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Van Loon's Lives
A true and faithful account of a number of highly interesting meetings with certain historical personages, from Confucius and Plato to Voltaire and Thomas Jefferson, about whom the two protagonists had always felt a great deal of curiosity and who came to them as dinner guests.
886 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1942
21 people are currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
Hendrik Willem van Loon
295 books80 followersHendrik Willem van Loon (January 14, 1882 – March 11, 1944) was a Dutch-American historian and journalist.
Born in Rotterdam, he went to the United States in 1903 to study at Cornell University. He was a correspondent during the Russian Revolution of 1905 and in Belgium in 1914 at the start of World War I. He later became a professor of history at Cornell University (1915-17) and in 1919 became an American citizen.
From the 1910s until his death, Van Loon wrote many books. Most widely known among these is The Story of Mankind, a history of the world especially for children, which won the first Newbery Medal in 1922. The book was later updated by Van Loon and has continued to be updated, first by his son and later by other historians.
However, he also wrote many other very popular books aimed at young adults. As a writer he was known for emphasizing crucial historical events and giving a complete picture of individual characters, as well as the role of the arts in history. He also had an informal style which, particularly in The Story of Mankind, included personal anecdotes.
Born in Rotterdam, he went to the United States in 1903 to study at Cornell University. He was a correspondent during the Russian Revolution of 1905 and in Belgium in 1914 at the start of World War I. He later became a professor of history at Cornell University (1915-17) and in 1919 became an American citizen.
From the 1910s until his death, Van Loon wrote many books. Most widely known among these is The Story of Mankind, a history of the world especially for children, which won the first Newbery Medal in 1922. The book was later updated by Van Loon and has continued to be updated, first by his son and later by other historians.
However, he also wrote many other very popular books aimed at young adults. As a writer he was known for emphasizing crucial historical events and giving a complete picture of individual characters, as well as the role of the arts in history. He also had an informal style which, particularly in The Story of Mankind, included personal anecdotes.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
January 8, 2022
This may be the most unusual children's book I've read. Of course, I expect nonstandard fare from Hendrik Willem van Loon, inaugural winner of the Newbery Medal for his massive history of the world, covering everything from theories about early man to the period after World War I. The Story of Mankind deviates from typical Newbery books in several ways, most notably as the longest to win the award (as of 2016), and its nonfiction categorization. It's rare for nonfiction selections to capture a Newbery, but rarer still for a non-biography, and van Loon accomplished that in 1922. Van Loon's Lives is a whopping 886 pages, a tome most kids will find a challenge to hold while reading, almost 400 pages more than The Story of Mankind. The reading is dense and intense, unsurpassed in its sophistication for a youth audience, the pace of ideas and heights of philosophy not reduced one bit to help youngsters keep up. It's hard to imagine a kid plucking this book off a shelf and choosing to read it, relaxing in the folds of its mammoth binding to be borne away on the majestic winds of history, but what a ride such a child will experience. Van Loon's Lives is spellbinding enjoyment for the discerning student of history, the young mind who revels in mysteries, heroes, and adventures of the past and does not view the flow of time with that recency bias which lamentably affects most of us. There are millennia of fascinating stories and historical figures to better understand by celebrating their triumphs and feeling the crushing weight of their disappointment and tragedy. Great humans often overcame more than we learn about in school, and Van Loon's Lives promises a limited tour of those adversities, for even a strictly limited showcase of history requires one of the most ponderous volumes in children's lit. Come along for this exhilarating deep-sea dive into the waters of history. You will not reemerge the same as you entered.
When van Loon and his friend Frits, residing in the quaint Dutch town of Veere, hit upon the idea of learning about the past by inviting particularly intriguing historical players to a series of dinner parties hosted at their own humble home in the Netherlands, they didn't imagine such an arrangement was actually possible. Van Loon could have chosen no better cohost than Frits, whose character he extolls to his own grandchildren in the Foreword to Van Loon's Lives. Frits has passed away these decades later, but "He was like one of those elderly gentlemen in Central Park who go around feeding birds and squirrels. Their pockets are filled with everything these small creatures may like to eat. The birds and the squirrels sense this and they perch on the shoulders of their benefactors and climb all over them in quest of what they consider their legitimate belongings." The world could use more good souls who share what they have with little ones who love their company. "(G)aiety and kindness and tolerance and understanding were the gifts he bestowed upon the world. Wherever he went, he squandered these rare possessions in a most magnificent and bountiful manner, for he knew (what all wise people have realized since the beginning of time) that the only treasures which are truly ours are those we lay up in the hearts of our friends." Though Van Loon writes this book in the early 1940s as an outcast of his Dutch homeland, with World War II at a fever pitch and Hitler's dark armies marching over the face of Europe, the dinner parties occurred years ago, when Hitler was an up-and-comer on the world stage and Europe could focus on recovering from the Great War. Optimism was slowly returning to the Continent like animals refilling the woods after a fire, and this was the ideal moment for hopeful study of the past to improve our odds of a worthwhile future.
"What poor, deluded fools these human beings are! Won't they ever learn? Of course, today they seem to do everything at a much faster rate of speed than we did in our day. They get born faster. They live faster. They eat faster. They burn out faster. But what do they gain? And you tell me that all of them can now read and write! But what do they read and what do they write? And are they any better at living in peace with each other than we were? Do they love each other any the better? Let me put it even more simply. Do they treat each other with any greater decency and tolerance than we did in our own time, when we were forever slaughtering each other for some opinion which was mere guesswork and probably always would remain so, and yet caused one half of humanity to send the other half to the gallows and the stake—and for what?...I am sorry, but even today, I don't quite know for what!"
—Desiderius Erasmus, Van Loon's Lives, PP. 18-19
The first dinner invitation is issued skeptically, but when Erasmus the scholar shows up at their door, van Loon and Frits know a special time in their lives has started. Erasmus is as witty, introspective, and forceful a character as in his prime hundreds of years ago, the embodiment of what made the Renaissance a glorious era in history. The cohosts so enjoy his company that they arrange for Erasmus to attend every party they plan, a dedicated student of human culture who can act as communicator for guests with barriers of language or behavioral paradigm that may impede mutual understanding.
