ankh_hpl | Entries tagged with history

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A bit short for the information it has to convey, but extremely readable & compulsively highlightable. I found it to be best taken in small doses & slowly. Many of the lessons seem somewhat obvious on the surface, but are still worth reviewing.

Although I was expecting many lessons to be based on Germany in the 1930s, I was hoping for more variety than was offered. (There are other sources for the lessons, but Snyder focuses primarily on the rise of Hitler.) I believe there's a newer edition in audio that discusses Ukraine, but I haven't listened to that one.

Recommended for the historically curious, & anyone who appreciates a pithy & concise style.

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almost familiar
tank tread echoes
Tiananmen

-- Ann K. Schwader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests_and_massacre

Serial Killers: Real and Imagined (The Great Courses)

Serial Killers: Real and Imagined by Emily Zarka

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a rather short Great Course -- all lectures are well under 30 minutes, & only 10 lectures that I recall. It's an Audible Original, written & presented by Emily Zarka. She is listed as a "public scholar," with no university credential listed. That said, she does a very entertaining & informative job of covering the serial killer trope -- & its actual history -- beginning with 17th century cases & working up to the 21st. Along the way, she examines the origins & continuing popularity of the true crime genre, & offers the suggestion that how we view serial killers is very much a reflection of how we view our own society, & what we fear in our lives.

Depending on how much of a true crime fan you are, there is probably only a moderate amount of new material here -- but it's presented well, & the course is available free with Audible membership. I didn't feel as though I'd wasted my listening time, though I would definitely not consider this as a full credit purchase.

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once shadow
now revenant
Tank Man

-- Ann K. Schwader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those books I'd have never gotten through as a big thick hardback, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Audible version. I'd been meaning to read/listen to something about the Cambridge spy ring for years, but this book showed up on Audible some months back & it offered an afterword by John Le Carre. That sold me!

The narrator for this one is plummy & understated, adding to the feel of a somewhat leisurely, detailed, ultimately very sad story of how One of Our Own Sort could have possibly spied for Moscow. I don't have the expertise to say whether Macintyre has all his research correct, but it seemed comprehensive without ever becoming tedious. I now feel as though I understand at least a bit about one of the most infamous incidents in postwar British intelligence.

Recommended for intelligence fans with terminal Anglophilia.

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Whitechapel autumn
a sharpening
of shadows

-- Ann K. Schwader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Nichols

long shadow
of a single man
tank tracks fade

--Ann K. Schwader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests_and_massacre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man

How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in Intelligence by David Omand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was unable to find an Audible listing for this book on Goodreads, which is how I "read" it. This fact is important, because David Omand reads his own work & does so with a dry, plummy accent which made me feel as though I was having a private conversation with someone like Le Carre's George Smiley. An old "practitioner" telling espionage war stories & pointing out valuable lessons I could use in my own life, & which might possibly . . . just possibly . . . save that life.

For those less fascinated with spycraft & spy history than I sometimes am, this might be a high 4-star listen. It also might work slightly better in a print edition, because a lot of material is covered in this modest length, and some of it is frightening. In particular, Omand has observations about cyber interference in elections and other aspects of public life which should probably be read more than once. The message here is that certain aspects of intelligence / counterintelligence do not change, they only make use of new technology.

Recommended for anyone interested in intelligence analysts, intelligence history, or being a bit more intelligent about their own understanding of world events.

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Buck's Row . . .
that first faint whisper
of red leaves

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper]

-- Ann K. Schwader

Baltimore drunk ward
a one word dirge
nevermore

-- Ann K. Schwader

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Edgar_Allan_Poe)

second sunrise
the silent ticking
of a new clock

--Ann K. Schwader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#Hiroshima

Tranquility Base
once possible
footprint

-- Ann K. Schwader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

an echo
now a chorus
Tiananmen

-- Ann K. Schwader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests

embassy walls
the longest
silence

-- Ann K. Schwader
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Khashoggi

fifty years on
one giant step waiting
womankind

-- Ann K. Schwader

lone witness
Collins in the capsule
for us all

-- Ann K. Schwader

the silence
after the tanks
one voice

-- Ann K. Schwader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests

bleed-through
the embassy's
fresh paint

-- Ann K. Schwader

with room
to spare now
moon dust footprints

-- Ann K. Schwader
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

the stretch
of one man's shadow
Tiananmen

-- Ann K. Schwader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989

Elizabeth II: Life of a Monarch by Ruth Cowen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This short (8, 30 minute "chapters") Audible Original offering is a well-produced brief biography of the current Queen. It is currently available on Audible Channels, and is well worth the listening time for Anglophiles. I'm not sure whether it's available for separate purchase.

I found this light but very interesting (with a few mentions of the royal Corgis, always a plus for me). It's a fairly balanced look at at the royal family, with plenty of dirty laundry being aired along with the high points. The tone was more historical than gossipy, which I appreciated.

Good for those still curious after the recent royal wedding, or anyone wanting a solid but quick overview.

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Yaddith Times

writing, reading, & related remarks

Entries tagged with history

My Goodreads review: On Tyranny

way back in 1989 . . .

My Goodreads review: Serial Killers: Real and Imagined

thirty-five years & counting . . .

My Goodreads Review: A Spy Among Friends

on this night in 1888 . . .

On this day in 1989 . . .

My Goodreads review: How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in Intelligence

on this night in 1888 . . .

On this date in 1849 . . .

On this day in 1945 . . .

Fifty-one years on & still dreaming . . .

Thirty-one years on . . .

Already, one year on . . .

July 20, 1969: One small step, two small 'ku

30 years ago . . .

In memoriam . . . .

49 years ago today . . .

On this day in 1989

My Goodreads review: Elizabeth II: Life of a Monarch

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