The Disappointed Idealist

Emperor: A New Life of Charles V by Geoffrey Parker My rating: 4 of 5 stars There is A LOT of information in this book and for me it was a pretty slow read... but how can it be otherwise when you think of everything that Charles was? This is definitely a book for history buffs, but it is worth the effort, when the effort is made. Charles inherited (not conquered) not one, but four realms from four different grandparents (let's remember Castille and Aragon were separate countries before him). Add to this the discovery of America (done before his birth but starting to truly be relevant in his reign) and you get a situation that is (as far as I know) unique in history. A lot of the history of the world was influenced by his reign. I recommend this book more for the relevance of its main character than anything else. That said, maybe have some coffee first... View all my reviews

The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III by Andrew Roberts My rating: 4 of 5 stars Although the book covers the entire reign of George III, it pays particular attention to the American Revolution. The book has three parts: 1. George's youth, influences, his reign up to the Revolution. 2. The Revolution, described in particular detail. 3. The end of the reign after the Revolution. The first part feels like a buildup meant to explain George's behaviour during the Revolution. You get introduced to his parents, his education, people who influenced his early upbringing. Much of it in the context of what he did later on in life. Part 2 occupies the largest part of the book (despite the fact that we are talking only about a sixth of George's total reign). It has the benefit of an approach that is different to what you would learn in school. Traditional historiography teaches the American Revolution as a heroic effort to escape British tyranny. The book gi...

Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit by Craig Oliver My rating: 3 of 5 stars The book is written like a journal, which sometimes can mean events are not presented as linked together. I found myself a few times having to go back to recheck the chain of events. David Cameron is presented in a very positive light and clearly the author has a very good opinion of him. I am not entirely sure it is justified. The part I appreciated the most was the realistic presentation of the bafflement of the Remain campaign in regards to the lengths the Leave campaign was willing to go to and the false information that was being spread around in the name of Leave. I think this is the sort of bafflement that remains to this day in regards to many other topics, which are being pushed around with aggressiveness and shared in the name of "free speech". This is the challenge of today's era of social media and Brexit was just one of the first visible examples. View all my reviews

Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower by David Baldwin My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a well written book on a historical character that, due to recent books and TV Shows, has regained a certain notoriety among the commonfolk. It is a good start if you don't know anything about Elizabeth - as I feel that it manages to cover everything without getting too lost in the details, but also without getting to essay-like. It paints a generally positive picture of her, but it does not refrain from mentioning the less honourable sides of her story. It manages to stay somewhat neutral in the most controversial part of Elizabeth's story - the Princes in the Tower. I appreciate the fact that it does not defend Richard III's more ruthless actions but also does not automatically assume him guilty of killing the Princes. In fact, this book is one of the very few that actually take the Duke of Buckingham seriously as an alternative suspect. This is a particular aspect ...

Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI by Lauren Johnson My rating: 4 of 5 stars It all began with an all-conquering father, who died before he had to face too much struggle to keep what was conquered and some bickering uncles who fought for power and sacrificed the boy king in the process. History is not kind to kind people. Henry VI was a kind man, but a bad king - quite in a similar fashion to Charles I, Louis XVI and Nicholas II, who all were said to be loving, family men and still somehow ended up executed by the people they were meant to rule. Henry VI was a kind man, but a bad king in a similar way in which Edward IV was lecher, but a successful ruler. The antithesis between Henry and his usurper is evident all throughout this book. As is the antithesis between Henry and all the people who fought to keep him in a position of power that he probably would have been better off without. The book starts by saying that it all could have been avoidable and that everything that ...

I have no hope of anyone reading this on an active basis, but I have randomly visited this blog to realize it's been two years since I've written anything on it. These two years are almost the exact equivalent to the day of the time that's passed since I moved to a new house - for the first time a house, with a yard, instead of an apartment. It's a beautiful experience but, boy, it keeps you busy.  So here are some conclusions I've drawn since I've started living here: 1. Living in a house is an ongoing work. Even if I had all the time in the world, it would still probably take years to do all the things I want to do around the house and yard. As things are right now, where I have a job and a child to take care of, it will never be done.  2. Especially with the whole COVID-19 crisis that we are still in the middle of, having a yard is wonderful. I have the possibility to breathe fresh air without having to pack for a trip. I was fortunate to find a house in an a...