As the historical parade continues, van Loon, Frits, and Erasmus grow comfortable with the routine, learning what works and how to keep their guests at ease. It's not easy for individuals dead as long as thousands of years to be social after all that time spent in the afterlife, but some guests adapt more easily than others. William the Silent and George Washington are quite a pair to have at the same meal, and while van Loon harbors no illusion of General Washington as the faultless figure from the history books, his regard for the Father of Our Country stems from Washington's unassailable integrity, a good man who responded to every crisis with his fledgling homeland's best interests at heart. Molière, Cervantes, and Shakespeare are invited for a party, three master writers who have much to say on the subject, but a distinct highlight is derived from van Loon's notes written for Frits, a courtesy he indulges in before each soiree so Frits will know more about their evening guests. In Shakespeare's case, van Loon delivers a striking dissertation on the bard's storytelling talent. "Other playwrights have done their best to do as he did, but none of them can be ranked with this strange butcher's boy from Stratford-on-Avon. For sooner or later they would get stuck in their own doubts and meditations. Then they began to moralize and were lost. Shakespeare, on the other hand, never preached, nor did he ever draw any definite lessons from the deeds of his characters. But not even the least intelligent of his spectators is ever left in doubt as to which way lies virtue and which way lies vice—what course will lead to death and what course will lead to life everlasting." In that paragraph, van Loon elucidates what set Shakespeare apart from other writers, demonstrating that perhaps a spark of the bard's genius resides in van Loon. His essays are a perfect prelude to meeting the historical figures at their parties, so we can better enjoy their particular flavors of brilliance.
Byzantine Empress Theodora and Queen Elizabeth I are an extraordinary pair. They aren't endowed with the comprehensive education of some invitees, but their party is one of the nicest in the book. While they exude the demanding air of royalty and add little of intellectual value in conversation, both are dynamic, alluring women, and contribute a hint of romance to the festivities with their flirtatious nature, especially Empress Theodora. I enjoyed spending the evening in their sweet and sultry company, and van Loon and Frits could not believably deny the same. What an honor to cap the night by dancing with royalty from yesteryear, an experience the most entitled among us cannot boast. Robespierre and Torquemada bring us swiftly back to earth after this enchanting evening, with their cruel outlook and indifference for those not on board with their brand of empire building. Van Loon and Frits perhaps could have hosted the pair more amiably, suspending judgment for their misdeeds, but that spending time in their presence was unnerving. Then there's the evening of Saint Francis of Assisi, Hans Christian Andersen, and Mozart, whose only trait in common is a pure artistic spirit and love of life and humanity. Their party develops splendidly, a delight to read. Though Mozart was a flighty person not given to personal discipline, van Loon defends the matchless musician thus: "Mozart was undoubtedly extremely foolish. That is not the way a reasonable person should act. But neither would a reasonable person compose The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, or The Magic Flute." We mustn't praise the artistic merit of a wondrous mind and reject the accompanying foibles of personality, for the two are wed inextricably. It's incumbent upon us to embrace people entirely, for we cannot pick only those parts of the artist we believe are worth keeping and discard the rest. We take the whole or we take nothing, and it is usually worth it to humbly and gratefully take the whole.
"As if any of us could bear to live in a world of unadulterated truth!"
—Van Loon's Lives, P. 465
By now it's obvious the dinner parties are a success, and van Loon takes a moment to linger on the rapture of these nights, where no one is in a rush to be elsewhere. His guests are all deceased, and have nowhere to go but the mysterious afterworld about which none of them volunteer much information. Is there any pastime more satisfying than robust, relaxed conversation with fellow enthusiasts of life? As van Loon puts it, "Is there any greater pleasure in this world than to sit around a table with people you really like, with whom you are tuned in on the same emotional and spiritual wave length, so that there never is any static, and with whom you agree so fully upon all matters of real significance that you can disagree just as heartily upon the nonessentials? We have by far too little of that sort of thing in America. We seem to feel that we should always be doing something. Just to sit and talk or, even worse, just to sit and do nothing at all, not even talk, is held to be a waste of time. How can one waste something that does not really exist, I never have been able to understand, but I do think that it would be of the greatest benefit to us as a nation if we could learn to spend at least half an hour after every meal sitting quietly around the dinner table." That opportunity abounds in Van Loon's Lives, and the company for your post-meal conversation will never be finer. I love the metaphor van Loon imparts the night he sups with Francis, Andersen, and Mozart, as he walks alone outside afterward and watches a lighthouse spin, emitting two short flashes, a long flash, then darkness until the light circles back around. Artists like those he entertained that selfsame night radiate light much the same way into the otherwise unbroken darkness of history, photons beaming into the world for an instant before going black again. "Mozart, Hans Christian Andersen, and Saint Francis—three short flashes—then darkness again. A curious arrangement, yet one which enabled many a weary mariner to find his way across the turbulent waters of the ocean of life." This is vintage van Loon, profound images that stay with his readers a long time.
"As a day well spent gives joyful sleep, so does a life well spent give joyful death."
—Leonardo da Vinci, Van Loon's Lives, P. 655
Beethoven, Napoleon, and van Loon's great-great-grandfather are an unforgettable dinner trio. Van Loon is arguably too hard on Napoleon, though I respect his unwillingness to regard the French emperor's violent conquests lightly because we aren't directly hurt by it today as we are by the machinations of contemporary dictators. Warm nostalgia for despots is inappropriate, van Loon would argue, and he has a point. Plato and Confucius end up being one of van Loon and Frits's favorite evenings, as the formidable communication barrier doesn't intrude on a night of constructive dialogue and heartfelt compassion for the human condition. Having Leonardo and Dante at the same event is an ambitious undertaking. Both are creative geniuses, but conduct themselves very differently. Brilliant as Dante is, he doesn't acclimate to the modern dinner party as well as Leonardo, the quintessential Renaissance man never at a loss for words. The contrast in Dante and Leonardo's response is probed thoroughly after they depart, and van Loon's conclusions are as interesting as any idea expressed during the meal. Ah, and I must not forget to mention the party of Emily Dickinson, Frédéric Chopin, and Gioachino Rossini. Ms. Dickinson is as reclusive as expected and locks herself upstairs at first, but the genteel, unassuming companionship of the fellow guests coaxes her down eventually. Theirs turns into an evening of humor and charisma like none other in this book.
I'm overjoyed that van Loon invited the "Lost Children of History" for a party, as except for this chapter, kids are excluded from Van Loon's Lives. He invites the youngsters of the children's crusade, the two princes locked in the tower by Richard III, and other kids treated shamefully throughout history to enjoy themselves in the presence of great American statesman and inventor Ben Franklin. Franklin has astute advice on how he kept his youthful look and demeanor into his eighties. "I will tell you how it can be done. Never worry about what may happen tomorrow, for in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it won't. And don't take things too seriously, for very few things are worth it." I'm sure that is the secret to prolonged youth. How much better off would we be if we adhered to Franklin's sagacious words?
"(B)ut what use is even the best of remedies, concocted by the most learned of apothecaries, if the patient throws the mixture out of the window and his physician after it?"
