January 2008 archive

Taking Stock of 2007: Books

I read about as much in 2007 as I did in 2006, but I wrote far fewer reviews. One of the perils of full-time employment. It also looks like a year of consolidation, rather than a year of discovery. Having polished off the lucky thirteenth in Lemony Snicket’s set in December 2006, I reached the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2008/01/22/taking-stock-of-2007-books/

The Second World War by Martin Gilbert

Except perhaps for Iris Chang’s *The Rape of Nanking*, no other book I have read captures the horror and brutality of World War II like this one. Martin’s trademark style is historical narrative intermingled with individual stories and anecdotes, and it is the individual accounts, replete with documented proper names and direct quotes, that convey …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2008/01/18/the-second-world-war-by-martin-gilbert/

The Fall of the Roman Republic by Plutarch

Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero, all the major figures associated with the decline and fall of the Roman Republic, except maybe for Cato, who is included in another Penguin volume. A theme in this collection is the way in which the ambition of outstanding individuals can strain the fabric of a society and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2008/01/10/the-fall-of-the-roman-republic-by-plutarch/