Books sah! Faahsands of 'em. Well, five, actually...

[matgb]

Meme time: -Choose a book genre
-Choose five books from that genre
-Tell me why I should read them.
Nice'n simple. I pick history:

1. An Utterly Impartial History of Britain (or 2000 years of Upper Class Idiots in charge)--John O'Farrell
If you know absolutely nothing about English/British history, this would be a damn good place to start. It starts when Ceasar invaded, and stops when Attlee won 2000 years later. It takes the piss something chronic throughout, is very funny, and has a palpable anti-establishment bias. It is, by its nature, a summary of key events, but it does it well. The introduction and the first few paragraphs got me when we saw it in the service-station bookshop, so much so I didn't even apply my normal accuracy test (see below), but when I got to that bit it not only passed it, it did so with flying colours in a way I'm likely to try and quote at some point.

Also? I'm not, generally, a soppy bugger. I don't recall ever being moved to tears by a damn book before. O'Farrel's description of Dunkirk did it for me, and I don't even like WWII as a period (it doesn't count as history, it's within living memory, damnit!)

It's on offer in virtually every major chain bookseller at the moment, we bought it on the drive to conference, it really is a good book, and everyone should know at least the basics of the history of these islands.

2. The Glorious Revolution (1688--Britain's Fight for Liberty)--Edward Vallance
Pop quiz: When was Britain last successfully invaded?
If you said 1066, you are wrong. William I (of Normandy) landed with less men, on less boats, and with more justification than William III (of Orange) did 622 years later. That James II ran away from the battlefield leaving his army in the command of one of the greatest traitors in the history of England John Churchill who surrendered to William and swore fealty to him means it can be written off as a 'revolution', and there was an uprising across much of the country. But it was an invasion, and William's motives were entirely in the Dutch interest; England'd been at war with the Dutch several times recently (eg when we nicked New York from them or when they sailed up the Medway to burn the fleet while Charlie was shagging Nell), but he completely changed English foreign policy and we went to war with the French. Fortunately he died befor the real war got serious and John Churchill (I did say greatest traitor for a reason) got to go off and win it for us.

The Revolution led to the founding of the modern Parliamentary system. It gave us the Bill of Rights, the Acts of Settlement and the Act of Union, established that the Crown was a gift of Parliament and that Parliament was supreme. Also, due to William's complete lack of interest in domestic affairs saw the first signs of our current Cabinet system of government, and saw the first partizan elections with an attempt to organise election campaigns.

It is, to my mind, a crucial phase in British history, and this is an excellent primer into it.

3. Battle Cry of Freedom (The American Civil War) James M. McPherson
If knowing how Britain came to be the way it is is essential for any Brit, knowing how America came to be the way it is is essential for everyone. The American Civil War established how the US would be governed, it saw the change from these United States are to the United States is and established the primacy of the Federal Government over the States Rights. Oh, it also freed the slaves, sort of, but that was an issue, not the point.

This book won a Pulitzer prize. The New York Times said The best one-volume treatment of [the Civil War] ... It may actually be the best ever published. and it was probably right to do so. If you want to understand a lot more about how America is the way it is, this is a good place to start.

4. The long 19th century--Eric Hobsbawm
This is a bit of a cheat. Hobsbawm actually wrote three books covering the period, The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848, The Age of Capital: Europe 1848-1875, and The Age of Empire: Europe 1875-1914, but you really need to read them all, and they were written as a set. His basic premise is that the 19thC started with the French Revolution, as that was a sudden and drastic break from the past that changed the face of Europe completely, and ended with the shooting of Franz Ferdinand in 1914, as that saw the end of the period and marked the beginning of the period of Total War.

He's a Marxist historian, of the school of marxism that pretty much rejected Soviet Russia and concentrated on the historiography. People matter a lot less than economic and political forces--the French would likely have revolted anyway, etc.

The modern world was created by the 19th Century, economically, socially and politically. Understanding it is probably a good thing.

5. John Stuart Mill (Victorian Firebrand)--Richard Reeves
I'm a Liberal. not some wishy-washy 'do-gooder' or ill-defined lefty that's scared of the word 'socialist' (I'm not, like Mill, I'm one of them too). Mill defined modern (British) Liberalism, he put into words the basic idea that freedom matters, that personal choice is important, that education is essential, that representative government is a Good Thing, that women can (and should be) equal to men.

I met the author at the Brighton conference last year, he spoke at a fringe debate on 'the greatest ever liberal', putting the case for Mill. The vote was open to all those who attended conference, but he was up against Paddy Ashdown promoting Gladstone and someone else pushing Lloyd George, both popular figures. Not only did he win the debate convincingly (against, I say again, Paddy Ashdown), but he won the vote convincingly too. He was back (at Bournemouth) this year, now as chair of Demos, and I was able to get to two fringe events he spoke at, both were excellent (although he did manage to alienate pretty much the entire room at the first, being deliberately provocative). In both, he made a strong case for Millian values (suggesting that, for example, the Post Office should be turned into a workers co-operative), and his easy debating style is indicative of his writing style.

The only reason I still haven't finished the book is because the hardback is so damned heavy I can't read it in the bath nor really in bed. But the parts I've read are excellent. Mill is the greatest ever Liberal. He's possibly the greatest ever philosopher. Reading him directly can at times be a bit of a chore (Victorian prose is for me), but reading about him by an engaging writer?

If you already think you're a liberal, you ought to have read this book. If you don't think you're a liberal, you should read this anyway, as I hold out hope to persuade you. Definitely recommended.

OK, that was longer than I expected it to be. ginasketch's meme got me geeking about both books and history. Which has got me writing properly again. I'll try to keep it up. Guess I'd better cut the bulk of the text then...