True Historical Disruption
589286
I would consider this an enthralling historical read. This book brings to life the elements that define this epic event and outline what could be a true historical disruption.  This book is a MUST read.
662426
This is a must read for any serious student of late 1800s history.  Corporal John Butterworth was a member of the "thin red line of heroes" that served in India and suffered so horribly in South Africa during the Boer War.  The English dialect he sometimes writes in is difficult to puzzle out sometimes, but overall, a tremendous work illustrating the lot of the common soldier.  His criticisms of officialdom's follies, and the terrible mis-steps of diplomacy and ministerial folly, might echo as loudly today.  I was caught up in this book, and was shocked at its sudden, tragic ending.  If you want your heartstrings tugged, read this book!
1384603
Isn't it refreshing to read a non-politically-correct history, as opposed to the "guided" revisionist history we become so accustomed to receiving?

This series of books supports real history, significant history and our constitution, along with the intent and real meaning our forefathers laid down as self-evident truths as they wrote our Declaration of independence, constitution and bill of rights. I suppose that could be the major reason this series of excellent books drives lib-Marxists wildly rabid with rage.
3414328
Excellent revisit to Henri Pirenne's book. This is a much more likely explanation of the end of classical civilization through a careful examination of archeological evidence. There is a completely unjustified mythology that Islam was a great, civilization that achieved great things as the surviving civilization from Rome shriveled to its own death. Instead, Scott shows that Islam's inherent violent nature did fatal damage to a thriving classical civilization that was so civilized that armies and serving in them was not held in high esteem. This is a must read to dispel the false notion that the West "fell".  The terror and anti-civil phenomenon of Islam was in every way a destructive force as it has been since its invention in the 600s. The book starts off slow - in my estimation - and the review of archeological remains such as coins seemed a weak argument and stretched too far to make such a sweeping argument about the fall of the West. However, as you read further there seemed to be a snow balling effect. Far more data and real history started to build a strong argument. We are all in danger if we do not learn the truth of history and the foe and enemy of all civilized peoples which is Islam.
1698610
(Where are 6 stars when you need them?)

While staying true to history, Chadwick extends the dry book facts about historical figures into a story with real flesh-and-blood people speaking words and having feelings and motivations for their actions.  It's not history light or history distorted; it's history enhanced.

Almost everyone with a small amount of interest in history is familiar with Eleanor of Aquitaine (called Alienor in the book), her marriage to Henry II of England, and their many sons and daughters, in particular, Richard the Lionheart and that nasty (many think) King John.

But most knowledge about Alienor, at least for me, is about her in relation to Henry.  This book, which begins in 1137 and ends in 1154, deals mainly with Alienor's first marriage to Louis VII of France.  Orphaned and heiress to the Duchy of Aquitaine, Alienor, believed to have been born in 1124, was only 13 years old when she married Louis, who himself was only a few years older.

Theirs was not an easy marriage for many reasons: their relatively young age;  Louis's piousness and, shall we say, spinelessness;  Alienor's dreaded mother-in-law;  Louis's many advisors unsympathetic to Alienor and wishing to undermine any influence she might have with Louis.

This book has everything you could wish for:  real history, so it's educational;  relationships and even bedroom scenes (which some readers may not like, but, really, there must have been sex in the past or there would be no people in the world in 2014);  heirs to kingdoms or lack thereof;  even a crusade.  Yes, a crusade that Alienor accompanies Louis on and is one of my favorite parts of the book.  And, of course, towards the end of the book there's the meeting of Alienor and Henry and subsequent marriage.

Chadwick helps out readers like me, who are interested in history but not hugely knowledgeable, by supplying maps and genealogical charts of the family of Louis VII, the Norman and Angevin kings of England and the Dukes of Aquitaine. One map was especially useful for following Alienor and Louis while on crusade.

BTW, if you haven't read&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Lady-of-the-English/dp/B0057H765I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Lady of the English</a>, don't miss it.  It's the story of Henry II's mother Matilda, daughter of King Henry I and wife to Geoffrey of Anjou, and her years-long power struggle with cousin King Stephen for control of England.  That book begins in 1125 and ends in 1149 when her son Henry is named heir to King Stephen's throne, rather than any of Stephen's sons. THE SUMMER QUEEN covers the years from 1137 to 1154, so if you read the two books, you will enjoy seeing how they fit together.

