Al Singh

Author's posts

The War with Hannibal by Livy

Livy is too patriotic to be completely trusted as a historian, but even he cannot help but convey a grudging admiration for the towering figure of Hannibal. He has nothing good to say about Carthage in general, and he works in some malicious gossip about Hannibal that is probably nothing more than just that, but …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/27/the-war-with-hannibal-by-livy/

The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France by R.J. Knecht

This book was BORING. But it was not entirely without merit. It educated me considerably on the degree to which religious strife has played a role in the history of France. One tends to think of France as a thoroughly Catholic country, but there was once a flourishing Protestant movement. It is tantalizing to speculate …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/26/the-rise-and-fall-of-renaissance-france-by-r-j-knecht/

A World at Arms by Gerhard Weinberg

The author’s name suggests that he is of German descent, but he is one of the most anti-German WWII historians I have ever read. He does not accept that the Versailles treaty was an injustice to Germany, nor does he buy into the claim that Hitler admired the British and would have rather allied with …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/20/a-world-at-arms-by-gerhard-weinberg/

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson

No one can say that Ben Carson grew up in privileged circumstances, but from a young age he seems to have had an uncanny knack for making the right choices. I’m not sure the Ben Carson story can be a model for all young people, but it does reinforce my belief that parents rather than …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/17/gifted-hands-the-ben-carson-story-by-ben-carson/

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre

This was a fascinating story of a cat and mouse game in which it is never quite clear who is the cat and who is the mouse. It blows to bits the James Bond mythology of what spying is about: it is a dirty, dirty business, and the people who engage in it are hardly …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/17/the-spy-who-came-in-from-the-cold-by-john-le-carre/

Rome and Italy by Livy

Mostly this is a record of Rome’s interminable wars with the Samnites. War is hardly a trivial event, but Rome fought so many wars during this period that reading about one battle after another becomes wearying. The most interesting and unusual thing that happened during this period was that a Vestal Virgin violated her vow …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/11/rome-and-italy-by-livy/

The Spanish Civil War by Stanley Payne

All civil wars and revolutions are confused in their narrative accounts, but the Spanish Civil War is even more confusing than the French Revolution. Who, exactly, was rebelling against whom? The Leftists were supposedly the “revolutionaries,” but they actually supported the Republic. Franco’s Nationalists were the “counterrevolutionaries,” but they were dedicated to overthrowing the Republic. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/02/the-spanish-civil-war-by-stanley-payne/

The Mission Song by John Le Carre

In this book Le Carre succeeds in doing what he failed to do in Tinker Tailor: creating characters that the reader actually cares about, as a well as a plot involving a covert operation whose outcome is not merely a an academic move in a geopolitical chess game. I identify in some ways with the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/02/the-mission-song-by-john-le-carre/

The Secret History by Procopius

Most later historians tend to dismiss Procopius’ account as grossly exaggerated, maintaining that Justinian and Theodora were just, able, and virtuous co-rulers. But if that is really the case, it is hard to see why he would have written this history, since it obviously posed great risk to himself. If Procopius can be believed, Justinian …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/08/25/the-secret-history-by-procopius/

Misery by Stephen King

I was familiar with the premise of this book before I started it, and it didn’t seem very interesting, but once I started it I was surprised by how engrossing the story was. In a way, this is King’s own story, the story of a writer whose formidable talent never fails him, not even during …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/08/22/misery-by-stephen-king/