1. Anthropology
  2. Archaeology
  3. Architecture
  4. Art and Design
  5. Autobiography and Memoirs
  6. Biography
  7. Children's Books
  8. Diaries and Letters
  9. Drama
  10. Economics
  11. Feminism
  12. Fiction
  13. Crime Fiction and Thrillers
  14. Novels
  15. Science Fiction
  16. Short Stories
  17. Film
  18. Food and Drink
  19. Geography and the Environment
  20. History
  21. American History
  22. Ancient History
  23. Asian, African and Middle Eastern History
  24. British History
  25. European History
  26. Latin American History
  27. World History
  28. Home and Garden
  29. Humour
  30. Literary Criticism
  31. Mathematics. Science and Technology
  32. Media
  33. Medicine and Psychiatry
  34. Music
  35. Mythology
  36. Natural History
  37. Occult and Paranormal
  38. Philosophy
  39. Poetry
  40. Politics
  41. Psychology
  42. Reference
  43. Religion
  44. Sex and Love
  45. Sociology
  46. Travel and Exploration
  47. Index

Introduction

The intention of this book is to furnish an -imaginary library" of some three thousand volumes in which a reasonably literate person can hope to find both instruction and inspiration, art and amusement. It was Andre Malraux who first coined the term "muse'e imaginaire" to describe the choice of the world's art which a man might make to furnish his own private museum. Modern printing, Malraux proceeded to argue, has actually made such a collection a practical possibility. Masterpieces which men of the eighteenth century and before had to travel to see are now within the reach of all who can afford a postcard or a newspaper supplement. Mechanical reproduction has removed art from the hands of the few and made it accessible to all. Printing has done the same for books: the paperback is scarcely more expensive than the fine art print.Our problem is no longer one of access; it is more likely to be one of choice. How are we to choose among the thousands of available titles? To enter a library is immediately to be seized by a kind of panic; one risks starving among such plenty. The confession that one does not know what to read next, or where to begin in an unfamiliar subject, is shameful in a society in which nobody wishes to be a beginner and where naivete is likely to earn the scorn accorded to all newcomers. This book seeks to be a kind of reader's ticket to that immense library which man (dedicated or venal, brilliant or dogged, wise or witty) has put together ever since he first began to leave a written record of his experiences and his opinions.

Our first notion was to supply lists of unadorned titles in each of the standard library categories. But to give no information about the books proposed would be to leave the reader in the bemused condition of a guest at a crowded party to whom the host has nothing more to say than "You know everybody here, of course". So we decided that it was essential to give a brief account of each recommended book, however laughable or superficial an authority might find it. We have tried to be as specific as possible in the information conveyed, in order to avoid the kind of Shorter Notice which once said of Ezra Pound's Cantos that some were good and some were bad.

The method we adopted, in order to make our cull, was to ask our collaborators (for whose generosity and learning we cannot say enough) to make lists in the categories in which they were expert. (The categories began as standard Dewey headings, but gradually shifted and changed to accommodate a wider range both of interests and of books. They are now perhaps arbitrary, but, we hope, comfortably commodious.) We limited our collaborators to a given number of books, though we recognized that this limitation, like giving only so many visas to a huge concourse of worthy people, was bound to lead to unhappy exclusions. Many good things found no place in our narrow lifeboat. In particular, we have excluded technical books accessible only to specialists: a necessary restriction, reflecting the inevitable distinction between a menu and a list of all available forms of nutriment. We then circulated the lists among friends and those who were willing to lend us their time, so that no single person was, in the end, exclusively responsible in any given department. (The editorial decision was, however, final. Acknowledgements our collaborators deserve; the blame is ours.) Mavericks and texts of perhaps marginal value thus scrambled their way aboard, sometimes at the expense of worthy work which more blandly covered similar ground. It is, therefore, no scandal not to find your favourite (or your own) book in these pages: we are not judging, though we have been obliged to choose.

This is in short, an imaginary library, not the imaginary library.

It can, and should, be supplemented by further reading and broader research. (We have indicated, wherever possible, books with informative bibliographies: often these will provide an ancillary or alternative list, the part thus standing for the whole.) If first publication leads to a sort of informed common pursuit whereby new volumes are proposed for future editions, something more interesting, more exciting, may well be on the way. As for how The List of Books can best be read, we propose no prescription. One may browse; one may plough. We have made the index a straightforward author index, trying to imagine who a frustrated reader might be looking for, rather than merely supplying a dutiful rehash of earlier material, in alphabetical and inverted order, Purists, For the satisfaction of. (For those who relish indexes, the wittiest we know is in C. D. Broad's Five Types of Ethical Theory.)

"They said it couldn't be done — and it couldn't" is a joke at least as old as George Jean Nathan. The last man who knew everything died at the end of the eighteenth century: he will never be replaced. The Tower of Babel is an example that should be enough to deter anyone who seeks to make a self-importantly impertinent edifice of human intelligence — but there is no evidence that the suburbs of Babel, with their rows of modest bungalows whose occupants are too timid to attempt a second floor, are man's happiest environment. In fact, the collation of these lists has been enough to pull down most people's vanity, and certainly ours; for the more one looks at what is available in an unfamiliar field, the more urgent the desire one feels to abandon the affectations of the editor and assume the modesty of the student. We hope to revise The List of Books every second year, and we shall be vigilant for new titles to add to it. The next edition will carry a section devoted to important additions, in each category, and we welcome (though we cannot promise always to acknowledge) suggestions — perhaps in the form of short reviews — for additions to these imaginary shelves.

F.R.; K.M.; London, 1980

Acknowledgements

The Editors and the Publishers would like to thank the following people without whose witty, wise and erudite contributions (ranging from suggestions and advice to complete reviews) this book would never have reached its present form.

Valerie Alderson; Brian Aldiss; John Alexander; Roger Baker; Georgina Battiscombe; Robert Benewick; Ruth Binney; Nikolaus Boulting; William Boyd; Michael Broadbent; Henry Brougham; R. Allen Brown; Sandy Carr; Jeremy Catto; John Clark; W. Owen Cole; Leo Cooper; Jane Cousins; Nona Coxhead; Sarah Culshaw; Marcus Cunliffe; D. C. Earl; G. R. Elton; Barry Fantoni; Antony Flew; Anthony Fothergill; Christopher Hale; Ragnhild Hatton; Tim Heald; Roger Hearn; Christopher Hill: Christopher Hird; Richard Hollis; Richard Holmes; Antony Hopkins; Philip Howard; Joel Hurstfield; Tom Hutchinson; Angela Jeffs; Emrys Jones; H. R. F. Keating; Brian Klug; Alan Knight; Eric Laithwaite; Peter Levi; Sir Bernard Lovell; John Lynch; Rosemary McLeish; Valerie McLeish; Sir Philip Magnus; Stephen Mennell; Peggy Miller; Patrick Moore; Michael Morris; Raymond Mortimer; John Nicholson; Robert Nye; John Paterson; Stewart Perowne; David Robinson; John Robinson; Sheila Rowbotham; Martin Sherwood; Maurice Shock; Paul Sidey; Tony Smith; Vernon Sproxton; John Stevenson; Brian Street; Jonathan Sumption; John Russell Taylor; Ion Trewin; J. C. Trewin; Lord Vaizey; Gwynne Vevers; Jonathan Walters; Colin Wilson

Books of the Decade: 1970 — 80

These lists cream the crop: one was compiled by the editors, the other by our American colleagues. By and large they represent some of the best, the most influential or most significant books published in each of our categories since 1970. Where books appear in both lists. we have left them there: duplication is an indication of one kind of specialness, at least.

British Choice

American Choice

Editors' Choice

Each editor was asked, independently, which twenty-five books he would pack for a desert island holiday. This list is the combined result. Several books were common choices; apart from them, each editor was surprised by several of the books on the other's list.

Getting to grips with the twentieth century

If books reflect historical, sociological and cultural growth, the ones recommended here may, we hope, help to account for or explain some of the directions human existence has taken in our century. Some of these books are dated, many are infuriating or partial; all are landmarks.

Home Reference Books

There is a place in most home libraries for a small collection of general reference books. We provide two basic lists, by no means mutually exclusive; one British and one American.

British

Every collection should contain a dictionary, such as The Concise Oxford English Dictionary or Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, plus/or Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (P. Proctor) and The Complete Plain Words (Ernest Gowers).

Many people will also find a constant use for The Concise Dictionary of 26 Languages (compiled by Peter M. Bergman). Still concerned with words, the collection should contain The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations or The Penguin Dictionary of Quotations.

There should be an atlas, such as The Times Atlas of the World: Concise Edition or New Concise Atlas of the Earth, the indexes of which can be used as a world gazetteer. For annually updated information on world affairs get The Statesman's Year Book, Europa Year Book or Whitaker's Almanack.

For biographical information consult Who Did What (historical and international) and Who's Who (contemporary and British); much international coverage is provided by a good one-volume encyclopaedia such as Columbia Encyclopaedia or Hutchinson's New 20th Century Encyclopaedia. The historical aspect of recent developments is summarized in Chronology of the Modern World.

Finally, two useful books on general medical and legal matters: Reader's Digest Family Health Guide and Know Your Rights (neither, of course, is meant to supplement professional advice). In any case, every home should have a book on first aid, such as The Pocket Medical and First Aid Guide (Dr James Bevan).

American

Every collection should contain a dictionary, such as Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (the second edition is the recommended unabridged version; the seventh is the desk edition) or The Random House College Dictionary.

The collection might also contain Roget's Thesaurus of Synonyms and Antonyms and Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.

There should be an atlas. Two good ones are The New York Times Atlas of the World and the Rand McNally New International Atlas, the indexes of which can be used as a world gazetteer. Annually updated information on world affairs is contained in The World Almanac and Book of Facts.

For biographical information consult Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. There is also a Who's Who for each state.

Two reliable encyclopaedias for home use are Encyclopaedia Britannica and The World Book Encyclopedia. An excellent one-volume encyclopaedia is The New Columbia Encyclopaedia.

Every home should have a book on first aid, such as Basic First Aid or Standard First and Personal Safety, both published by the American National Red Cross.

Also useful: Know Your Rights: A Guide to Everyday Law, by Ronald Irving and Charles Anthony.

Anthropology

Anthropology was born as a formal discipline in the 19th century, when a previously haphazard interest in the cultural and social behaviour of remote peoples was supplied with a theoretical basis and scientific procedures. At first it was very closely linked with its sister-subject sociology; both were concerned with man the organizer, with the forces and movements which mould human society. Gradually, however, the disciplines began to grow apart: sociology became ever more political (and analytically "scientific"), anthropology more historical (and descriptively "artistic"). The books in this list follow the bias towards study of the cultures of "primitive" peoples; but there are also representatives of a more modern trend towards treating man as a single phenomenon (with local and historical variants) and extrapolating from the techniques and discoveries of "primitive" anthropology a series of proposed solutions to the self-destructive energy of technological man. Once again the wheel has come full circle: sociology and anthropology go hand in hand, and their concern is social change. their scenario nothing less than the future of the human race itself.

See AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Mead); GEOGRAPHY (Forde, Sauer); HISTORY/AMERICAN (Josephy); HISTORY/BRITISH (Thomas); MATHEMATICS (Bronowski): MYTHOLOGY (Frazer. Kirk, Huxley, Levi-Strauss); RELIGION (Castaneda)

Archaeology

Modern archaeology was born in 1708, with the first excavations at Pompeii. At first it was informal and irresponsible, little more than an aristocratic upgrading of the treasure-hunting and tomb-robbing characteristic of any historical period. In the 19th century it became badged with more serious, systematic study, the archaeologists seeking for information about ancient cultures as eagerly as for their glittering artefacts. The great names of 19th-century archaeology — Schliemann. Evans, Petrie — made their subject a true sibling of anthropology and cultural history, the passion of the polymath, and it is mainly their enthusiastic work which led to our century's obsession with the minutiae of ancient life. Archaeology continued as a genial, gentlemanly pursuit for inspired individualists until World War H. Since then, it has evolved (or declined) from an art to a science. The exactitudes of statistics, aerial photography (itself a legacy of 20th-century warfare), chemical analysis and other scientific disciplines are applied, and the results are, first, that archaeology now has areas as arcane and specialized as nuclear physics or X-ray crystallography, and second, that as our view of the distant past comes into ever sharper focus, we find it extraordinarily like our own: the notion of what -civilization" is travels further backwards in time, and wider in geography, with every newly published paper. Art or science? Amateur or specialist? The list covers books in both areas — and shades (like archaeology itself, one of the most humane of disciplines) into history and cultural anthropology too.

See ANTHROPOLOGY (Geipel); ART (Frankfort); CHILDREN'S BOOKS (Brothwell): GEOGRAPHY (Sauer); HISTORY/ANCIENT (Grant, Lehmann)

Architecture

Architecture is, in a real sense, the measure of man's unnaturalness. Ever since he adapted the cave for his convenience, he has rebelled against the kind of shelter which unshaped nature provides. Thus the history of architecture is that of man against nature, however naturally he has sought to harmonize his antagonism with the materials and environment he finds on earth. The story of architecture is told (and lived) principally by urban man. for whom buildings become the reflection of society, its organization and its myths. This means that the debate on architectural aesthetics is also about morals. politics, religion: hence its intense importance, its furious partialities. ("You say," said Nietzsche, "that there can be no argument about matters of taste? All life is an argument about matters of taste.") The architect makes his artistic and concrete statement — in obstinately durable form — and then moves on, sometimes with giant strides, sometimes on feet of clay, rarely leaving satisfactory explanation or justification. Vitruvius and Le Corbusier, in the following list, are distinguished exceptions (and prove, perhaps, the dangers of universalizing assertions. however impressive the credentials of the dogmatists). The majority of books cited here are by critics and scholars, though the true critic of the building is often and decisively the man who uses it. In the present century, however, the architectural critic has become an influential and creative force. Architecture is three-dimensional thought: hence the significance of the "philosophers" who are its critics and proponents.

See ART (Frankfort, Giedion, Pevsner, Stedman): CHILDREN'S BOOKS (Macaulay); GEOGRAPHY (Hall, Jacobs, Morgan, Pahl. Scientific American, Tunnard): HISTORY/BRITISH (Brown)

Laurie D. Olin

Laurie Olin is a professor of landscape architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. He teaches a landscape-design studio and lectures on the history and evolution of landscapes. He has received Guggenheim and Rome Prize Fellowships for study in landscape architecture; which he has taught at the University of Washington, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. He is a founding partner of Hanna/Olin Ltd., a landscape-architectural firm located in Philadelphia.
These books should dispel either of two notions: the first that the world and our society are fixed or complete, and the second that any particular current trend is destiny. Things can and must change, but to a surprising degree such change can be shaped by dreams and design just as it can by chance or the forces currently at work in society.

Moshe Safdie

Moshe Safdie is an internationally known architect and urban designer with a practice in Montreal, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Jerusalem. He has been director of Harvard's Urban Design Program of the Graduate School of Design and is the Ian Woodner Professor of Architecture and Urban Design. He has written three books: Beyond Habitat, For Everyone a Garden and Form and Purpose. In addition to lecturing frequently at conferences and on campuses, his current projects range from the Montilla business district in Jerusalem to the Montreal waterfront, a Hebrew school in Mexico City, housing in the Republic of Singapore, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and Columbus Circle in New York City.

By definition, an architect's principal source of inspiration and learning is the study of the visual environment, cities and buildings, observed in reality and in reproductions of drawings and photographs. The architect's eye is a greater scanner sorting out relevancies, perceived and hidden orders, organization and patterns. The written word coexists as stimulation with the image.

I have chosen three books. The impact of the first has been to place my consciousness within an ethical and moral framework. The second is a book of science that connects the body theory of design to a greater universal context. The third is a book specifically about architecture and cities, to give particular emphasis to the significance of one set of images and experiences over others.

Anne Whiston Spirn

Anne Whiston Spirn is associate professor of landscape architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Her research and publications grow out of her work on theories of nature and city design, best illustrated in her recent award-winning book The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design. She was a fellow of the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe in 1978 and a Noyes fellow in 1985. She holds a B.A. from Radcliffe College and a M.L.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

It was only after writing these notes that I realized that all five of the books are in one way or another a product of Harvard. Eliot was an undergraduate at Harvard College, McHarg and Alexander studied at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and John Dewey delivered Art as Experience as a Harvard lecture series founded in memory of William James.

Architecture - Introduction

Joe Staines

Architecture is unique among the arts, in as much as it is impossible to avoid. From birth to death, the spaces that surround us are largely defined by structures — walls, doors, windows, corridors — that have been consciously designed and built, albeit with varying degrees of finesse. The very ubiquity of architecture leads most people to take it for granted. It usually enters our awareness only for the most negative reasons: the destruction of something familiar and well loved, or the arrival of something else that seems incongruous or out of scale. The experience of architecture can be much more rewarding than this, and the following books have been chosen because all the authors, in their varying ways, have the ability to make the act of looking at the build environment seem like an active and creative process, an act of interpretation as much as one of contemplation.

All find architectural values are human values, else not valuable. —Frank Lloyd Wright

Gothic Architecture

Joe Staines

The rebuilding of the east end of the abbey church of St Denis, just north of Paris, was begun in 1140. It took just four years and is widely regarded as the first consistent manifestation of Gothic architecture. It was rapidly followed by similar building and rebuilding programmes across the Isle de France, then in England, and eventually throughout Europe. The vital elements of Gothic building - the pointed arch, the rib vault, and the flying buttress - all enabled the medieval master builder to replace the solid but earthbound architecture of the Romanesque with something more dynamic and transcendent. Walls, no longer load-bearing, could be filled with windows of coloured glass, creating - as at Chartres - a jewel-like glow within the often vast interiors. The Gothic cathedral dominated the surrounding landscape and the lives of those within it, so it is hardly surprising that subsequent architectural history has concentrated on ecclesiastical buildings almost entirely at the expense of secular ones.

Gothic is not only the best, but the only rational architecture, as being that which can fit itself most easily to all services, vulgar or noble ... it can shrink into a turret, expand into a hall, coil into a staircase, or spring into a spire, with undegraded grace and unexhausted energy. —John Ruskin

Renaissance and Baroque Architecture

Francesca M. Speight

The study of architecture reflects, perhaps more than any other art form, the prevailing aesthetic tastes of a period. The Renaissance is no exception, the rebirth of Classical ideas on form, proportion, and decoration, as found in the remains of ancient Greece and Rome, providing inspirarion for such major architectural masters as Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, and Michelangelo. Baroque architecture, however, reflects the penchant of the time towards lavish decorative schemes on a grand scale, the simplicity and clarity of the Classical giving way to the love of complexity and dramatic effects.

He departed not a little from the work regulated by measure, order and rule which other men did according to a common use and after Vitruvius and the antiquities, to which he would not conform ... —Giorgio Vasari on the Architecture of Michelangelo

Western Architecture 1750-1900

Rosamund Diamond

From the middle of the 18th century, as much as the other aspects of culture, architecture was affected by ideas of the Enlightenment and significant changes that were taking place in the political structures of certain nations, the most significant of these being the French and American Revolutions. Architecture became influenced by contemporary philosophy, in its ideas about nature and society, and the conflict between empiricism and rationalism. Change in conceptions of history, and archaeological expeditions to cultivate the examination of Roman and Greek architecture, led to the questioning of Vitruvius' Classical precepts and the singular route presented by Renaissance and Baroque. It also resulted in the development of Neo-Classicism.

In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution presented architecture with new approaches to development, as a result of both mass increases in production and technological innovation. Enlarged urban development and, in the densely occupied cities, the need to install comprehensive servicing systems, such as the provision of drainage and water, as well as advances in mobility and communication, led to strategic planning, which produced both structured urban designs and, in the latter part of the century, suburbanization. The rise of the new bourgeois classes in cities generated places of leisure and consumption: new parks marked the urbanization of landscape, and technological advancement made possible the construction of the arcade.
Technical innovation from the middle of the 18th century, which included the development of iron as a structural material and the birth of the steam engine, encouraged a division in the roles of the engineer and the architect. The new materials and techniques of construction presented multiple rather than singular solutions to design projects. This presaged 20th-century diversity. Advances in the production of power, leading, for example, to the invention of the lift and the electric light, resulted not only in more ambitious constructions, but in architecture as a more sophisticated means of tempering the environment, which might respond to individual need while expressing changes in society.

Unremittingly science enriches itself and life with newly discovered useful
materials and natural powers that work miracles, with new methods and
techniques, with new tools and machines. It is already evident that inventions
no longer are, as they had been in earlier times, means for warding off want
and for helping consumption; instead, want and consumption are the means
to market the inventions. The order of things has been reversed. —Gottfried Semper

20th-Century Architecture

Rosamund Diamond

The history of modem architecture could be described as a history of ideas, in which the apparent divergence of approaches, and the number of movements, in contrast to previous centuries, resulted from the wide range of possibilities made available by new technologies. This not only made architects address different methods of construction, but also the social effects of their buildings, individually and collectively, in shaping and reflecting the way people live in the modem age. Architects such as Le Corbusier projected visions of whole conurbations and environments to support the new social structures that they envisioned.

It is hard to be precise in attempting to trace the start of modem architecture when one considers both its technological and its visionary characteristics.

In one sense its origin may be found in the origins of the Industrial Revolution, but in another it lies as much in the development of ideas in the middle of the 18th century. The individual's place in an increasingly mechanized field of production is often questioned in the debates of 20th-century architecture, and this growing dilemma is expressed in the late century's divergence of stylistic approaches.
The machinery of society, profoundly out of gear, oscillates between an
amelioration, of historial importance, and a catastrophe. The primordial instinct of
every human being is to assure himself of shelter. The various classes of workers in
society today no longer have dwellings adapted to their needs; neither the artisan
nor the intellectual. It is a question of building which is at the root of the social
unrest of today; architecture or revolution. —Le Corbusier

Art and Design

At first sight, it might seem that there are too many art books: too much reading goes on, and not enough looking. But for most people, art books are a personal gallery to the majority of the world's great pictures, the only possible ticket to the contents of far-flung galleries. For this reason, art books are recommended here for quality of pictures, standard of reproduction, first; second comes authority or accessibility of text. We have, however, chosen not so much picture books about individual artists, as books about trends, about art itself. Where art becomes a practical as well as an aesthetic matter, and particularly in the new, prescriptive discipline of design, things are a little different. Here theory and philosophy are crucial matters, and elegance of text bulks large. The best books of all — and it is interesting to see how many of them are by artists themselves — are those which combine experience, vision and articulacy of style. They are the cream of a rich and nourishing list.

See ANTHROPOLOGY (Agee, Kroeber, Turner): ARCHAEOLOGY (Sandars); ARCHITECTURE (Banham, Clark. Kouwenhoven, Lancaster, Lawrence, Newman, Soper); AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Cellini, Clark); BIOGRAPHY (Freud, Grigson, Hudson, Lindsay, Renoir, Thompson); DIARIES (Dali, Van Gogh); GEOGRAPHY (Tunnard); HISTORY/AMERICAN (Josephy, Jones); HISTORY/ ASIAN (Basham); HISTORY/BRITISH (Burn, Burton, Dillon, George, Strong); HOME (Conran, Jeffs, Johnson, Kron); HUMOUR (Hollowood, Larry, New Yorker, Searle, Schulz, Steadman, Steinberg); LITERARY CRITICISM (Benjamin); MATHEMATICS (Hofstadter); MEDIA (Evans. Maclean); MEDICINE (Trevor-Roper); MUSIC (Hoffnung); NATURAL HISTORY (Audubon, Be-wick, Holden)

On Painting
L. Alberti
Principles in Art The Four Books of Architecture
A. Palladio
Principles in Art Patrons and Painters
F. Haskell
Principles in Art The Greek Revival
J. Mordant Crook
Principles in Art

James Ackerman

James Ackerman is the Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Fine Arts. His essays and articles are on the history of architecture. critical and historical theory, and the interaction of art and science. His books focus on his long-held fascination with Rome: The Architecture of Michelangelo, Palladio and Palladio's Villas. Recently he has expanded his artistic interests to film: Looking for Renaissance Rome (1976) and Palladio the Architect and His Influence in America (1980).
I'm not sure that any of these books (except possibly for Barthes) would have the same impact today that they did when published: they are still worth reading, but they were written in and for another milieu. If all important books retained their value permanently we wouldn't need to produce any new ones.

Oleg Grabar

Oleg Grabar is the Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Art at Harvard with a long-standing interest in Islamic art, architecture and archaeology. His responsibilities on the steering committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture take him throughout the world. This year marks the fiftieth and fifty-first Ph.D. theses he has supervised. The Formation of Islamic Art and Alhambra are his best-known books and he is currently completing two more general books on Islamic architecture.

Painting and Sculpture: Classical Art

Graham Ley

It is inevitable that the lavishly illustrated coffee-table book will attract most attention in this as in other artistic subjects, and most libraries have a good stock of volumes of this sort. But in this extremely short reading list I have also included more modest books which provide a clear discussion of the artefacts, and offer helpful critical guidelines on an introductory level. So readers are advised to 'move about' between the different books for illustrations and commentary, and to be aware that each particular selection of objects or pictures is always (and inevitably) going to give a rather limited impression of what is available. The more recent books can take advantage of any discoveries that have been made, and most contain suggestions for further reading.

Yet Greek art is not only the first entirely self-conscious art that we know of,- it stands apart from all other traditions in its almost exclusive search for beauty, and in particular the beauty of the human form ... —ROGER FRY

Medieval Art

Chris Murray

A very elastic term, 'medieval' changes its scope according to context. Here it is being used in its widest sense: the period from the end of the Roman Empire (4th century AD) to the beginning of the Renaissance (15th century). This vast stretch of time, far from being an artistic Dark Age - first barbaric and then dominated by monkish virtues, stern and life-denying - was a period of extraordinary variety and richness. In varying degrees, the styles of the collapsed Roman civilization blended with those of such 'barbaric' peoples as the Celts and the Anglo-Saxons to produce styles expressing the complex and dynamic character of a new civilization - Christendom. In Byzantium in particular, where the Roman legacy was strongest, the need to express a spiritual sense of the world produced a style of great grandeur and power. The masterpieces of medieval art include stained glass, metalwork, manuscript illumination, sculpture (in stone, metal, wood, and ivory), frescoes, and panel paintings. The main artistic divisions are: early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic.

The contrast between suffering and joy, between adversity and
happiness, appeared more striking. All experience had yet to the minds of
men the directness and absoluteness of the pleasure and pain of child-life.
Every event, every action, was still embodied in expressive and solemn
forms, which raised them to the dignity of a ritual. —Johan Huizinga

Renaissance and Baroque

Francesca M Speight

The Renaissance (French for 'rebirth') was a relatively brief but vital period in the history of Western European culture in which inspiration came from the antique remains of ancient Greece and Rome. It reflects both the continuation of the Christian beliefs found in the preceding Middle Ages and the revival of humanist thought, resulting in an increasing emphasis on the individual and on secular concerns. The Renaissance, which is usually seen as extending approximately from 1400 to 1600, includes the approach known as Mannerist, which was subsequently viewed as a falling-away of the achievements of the High Renaissance period, but is now recognized as a valid and important style in its own right.

With the commencement of the 17th century, the dominant style was that of Baroque, which echoed a time of renewed Catholic fervour and confidence in the church, and this is clearly seen in the dramatic and turbulent approach which incorporates illusionism on a grand scale combined with sumptuous decoration and the merging of all three art forms - painting, sculpture, and architecture. Interiors were especially lavishly conceived, with decorated ceilings particularly revered at this time. The Baroque in Germany and eastern Europe became even more lavish and exuberant; in France and England, on the other hand, it was tempered by a preference for Classical restraint.