Sex Lives of the Kings & Queens of England: An Irreverent Expose of the Monarchs from Henry VIII to the Present Day by Nigel Cawthorne My rating: 1 of 5 stars Not entirely accurate. Gossip oriented to the point that even monarchs like Edward VI and Jane Grey (dead in their teens) were included. View all my reviews

Russia: A 1000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East by Martin Sixsmith My rating: 4 of 5 stars Reading a book about Russian history is like watching a battered woman that keeps on ending up in abusive relationships, each one worse than the one before. It should serve as a warning to all of those who think that a strong hand is what is needed to solve a problem. Unfortunately in the geopolitics of today, it seems like nobody is learning the right lesson. Putin wannabes are elected all over the place. Read and learn the trap of the easy fix, rushed evolution without education to help understand the principles behind it and empty populism. It is well written, unbiased and presented from the perspective of someone who lived there long enough to know how things work. Highly recommended. View all my reviews

Royal Monastic: Princess Ileana of Romania by Bev Cooke My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is a book about a princess turned nun, written by someone who (from what I understand in the last pages of the book) lived in the monastery she started. Just through that perspective, I suppose it is not unnatural to see the prescient godly touch throughout the book, the somewhat fairytale-like atmosphere created, the continuous emphasis on Ileana's goodness and her fight against the evil forces of this world. A lot of the people in this book are split in good and bad and, while general perception of her brother Carol (for example) is that he was, indeed, one of "the bad ones", opinions on her mother (in this book an angel-like figure) are less universal (depending mostly on people's stance on whether it's more important for a ruler to be moral or efficient). ----SPOILERS AHEAD---- Some points that were "glossed over" in the book: "the good man" of Ileana...

Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization by Richard Miles My rating: 4 of 5 stars It is very difficult to find true objective information on Carthage, as the author himself recognizes at the beginning of the book. The writers that wrote about it were usually heavily biased against it, so it's hard to discern fact from propaganda. Archaeological information can only do so much. Mr Miles does a good job of juggling between biased sources and the way archaeology confirms their information. He also uses mythology to show how the Carthaginian culture developed over time. In the end, though, the picture he paints is still quite vague. It is obviously not his fault, but before you start this book maybe you should set your expectations straight: there is not much known about Carthage before Rome. Most of it is supposition. The Punic wars take up about half the book, despite being only the end of the Carthage story. It's only natural - since that's...

The Rival Queens: Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal that Ignited a Kingdom by Nancy Goldstone My rating: 3 of 5 stars The book is very well written, like a gripping story of betrayal, war and religious conflicts, all in one family. But it has one major flaw: its major source is a memoir of its main character. This gives it an air of bias all throughout. For everything Margot did wrong there is an excuse, while the whole world was plotting her downfall. The book might as well be called "an interpretation of queen Margot's memoirs for the general modern public". Those were difficult times to live in, especially in France. Margot's family had a particularly rough deal, despite being placed in a position of privilege. The fact that she managed to survive long after her family went extinct is, of course, testament of her skills but it was also a bit of luck. Just like they plotted against her, she plotted against them. The boo...

...with the number of comments that say that the actresses that reported  Harvey Weinstein  are ungrateful bitches. ... with all the people that say "that's how it is" and shrug ...with the people that say when you call out the "blame the victim" rape defense you're spouting feminist propaganda ...with all the women that say that all the women that get raped are"asking for it" and that they "should have known better" ...with all the people that say that just because you didn't get a dick stuck in you forcefully, you shouldn't talk about harassment (not the same thing, of course, does it make it any less wrong?... Cancer is worse than getting your leg cut, does that mean it doesn't hurt to get your leg cut?!) ...with the fact that society focuses more on teaching women how to avoid rape than on telling men not to do it. It is not a compliment to have "hey, nice tits" shouted at you on the street. It do...

Romantic Revolutionary: Simon Bolivar and the Struggle for Independence in Latin America by Robert Harvey My rating: 4 of 5 stars I didn't know enough about Simon Bolivar before reading this book. I knew the basics of what probably most people who paid some attention in their history class but do not live in South America know. As such, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I found it an objective look at Bolivar's life and career. It doesn't shy away from pointing out the flaws of the Liberator, even when his intentions were good. It also doesn't shy away from pointing out his own personal flaws - he was self-centered to a point where sometimes the good of the people did not prevail against his own personal interest (best portrayed in his interaction with General San Martin, the less known liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru). Yet, throughout the book the author does tend to underline that compared to most people of his age, Bolivar was sincerely open-minded a...

