to make history
interesting to a culture which has largely lost interest in it. We
love stories; as children we thrive, survive almost, on them; and
they are, in mine opinion, clearly the best way to bring history to
the mass of non-historians. And this book does that cleverly, as we
all also love to read about problems and scandals (so long as they
involve other people!). In addition, as a bonus, Crowdy writes quite
well, readably, though he makes the occasional mistake (or his
copy-editor does), which makes this book a real success.
Tudor
Parfitt
History
as heavy detail. Completely fascinating, to be sure, but not
something i would give so a beginner or someone uninterested in the
subject ~ particularly with regard
to my remarks on the book i read immediately
previously/contemporaneously, Military
Misdemeanours, which
was very much aimed at that audience. Parfitt explores how
throughout the world there are to be found people, peoples even, who
are convinced that they are descendants of the tribes of Israel taken
into captivity by the Assyrians in the Eighth Century BC or, if not
they, that they have found a group of these descendants. Parfitt
almost has written a travelogue as well as an history book, as he
examines the appearance of the myth of the Lost Tribes all over the
world, from Europe ~ especially British Israelism ~ to Africa, via
China, Southeast Asia, Australasia and elsewhere. In each place he
examines in detail who first brought up the idea of the Lost Tribes,
who stood to benefit from it, and, in some cases, who actually did or
did not benefit. A completely fascinating book, as i mentioned,
about an oddity which has gripped the imagination of man for
centuries and really shows no sign of letting go.
No comments:
Post a Comment