—Michel de Montaigne, Van Loon's Lives, P. 721
Later, van Loon writes of heroes and those disgraced by the verdict of history, and his thoughts are not to be missed. "Half a century of digging among the ruins of the past had made me painfully familiar with the feet of clay which were buried deeply in the sands of time and which only too often supported the magnificent superstructure of some of the statues erected to our departed gods and half-gods. But, on the other hand, where would we have been—yes, where would we be today—unless occasionally there had been feet of granite, willing and able to carry their owners into the realm of the unknown and find new roads toward progress? The answer was—nowhere at all. We needed those voortrekkers, as our South African cousins used to call them. We needed a few stout hearts to do the pioneering. Without those men and women who trekked ahead of the rest of the crowd and either found new grazing fields or died in the attempt, no one of us would ever have gotten very far. We would have been obliged to stick to the swampy coastal regions, where we had lived and died until then, since the beginning of time, and we would never have known what lay hidden beyond the distant mountain ranges." "For youth can no more live without some kind of hero than it can without its daily supply of fresh air and vitamins." I suppose that's why van Loon proposed the dinner parties in the first place, to enhance his sympathy for the titans whose feet of clay eventually brought them low, and to admire the few whose granite feet never crumbled. One finds both in the annals of history.
At a dinner with several Dutch and Norwegian explorers, Fridtjof Nansen notes the fine line leaders walk maintaining order among their crew. "Without discipline, it degenerates immediately into a mob. With too much discipline, it loses all initiative, and the men will sit down in a blizzard and freeze to death rather than find shelter behind some near-by rocks, because no one with a couple of stripes on his sleeve has told them to do so." Micromanaging can have just as deleterious an effect as the opposite extreme. Nansen knows leadership, and memorably articulates the one trait a leader must possess or be lost. "(U)nless we have a real love for our fellow men—nothing sentimental, if you please, for they would not understand that—but a real interest in their well-being, a real desire to be of service to them...in short, unless those entrusted to our care feel that we think of them first and long before we even begin to think of ourselves, well then, everything else we do or fail to do is of no earthly use. The men will immediately sense it, and all control is gone." Unyielding love has always been the reason men imperil their lives for a commander, or subjugate their own ambitions to those of a superior. That loyalty has to be earned, and leaders like Nansen did so over and over. After Nansen's dinner party, van Loon senses he's made real progress in his pursuit of understanding mankind and the grand design of history. "There was nothing supernatural in these heroes of my childhood days. They were merely 'consecrated men' who lived 'consecrated lives' in which the idea of self had been completely repressed that they might devote themselves entirely to the task of looking after the happiness and well-being of those entrusted to their care." They didn't view their followers as more deserving of protection than they, but knew that sincere humility is the only effective way to lead. As C.S. Lewis said, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." Great leaders readily defer to others because they understand that acting in true humility can only enhance, not threaten, their legacy.
This theme is picked up at the final dinner party, with Thomas Jefferson. Van Loon differentiates Jefferson from his famed contemporary Alexander Hamilton by how they treated people of lower social standing. "Their respective abilities were of the same high quality, but Jefferson was so superior to most of his fellow men that he could afford to treat them as his equals. Whereas Hamilton was obliged to assume a superiority he did not really feel". When you're at ease with your own value and legacy, what need is there to draw attention to the ways most others measure up short against you? Jefferson was an unparalleled lover of liberty, and with his departure as the last dinner guest before the backdrop of Hitler's emerging menace, the world's future is uncertain. Will there be a deliverer from the Führer as deliverers have risen throughout history? Heading into this era of fear, Jo, the cook, knows what to say. "(N)o more weeping, if you please...Do you remember what our ancestors used to say when everything went wrong? Ende desespereert nite. Whatever we do, let us never despair. So here is to good health and here is to our love for each other and here is to hope." That hope of mankind banding together to repel the threats that arise now and then against our freedom is what gave peace-lovers like van Loon the victory in World War II, and is why Van Loon's Lives will never lose its value to humanity. I give it three and a half stars, and would have done four had van Loon been more fair in his approach to religion. You won't find another book like this one.
"(F)or no word that has been uttered for the purpose of making man the master of his own fate has been spoken in vain."
—Van Loon's Lives, PP. 60-61
When van Loon and his friend Frits, residing in the quaint Dutch town of Veere, hit upon the idea of learning about the past by inviting particularly intriguing historical players to a series of dinner parties hosted at their own humble home in the Netherlands, they didn't imagine such an arrangement was actually possible. Van Loon could have chosen no better cohost than Frits, whose character he extolls to his own grandchildren in the Foreword to Van Loon's Lives. Frits has passed away these decades later, but "He was like one of those elderly gentlemen in Central Park who go around feeding birds and squirrels. Their pockets are filled with everything these small creatures may like to eat. The birds and the squirrels sense this and they perch on the shoulders of their benefactors and climb all over them in quest of what they consider their legitimate belongings." The world could use more good souls who share what they have with little ones who love their company. "(G)aiety and kindness and tolerance and understanding were the gifts he bestowed upon the world. Wherever he went, he squandered these rare possessions in a most magnificent and bountiful manner, for he knew (what all wise people have realized since the beginning of time) that the only treasures which are truly ours are those we lay up in the hearts of our friends." Though Van Loon writes this book in the early 1940s as an outcast of his Dutch homeland, with World War II at a fever pitch and Hitler's dark armies marching over the face of Europe, the dinner parties occurred years ago, when Hitler was an up-and-comer on the world stage and Europe could focus on recovering from the Great War. Optimism was slowly returning to the Continent like animals refilling the woods after a fire, and this was the ideal moment for hopeful study of the past to improve our odds of a worthwhile future.
"What poor, deluded fools these human beings are! Won't they ever learn? Of course, today they seem to do everything at a much faster rate of speed than we did in our day. They get born faster. They live faster. They eat faster. They burn out faster. But what do they gain? And you tell me that all of them can now read and write! But what do they read and what do they write? And are they any better at living in peace with each other than we were? Do they love each other any the better? Let me put it even more simply. Do they treat each other with any greater decency and tolerance than we did in our own time, when we were forever slaughtering each other for some opinion which was mere guesswork and probably always would remain so, and yet caused one half of humanity to send the other half to the gallows and the stake—and for what?...I am sorry, but even today, I don't quite know for what!"
—Desiderius Erasmus, Van Loon's Lives, PP. 18-19
The first dinner invitation is issued skeptically, but when Erasmus the scholar shows up at their door, van Loon and Frits know a special time in their lives has started. Erasmus is as witty, introspective, and forceful a character as in his prime hundreds of years ago, the embodiment of what made the Renaissance a glorious era in history. The cohosts so enjoy his company that they arrange for Erasmus to attend every party they plan, a dedicated student of human culture who can act as communicator for guests with barriers of language or behavioral paradigm that may impede mutual understanding.