The deity which invests the science of the painter functions in such a
way that the mind of the painter is transformed into a copy of the divine
mind, since it operates freely in creating many kinds of animals, plants,
fruits, landscapes, countrysides, ruins, and awe-inspiring places. —Leonardo Da Vinci

Neo-Classicism and Romanticism

Francesca M Speight

Neo-Classicism was a style of the late 18th and early 19th centuries strongly influenced by Classical an from the ancient Greek and Roman empires - even to the point of some painters and sculptors taking their subject matter from ancient history and the antique. This is seen especially in the works of the French artist Jacques Louis David. Neo-Classicism places great emphasis on draughtsmanship, on pure, clean con-tours, on idealized and noble subjects treated in a solid, three-dimensional way. David's The Death of Socrates is a key example.

The Romantic style of the 19th century arose as a direct reaction against the intellectual conceptions of the Neo-Classicists. The clearly defined forms and cool tones of Neo-Classicism gives way to indefinite shapes, warm tones, and atmospheric effects. In the French school of Romanticism, led by Eugene Delacroix, a love of the Oriental and exotic is seen; J M W Turner and William Blake are considered to be the leading English Romantics.

How awful is the silence of the waste, / Where nature lifts her
mountains to the sky. / Majestic solitude, behold the tower /
Where hopeless Owen, long imprisoned, pined /
And wrung his hands for liberty, in vain. —JMW Turner

Impressionism to Post-Impressionism

Francesca M Speight

This period includes the school of Realism, headed by the French artist Gustave Courbet, which turned its back on the ennobling subject matter beloved by the official Academy, and focused instead on everyday contemporary scenes depicted in an accurate manner rather than idealized or transformed into 'picturesque' works. Another form of Realism is found in the French Impressionist movement's output, but they saw their motifs in terms of the analysis of light, which produced a new way of observing reality and has earned them the accolade of 'the first modern movement' in the history of art.
Working through Impressionism and developing their own distinctive individuality where the Post-Impressionists, including Georges Seurat (Neo-Impressionism), Paul Gauguin (a form of Symbolism), Vincent van Gogh (early Expressionism), and Paul Cezanne (combining Realism and Classicism).
This period also includes the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an English group of idealistic young men drawn to medieval legends and romantic literary sources as subject matter, but using a technique of microscopically detailed analysis, in which truth to nature was uncompromisingly observed.

Show me an angel and I'll paint one. —Gustave Courbet

20th-Century Art

Francesca M Speight

This period commences with Cubism, a movement considered to be the source of all subsequent abstract an. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were the leading exponents of this new, intellectual approach to perception. Cubism produced many offshoots, including such styles as Neo-Plasticism, represented by Piet Mondrian, and also the geometric reliefs of Britain's Ben Nicholson. Concurrently a representational and intensely romantic stance in art continued alongside abstraction, as seen in Fauvism in France and Expressionism in Germany.

Other major movements to emerge in the 20th century include Surrealism, with Salvador Dali and Rene Matte perhaps the best-known exponents; American Abstract Expressionism exemplified by such artists as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning; and Pop an, which began in England but was taken up on a bigger and brasher scale by such Americans as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Subsequent developments include Land art, Conceptual art, Installation an, Op an, and many variations on past styles. The enfant terrible and darling of the art world at present is Damien Hirst, with his installations of animal corpses displayed in tanks of formaldehyde. The shock element has always been associated with the avant-garde since Courbet produced his unidealized peasant scenes, and it seems destined to stay.

Sometimes I think that extreme beauty must be absolutely humourless. But then I think of Marilyn Monroe and she had the best fun lines. —Andy Warhol

Photography

Susan Sontag

To write about photography, as I discovered when I was writing my own essays on the subject, is nothing less than to write about the world. There is no activity that is distinctively modem which so evidently touches on and obliges us to confront the principal issues of modernity - political, moral, and aesthetic. We all take photographs or think we could or should. More important, we all understand a great deal of the world - indeed, reality itself - through the medium of, and by the standards set by, photographed images. Resisting the temptation to use my allotment of recommendations to cite some contemporary favourite books of photographs, from The Americans (1958) by Robert Frank to The Silence (1995) by Gilles Peress, I've chosen instead to list a number of books which can give the curious reader a complex sense of the history of photography and the rich debate about the many issues raised by its imperious scope.

Earlier much futile thought had been devoted to the question of whether photography is an an. The primary question - whether the very invention of photography had not transformed the entire nature of an - was not raised. —Walter Benjamin

Fashion: History of Fashion

Jacueline Herald

The first histories of dress were published in the 19th century. They focused on period costume and were used as a visual reference source for theatre designers and artists depicting historical themes. In the early 20th century, more radical texts on fashion considered the psychological dimension of dress and identity. More recently, books on historic and contemporary fashion have fallen into four main categories: manuals on cut and construction of historic garments; glossy descriptive books about haute couturiers, emphasizing style, texture of fabrics, and ingenious decorative details; educational books with line drawings, presenting a chronology of dress and how it reflects the lifestyle of a particular period; and socio-anthropological studies of dress as cultural system of signs, denoting distinctions of gender, class, and attitude, both individually and collectively.

Common sense and most historians of costume have assumed that the
demands of either utility, status or sex must have been responsible for
the invention of clothing. However ... scholars have recently informed
us that the original purpose of clothing was magical. —Alison I. Ctrie

20th-Century Fashion and Style

Jacqueline Herald

The study of dress style is currently in vogue. In the last decade or so more books dedicated to fashion designers and looks have been published than ever before. Some are glossy picture books on the creations of a particular couturier; others are fun visual references to the story of a particular garment or cult accessory (the Hawaiian shirt, the necktie, the handkerchief). Other books concentrate on the means of creating a particular image, through fashion photography or illustration. There are also the more flippant manuals or style, taken seriously by some dedicated followers of fashion, which guide the reader about what to wear, where to buy, either for a particular social occasion or an effect - Madonna look-alike, for example. Other, more serious studies include reference dictionaries on design and designers and more discursive texts on the meaning of style among different class, age, and cultural groups.

A style does not go out of style as long as it adapts itself to its period.
When there is an incompatibility between the style and a certain state
of mind, it is never the style that triumphs. —Coco Chanel

Craft and Design: History of Crafts

Jacqueline Herald

There are numerous books on the crafts, which fall into distinct categories. Potted histories can be found in dictionaries of decorative arts, which are useful for general reference: more detailed and often generously illustrated books on craft are devoted either to a particular craft discipline or the types of objects most closely associated with it (such as textiles, ceramics, jewellery), or to a particular country or culture. In an industrial or postindustrial world, the crafts are often viewed with nostalgia, being perceived as traditional and handmade from natural materials, even though contemporary craft practice incorporates machines, computers, and synthetic media. A very large proportion of the books available are of the 'how to do it' type, extremely instructive but sometimes lacking in imagination.

The story of craft is not only the story of man's increasing skill with materials
and increasing power over the natural environment; it provides in addition,
evidence of the way in which society itself has developed. Men often define
themselves through the skills they acquire, and the uses to which they put them. —Edward Lucie-Smith

Design

Guy Julier

Since its inception as a professional activity in the late 19th century, design has been a haphazard activity. In bridging the gap between the conception and execution of objects, designers have invariably moved between the creative and the formulaic, the intellectual and the manual, the cultural and the commercial. Its lack of 'rules' or professional norms is mirrored in the breadth of design writing. In its early form, design publications sought professional legitimacy by drawing on traditional modes of architectural and art criticism and history. Design was explained as the result of the work of individual 'hero' designers. However, in recent years, with the development of design history and criticism as a separate academic discipline, design writing has taken in a broader range of perspectives. On the one hand writers have sought explanations for the look or existence of artefacts in terms of their production, taking into account such aspects as technology, materials, the organization of labour, and distribution systems. Consumption has also been taken into account: thus design has begun to be read from the point of view of the user's experience. This may range from the very scientific approach within ergonomics to the more theoretical readings of the role of desire and fantasy in consumerism, informed by a psychoanalytical approach. It remains clear, however, that with the growing professionalization of design practice and its ascendant academic status, the historical gap between its practice and criticism is narrowing.

Design has a twofold relation, having in the first place, a strict reference to utility
in the thing designed; and secondarily, to the beautifying or ornamenting that utility. The word design, however, with the many has become identified rather
with its secondary than with its whole signification - with ornament, as apart from, and often even as opposed to, utility. From thus confounding that which is in itself but an addition, with that which is essential, has arisen many of those
great errors in taste which are observable in the works of modern designers. —Henry Cole, 1849

Autobiography and Memoirs

The opportunity to make a recension of one's own life is clearly difficult to resist — and results, more often than not, in mayfly publishing, a few hours' dance in the sun followed by oblivion. Our choice (a selective one) is based first on excellence (of perception or style), and second on relevance (a person of lasting interest or an age defined). Particularly interesting are memoirs which can be checked for bias. and those of writers whose main work is in other fields. The selection of material from one's own life is a critical act, sometimes as revealing as the incidents of that life themselves. If Beethoven had written an autobiography, would it have been about earache or symphonies?

See ART (Haydon); BIOGRAPHY (Trelawny); CHILDREN'S BOOKS (Durrell); DRAMA (Cibber); FILM (Brown. Fields, Griffith, Love, Montagu, Niven, Parrish); HISTORY/BRITISH (Burnet); HUMOUR (Milligan); MATHEMATICS (Heisenberg, Watson); MEDIA (Higham, Knopf); MEDICINE (Copeland); MUSIC (Berlioz, Kirkpatrick, Stravinsky, Varese); NATURAL HISTORY (Bewick, Burton, Durrell, Maxwell, Waterton); OCCULT (Bennett, J. B., Lethbridge); RELIGION (Newman, Phillips); TRAVEL (Genet, Lawrence. Schultz, Twain)

Biography

Modern biography combines the skills of historian, essayist, psycho-analyst, critic and (biographers like to think) novelist. The books in this list are chosen, like those in Autobiography and Memoirs, for the importance or interest of the subject and for evocation of period or character. They fall into two categories: objective, where historian and critic predominate, and subjective, where memoirist and analyst tend to take over (and where what a writer says about his subject is often deeply revealing of himself). One or two cases (for example Sartre on Genet and Troyat on Tolstoy) stray delightfully (or scandalously) into fiction. Whether biography is an art or not — and despite the documentary fetish which has led to renewed prolixity in recent times (for example in Michael Holroyd, after all the slimming work of Lytton Strachey) — it is nearly always metaphorical or allegorical: for a life can never be written: it must be lived.

See ART (Smith, Vasari); DRAMA (Fitzsimons); HISTORY/ AMERICAN (Aaron. Morgan, Woodward); HISTORY/ANCIENT (Selzer); HISTORY/ASIAN (Suyin); HISTORY/BRITISH (Hibbert, Longford, Magnus, Neale, Plumb, Scarisbrick, Willson); HISTORY/EUROPEAN (Geyl, Grey, Massie, Origo, Tyler); FILM (McCabe. Septon, Taylor); LITERARY CRITICISM (Hazlitt); MATHEMATICS (Davis, Moszkowski. Reid); MEDIA (Berg); MUSIC (Einstein, Nichols, Nolan, White); NATURAL HISTORY (Adams, Blunt); PSYCHOLOGY (Watson); RELIGION (Wat, Wendel); TRAVEL (Ronay)

Biography

Claire Tomalin

Biographies are on the whole ephemeral. Nothing seems so old-fashioned as the biographies of the 1920s, gathering dust on library shelves. The exceptions are those that are fired by passion and understanding of their subject and period, and writ-ten with as much an as good fiction. A biography cannot put you inside someone else's skin, as fiction tries to, but it can (and should) immerse you in another world. The biographer draws on many disciplines - history, geography, sociology, medicine, psychology, an history among them - and has to be a scholarly jackdaw, picking up bits of information wherever they can be found. There may also be an intention to establish or restore a reputation, reveal a social problem, or do justice where it has not hitherto been done. Among the earliest English-language biographies are William Roper's of his father-in-law Thomas More (1626) and Izaac Walton's of the poet John Donne (1641); biography has been much more popular with the English and the Americans than with other nations.

A true delineation of the smallest man, and his scene of pilgrimage through life, is
capable of interesting the greatest man; ... all men are to an unspeakable degree
brothers, each man's life a strange emblem of every man's; and ... Human
Portraits, faithfully drawn, are of all pictures the welcomest on human walls. —THOMAS CARLYLE

Children's Books

Any list of children's books should make nostalgic browsing for adults; but it should also include the sort of books children actually still read. This list is a choice of classics (all recommend-ably readable, and read) and good contemporary books, potentially of classic status too.

See DIARIES (Frank); FICTION/NOVELS (Swift, Twain): FICTION/SHORT STORIES (Grimm): HUMOUR (Schulz); REFERENCE (Merit, New Arthur Mee, Opie); RELIGION (Bible)

Children's Literature

Alison Lurie

Until about 20 years ago children's literature was the Cinderella of literary studies. Everyone read fairy tales and books like Tom Sawyer, The Wizard of Oz, and Winnie-the-Pooh when they were young, but almost no one thought about them seriously later. This meant that some of the most original and influential works of all time were overlooked by critics and scholars. Today the situation is much improved. Many universities in America now offer courses in children's literature, and there are several first-rate periodicals in the field, including Children's Literature, Children's Literature Quarterly, and The Lion and the Unicorn. And good books about the subject, including those listed below, continue to appear.

Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted. —GARRISON KEILLOR

Diaries and Letters

For the reader, diaries and letters offer the voyeur's pleasure of a peep into other people's (more or less) unguarded lives; for the writer, anticipating this reaction, they are often a carefully contrived and artfully autobiographical form. The books on this list are of three kinds: those written from the start with publication in mind; those arranged, more or less cosmetically, for publication by the writers themselves; and (a rare few) intimate, personal documents intended for the writers' use alone.

See ART (Delacroix, Haydon, Pisarro); DRAMA (Redfield); FEMINISM (Rosen); HISTORY/ASIAN (Preble); HUMOUR (Gros-smith); LITERARY CRITICISM (Keats); MEDIA (King, Nowell-Smith); NATURAL HISTORY (Banks, Douglas-
Hamilton, Holden, White); OCCULT (Reyner); RELIGION (Bonhoeffer, Weil); TRAVEL (Cook, Lewis)

Drama

A selective list, covering a huge and varied field. Crucial playwrights, with typical (or best introductory) works: standard guides and works of criticism, especially those that explain or define a vital area: a few biographies and memoirs for fun. The interested reader will want to explore the heights (and crevasses) for himself — this list provides a base camp and a survival kit.

See DIARIES (Warren); HISTORY/BRITISH (Strong); HUMOUR (Green); LITERARY CRITICISM (Bradley, Johnson, Stendhal)

William Alfred

William Alfred is the Abbott Laurence Lowell Professor of the Humanities at Harvard. A native of New York City, he is a noted playwright (Hogan's Goat), translator (Modern Library Beowulf) and teacher. Besides his achievements in the classroom, he continues to produce screenplays and scripts for television and the theater.

These books might prepare their readers for the challenges of the twenty-first century by prompting them to ask questions of the fictions they indulge themselves in, along these lines:
1. Since changes inevitably alter life and our way of dealing with it, so threatening any fixed order we may aspire to that we grow desperate or enraged, can no way be found to assess the perils of that desperation and rage by assessing the fictions in which those feelings are expressed?
2. Does private rage avalanche into international catastrophe?
If that be the case, can no means be found to divert that rage from racist, religious, national or political objects to those elements in our nature which in the nobly furious words of Conor Cruse O'Brien "make us more eager to die for the good of mankind than to live and work for it"?

Robert Brustein

Robert Brustein is artistic director of the acclaimed American Repertory Theater company in Cambridge, director of the Loeb Drama Center and professor of English at Harvard University. As one of the leaden of the American resident theater movement, he is known for his enormous support of innovative work and his ability to galvanize other creative people. He is theater critic for the New Republic.

Theatre: World Theatre

Graham Ley

Study and appreciation of the theatre have expanded in recent decades from close attention to scripts and plays to a consideration of performance. In this reading list I have concentrated on introductions with that emphasis, accepting that readers may wish to 'travel' in their interests outside Britain and Europe, and back from the present to the past. Illustrations are undoubtedly important in any appreciation of performance, and, with some specific exceptions, the books listed here are helpful in that respect.

By whatever means it is accomplished, the prime business of the play is to arouse
the passions of the audience so that by the route of passions may be opened up new
relationships between a man and men, and between men and Man. —Arthur Miller

Shakespeare

Derek Parker

One of Dr Johnson's chief regrets at being mortal was the thought of leaving this world for one in which Shakespeare's works were no longer available. I am on his side. A good edition of the Complete Works is an essential: probably in the celebrated Arden edition, though there are plenty of handy individual paperbacks of the plays and poems. Shakespeare is quite simply inexhaustible: and if the time comes when you think you have exhausted him, there is a long line of critics and biographers to remind you that far from touching bottom, you are still splashing in the shallows. My favourite biography is Samuel Schoenbaum's wonderful Shakespeare: A Documentary Life, which came out in 1975 and reproduced every contemporary document remotely connected with the poet.

This is sadly long out of print, but is well worth seeking out; and happily, Professor Schoenbaum has followed it up with a simpler edition, William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life (1977). As for the rest, we shall never be able to put our hand on Shakespeare's shoulder, but through the plays, the criticism, the biographies, we can make an effort to clutch at his sleeve - and sometimes seem to feel it flutter in our grasp, across four centuries.

Shakespeare's writing was a magic circle in which he himself could only tread ... He invented a work which was peculiar to himself, and not to be compared with the productions of any writer of any nation - in which he had no follower nor second.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama

Derek Parker

The best option is, of course, to read about the plays and then see them in performance. However, the best dramas can well bear reading as well as seeing, and there is beauty in Marlowe, fun in Ben Jonson, darkness and honor in John Webster and Thomas Middleton which delight and intrigue almost as much on the page as on the boards. If the Elizabethans had an unequalled way with language, the harsher, more astringent tragedies of the Jacobeans can be as exciting - and in the absence of novels, bring their period alive with quite extraordinary brilliance.

Great drama is the souvenir of the adventures of a master among the pieces of his own soul. —George Jean Nathan

English Drama 1700-1900

Derek Parker

Really excellent dramatists were thin on the ground between the end of the Restoration period and the years of the solid, safe Victorian theatre - where nevertheless a number of anti-Victorian dramatists beavered away subversively - Wilde, Shaw, Arthur Pinero, T W Robertson, Henry Arthur Jones managing to entertain but also shock and educate audiences.

We do not go to the theatre like our ancestors to escape from the pressure of reality, so much as to confirm our experience of it. —Charles Lamb

British Drama 1900 to the Present

Derek Parker

World War I changed the theatre just as it changed everything else; soon came Coward, ready to show the 1920s their own face in The Vortex 1924, putting drugs on stage for the first time. There was a brief flirtation with poetic drama, led by T S Eliot and Christopher Fry, with W H Auden and Christopher Isherwood in the wings; Terence Rattigan, with elegant, mannered comedies, bridged the period between the 1930s and the 1950s, when came the new generation - Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Arnold Wesker, John Arden followed by Tom Stoppard, Edward Bond, David Storey, David Hare - and the most fruitful period of English drama for 400 years.

We do not think that a play can be worth acting and not worth reading. —W B YEATS

American Drama

T J Lustig

"There are no dramatic subjects in a country which has witnessed no great political catastrophes and in which love invariably leads by a straight and easy road to matrimony" - Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835). Right about so much else, de Tocqueville was signally wrong in this, for the political and emotional problems of 20th-century American democracy have produced a rich body of dramatic work. The tradition has been a predominantly realist one, though it has often strained that overstretched word well beyond its breaking point. But within its characteristic concentration on the relation between the (mainly middle-class) individual and society. American drama has told the story of the nation from the period of colonial expansion to that of imperial domination. It has dramatized the political in the personal in its treatment of the individual and the family. And it has staged the personal in the political in its analysis of the American dream and its spiritual evacuation. Often concerned with property, violence, truth, and the presence of the past, 20th-century American drama has seen itself both as weapon and as cure.

American drama stages a nation thinking (or not thinking) in front of itself. —Matthew Roudane

Economics

Watching economists tear at one another's throats, and reflecting on the holes in his own pockets, the layman might be forgiven for wondering, cynically, just how relevant this subject is to human life. The books in this list (an unpolemical, undogmatic selection) may go some way to providing an answer, or answers. "You pays your money…

See ANTHROPOLOGY (Dalton); MEDICINE (Fuchs); PHILOSOPHY (Ortega y Gasset); POLITICS (Schumpeter); SOCIOLOGY (Weber)

Kenneth Andrews

Kenneth Andrews is the Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and until recently was editor and publisher of the Harvard Business Review. His field is business policy and his principal book is The Concept of Corporate Strategy.

The classics I have identified will be as relevant to the recurring problems of achieving results in organizations and of making leadership effective that will characterize the twenty-first century as they are to those of the present day. The ideas are timeless; their power and application are virtually unlimited.

Alfred D. Chandler

Alfred Chandler is the Straus Professor of Business History at the Harvard Business School. He is the author of numerous works, including Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise (1962) and The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in Modern Business (1977). For many, he is considered to be the dean of the organizational school of historians. His forthcoming work, a cross-national study, is tentatively titled Scale and Scope.

C. Roland Christensen

C Roland Christensen is Harvard's Robert Walmsley University Professor. He is the first member of the Harvard Business School faculty to receive this honor. At the Business School he is known by peers and students as the father of the case method, although he attributes the distinction to the ancient Greeks. He is well known for his association with boards of directors as a member, as a course topic and as a field of research. He has a passionate interest in business policy.

Here are the books — all old, dog-eared, reread and reread, little (no big fat volumes), most committed to memory — of my five-inch bookshelf. But they miss the greatest influence on this educator — Miss Adams, a seventh-grade teacher in Iowa City, Iowa. She introduced me to poetry, where the ultimate wisdom — the philosophy of life — is found. The first step in the development of an anthology was our study of "Miniver Cheevey" by Edwin Arlington Robinson.- It is still exciting fifty-four years after that original encounter.

Richard N. Cooper

Richard Cooper is the Boas Professor of International Econom ics at Harvard's Graduate School ofArts and Sciences. From 1963 to 1977, he was professor of economics and provost at Yale University. He served as undersecretary of state for economic affairs from 1977 to 1981.

The accumulated wisdom of others can give direction to action, provide tools for analysis and thought, and warn of dangers to a productive, tolerant and humane society. These books help in that.

These four books impressed on me the danger to civilized society of persons with an intolerance of dissent from their own agenda for society, and the importance of continued vigilance to keep them from gaining and exercising power. Schlesinger's book addresses the dangers of political extremism both on the right and on the left; Hoffer describes the psychology of what he calls a true believer; Popper traces the philosophical history of political authoritarianism since Plato; and Wheeler-Bennett offers a detailed history of how Adolf Hitler out-maneuvered the senior German Officer Corps in his successful pursuit of absolute power.

These two books indicate as well as any that history is much more than kings and generals. Famine and disease have played a much greater role in mankind's misery, and reducing the prevalence of both is a worthy, even noble, vocation.

These two books suggested to me that economics is a subject worth studying.

I have identified books that were formative to my own thinking, so most of them were read long ago. They are still worth reading, though some of them will sound dated to younger minds. I read fewer books now, and more articles, which get more rapidly to the point. For instance, I benefited greatly from John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971), but I benefited even more from Kenneth Arrow's sympathetic yet critical review of it in the Journal of Philosophy. The core argument of Robert Axelrod's important book The Evolution of Cooperation (1984) can be found more succinctly stated in a 1981 article in the American Political Science Review.

Hugh Heclo

Hugh Heclo was born in Marion, Ohio, studied and taught at several British universities and received a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 1970. He is now a professor of government at Harvard. A former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., Professor Heclo is also a part-time tree farmer and author of three award-winning books in public policy and American politics.

The challenge of the future is always one of trying to make sense of oneself and one's times. Books, even great books, can help only a little bit by showing how other persons in other times have made that effort. Those forearmed in this way may be somewhat less foolish and prideful as they write the novels, plays and social-science interpretations of the next century.

Duncan Kennedy

Duncan Kennedy is a professor of law at the Harvard Law School. He teaches contracts, torts, property, the history of legal thought and housing law and policy. Two of his works are Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy (1983) and The Structure of Blackstone's Commentaries (1979). He is a founding member of the Conference on Critical Legal Studies.

What attracts me to these books may be the effort to come to grips with large, frightening facts of inequality, oppression, alienation, while at the same time exploring the slippery, self-contradictory nature of the self as it tangles and disentangles itself in the world of others, without giving up on survival by speculation. collective struggle and self-doubt.

Jeffrey Sachs

Jeffrey Sachs is a professor of economics at Harvard College and a former junior fellow in Harvard's Society of Fellows. An adviser to many Latin American governments. Professor Sachs has also been a consultant to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He is a member of the Brookings Panel of Economists and a contributor to newspapers and magazines in the United States and Japan.

These studies make clear that economic processes can only be understood in conjunction with politics and other social forces. The world's economic problems cannot be solved through any simple fix of technical economics, but only through the broadest understanding of the role of economics in the larger social order.

Bruce Scott

Bruce Scott first joined the Harvard Business School as an M.B.A. student in 1954. Since then he has become widely respected for his international research and course development in national economic strategies. In 1973 he was appointed the first Paul Whiten Cherington Professor of Business Administration.

These readings should raise a question of the adequacy of the role and direction of current economic theory as it affects business policy and public policy in the United States and Europe.

Alfred D. Chandler, Jr.

Two prize-winning books showing how senior managers of large corporations broke away from the static notions of microeconomics to fashion strategies based in part on internalizing market forces rather than remaining dependent upon them.

Three views on how and why Japan has become more competitive than any of the older industrial countries. Shinohara explains Japan's departure from Western economic theory to create a growth-oriented economic strategy. Johnson explains how it was conceived, by whom, and how it has been implemented. Vogel explains why Japan is not and does not wish to become a consumer-oriented welfare state.

Wack explains the value of scenarios as alternative theories of the case. Kuhn explains revolutionary changes in the sciences as occurring only when one theory replaces another.

The Great Transformation
K. Polanyi
Trade Trade and Economy in the Early Empires K. Polanyi
Trade The Kula
"J.W. Leach, E. Leach"
Trade Symbols of Excellence
J.G.D. Clark
Trade Ulysses' Sail
M.W. Helms
Trade Das Kapital
K. Marx
Capitalism Capitalism and Freedom
M. Friedman
Capitalism The Third Way
A. Giddens
Capitalism The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
M. Weber
Capitalism Civilizations
F. Fernandez-Armesto
Capitalism John Maynard Keynes
R. Skidelsky
Welfare Economics The Age of Keynes
R. Lekachman
Welfare Economics The Age of Uncertainty
J.K. Galbraith
Welfare Economics "Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy"
J.A. Schumpeter
Welfare Economics The Wealth of Nations
A. Smith
Free Market Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
D. Ricardo
Labor Theory of Value The Legacy of Ricardo
G.A. Caravale
Labor Theory of Value The Economics of David Ricardo
S. Hollander
Labor Theory of Value Capital
K. Marx
Labor Theory of Value The School of Salamanca
M. Grice-Hutchinson
Monetary Theory Monetary Theory: 1601-1758
A.E. Murphy
Monetary Theory The Great Wave
D.H. Fischer
Monetary Theory Mercantilism
L. Magnusson
Mercantilism The Modern World-System (Vol. 2)
I. Wallerstein
Mercantilism Civilization and Capitalism
F. Braudel
Mercantilism Population: Contemporary Responses to Thomas Malthus
A. Pyle
Overpopulation
The Economics of Robert Malthus
S. Hollander
Overpopulation
A Concise History of World Population
M.L. Bacci
Overpopulation

Economics

Alain Anderton

Modern economics is often said to date from the publication of Adam Smith's book The Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith was the first writer to describe a market economy as we might recognize it today. Since 1776, economic thought has developed considerably against a backdrop of ever more complex economies. David Ricardo, an economist working in the early 19th century, predicted that eventually economies would cease to grow and that workers' wages would settle down at a subsistence level while landowners and capitalists would reap huge rewards. His prediction led to economics being dubbed 'the dismal science'. We know today that Ricardo's thinking was flawed and that workers in the rich industrialized countries of the world enjoy a prosperity undreamed of in Ricardo's time. However, economics has always been controversial because it is used by individuals, businesses, and governments to make decisions. Economic agents all too often look around for an economic theory that confirms their prejudices rather than accepting that our understanding of how a system as complex as a market economy works is often imperfect. The ever changing nature of economics and the potential for entering a debate about causes, effects, and policy implications are just some of the factors that make economics so fascinating.

