Byron Hollinshead

A collection of essays whose only connecting thread is that they all involve Europe in some way. That's it. Some are art history, others detail revolutions. Some are written in a dry academic style, while others read like pop history, and one, Paul Kennedy's "The Battle of the Nile," is written from the perspective of a fictional Egyptian fisherman (and manages to be actually offensive in how artificial, unconvincing, and Orientalist the fiction is). Some essays relate controversies or mysteries, while others just recount events and periodically insert "I wish I'd been there to see that."

I wish this book had more of a point. They should have curated this collection so that it focused on "key turning points in the drama of European history," as stated on the back, OR focused it on points of history that are still mysterious. As it stands, it's a bunch of utterly random bits of history, most of which is related poorly.… (mais)

The premise is fascinating; the execution, not so much.

Some of the essays I wasn't expecting much from, and was pleasantly surprised. I was really looking forward to the last two (by Sir John Keegan and Freeman Dyson) but they were complete non-starters. Much more interesting were the middle essays, by Fischer Drew (on the Magna Carta), Parker (on the near-surrender of the Spanish Armada), and Feingold (in the origins of Newton's Principia).

If you pick-and-choose, this book might be worth your while. Not a cover-to-cover read.… (mais)