As the historical parade continues, van Loon, Frits, and Erasmus grow comfortable with the routine, learning what works and how to keep their guests at ease. It's not easy for individuals dead as long as thousands of years to be social after all that time spent in the afterlife, but some guests adapt more easily than others. William the Silent and George Washington are quite a pair to have at the same meal, and while van Loon harbors no illusion of General Washington as the faultless figure from the history books, his regard for the Father of Our Country stems from Washington's unassailable integrity, a good man who responded to every crisis with his fledgling homeland's best interests at heart. Molière, Cervantes, and Shakespeare are invited for a party, three master writers who have much to say on the subject, but a distinct highlight is derived from van Loon's notes written for Frits, a courtesy he indulges in before each soiree so Frits will know more about their evening guests. In Shakespeare's case, van Loon delivers a striking dissertation on the bard's storytelling talent. "Other playwrights have done their best to do as he did, but none of them can be ranked with this strange butcher's boy from Stratford-on-Avon. For sooner or later they would get stuck in their own doubts and meditations. Then they began to moralize and were lost. Shakespeare, on the other hand, never preached, nor did he ever draw any definite lessons from the deeds of his characters. But not even the least intelligent of his spectators is ever left in doubt as to which way lies virtue and which way lies vice—what course will lead to death and what course will lead to life everlasting." In that paragraph, van Loon elucidates what set Shakespeare apart from other writers, demonstrating that perhaps a spark of the bard's genius resides in van Loon. His essays are a perfect prelude to meeting the historical figures at their parties, so we can better enjoy their particular flavors of brilliance.
Byzantine Empress Theodora and Queen Elizabeth I are an extraordinary pair. They aren't endowed with the comprehensive education of some invitees, but their party is one of the nicest in the book. While they exude the demanding air of royalty and add little of intellectual value in conversation, both are dynamic, alluring women, and contribute a hint of romance to the festivities with their flirtatious nature, especially Empress Theodora. I enjoyed spending the evening in their sweet and sultry company, and van Loon and Frits could not believably deny the same. What an honor to cap the night by dancing with royalty from yesteryear, an experience the most entitled among us cannot boast. Robespierre and Torquemada bring us swiftly back to earth after this enchanting evening, with their cruel outlook and indifference for those not on board with their brand of empire building. Van Loon and Frits perhaps could have hosted the pair more amiably, suspending judgment for their misdeeds, but that spending time in their presence was unnerving. Then there's the evening of Saint Francis of Assisi, Hans Christian Andersen, and Mozart, whose only trait in common is a pure artistic spirit and love of life and humanity. Their party develops splendidly, a delight to read. Though Mozart was a flighty person not given to personal discipline, van Loon defends the matchless musician thus: "Mozart was undoubtedly extremely foolish. That is not the way a reasonable person should act. But neither would a reasonable person compose The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, or The Magic Flute." We mustn't praise the artistic merit of a wondrous mind and reject the accompanying foibles of personality, for the two are wed inextricably. It's incumbent upon us to embrace people entirely, for we cannot pick only those parts of the artist we believe are worth keeping and discard the rest. We take the whole or we take nothing, and it is usually worth it to humbly and gratefully take the whole.
"As if any of us could bear to live in a world of unadulterated truth!"
—Van Loon's Lives, P. 465
By now it's obvious the dinner parties are a success, and van Loon takes a moment to linger on the rapture of these nights, where no one is in a rush to be elsewhere. His guests are all deceased, and have nowhere to go but the mysterious afterworld about which none of them volunteer much information. Is there any pastime more satisfying than robust, relaxed conversation with fellow enthusiasts of life? As van Loon puts it, "Is there any greater pleasure in this world than to sit around a table with people you really like, with whom you are tuned in on the same emotional and spiritual wave length, so that there never is any static, and with whom you agree so fully upon all matters of real significance that you can disagree just as heartily upon the nonessentials? We have by far too little of that sort of thing in America. We seem to feel that we should always be doing something. Just to sit and talk or, even worse, just to sit and do nothing at all, not even talk, is held to be a waste of time. How can one waste something that does not really exist, I never have been able to understand, but I do think that it would be of the greatest benefit to us as a nation if we could learn to spend at least half an hour after every meal sitting quietly around the dinner table." That opportunity abounds in Van Loon's Lives, and the company for your post-meal conversation will never be finer. I love the metaphor van Loon imparts the night he sups with Francis, Andersen, and Mozart, as he walks alone outside afterward and watches a lighthouse spin, emitting two short flashes, a long flash, then darkness until the light circles back around. Artists like those he entertained that selfsame night radiate light much the same way into the otherwise unbroken darkness of history, photons beaming into the world for an instant before going black again. "Mozart, Hans Christian Andersen, and Saint Francis—three short flashes—then darkness again. A curious arrangement, yet one which enabled many a weary mariner to find his way across the turbulent waters of the ocean of life." This is vintage van Loon, profound images that stay with his readers a long time.
"As a day well spent gives joyful sleep, so does a life well spent give joyful death."
—Leonardo da Vinci, Van Loon's Lives, P. 655
Beethoven, Napoleon, and van Loon's great-great-grandfather are an unforgettable dinner trio. Van Loon is arguably too hard on Napoleon, though I respect his unwillingness to regard the French emperor's violent conquests lightly because we aren't directly hurt by it today as we are by the machinations of contemporary dictators. Warm nostalgia for despots is inappropriate, van Loon would argue, and he has a point. Plato and Confucius end up being one of van Loon and Frits's favorite evenings, as the formidable communication barrier doesn't intrude on a night of constructive dialogue and heartfelt compassion for the human condition. Having Leonardo and Dante at the same event is an ambitious undertaking. Both are creative geniuses, but conduct themselves very differently. Brilliant as Dante is, he doesn't acclimate to the modern dinner party as well as Leonardo, the quintessential Renaissance man never at a loss for words. The contrast in Dante and Leonardo's response is probed thoroughly after they depart, and van Loon's conclusions are as interesting as any idea expressed during the meal. Ah, and I must not forget to mention the party of Emily Dickinson, Frédéric Chopin, and Gioachino Rossini. Ms. Dickinson is as reclusive as expected and locks herself upstairs at first, but the genteel, unassuming companionship of the fellow guests coaxes her down eventually. Theirs turns into an evening of humor and charisma like none other in this book.
I'm overjoyed that van Loon invited the "Lost Children of History" for a party, as except for this chapter, kids are excluded from Van Loon's Lives. He invites the youngsters of the children's crusade, the two princes locked in the tower by Richard III, and other kids treated shamefully throughout history to enjoy themselves in the presence of great American statesman and inventor Ben Franklin. Franklin has astute advice on how he kept his youthful look and demeanor into his eighties. "I will tell you how it can be done. Never worry about what may happen tomorrow, for in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it won't. And don't take things too seriously, for very few things are worth it." I'm sure that is the secret to prolonged youth. How much better off would we be if we adhered to Franklin's sagacious words?
"(B)ut what use is even the best of remedies, concocted by the most learned of apothecaries, if the patient throws the mixture out of the window and his physician after it?"