And, joy of joys, Chadwick has two more books about Alienor in the works:  THE WINTER CROWN and THE AUTUMN THRONE.  These are sequels I truly am looking forward to reading.
3687996
It has been a pleasure to read a true account of history as opposed to a manufactured reality. I am sorry the professor is not around for our time period, although I seriously doubt the powers that be would allow a similar work from 1964 to the present.
2009821
A must read for those interested in a true expose of what was happening, that has now completely overrun what was once the true evangelical church.
4683401
This is a totally absorbing book. There are many reviews so it is not necessary to rehash what it is about.  There are a few lessons that will stay with me.  The first is that history can be easily distorted.  This shows something is not true just because it is documented.  Second it follows the obsession of two extraordinary men. They are not trained historians but their commitment is beyond what we would usually associate with people.  Their motives are not clear but their commitment is all consuming.  I believe this book should be required reading for any serious historian.
4504454
I thoroughly agree with each of the other currently existing reviews, except regarding the Kindle gizmo, as I remain ungizmoed to present!
This is the companion book to "The Comanche Empire" by Pekka Hmlinen, which should be read first, for greater comprehension of the result as portrayed in DeLay's scholarly work.
I'd long wondered how and why Generals Taylor & Wool, & particularly Doniphan's 1st Missouri Volunteers, were so successful in the northern campaigns, whereas Scott & company ran into such resistance coming up & over "the hill" into the valley of Mexico City to the far south.
This volume presents a radical and irrefutable extraordinarily researched construct: Comanche, Apache, Navajo & Kiowa, by fulfilling their lifeforce and lust, indirectly but in large in part, caused Mexico to lose the northern half its landmass in the 1846-48 war.  The blatant racism of all participants is amazing (and, again in part, long-lasting!).  And one's compassion for the residents of Mexico's north cannot help but be great, causing we Anglo's to question those lasting prejudices.
This author presents several brilliant metaphors (I believe this is the term!) to describe the magnitude of the Indian attacks (each being a light flashing in the darkness) over the passage of years, and their rippling impact upon the Northern Mexicans (a cloudburst over a pond),all  which further amplifies the impact of this study.  5 Stars, you bet!
449816
Certainly one of the great mysteries of contemporary American History is why New York City became such an economic basket case during the 1970's.  Yes the clues were there but why exactly did everything happen at once.  The simple answer according to Joe Flood is that the slavish devotion of so called,"experts," resulted in massive disruption in city services when they were most needed.  The reason they were so needed is that decades of terrible planning and failed social policies by the same experts destroyed the fabric of the city.  Flood shows that other social issues may have been minimized or possibly destroyed if not for the destruction of the city by those who so arrogantly assumed they were saving it.

By using the lens of the fire department Flood is able to demonstrate how these failed policies combined with the personal goals of ambitious civil servants who put their own agendas ahead of the good of the citizens of New York.  He also does a wonderful job of showing how the minority community was often under attack by these groups and how their own elected representatives chose to line their own pockets rather than help their constituents.

Quite simply this is an excellent and unheralded book.  I strongly recommended it as the hidden gem of the year thus far.
3659910
Greenblatt has written a quite-readable account of a crucial watershed event in western history that has been overlooked. It's an engaging tale of some late middle-ages detective work by a former Papal Secretary. He spent years searching remote monasteries in northern Europe for fragments of lost classic books.
The result was pretty incredible when you consider the "fire" of intellectual curiosity that was lit as the result of his discoveries.
I got my hardly-read mint-condition used hardback copy for the cost of shipping. It was bought by the Denver Public Library and lovingly wrapped in carbonate film and then sold-off after nobody checked it out!
This is absolutely a must-read for anyone interested in history. Greenblatt did a great job with this book!
Buy it.
3276392
Smyrna 1922 is upsetting to read: there is always a disaster lurking in the background, and when it happens it is horrible indeed.  The consequences of war are all too often visited on innocent civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this, the closing chapter of the Ottoman Empire, is no exception.

Giles Milton once again has picked out a little bit of history and expanded a complete story out of it (Nathaniel's Nutmeg is an example of a tiny hinge of fate, for instance).  This time around, the focus is on Smyrna (Izmir), once a thriving trade port on the coast of Asia Minor.  The Levantines - European expats - ran a mercantile community, employing a large chunk of the local populace.  Smyrna was a mixed city, with Greeks, Armenians and Turks, as well as the Europeans, and a thriving American expat community.

All this was lost with the disastrous expedition into Anatolia by the Greek army in 1922.  There is an early wrinkle in with the revocation of the concessions - trade relaxations - on which this foreign fortune was built, with this being a source of apparent pride among local Turks, but this merely silent foreshadowing of the disaster to come.

