John Stewart

Arguably one of the most influential Americans most people don’t know of

Revisado: 07-01-21

He was arguably the godfather of modern logistics—and basically invented federal procurement (and screening for corruption)—but he was more than that. He was also one of America’s great civil engineers and built much of DC.

As much as I knew the broad strokes of Meigs’ impact, the actual specifics are astounding, like meeting the Union Army’s uncanny demand for horses—an army of 426,000 men required 114,000 horses and 88,000 mules. Sourcing these livestock—at $125/horse—much less feeding them, was a feat in itself.

I’d highly recommend this book anyways, but as someone who grew up in NW DC, I was intimately familiar with the civil works he built and would say it’s essential reading.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

This book was thoroughly awful and anyone who liked it clearly doesn’t read many books

Revisado: 12-31-20

So seemingly everyone I know loves Erik Larson, but this was one of the worst books I’ve ever read.

I plow through non fiction and was blown away by how bad this book was—especially given how interesting the subject material is.

The Battle of Britain should be an amazing story—one so good that you’d think no one could screw it up. Then I read this book. Wow. I can’t think of any book that has sucked the life out of such a great story on every level.

Every now and then the book starts to get interesting, informative and borderline worth reading—but then the narrative pivots to either Winston Churchill’s daughter-in-law or some equally uninteresting or unworthy tangent. Seemingly every 4 pages is a different chapter. The problem is that only ~14% of these chapters are worth reading and add anything to the story. The best parts are about factory production on airplanes and even that is unfinished. When Larson occasionally finds an interesting angle to Britain’s finest hour he seemingly has to immediately pivot to a lousy tangent story about Winston Churchill’s alcoholic son or some other story that history tried to forget. Instead of recording history he writes about these lousy 2 bit accounts that no one should care about.

I read 22 nonfiction books and this year and this was easily the worst by wide margins. Folk love Erik Larson but based on this book I can’t fathom why. This was a poorly written book marketed to people in hat give books to others without reading them.

This book was so bad that Erik Larson should be docked credibility.

This is among the worst books I’ve ever read. I encourage you to avoid at all costs. Anyone who enjoyed this book clearly doesn’t read much nonfiction or know what a good book is.

Anyone who enjoyed this book Shiism re-evaluate their reading decisions.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Well written and achieves its purpose well

Revisado: 08-27-20

The Eastern Roman Empire lasted over 1000 years, so implicitly no author can cover it thoroughly in a relatively short book (to cover it completely, you need something excessively long like John Julius Norwich’s massive 3 book Byzantium anthology).

That said, Barnsworth did an excellent job covering the Eastern Roman Empire. His enthusiasm really makes the book. I’d argue he’s the most enthusiastic historian I’ve read and makes ~1,100 years of history come to life and easy to internalize. He excited me so much that I immediately read Cowley’s book on the Venitian Republic, Frankopan’s Silk Roads, and Graves’ historical fiction book on the Byzantine general Belisarius.

I had previously read several books that covered chunks of Byzantine history—so was already fairly familiar with some periods at the beginning and end of the Empire—but found this book filled in holes of knowledge that I had, tied different periods together and brought a handful of specific powerful facts, that randomly hadn’t heard before.

This is well written and flows well. More importantly, his enthusiasm is something else and makes the book. Unlike other histories that require extra attention to follow, this doesn’t. Given that this book covers over 1,100 years of history in ~10 hours made me respect how extremely well written it is and generally efficient it was. It flows well. Everything really digs in and easily to internalize.

That said, while this book does a great job introducing you to the Eastern Roman Empire, but isn’t perfect. This book should have been 10-15% longer. I wish Barnsworth included more about military history. A short book like this doesn’t have room to go in-depth on specific battles, but I wish he explained weaponry, tactics and how Byzantine warfare evolved. Specifically, how Belisarius revolutionized heavy cavalry, how Greek Fire was used, impact if crossbows, when the Byzantines turned to mercenaries instead of a standing army, decline of Byzantine navy, and more on the Varangian Guard.

I also wish Barnsworth focused more into trade and economic history given Constantinople’s capitalist dominance—what the trade routes were, high taxes, what was being traded. I was shocked he didn’t include the story of sneaking silk worms out of China given its economic impact and how it led to war between Justinian and the Persians. Likewise, how the economic fallout from the next Byzantine-Persian War led to Islam as a way to unite the Arab peoples (Frankopan did an excellent job here).