The theory of economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy. It is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique for thinking, which helps its possessor draw correct conclusions. —John Maynard Keynes

Business

Alain Anderton

The study of business is relatively young. It is also changing so fast that what seems important today is of only historical interest in the business climate of tomorrow. As John Harvey Smith writes in an introduction to the Penguin edition of Igor Ansoff's Corporate Strategy: "Despite the fact that the world of business prides itself on its self-analytical and ordered approach to things, businessmen are no less prone than the next man to fashion and crazes. As the ground of what constitutes business success is ploughed over again and again 'new discoveries' are made, new methodology is produced and new panaceas for success are recommended, and as eagerly sought."

Any airport bookshop will contain a wide selection of the latest books from today's fashionable gurus, testament to the ephemeral nature of the subject. Nevertheless, there are some classics in the field and the very fact that business is so changeable makes it one of the most compelling and exciting areas for reading today.

The best class of scientific mind is the same as the best class of business mind. The
great desideratum in either case is to know how much evidence is enough to
warrant action. It is as unbusiness-like to want too much evidence before buying
and selling as to be content with too little. —Samuel Butler

Education

Jeanne S. Chall

Jeanne S. Chall is professor of education and director of the Harvard Reading Laboratory. Her most widely known books include: Learning to Read: The Great Debate; the Dale-Chall Formula for Predicting Readability; and Stages of Reading Development. A fellow of the American Psychological Association and a member of the National Academy of Education, she has served on the board of directors of the National Society for the Study of Education and the International Reading Association. and has been president of the Reading Hall of Fame. She is regarded as Harvard's "expert on reading."

The first three works influenced directly my choice of career and early research and scholarship. The next two influenced, broadly. my approach to analysis of issues. And the last two represent more recent influences on my thinking.

Nathan Glazer

Nathan Glazer is professor of education and social structure at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. His courses focus on issues in education, ethnicity and American social problems. He is coeditor of The Public Interest and has been on the editorial staff of Commentary. His most notable works include Ethnic Dilemmas 1964-1982, (1983); Ethnicity: Theory and Experience, coedited with Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1975); and Beyond the Melting Pot, on which Daniel Patrick Moynihan also collaborated.

Francis Keppel

Francis Keppel is a senior lecturer on education at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. He was dean of the Education School from 1948 to 1962 and U.S. Commissioner of Education from 1962 to 1966. He later served as chairman of the General Learning Corporation (1966-74) and is now chairman of Appropriate Technology International. His teaching focuses on state and federal policies affecting education, with special interest in federal programs in compensatory education, student financial aid and desegregation and educational boards, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.

These books may help the reader to avoid being surprised, and surprise often leads to bad judgment.

Contemporary Issues In Education

Maureen O'Connor

Education in most countries today finds itself in the front line of the war between ideologies. A utilitarian view conflicts with the liberal notion of education for self-fulfilment more fiercely than ever. The introduction of competition and market forces is resisted by those who hold education as a right which should be equally available to all. Education is variously regarded as a means to social and political liberation and as a weapon in the international battle for economic hegemony. The books I have chosen provide an introduction to these conflicts without necessarily offering solutions because one thing at least is clear: the great education debate will continue.

Education costs money, but then so does ignorance. —Claus Moser

Essays

David M. Livingston

David Livingston is a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School — molecular biology is his field. He teaches, runs a laboratory and does active clinical medicine. His special interest is oncko genes, their products and how the latter function. He wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times on the irksome vacuous noise broadcast over airplane loudspeakers. Additional op-ed pieces he writes may follow.

Feminism

Feminist literature dates back to the 18th century, but there have been intervals of quiescence, during which writers devoted their energies more to the novel and to social reform. The earliest examples of the genre tended to formal rectitude, despite the vigour of the political argument. More recently, the tone has become personal, at times violently polemical. The American women's movement has been especially vociferous. However. a comparison of, say, Mary Wollstonecraft with Germaine Greer suggests that women's grievances remain much the same, as do basic attitudes on both sides of the sexual divide. Natural history or indoctrination? It remains true that despite the considerable economic and social changes in Western society. the repression of women has had and continues to have ugly effects all round. We have limited ourselves to books worth reading for their originality and vigour as well as for their socio-historical importance. We hope that this list may soon be scrapped — for the battle will have been won at last.

See ANTHROPOLOGY (Kitzinger): AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Brittain, Mead): BIOGRAPHY (Tomalin): HISTORY/AMERICAN (Krantor); MEDICINE (Boston Women's Collective); MYTHOLOGY (Slater); RELIGION (Warner): SEX (Hite); SOCIOLOGY (Mead)

Vindication of the Rights of Woman
M. Wollstonecraft
Feminism "Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman"
M. Wollstonecraft
Feminism
Rights of Woman
O. de Gouges
Feminism
The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft
C.L. Johnson
Feminism

Feminism

Gloria Steinem

Feminism, women's liberation, the women's movement, women's rights, woman-ism, and feminisms in the plural - all these and more are terms to describe the current transformative movement for female equality as human beings. This wave follows the 19th- and early-20th-century wave known as suffrage or female emancipation, in which women succeeded in winning an identity. Previously they had been chattels with a legal status that provided the model for slavery. Indeed, there have been successive waves of rebellion in every pan of the world, in public and in private, for the last few thousand years since patriarchy replaced ways of life in which power seems to have been more balanced.

By now, the feminist argument for equal status for females of all races, classes, ages, ethnicities, abilities, and sexualities has begun to sound reasonable and to have majority support in public opinion polls, but it is still opposed by forces that range from religious fundamentalists to multinational companies, from right-wing patriarchs to left-wing nationalists. After all, equal pay and equal access to land, credit, and inheritance would constitute a massive redistribution of wealth; women's sexual and reproductive freedom would take away control of the means of reproduction from family, religion, and state; redefining and revaluing work to include the unpaid or underpaid production and reproduction now done by 'women who don't work', whether homemakers in overdeveloped countries or food producers in underdeveloped ones, would eliminate the world's largest source of cheap labour; challenging the division of human nature into 'masculine' and 'feminine' would uproot the passive/dominant paradigm on which race, class, and other hierarchies are based; shifting from religions in which God looks like the ruling class to spiritualities in which god is present in women and all living things would delegitimize man's domination of women and nature; and nurturing the full range of human qualities in both males and females would eliminate the violence implicit in having to prove 'masculinity', and transform our ideas about human nature itself.

Whether we are working towards each person's empowerment in ways large or small, we are part of the feminist movement.

Most of these books come from North America and Europe, but many include references to movements on other continents. In general, each book will lead you to many more.

I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat. —Rebecca West

For men - all of the above, plus: Against the Tide: Pro feminist Men in the United States, 1776-1990, a Documentary History (1992) edited by Michael S Kimmel and Thomas E Mosmiller.

Women and Literature

Kadiatu Kanneh

Women's literature has become a wide and varied field, with the range of texts, collections of essays, and criticism about women's literature reflecting this. The following, necessarily truncated list provides an introduction to the range of writing that women's literature represents, writing from a variety of cultures, countries, historical periods. The following provide an overview of different feminist perspectives on the literature, different contextualizing strategies, and often conflicting arguments.

To be a woman and a writer is / double mischief, for / the world will
slight her who slights 'the servile house,' and who would rather / make
odes than beds. —Dilys Laing

Fiction

The story. it has been argued, is finally all that men can contrive to leave behind them. their only personal immortality. Their riches are perishable (unless they become the stuff of museums or vaults), but a man's story is his true legacy, the ghost through which we see him forever. But man is not only a speaking and a writing animal: he is unique in being a lying animal as well. His fictions are made of the same stuff as truth and if truth is stranger than fiction, fiction is sometimes truer. Thus though common sense may assert that the novel is merely a narrative form and that "creative writing" is but entertainment, we have a persistent feeling that novelists have more to tell us about life than all the psychoanalysts and sociologists. When all has been said and done, there is one more thing to say and do: write and tell stories, read and recommend and pass them on.

The books recommended here are chosen not only to entertain, but also to give a cross-section — including a fair proportion of masterworks — of a form of literature in which everyone will have his own taste. Some great books have, no doubt, been omitted (especially if they are not in English), sometimes because (as in the case of. say. Doeblin's Alexanderplatz) no reliable translation yet exists. Classics have tended to prevail over contemporary work, not least because it would have been ridiculous to leave them out. Only a Cretan would claim that all the best novels and short fictions are contained here, and Cretans, as we all know, are renowned for telling stories.

See CHILDREN'S BOOKS (Buchan, Haggard, Stevenson)

Crime Fiction and Thrillers

Crime Fiction

Colin Dexter

More people read crime and detection novels than any other form of fiction. It cuts across differences of age, culture, gender, and class, combining the fascination of crime with the reassurance of order restored, a mystery solved. It began in the 19th century with the works of Wilkie Collins and Edgar Allan Poe, and soon became a genre with many (very different) forms - such as the very English 'murder in the vicarage' of Agatha Christie, the hardboiled American writing of Hammett and Chandler, the psychological analysis of Patricia Highsmith. It can be pulp fiction, sophisticated entertainment, and (in the hands of writers such as Jorge Luis Borges and Umberto Eco) philosophical speculation. One of the best introductions to crime and detection fiction is Julian Symons's Bloody Murder (1972), a history of the genre. The following list includes representative works from each of the main genres ('whodunnit', 'whydunnit', 'howdunnit', 'thriller', 'spy story', 'historical reconstruction').

Tremendous enjoyment underlies the superficially tragic subject-matter of most crime fiction. —Diogenes Small

Novels

See CHILDREN'S BOOKS (Tolkien, White, Williamson); HUMOUR (Chevalier, Dennis, Frayn, Jerome, Loos, Petronius, Queneau, Smith, Tinniswood, Twain, De Vries, Westlake, Wodehouse); MYTHOLOGY (Mitchison): SEX (Cleland, Genet, Haddon, Laclos, Miller, Nin, Reage, Sade, Southern)

English Literature: Introduction

Brenda Richardson

What are the defining boundaries of English literature? Can we use Milton's assertion to distinguish 'literature' from 'writing', suggesting that 'literature' contains some essence of the writer, 'treasured up on purpose' for the use of posterity? Even if we do there remains the problem of defining 'English'. Is it a matter of location or language? Simply to define English literature as British literature in English is too arbitrary. Should Northern Irish or all Anglo-Irish writing be included? Is literature writ-ten in English in Wales or Scotland part of a Wales-wide or Scotland-wide Welsh or Scottish literature regardless of medium? If we include the work of resident black or Asian writers in English are we denying their distinctiveness or recognizing their Britishness? What is English? Are dialect or patois poems in English? I would like to include all interesting writing in English in Britain or Ireland under this heading, but readers will find that many of the books suggested are more conservative.

A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit: embalmed
and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.
JOHN MILTON The Oxford Companion to English Literature (1985) edited by Margaret Drabble. A comprehensive guide to facts and dates, with good cross- referencing. The Oxford Literary Guide to the British Isles (1977) edited by Dorothy Eagle and Hilary Carnell. English literature from the other end: look up Dorchester and find out about its literary connections beyond Thomas Hardy. The Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes (1975) edited by James Sutherland. A rich mine of bits and pieces of literary information and sidelights on literary figures, giving a flavour of literary life in different ages, in different regions, for both sexes and all classes.
Literary Theory: An Introduction (1983) by Terry Eagleton. Lucid, entertaining, comprehensive, a good way in to the sophisticated way of talking about literature in the 1990s. A History of English Literature: Forms and Kinds from the Middle Ages to the Present Day (1987) by Alistair Fowler. The most accessible of the current one-volume histories: clear and concise but rather conservative in its scope. The Short Oxford History of English Literature (1994) by Andrew Sanders. This may seem a bit stodgy but it is the history most aware of the problems of creating a canon of English literature in 1994. The result is a survey generously revisionist where women's writing is concerned, and offering pointers to the possibilities for multiculturalism in the English literature of recent decades. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1953) edited by Angela Partington. With generous samplings of major authors and titillating glimpses of lesser-known ones, this offers a conspectus of a wide range of writing in English, literary, philosophical, and historical. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature: A Guide for Readers (1991) edited by Boris Ford. A compendious and regularly updated guide that will enable the reader to find more information about almost any aspect of the field desired.

The British Novel

Brenda Richardson

This entry involves problems of both definition and ideology. Down to about 1970 there is no perceived problem. Studies of the English novel' abound, and a selection is offered in the reading list below. But after this the scope for alternative definitions widens as Anglo-Irish novels become arguably a separate genre and practitioners of Indian or Caribbean origin reside wholly or partly in England and produce novels from their own distinctive cultural matrices. At the same time concepts of gender or racial identity become prominent, and it becomes tendentious to appropriate either feminist or Afro-Caribbean writing to a genre that is seen in some quarters as a part of Victorian and post-Victorian cultural imperialism, reinforcing gender stereotypes and imposing white, middle-class, male-centred narrative patterns. So the list also includes a couple of collections of essays which explore these problems of racial, national, and gender identity, and their relation to narrative fiction, whether or not we call the result a novel.

'Oh! it is only a novel!' replies the young lady:... 'It is only Cecilia, or Camilla or
Belinda' or in short, only some work in which the most thorough knowledge of
human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit
and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.
JANE AUSTEN

The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding (1957) by Ian Watt. The classic study of the origins of the novel conceived as a product of middle-class economic individualism. The English Novel: Form and Function (1953) by Dorothy Van Ghent. Contains a mixture of studies in the interpretation of a wide range of individual works and studies of problems of form. The Rhetoric of Fiction (1983) by Wayne C Booth. A classic American study dealing with British and other fiction. Here we see the rise of literary theory: concepts of the meaning of form, the importance of point of view, of reader-theory. Mothers of the Novel: 100 Good Women Writers before Jane Austen (1986) by Dale Spender. A corrective to Ian Watt and other less carefully nuanced versions of the great male line of English novelists from Defoe to Dickens and Conrad. Dare a feminist say that the definition of 'good' may seem to need a bit of stretching? The Modern British Novel (1993) by Malcolm Bradbury. All studies date quickly at the recent end of their period. This very new and comprehensive book covers the wide range of subgenres and cultural subsets into which the novel tradition may be seen to have fragmented as well as doing a good job on the 'mainstreams'. The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature: The Novel: A Guide to the Novel from its Origins to the Present Day (1993) edited by Andrew Michael Roberts. A work of reference in which authors, genres, and technical terms can alike be checked.
Reading Women: Essays in Feminist Criticism (1986) by Mary Jacobus. This collection has a European and international focus, indicating this aspect as well as the gender aspect of the shifting focus of literary and especially novelistic criticism in Britain. Nation and Narration (1990) edited by H K Bhabha. Essays on various aspects of cultural identity and cultural imperialism, some more and some less relevant to the particular matter of the British novel, but indicating by its very existence the way in which the study of the novel has been problematized and politicized in the present decade.

English Prose

Brenda Richardson

The selection, it will be seen, contains no identified writer more recent than Lytton Strachey, though the letters and diaries come down well into the present century. Where more formal writing is concerned the defining examples do belong in earlier periods. Nonfictional prose is not one genre but many. There are essays, biographies, history, criticism, topography, humour, satire, pastoral, some separable, some not or barely so. The examples are chosen partly for style, partly for content, partly to give a taste of different periods and different contexts. The pleasures_are many and diverse, and virtually impossible to summarize.
Prose can never be too truthful or too wise.
WILI.IA vi WATSON Essays (1597-1625; several recent editions) by Francis Bacon. Like Hamlet they turn out to be full of quotations! They also provide a good sense of what life was like under Elizabeth I and James I and an illustration of the terse and plain style of writing. The Compleat Angler (1653; several recent editions) by Izaak Walton. A favourite of mine, and a lovely example of a very minor genre, the pastoral idyll in English. Should you wish to cook pike, it can also serve as a recipe book! Selections from the Tatler and Spectator (1988) edited by Angus Ross. 18th-century fashionable journalism, well selected, and offering a range of interests to do with both the style and diction and the content. Addison, Joseph and Richard Steele, English and Irish-English, 1672-1719 and 1672-1729. Spectator. Rec: Bloom Lubbock The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789; several recent editions) by Gilbert White. An evocation of rural life and an example of scientific and descriptive and yet eminently readable prose. Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790; several recent editions) by Edmund Burke. An elegiac celebration of traditional aristocratic society incorporated in vigorous counter-revolutionary propaganda. The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857; several recent editions) by Elizabeth Gaskell. The life of a woman by a woman from a very paternalistic age. It offers social history and detail of the distinctive character of the West Riding of Yorkshire, as well as chronicling Bronte's struggle to achieve self-expression and self-fulfilment. Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873) by Walter Pater. Romantically impressionistic essays in art history which encouraged subjective responses to beauty. Eminent Victorians (1918) by Lytton Strachey. Funny, irreverent, often desperately unfair, these studies offer a debunking, ironic corrective to uncritical treatments of Victorian piety and heroism. The Englishwoman's Diary: An Anthology (1992) edited by Harriet Blodgett. A wide-ranging sampling of the regional, domestic, and personal writing which is characteristic of the female writer and fills in the blanks around the public life featured in the formal essays of London male culture.
The Oxford Book of Letters (1995) edited by Frank and Alice Kermode. An anthology stretching from the 16th to the 20th century, offering an insight into the life of different periods and the function of the letter in each.

The 18th-Century British Novel

Chris Murray

It was during the 18th century that the prose tale underwent the subtle and profound transformation into the novel, for many the supreme literary form of the modern world. Its origins were modest. Though novels were soon to acquire the social graces of the drawing room, the earliest were redolent of the tavern, the brothel, and the debtors' prison, their language spiced with the racy vernacular of pimps, harlots, drunks, thugs, cardsharps, cutthroats, penniless fops, corrupt politicians, and scheming lawyers. In other words, early novels (strongly influenced by such writers as Cervantes) were essentially picaresques, a form for which the burgeoning ranks of the urban middle classes had a huge appetite. Young heroes and heroines, beset by seemingly endless series of farcical trials and tribulations, finally, often by a totally unexpected twist of fate, achieve wealth and happiness. The following includes a few precursors of the true novel.
The novel is practically a Protestant form of art; it is a product
of the free mind, of the autonomous individual
GEORGE ORWELL Oroonoko (about 1688) by Aphra Behn. A remarkable woman whose eventful life included working as a spy for Charles II, a spell in a debtors' prison, and a busy career as a translator, dramatist, and novelist - she was probably the first Englishwoman to earn her living by writing. A long prose romance influenced by continental writers, Oroonoko, with its attack on the slave trade, anticipates the much later concept of the 'noble savage'.
Behn, Aphra, English, 1640-1689. Oroonoko. Rec: Smiley "The Fair Jilt". Rec: Smiley Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe. Tradesman turned literary jack of all trades and polemicist who was thrown into prison several times, Defoe, freely combining fiction and fact, brought a new imaginative scope and vigour to storytelling. Robinson is his masterpiece, though his vividness of characterization, sure sense of everyday reality, and his narrative drive make Moll Flanders (1722) and The journal of the Plague Year (1722) highly readable. Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift. Not a novel, quite, but a bitter, and at times obscene, satire in prose (the satires of John Dryden and Alexander Pope had set a very high standard in verse). By curious irony that might well have given its author a good deal of sardonic pleasure, Gulliver's Travels became a children's classic (parts of it, at least). Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (1740-42) by Samuel Richardson. Generally considered to be the first English novel. Told in a long, long series of letters, it recounts the seduction of a young woman who, virtuous and true, brings about the moral transformation of her vile seducer, though both of them die in the process. A successful printer by trade, Richardson had a shrewd sense of what people wanted: a good story that ended with 'an useful moral'. His sensitivity to the psychology of his characters had a huge impact on the development of the novel, and in his lifetime he was feted throughout Europe: Dr Johnson as well as the French philosopher Rousseau wept for Pamela. Tom Jones (1749) by Henry Fielding. A long picaresque romp through 18th-century England, probably the greatest novel of its age. Fielding detested what he regarded as the prissy and hypocritical morality of Richardson (he wrote a parody called Shame), and his own novels combine a shrewd intelligence and an earthy frankness about human nature (the character Tom Jones is far from being a model of snowy- white virtue). His work as a dramatist gave his novels a sureness of structure absent in many works of the period. Essential reading. The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker (1771) by Tobias Smollett. An account of a family on their travels through England and Scotland, told in a series of letters by each member of the family, this is probably Smollett's finest work. Smollett hasn't Fielding's sense of form, but the countless comic escapades of his vividly drawn characters show him to be ceaselessly inventive, his satire on human folly relentless, though just a little mellower here than in earlier works.
The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) by Oliver Goldsmith. A vicar and his family fall on hard times: he loses his position and is finally thrown into debtors' prison, his daughter elopes with a scoundrel. But it all turns out happily in the end. A neglected work (a little tame perhaps after Fielding and Smollett) which deserves more attention. The German poet Goethe, who dubbed it a 'prose idyll', was deeply moved. The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy (1760) by Laurence Sterne. A unique work, this is one of the strangest books of the century. To use modern jargon, it 'deconstructs' the novel form, and far more amusingly than many 20th-century attempts. It has long mock-philosophical authorial asides, blank pages, a few squiggles to illustrate the rambling and inconsequential narrative, a mixture of styles high and (very) low, including stream-of-consciousness, and a gallery of colourful eccentrics - like one of its more recent relatives, James Joyce's Ulysses, it is either a sheer delight or an insufferable irritation. Despite its oddity it was extremely popular in his own day. The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. This is another queer fish. Disdaining the 'vulgar' realistic novels of his day, Walpole turned to medieval stories of chivalry and high romance. The result was a surrealistic novel of the supernatural - statues that bleed, ghosts, a giant helmet that falls from the sky killing a man, murder, rattling chains, and ruined castles. A rejection of the down-to-earth good sense of much 18th-century fiction, The Castle of Otranto, the first 'Gothic novel', is one of the earliest expressions of Romanticism and the ancestor of the modern horror novel.

The 19th-Century British Novel

Roz Kaveney

There is a tendency on the part of critics of the novel to talk as if Romanticism was something that only happened in poetry, or abroad. In fact, the 19th-century British novel crucially concerns itself with key issues of Romanticism - the conflict between the individual striving to be entirely themselves and the community that has rights and in which the individual has to some extent to live. Often this conflict is posed in terms of a struggle between shadow selves or with a landscape; often also multiple narrative strands make possible the exploration of more than one point of view, more than one possible way of existing.
Dead, your Majesty. Dead, my lords and gentlemen. Dead, Right Reverends and
Wrong Reverends of every order. Dead, men and women, born with Heavenly
Compassion in your hearts. And dying thus around us every day.
CHARLES DICKENS Emma (1816) by Jane Austen. Has the poise and elegant malice that we expect of Austen, but is surprisingly perceptive about the dangers of intelligence and talent. Emma makes mischief and manipulates almost everybody around her; she has a novelist's instincts and puts them to work in real life. The Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) by James Hogg. Brilliantly originates a whole school of psychological horror stories. Its hero, persuaded of his elect status as one of the saved, comes to believe he can dispose of everyone in his way and serve God thereby; is his companion and adviser a delusion, the incognito Russian tsar, or the Prince of Lies? A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens. A moral lecture on charity that escapes mere preachiness because of the fertility of Dickens' fantastic imagination. It denounces not only miserliness and politics which stifles humanity in the affluent by denying it to an underclass; in the process, it crystallizes the manners of a particular time as the authentic way of celebrating Christmas. Mythopoeia is an underrated function of the novel and the tale. Vanity Fair (1847) by William Makepeace Thackeray. Has a heart of unforgiving flint beneath the flip cynicism and sentimentality of its surface. Thackeray does not let even his virtuous characters get away with anything - by the time worthy Dobbin wins the widowed, dim Amelia, he has seen how little she is worth. Becky Sharp starts with our sympathy - she has, after all, her way to make in a cruel world - but forfeits it by gratuitous acts of petty cruelty. Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte. The most Romantic of great British novels, with its blasted landscapes and hopeless love. Based as it is on some crudely conceived dualisms like the opposition of calm and storm in the make-up of its characters, there is considerable subtlety in its execution; the distanced narrative turns up the heat on the emotional material by pretending to recollect it in tranquillity.
Bleak House (1852-53) by Charles Dickens. Perhaps his most comprehensive denunciation of a society in which the letter of the law is allowed to kill the spirit. The Chancery case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce becomes indistinguishable from the London fog; spontaneous combustion, smallpox, madness, and murder strike indiscriminately and the orphan Esther, the illiterate crossing sweeper Jo, and the snobbish Lady Deadlock have more to do with each other than we can imagine. The Ring and the Book (1869) by Robert Browning. A great poem now most usefully read as if a novel; verse is its means of expression, rather than its soul. A classic Roman murder case is retold time after time from different viewpoints, becoming a meditation on truth and how truth is used within a society, and a touchstone for our perception of the characters who discuss it. Daniel Deronda (1876) by George Eliot. Demonstrates that the 19th-century novel could be about ideas as well as plots and emotional extremes; the critic F R Leavis disapproved of the subplots about Zionism and music and wanted to edit it down to the story of Gwendolen Harlech, which demonstrates how little F R Leavis understood about story. The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) by Thomas Hardy. Reminds us usefully that the England of the 19th century started off as a rural economy, but that things changed ... Turned sober after selling his wife at a fair, Henchard becomes a model of Victorian energy, but secrets will out, and the assistant he fostered becomes his rival. Hardy at his best combined a sense of society as a whole with the most complete tragic sense of the century. The Master of Ballantrae (1889) by Robert Louis Stevenson. Uses the last British civil war, the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, and its conflicts of loyalty to dramatize the clash of the two sorts of man. Observed by a narrator alienated from both, two brothers struggle for estate, wife, and ascendancy; often underrated as a children's adventure story, Stevenson's best book is endlessly inventive and emotionally subtle.