I am not assuming anything about the number of people that actually get to read my posts. But assuming that there are some out there who don't know me who do read them, there may be some that may be irritated by what I am about to write. This post will openly criticize the United States of America. This does not, by any means, mean that I am anti-American, pro-Russian (or whatever other pro you consider to be anti-American), anti-civilization, or whatever other terms you want to use on me (some have already been used on me so feel free). What I am is anti-sweeping things under a rug and pretending nothing is wrong just because there are not many better answers out there to the question"which country should lead the world?" (my answer would be "why does any country have to lead the world" but our civilization is not that advanced). One last thing before I start: this post by no means implies that I don't think there's anything good about the Unite...

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is the second book I read written by Haruki Murakami. I don't know if all his books are this way, but I have noticed some common points between the two I have read. They are both about bland people who go through life without actually living it. Both are cheated on and take it without blinking, setting themselves up for more because they love the person doing it. There is no moment in that book in which any of these characters wonder if there should be more to their life, nothing happening to show them that maybe they should try to get out of their environment and try to do something with their life. They just quietly sit and meditate on the nothingness their life is, without actually doing anything about it. Maybe Murakami's purpose is to have the reaction with the reader by showing the reader how routine life can just send you to bland nothingness and how meaningless life c...

First rant here:  I never understood the point of inaccurate historical movies Second rant will refer mostly to the  Wars of the Roses  and how historical vision of what happened has been overturned by historical fiction and the rich imagination of people obsessed with conspiracy theories. Official story is this: You have two families,  House of York  and  House of Lancaster . The House of Lancaster came to the throne by overthrowing  Richard II . In doing so, they opened a bit of a can of worms. Since Richard did not have children, the question was should his heirs be the descendants of an older branch via the female line (this line eventually led to the House of York) or a younger branch via the male line (House of Lancaster). When  Henry VI , Lancaster king, turned out to be a disastrous ruler, the question was back on the table. After years of conflict, the House of York won, Henry VI and his heir was killed and the whole war presumably ov...

There is such thing. Here's an example: you want to build yourself a house. You are not a builder by education so you hire someone. Then you hear a friend of yours got scammed and charged way too much by another builder so you start asking around for shit that can happen when someone builds you a house. Then you hear that someone's builder stole materials that they then charged to you. Another one's builder cut corners by building the foundation wrong and it was only obvious much later because the foundation was obviously covered by the floor. Some other guy didn't have all the paperwork in order. Soon your head starts spinning with all the advice you could get from people that built their own houses and had shit happen to them and they're pouring it all to you. The advice is occasionally conflicting. One says hire someone to supervise, the other one says if you do the two heads will clash and chaos will ensue. One says pay whatever it's worth, cause quality...

...that pisses some people off as much as it does? There are very heated debates on the subjects of gay marriage, gay adoption, to the point of people saying that children are better off in orphanages than adopted by a gay couple! Really? Have you ever been in an orphanage? Have you ever looked a parentless child in the eye and told him "You're lucky you're here. You could have had two dads, that would have been a whole lot worse!". Even assuming that you go to the best maintained orphanage in the world, with the staff that treats the children in the best possible manner (...but really, trust me when I tell you, in most of the orphanages around the world, children are treated horribly and live in the most abject of conditions), even there you will have probably one person to tend ten children at a time at least. How much time is there for love and affection when you have to tend to that many children on a regular basis? How many of those children are really feeling ...

I have met people who laughed at the concept that raising a child is the hardest job in the world. However, I would think that, while it takes being there to actually know exactly how hard it is, it is not hard to evaluate this as a true statement. Think about it: 1. At a job you have breaks. Yes, there will be days when you won't be able to take those breaks, but even so there will come a time when you will go home and sleep. Raising a child means that you have to be there all the time. If he cries in the middle of the night you can't say "time out" and just ignore it. You can't just say "fuck it, worst case, I'll get fired" and turn on the other side. 2. Even worse, especially in the starter years, every time your child is left alone to cry, he will perceive it as abandonment, even if that is not fair to you (you may feel sick, you may be literally unable to move - many times the child will not understand this). As such, assuming that you are...

...and how able we are to talk about it. There are people who live their entire lives traumatized by certain things and perpetually unable to talk about them. Some of these people are not even aware of what they are doing or why. They're just in this vicious circle perpetuating the problem and never really managing or even trying to solve it. Some can't talk about it. Forcing these people to talk about it can be met with massive resistance. I remember someone telling me after going to the shrink: "I didn't like him. He made me cry". No thought had ever crossed her mind that maybe he was on to something and that's why she was crying and that maybe she should investigate the issue further (if not with him with someone else or in another manner). Her instinct was that she didn't like him so she stopped seeing him and that was that. A massive flaw in today's society is that there are a lot of people out there that believe that crying or being emotion...