In between, we see Smyrna during WWI under Rahmi Bey, and under Greek annexation in 1919.  Through all this there is a "ancien regime" feeling in the air: old power and wealth about to be lost in a sea of blood.  As it turns out, the blood was largely shed by the servants of the Levantines - a point deftly made by Milton - and Smyrna stands a proxy for the genocide of the period, by Greek and Turk alike.

Others have covered the facts of the book neatly; I won't all over again in any greater detail than I have above.  What is horrifying (and occasionally uplifting) is the reactions of various civilised men and women to the fall of Smyrna, and how much easier it is to do evil to others than to do good in such a time.

This is an excellent study of little-known history, told like a novel.  This is the horror of war, from the point of view of the civilians who suffered rather than the soldiers that fought and died.
1584666
As a military historian with absolutely =no= interest in ancient history, I nevertheless succumbed to extreme curiosity when a friend excitedly described Tony Clunn's masterful account of the utter destruction of three  Roman legions in the boggy western German countryside in 9 AD.
The  pursuit of historical accuracy owes much to the talented amateur who,  fueled by an unshakeable curiosity, delves into the unaccessed nooks and  crannies of times past without the academic's certainty that the historical  record is more times immutable than not. I have long operated on the  principle that history is a moving target, that the pursuit of historical  truth is ongoing, that we have all the time in the world to get to the  bottom of things.
I think my friend felt I would enjoy In Quest of the  Lost Legions on those bases alone, for by sheer persistence (and good  luck), Tony Clunn has turned the foundation of German national history on  its ear.
The English edition of In Quest of the Lost Legions is somewhat  shorter than the original German edition, and it suffers--albeit  slightly--from a lack of transitions where material was cut. Thus a crucial  turning point in Clunn's understanding of the Varus battlefield never quite  pays off, and the reasons for Clunn's numerous quests much farther afield  in Germany go unexplained. Despite these two flaws--which are minor and  would no doubt go unperceived by most readers--Clunn's twin tales are  absolutely compelling from the first page to the last. I found myself  immediately engaged in both the modern and ancient tales, and I found my  understanding of battlefield archeology and comprehension of the Roman  occupation of Germany advancing painlessly at a comfortable rate.
As it  turns, out this dual history--one that focuses upon the first stirrings of  German nationhood and the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire in  Europe, and the other that is an incredible detective story--has been  utterly pivotal in the way Germans have come to view their history in only  a matter of a very few years. The writing style employed in both stories is  both measured and vivid, so carefully conceived that a person as ignorant  of both aspects of the book as I was can be brought along in thoroughly  digestible phases to a keen comprehension of the underlying history and the  inner workings of Clunn's efforts to pinpoint the underlying truths that  are now accepted throughout the academic circles that monitor such  breathtaking historical revisionism. The beauty of Clunn's own tale is that  he is right and that he is acknowledged as being right by the usually  closed circles of experts that tend to stultify historical inquiry by even  the most talented and best informed "outsiders".
In Quest of  the Lost Legions is two great stories for the price of one--the history of  an immense historical coup and the haunting two-millenia-old tale woven  from the threads Clunn himself has laboriously and painstakingly dug out of  the peat bogs of Kalkriese.
4375863
an excellent work that ties bio/ history with implications for current events that are dramatic - a real page-turner on top!
2057626
The victor writes the history, and in the process romantices it and distorts it.  This book gives us real history unencumbered by political correctness.  Thankyou Mr. Brown.  This book is hard to read at times, but the knowledge you gain is well worth the heartbreak.  In response to the review from Denver, if this book offends your dim sensibilities, try reading In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse by Matthiessen.  Next time try to proofread your review for typos and grammar.
855541
Should be required watching during World History classes in high schools!  We don't want the attempted destruct on any race of people to ever happen again.  Ignorance of our past could allow it to happen!
3295507
Recent years have seen the publication of several books offering radical new explanations of ancient events or presenting sweeping revisionist theories of history.  Examples include Noah's Flood,  Eden in the East, Voyages of the Pyramid Builders, and 1421: The Year China Discovered America.
 Catastrophe is one of the best of these.  Archaeological writer David Keys has assembled multiple arguments supporting his theory that a major natural disaster around the year 535 altered the world's climate for years, causing famine and plague and triggering the collapse of existing political systems.  He gives us brief but well-written summaries of events that sprang from this catastrophe, including the rise of Islam.  According to Keys, this event ended an old world and gave birth to a new one whose patterns we still see today.  After a process of elimination, Keys proposes that the cause of this disaster was a volcano in what is now the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra.  He warns that natural catastrophes in the future could change the world we know.  Even if you don't agree with his conclusion, you will learn much from his reviews of historical events.  This is fascinating stuff, and highly readable.