20th-Century British Fiction

Roz Kaveney

The 20th-century British novel hardly exists as a single concept - nor is this just a result of nearness in time and failures of perspective. For one thing, there was no longer any one idea of Great Britain to which to assent or dissent; a sense of marginalization was common not only to those who had been marginalized, but also to many writers whom most would see as at the centre of things as they were. Society is an antagonist in most of the good novels of the century, not a medium through which protagonists move. Exploration of technique was another crucial factor, of course, but looks less of one at century's end than it seemed in the middle; technical innovation was consistently recruited back into the mainstream so that James Joyce's Ulysses, for example, looks greater than ever, but far less radical a departure.
Yes - oh dear, yes - the novel tells a story.
E M FoRSTER The Secret Agent (1907) by Joseph Conrad. Conrad brought a European sophisticadon about motive and the political cast of mind to the British novel. This tale about the domesticity of the suburbs, the idiot games of high politics, and the tragedy of the mundane was a farsighted view of how the century was going to work. at also characterizes, perhaps, the 20th-century British novel is a sense of the weirdness of life which derives from Dickens and makes for real quirkiness; if the British novel of the second half of the century is for the most part distinctly minor, it is because there are in it so many goodish writers who wrote strange books. The Good Soldier (1915) by Ford Madox Ford. This is, as the book's opening tells us, the saddest story ever told, largely because its quite trivial story of adultery, deceit, suicide, and madness is made to stand for a whole dying world of middle-class security. What seemed sensible arrangements had bad faith at the roots and destroyed everyone - the narrator gradually !cams all that had been kept from him: Ford finished the book, and then went off to the war that the book never mentions, directly. Mrs Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf. Woolf despised Joyce's work for its grubby realism, but successfully appropriated the stream of consciousness in several of her books. Clarissa Dalloway is a social parasite, but she has a set of tasks to get through in a day and becomes admirable for doing them in spite of the endless distractions of her thoughts and senses. This is a slight book in many ways, but achieves grandeur through its sense of human solidarity. Brighton Rock (1938) by Graham Greene. Greene's decision to divide his work into serious novels and 'entertainments' cost us, for the most part, a sense of him as a whole writer. This novel of gangsterism and damnation combines a nasty wit with a real sense of the complexity of quite ordinary lives; it is one of the best of thrillers because it is perhaps the best novel about criminals and their power struggles. Nemesis comes in the shape of a barmaid with a grievance and the worst horror of all is a short-play record.
Brideshead Revisited (1945) by Evelyn Waugh. This great, rich, purple convolvulus of a book was Waugh's reactionary farewell to the sweetness of life as he believed it to have been lived by a Catholic aristocracy he turned into myth as he worked. It is one of the great novels of regret partly because it is so clearly set in the imagination; it is also full of great comic moments and brilliant observation of a social climbing that was part of the artificial paradise that Waugh thought was dying. Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1956) by Angus Wilson. If tragedy is the nonfulfilment of promise, then this is one of the best and most pregnant tragic works of the century; Wilson's sense of Englishness is quietly unhappy, and full of chickens coming home to roost. A complicated affair of intellectual fraud and misunderstanding comes back to haunt Gerald and triggers every booby trap his bad faith has created. The Fountain Overflows (1956) by Rebecca West. It is perhaps the sheer difficulty of her personality, and her longevity, that has led to the underrating of West as anovelist. This novel of an Edwardian childhood, the only completed volume of a trilogy, is one of the best descriptions of a child's fierce loyalties and incomplete under-standing of the world; the heroine's personally unreliable gallant crusader of a father is a subtly conceived feminist comment on politics as Boys' Game still worth playing. The Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) by Jean Rhys. Jean Rhys's early novels dealt with her rackety life and affairs with Ford Madox Ford and others with a slightly masochistic wit and sense of the randomness of life that makes them starkly depressing. Even more bracingly bleak, paradoxically, because of the richness of its prose is this late book, the story of a mad wife in Charlotte Bronte's lane Eyre; Rhys made Woman as Victim the subject of great prose poetry. When My Girl Comes Home (1961) and The Camberwell Beauty (1974) by V S Pritchett; both in Collected Stories (1982-
83). The novella is a form often left out of the accounting and Pritchett, probably the greatest short story writer in the language his century, wrote two great novellas and no novels of real importance. These two tales show us private worlds and the way that privacy skews a sense of the real world or of ordinary morality; they are at the same time quietly nightmarish and hysterically funny. The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman (1972) by Angela Carter. There had to be a great British surreal novel and the only odd thing about it is that it took until the 1970s. Carter's journey from rationality to a dream landscape and betrayals that leave ambiguities in the mouth is perhaps the most satisfactory fore-shadowing of our ambivalence to their legacy. Ulysses (1922) by James Joyce. Much prosecuted, much damned, much discussed, this is a novel about a day in the life of three Dubliners in 1905. The battery of technical devices - stream of consciousness, parody, abstracted musicalized dialogue - are not there to replace realism, but to enhance it; even the underlying and determining structure, the analogies between each episode and a book of the Odyssey, is a creation of limits in which the representation of the real can be pressurized. It is the most universal and the most particular of novels; it lets you know a time and a place and some people better than almost any other. And it includes within it a great meditation on mortality - proscribed and atheist, nonetheless Joyce is a Catholic writer. At Swim-Two-Birds (1939) by Flann O'Brien. One of the other great 20th-century novels by an Irishman, this combines a sense of shabby-genteel debauchery with end-less recursions into a world of cowboy novellas, heroic myths, and doggerel about stout_ There are few books as funny - but the underlying sense of sadness comes out time and time again in the bleak side stories. A joke is a tragedy that happened to someone else. Daniel Aaron
Daniel Aaron is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of English and American Literature and Language Emeritus at Harvard University and has recently edited The Inman Diary. He is also president of the Library of America, dedicated to preserving the works of American writers. Professor Aaron has had a lifelong interest in encouraging reading.
Most of us read promiscuously. Our response to a particular book depends a good deal on when we intersect with it and under what circumstances. In my own case, the books I was required to read usually meant less to me than those whose titles I came across in the pages of other writers or accidentally discovered on my own. Some of the books that deeply engaged me during my adolescence were "trash" to my mentors. It seems too pompous to say that any of the following books played "an important role" in my life. They were important to me for personal reasons. Edmund Wilson. Axel's Castle: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of 1870-1930 (1931). New York: W. W. Norton, 1984. (Pb) This book was very liberating. It was my first extended exposure to the symbolist movement and drew me to Yeats's later poetry, to Joyce's Ulysses. to Gertrude Stein's Three Lives, and of course to Wilson's collected reviews and essays. Eventually I read everything he wrote, and I still regard him as America's foremost modern man of letters. James Gibbons Huneker. Egoists, a Book of Supermen (1909). New York: AMS Press, 1975.
. Iconoclasts. a Book of Dramatists (1905). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1969.
. Ivory, Apes and Peacocks (1915). Philadelphia: Richard West, 1973.
. Unicorns (1917). New York: AMS Press, 1976.
I came across Huneker's essays in 1929. By that time he was considered a relic of the fin de siècle and was hardly referred to, but to me he was a revelation. He introduced me at a susceptible age to the "poisoned honey" of the continent, to his "soul-
wreckers." Thanks to him, I found Nietzsche, Huysmans, Strindberg, Baudelaire, Flaubert. He was more enthusiastic than critical, but I read him at the right time. George Henry Borrow. Lavengro. 3 vols. London: J. Murray, 1851.
I read this novel, a fictionalized autobiography, in my late teens. It tells of a young wanderer-scholar who has mastered the Romany tongue and is befriended by a company of English gypsies. Borrow's racy earthy style and amusing irreverence appealed to me very much. His fascination with languages ("Lavengro" is the gypsy word for "philology") matched my own. Kenneth Burke. Permanence and Change (1935). Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. 1965.
Almost more than any work I can think of, this one helped me to clarify the relation between literature and society, criticism and life. Through Burke I discovered Thorstein Veblen. His discussions of "perspectives by incongruity" and "symbolic action" made me see the uses of history, psychology, sociology, and philosophy in the interpretation of literature. Thereafter Burke became for me our American Coleridge. Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle]. The Red and the Black (1830). Lloyd C. Parks, trans. New York: New American Library, 1970. (Pb)
I suppose this is my favorite novel along with Anna Karenina. I've read it more times than any other novel for reasons never exactly clear to me except that I take undiminished delight in its wit, audacity and stylistic brilliance and its psychological insights. To me, at least, the novel has the perfect plot. John Kenneth Galbraith
John Kenneth Galbraith is the Paul M. Walburg Professor of Economics Emeritus. Galbraith has enjoyed a celebrated life of teaching, public service, writing and thinking. President Truman awarded him the Medal of Freedom. He served as President Kennedy's ambassador to India from 1961 to 1963. A former editor of Fortune magazine. he has written many books including The Affluent Society, The New Industrial State and The Age of Uncertainty. His friends say he can frequently be found striding the streets of Cambridge, on his way to the pool.
I do not urge economics: others will do that. Instead I urge the enjoyments and enlightenment to which the well-seasoned economist and citizen of the future are entitled and which have brought both pleasure and reward to me in the past. Anthony Trollope.
Barchester Towers (1857). New York: Penguin, 1983. (Pb) The Last Chronicles of Barset (1867). New York: Penguin, 1981. (Pb)
The Warden (1855). New York: Penguin, 1984. (Pb) Evelyn Waugh.
Decline and Fall (1928). Boston: Little, Brown, 1977. (Pb) Scoop (1938). Boston: Little, Brown, 1977. (Pb) W. Somerset Maugham.
Of Human Bondage (1915). New York: Penguin, 1978. (Pb)
Christmas Holiday (1939). New York: Penguin, 1977. (Pb) Ring Lardner. Gullible's Travels (1917). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms (1929). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982. (Pb)
Norman Mailer. The Naked and the Dead (1948). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1980. (Pb) Paul Scott. The Raj Quartet.
The Jewel in the Crown (1966). New York: Avon, 1979. (Pb)
The Day of the Scorpion (1968). New York: Avon, 1979. (Pb)
The Towers of Silence (1971). New York: Avon, 1979. (Pb) The Division of the Spoils (1975). New York: Avon, 1979. (Pb) Robertson Davies. The Deptford Trilogy. (Pb)
Fifth Business (1970). New York: Penguin, 1977. (Pb) The Manticore (1972). New York: Penguin, 1977. (Pb) World of Wonders (1975). New York: Viking, 1977. (Pb)

Richard J. Herrenstein

R. J. Herrenstein is the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, where he has primarily done research on human and animal motivational and learning processes. His books include Psychology, I.Q. in the Meritocracy and Crime and Human Nature.
These books were important to me — at a particular time and a particular point in my life. They may not be suitable for other times or other people. Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace (1865-69). Louise Maude and Aylmer Maude, trans. George Gibian, ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1966.
First read when I was about seventeen. Probably the first "great book" I truly enjoyed. It shaped certain views about history. Charles Darwin. The Origin of Species (1859). New York: Penguin, 1982. (Pb)
Important for the obvious reason, plus my own fascination with the way it dealt with the subject of instinct. John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath (1939). New York: Penguin, 1976. (Pb)
I doubt that this would have the impact now that it did when I read it in the 1940s sometime, but it filled me then with a sense of outrage over social and economic injustice. Franz Kafka. The Castle (1926). Willa Muir and Edwin Muir, trans. New York: Random House, 1974. (Pb)
. The Trial (1937). Willa Muir and Edwin Muir, trans. New York: Penguin, 1953. (Pb)
. Amerika (1938). Edwin Muir, trans. New York: New Directions, 1946. (Pb)
These, too, have lost their punch for me, but at the time I read them, they captured the lunacy and futility of individuals struggling with bureaucracies. Winston S. Churchill. The Second World War (1948-53). 6 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983,
This account — especially the early volumes — counteracted to some extent Tolstoy's view of history. John B. Bury. The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry into Its Origin and Growth (1920). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982.
Edmund Wilson. To the Finland Station (1940). New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1972. (Pb)
Wonderful books that tell a good story, and that set a standard for writing on intellectual history. Matina Homer
Matina Horner has been president of Radcliffe College since 1972. Prior to assuming that position, she taught in Harvard's Department of Psychology and Social Relations. In addition to her leadership responsibilities as a college president, she teaches as an associate professor. One of her continuing research interests is the psychology of women.
This is a very tough question — to consider books that have shaped my thinking. I guess the first would have to be the collected works of Emily Dickinson, which I began to read in junior high school.
Emily Dickinson. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (mid-nineteenth century). Thomas H. Johnson, ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1960.
It was the complete poems of Emily Dickinson that made a difference, rather than any one poem, except perhaps for the one that begins "I dwell in possibility." The idea of focusing on possibilities is important to me and I often return to the poem to make this and other points. Pearl S. Buck. The Good Earth (1931). New York: Washington Square Press, 1983. (Pb)
During a recent trip to China, I was reminded of another book from my younger days that also made a lasting impression on me, Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, It had a very strong impact on me then which has persisted. Its powerful presentation of some basic cultural differences was a valuable way to be introduced to the importance of seeing and respecting different cultures and values, of accepting cultural differences and of acknowledging the value of other perspectives. Now, back from China, I am tempted to reread it. Sojourner [Olive Gilbert] Truth. Narrative of Sojourner Truth (1878). Salem, N.1-I.: Ayer, 1968.
Later on, Sojourner Truth's autobiography also made a lasting impression on me. I first read it during the 1960s — as we were beginning to think about women's roles in new ways and feminist views and ideas were being publicly debated. My thinking on these issues began within the supportive environment of a college where expectations for and about women were very high. Sojourner Truth's compelling phrase, "and ain't I a woman," which she used after each description of an activity she did that challenged basic assumptions about women's strength and skills, powerfully captured for me the kind of change being sought in expectations about women, then and now. Sigmund Freud. The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). New York: Avon, 1980. (Pb)
Edward C. Tolman. Purposive Behavior in Animals and Man (1967). New York: Irvington, 1967.
Professionally, Freud's collected works, especially his Interpretation of Dreams, the first of his works that I read, and Tolman's Purposive Behavior in Animals and Man, were very important to the development of my thinking. Both challenged previous assumptions about human and animal motivation and behavior. Freud's depiction of the role of unconscious instincts and impulses in human behavior and Tolman's convincing examples of the ability of animals to learn "what leads to what" and thus to "think" were critical not only to my thinking but to the history of psychology. Dr. Seuss [Theodor Seuss Geisel]. The Sneetches, and Other Stories. New York: Random House, 1961.
I can't resist including Dr. Seuss's Sneetches, that wonderful children's book that powerfully shows the foolishness of our basic need or tendency to divide ourselves into "we" and "they" and our inability to grasp our fundamental interdependence. Not only have I enjoyed reading it to my children but I have used it in college classes to make some key points. Elizabeth McKinsey
Elizabeth McKinsey is both an associate professor of English and American literature at Harvard and the director of the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College. She is the author of The Western Experiment: New England Transcendentalists in the Ohio Valley and Niagara Falls: Icon of the American Sublime.
Central to American literature, all these books enrich our understanding of our cultural and psychic heritage — our myths, assumptions, preoccupations and conflicts. By broadening our historic imagination and sympathy, they can help us face squarely the issues of human and political relations — between the sexes, among racial and ethnic groups, and among nations — that will continue to be critical as we move into the twenty-first century. Perry Miller, ed. Margaret Fuller: American Romantic. A Selection from Her Writing and Correspondence (1963). Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, Pubs., 1969.
When I first read Margaret Fuller (transcendentalist; friend of Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne: one of this country's first and most accomplished literary critics) in college, I kept coming back to her. It took several years to realize why: a brilliant, powerful, passionate, sensitive person, she embodied the split between intellect and femininity that I had been socialized to feel. As a powerful expressive spirit, her works provide both a window on nineteenth-century American culture and a mirror of our own attitudes toward gender, society and achievement. Herman Melville. Moby Dick (1851). Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983. (Pb)
Unquestionably the "biggest" book in American literature, Moby Dick wrestles with all the huge metaphysical questions — religious, epistemological, ontological, aesthetic — at the same time that it depicts in minute detail the U.S. whaling industry and through it examines questions of democracy and leadership. All its layers of meaning cohere in Melville's powerfully written masterpiece. Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). New York: Harper & Row, 1984. (Pb)
When Hemingway contended that all modern literature began with Huck Finn, he was thinking of its vernacular language, its antiromantic realism and episodic structure. The language is wonderful — and funny — and very evocative historically. Perhaps I especially like this one because I'm from Missouri. William Faulkner. Absalom! Absalom! (1936). New York: Random House, 1972. (Pb)
Faulkner is arguably our greatest American writer, and this is his magnum opus. The saga of Sutpen and his family, and Quentin Compson's attempt to come to terms with it, embody all the tensions in Southern and indeed American history — race, sex, regionalism, the individual and community, etc. — as well as basic epistemological questions. A powerful, epic work. Eudora Welty. Thirteen Stories. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965. (Pb)
These perfect gems evoke a particular Southern rural culture — the "sense of place" that Welty has said is so important to her work — at the same time that they reveal mythic, universal human themes and longings. Welty's mastery of language, storytelling, power and form is infused with an extraordinary warmth and humor. Here is a shrewd and realistic but affirmative vision. Zora Neale Hurston. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978.
Janice's self-knowledge, tenacity and humor, as well as her story, make her one of the more memorable characters in American fiction. A window on a very particular time and place and social segment of American culture — the rural black South in the 1920s and 1930s — Their Eyes is also beautifully written. In its zest for life and love and its iconoclasm it is an earlier version of (and direct source for) Alice Walker's The Color Purple.

American Literature: Introduction

Malcolm Bradbury

American literature really emerged from the sheer novelty of the New World. The wonders of landscape, the vast tracts of the continent, the ancient settlements, civilizations, and myths that were mistakenly thought of as 'Indian', the mythological expectations that were then brought over the Atlantic by settlers from Europe, and the new lives and experiences they encountered - all these combined to make the narratives told on the continent very different from those elsewhere. Then, in the 20th century, America became a world emblem of the spirit of modernity itself, and this too became part of the great American myth. American writing became dominant. American writers became world-famous, and American stories and narratives became pan of the experience of people right across the globe. Though the phrase 'American literature' generally applies to the writings of the USA, it could and should, in these multicultural times, fairly include the 'other' American literatures. That means Canadian and Latin American literature, Native American literature, and African-American literature. Here is a list of some of the most useful, informative, and classic general studies.
Two bodies of modern literature seem to me to come to the real verge: the Russian
and the American ... The furtherest frenzies of French modernism or futurism have
not yet reached the pitch of extreme consciousness that Poe, Melville, Hawthorne,
Whitman reached. The Europeans were all trying to be extreme. The great
Americans I mentioned just were it.
D H LAWRENCE The Literature of the United States (1954) by Marcus Cunliffe. A straightforward and excellently told narrative history for the general reader, with a strong sense of the historical importance of American experience and culture, written for Penguin books by a leading British historian and critic. The Continuity of American Poetry (1961) by Roy Harvey. Pearce Outstanding analysis of the development of American verse from the Puritan poets through to the era of Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, and the 'Beat' movement. Frontier: American Literature and the American West (1965) by Edwin Fussell. A powerful study reminding us how central the American West was to the formation of the classic American literary imagination.
Modern Latin American Literature (1973) by D P Gallagher. A fine general survey of literature in Latin America, with special emphasis on the writers of the 20th century, when Latin American writing was seen to be of world importance. A Homemade World: The American Modernist Writers (1975) by Hugh Kenner. A lively and idiosyncratic portrait of the power of the Modern movement in American literature, including the work of Gertrude Stein, Pound, Stevens, Faulkner, and Hemingway, by an enthusiastic and deeply informed American critic. Harvard Guide to Contemporary American Writing (1979) edited by Daniel Hoffman. Essays by leading critics on American literature from the end of World War II to the end of the 1970s, showing the wide variety of trends and movements in fiction, poetry, and drama. The Cambridge Handbook of American Literature (1986) by Jack Salzman. An invaluable reference work on American literature, with detailed and informative entries. Columbia Literary History of the United States (1988) edited by Emory Elliott. A collection of modem and up-to-date essays by many expert contributors, following the history of American literature from the prehistoric cave narratives to the literary trends and movements of the present. Literature in America: An Illustrated History (1989) by Peter Conn. A lively and learned history of American literature from early days to the present, told in narrative form, with good social background and plentiful illustrations. From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of American Literature (1991) by Richard Ruland and Malcolm Bradbury. An up-to-date narrative history, in Penguin paperback, of American literature from the 17th century to the immediate present, co-written by an American and a British critic. Including detailed study of many major texts, it shows the ways American literature has always been seen as distinctively 'modem', and also sees it in the context of world literature.

The American Novel

Malcolm Bradbury

Though the novel started off late in America (the Puritans disapproved of it), it began to flourish after the American Revolution, and became one of the most powerful forms of American narrative. To this day its nature seems shaped by its early subject matter: the encounter with nature, the wilderness, and the vast scale of the American continent; the meeting of cultures and races; the ever-shifting nature of society and civilization; the Gothic strangeness of American experience. In the 19th century, writers like James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne established the distinctive flavour of American fiction. Henry James, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, and Edith Wharton followed. By the 20th century, the American novel was to enter a major period, and play a dominant part in the future of fiction, under the influence of Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Dos Passos, and many more. Today, among the novelists who have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the dominant number are Americans, and include Saul Bellow and Toni Morrison. These are some of the basic studies dealing with the history and development of American fiction.
Between the novel and America there are peculiar and intimate connections.
A new literary form and a new society, their beginnings coincide with the
beginnings of the modern era and, indeed, help to define it. We are living not
only in the Age of America but also in the Age of the Novel, at a moment
when the literature of a country without a first-rate epic or a memorable verse
tragedy has become the model of half the world.
LESLIE FIEDLER The American Novel and Its Tradition (1957) by Richard Chase. This is a classic study, establishing the difference between the traditions of the European 'novel' and the American 'romance', and giving some excellent readings of major authors from Cooper through to Faulkner.
Love and Death in the American Novel (1960) by Leslie Fiedler. Brilliant, very thorough study of the rise and development of the novel in North America, from its beginnings after the Revolution through to the period after World War H. It distils the distinctive themes and 'Gothic' qualities that made it so different from European writing.
On Native Grounds: A Study of American Prose Literature from 1890 to the Present (1942) by Alfred Kazin. This is another classic (and very influential) study, a little dated now, looking at the development of the realistic and social aspects of American fiction and its treatment of American life 'on native grounds'. Radical Innocence: Studies in the Contemporary American Novel (1971) by Ihab Hassan. An important, analytical interpretation of the development of American fiction after World War II, emphasizing its concern with innocence and extremity, and its sense of experiment. By a noted critic. City of Words: American Fiction 1935-1970 (1971) by Tony Tanner. A wonderful study of the experiments, in form and language, of American fiction in one of its most exciting and innovative periods, by a British critic who has been a major interpreter of American literature. In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens (1983) by Alice Walker. This strongly personal book - by the author of The Color Purple - emphasizes and explores her double inheritance, black and female, as a novelist, and shows the importance of both traditions to the contemporary American novel. American Fiction, 1865-1940 (1987) by Brian Lee. A fine general survey of the overall development of American fiction by a British critic, writing with a strong sense of the social developments taking place at the time. Columbia History of the American Novel (1991) edited by Emory Elliott. A thorough, large-scale historical study of American fiction from the beginnings to the present by various experts with a contemporary standpoint. Oddfobs: Essays and Criticism (1992) by John Updike. Not all these highly read-able essays - 160 of them, by a major writer who is also a warm and wonderful critic - are about American fiction. But the many that are illuminate it with a vivid humanity and understanding. The Modern American Novel (1995) by Malcolm Bradbury. An extended survey of the American novel from the time of Henry James, Mark Twain, and William Dean Howells through to the immediate present, covering the many movements and trends - including modernism, postmodernism, 'dirty realism', and black and feminist fiction. Extensive bibliography.

The 19th-Century American Novel

Malcolm Bradbury

Nineteenth-century American fiction followed a very different course from that of the novel in Europe at the same time. The wonder of American nature, the drama of exploring and settling the great continent, and the fascination of recent American history took its writers into new and original materials. And then, between 1861 and 1865, came the Civil War, which threatened to break up the Union. American fought American in a period of national agony, changing the nature of American culture. After 1865, the USA set out on a period of massive modernization - partly helped by the industrialization the war had required. Its railroads spanned the continent, its cities rose high, and immigration multiplied. By the end of the century America was no longer a 'virgin land' but a great modem industrial power. American fiction changed to respond to these new conditions: romance and stories of history and nature gave way to a new spirit of reportage and literary naturalism. This is the story that lies behind some of the great American novels of the 19th century; here are my ten favourites - five from each half of America's divided century.
Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no
longer wholly guided by instinct, scarcely human, in that it is not yet
wholly guided by reason.
THEODORE DREISER The Prairie (1827) by James Fenimore Cooper. Cooper was the first real novelist of the American wilderness, and in The Prairie he takes his famous hero of the five novels of the Leatherstocking saga, Natty Bumppo, to the flat prairies west of the Mississippi River. He's now an old man, and America is quickly expanding west, away from the New York frontier where Leatherstocking started his adventures. Again he meets Indians, and makes his final peace with nature. A classic work of the American imagination.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1837) by Edgar Allan Poe. This is Poe's one novel (most of his work was in short story and poetry), and shows his famous, Gothic extremity of imagination. It's about a shipboard mutiny which ends in a formidable journey to the Antarctic, and the blank whiteness of experience, and is written with all Poe's sense of poetry - and horror. The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Set in Puritan Boston in the 1650s, this is the story of a woman, Hester Prynne, who affronts the 'iron law' of church and state by committing adultery with a minister. She is forced to wear a badge of shame, the scarlet letter A, but insists on the 'natural' law of her actions. Hawthorne called the novel a 'romance', meaning not just that it is a story of adulterous love but of the conflict between the claims of fact and imagination. Moby Dick, or The Whale (1851) by Herman Melville. Melville said he wrote this book 'in the name of the devil', and it is a classic tragedy, the story of the obsessed Captain Ahab, who, sailing on the whaler Pequod, determines to avenge himself against the 'diabolic' white whale that has injured him. The book, filled with learning and parody, is a vivid. moving seaborne adventure, but also a profound work of modern experiment. Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe. For the 19th century, this was America's most famous novel, a world best seller. Abraham Lincoln once suggested it started the Civil War. Sentimentally written, it still remains nonetheless a remarkable portrait of slave experience, portraying the cruelties and sufferings inflicted on the black slaves on the Southern plantations, and their basic humanity. The Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James. It's hard to have a preference among the novels of James; not only do his novels mark the refinement of the modem art of fiction, but they change and develop decade by decade, through to the great last works of the early 20th century. But this is his fast great novel, displaying his mature art. And the story of Isabel Archer, the strong, free, young American girl come to her 'wondrous' Europe to encounter experience, and finding it grimly in her unhappy marriage to Gilbert Osmond, is one of the most remarkable character portrayals James ever achieved. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain. This was the book with which, Ernest Hemingway said, all American literature began. And if James is the novelist of modern fictional artistry, Twain was the novelist of the modem vernacular voice. Huck Finn, the poor boy from Hannibal, Mississippi, who sets out on a raft down a great river with his black friend, Nigger Jim, each of them looking for freedom, tells his own story, with childish truth, innocence, and clarity. Like the river, the book seemed to take charge of Twain as he wrote it, producing his most profound as well as vivid novel. The Red Badge of Courage (1895) by Stephen Crane. This shoe novel about a young man, Henry Fleming, as he goes into battle during the American Civil War, was a tour de force. Crane was too young to have known the Civil War; he said he imagined it from the football field. at makes the book so remarkable is that it is a portrait of instantaneous consciousness. We are not concerned with why the war is fought, or how Henry got there, just with every moment of experience in the line or in flight from it. Henry wants to win his red badge of courage, and in the end he does so, in one of the great stories of initiation. McTeague, A Story of San Francisco (1899) by Frank Norris. Later filmed as Greed, Norris's remarkable story of an untrained, brutish San Francisco dentist who lives for his beer and his concertina until he falls in love with Trina, the greedy Swiss girl whom he finally murders, is a classic work of naturalism and the bete humaine, the human animal. Norris brilliantly, and fatalistically, captures the urban atmosphere of San Francisco and its ordinary lives, and contrasts it with the life in nature and the desert beyond.
Norris, Frank. American, 1870-1902. The Octopus. Rec: Bloom Sister Carrie (1900) by Theodore Dreiser. By the end of the 19th century, America was becoming an urban society, and the typical 'shock-city' was Chicago, which had turned from village to second city in 50 years, its skyscrapers, stockyards and department stores typifying modem America. Carrie Meeber, the poor girl who goes to Chicago and becomes rich by any means to hand, shocked the first readers, just as Dreiser's method - naturalism again - dismayed them by its apparent lack of morality. But Dreiser, a writer from German immigrant stock, brought raw new America to the page, and told its story unsparingly.

