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What I Read in September 30 Years Ago (1981)

1659. Catherine de' Medici and the Lost Reformation, by Ralph Roeder (read 1 Sep 1981) Only after I had read this whole book did I notice on the front page "Second Edition, Abridged." I never knowingly read abridged books and if I had noticed those words I never would have read this book. The book itself says "it is not intended as a book of reference"--it is just a retelling, from a biased point of view, of the events which occurred in France during the life of Catherine de Medici, who was born Apr 13, 1519, and died Jan 5 1589. After reading this I am surfeited so far as the period from 1540 to 1589 is concerned. It was really a mess--and religion was only a pretext for many of the things that went on. This book was tedious, opinionated, and turgid (what more would have been in the unabridged edition?) but I read it with interest.

1660. Queen Anne, by David Green (read 5 Sep 1981) I looked for this book in December 1974 but did not find it and read Green's biography of the Duchess of Marlborough instead. But now I found this and have read it. Obviously it covers much the same ground as the biography of the Duchess. Green's style is so idiomatic and quotes so much from sources that I find it really hard to follow unless one reads quite carefully. Queen Anne was born Feb 6, 1665 at St. James' Palace to James II (then duke of York) and his first wife Anne Hyde. She succeeded to the throne on William III's death on 8 Mar 1702, and died 1 Aug 1714. It is a fantastic time, and I really would like to have the time told in a more expressive idiom. I can't help but think that Queen Anne was a very ordinary woman and that any greatness she had was accidental. I would next like to read a biography of George I--[but I didn't until August 1985, when I read George I Elector and King, by Ragnhild Hatton.]

1661. The Arms of Krupp 1587-1968, by William Manchester (read 24 Sep 1981) I read this book while on a trip to Czechoslovakia. It is on the Krupp family, and the book was extremely interesting, and only seemed tiresome in the Hitler era, when Manchester goes to great lengths to show the tie-up with Hitlerian wrongs. It is a little amazing that Krupp was able to get his firm back, despite his conviction at Nuremberg, and Manchester sure makes it seem as if this should not have happened. Every once in awhile one must read about the Hitler times and this was a good book to read.

What I Read in October 30 Yeara Ago (1981)


1662. The Powers That Be, by David Halberstam (read 2 Oct 1981) This is an account of CBS, Time, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times since the nineteen thirties, and it was unfailingly interesting even though awfully anecdotal. It apparently is based largely on interviews and is footnoteless. So much judgment is involved and one wonders if everything really was as the author says. But it was absorbing and I am glad I read it.

1663. The Habsburgs, by Dorothy Gies McGuigan (read 9 Oct 1981) This is a very light gossipy book about the family which read very easily and quickly and which I enjoyed. The family is crammed with interesting characters and my just having completed a trip to Czechoslovakia gave immediacy to some that I read. I was surprised to note that I'd forgotten some of the Mayerling story, though I have read detailed accounts of it. It still seems hard to know the reasons for it. This was a non-profound book, but fun to read.

1664. Matthew Arnold: A Life, by Park Honan (read 17 Oct 1981) This is a 1981 biography by Park Honan, who is with the University of Birmingham, England. Since I value so highly much of Arnold's poetry, I simply had to read the book. Not that Arnold had a particularly exciting life, and besides Arnold spent so much time as a school inspector. But this book was worthwhile. Arnold was born Dec 24, 1822, at Laleham (in the Thames Valley) and died suddenly at or near Liverpool about 3 PM on 15 April 1888. I was pleased to read the following about my very favorite lines: "He used the severe, nominal style with more restraint in Dover Beach, but there it lends dignity to the natural scene and beauty to his passionate identification with Obermann:
Behind are the abandoned baths
Mute in their meadows' home.
The leaves are on the valley paths,
The mists are on the Rhone--

1665. Sketches From English History, Selected and edited by Arthur M. Wheeler (read 20 Oct 1981) This was published in 1886, and consists of short excerpts from English historians. (The historians are identified only by their last names.) I found the book like a survey of English history, and very easy to read. Obviously, some of the historians are very prejudiced. (One of the worst is Farrar, whose sketch on Sir Walter Raleigh reeks with prejudice.) A good book and I am glad I own it [though I don't think I do any more, since we moved in 1992 and many books did not survive the move].

1666. The Dawn of a New Era 1250-1453, by Edward P. Cheyney (read 24 Oct 1981) This is the first volume of a series of books entitled "The Rise of Modern Europe." This volume covers the years indicated. Though it is a survey book, its period is short enough so that it really wasn't too bad, and in general I enjoyed it. It was written in 1936, so its footnotes are to old books, and while the bibliography was revised in 1957, there still is the feeling that so much good work has been done since that maybe it is out of date. Its treatment of the various matters concerned--such as the expansion of trade, the development of representative government, popular insurrections, the 100 Years War, the weakening of the Papacy, the spread of heresy, and the advance of the Turks--are fairly good. The bibliography so often says "The best treatment is" and then gives a book not in English--and I keep wondering why more books are not translated into English.

1667. Korea: The Limited War, by David Rees (read 29 Oct 1981) This is a 1963 book by a British free-lance writer. I found the book fascinating and am very glad I read it. It recounts for me so much that was of Supreme Interest to me in those years of maximum awareness to the most important things happening, 1950-1951, but also covers periods when I was in isolation relatively speaking, e.g., boot camp from 21 Aug 1951, to early Nov 1951, and at sea from Jan 1953 to July 1953. The author does not do a good job discussing U.S. politics--he simply is not very at home in the subject--but his outlook does coincide in ways with what mine was in those turbulent months when I was in my first year of law school and political argument was always so important to me. And there is much I learned from the book--putting it together as it does was enlightening . The book includes the full text of the Armistice documents, and I read them word for word, realizing the immense efforts that went on over every sentence.

Schmerguls wrote: "What I Read in October 30 Yeara Ago (1981)


1662. The Powers That Be, by David Halberstam (read 2 Oct 1981) This is an account of CBS, Time, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times "

I've enjoyed all of the David Halberstam's books I've read especially his sports books and The Fifties. I've not read The Powers That Be but just put it on hold at the library.

Here is what I have read by Halberstam:

1281. The Best and the Brightest, by David Halberstam (read 17 Aug 1974)
1662. The Powers That Be, by David Halberstam (read 2 Oct 1981)
2591. The Fifties, by David Halberstam (read 1 Apr 1994)
4331. The Children, by David Halberstam (read 22 June 2007)
4651. The Coldest Winter America and the Korean War, by David Halberstam (read 15 Dec 2009)

I have good memories of all of them.