—Michel de Montaigne, Van Loon's Lives, P. 721
Later, van Loon writes of heroes and those disgraced by the verdict of history, and his thoughts are not to be missed. "Half a century of digging among the ruins of the past had made me painfully familiar with the feet of clay which were buried deeply in the sands of time and which only too often supported the magnificent superstructure of some of the statues erected to our departed gods and half-gods. But, on the other hand, where would we have been—yes, where would we be today—unless occasionally there had been feet of granite, willing and able to carry their owners into the realm of the unknown and find new roads toward progress? The answer was—nowhere at all. We needed those voortrekkers, as our South African cousins used to call them. We needed a few stout hearts to do the pioneering. Without those men and women who trekked ahead of the rest of the crowd and either found new grazing fields or died in the attempt, no one of us would ever have gotten very far. We would have been obliged to stick to the swampy coastal regions, where we had lived and died until then, since the beginning of time, and we would never have known what lay hidden beyond the distant mountain ranges." "For youth can no more live without some kind of hero than it can without its daily supply of fresh air and vitamins." I suppose that's why van Loon proposed the dinner parties in the first place, to enhance his sympathy for the titans whose feet of clay eventually brought them low, and to admire the few whose granite feet never crumbled. One finds both in the annals of history.
At a dinner with several Dutch and Norwegian explorers, Fridtjof Nansen notes the fine line leaders walk maintaining order among their crew. "Without discipline, it degenerates immediately into a mob. With too much discipline, it loses all initiative, and the men will sit down in a blizzard and freeze to death rather than find shelter behind some near-by rocks, because no one with a couple of stripes on his sleeve has told them to do so." Micromanaging can have just as deleterious an effect as the opposite extreme. Nansen knows leadership, and memorably articulates the one trait a leader must possess or be lost. "(U)nless we have a real love for our fellow men—nothing sentimental, if you please, for they would not understand that—but a real interest in their well-being, a real desire to be of service to them...in short, unless those entrusted to our care feel that we think of them first and long before we even begin to think of ourselves, well then, everything else we do or fail to do is of no earthly use. The men will immediately sense it, and all control is gone." Unyielding love has always been the reason men imperil their lives for a commander, or subjugate their own ambitions to those of a superior. That loyalty has to be earned, and leaders like Nansen did so over and over. After Nansen's dinner party, van Loon senses he's made real progress in his pursuit of understanding mankind and the grand design of history. "There was nothing supernatural in these heroes of my childhood days. They were merely 'consecrated men' who lived 'consecrated lives' in which the idea of self had been completely repressed that they might devote themselves entirely to the task of looking after the happiness and well-being of those entrusted to their care." They didn't view their followers as more deserving of protection than they, but knew that sincere humility is the only effective way to lead. As C.S. Lewis said, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." Great leaders readily defer to others because they understand that acting in true humility can only enhance, not threaten, their legacy.
This theme is picked up at the final dinner party, with Thomas Jefferson. Van Loon differentiates Jefferson from his famed contemporary Alexander Hamilton by how they treated people of lower social standing. "Their respective abilities were of the same high quality, but Jefferson was so superior to most of his fellow men that he could afford to treat them as his equals. Whereas Hamilton was obliged to assume a superiority he did not really feel". When you're at ease with your own value and legacy, what need is there to draw attention to the ways most others measure up short against you? Jefferson was an unparalleled lover of liberty, and with his departure as the last dinner guest before the backdrop of Hitler's emerging menace, the world's future is uncertain. Will there be a deliverer from the Führer as deliverers have risen throughout history? Heading into this era of fear, Jo, the cook, knows what to say. "(N)o more weeping, if you please...Do you remember what our ancestors used to say when everything went wrong? Ende desespereert nite. Whatever we do, let us never despair. So here is to good health and here is to our love for each other and here is to hope." That hope of mankind banding together to repel the threats that arise now and then against our freedom is what gave peace-lovers like van Loon the victory in World War II, and is why Van Loon's Lives will never lose its value to humanity. I give it three and a half stars, and would have done four had van Loon been more fair in his approach to religion. You won't find another book like this one.
"(F)or no word that has been uttered for the purpose of making man the master of his own fate has been spoken in vain."
—Van Loon's Lives, PP. 60-61
April 13, 2017
It's been a long time since I read this, but every now and then it pops into my memory. Today I went and looked it up at the library for old times' sake.
It's a history-ish book... by which I mean, it's about a couple of fellows who are miraculously able to invite any historical figure they want to have dinner with them. Two things from it have always stuck in my mind: when Robespierre comes and makes a little guillotine to cut up his oranges, and when Emily Dickinson comes and secretes herself in an upstairs room, sending notes and poems floating down through the floorboards.
It's very odd book, and extremely long. Many hundreds of pages. I can't remember why I checked it out exactly, I think I heard mention of it somewhere online years ago, then went and located it at my college library. It hadn't been checked out for over twenty years, I think. Indeed, a very obscure and unusual book.
It's a history-ish book... by which I mean, it's about a couple of fellows who are miraculously able to invite any historical figure they want to have dinner with them. Two things from it have always stuck in my mind: when Robespierre comes and makes a little guillotine to cut up his oranges, and when Emily Dickinson comes and secretes herself in an upstairs room, sending notes and poems floating down through the floorboards.
It's very odd book, and extremely long. Many hundreds of pages. I can't remember why I checked it out exactly, I think I heard mention of it somewhere online years ago, then went and located it at my college library. It hadn't been checked out for over twenty years, I think. Indeed, a very obscure and unusual book.
August 28, 2024
This is a very difficult book to review because although clearly written for 'young people' at nearly 700 pages I doubt any 'young person' will ever read it again. But it has some charm, all these accounts of two 'old duffers' (I can't think of tem any other way except in those Edwardian terms) who gain the ability to invite anyone they like from history to dinner. When Robespierre comes he makes a little guillotine to chop up the bread and Emily Dickinson hides way in an upstairs room and communicates via little notes. The humour and characterisation are broad and you can be sure that when they invite Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden to dinner their guests don't, as we might now speculate they might, get-off together.
The date and place of the first publication, London 1943, gives a broad hint of the purpose of the book. Not simply as a way to keep 'young people' amused during long dull evenings but as the dedication says in '...memory of those valiant men of our beloved Zeeland who died while trying to preserve and maintain the most cherished of their possessions, their FREEDOM' (capitals in the original). This is, in a gentle way, propaganda against the horrors of what was happening in Europe. I read it all many years ago and still have the battered war standards production on my shelves. I might read bits again, I doubt if I would read it from cover to cover, but I couldn't throw it out, because its good intentions make that impossible, for me.
No doubt one day it will go on recycling pile, but not till I am on one.
The date and place of the first publication, London 1943, gives a broad hint of the purpose of the book. Not simply as a way to keep 'young people' amused during long dull evenings but as the dedication says in '...memory of those valiant men of our beloved Zeeland who died while trying to preserve and maintain the most cherished of their possessions, their FREEDOM' (capitals in the original). This is, in a gentle way, propaganda against the horrors of what was happening in Europe. I read it all many years ago and still have the battered war standards production on my shelves. I might read bits again, I doubt if I would read it from cover to cover, but I couldn't throw it out, because its good intentions make that impossible, for me.
No doubt one day it will go on recycling pile, but not till I am on one.
January 15, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in January 2002.