The 20th-Century American Novel

Malcolm Bradbury

At the start of the 20th century. American fiction was still thought of as a provincial relation of European, especially British fiction. By the 1930s the balance was changing, thanks to the emergence of novelists like Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, and Sinclair Lewis. And by the 1950s it had become clear that the American writers of the next generation - Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, John Updike, and many more - were among the leading novelists of the world. The change came from many things: the vast development of the nation, in its industrial capacity, economic strength, and influence; the powerful energies of modernity, which changed American lives and made them seem among the most advanced in the world; the American fascination with style and personal consciousness; and eventually the emergence of America, after World War II, as a global superpower, affecting the lives and shaping the cultural experience of people right across the world. But it also came from the cultural complexity of American experience. American writers came from many places - from recent European immigrant stock, and from the established American tradition; from great sky-scraper cities and distant regions; from varied ethnic mixtures and origins. Jewish-American fiction, African- American fiction, Native American fiction, and feminist fiction all added to the cultural variety and the scale of the drama that unfolded in the American novel. With such riches, choice is almost impossible, and major omissions inevitable. But here are my ten favourite works of modem American fiction.
How does one in the novel (the novel which is a work of an and not a disguised
piece of sociology) persuade the American reader to identify that which is basic in
man beyond all differences of class, race, wealth, or formal education?
RALPH ELLISON The Custom of the Country (1913) by Edith Wharton. Wharton was very much a social novelist, who lived much of her life in Paris. Her novels possess a vigorous irony about the collapse of social relations, and none is more ironic than this. The 'custom' in question is the American habit of social self-advancement through divorce. The book's heroine, Undine Spragg, is essentially an opportunist who uses sexuality for advantage, and both succeeds and morally fails in the end. The Great Gatsby (1925) by F Scott Fitzgerald. Not all Fitzgerald's books are care-fully written, but The Great Gatsby is the masterpiece, a classic modern American novel. Jay Gatz, the poor boy who becomes rich and is known as the 'great Gatsby', still retains an American innocence amid the glitter, corruption and waste of the 1920s. His love for Daisy Buchanan leads to disaster, but it remains a version of the American dream - carefully observed by the narrator Nick Carraway. The Sound and the Fury (1929) by William Faulkner. Faulkner is the great novelist of the American South, and with this book he broke loose from the form of historical fiction to try a complex experiment with history, time, and language. The book contains four stories and several time-schemes; part of the story is indeed a tale of sound and fury, told by an 'idiot'. The book's theme is the stained, incestuous, corrupted world of the American South, and the agony of its modem survivors. Hard to read, it's worth it, as a work of cunning modernism. A Farewell to Arms (1929) by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway had been wounded on the Italian front in World War I, and this story of Lt Frederic Henry, who is similarly wounded while serving with the Italian forces, and falls in love with the English nurse, Catherine Barkley, who looks after him, has a strong autobiographical quality. But this is a classic tragedy of wartime experience. Henry leaves the war to make a 'separate peace', and tries to create a life of his own with Catherine. But she dies in childbirth, and the sense of a universal modern tragedy pervades the book, told in Hemingway's tight, tough, economical style. Invisible Man (1952) by Ralph Ellison. One of the founding novels of African-American fiction, this work about a black man rendered invisible by his colour in the chaos and white exclusiveness of American life is a story of mental and then actual revolt. It's a serious exploration of the moral price that is paid when identity is revoked, and hence a work of great existential power. Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov. Nabokov was an emigre for most of his life, displaced from Russia by the Bolshevik Revolution. This is his one true American novel, the story of another emigre, Humbert Humbert, whose sexual taste is for 'nymphets', young girls on the cusp of puberty. The erotic aspects of the book made it sensational at the time; but it is fundamentally a myth about the supposedly 'experienced' European observing the supposedly 'innocent' America, and finding the tables constantly turned: an ironic love affair with America and with the English language, which in Nabokov's hands turns into a formidable instrument. Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller. If A Farewell to Arms was the decisive war novel to emerge from World War I, Catch-22 was the book that captured for its generation the ironic and bitter implications of World War II. Set among flyers on the Italian front, it's an epic of extreme absurdity. The military machine is a system of illogical orders; so is the disaster that is being created for humanity. A work of black humour, a g eat modern comic classic, the novel also evidently applied to Heller's contemporary America, as it developed ever more absurd systems of human management and new forms of Cold War fever.
V (1963) by Thomas Pynchon. Perhaps the ultimate work of what became known at the time as 'postmodern fiction' or 'metafiction', V is the wonderfully elaborate story of a quest into history conducted in a time of late modem chaos, where no order falls into place and information is in excess of human comprehension. Herbert Stencil is engaged in a quest for a mysterious figure, V, who seems to have some significant role in the making of modem history, though her story dissolves each time it's approached. Meantime a contemporary figure, Benny Profane, is seen attempting to surf the mod-em chaos. A work of dense historical research as well as technical cunning, it's no easy read, but is of undoubted importance. Herzog (1964) by Saul Bellow. Bellow, a Jewish-American writer, has been the con-science and consciousness of much in American fiction after World War II, as was acknowledged when he won the Nobel prize in 1976. Moses Herzog, a 'suffering joker', is an intellectual who attempts to come to terms with the heritage of romantic expectation in modem life, addressing letters to the illustrious dead of modem thought; at the same time he has great trouble in living one. As in other Bellow novels, it's the mixture of high intellectual energy with superb social observation of life in modem Chicago and New York that makes this a work of formidable wit and power. Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison. By another Nobel prizewinner, the African-American author of Song of Solomon 1977 and Tar Baby 1981. Beloved is about an escaped former slave who has killed her baby girl in the age of slavery, to protect it from being returned to the plantation, and then is haunted by its ghost in the time of freedom after the Civil War. A powerful and poetic myth, written in a lyrical prose, it is a work both of haunting realism and strange fantasy, revealing the current strength of African-American fiction.

American Prose (Nonfiction)

Ian F A Bell

While American poetry and prose have been acknowledged and celebrated as arguably the most innovative and experimental of all Western cultures (the mod-ern novel begins with Henry James, while modern poetry derives its impetus from Ezra Pound), American nonfiction has tended to remain in the shadow of these more glamorous colleagues. To leave it thus is to lose out on a remarkable body of donatively energetic writing. Founded by a declaration of opposition to British colonial rule, the American nation has found in the voices of its essayists a persistent polemical strain which maintains the world as open to debate: founded on invention, the nation has held true to a discourse of change where constructivity and alterability are the key notes. Openness, a resistance to closure, a constant interrogation of the seeming given of things - these are the hallmarks of a tradition of writing from the 18th century onwards which refuses settlement and finish of all kinds and which testifies to existence itself, both national and personal, as a process of becoming, never merely the stasis of being.
Existing likes and powers are to be treated as possibilities, as starting points, that
are absolutely necessary for any healthy development. But development involves a
point towards which as well as one from which; it involves constant movement in
a given direction. Then when the point that is for the time being the goal and end
is reached, it is in its turn but the starting-point for further reconstruction.
JOHN DEWEY The Adams-Jefferson Letters (1959) edited by Lester J Cappon. A marvellously wide-ranging discussion of politics, culture, and science between two of the leading formers of the early republic. As Ezra Pound acknowledged in the 20th century, 'nothing surpasses the evidence that CIVILISATION WAS in America, than the series of letters exchanged between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams'. Selected Writings of Emerson (1981) edited by Donald McQuade. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the major American thinker of the 19th century whose essays on just about everything not only had a profound influence upon contemporaries such as Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, but also remained a vital imaginative resource for the cultural activities of the 20th century, ranging from the architect Frank Lloyd Wright to the poetry of the Beat Generation. Abraham Lincoln, Speeches and Letters (1993) edited by Peter Parish. Unlike the prose of Jefferson or Adams, coloured and structured by great learning, that of Lincoln is relatively untutored and stands as a wonderful example of the kind of voice always applauded in America - straight, simple, uncluttered, and direct.
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890) by James McNeill Whistler. Witty, iconoclastic, and abrasive, Whistler here inaugurates Modernism in painting and diagnoses the responsibilities and fate of an in a commercial and philistine age. The Education of Henry Adams (1973) by Henry Adams. First published privately in 1906, and subtitled A Study of Twentieth-Century Multiplicity, this remarkable cojoining of genres (part history, part autobiography, and taking as its models the Confessions of St Augustine and Jean-Jacques Rousseau) attempts to work through the crisis of preparing for life in the new century•. The Theory of the Leisure Class (1970) by Thorstein Veblen. Written at the turn of the century, Veblen's brilliant analysis of America's new bourgeoisie presents an encyclopedia of the signs whereby status Was to be measured, most notably through the tokens of what he called 'conspicuous consumption'. Look at Me Now and Here I Am - Writings and Lectures 1911-45 (1967) by Gertrude Stein. 'Why don't you read the way I write?' was a question posed by this most radical of modern linguistic experimenters, and her efforts to teach new freshness and new ways of reading are more appropriately found in this diverse collection on diverse subjects than in the more familiar single-lensed projects such as The Making of Americans (1906-08) and The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas (1932). Guide to Kulchur (1938) by Ezra Pound. Analogous to the project of his epic poem The Cantos, Pound's 'Guide' offers an inflammatory curriculum for civilization at midcentury: eccentric, wise, foolish, and eclectic, his Baedeker to cultural mores achieves the true pedagogical aim of annoyance into action. Advertisements for Myself (1961) by Norman Mailer. How to be hip while not writing the Great American Novel. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) by Tom Wolfe. How to be cool while attempting to go further.

Third World Literature: Fiction

Kadiatu Kanneh

The rubric 'Third World literature' immediately ushers in a range of difficulties. To designate the field already involves a range of political questions around the term 'Third World'. Other alternatives are 'postcolonial' or 'black'. To write an introduction to this vast field is necessarily limiting and will involve a biased and individual choice. I include here texts that allow for insights into major preoccupations of the 'field' (such as colonialism, nationalism, racial identities, feminist issues, and independence). The texts chosen have great literary and imaginative value, and can be seen as classics.
He had done nothing shameful, it was the way they had forced him to live, forced all of them to live, which was shameful. Their intrigues and hatreds and vengeful acquisitiveness had forced even simple virtues into tokens of exchange and barter.
ABDULRAZAK GURNAH Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe. A classic of African literatures, depicting the advent of colonialism on a Nigerian Ibo community. Its analysis of the transforming and traumatizing effects of colonialism, as well as its moving portrayal of family relationships, honour, love, and death, make it an enduring and often witty novel. Petals of Blood (1977) by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. A novel from independent Kenya, again depicting the transformation of a community. Its weaving together of lives, narratives, and histories into a geography of modem African sensibility make it an illuminating and unforgettable novel. Our Sister Killjoy (1977) by Ama Ata Aidoo. A novel which beautifully satirizes Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Set in Ghana and Europe, the novel blends narrative with poetry, confronting the choices available to African women, and dealing with histories of racism and oppression. Idu (1970) by Flora Nwapa. A novel set in Ghana and centred on the life of one woman. The narrative is about love, fertility, communal life, and joy. A Bend in the River (1979) by V S Naipaul. This novel is set in postcolonial central Africa (Zaire), written by an Indo-
Caribbean author, and narrated by an East Indian African. A fascinating evocation of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, revealing the complexities of racial and national identity, the constant insurgence of history, and the problems of cultural dialogue.
Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. A novel set in Latin America using magic realist techniques. It engages with the powers of time, memory, love, and pain and uses language as a poetic tool. Translated from Spanish. The Arrivants (1973) by Edward Kamau Brathwaite. Set in Afitica, the Caribbean, Europe, and the USA, this trilogy of poetic volumes traces a modem understanding of black migrant identities. Written by a Barbadian poet, this collection of powerfully connected poems covers an imagining of black consciousness and histories to create a poem of the diaspora. Song of Lawino (1966) and Song of Ocol (1967) by Okot p'Bitek. Written by a Ugandan poet, these two long poems represent a dialogue between a traditional African woman and a man with modern, western tastes. Brilliantly witty and metaphoric poetry, pitting the values of traditional and modern Africa against each other, with female anger winning the day. Season of Migration to the North (1969) by Tayeb Salih. Translated from the Arabic, this novel, set in Sudan, Cairo, and England, presents a humorous, traumatic, and complex illustration of inter-racial sexual desire, exploring the psychopathology of colonialism and migration. Nervous Conditions (1988) by Tsitsi Dangarembga. This novel, set in Zimbabwe, discusses the effects of language loss, exile, and cultural dislocation on the body and psyche of a young African woman.

Science Fiction

Adams, Douglas, English, 1952-2001. A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Rec: Harvard Radcliffe Aldiss, Brian Hothouse (1962)
Interesting dramatization of major science fiction theme; what happens when elements that man takes for granted are turned topsy-turvy. In this case the earth's atmosphere becomes overheated and mankind has to sweat it out. Also: Billion Year Spree (history of the genre); Frankenstein Unbound; The Malacia Tapestry, etc Asimov, Isaac The Foundation Trilogy (1951)
Asimov is one of the great names in modern science fiction; his enormous output tends to slapdash chatter in later books, but here he was at full stretch. Also: Nightfall and Other Stories; The Gods Themselves; The Caves of Steel, etc. See
MATHEMATICS Ballard, J. G. The Terminal Beach (1964)
These stories, by Britain's master of SF alienation and disaster, have the clarity of obsession which is more diluted in his other work. Also: The Atrocity Exhibition; The Drowned World; Vermilion Sands, etc Ballard, J. G., English, 1930- . The Unlimited Dream Company. Rec: Burgess Bester, Alfred Tiger! Tiger! (1957)
Also known as The Stars My Destination. One of the cult books of the field. Lurid adventures and vengeance of Gully Foyle, bane of the 24th century. Ingenious, surrealist fun. Also: The Demolished Man Blish, James A Case of Conscience (1958)
Sense of morality perfectly matches SF ideas: Blish invents an alien race with no sense of good or evil and therefore considered "in a state of sin" by religious zealot, very disturbing. Also: And All the Stars a Stage; The Day after Judgement; Cities in Flight, etc Bradbury, Ray The Martian Chronicles (1950)
Although Bradbury's prose sometimes seems empurpled, his consistent sense of the poetry of man's search for new frontiers, both inside and outside himself, has attracted many who might not consider themselves SF readers. Also: Fahrenheit 451; The Golden Apples of the Sun; The Illustrated Man, etc Bradbury, Ray. American, 1920- . Fahrenheit 451. Rec: NYPL Clarke, Arthur C. Childhood's End (1953)
Clarke's vision of humanity eventually becoming godlike reached its ultimate in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. But Childhood's End expresses this view with even more coherence; it is remarkable for its compassion. Also: Imperial Earth; Rendezvous with Rama; Fountains of Paradise, etc. See MATHEMATICS Dick, Philip K. The Man in the High Castle ( 1962)
Beautifully organized novel postulating an alternative world in which the Axis powers won World War II. One of modern SF's great books. Also: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch; Martian Time-slip; A Scanner Darkly, etc Clarke, Arthur C., English, 1917- . 2001: A Space Odyssey. Rec: Boston PL Crowley, John. American, 1942- . Little, Big. Rec: Bloom Aegypt. Rec: Bloom Love and Sleep. Rec: Bloom Delany, Samuel R.. American, 1942- . Babel 17. Rec: Harvard (sci fi) Dick, Philip K.. American, 1928-1982. Ubik. Rec: Time Gibson, William, Canadian, 1948- . Neuromancer. Rec: Time Harrison, Harry Make Room! Make Room! (1966)
Prolific (and variable) author's best if not funniest novel, later filmed as Soylent Green. Set in a teeming New York, where people, regardless of the pressure of space, will not stop reproducing. Also: Bill: The Galactic Hero: The Technicolor Time Machine; The Stainless Steel Rat. etc Heinlein, Robert A. Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Heinlein is the guru of SF conservatism, yet this book (preaching what appeared to be free-choice and free-love) was adopted by the hippies of the 1960s, even becoming a "bible" for killer Charles Manson and his family. The message, though, was much more rigorous than they thought. Also: Starship Troopers, etc Herbert, Frank Dune (1965)
Dune is a planet in a far off time and a far off system on the extreme edge of aridity — water is more precious than diamonds; an entire culture is based on water scarcity rather than on water plenty. Technically superb in its details, the book is also a masterful thriller. Heinlein, Robert. American, 1907-1988. Stranger in a Strange Land. Rec: LAT NYPL Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
a Le Guin has a poetic sensibility; this study of a world called "Winter" and the sexual life of its inhabitants is a stunning creation. Also: The Lathe of Heaven; Planet of Exile; The Dispossessed. See CHILDREN'S BOOKS Lem, Stanislaw Solaris (1971)
a Story of a planet which is a sentient creature, capable of creating duplicates from the memories of the earth people who visit it; made into a haunting film. Also: The Cyberiad; The Invincible
Lem, Stanislaw, Polish, 1921- . The Investigation. Rec: Bloom Solaris. Rec: Bloom Good Reading Lewis, C. S. Out of the Silent Planet(1938)
One of Lewis's attempts to charge SF ideas with Christian principles. Not always liked by SF buffs, its popularity has nevertheless brought many readers into the fold (of the genre). Also: Perelandra; ThatHideous Strength. See CHILDREN'S BOOKS; RELIGION
Lindsay, David, English, 1876-1945. A Voyage to Arcturus. Rec: Bloom Miller, Walter M., Jr. A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960)
Awesome account of post-apocalypse world and the Second Coming, immaculately conceived in SF terms; postulates the Church as a repository of technological secrets from a past civilization now regarded as sacred writings. Also: Conditionally Human Moorcock, Michael The Final Programme (1968)
The "wild man" of British science fiction, claims that the apocalypse is now. One of many novels starring Moorcock's anti-hero Jerry Cornelius. Also: The English Assassin; A Cure for Cancer; Gloriana, etc Pohl, F. and Kornbluth, C. M. The Space Merchants (1953) The authors were exercised about how consumers are manipulated by conglomerates. In this novel, Venus is being carved up by advertising agents. Madison Avenue lives — out there! Also: Slave Ship; Drunkard's Walk; Gateway (all by Pohl) Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, English, 1797-1851. Frankenstein. Rec: Bloom Smiley Stapledon, Olaf Last and First Men (1930) * Stapledon had vast ideas; this account of the human species swings through millennia as though they were skittles. Also: Sirius: Odd John; Star Maker. etc Stephenson, Neal. American, 1959- . Snow Crash. Rec: Time Stoker, Bram, Irish, 1847-1912. Dracula. Rec: Bloom Harvard NYPL Smiley Tolkien, J. R. R., English, 1892-1973. The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy). Rec: Harvard Radcliffe Time The Hobbit. Rec: NYPL Van Vogt, A. E. The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950)
Van Vogt's apocalyptic prose is easily parodied; but his ideas, as in this episodic story of a space ship threading through space, are fascinating. Also: The Weapon Shops of Isher, The World of Null-A Verne, Jules Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864)
One of the great precursors of modern SF takes one of the great precursory themes, despatching his explorers on a trip which includes Atlantis, Iceland, prehistory and a packet of lecturing. Also: From the Earth to the Moon; 20,000 Leagues under the Sea; Around the World in Eighty Days Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. The Sirens of Titan (1959)
Cascade of elegantly loony invention, set on more than one heavenly body. Cynical explanations for just about everything (including Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China) well-wrapped in a neat plot. Hellishly funny — Vonnegut before he was taken up by everyone and went soft. Also: Player Piano; Cat's Cradle; Slaughterhouse 5, etc Wells, H. G. The Time Machine (1895)
This marvellous story contains much of Wells' genius; science made plausible and shaped to the needs of mankind. Also: The Invisible Man; The Shape of Things to Come; The First Men in the Moon. See FICTION/NOVELS; HISTORY/WORLD Wells, H. G., English, 1866-1946. The Time Machine. Rec: NYPL Works. Rec: Rexmo Science Fiction Novels. Rec: Bloom The War of the Worlds. Rec: Radcliffe Wrede, Patricia C.. American, 1953- . Dealing with Dragons. Rec: Harvard Wyndham, John The Day of the Triffids (1951)
Through mankind's negligence — not to mention sudden world-wide blindness — large perambulating hunks of vegetation take over the British Isles. Fine example of the English Cosy Catastrophe School. Also: The Kraken Wakes; The Midwich Cuckoos; The Crysalids

Fred R. Whipple

Fred R. Whipple arrived at Harvard in 1931 "with his bright and shining Ph.D. and a position of observer at the observatory." In the ensuing fifty-five years, he has brought more than distinction to Harvard's astronomy reputation. He was responsible for the Smithsonian astrophysical observatory's coming to Harvard. The Collected Contribution of Fred R. Whipple (2 vols.) describes much of his work. The Phillips Professor of Astronomy Emeritus, he retired from teaching in the late 1970s and continues research and prolific writing. He will spend much of 1986 observing Halley's Comet from Paris, Moscow and West Germany.
When I think of books that have influenced me, I can only think of those books I selected so eagerly from the library in Red Oak, Iowa as a very young man. I was a very independent only child. I read much more than other children — I read much more than my parents, who spent most of their lives working very hard, too tired to read. Alexandre Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-45). New York: Bantam. 1981. (Pb)
. The Three Musketeers (1844). New York: Penguin, 1982. (Pb) Sir H. Rider Haggard. She (1887). New York: Airmont, n.d. (Pb)
The first books I picked out of the library were fairy tales in all the different colors. I remember the Thousand and One Nights
— the expurgated version for a nice Presbyterian boy. After reading everything that amused me. I moved on to Greek legends. I considered them mediocre, second-rate fairy tales. It wasn't until college that I realized that Greek legends had a value far beyond fairy tales.
My next pursuit was science fiction — which continued for years. I read by author, not title. All of H. G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Sir H. Rider Haggard. Everyone should remember She. Science-fiction magazines allowed me to live in another world with visual circumstances so different from mine. Hugh Germsbach's Electrical Experimenter and, later, Amazing Stories were particular favorite magazines. So was my friend Isaac Asimov's science fiction.
I perfected my French with amusing French novels. The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers stick in my mind. My parents' only suggestion to this reading were Zane Grey and Edgar A. Guest. I think I must have read them all. I found Mark Twain on my own and know I read all of his wonderful work.

Science Fiction

Brian Aldiss

Since the days of Jules Verne and H G Wells, whose books have been translated into most of the languages on Earth, science fiction has been perennially popular. Its zenith of popularity may have been reached in the 1960s and early 1970s, when investigation of alternative lifestyles was at its height. As the blithe 19th-century belief in Progress with a capital P has dwindled, so sections of science fiction have appeared to merge at least temporarily with fantasy, essentially a more conservative mode of fiction. This shift can be seen in movies, computer games, and similar, as well as in the written word. An invaluable reference work to the entire field is The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1979, revised 1993) edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls.
Almost any novel set in the future is classifiable as science fiction. Tomorrow is the
plimsoll line between science fiction and the ordinary novel.
MARTIN SEYMOUR-SMITH
The Foundation Trilogy (1951-53) by Isaac Asimov. Despite wafer-thin characterization, this trilogy remains the most enduring of the popular SF works. Its theory of 'psychohistory', worked out against a panorama of a long galactic future, remains compelling. Later 'Foundation' novels have less to recommend them. The Drowned World (1962) by J G Ballard. This was the first of Ballard's apocalyptic novels, depicting London under flood, and a hero who finds disaster not unwelcome, in an elegant holistic prose. Published in the early 1960s, when London was under the flood of New Wave SF, The Drowned World established Ballard as a major stylist, and contained many themes to which he was later to revert. Blood Music (1985) by Greg Bear. A startling example of hard SF by a writer who rose to eminence in the mid-1980s. His central character creates microchip computers from biological material and, in smuggling them from the laboratory in his body, creates conditions in which the new intelligences overwhelm the world. A strongly poetic legend. Mission of Gravity (1954) by Hal Clement. This wonderful story, dating from the 1950s, is archetypal SF, set on a radically strange world. Human explorers, landing on the planet Mesklin, must cooperate with the local centipede-like inhabitants to effect a rescue. Mesklin is a heavy-gravity world with a rapid rotation. Physical details well worked out, characters engaging, scenery compulsive. Martian Time-Slip (1964) by Philip K Dick. Dick is a kind of model Californian SF writer, into the 1960s drug culture, mentally strange, dying fairly young. Martian Time-Slip, set on a desolate world occupied by the United Nations, contains anguishing flaws of consciousness involving several characters, including an autistic boy. As in many of Dick's excellently eccentric novels, the real and unreal are confused. Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson. When this book appeared Gibson was hailed as the apostle of cyberpunk. Fast action accounts in part for its wide popularity, and for the young computer generation it was irresistible; all longed to negotiate Gibson's grey, nonphysical cyberspace, despite its perils. Grim but amusing. Mythago Wood (1981) by Robert Holdstock. This remarkable novel, together with its sequel, Lavondyss, forms a unique saga of great beauty and darkness, poised between fantasy and SF. A rich prose style informs a tale of an ancient English wood wherein archetypes or 'mythagoes' exist, acting out primordial roles upon those who venture into their thickets. That rare thing: new subject matter, highly metaphorical and - as the well-wrought prose reveals - deeply felt. Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818) by Mary Shelley. This pro-found novel has been badly treated as mere horror by the movie industry. It is a penetrating study of pained human relationships, transfused by wonder and melancholy. Written by a young woman still in her teens, it is the first novel to employ the theme of man usurping nature by scientific means, and thus may be regarded as the first - and in many ways most famous - SF novel. Star Maker (1937) by Olaf Stapledon. Of all SF novels, this is the grandest and most austere. A human soul ventures out into the galaxy and eventually meets the Supreme Being, conjuror of universes. Philosophical in intent - Stapledon was a philosopher - Star Maker is full of poetry and wonder. Its sheer scale outclasses even Stapledon's earlier and better known Last and First Men The Time Machine (1895) by H G Wells. 'The Great General of Dreamland', as Wells styled himself, wrote many famous scientific romances, but none more grand and enduring than this, his first. The time traveller ventures into a near future, the world of Eloi and Morlocks, and then into the distant future, where the Sun has cooled and Earth is empty of all life. Evolutionary; and astronomical theories fuel a mood which is mainly of tender regret.

