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Mark

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Mark rated a book it was amazing

Trial by Fire: The Hundred Years War, Volume 2

by Jonathan Sumption

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Mark said: " About 60% through right now. Rambling review below, read overwhelmingly in the last week.

Unbelievably good, in spite of my similar criticisms of the first book. The story of Charles of Navarre (pretender to the French throne, a sort of third side in About 60% through right now. Rambling review below, read overwhelmingly in the last week.

Unbelievably good, in spite of my similar criticisms of the first book. The story of Charles of Navarre (pretender to the French throne, a sort of third side in this phase of the 100 yrs war), the late 1350's pseudo commune of Paris so reminiscent to 1789 and 1870, and the slow disintegration of feudal military and taxation structures in France from private armies and bandits combined with an intense civil war is unbelievably compelling. You can really see the heights of success with Feudal structures when they work well, and then the absolutely vicious cycle when taxation and recruitment starts to become more difficult as local interests and assemblies begin focusing on only their local environment. The descriptions of how these institutions work would benefit from some of the more structural and thorough descriptions of the book 'Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy', but the detail lost is detail gained elsewhere, no word is wasted. The differences between the high level descriptions of John II (imprisoned, totally ignorant of whats going on, coming up with insane fanciful peace treaties) and Edward III (king for almost the whole of this war, so distant from on the ground situation that most action and decision making is occuring without his knowledge even if in his name), and then the mid level nobility and local assemblies trying to organize local defense/raiding parties, and then the low level nobility and individual towns just trying to survive, makes the world feel extremely alive.

Another positive, is the author starts to talk more about the experience of the common person and villager stuck in the middle of this vicious war, and the impact on their economic and daily experience, while not as specifically as the high level politics and mostly through anecdote it adds tremendously to the understanding of the period.

The last 200~ or so pages describing the late 1350's and it's intense and ornate political and diplomatic machinations is hard to describe except with the most glowing praise, it's just pheneomenal writing and makes the history seem very much alive. The Dauphin and imprisoned King's slow divergence in policy as the French state descends into civil war is just unbelievably interesting, and I think bucks much of typical ideas of what this type of 'high feudal' society looked like. Even though I know roughly how the long run of the war goes (the English are eventually kicked out almost 70 years after the events I'm reading about now), the wild swings back and forth in fortunes between even individual months, the intricately described political debates and conflicts, local anecdotes of heroism or treachery, etc. make this book a page turner most like an intense fantasy novel or something like that.

In terms of negatives, i've softened on them a little since the first book, but the narrow focus on France here leads to extremely interesting detail, but difficulty in comparison, for instance what the reaction and impact on the western HRE, the lowlands, and the eastern parts of France untouched by the fighting were experiencing, or how their economic or demographic fortunes were changing in reaction to refugees, their young men going to fight or be bandits, or the loss of trade routes. I'd say that in general the book would be helped by more economic or demographic or cultural analyses, but the politicking is so remarkable that you almost forget other places exist. So, not all bad. ...more "

Aug 06, 2026 03:17PM · see review

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Road to October 7: A Brief History of Palestinian Islamism

by Erik Skare

bookshelves: currently-reading, 2026-aspiration

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Mark said: " Really good.

It's a 'brief' history for sure, but it really delineates the difference between palestinian islamic jihad and hamas in a way I was totally ignorant of. It also much more neatly than my vibes based understanding details how exactly Islam ...more "

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— Mar 05, 2026 11:26AM

Mar 04, 2026 06:34PM · see review

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Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman

by A.J.P. Taylor

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"While this is a pretty great diplomatic history, it’s a bad personal history. I don’t care about his mistress tell me about Austria" — Aug 27, 2025 11:38PM

Jul 15, 2025 02:12PM

See all 14 books that Mark is reading…