The idea for this book is a charming one in writing aimed at older children (with an interest in history). In a small village in the Netherlands in the thirties, two men are able to invite historical people to dinner once a week; van Loon's Lives is the story of these dinner parties. Each chapter is one of these parties, with a different group of guests; some work well, but others are nightmarish. Each visit is accompanied by a set of lively little biographies of the guests, lacking in the objectivity that academic historians would insist on, but much more enjoyable than most of their summaries would be.
The book was produced (in the United States) after the occupation of the Netherlands, and is at least in part meant to be a reminder of what people were fighting for, a celebration of the Western liberal tradition. It is noticeable that in a collection of historical characters which is quite Euro-centric, there are particularly few Germans, only musicians Beethoven and the Bach family in fact. The shadow of Hitler's rise and what it might mean in the Netherlands and for the whole of Europe is referred to frequently. Although van Loon may have partly wanted to serve a patriotic purpose with his stories in a United States not yet at war, he did not allow this to take over his work.
This kind of story has been sadly out of fashion for most of the last generation, but to those who are interested in history, the dinner parties will still be entertaining.
The idea for this book is a charming one in writing aimed at older children (with an interest in history). In a small village in the Netherlands in the thirties, two men are able to invite historical people to dinner once a week; van Loon's Lives is the story of these dinner parties. Each chapter is one of these parties, with a different group of guests; some work well, but others are nightmarish. Each visit is accompanied by a set of lively little biographies of the guests, lacking in the objectivity that academic historians would insist on, but much more enjoyable than most of their summaries would be.
The book was produced (in the United States) after the occupation of the Netherlands, and is at least in part meant to be a reminder of what people were fighting for, a celebration of the Western liberal tradition. It is noticeable that in a collection of historical characters which is quite Euro-centric, there are particularly few Germans, only musicians Beethoven and the Bach family in fact. The shadow of Hitler's rise and what it might mean in the Netherlands and for the whole of Europe is referred to frequently. Although van Loon may have partly wanted to serve a patriotic purpose with his stories in a United States not yet at war, he did not allow this to take over his work.
This kind of story has been sadly out of fashion for most of the last generation, but to those who are interested in history, the dinner parties will still be entertaining.
read-partially
July 30, 2016Added in May 2016. (first published 1942)
Someone at a FunTrivia message board mentioned this book. It sounded interesting. It reminds me of the theme of Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian in which the author has imaginary conversations with famous people.
I read to page 173 in this book. It interested me at first and I liked the writing style. However, after a while it became too detailed and I lost interest. The author presents quite a bit of background history about the famous people he discusses. (He started out with Erasmus!) I even enjoyed the section about George Washington. However, I didn't enjoy the parts where he went into detail about the food which the people liked and the music they listened to.
As of July 28, 2016, I've decided not to continue reading this book.
Someone at a FunTrivia message board mentioned this book. It sounded interesting. It reminds me of the theme of Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian in which the author has imaginary conversations with famous people.
I read to page 173 in this book. It interested me at first and I liked the writing style. However, after a while it became too detailed and I lost interest. The author presents quite a bit of background history about the famous people he discusses. (He started out with Erasmus!) I even enjoyed the section about George Washington. However, I didn't enjoy the parts where he went into detail about the food which the people liked and the music they listened to.
As of July 28, 2016, I've decided not to continue reading this book.
March 30, 2018
A lifelong favourite. The premise is/was for its time original - invite real people from history to dinner, having found a means by which they can be summoned. The history 'lessons' in the form of briefings to a friend as preparation for meeting these dinner guests are a successful technique. And above all, the encounters with the guests (two at a time) - people mostly great and grand from the past, thrown together with other such people over a single dinner - are sheer delight, with arguments, wit, catastrophe and humour.
March 23, 2020
I found this book quite enjoyable! From dinner party to dinner party I couldn't wait to see how each one turned out! Some really good and some disastrous! It captured my attention all the way to the end!
August 9, 2022
Van Loon takes an interesting approach to history when he writes this book. I particularly enjoyed his illustrations, such as the old church where they hid letters for their guests, or the tree full of birds.
From the first few pages I realized that Van Loon has a deep knowledge of the histories he is retelling. In each chapter the author and his friend Frits invite a famous person(s) to have dinner with them.
The dinners themselves were engaging and entertaining, however the synopsis that Van Loon writes about each famous person beforehand can become lost in the mass of details.
When Van Loon tells the stories of explorers such as Fridtjof Nansen (an arctic explorer) or military leader General Washington, their stories come alive. However, when Van Loon discusses the guests such as Charles of Switzerland or other royalty, his emphasis of dates and their contemporaries adds too much clutter to the flow of the story.
Overall a book that hides some very entertaining stories. The nice thing is that if a chapter becomes too much, you can skip to the next without fear of missing something terribly important.
From the first few pages I realized that Van Loon has a deep knowledge of the histories he is retelling. In each chapter the author and his friend Frits invite a famous person(s) to have dinner with them.
The dinners themselves were engaging and entertaining, however the synopsis that Van Loon writes about each famous person beforehand can become lost in the mass of details.
When Van Loon tells the stories of explorers such as Fridtjof Nansen (an arctic explorer) or military leader General Washington, their stories come alive. However, when Van Loon discusses the guests such as Charles of Switzerland or other royalty, his emphasis of dates and their contemporaries adds too much clutter to the flow of the story.
Overall a book that hides some very entertaining stories. The nice thing is that if a chapter becomes too much, you can skip to the next without fear of missing something terribly important.
June 3, 2022
Little did I know when I started this book almost four years ago (it is thick and a slow delightful read) that by the end of it I would actually KNOW what it was about.
“But no more weeping, if you please,” she added. “Do you remember what our ancestors used to say when everything went wrong? Ende desespereert niet. Whatever we do, let us never despair. So here is to good health and here is to our love for each other and here is to hope.”
“But no more weeping, if you please,” she added. “Do you remember what our ancestors used to say when everything went wrong? Ende desespereert niet. Whatever we do, let us never despair. So here is to good health and here is to our love for each other and here is to hope.”
December 27, 2022
Van Loon's Lives seems to be a classic at most of my local library sales. I picked one up and started to read one copy. Attractively illustrated by the author, the book sets forth what are purported to be dinner parties with famous figures in history long since past--beginning with Erasmus. The author and his friend (Frits) are able to invite these figures from the past to Frits' house in Veere, in Zeeland (the Netherlands)--a town which is rather redolent of its past glory as well. These dinners supposedly take place in the late 1930's, as Hitler is coming to power.
As preparation for each dinner, van Loon writes his own briefing papers for Frits, wherein he shares some very interesting historical facts for each guest, as well as setting the stage for the discussion to take place--including what music and courses are to be prepared for the dinner.