I also wish Barnsworth dug in more about health, lifestyle and domestic life—and how it evolved over a thousand years.

That all said, this book did an excellent job and achieved its goal of covering Byzantine history at a glance. More impressively is how it flows and brings this ancient and great civilization to life. He’s right in that it’s weird how Byzantine history is overlooked in American schools. He did a near perfect job addressing this gap in academia.

P.S. while I generally wish he was more analytical, he did have some specific points I’d never heard before. Specifically, I thought his point about Constantine implementing the guild system in the west was profoundly influential in creating the dark ages.

P.P.S. If you liked this, I highly recommend reading Frankopan’s Silk Roads book next.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The epic threads of trade (and reason for conflict) connecting the world woven over millennia

Revisado: 07-30-20

I couldn’t recommend this book more—for both avid history readers and casual readers alike. This book excels as a survey of world history by telling history through the lense of commerce, trade and globalization—things that, pun intended, truly make the world go round. For casual readers, it’s the perfect introduction to thousands of years of cultures; for experienced history readers, it ties numerous eras and rulers together.

I was very familiar with many of these empires background history of this ~2,500 years of trade, but loved how Frankopan’s smooth writing kept the narrative moving without getting sucked into specifics. This normally would have been a difficult story to write given that it stretches over millennia and covers dozens of cultures, empires, and ever changing maps, borders and changing balances of power. Frankopan does a masterful job connecting the dots and keeping the story moving—a feat most historians could not have pulled off. I actually wish this book was 15-20% longer.

Not only does he keep the narrative moving, he makes his points through facts and data, often undermining historical bias that in some cases have lasted thousands of years.

That said, I would have done a few things differently. He does have a few big historical gaps—for example, he doesn’t bring up Carthage, the titans of trade in the ancient world—and glosses over much of Roman trade. I was surprised he didn’t flush out Tamerlane more, given his geographical relevance, and he neglected the details of the daily lives of many of these traders. These are all small gripes. You can’t cover everything when telling a story that stretches over 2 thousand years—and Frankopan does keep the narrative moving.

My biggest complaint is the chapters on Britain. Not only are they the least interesting, but he spends ~250 years basically focusing exclusively on Britain and glosses over how pivotal the early modern era was for globalization and trade. He does have a great chapter on the Dutch, but felt like this should have been one of the more interesting eras to cover yet it was largely ignored. One minute you’re at the new world’s implications on global trade and then suddenly you’re in the late 1800s and the roots of World War I.

That criticism aside, this is an excellent book and few historians could have

This book does many things well and does such an excellent job on the fall of western Rome, the Byzantines, how the rise of Islam was driven by trade, and then an excellent job on the middle ages through the age of exploration and into the 16th century. Probably the best parts were on the spread of Christianity, Vikings, mongols, and rise of Islam.

Aside from being excellent, I couldn’t recommend this more because it’s one of the few histories that appeals to casual readers and avid historians.

Enjoy

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Should be required reading

Revisado: 07-01-19

I grew up reading books about war and still do.

This somehow did. It show up on my radar until my dad recommended it last month. I couldn’t have enjoyed it more.

I’d read other books from the Japanese perspective—like Japanese destroyer captain—but this was easier to read given there’s no killing of Americans.

What sets this book apart—aside from the first hand take on Japan’s glorification of death—was how miserable it is to fight America. The author describes it like poetry. For example, he describes trying to hit American planes with antiairfcraft fire as akin to “trying to catch butterflies with your hands.”

He is continually impressed with American ingenuity and precision.

Couldn’t recommend anymore

Oh, it’s super short too. It goes quick.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The most disappointing book I've read in years

Revisado: 09-28-17

At first glance I thought this book would blow me away.

However, instead of focusing on the societal impact of salt--and implications on facets ranging from diet, mobility, and public health--this book reads like a meandering recipe book of pickled odds and ends.

It doesn't flow well either and is all over the place.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The most disappointing book I've read in years

Revisado: 09-28-17

At first glance I thought this book would blow me away.

However, instead of focusing on the societal impact of salt--and implications on facets ranging from diet, mobility, and public health--this book reads like a meandering recipe book of pickled odds and ends.

It doesn't flow well either and is all over the place.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña