Interesting Part II
"I have to also confess that I was kind of irritated with Harper Collins for presenting the [Passchendaele] book as though I had actually written it -- I thought it was a little cheeky and not entirely honest." - PG on the First Weekend Club Q&A.
Makes me wonder how much control 'authors' or names have over book publications once a big name publisher gets involved - seemingly none. It's fraud, isn't it, on some (moral) level? What do you think? Good job he benefited from it, I guess, otherwise he'll be causing more of a stink. Ahem.
And he shows off his decency and moral side in answers like this, in response to a slightly odd question about whether Germany will be on the 'good' side during the next war (WW4??!). The blatant underlying xenophobia of the question itself made my eyes water a lot a little, but the answer was great. Emphasis mine, BTW, for a thought you rarely hear in public life, particularly with military interventions.
"I have no crystal ball and can't quite imagine what shape, if any, the next global conflagration will take. At the moment it seems unlikely that western Europe will splinter entirely so whatever happens it would seem that Germany will be on our side, whatever might happen. If we're on the wrong side they will be right with us. I'm very leery of using terms such as good and evil when it comes to the First World War. It was a very complex and tragic series of events that led to that cataclysm and the finger of blame can be pointed with ease in any number of directions. In terms of the actions of individual soldiers they were no better, no worse than the allies. It was a slaughter yard where easy distinctions such as good and evil had little purchase. As to its deeply enigmatic nature, I would direct you to ‘The Pity of War' by Ferguson."
This is why I like him. Also, reading his words is like watching a really good porn film and eating chocolate cake. Just to bring the tone down a little.
Makes me wonder how much control 'authors' or names have over book publications once a big name publisher gets involved - seemingly none. It's fraud, isn't it, on some (moral) level? What do you think? Good job he benefited from it, I guess, otherwise he'll be causing more of a stink. Ahem.
And he shows off his decency and moral side in answers like this, in response to a slightly odd question about whether Germany will be on the 'good' side during the next war (WW4??!). The blatant underlying xenophobia of the question itself made my eyes water a lot a little, but the answer was great. Emphasis mine, BTW, for a thought you rarely hear in public life, particularly with military interventions.
"I have no crystal ball and can't quite imagine what shape, if any, the next global conflagration will take. At the moment it seems unlikely that western Europe will splinter entirely so whatever happens it would seem that Germany will be on our side, whatever might happen. If we're on the wrong side they will be right with us. I'm very leery of using terms such as good and evil when it comes to the First World War. It was a very complex and tragic series of events that led to that cataclysm and the finger of blame can be pointed with ease in any number of directions. In terms of the actions of individual soldiers they were no better, no worse than the allies. It was a slaughter yard where easy distinctions such as good and evil had little purchase. As to its deeply enigmatic nature, I would direct you to ‘The Pity of War' by Ferguson."
This is why I like him. Also, reading his words is like watching a really good porn film and eating chocolate cake. Just to bring the tone down a little.