Vincent Cronin (1924–2011)

> MATTEO RICCI, LE SAGE VENU DE L’OCCIDENT, de Vincent Cronin (Albin Michel, 2010). — Le jésuite Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) est le premier Occidental à avoir réellement découvert et fait découvrir la civilisation chinoise. Auteur d’un célèbre dictionnaire de la langue chinoise, il s’assimila totalement à cette société lointaine dans laquelle il vécut jusqu’à la fin de sa vie. Son approche novatrice et bienveillante d’une culture inconnue lui valut d’être, aujourd’hui encore, une référence pour les Chinois, qui ont donné son nom à de nombreuses universités. (15,20 €) (Semi-poche)

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Cronin-Matteo-Ricci--Le-sage-venu-de-lOccident/17...
> Le Monde : https://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2010/04/01/matteo-ricci-le-sage-venu-de-l-...
> Yumpu : https://www.yumpu.com/fr/document/view/9330129/andre-comte-sponville-propos-sur-...
> L'Homme en Question (No 26 – printemps 2010) : http://www.albin-michel.fr/multimedia/Documents/hq/hq_26.pdf… (mais)

This history shows the truth that contradicts the legends.

These two were victims of circumstance instead of the ignorant fools they have been portrayed as in popular history.

After the megalomaniac Louis XIV and the pleasure seeking Louis XV, these two were painted with the same broad brush. Louis actually tried many reforms to better the lot of his people; and in doing so he angered the nobility. The nobility consequently started a smear campaign to demonize him; they were behind the early scandal sheets that made both Louis and Marie Antoinette into the stereotypes that fueled the revolutionary ire.

While it is true that Marie Antoinette was foolish and spendthrift early in their marriage.....she was a teenage girl.....and she behaved like one. Once the marriage was finally consummated and she became a mother, her thoughtlessness and immaturity disappeared. Of course, by then it was too late to stem the bloodthirsty tide.

One wonders what the traitorous nobility thought about their pot-stirring and calumny while awaiting their own doom during the reign of terror. Did they realize how their own actions were the cause of their fate? Those who let loose the ravening beast cannot hope to not be devoured themselves. There was plenty of comeuppance for all, including Robespierre, consumed by the conflagration he fueled.

This book is a lesson in politics, reform and the perfidious nature of humanity that many would do well to read and learn from.… (mais)

O autor busca em diários e relatos críveis contemporâneos ao Napoleão, bem como na própria produção extensa deste, para construir uma visão pessoal de uma figura que foi alvo de uma imensa campanha de propaganda de seus inimigos para formar a imagem de um monstro ambicioso disposto a tudo para conseguir poder. O livro mostra um Napoleão humano, bem-humorado, apaixonado e generoso, porém impaciente, impulsivo e nervoso, características que Vincent defende que foram responsáveis pelas suas derrotas. Buscando razões para seus comportamentos na sua ascendência e criação, o autor pode, em alguns momentos, oferecer uma visão otimista demais do general estadista, porém sempre baseando-se nos fatos encontrados em suas fontes.
Os capítulos seguem uma cronologia básica, porém alguns deles que dedicam-se à aspectos específicos podem ir e voltar um pouco no tempo, o que exige uma atenção do leitor para não se perder na ordem dos fatos.
… (mais)