Van Loon writes and illustrates these discrete events with style and humor--very conscious of the irony surrounding his guests (for example, he pairs Napoleon and Beethoven--who are each caricatures but revealing both their greatness and their flaws thereby)--as well as the gathering clouds over Europe as the intolerance and violence from Hitler's Germany darkens the horizon. Van Loon recounts the many ulcers and stomach ailments suffered by Napoleon, usefully summarizing: "I am sorry to be quite so clinical, but stomach aches and headaches and sluggish bowels are apt to play a much greater role in history than most people ever seem to suspect." He cites Pascal's statement that had Cleopatra's nose been a tenth of an inch longer or shorter, history would have been different--and draws out a hypothesis regarding Hitler's famous constipation...this all in a book published in 1942 but written from 1939-1941.
Some of the dinners are more of a revelation than others--for example, Robespierre is paired with Torquemada, and the excesses of both are well revealed although each is allowed to seek to present why they think what they did was good or socially useful.
Some of the episodes reflect Van Loon's idiosyncracies--he is an ardent Unitarian who believes that Thomas Jefferson is the most enlightened of all. Reasonable minds can differ.
But on balance, the book is a joy to read and entertains while also educates. Van Loon's irony is very modern, as when he discussed the passing of Robespierre--who thought himself as "...the Lord Himself. So He, too, was abolished, together with His Church, and their place was taken by a curious new faith known as the Cult of Reason." More generally, Van Loon's recounting of the powerful who today (or in 1940) looked merely egotistic is a basic theme of the book and specifically that "...eternal doubt must be the price of spiritual liberty and that truth, once it has been accepted and has been elevated to the rank of dogma, can be used to crush its former friends and to establish itself as a tyrant, infinitely more cruel and unrelenting than the tyrants it has just helped to crush." Very much relevant to the cancel culture of today.
For those whose parents had bought this book and left it in some musty place, or those who frequent library sales where Van Loon's books seem to have been deposited with such regularity, please read this book! It interjects the humor, stable perspective and good-naturedness of a true amateur in the best sense of that word into considerations of politics and ambition into the ordinary life of citizens. Well worth bathing in that mixture!
As preparation for each dinner, van Loon writes his own briefing papers for Frits, wherein he shares some very interesting historical facts for each guest, as well as setting the stage for the discussion to take place--including what music and courses are to be prepared for the dinner.
Van Loon writes and illustrates these discrete events with style and humor--very conscious of the irony surrounding his guests (for example, he pairs Napoleon and Beethoven--who are each caricatures but revealing both their greatness and their flaws thereby)--as well as the gathering clouds over Europe as the intolerance and violence from Hitler's Germany darkens the horizon. Van Loon recounts the many ulcers and stomach ailments suffered by Napoleon, usefully summarizing: "I am sorry to be quite so clinical, but stomach aches and headaches and sluggish bowels are apt to play a much greater role in history than most people ever seem to suspect." He cites Pascal's statement that had Cleopatra's nose been a tenth of an inch longer or shorter, history would have been different--and draws out a hypothesis regarding Hitler's famous constipation...this all in a book published in 1942 but written from 1939-1941.
Some of the dinners are more of a revelation than others--for example, Robespierre is paired with Torquemada, and the excesses of both are well revealed although each is allowed to seek to present why they think what they did was good or socially useful.
Some of the episodes reflect Van Loon's idiosyncracies--he is an ardent Unitarian who believes that Thomas Jefferson is the most enlightened of all. Reasonable minds can differ.
But on balance, the book is a joy to read and entertains while also educates. Van Loon's irony is very modern, as when he discussed the passing of Robespierre--who thought himself as "...the Lord Himself. So He, too, was abolished, together with His Church, and their place was taken by a curious new faith known as the Cult of Reason." More generally, Van Loon's recounting of the powerful who today (or in 1940) looked merely egotistic is a basic theme of the book and specifically that "...eternal doubt must be the price of spiritual liberty and that truth, once it has been accepted and has been elevated to the rank of dogma, can be used to crush its former friends and to establish itself as a tyrant, infinitely more cruel and unrelenting than the tyrants it has just helped to crush." Very much relevant to the cancel culture of today.
For those whose parents had bought this book and left it in some musty place, or those who frequent library sales where Van Loon's books seem to have been deposited with such regularity, please read this book! It interjects the humor, stable perspective and good-naturedness of a true amateur in the best sense of that word into considerations of politics and ambition into the ordinary life of citizens. Well worth bathing in that mixture!
June 29, 2019
This book was my wife's grandpa's favorite book, and so we have it around the house. It's based on a conceit that isn't very interesting -- have famous and infamous men from the past over to dinner, calling them out of Heaven for an evening of eating and listening to the gramophone and talking. He invites them over two or more at a time -- so there's one evening with Cervantes and Shakespeare, another with Descartes and Emerson, etc.
The book fails on its own terms. The people who come down out of Heaven don't have anything interesting to say. They come down and eat these amazing meals (which the author describes in detail) and snuggle by the fire and have good convos but it's all tell, not show. They rent an apartment for Desiderius Erasmus and he comes to hang out when the visitors come over. Erasmus's really handy when it comes to languages.
The author Van Loon was a journalist who wrote popular history. His histories are unreliable and incomplete -- the book was written in 1942. So, once the conceit of the book wears off, the reader is left reading over 800 pages of unreliable history.
One thing this book has in its favor is how of the moment it was when it was written. The book ends (you're not going to read this, so I feel comfortable giving spoilers) with the author having to leave the town where he's been hosting the dinners because the Nazis will soon be arriving. Throughout the book the author reminds us several times that civilization is on the verge of collapse, and so the evenings spent with these great (largely European and male) people of the past are wistful. Remember when Europe was a land of art, literature, philosophy and liberty, before the rise of fascism?
The book fails on its own terms. The people who come down out of Heaven don't have anything interesting to say. They come down and eat these amazing meals (which the author describes in detail) and snuggle by the fire and have good convos but it's all tell, not show. They rent an apartment for Desiderius Erasmus and he comes to hang out when the visitors come over. Erasmus's really handy when it comes to languages.
The author Van Loon was a journalist who wrote popular history. His histories are unreliable and incomplete -- the book was written in 1942. So, once the conceit of the book wears off, the reader is left reading over 800 pages of unreliable history.
One thing this book has in its favor is how of the moment it was when it was written. The book ends (you're not going to read this, so I feel comfortable giving spoilers) with the author having to leave the town where he's been hosting the dinners because the Nazis will soon be arriving. Throughout the book the author reminds us several times that civilization is on the verge of collapse, and so the evenings spent with these great (largely European and male) people of the past are wistful. Remember when Europe was a land of art, literature, philosophy and liberty, before the rise of fascism?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 12, 2019
"...Beethoven symphonies are not exactly the sort of music one usually serves with the soup."
Van Loon dishes up lovely little personal histories of many esteemed personages along with delicious menus, delightful beverages, and timely music. It's a brain-teaser discussion many have already had: if you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would you invite? The writer here takes advantage of that trope to create several such little vignettes, from statesmen (who turn out to be the most dreary guests) to inventors, explorers, and philosophers...all set against the background of encroaching darkness as Nazi Germany begins to rise in Europe.