Horror

Roz Kaveney

The great precursors of the modern horror genre are mythopoeic novels of the 19th century, whose principal direct influence on culture was to be through Hollywood. There is a sense in which Boris Karloff's Monster or Bela Lugosi's Dracula are far more the thing conceived than any passage in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Bram Stoker's Dracula ever manages quite to be. The genre horror fiction that came to fruition in the last two decades deals in the first place with sheer sensation and surprise; the best honor also deals, usually, in human emotion, not least, but not only, because we have been made to care who gets eaten. Horror fiction speaks to our condition, which is a worrying statement about the state we are in; there has been a tendency to underrate good writing in the genre as a way of avoiding noticing that that writing tells us some uncomfortable truths about ourselves.
Every body is a book of blood. Wherever you open us, we're red. CLNE BARKER The Collected Ghost Stories of M R James (1931) by Montague Rhodes James. A Warning to the Curious, the tide of one of the earlier collections of these tales, might serve as a useful summary for all of them; James specialized in the antiquarian back story that lends authority to his horrors. Later genre horror learned from him the art of explanation, which is not the same thing as explaining away. The Outsiders and Others (1939) by H P Lovecraft. Lovecraft is a special case, a recluse obsessed with maggoty theories of racial degeneration and class hatred, who created, most =seriously, an elaborate mythos of sinister gods and other beings to whom humanity were no more than prey. The intermittent awfulness of his overwriting should not blind us to the sheer passion of his best work and its sense of the abysses of deep time that surround our fragile lives; Jorge Luis Borges admired him. The Shining (1977) by Stephen King. King's sense of the small-town life and perpetual empathy with children are the light side of what has made him the richest horror writer in history; his empathy with men on the brink of madness, led by their own faults and a little supernatural prompting, into acts unforgivable even by themselves is what makes him, at his best, remarkable. The Shining has perhaps the best of these damned-viewpoint characters and, in the Overlook Hotel, one of the most concretely imagined Bad Places in fiction. The Land of Laughs (1980) by Jonathan Carroll. Carroil's gloomy tales of prayers answered in ways not dreamed of find their most typical example in his first ingenious book. at could be more innocent than the desire to write a biography of one's favourite children's author? The odd metamorphosis of the dead writer's fellow towns-people into the phantasmagoric creatures he based on them is surely just an illusion, not a cause for concern? And so it goes, on to hell through good intentions, to perhaps the best last-line logical plot twist in modern fiction. The Arabian Nightmare (1983) by Robert Irwin. There are few good, and many bad, books about dreams and dreamers, and Irwin's endless chamber of mirrored horrors is one of the very best. An expert on The Thousand and One Nights and author of the best study of it in English, he takes medieval Cairo and turns it into a hell of repetition from which his protagonist is trying to awake; he also, in passing, makes some elegant comments on the myth of Orientalism and the bad faith in which the West has dreamed it. The Books of Blood (1984-85) by Clive Barker. These six slim volumes of short stories kick started a whole approach to the job of tenor and disgust; they finished for ever the convention that you don't show the monster or the blood, but rely on delicate suggestions. Barker's strong visual sense dictated that fiction was a stepping stone from his paintings to his films and his novels have been disappointing; the imagery of the body and its vulnerability to distortion and destruction which pervades these books haunts the mind like a stain. Hawksmoor (1985) by Peter Ackroyd. Biographer and novelist Ackroyd wrote by far his best novel under the joint influence of James and Lovecraft, as well as of the poems of Ian Sinclair and various strange theories about the occult geography of London. An architect and occultist of the early 18th century creates towers and crypts which write the script for murders in the late 20th century; the investigating detective comes to feel merely a puppet. This is one of the most atmospheric of books about London's near East End, a gloomily splendid recreation of a real place as a malign geography. Koko (1988) by Peter Straub. A cultural obsession with serial killers and child abuse and Vietnam found one of its headier results in this dreamlike thriller from Straub, author of several of the most poetic of horror and ghost novels, but here perhaps at his best. The honor here is partly the horror of atrocity, but partly too an almost Calvinist sense of consequences - those to whom evil is done, do things in return that it is almost impossible to imagine. The Stress of Her Regard (1989) by Tim Powers. Powers is obsessed with fantasies of history, with explanations; here we learn why the Romantic poets were obsessed with mountains and vampires and why Keats and Shelley died young. His doctor hero, on the run after his wife dies horribly on their wedding night, finds out more than he wishes to know and suffers for his knowledge; his sister-in-law nemesis is dragged into madness and self mutilation and out the other side. This is an inventive book full of the shabbiness in which the horrid manifests itself. Use of Weapons (1990) by Ian M Banks. Banks, in his pseudonymous space-operatic mode, managed to combine a technical tour de force of narrative structure, a galaxy-spanning tale of intrigue and mayhem, and perhaps one of the grimmest studies of brutality and guilt in recent fiction. Some books are genre honor by endless playing with its tropes; this belongs to a list because it works so insidiously to the awful revelation at the heart of darkness. Lost Souls (1992) by Poppy Z Brite. The absence of women from this list partly reflects the boys in the dark obsessions of the genre, partly the extent to which women writers tended to be off at a tangent to genre horror, writing Gothic romances in which vampires were the ultimately good, or the ultimately dangerous, version of male sexuality. For Brite, whose interest in male subjects is so all consuming as to leave women out of her books almost altogether, vampires are cool and hip and deadly, and a threat to her nice young male lovers in peril; this is tosh, in a sense, but tosh with a generational sensibility that makes it a key text of 1990s subcultures.
Süskind, Patrick, German, 1949- . Perfume. Rec: Harvard (horror)

Fantasy

Roz Kaveney

Strictly speaking, of course, fantasy is a term that includes both horror and science fiction in that both are ultimately non-
realistic genres whose refusal of more than surface mimesis is a conscious choice. There is a large body of work, most of it overtly generic, which falls into neither category; much of it is set in a medieval-cum-archaiccum-Oriental Fantasyland with diction to match; some of it is set in our own time and place into which incursions are made from Outside. Some of it deals with cures for the world's pain, or the reconciliation of the mundane and faerie, or with ultimate apocalypses of good versus evil - but some of it is just about people making their way in trying circumstances. As with other genre literature, any list has to include forgotten works from the mainstream that only the genre has kept alive and works which only devotees have read, to the loss of the average reader.
Fairy stories may invent monsters that fly the air or dwell in the deep, but at least
they do not try to escape from heaven or the sea.
J R R TOLx1EN Jurgen (1919) by James Branch Cabell. This almost forgotten satire on human aspiration was, in its time, both frighteningly hip and the subject of a major obscenity trial. Its mild bawdy has not dated well, but its sense of the absurd and its touches of the wildly romantic have lasted better. Jurgen, poet turns pawnbroker, searches for his lost youth, and the women of his ideals and finds neither Elysium, Hell, nor the Heaven of his grandmother remotely to his satisfaction. Lud-in-the-Mist (1926) by Hope Mirrlees. A small bourgeois town which has sat comprehensively on its dark history of mad dukes and wild rebellion find that what goes out one door will come in at another; the world of faerie finds that intervention in human affairs has its consequences in the bringing of human law. This neglected, warm, humane book is perhaps still the best fantasy of fmding balance. The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) by J R R Tolkien. The one genre fantasy that most people have actually read, this created most of the preconceptions that dominate readers and writers of fantasy. To read it again, forget all that has followed on from it, and think of it as a book about Tolkien's experiences in World War I or about the needs for limits as a creator of ethical context; it is a book of real invention, high romance, grimness, wit, and charm, and what more needs be said for anything? The Swords of Lankhmar (1968) by Fritz Leiber. There was always a pulp genre of capers and mayhem in Fantasyland, much of which can be forgotten. Leiber's template series about the sensitive barbarian hunk Fafhrd and the streetwise vain urchin Gray Mouser ran for decades, and brought wit and sophistication and irony to the whole enterprise. One of its culminations was this novel of conspiracy, urban depravity, and sword-wielding rats, which demonstrated that Leiber could not only write action adventure, he could also write sexually charged farce. A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) by Ursula K LeGuin. This first of the trilogy, later expanded into a quartet, which made LeGuin a children's cult as well as the writer of SF and fantasy for people who don't usually like that sort of thing, is still one of the most intellectually satisfying of explorations of magic. Ged, apprenticed as a wizard, tests limits and nearly destroys himself and those around him; this is a book about the getting of wisdom, and, appropriately, is itself wise. Peace (1975) by Gene Wolfe. An early novel by the trickster writer of The Book of the New Sun, this is complicatedly not what it seems. An old man muses on mortality and his family history and on stories, none of which ever quite manages to reach completion ... This is a novel, but it is also a riddle to which there are no wholly satisfactory answers; it is a book which stretches form and comprehension to breaking point without ever raising its voice or doing anything radical with prose. Little, Big (1981) by John Crowley. This and two other novels by Crowley are the only genre fantasies to make it into Harold Bloom's Canon. Little, Big, a novel where even the comma in the title is important, takes the sleeper under the hill, the conditions imposed on a lover, the animal adviser, the quest for a lost love, and the place that is bigger than it seems, and mixes them into a story of change and transfiguration, where what seemed twee becomes almost unbearably moving with a change of perspective. The Anubis Gates (1983) by Tim Powers .Brendan Doyle, a widower and Coleridge expert, this he knows about the Regency London in which he is marooned. He knows only rumours, though, about the body- jumping werewolf, the Egyptian magicians, and the malignant clown, and vivisectionist Horrabin ... Powers is remorselessly inventive here, but Doyle's predicament, and those of the lives he touches, is emotionally real even when the events surrounding it are at their most bizarre. Rats and Gargoyles (1990) by Mary Gentle. A city where anything is possible, particularly the nastier things; a city sustained by the imagination of its gods, yet constantly undermined by memories of its past incarnations - Mary Gentle took ideas from Gnosticism and elsewhere in the mystical tradition and made of them an adventure playground. Swashbuckling and metaphysics go oddly well together here - and a problem is solved according to the rules in whose language it has been set. Waking the Moon (1994) by Elizabeth Hand. We almost think we know where we are here, as crabbed old patriarchal conspirators use magic to blast out of life a feminist archaeologist and a young disciple takes up her work ... Restoring the rule of the Goddess is not a task without its own moral implications, though, and this vividly peopled book turns a lot of cliches on their head as its central characters find themselves rejecting the human consequences of things to which in abstract they might assent. Fantasy is never allegory, at its best, but it is often a device for representing, in heightened phantasmagorical form, genuine moral choices.

Romantic Fiction

Marina Oliver

Almost any novel that contains a strong love story and has a happy or optimistic ending can be described as a romantic novel. That encompasses a lot, from Jane Austen to the Brontes, the present-day short genre romance, through historical settings including fictionalized biographies and rip-roaring adventure, the popular family sagas, Aga sagas, glitz, modem problem novels, and literary prizewinners. Serious critical analysis is meagre, and what there is tends to be American. The TwentietCentury Romance and Historical Writers (third edition 1994) is the most comprehensive reference book for details of writers, lists of their books, and a critical view of each author's work.
As the world becomes increasingly ugly, callous and materialistic, it needs to be
reminded that the old fairy stories are rooted in truth, that imagination is of value,
that happy endings do, in fact, occur, and that the blue spring mist that can make
an ugly street look beautiful is just as real a thing as the street itself.
ELIZABETH GOUDGE Advances (1992) by Anita Burgh. This is a wickedly funny look at the world of publishing, by a writer with the ability to carry along her readers by the sheer power of her storytelling, whether set in the present day or past times. The Lymond Series (1961-75) by Dorothy Dunnett. Six huge books with an attractive hero and an unlikely heroine, set against a masterly, vast panorama of 16th-century Europe. These books are full of detailed knowledge, totally absorbing, intense, and brilliant. The Unknown Ajax (1959) by Georgette Heyer. The Regency novel was 'invented' by Georgette Heyer, and the deliciously frothy, eminently easy-to-read style conceals formidable research and superb technical skill. This title has a serious theme of smuggling, combined with wit, humour, and deep emotion. A Better World than This (1986) by Marie Joseph. The heroine is searching for a dream, away from the tedium of a Lancashire mill to. This heartwarming novel won the Major Award of the Romantic Novelists' Association in 1987.
The Suffolk Trilogy (1959-62) by Norah Lofts. Set, like many of her novels, in East Anglia, these books feature one house through several centuries. She can convey time and place impeccably, and her characters are intensely real. The Chatelaine (1981) by Claire Lorrimer. A family novel, set in the 1900s, it is a powerful story of a girl's early love, disillusionment, and final triumph over adversity. It is superbly plotted and compelling. Mango Walk (1981) by Rhona Martin. She won the first Georgette Heyer Prize with Gallows Wedding, a historical novel, but this is set in the 20th century, equally uncompromising and powerful, the story of an unlikely love that endures despite almost unbearable pressures. Csardas (1975) by Diane Pearson. Both editor and author, Pearson is president of the Romantic Novelists' Association. She achieved immense acclaim with this epic story of Hungary during half a century of travail. Nine Coaches Waiting (1958) by Mary Stewart. This book can be called a Gothic novel or a suspense novel, but is above all a compelling story involving hard decisions and firm values. The Native Air (1990) by Sarah Woodhouse. The author can take unlikely characters and charm her readers into utter fascination. This is the last in a trilogy set around 1800, where love eventually triumphs. The writing is delightful, almost fey, but conveys with a sure touch the sometimes bleak realities of Norfolk life.
Hong Sheng (Hung Sheng), Chinese, 1646-1704. Palace of Eternal Youth. Rec: Ward (romance)

Short Stories

See HUMOUR (Daudet, Lardner, O'Brien, Runyon): MUSIC (Wagner); MYTHOLOGY (Feldman. Gantz, Hatto, Malory, Sandars, Thomas); SEX (Boccaccio, Nefzawi) Aesop Fables (6th century Esc)
Aesop was a slave on the Greek island of Samos; either as moral metaphors or as "absurdities" his fables are unsurpassed. Aesop, Greek, 620-560 BCE. Fables. Rec: Bloom Good Reading Agnon, S. Y. The Bridal Canopy (1922)
Bleak, dark visions: purgation of emotions by pity and despair. Nonetheless, fine, springing prose. Also: Two Tales; And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight, In the Heart of the Seas, etc Agnon, S. Y., Israeli, 1888-1970. Nobel Laureate In the Heart of the Seas. Rec: Bloom Twenty-One Stories. Rec: Bloom Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Japanese, 1892-1927. Rashomon, and Other Stories. Rec: Ward Anderson, Sherwood Winesburg. Ohio (1919)
Anderson, one-time manager of an Ohio paint factory, knew his material inside out. These 23 stories present, in straightforward, intense style, moments in the lives of inhabitants of the kind of small town in which he grew up. Also: Poor White; Death in the Woods; The Memoirs of Sherwood Anderson Anderson, Sherwood. American, 1876-1941. Winesburg, Ohio. Rec: Bloom Hungry Mind ML Novels Death in the Woods and Other Stories. Rec: Bloom Andreyev, Leonid, Russian, 1871-1919. Selected Tales. Rec: Bloom
Ansky, S., Russian writing in Yiddish, 1863-1920. The Dybbuk. Rec: Bloom
The title work, for example, evokes the mystical underpinnings of shtetl life, with its rituals of possession and exorcism.
Arreola, Juan Jose, Mexican, 1918- . Confabulario and Other Inventions. Rec: Ward Babel, Isaak Collected Stories (1957)
Babel, born in the Odessa ghetto, died in one of Stalin's concentration camps. His stories are brief and vivid, his viewpoint that of a Jew "with spectacles on his nose and autumn in his heart". Babel, Isaac Emmanuelovich, Russian, 1894-ca. 1940 . Collected Stories. Rec: Bloom Ward Barthelme, Donald. American, 1931-1989. Forty Stories. Rec: Bloom Beckett, Samuel More Pricks than Kicks (1934)
Beckett's first work of fiction consists of ten stories. Most are laboriously overwritten, as early work by important writers often is, but Dante and the Lobsteris brilliant, and there is grim humour in several of the others. See DRAMA; FICTION/NOVELS; LITERARY CRITICISM Beerbohm, Max, English, 1872-1956. Seven Men and Two Others. Rec: Bloom Bierce, Ambrose Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891)
Bierce disappeared into Mexico in 1913 — in search, he said, of "the good, kind darkness". Reasons for such a wish can be found here: sardonic wit barely conceals despair. Also: Can Such Things Be? Bierce, Ambrose. American, 1842-1914? . Collected Writings. Rec: Bloom Borges, Jorge Luis Fictions (1944) 9 *
Terse, teasing, sometimes intriguing jeux d'esprit by a writer whose favourite joke is the reader. Also: Labyrinths; Dreamtigers; Selected Poems, 1923-1967 Borges, Jorge Luis, Argentinian, 1899-1986. A Personal Anthology. Rec: Bloom Collected Fictions. Rec: Meaningful Other Inquisitions. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Ficciones (Fictions). Rec: Bloom Harvard NYPL Ward Labyrinths. Rec: Bloom Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 Good Reading Ward The Aleph and Other Stories. Rec: Bloom Ward Dreamtigers. Rec: Bloom Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 Bowles, John Collected Short Stories (1980)
Unnerving, mannered but savagely effective tales of violence at the boundary between civilization and its discontented neighbours. The interface of love and lust, impotence and insolence, exhaustion and delirium is charted with a terrible relish and conviction.
Brodkey, Harold. American, 1930-1996. Stories in an Almost Classical Mode. Rec: Bloom Bunin, Ivan, Russian, 1870-1953. Nobel Laureate Selected Stories. Rec: Bloom Carver, Raymond. American, 1938-1988. Cathedral. Rec: Hungry Mind Where I'm Calling From. Rec: Bloom Cheever, John The Stories of John Cheever (1978)
Evocative stories about quietly desperate New York commuters: wives meeting the train with a double Martini in the hand; children, all-knowing, concocting fiendish plots. Somehow the stories have coloured everyone's concept of the suburban life of all America, even though most Americans don't live that way. Cheever, John. American, 1912-1982. The Stories. Rec: Bloom Hungry Mind Bullet Park. Rec: Bloom The Wapshot Chronicles. Rec: BOMC ML Novels Falconer. Rec: Time Chekhov, Anton The Schoolmistress and Other Stories (1894)0
Chekhov wrote over 1,000 stories. Mood, atmosphere, "the unforgettable flash of life in its perpetual flow" — no short story writer ever caught these things better. See DRAMA Chekhov, Anton, Russian, 1860-1904. Plays. Rec: Good Reading Rex Ward Major Plays. Rec: Bloom Uncle Vanya. Rec: Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 GBWW Three Sisters. Rec: Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 NYPL The Cherry Orchard. Rec: Boston PL Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 Selected Short Stories, Tales. Rec: Bloom Fadiman 4 Good Reading Meaningful Chesnutt, Charles W.. American, 1858-1932. Short Fiction. Rec: Bloom Chesterton, G. K. The Father Brown Stories (1947)
Chesterton's Father Brown stories are outstanding in an uneven oeuvre — his one escape from being what Wyndham Lewis (justly) called him, "the dogmatic Toby-jug". Also: The Man Who Was Thursday Chesterton, G. K., English, 1874-1936. The Innocence of Father Brown. Rec: NYPL The Everlasting Man. Rec: National Review Orthodoxy. Rec: National Review Collected Poems. Rec: Bloom Father Brown Stories. Rec: Ward The Man Who Was Thursday. Rec: Bloom Conrad, Joseph The Heart of Darkness (1902)
Conrad's most compelling short story, flawed by melodramatic adjectives but still alive and horrifying. See FICTION/NOVELS Crane, Stephen. American, 1871-1900. The Red Badge of Courage. Rec: Bloom Stories. Rec: Bloom Poems. Rec: Bloom Davenport, Guy. American, 1927- . Tatlin!. Rec: Bloom Dinesen, Isak Seven Gothic Tales (1934)
Sophisticated entertainments, with appealing irony implicit in deliberately old-fashioned narrative method. Also: Out of Africa; Winter's Tales; The Angelic Avengers, etc Faulkner, William Collected Stories (1950) *
There is a story that Sherwood Anderson, having read some would-be sophisticated dialogue in one of Faulkner's earliest novels, told him to forget all that smart stuff and concentrate on cultivating his own garden, the little patch of Mississippi he knew to the bone. The result was the major novels, and the best stories in this book, The Bearand The Barn Burning. See FICTION/NOVELS Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1951)
Fitzgerald himself once commented (looking sideways at his friend and rival, Hemingway): "I talk with the authority of failure." He wrote good stories all his life — along with many bad ones for magazines, to pay debts. Among lesser-known stories, Outside the Cabinet-Maker's is well worth seeking out. See BIOGRAPHY (Milford); DIARIES; FICTION/NOVELS; FILM (Latham) Flaubert, Gustave Three Tales (1877)
a
Twenty years after Madame Bovary, Flaubert published these stories. The Legend of St Julian Hospitator is the most remarkable — an exploration of the medieval mind, inspired by a stained-glass window in Rouen Cathedral. See DIARIES (Flaubert, Goncourt); FICTION/NOVELS
Gordimer, Nadine, South African, 1923- . Nobel Laureate Collected Stories. Rec: Bloom The Late Bourgeois World. Rec: Burgess Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Household Tales (1812-15)
*
The brothers Grimm were a well-matched pair; from their two heads came the right balance to make sense of something in the German character that takes in The Bremen Town Musicians, The Twelve Dancing Princesses and the glorious ghastly death of Rumpelstiltskin. Best collection for adults: Penguin Classics. Best for children: The Juniper Tree and Other Tales (Segal and Sendak, 1973). Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, German, 1785-1863 and 1786-1859. Fairy Tales. Rec: Bloom Hawthorne, Nathaniel Twice-told Tales (1837)
a Thirty-nine early stories, some mannered and boring, but the best — The Ambitious Guest and Howe's Masquerade — foreshadowing The Scarlet Letter in their preoccupation with guilt and secrecy and in their obsession with the effects of New England Puritanism. Also: House of the Seven Gables; Tanglewood Tales, etc. See FICTION/NOVELS Hemingway, Ernest In Our Time (1925)
Hemingway's first book — fifteen stories with linking vignettes. The stories describe life in the American Middle West; vignettes describe war in Europe and bullfights. Hemingway before the rot set in. Also: Men without Women; Winner Takes Nothing, etc. See BIOGRAPHY (Baker); FICTION/NOVELS Henry, O. Cabbages and Kings (1904)
O. Henry started writing the "trick" stories for which he is famous while in prison on a charge of embezzlement.His characters are simple; his plots always depend on surprise endings; but within his range he is skilled at ringing the changes. Also: O. Henry Encore; The Four Million, etc Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm The Serapion Brethren (1819-21)
The best of his supernatural stories. Urbane, Gallic Poetry. Also: The Devil's Elixir Various Authors, Hungarian, 19th-20th C. Hungarian Short Stories. Rec: Ward Irving, Washington. American, 1783-1859. The Sketch Book. Rec: Bloom Isherwood, Christopher Goodbye to Berlin (1939) * Herr Issyvoo in his best "I am a camera" phase: decay of a civilization (Germany under the Nazis) in the form of seemingly casual sketches of Berlin life. Also: All the Conspirators: Mr Norris Changes Trains, etc. See DRAMA (Auden)
Isherwood, Christopher, English, 1904-1986. The Berlin Stories. Rec: Bloom Time A Single Man. Rec: Burgess James, Henry The Turn of the Screw (1898)
One of the finest ghost stories in English, all the better for containing no explicit ghosts. See BIOGRAPHY (Edel, James); DIARIES; FICTION/NOVELS; LITERARY CRITICISM James, M. R. Collected Ghost Stories (1931) dl Elegant, civilized shudders — not the melodramas of Poe (qv), but reality showing tiny, devastating cracks. Best read by candlelight, wind nibbling at the windows. Jewett, Sarah Orne. American, 1849-1909. The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories. Rec: Bloom NYPL Joyce, James Dubliners (1914)
One story, The Dead, is a masterpiece. The rest would perhaps not seem so interesting now, had Joyce not gone on to write Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake. All the same, a remarkable dissection of turn-of-the-century Irish life. See BIOGRAPHY (Ellmann); DIARIES; FICTION/NOVELS Kafka, Franz Metamorphosis (1916)
Kafka's most haunting story, in which he found a perfect image for his pervasive sense of alienation. Also: In the Penal Colony, etc. See DIARIES; FICTION/NOVELS Kafka, Franz, Czech writing in German, 1883-1924. Collected Works. Rec: Ward The Trial. Rec: Adler Bloom Boston PL Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 Meaningful Rexmo Seymour-Smith Smiley The Castle. Rec: Adler Bloom Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 Meaningful TLS Metamorphosis. Rec: GBWW NYPL SJC Penal Colony. Rec: SJC Short Stories. Rec: Bloom Fadiman 3 (Selections) Fadiman 4 (Selections) Meaningful Amerika. Rec: Bloom The Blue Octavo Notebook. Rec: Bloom Diaries. Rec: Bloom Parables, Fragments, Aphorisms. Rec: Bloom Kipling, Rudyard Limits and Renewals (1932)
The Kipling to value — estranged, embittered and burnt-out. This last collection of stories contains his most complex, self-
gnawing work. See CHILDREN'S BOOKS; POETRY
Kleist, Heinrich von, German, 1777-1811. Stories. Rec: Bloom Landolfi, Tommaso, Italian, 1908-1979. Gogol's Wife and Other Stories. Rec: Bloom Lardner, Ring Collected Short Stories(1941)
Edmund Wilson once said, "What bell might not Lardner ring if he set out to give us the works?" Lardner did give us the works. In the vernacular. There must have been something wrong with Wilson's bell. See HUMOUR Lawrence, D. H. Tales (1934)
Lawrence at his finest. Odour of Chrysanthemums and The Rocking-Horse Winnerare the most memorable; but all are interesting, surprisingly relaxed, even amusing. See DIARIES; FICTION/NOVELS; HISTORY/EUROPEAN; LITERARY CRITICISM; POETRY; TRAVEL London, Jack The Star Rover (1914)
How to define London's gift? "The passing thing done in the eternal way" was his own (not bad) definition of it. Also: The Call of the Wild; White Fang. See TRAVEL Lowry, Malcolm Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place (1961)
Lowry's gift was for loading every rift with ore, or at least tequila; this posthumously published collection contains two stories
— Through the Panama and The Forest Path to the Spring. See FICTION/NOVELS
Lu Xun (Lu Hsün), Chinese, 1881-1936. Diary of a Madman and Other Stories. Rec: Meaningful Collected Short Stories. Rec: Fadiman 4 MW Asian Ward Mann, Thomas Death in Venice ( 1911)
1' Masterly novella of a civilized artist at the end of his genteel tether. Also: Stories of a Lifetime. See FICTION/NOVELS Mansfield, Katherine Collected Stories (1945)
Mansfield's best stories, many about her childhood in New Zealand. See DIARIES Mansfield, Katherine, New Zealander, 1888-1923. The Short Stories. Rec: Bloom Marguerite de Navarre, French, 1492-1549. Heptameron. Rec: Bloom Smiley The Heptameron is a collection of 72 short stories written in French by Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1549). Maugham, W. Somerset Complete Stories (1951)
Maugham is the nearest thing to an English Maupassant (qv). Man-of-the-world stuff, cynical and anecdotal. Edmund Wilson compared his stories to oysters (for the ease with which they slip down). See AUTOBIOGRAPHY; DRAMA; FICTION/CRIME; FICTION/NOVELS Maupassant, Guy de Boule de Suif (1880)
Maupassant contributed this masterly story while still unknown to the Soirees de Medan, a collection of short stories by such as Zola and Huysmans. It made his reputation overnight. He is, with Chekhov (qv) and Singer (qv) one of the supreme masters in the genre. Also: Mademoiselle Fifi; A Woman's Life; Bel-A etc Maupassant, Guy de, French, 1850-1893. Short Stories. Rec: Bloom Ward Mitchell, Joseph. American, 1908-1996. Up in the Old Hotel. Rec: Bloom National Review (stories) Moore, George Celibate Lives (1924)
Five stories, one of which, Albert Nobbs, a study of transvestism, was recently ranked "in the first dozen short stories of world literature". This overstates the case, but then Moore is an undervalued writer. Also: Heloise and Abelard; Evelyn Jones; The Brook Kerith, etc Murasaki-Shildbu, Lady The Tale of Genji (c. 1004)
This collection of stories is sometimes spoken of as a novel, but is nearer to The Arabian Nights than to War and Peace. Prince Genji is the character; the country, Japan. Delicate, obliquely civilised; a masterpiece. Murasaki Shikibu, Japanese, ca. 976-1015. Tale of Genji. Rec: App Fadiman 4 Meaningful MW Asian Oriental Rex Smiley StJE Utne Ward O'Brien, Edna, Irish, 1932- . A Fanatic Heart. Rec: Bloom O'Connor, Flannery. American, 1925-1964. Everything That Rises Must Converge. Rec: SJC The Complete Stories. Rec: Bloom Harvard The Violent Bear It Away. Rec: Bloom Wise Blood. Rec: Bloom Burgess A Good Man is Hard to Find. Rec: Aquinas Hungry Mind Radcliffe The Enduring Chill. Rec: Aquinas O'Connor, Frank, Irish, 1903-1966. Collected Stories. Rec: Bloom O'Hara, John The Hat on the Bed (1964)
O'Hara's stories are legion, and despite the flaws and cheapness, provide a panoramic view of East Coast American society which is proving more and more truthful as the lid comes off the USA. Ephemera, possibly; compelling, certainly. See FICTION/NOVELS O'Hara, John. American, 1905-1970. Collected Stories. Rec: Bloom Appointment in Samarra. Rec: Bloom BOMC ML Novels Time The Lockwood Concern. Rec: Burgess Paley, Grace. American, 1922- . The Little Disturbances of Man. Rec: Bloom Enormous Changes at the Last Minute: Stories. Rec: Harvard LAT Collected Stories. Rec: Hungry Mind Peretz, I. L., Pole writing in Yiddish, 1851-1915. Selected Stories. Rec: Bloom Pirandello, Luigi Better Think Twice about It (1933)
Pirandello was once called "the greatest short-story writer of the century". If his plays did not exist, we might value his stories more highly, for their worth is considerable. See DRAMA Poe, Edgar Allan Tales of the Grotesque and Macabre (1840) Twenty-five tales include The Fall of the House of Usher, William Wilson, Ligeia, Berenice and Manuscript Found in a Bottle. Also: The Narrative of ArthurGordon Pym of Nantucket; Poems; Eureka, etc. See FICTION/CRIME Poe, Edgar Allan. American, 1809-1849. Complete Tales. Rec: Good Reading Meaningful Stories and Poems. Rec: Bloom Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 Harvard Ward Essays and Reviews. Rec: Bloom Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Rec: Bloom Eureka. Rec: Bloom Porter, Katherine Anne. American, 1890-1980. Collected Stories. Rec: Bloom Flowering Judas and Other Stories. Rec: Hungry Mind Premchand, Indian writing in Urdu and Hindi, 1880-1936. Gift of a Cow. Rec: Ward Short Stories. Rec: MW Asian Ward Pritchett, V. S., English, 1900-1997. Collected Stories. Rec: Harvard Prose, Francine. American, 1947- . Guided Tours of Hell. Rec: Smiley Pu Songling (P'u Sung-Ling), Chinese, 1640-1715. Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. Rec: Ward Runyon, Damon Guys and Dolls (1932)
it Runyon perfected the use of a certain kind of invented slang in these stories about New York hoods, their mommas and their molls. His stories seem slight and forgettable, but aren't. Also: Take It Easy; My Wife Ethel; Runyon d la Carte. See HUMOUR Saki The Best of Saki (1976) it H. H. Munro called himself "Saki" after a South African monkey characterized by a long bushy tail, delicacy and silence. His stories send up everything in sight. Bushy tales? Also: The Unbearable Bassington Saki (H. H. Munro), Scottish, 1870-1916. The Short Stories. Rec: Bloom Saroyan, William The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934)
it Saroyan's first book, an astonishing outpouring by a young man in love with life and language.
Schnitzler, Arthur, Austrian, 1862-1931. Plays and Stories. Rec: Bloom Sciascia, Leonardo, Italian, 1921- . Day of the Owl. Rec: Bloom Equal Danger. Rec: Bloom The Wine-Dark Sea: Thirteen Stories. Rec: Bloom Sholem Aleichem, Russian-American writing in Yiddish, 1859-1916. Tevye the Dairyman and The Railroad Stories. Rec: Bloom The Nightingale. Rec: Bloom Singer, Isaac Bashevis Gimpel the Fool (1957)
Marvellous, timeless blend of medieval and modern imagination: the human condition defined and described by a master story-
teller, delighted by the teeming detail which makes up a moment. Also: A Crown of Feathers; A Friend of Kafka, etc. See FICTION/NOVELS Singer, Isaac Bashevis, Polish-American writing in Yiddish, 1904-1980. Nobel Laureate Collected Stories. Rec: Bloom Hungry Mind In My Father's Court. Rec: Bloom The Manor and The Estate. Rec: Bloom Family Moskat. Rec: Bloom Ward Satan in Goray. Rec: Bloom Söderberg, Hjalmar, Swedish, 1869-1941. Doctor Glas. Rec: Ward Selected Short Stories. Rec: Ward Stein, Gertrude Three Lives (1908)
9 In Melanctha, about a black woman, Stein showed for the first (and last?) time just how well she could write fiction. Her prose rhythms admirably follow the movements of Melanctha's mind. After this, Stein concentrated on the movement of her own mind — and turned into Old Mother Hubbard. Stein, Gertrude. American, 1874-1946. Three Lives. Rec: Bloom Stevenson, Robert Louis The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)
Stevenson's wife Fanny read this tale in draft and complained that he had sensationalized a good allegory. Stevenson enraged, stormed out; then he returned, said she was right and set to work to produce this classic story of split personality. See CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Stifter, Adalbert, Austrian, 1805-1868. Indian Summer. Rec: Bloom Tales. Rec: Bloom Swift, Jonathan, Irish, 1667-1745. Gulliver's Travels. Rec: Adler Aquinas Bloom Col37 Col61 Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 GBWW Good Reading Lubbock Meaningful Rexmo SJC Ward A Modest Proposal. Rec: Adler Fadiman 3 Meditations Upon a Broomstick. Rec: Fadiman 3 Resolutions When I Come to Be Old. Rec: Fadiman 3 A Tale of a Tub. Rec: Adler Bloom Journal to Stella. Rec: Adler Shorter Prose Works. Rec: Bloom Poems. Rec: Bloom Anonymous, Arab, ca. 1500. The Thousand and One Nights. Rec: Bloom Fadiman 4 Good Reading Lubbock Meaningful Oriental Ward Toomer, Jean. American, 1894-1967. Cane. Rec: Bloom Hungry Mind Turgenev, Ivan Sergeyevich A Sportsman's Sketches (1852) Sketches of 19th-century Russian peasant life characterized by what V. S. Pritchett called "their simple feeling and transparency". Also: The House of Gentlefolk; On the Eve; Virgin Soil, etc Turgenev, Ivan Sergeyevich, Russian, 1818-1883. A Sportsman's Notebook. Rec: Bloom A Month in the Country. Rec: Bloom Fathers and Sons. Rec: Bloom Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 Rexmo Smiley Ward On the Eve. Rec: Bloom First Love. Rec: Bloom Tutuola, Amos, Nigerian writing in English, 1920- . Palm-Wine Drinkard. Rec: Bloom Ward "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" and "The Palm Wine Drinkard" are African tales in their pure unadulterated form. And they're not something you'd want to hear before bedtime! Amos Tutuola writes an English which lends the narration a wide-eyed, almost childlike voice--yet in the face of wild, horrific imagery (eg. armies of dead babies) the words are unflinching. (amazon) Twain, Mark The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches (1865)
Interesting mostly for the way it foreshadows Twain's superb use of the vernacular in The Adventures of Tom Sa wyerand The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Title piece, based on an old Californian folk tale, still has charm. See FICTION/NOVELS; HISTORY/AMERICAN; HUMOUR; TRAVEL
Ueda Akinari, Japanese, 1734-1809. Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain). Rec: Ward Verga, Giovanni, Italian, 1840-1922. The House by the Medlar Tree. Rec: Bloom Ward Little Novels of Sicily. Rec: Bloom Ward Mastro Don Gesualdo. Rec: Bloom Ward The She-Wolf and Other Stories. Rec: Bloom Vesaas, Tarjei, Norwegian, 1897-1970. Boat in the Evening. Rec: Ward Walser, Robert, German, 1927- . Selected Stories. Rec: Bloom Welty, Eudora. American, 1909-2001. Collected Stories. Rec: Bloom Delta Wedding. Rec: Bloom BOMC The Robber Bridegroom. Rec: Bloom The Ponder Heart. Rec: Bloom Wilson, Angus Such Darling Dodos (1950)
Splendid trifles of 1940s-1950s British life. The world of the sensitive middle class and genteel England were never the same again. Nor was Wilson, to our loss. Zoshchenko, Mikhail Scenes from the Bathhouse (1961)
Zoshchenko was the (unofficial) satirist-in-chief to the court of the second most terrible utopia in history. This collection of stories is a grin full of teeth. Zoshchenko, Mikhail, Russian, 1895-1958. Nervous People and Other Satires. Rec: Bloom

