Welcome to the latest instalment of “What Am I Reading?” I - TopicsExpress



          

Welcome to the latest instalment of “What Am I Reading?” I know this spring has been devoid of witty History at Red Deer College posts. Sorry about that. Teaching a Spring Term course took most of my time. And, much of the reading I did this past while was on the British Empire for the course. But that is now done. I will endeavour to maintain a better presence. So with that in mind, let me share what I have read these past couple of months. Hugh Trevor-Roper, “The Wartime Journals” (2012) “One Hundred Letters from Hugh Trevor-Roper” (2014) Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914-2003) was Regius Professor of History at Oxford who was one the greatest historians of the 20th century. You might know him from his dubious verification of the purported “Hitler Diaries” in 1983. The documents were a forgery and Trevor-Roper’s reputation was tarnished. I didn’t know much about him until I read a collection of correspondence from another Oxford historian and many of the letters were address to Trevor-Roper. Anyway, I have read with much enjoyment his letters and journals. I completely reject any facile opinion I had of him based on the Hitler Diaries and understand now the pressure he was under by the media and the newspapers, both of which pressed him to make a decision. Historians, if you don’t know, are fond of phrases like “it might be” or “it seems plausible”. Neither of which satisfied the media outlets. If you are looking for well-written history full of beautifully crafted, witty prose that would rather jump off the page than carry any jargon or carry any obtusely constructed sentences that pass for erudition, Trevor-Roper is your guy. He wrote on a vast array of topic from a 17th century Archbishop of Canterbury to the final days of the Hitler’s Third Reich. His “Last Days of Hitler” remains the standard account of what transpired in the bunker with the Russian closing in. I cannot recommend it highly enough. And there is a copy in the RDC Library. During World War Two Trevor-Roper work for the British in the Intelligence section. (He was fluent in German, ancient Greek too but that didn’t come up much.) Against regulations, he kept a journal of thoughts: about history, the war, Oxford gossip and the like. There are a couple of gems about history that I should like to pass along. (1941) “Truth and Justice should be the guiding principles of a historian. But Truth need never be dull, and Justice should be done to people as well as to theories.” (1943) “Advice to historians: You may read all the documents in the world, but without sense you will not be right, and without style you will not be read.” Write well and with style. If you don’t believe me, believe Hugh. Like all scholars before the advent of email, Trevor-Roper was a prodigious letter writer. His correspondence is a delightful stroll into a past age. The enjoyment of the letters is too vast to do it justice here, but I wholly recommend them. I would like to point out his May 1988 letter to historian Edward Chaney. Contained there are Trevor-Roper’s “Ten Commandments” for writing. These are brilliant and I think I should pass them out on the first day of classes. Let me share a couple. “Thou shalt known thine own argument and cleave fast to it, and shall not digress nor deviate from it without the knowledge and consent of the reader, whom at all times thou shall lead at a pace which he can follow and by a route which is made clear to him as he goeth.” “Thou shalt keep the structure of thy sentences clear, preferring short sentences to long and simple structure to complex, lest the reader lost his way in a labyrinth of subordinate clauses; and in particular, thou shalt not enclose one relative clause in another, for this both betrays crudity of expression and is a fertile source of ambiguity.” These are gospel, as are the others. If you want to read about an old-school historian for whom the past was found the archives, Trevor-Roper is for you. I am reading some fiction too, specifically the co-authored novels of Douglas Preston and Linclon Child. They have a series featuring Aloysius Pendergast, an FBI agent with a mysterious past, psychotic family and deceased wife with Nazi ties. Ripping good stuff. I just reread the latest trilogy and have their new book “White Fire” on my night table waiting. These are all good book and if you like mysteries and characters revealed in layers, over many books, give Preston and Child a try. Best to read in order, however. What I’m reading right now is Primo Levi, “The Periodic Table.” Levi (1919-1987) was an Italian Jewish chemist working during World War Two. This particular book is a series of autobiographical short stories set to a particular element in the periodic table. It is a lovely melding of science and memoir. The writing is wonderful, in translation of course, and is provides a glimpse into the reality of building a science career as a Jew while the outside world surrendered the madness and folly of fascism in Italy and Germany. For now, that is it. I am a regular reader of the “Economist” and “New Scientist”. Soon I will be reading daily reports and analyses from the Tour de France. Are you excited too? Next time I hope to tell you about the French Revolution and the malady called Hysteria. Have lovely week everyone.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 01:04:37 +0000

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