The scope of the history the book covers is vast, and although I've seen some criticisms that the book is Euro-centric, all I can think is, "well, of course." Given the time period during which the book was authored and from what setting it is placed, a more global history would've been inappropriate. It's definitely more of a Western Civilization book, but much more concerned with the lives of the remarkable individuals who visit than with the whole of the political theater.
Not all the dinner parties are pleasant...not all visitors get along well...but they all are fun to read about.
Van Loon dishes up lovely little personal histories of many esteemed personages along with delicious menus, delightful beverages, and timely music. It's a brain-teaser discussion many have already had: if you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would you invite? The writer here takes advantage of that trope to create several such little vignettes, from statesmen (who turn out to be the most dreary guests) to inventors, explorers, and philosophers...all set against the background of encroaching darkness as Nazi Germany begins to rise in Europe.
The scope of the history the book covers is vast, and although I've seen some criticisms that the book is Euro-centric, all I can think is, "well, of course." Given the time period during which the book was authored and from what setting it is placed, a more global history would've been inappropriate. It's definitely more of a Western Civilization book, but much more concerned with the lives of the remarkable individuals who visit than with the whole of the political theater.
Not all the dinner parties are pleasant...not all visitors get along well...but they all are fun to read about.
April 5, 2020
5 1/2 stars. In my opinion, the best of Van Loon's books, which is saying a lot. Van Loon, born in Holland just before turn of the century, traveled and wrote widely. He eventually settled in the United States and became an enthusiastic, if not native, American. He was implacably opposed to Hitler and other totalitarians, recognizing the threat before many did so.
Van Loon wrote "Lives" in the late thirties and published it in 1942. It's hard to describe this imaginative, whimsical, educational, engrossing and thoroughly entertaining book in a few words, so I'll start with its subtitle: "Being a true and faithful account of a number of highly interesting meetings with certain historical personages, from Confucius and Plato to Voltaire and Thomas Jefferson, about whom we had always felt a great deal of curiosity and who came to us as our dinner guests in a bygone year". Each of his imagined dinner accounts includes a brief bio of the expected guests, written in Van Loon's inimitable conversational yet erudite style, and other amusing observations. All Van Loon's work is highly readable and he's outdone himself here. It's a long book, but for me at least, too short.
Van Loon wrote "Lives" in the late thirties and published it in 1942. It's hard to describe this imaginative, whimsical, educational, engrossing and thoroughly entertaining book in a few words, so I'll start with its subtitle: "Being a true and faithful account of a number of highly interesting meetings with certain historical personages, from Confucius and Plato to Voltaire and Thomas Jefferson, about whom we had always felt a great deal of curiosity and who came to us as our dinner guests in a bygone year". Each of his imagined dinner accounts includes a brief bio of the expected guests, written in Van Loon's inimitable conversational yet erudite style, and other amusing observations. All Van Loon's work is highly readable and he's outdone himself here. It's a long book, but for me at least, too short.
April 3, 2019
Another book that is a delight to read. Some reviewers have described it as being a children's or young adults book. Maybe some of them would enjoy it but I found it much more than that. As long as one can accept the mild conceit of having dead people as live dinner guests all else is good. It can hardly stand as a serious history book. The words I choose to describe it by are: informative, humorous, illuminating, profound, and contemporary. Contemporary because despite being written almost 80 years ago the comments about humankind and society are as relevant today as when they were written. Amusingly my 1960 reprint (646pp not the more than 880 as listed) contains author's and publisher's notes to the effect that the content may be anachronistic - no such thing!
May 1, 2019
A popular writer in the thirties and forties, Van Loon wrote this work as a modern-day Plutarch. Here he invites famous persons whom he would have liked to interview to a Saturday dinner. He plans each meal thoroughly, investigates and arranges the music that would have appealed to his quests and then, for the edification of his co-host, would summarize their biographies in anticipation of the repast. This is a charming work written while the fate of the world was being decided on the fields of Europe and the waters of the Pacific. Very rarely does he make a mistake concerning these guests and occasionally his Leftist leanings emerge, but for the most part, he entertains while teaching the reader some history.
April 5, 2008
Van Loon's masterful way of introducing personal narrative into the telling of history is at its best in this book, Lives, wherein Van Loon relates a series of dinner parties between himself, Erasmus, and a surprising array of dinner guests. My favorite chapter was the one wherein Van Loon and Erasmus host Queen Elizabeth and Empress Theodora. He gives the reader a sense of what kind of women these historical figures must have been, and it's genuinely entertaining to read about his difficulties in figuring out what to prepare for someone like Napoleon.
I wouldn't recommend this book for any serious scholarly research, but for a Sunday afternoon it's tops.
I wouldn't recommend this book for any serious scholarly research, but for a Sunday afternoon it's tops.
May 31, 2019
Overall, Van Loon's Lives was an enjoyable read. His descriptions of the characters and locale are charming, and you end up learning a little about history in the process of reading as well. He does have some sexist moments, which spoilt the experience slightly for me.
November 15, 2018
Besides reading Biggles, Famous Five and a ton of comics, this was one of the most interesting books I read as a kid!
December 7, 2019
Read 3 times
December 13, 2016
Very entertaining. A thoroughly civilized book
June 23, 2010
This is the second time I’ve read the book and I find this reading I am not a charmed as the first reading. But it is still a favorite book. It works well as an introduction to many people and the events that made them a part of recorded history; this keeps it interesting. It is imaginative and fanciful, this makes it fun.
March 25, 2008
Very interesting observations of some of history's figures, in an imaginary setting of dinner invitations. Held my attention and still crops up in my memories from time to time. I feel If I have actually been to Middleburg!
February 10, 2010
The concept of "inviting" famous persons from history for dinner is an interesting way of presenting history to the general public.
Regretfully the author had to spoil his work by interrupting the story to expound his biases and prejudices, some of which come across as very dated nowadays.
Regretfully the author had to spoil his work by interrupting the story to expound his biases and prejudices, some of which come across as very dated nowadays.
August 8, 2014
Delightful, though euro-centric. Van Loon uses a middle school teacher's voice, but still I learned a lot of history and the book is humorous and fanciful. If you want to read 10 or 20 minutes before sleep this is great!
Read
August 5, 2010Van Loon's Geography by Hendrik Willem Van Loon (1932)
May 29, 2015
A comforting book in the face of the barbarity of the time in which it was written, and of our own. There is also in humans a capacity for cultivation. This book is saturated by the longing for that.
April 7, 2017
A delightful and instructive way of meeting famous (and infamous) personalities from the past by inviting them to dinner.
I was so charmed by this book and the setting in which it is placed, that I plan to visit Middelburg and Veere this summer.
I was so charmed by this book and the setting in which it is placed, that I plan to visit Middelburg and Veere this summer.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews