Recent Reading:
White Heat - A history of Britain in the Swinging Sixties by Dominic Sandbrook, Abacus.
There is something almost voyeuristic about reading the history of a period that you lived through! This is a fine book that is readable, comprehensive and covers not only the outward manifestations but also the underlying causes of events. That's something that is remarkably difficult to do when you are covering such a recent period, but the author manages it with an appearance of ease.
There are places where I disagree with the analysis - for instance the interplay of personalities, events and environment in the Northern Ireland. I don't agree that Ian Paisley happened to be in the right place at the right moment to inflame the protestant population against the mild reforms being undertaken. Paisley was a product of the history and environment of Northern Ireland - if he hadn't been there, someone else would have fulfilled the role.
Quibbles aside this is contemporary history at its best, and well worth a read.
Unreservedly recommended.
Redcoats and rebels: The War for America, 1770-1781 by Christopher Hibbert. Penguin
This is an interesting book. I know quite a lot about the American Civil War, but relatively little about the American revolution. This book rectified that deficit. It also made it clear that my preconceptions - outmoded Brit generals confounded by American sharpshooters - were somewhat inaccurate.
Yes, the British generals were not exactly top quality, but the real problem was the fact that Britain could not find enough troops to fight a war on a continental scale. Add to that the lack of coordination between the armies and you have a recipe for failure.
In real terms the British only lost two major battles - Saratoga and Yorktown - in eight years but that was enough to precipitate a crisis at home and bring conciliators to the fore in Britain.
Perhaps the war is best summed up by the US commander Nathanael Greene, "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." This is a useful book if you want to find out about the revolution and its social, economic and political setting, as well as the basic military information.
Buda's Wagon - A Brief History of the Car Bomb by Mike Davis, Verso
MacArthur fellow Mike Davis has written an absorbing book about the development of what has been called 'the poor man's air force'. Starting with anarchist Mario Buda's horse and cart bombing of J.P. Morgan's building in Wall Street in 1920, Davis leads the reader through the development of increasingly powerful and sophisticated weapons until we get to the use of car bombs in Baghdad today.
But the author is not just interested in the technical time-line of car bombs, he also looks at the sociology of car bombs, in particular the way in which car bombs have been increasing used to inflict deliberate civilian casualties, rather than to target specific 'enemy' infrastructure. Davis also charts the rise in suicide car bombings and sets the whole story in a political framework which some people will find uncomfortable.
Just one caveat. Don't take this book to read on a plane. Government security personal are notorious for their inability to understand that people might want to study activities of which they disapprove in order to understand motivation!
Recommended.
Thames: Sacred River by Peter Ackroyd, Chatto & Windus
This is an interesting and eclectic look at the River Thames by the author of 'London: The Biography'. The meat of the book is a series of vignettes dealing with different aspects of the river, its people, and its environs. Also included is what the author titles 'An Alternative Topography, from source to sea' which is fascinating in its own right. This is really a book to dip into, rather than read from end to end, and in some places it gets a little too mystical for my taste. It has its own fascination, though, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it - especially to read in bed before you go to sleep.
India after Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha. Macmillan
At over two inches thick, this book is, at first sight, more than a little daunting. Open it up, though, and you will find the work of a true master of historical and political analysis. Mr Guha is also an excellent writer, and the book is a joy to read. It is a history of India over the last six decades, and what a history! It's all here: the origins of the Kashmir dispute, the war with China, the rise and assassination of Indira Gandhi, Indian cinema, and, of course the recent rise of outsourcing and the Indian software industry.
This is the way history should be written!
Bankrolling Basra by Andrew Alderson. Robinson
The author was a British reserve army officer called up to serve in Iraq. One day he was asked if he knew anything about 'finance'. Since in 'real' life he was a merchant banker, he said yes... So the British army put him in charge of rebuilding the southern Iraq economy! This fascinating book is at one level about racing around with bin bags stuffed with millions of dollars to pay wages, and at another level the heartbreak of having all attempts to rebuild the economy stuffed by uncomprehending bureaucrats.
A thundering good read.
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