D. Quinn Mills

D. Quinn Mills is the principal faculty member at the • Harvard Business School keeping the study of labor relations alive. The impact of economic and managerial systems on people has been his continuing professional interest. He is noted for maintaining a strong emphasis on the general management aspects of people relationships, tying case research and discussion to the problems of operating-line executives, and avoiding the functional perspectives and responsibilities of personnel managers.
A member of the Harvard Business School faculty since 1976, he is the author of ten books and was appointed the Albert J. Weatherhead Professor of Business Administration in 1978. Winston S. Churchill. The Second World War, Volume I: The Gathering Storm (1948). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983.
I was twelve years old and living in Houston, Texas when an aunt gave me a copy of the first volume of Winston Churchill's six-volume history of the Second World War, entitled The Gathering Storm. I read the book and found it fascinating. It opened to me the wide world of nonfiction literature. It permitted me to learn about great events as they were viewed by participants, including authors like Churchill who possessed insightful and powerful personalities. Reading Churchill also gave me a respect for our language and for rhetoric — cadences, the crashing thunder of strong words, the rhythmic sequence of sentences. In a short time I had read the remaining five volumes of the series and went on to histories composed by other authors. William Faulkner. Intruder in the Dust (1948). New York: Random House, 1967. (Pb)
. The Sound and the Fury (1929). New York: Random House, 1967. (Pb)
During high school I lived in Memphis, Tennessee. Perhaps because I had moved to Memphis and found the attitudes and opinions of my classmates somewhat different from my own, I began to read in search of explanations of what it meant to be a person from the deep South in the United States. William Faulkner's writings revealed to me the complexity of the Southern tradition — of guilt, revenge and repentance. The most powerful of the books was The Sound and the Fury, but the line I most remember came from a less well-known novel entitled Intruder in the Dust. "Some things you must always be unable to bear," Faulkner wrote; "injustice, prejudice, and despair ... not for kudos and not for cash, just refuse to bear them."
Another Southern writer taught me a lesson I've benefited from enormously over my lifetime, a lesson about tolerance. "Nothing human disgusts me," wrote Tennessee Williams in Night of the Iguana, "unless it is unkind or violent." William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). New York: Penguin, 1982. (Pb)
College was for me as for many young people a time of questioning and doubts. I had been raised in a Protestant church but during college became profoundly uncertain about the significance of religious faith. Was religion a positive or a negative influence in mankind's experience?
At this time I happened upon William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience. From James's book I learned how hazardous it is to generalize about something as complex as religion. This insight reopened to me the search for a religious faith with which I was comfortable. But James also helped me to avoid easy generalizations and conclusions in other complex areas of human life. The Bible.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Cost of Discipleship (1948). R. H. Fuller, trans. Magnolia, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1983.
In the years since I have read widely in Eastern religious works, and in the writings of the ancient Western world. Marcus Aurelius particularly impressed me. I recall one of his observations about self-restraint: "be careful that you do not feel toward the inhuman as they feel toward men." I also read extensively in the mainstream of Christian writings. I was particularly influenced by Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, since the author later gave his life in the struggle within Germany against the Hitler regime.
I have also nibbled at the Bible continually for many years, especially enjoying comparing different translations. The Bible remains the central form of transmission of the Western heritage, and is the foundation of our moral standards — to my mind far more important than laws. The biblical text that returns most often to my mind is from the Book of Micah: "He has showed you, oh man, what is good — and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?" I have over many years rendered many decisions in arbitration hearings, and these words have never been far from my thoughts as I pondered what decision to make. Milovan Djilas. The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System (1957). San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.
George Orwell. 1984 (1949). New York: Signet, 1984. (Pb)
In graduate school I studied economics and political science. There is implicit, and sometimes explicit for that matter, criticism of our economic and political systems in much that is written in those disciplines. Two books that definitely shaped my perspective were Milovan Djilas's study of Stalinist communism, The New Class, and George Orwell's 1984. The two books constituted a vision of a totalitarian hell, created in this century by people who spoke publicly of their commitment to the improvement of human life. These books helped me to preserve a deep appreciation for our own society, without, I hope, causing me intentionally to ignore its limitations. In particular, I recognized again the value of individual human freedom which Western society affords its members. Isaac Bashevis Singer. Stories for Children. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1984.
Years later I became a parent. One of the greatest joys parenting offers is to try to see the world as children see it. I_ read the classics of children's literature, and enjoyed them more than I did the first time. Also I discovered Isaac Bashevis Singer's Stories for Children. It was helpful to me in my own writing to see that simplicity of theme and treatment could contain great depth of understanding of the human character and of human institutions. In particular I was influenced by Singer's comment at the end of Stories that today the only serious literature is that written for children. Popular adult literature is lost in sensationalism and the effort to shock. Margaret Murie and Olaus Murie. Wapiti Wilderness: The Life of Olaus and Margaret Murie in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (1966). Jackson Hole, Wyo.: Teton Bookshop, n.d. (Pb)
Now in middle age, I think about what things are of great value in life, and what I should try to experience in the time left to me. I am more aware than ever before of the natural richness of this continent. Recently I have been much impressed by the account that Margaret and Olaus Murie left of their years working for the Forest Service in the Tetons (Wapiti Wilderness). Olaus was a founder of the Wilderness Society, which today attempts to preserve what remains of the American wilderness from unreasonable development. Partly under the influence of their book I am putting aside more of my time for trips into the natural wilderness. This is also, I think, an important spiritual dimension in life.

Martha Minow

Martha Minow is a professor of law at Harvard Law School. A former law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall, Professor Minow is also a member of the faculty of the Doing Justice Program at Brandeis University and a member of the board of directors of the American Bar Foundation. Her primary interests and her best-known courses are "Children and the Law" and "Family Law."
I asked myself, what books on my shelf are so worn from rereading — or missing from the shelf altogether because I keep insisting that someone else read them? The list is too long, but here are some that come immediately to mind. Robert M. Cover. Justice Accused: Antislavery and the Judicial Process (1975). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984. (Pb)
It asks, why did judges who opposed slavery nonetheless enforce the laws governing slavery before the Civil War? Its answers move through debates about whether law is natural or socially constructed, through biography and analyses of the interplay between personality and social role, into psychology and the persistent human desire to avoid personal choice and responsibility, and through the power of language in expressing and shaping what people think is possible. Isaac Bashevis Singer. In My Father's Court (1966). New York: Fawcett, 1979. (Pb)
A memoir of the author's childhood days in the home where his father, as rabbi, heard disputes and struggled for resolutions amid the daily lives of his community in Warsaw. The disputes become windows into the virtues and vices of individuals, the traumas solved by arbitrary rules, and the traumas created by them. Adrienne Rich. The Dream of a Common Language: Poems. New York: W. W. Norton, 1978. (Pb)
A collection of poems that explore the difficulties of speaking about women's experiences and, in so doing, create the possibility of saying things that haven't before been said. Hester Eisenstein and Alice Jardine, eds. The Future of Difference (1980). New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1985. (Pb)
A collection of essays that connects the contemporary women's movement with scholarly work. In these connections, breathtaking precision in analysis and careful explosions of disciplinary boundaries appear and reappear. The sustained offering of insights uses and at the same time challenges psychoanalytic thought about the formation of the self and gender identity, epistemological debates over the impossibility of objectivity, and current inquiries into literary analysis and political theory. Andre Lorde's essay, "Poetry Is Not a Luxury," shows so powerfully how there are only new ways of making old ideas, and yet the future of our words, and ourselves, depends on our "need to dream, to move our spirits most deeply and directly and through promise." Ludwig Wittgenstein. Philosophische Untersuchungen (Philosophical Investigations, 1953). G. E. Anscome, trans. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1967.
How amazing to find out that a philosopher could have a voice, a playful, personal voice; that reading philosophy could feel like a fun and puzzling conversation; and that things look differently after reading? listening? arguing? with this book. Norton Juster. The Phantom Tollbooth. New York: Epstein & Carroll, 1961. (Pb)
A children's book about the meaning of life, it takes puns seriously so that language and experience both become fresh, and it reminds us that we might well be able to do things that people say could never be done. Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot. Worlds Apart: Relationships Between Families and Schools. New York: Basic Books, 1978. (Pb)
Subtle, vivid depictions of the lives of children, teachers and families that mutually implicate each other even through their separations, boundaries and conflicts. The book gently incorporates insights from social theory while exposing the workings of power, cultural and racial differences, and personal hopes and pain. It makes possible knowledge about what we don't see by exposing what others don't see about us in the gaps between classrooms and homes, and, indeed, the gaps between all the places we may dwell.

Avis C. Vidal

Avis Vidal is an associate professor of city and regional planning at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and specializes in urban economic development, housing and urban policy. Her current research focuses on the effectiveness of public—private partnerships formed to promote urban development by supporting the activities of community-based organizations. J. D. Salinger. Franny and Zooey: Two Novellas (1961). New York: Bantam, 1969. (Pb)
Buddy's letter to Zooey is the best and most enduring reminder I have had of the importance of discovering the things that really matter to you, and then doing them with zest because that's the way they deserve to be done. Chaim Potok. My Name Is Asher Lev (1972). New York: Fawcett, 1978. (Pb)
A powerful exploration of the clarity of purpose that a natural gift or calling makes possible, and of the anguish that comes with being forced to choose between two highly valued claims on one's identity. Anthony Lewis. Gideon's Trumpet. New York: Random House, 1964. (Pb)
Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong. The Brethren (1979). New York: Avon, 1980. (Pb)
Two very different accounts of the wonder and power of the law and the people who make it work — when it works. Charlotte Brontë. Jane Eyre (1847). New York: Putnam, 1982.
My former husband and I read this book aloud. When we finished I asked him whether he liked it. "It's good . . . okay. . . but it gets a little tiresome because it's all from her point of view." Chaim Potok. The Book of Lights. New York: Fawcett, 1981. (Pb)
A book that illustrates the potential power of religious and cultural tradition in helping one come to terms with the inescapable presence of death and evil. Willa Cather. My Antonia (1918). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1926. (Pb)
The only thing I ever read that helped me understand why people like the Midwest.

Film

From the start, cinema established itself as not just another medium, but as one of the great popular art forms, as wide-ranging as literature, music or painting themselves. Like those arts, it contains masterpieces and rubbish, timeless works and ephemera
— and a huge range of good-quality journeyman work, popular entertainment which can, at its best, transcend its own modest aspirations. Nowadays, thanks to television showings, films (of all qualities) are accessible as never before, and there is a wide popular knowledge of film styles and techniques; television has not, however, resulted (as was predicted) in the death of creativity, but in a remarkable upsurge of new styles, new talents, new excellence. This list avoids the more arcane areas of film criticism (addicts writing in code for addicts) and also the more fleeting of fan-journalism. We have chosen good serious guides to the medium and to the industry, and biographies, studies and reminiscences of some of the most enjoyable (not to say enjoyably literate) practitioners of film.

See AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Chaplin): BIOGRAPHY (Mailer); DRAMA (McCrindle); HUMOUR (Allen)

Armes, Roy A Critical History of the British Cinema (1978) 10 Detailed and informative, if at times rather conventional and opinionated. Avoids chauvinism; covers important ground. Barnouw, Erik Documentary: A History of Nonfiction Film (1974) 9 Standard work for students, fans and creators of documentary films. Historycum-theory-cum-criticism adds up to an extremely useful compendium. Bawden, Liz-Anne (ed) The Oxford Companion to Film (1976) 10 * Authoritative entries, alphabetically arranged, on every aspect of film from "AA certificate" to "Zvoboda, Andre". Articles on national styles particularly good (Italy and Japan outstanding). Not as jolly or personal as Halliwell (qv), but far more reliable. Bayer, William The Great Movies (1973)
Thoughtful critical assessments of sixty films which in Bayer's view represent the medium at its best and most characteristic. Covers "trash masterpieces" (eg Gone with the Wind; Singin' in the Rain) as well as films with grander pretensions (La Grande Illusion; Citizen Kane).
Bazin, Andre, French, 1918-1958. Orson Welles: A Critical View. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Brown, Karl Adventures with D. W. Griffith (1974)
As a young man of immense technical ingenuity, Brown contributed much to D. W. Griffith's revolutionary discoveries. Interesting to read in conjunction with Mrs D. W. Griffith's (qv) When the Movies were Young. Brownlow, Kevin The Parade's Gone By (1968)
10a*.f Riveting, classic collection of interview portraits of surviving Hollywood pioneers. Buñuel. Luis, Spanish, 1900-1983. My Last Sigh. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Burch, Noel To a Distant Observer(1939)
91/ Japanese film: outstanding study of a "national cinema". Emphasis is on "formal" differences with Western cinema, but shows a strong sense of the political and cultural history that determined these differences. Also: Theory of Film Practice Clarens, Carlos Horror Movies (1968)
Useful survey of a uniquely fascinating genre. Durgnat, Raymond A Mirror for England (1971)
Eccentric, sometimes brilliant historical/sociological work on British cinema. Eames, John D. The MGM Story (1975)
Sumptuously produced account of every film (1,705 of them) made by this major studio. Eisenstein, Sergei The Film Sense (1942) 011_, Chiefly important for theories behind Eisenstein's own films — long section on Alexander Nevsky — but has profound implications for cinema as a whole. Also: Film Form. See Montagu; Septon. Eisenstein, Sergei, Russian, 1898-1948. Film Form. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Eisner, Lotte The Haunted Screen(1969)
Classic exploration of German Expressionist cinema, before and after The Cabinet of DrCaligari (1919). Fields, W. C. W. C. Fields by Himself: His Intended Autobiography (1973)
Letters; articles; notes towards an autobiography: beguiling chronicle of an often troubled human being, a dedicated professional and a wonderfully caustic writer, particularly on censors, studio bosses, babies, complaining wives or other health hazards. See Taylor. Griffith, Mrs D. W. When the Movies Were Young (1925)
A wide-eyed, wickedly scandalous account of movie-making in the 1910s. Rubbish? Fun. See Brown. Halliday, Jon Sirk on Sirk (1972)
Important journeyman director interviewed at length. Fascinating insights into studio production conditions in Hollywood. Halliwell, Leslie The Filmgoer's Companion (1965) a a ic./
Cheerful reference book (regularly updated), unreliable in details but readier with information on personalities and such questions as who was the first Tarzan than any other source. Kael, Pauline I Lost It at the Movies (1966)
Useful collection of reviews and articles by one of America's most effective, not to say raucous, film critics. Kael is challenging, abrasive and personal — a welcome antidote to stuffiness or picayune blandness. (But avoid The Citizen Kane Book: a piece of nonsense claiming that Welles didn't create Kane, subsequently discredited by Peter Bogdanovitch among others.) These pieces show her at her perceptive/irritating best. Kael, Pauline. American, 1919-2001. For Keeps. Rec: Counterpunch NF Knight, Arthur The Liveliest Art (1957)
This informal history of the movies. with emphasis on the early days in Hollywood, is a splendid introduction to the subject. Easy reading, lots of fun. Latham, Aaron Crazy Sundays: F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood (1972)
Terrible case history of Hollywood's ability to humiliate a creative artist (compare with Tom Dardis: Some Time in the Sun). See BIOGRAPHY (Milford); DIARIES (Fitzgerald); FICTION/NOVELS (Fitzgerald, West); FICTION/SHORT STORIES (Fitzgerald) Leyda, Jay Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film (1960) Pi' Excellent, comprehensive record of the troubled history of cinema in the Soviet Union. Essential background reading to Eisenstein (qv); the story continues in Liehm (qv). Liehm, A. J. and M. The Most Important Art: East European Cinema after 1945(1977) 9J'
The only account of the — often Orwellian — mechanisms of film industries in the Sovietist east. Also: The Milos Forman Stories (1976) Love, Bessie From Hollywood with Love (1977)
Funny, unpretentious memoirs of 65 years in movies. Love is reliable, and sharp: she remembers, for example, how the orthodox Jews who played in Intolerance found their box lunches full of ham sandwiches. McCabe, John Charlie Chaplin (1978)
Writings on Chaplin are legion; this is one of the few (and first) objective, critical biographies. Also: Laurel and Hardy(1975), a sumptuous picture book, with stills from every film. See Mast; AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Chaplin) Mast, Gerald The Comic Mind (1973)
41110*./
Accessible, outstanding study of creativity in comic films. Fine contribution to a neglected field. Bonus for readers is the lively, enthusiastic style: Mast blends description with analysis, relives each scene, each routine, as he discusses it. Mellen, Joan Big Bad Wolves: Masculinity in the American Film (1977)
0
Serious — but hugely entertaining — study of the Hollywood myth-machine at work on great romantic male stars, and on the sometimes limp reality behind the macho mask. A model of how to make a movie book: it's well researched, well written, and beautifully salts gossip with objective criticism.
Milne, Tom (ed) Godard on Godard (1972) 9 Collection of French director Jean Luc Godard's important reviews and articles from the 1950s and 1960s. Monaco, J. F. The New Wave: Truffaut, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette (1976)
Also: How to Read a Film Montagu, Ivor With Eisenstein in Hollywood (1963) Montagu — film-maker, zoologist, world class table-tennis player, self-
publicizing raconteur — accompanied Eisenstein and his Soviet colleagues during their often comically disastrous sojourn in Hollywood. A self-regarding, funny book: Ninotchka, in a way, starts here. See Eisenstein; Septon. Niven, David The Moon's a Balloon (1971)
By and large, Hollywood memoirs are little more than pimples on the bottom of literature. Of late, however, the form has perked up considerably: the memoirs of Bogarde, Bacall, Maclaine and Love (qv) — and above all those of the urbanely scurrilous Niven — should easily counter the (directors') view that actors are a species of cattle. Dinner-table anecdote, it's true
— but served as the driest of dry white wine. Also: Bring on the Empty Horses Parrish, Robert Growing Up in Hollywood (1976)
Good, direct account of working in Hollywood by film editor and later director. Excellent on John Ford, in particular. Gossip, but superior brand. Perkins, V. F. Film as Film: Understanding and Judging Movies (1972) Pickard, Roy The Hollywood Studios (1978)
Well, here it is, folks, Hollywood with the lid off and rarin' to go. It's a large, expensive and gossipy "history", full of names, titles, apocryphal sayings and even the occasional fact. Fun for fans. Also: The Oscar Movies Pudovkin, V. I. Film Technique and Film Acting(1958)
A classic study of the aesthetics of film (by one of the great Russian directors), somewhat more accessible than Eisenstein (qv). Pye, M. and Myles, L. The Movie Generation: How the Film Generation Took Over Hollywood (1979)
The coup d'etatwhen young men with beards and passion for movies moved in on Hollywood. But for how long will Coppola (Apocalypse Now), Spielberg (Jaws), Lucas (Star Wars) et alresist becoming their own establishment? Watch for sequels: coming soon. Ramsaye, Terry A Million and One Nights (1926)
Partial and overcoloured, but still the best, most readable history of early American cinema. Reisz, K. and Millar, G. The Technique of Film Editing (1953)
Standard work on this key facet of film making. Some sort of editing is important in all arts, but in none so crucial as cinema, where the editor — often the director — can make the difference between nonsense and genius. Difficult; but for the committed layman, a revelation. Rhode, Eric A History of the Cinema (1976)
Rosenbaum, Jonathan. American, 1943- . Movie Wars. Rec: Harvard Rotha, P. and Griffith, R. The Film Till Now (1930) 0 An early classic of film scholarship; still worth reading. Regularly updated. Also: Documentary Film (Rotha) Sarris, Andrew The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-68(1968)
In this book Sarris presents an eloquent case for the so-called "auteur" theory, holding that the director and/or screen writer are the true creators of the final product and that actors, even if stars, are decidedly secondary. (More recent studies by others have tended to seek a mean between this theory and the earlier one that the star makes the movie.) Scheuer, Steven (ed) Movies on TV(1958) 0 a *
Reliable critical guide (regularly updated) to 10,000 English-language films. Septon, Marie Sergei M. Eisenstein (1952)
Fat, authoritative biography (revised 1978). See Eisenstein; Montagu. Shavelson, Melville How to Make a Jewish Movie (1971)
A
A very funny book: the story of the making of Cast a Giant Shadow on location in Israel. Biopic of General "Mickey" Marcus, who helped to win the 1948 war, starring those well-known Jewish actors Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner and John Wayne — plus the entire population of Israel. Hollywood jokes, Jewish jokes, Israeli jokes — what a time they had. Sklar, Robert Movie-made America: A Cultural History of American Movies (1975)
Engagingly written history attempts to show — what is only partly true — that just as America has shaped its movies, so movies have shaped America. An interesting thesis, and relevant by extension to other nations and cultures as well. Taylor, Robert Lewis W. C. Fields: His Follies and Fortunes (1950) Funny book about a funny man. Should be taken with a ton of salt and read in conjunction with W. C. Fields by Himself(qv). Thomson, David, English, 1941- . A Biographical Dictionary of Film. Rec: Counterpunch NF Truffaut, Francois, French, 1932-1984. The Films in My Life. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Walker, Alexander The Shattered Silents (1978)
& Blow-by-blow account of the coming of talkies, 1926-29. Exemplary use of first-hand sources; a mine of information and a lively read. Also: Rudolph Valentino; Double Takes; Notes and Afterthoughts on the Movies Wesimore, F. and Davidson, M. The Westmores of Hollywood(1976) Who works quietly and unobtrusively behind every Hollywood scene, sees everything, hears everything, says nothing — till now? The makeup man. There have been seven Westmores (father and six sons), each heading the makeup department of a major studio. And what tales they have to tell! Delicious gossip — and the makeup details are fascinating too. Wolf, W. and L. Landmark Films (1979)
Brilliant critical analyses of thirty-four films (from The Birth of a Nation, 1915, to Seven Beauties, 1975), placing them in historical and social context (eg Modern Times and the Depression; Deep Throatand the permissive 70s). Choice of films is excellent; critical tone is serious but not ponderous; the book is challenging on film as a programmatic 20th-century art form. Ziebold, Norman The Hollywood Tycoons (1969)
Amiably tart look at the men who made the movies: Mayer, Laemmle, Goldwyn, Selznick, Cohn, and a dozen more. If this was fiction, who'd believe it?

Cinema

Stanley Kauffmann

Film books in the English language were relatively scarce until around 1960 when the so-called Film Generation burst forth. To accommodate this phenomenon, publishers began pouring out books. That generation's energy has decreased some-what as serious consideration of film became less of a novelty and assumed a place in our lives more or less like that accorded older arts. With that settling-down, publication of film books has also declined. The great wave of the 1960s and 1970s produced predictably many inferior books, some of them catchpenny even in their arty pretentiousness, but some valuable works appeared. Now that the very idea of a film literature is established, we can anticipate a steady flow of books - biographies, histories, and criticism, which will always include the theoretical vogue of the moment. Since the cultivated person no longer ignores the treasury of film that is part of our artistic legacy, such a person can increase his or her appreciation of that treasury by judicious reading. Here are some primary suggestions.
On the screen man is no longer the focus of the drama, but will become eventually the centre of the universe.
Ai rn E BAZ1N What is Cinema? (1967) by Andre Bazin and others. Exceptional perception and exceptional commitment to the artistic and spiritual possibilities of film.
Bergman on Bergman (1973) by Stig Bjorkman, Torsten Manus, and Jonas Sima. Three Swedish film critics interview Ingmar Bergman on his entire career to date. The result is more than a director's biography, it is the summation of a life in an. Notes on Cinematography (1977) by Robert Bresson. A great director's wisdom, enlightening and, quite often, thrilling.
Film Form and Film Sense (1957) by Sergei Eisenstein. These two books, here in one volume, are cornerstone works in any serious study of the subject. The Movies as Medium (1970) edited by Lewis Jacobs. A highly useful conspectus of practical and aesthetic problems.
The Film Encyclopedia (1994) by Ephraim Katz. By far the best one-volume job. Imperfect, like all one-volume encyclopedias on any subject, but still inexhaustibly useful. American Film Criticism: From the Beginnings to Citizen Kane (1972) edited by Stanley Kauffmann and Bruce Henstell. Reviews of significant American and foreign films at the time of their first appearance in the USA. A chronicle and a commentary. The Phantom Empire (1993) by Geoffrey O'Brien. A poetic exploration of our conscious and unconscious, our waking lives and our dreams, after the first 100 years of film's existence. Film History: An Introduction (1994) by Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell. The best one-volume world history. See my comments on Katz. Stage to Screen (1949) by A Nicholas Vardac. A vivid account of the growth of the cinematic impulse through the 19th-century popular theatre until the flowering of the film itself.

Food and Drink

The literature of food and drink is extensive, often excellent, and notable for its relaxed, unflurried tone: the rhythms of the kitchen, the maturing pace of the cellar, blended in prose. This list includes technical manuals, historical and sociological monographs, works of philosophy and even ethics — but all of them (perhaps because their subject is of universal interest, universal experience) have an openhanded accessibility not present in the specialist literature of other subjects. Food and drink may be complex matters; but they are also, these books tell us, first and foremost fun. Censors beware! Even Plato approved of the "drinking-bout" as a social lubricant.

See HOME (Grieve)

Geography and the Environment

Geography is a definitive and descriptive discipline, with procedures as precise and objective as those of any other science, and a specialist literature to match. But it is also, in its critical and speculative form, of crucial relevance to our whole view of the world around us — a wide subject, shading into anthropology, history, politics and sociology. This aspect (concern for our world and what we make of it) is of urgent interest today — and this list, therefore, includes books on the "new" geography as well as those reflecting the older, more segmented scientific discipline.

See ARCHITECTURE (Clifton-Taylor, Giedion, Le Corbusier, Gropius, Mumford, Newman, Venturi); MATHEMATICS (Moore, R., Pough); NATURAL HISTORY (Dorst, Huth, Sears); OCCULT (Jenkins); SOCIOLOGY (Raban, Willmott)

Abrams, C. Man's Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World (1964) Searching examination of housing problems in the Third World; pulls no punches. Arvill, R. Man and Environment: Crisis and the Strategy of Choice (1967) Baker, J. N. L. A History of Geographical Discovery and Exploration (1937)
Essential work for anyone interested in the geographical ideas of people of other ages. This excellent book can replace many more specialized tomes; its bibliography points to some of them. Banfield, Edward C.. American, 1916-1999. The Unheavenly City. Rec: National Review Banham, Reyner, English, 1922-1988. Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies. Rec: Counterpunch NF Barry, R. G. and Chorley, R. J. Atmosphere, Weather and Climate (1972) Berry. B. J. L. The Human Consequences of Urbanization (1973) Global survey, highlighting the contrast in experience between Western and Third Worlds. See ARCHITECTURE (Mumford) Burton, I. The Environment as Hazard(1978)
The environment is often no kinder to man than man to the environment, and its dangers and threats must be analysed in terms of our perception of them: that is, they must be monitored and forecast, if we are to plan relief and reconstruction. Difficult but important book. Carson, Rachel Silent Spring (1962)
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One of the first and most influential works written on the pollution of the natural landscape by man's activities ("DDT equals RIP"); the basic thesis is still of crucial relevance. For up-to-date assessment, see F. Graham: Since Silent Spring (1970). See NATURAL HISTORY (Durst) Carson, Rachel. American, 1907-1964. Silent Spring. Rec: Boston PL LAT ML Nonfiction National Review NYPL Utne Chisholm, Michael Human Geography: Evolution or Revolution? (1975)
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Concise summary: population, settlement and the use of natural resources. Chorley, R. J. and Haggett, P. Models in Geography (1967) Cole, J. P. A Geography of World Affairs (1979) Oa World "political geography" showing the distributional aspects of man's political activity and the constraints of location and environment. Cronon, William. American, 1954- . Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. Rec: Counterpunch NF Davies, W. K. D. The Conceptual Revolution in Geography (1972) a Excellent essays on new directions in geography. Dillard, Annie. American, 1945- . Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Rec: ML Nonfiction Fisher, C. A. South East Asia (1964) Forde, C. Daryll Habitat, Economy and Society (1934)
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Classic account of the interplay of environmental and social factors in simple cultures — those of food gatherers and hunters, herdsmen and farmers. Freeman, T. W. A Hundred Years of Geography (1961)
✓
Readable account of the main contributions and contributors in the field. Fuller, R. Buckminster. American, 1895-1983. Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. Rec: LAT Guttman, Jean Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States (1961)
Classic study helped to popularize a new word as well as a new idea — that it was, or shortly would be, but one city all the way from Portland, Maine, to Newport News, Virginia. See Tunnard. Gould, P. and White, R. Mental Maps (1974)
P./
Landmark study in geography-by-perception, argues that what we think is there is often more significant than what actually is. Haggett, Peter Geography: A Modern Synthesis (1972)
P
Comprehensive coverage of the new ideas of the 1960s. Hall, Peter Urban and Regional Planning(1974)
Systematic account, with historical introduction, of planning, particularly in Britain and America. Also: World Cities Hartshorne, Richard Perspective on the Nature of Geography (1959) Concise and readable account of the classical idiographic and regional approach (temporarily?) set aside by contemporary ideas. Highly recommended. Harvey, David Explanation in Geography (1969)
1$
One of the first and still the best account of the positivist approach to human geography. Also: Social Justice and the City (influential, self-conscious account of his personal swing to the academic left) Hoskins, W. G. The Making of the English Landscape (1955) A a!
Fascinating account of how man's activities over the centuries have created the English landscape of today. Later publication English Landscapes (1975) is more profusely illustrated, but this book has more meat. Thomas (qv) provides a wider view of the same subject. Jacobs, Jane The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) Non-statistical, common-sense approach to urban problems and planning; the author believes that living in cities should be fun — and can be again, given the right approach. See Morgan; ARCHITECTURE (Banham) James, E. Preston All Possible Worlds: A History of Geographical Ideas (1972) P Jordan, Terry The European Culture Area (1973)
Systematic approach to the human geography of Western Europe; emphasis on demographic, economic and cultural elements. Kasperson, R. K. and Minghi, J. V. (eds) The Structure of Political Geography (1970) OP 4
Storehouse of many of the most important contributions to political geography since classical times. Updated second edition needed: but indispensable. King, L. C. Morphology of the Earth (1967)
It is probably an impossible task to write a concise survey of the land features of the entire earth, but King's valiant attempt makes a worthy start.
Leavitt, Helen. American, 1932- . Superhighway-Super Hoax. Rec: NYPL (geography)
Written in 1970, this book is about how the interstate highway system grew out of all proportion to its original purpose and is strangling the country with concrete and traffic jams.
Leopold, Aldo. American, 1913-1983. A Sand County Almanac. Rec: NYPL It is considered to be a landmark book in the conservation movement, describing the lands around Leopold's home in Sauk County, Wisconsin, and his thoughts on developing a 'Land Ethic'. Manners, Gerald The Geography of Energy (1971)
Excellent, short survey of the whole field of energy and policy-making. Morgan, Elaine Falling Apart: The Rise and Decline of Urban Civilization (1976)
English equivalent of Jacobs (qv); but more entertaining and of wider scope. Næss, Arne, Norwegian, 1912- . Ecology, Community and Lifestyle: Outline of an Ecosophy. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Nicholson, Max The Environmental Revolution (1969)
Important text heralded new concern with quality of environment; couched in general terms, but nevertheless acute. Pahl, R. E. Patterns of Urban Life (1970)
Lively discussion of some of the basic problems of urban geography and sociology. Paterson, J. H. North America (1979) Patmore, J. A. Land and Leisure (1977)
Looks at the demands being made on environmental resources by increasing leisure.
Reisner, Marc. American, 1948-2000. Cadillac Desert: the American West and its Disappearing Water. Rec: ML Nonfiction Sauer, Carl O. Agricultural Origins and Dispersals: The Domestication of Animals and Foodstuffs (1.952)
Lively, challenging book, worldwide in scope, on the overlap of geology with anthropology, history and archaeology. Scientific American Cities: Their Origin, Growth and Human Impact (1973)
Succinct essays on city origins, health, transport, squatting, etc. Simmons, I. G. The Ecology of Natural Resources (1974)
Comprehensive look at all the resources in the environment. Deals not only with the ecological implications of use, but also with the way in which resources are regarded by society. Stamp, Dudley Britain's Structure and Scenery (1946)
The way in which the geological structure of the country has contributed to the landscape. A fascinating complement to Hoskins' (qv) account of human influence on the environment. Stein, Gertrude. American, 1874-1946. The Geographical History of America. Rec: Bloom The Geographical History of America is a culminating work... the stylized presentation of the process of meditation itself, with many critical asides. It demonstrates far more than it proves, and although it is in no sense a volume of philosophy (Gertrude Stein never 'argues' anything), it is, philosophically, the most important of her texts." -- William H. Gass Thomas, W. L. (ed) Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth (1956)
Essays on the interaction of culture and environment. Book covers immense historical and regional field. See Hoskins. Tunnard, C. and Pnshkarev, B. Man-Made America: Chaos or Control (1963)
Apprehensive lest America (and then the world) becomes nothing more than one sprawling uncontrollable megalopolis, the authors suggest controlled design of the artefacts with which man shapes his environment — from suburbs, commercial and recreation areas to historic sites and the roads and freeways which link them all. See Gottman. Ward, Barbara The Home of Man (1976)
Comprehensive look at the problems of human settlements in an over-populated world. Also: Spaceship Earth
Watts, David Principles of Biogeography (1971)
if
This book, already a standard text, supersedes the great old (1936) Plan t and Animal Geography of M. I. Newbigin. Williams, Terry Tempest. American, 1955- . Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. Rec: Counterpunch NF

Geography

Simon Ross

Geography is all around us, whether it be the built world of cities, motorways, and industry or the natural world of deserts, beaches, and tropical forests. With the recent growth of the environmental movement and concerns about global poverty and famine, natural disasters and climate change, geography has become much more issue-based than it used to be, although it still retains the important qualities of inquisitiveness, sensitivity, and sheer wonder and excitement which are at the heart of geographical study. The Earth is a fascinating, diverse, yet very vulnerable and fragile place and only through the careful understanding and management of its peoples and resources will it retain its character and support the generations to come. This is the very essence of geography and it therefore comes as no surprise that the subject has witnessed a tremendous boom in popularity and status in both school and university.
My journey around the world gave me a sense of global scale, of the size and
variety of this great planet, and of the relation of one country and one culture to
another which few people experience and many ought to.
MICHAEL PALIN The Gaia Atlas of Planet Management (1985; new edition 1994) by Norman Myers. There are many atlases and reference books on the market today but there are few that are as informative and lavishly illustrated as this. It is intelligent and thought-
provoking and there are many excellent thematic maps and colour photographs. It is divided into several sections including the land, the oceans, the elements, evolution, and civilization. I strongly recommend this book for all those with an interest and concern for the issues affecting the future of our planet. Around the World in 80 Days (1989) by Michael Palin. An extremely readable, amusing, and, in places, poignant account of the author's attempt to follow in the foot-steps of Phileas Fogg. Superbly illustrated and divided into bite-size pieces, it makes an excellent escapist's bedtime read for dark winter nights. Quest for Adventure (1981) by Chris Bonington. This wonderful book, dedicated to some of the world's greatest adventurers, is superbly written and well illustrated. It trans-ports the reader into territories that the ordinary person can only dream about and sets the imagination racing. Among the adventures described are the Kon-Tiki voyage, the flight of Apollo 11, the scaling of Mount Everest, and the crossing of Antarctica. Maps and Map-Makers (1987) by R V Tooley. Maps have always been at the heart of geography and they are also extremely collectable antiques, being attractive to look at and holding their value well. This book forms an excellent introduction to maps and the cartographers that painstakingly produced them and it will probably whet the appetite for seeking out some originals in second-hand bookshops. How to Shit in the Woods (1989) by Kathleen Meyer, This is an extremely amusing paperback which will bring a wry smile to all those who have been camping or back-packing in the bush. There is, however, a serious side to this American book: 'No longer can we drink even a drop [of mountain water] before purifying it without running the risk of getting sick.' Restless Earth (1972) by Nigel Calder. This book represented something of a land-mark in being one of the fast general readers (it accompanied a television series) to examine the role of the newly forming concept of plate tectonics in accounting for the major physical features of the Earth's surface. It is superbly illustrated and is still highly regarded today. Human Geography: Evolution or Revolution? (1975) by Michael Chisholm. In the 1960s and 1970s there were a number of important developments and innovations in the nature of geography and Professor Michael Chisholm attempted to make some sense of the changes. 'The primary purpose in writing is to convey an account of the direction and purpose of recent changes in human geography as conceived by some-one fairly close to the scene.' Chisholm's book is a fascinating read for it traces the history of the subject to the mid-1970s and attempts to look ahead into what was then regarded as a very uncertain future. Discovering Landscape (1985) by Andrew Goudie and Rita Gardner. This book aims to 'discover and try to explain some of the most appealing features of the natural landscape'. It is a splendid book for all those with an inquisitive mind who want to know a bit more about the history and geology of well-known British sites such as Helvellyn, Lulworth Cove, and Cheddar Gorge. Disasters (1980) by John Whittow. This fascinating book looks at the causes and effects of the major natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, and floods, writ-ten by a very well-respected author. It contains some amazing and often chilling eye-
witness accounts. Geology and Scenery in England and Wales (1971) by A E Trueman. For those with an interest in the geological development of particular landscapes in England and Wales such as the West Country moors, the Cotswolds, or the Lake District, this is a must for it is both informative and highly readable. Inside the Third World (1979) by Paul Harrison. This powerful and thought-provoking book is highly recommended for all those who have an interest in the Third World. As a freelance journalist Paul Harrison travelled extensively, particularly in Africa, and this book describes his many experiences in the general field of development. It contains some marvellous and often highly moving descriptive passages of landscapes and people.

History

History is an important branch of belles lettres, offering a writer the combined attractions of freedom of interpretation and a supposedly factual armature. When the balance between these elements is right, the results for the reader can be thrilling and compelling — for by taking in the parcelled past we take in something of ourselves as well. History cannot teach us prescriptive lessons about action, since each conjunction of character and circumstance is unique; its function is rather a moral one, offering us a mirror in which to see ourselves. To do this, we need a clear presentation of the facts combined with a critical overview which takes account of the writer's and reader's present as well as of the delineated past. The books in this list (a necessarily brief selection with no attempt at chronological completeness) have been chosen for just these qualities — and because, in many cases, they offer the pleasures of wit and style as well. Bloch, Marc, French, 1886-1944. The Historian's Craft. Rec: TLS Febvre, Lucien, French, 1878-1956. The Struggle for History. Rec: TLS (history)

American History

There are two notable characteristics of these books — perhaps they reflect characteristics of the American nation at large. The first is an urgent, philosophical, ideological approach to the creation of a just society; the second is a powerful antithesis between town and country, with its corollary, a species of romantic nostalgia for rural innocence.

See ANTHROPOLOGY (Agee); ARCHAEOLOGY (Hume); AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Adams, Franklin. Grant, Malcolm X, Miller): BIOGRAPHY (Flexner, Freeman, Parkman, Sandburg, Van Doren, Wall); DIARIES (Lincoln); FEMINISM (Flexner); HISTORY/ASIAN (Fitzgerald); POLITICS (Acheson. Piven. Woodward. B.. Woodward, C. Vann): SOCIOLOGY (Lewis, Lynd, Riesman)
Aaron, Daniel Men of Good Hope: A Story of American Progressives (1950)
Graceful biographical essays on assorted radicals, reformers and utopians (Henry George, Thorstein Veblen, Teddy Roosevelt, etc) by a literary historian with no discernible axe to erind. Also: Writers on the Left: Episodes in American Literary Communism; The Unwritten War: American Writers and the Civil War

Adams, Henry History of the United States during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (4 vols, 1889-
91)
Comparable in every respect to Macaulay's great Whig history of England in the later 17th century, this is possibly the best single work by an American historian. Its vast scope is too much for many people; the fascinating first six chapters of volume I are separately collected in The United States in 1800. Also: The Degradation of the Democratic Dogma. See AUTOBIOGRAPHY; HISTORY/BRITISH (Macaulay); RELIGION Aztecs, Aztecs (Mexico), 12th-15th C. Works on the Aztecs. (See also Broken Spears) Rec: Ward Bailyn, Bernard Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967)
Stresses the role of ideas — about constitutionalism and corruptions thereof — in both Britain and pre-Revolutionary America. Also: New England Merchants in the Seventeenth Century; The Origins of American Politics, etc Beard. C., M. and W. The Beards' New Basic History of the United States (1960)
it a Beards'-eye view of North American history, from the arrival of the Norsemen in the 11th century to the launching of the first US spy satellite in 1960. Quick-moving, sometimes glib (and a settlers' view: indigenous Americans systematically ignored); but a useful general perspective of the flow of events. Berger, Raoul Impeachment: The Constitutional Problems (1973) To many observers, the events culminating in the impeachment of Richard M. Nixon are some of the most crucial in American post-war constitutional history. This book (date of publication uncannily apt) is a judicious examination of the historical and legal issues. Also: Executive Privilege: A Constitutional Myth Black Elk, Native American, 1863-1950. Black Elk Speaks (With William G. Neihardt (1881-1973)). Rec: Counterpunch Trans Hungry Mind Utne (history)
Boorstin, Daniel J. The Americans (3 vols, 1958- 73)
This trilogy ( The Colonial Experience; The National Experience; The Democratic Experience) has little in common with the usual plodding textbook. Boorstin celebrates American vitality, adaptability and know-how. Lively, affectionate tribute to the American dream made flesh. Also: The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson; The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America Boorstin, Daniel. American, 1914-2004. The Image, or What Happened to the American Dream. Rec: LAT Bridenbaugh, Carl The Beginnings of the American People: Vexed and Troubled Englishmen. 1590- 1642(1968)
Brilliant portraits of life in late Tudor and Stuart England, with emphasis on the reasons — economic, religious, political — why emigration to North America became a powerfully attractive prospect. Also: Mitre and Sceptre, etc
Brown, Dee Alexander. American, 1908-2002. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. Rec: NYPL (history) Various authors, Aztecs (Mexico), 1519 ff.. Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico (Ed. by Miguel León-Portillo). Rec: Counterpunch Trans Brown, Dee Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1971)
* The near-annihilation of the American Indian. A shaming book: white behaviour depicted as almost uniformly dark. Also: Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow Cash, W. J. The Mind of the South (1941)
Earnest revealing study by a Southern newspaperman of the narrow, twisted mind (as he saw it) of his beloved region. The South Cash described is now largely gone, but many still remember it — with more pain than pleasure. Catton, Bruce This Hallowed Ground (1956)
American Civil War from the North (Union) side. Style sometimes purplish; interpretations sometimes superficial; but steeped in period, readable, often memorable. See Wilson for literary images from the Civil War. Also: The Coming Fury; Terrible Swift Sword: Never Call Retreat
Chernow, Ron. American, 1949- . The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Finance. Rec: ML Nonfiction
Cockburn, Andrew. American, 1947- . The Threat: Inside the Soviet Military Machine. Rec: Counterpunch NF Coleman, Terry Passage to America (1972)
In the second half of the 19th century, over two million ordinary British people embarked on a journey as terrifying and unpredictable as any traveller's to Cathay or Arabia Deserta: from the slums and famine of Ireland and northern England they took ship for America. Swindled, robbed, plundered by diseases, insulted and terrorized, they eventually arrived. This book describes their incredible journey, mainly in the words of contemporary documents. Commager, Henry Steele Britain through American Eyes (1974) i * Acerbic anthology of American reactions to the mother country from 1778 to 1948. What an arrogant, stuffy lot the British were! Also: The American Mind Demos, John A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony (1970)
17th-century Puritans, the history of the family. De Voto, Bernard Across the Wide Missouri (1947)
De Voto was a popular historian of many facets of American life, but especially good about the West. Also: The Course of Empire Dewey, John Democracy and Education (1916)
Dewey was one of America's most respected philosophers; this book was perhaps his most influential. Richly thought-
provoking, it enunciates propositions that have since become dogmas. See PHILOSOPHY Douglass, Frederick. American, ca. 1817-1895 . My Bondage and My Freedom. Rec: Good Reading Selected Essays. Rec: SJC Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Rec: Bloom Rexmo The Constitution and Slavery. Rec: SJC Fischer, David H. Growing Old in America (1977)
The young country is growing old. Ingenious, personal and polemical theories on the transition from gerontocracy, via filiocracy to senility. No solutions. Also: The Revolution of American Conservatism; Historians' Fallacies Foote, Shelby. American, 1916- . The Civil War. Rec: ML Nonfiction National Review Fredrickson, George M. The Black Image in the White Mind (1971) White attitudes — callous, condescending, sometimes philanthropic, occasionally admirable — to black Americans, 1814-1917. Written in excellent clean prose. See Genovese; Jordan. Genovese, Eugene Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (1975)
1$ Huge, imaginative study not of what was done for or to slaves but of their own efforts to preserve sanity and dignity, and of slaveowners who were not always monsters. Also: The World the Slaveholders Made. See Fredrickson; Jordan. Genovese, Eugene D.. American, 1930- . Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made. Rec: National Review George, Henry Progress and Poverty (1879)
A fine book about the perennial conflict between rich and poor, this famous work proposed a method of resolving all economic problems — so-called "single tax" — and led to Single Tax candidates all over the country for a generation. See Aaron. Halberstam, D. The Best and the Brightest (1972)
Power in America: how the best and brightest brains were called to be knights in JFK's Camelot, and how their light sputtered out in the mud and slime of the Vietnam War. Halberstam's scalpel prose and clear-eyed conscience (especially on US involvement in Asia) make him one of the most readable, as well as one of the sharpest, commentators on US affairs. See MEDIA Haley, Alex. American, 1921-1992. (See also X, Malcolm) Roots. Rec: Boston PL Hungry Mind Handlin, Oscar The Uprooted (1951)
Excellent book on the American immigrant, that maker of a civilization who has latterly come in for so much study. Handlin is a sympathetic and dependable observer; his story is compelling. See Coleman. Hartz, Louis The Liberal Tradition in America (1955)
Ingenious development of an appealingly simple thesis: that the US, being a post-feudal creation, has lacked both the pain and the profundity of older, European nations. Also: The Founding of New Societies Higham, John Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860- 1925 (1955)
Dispassionate analysis of the resentments and misgivings of native-born Americans in the face of large-scale immigration. Hofstadter, Richard The Age of Reform from Bryan to F.D.R. (1955)
Hofstadter was one of the most gifted American historians of the
century — elegant in style, broad in scope, able to borrow from other disciplines without going overboard. This book, an analysis of Populists and Progressives up to New Dealers, is characteristically clear and crisp. Also: The American Political Tradition; Anti-Intellectualism in American Life; The Progressive Historians: Turner, Beard, Parrington, etc Howe, Irving The Immigrant Jews of New York, 1880-1922 (1976)
Also: The American Communist Party (with Lewis Coser); Steady Work; World of Our Fathers. See Handlin.
Jones, Howard Mmnford 0 Strange New World: American Culture, the Formative Years (1964)
0 Wide-ranging, rambling, stimulating discussion of the New World's image, or images, from Columbus to the early 19th century. Also: The Age of Energy: Varieties of American Experience, 1865 — 1915
Jones, Maldwyn Destination America (1976)
Concise, expert account of "push and pull" factors that induced so many millions to leave their own land and come to the US. Also: American Immigration. See Bridenbaugh; Coleman; Handlin. Jordan, Winthrop D. White over Black (1968)
0 P How Americans, absorbing some of the assumptions of Europe, came to visualize black peoples of the past as — variously — innocent and depraved, docile and dangerous, human and subhuman, in need of civilizing yet incapable of passing beyond savagery. An erudite, perceptive book. (Compare Fiedler: Life and Death in the American Novel.) See Fredrickson; Genovese. Josephy, Alvin M., Jr. The Indian Heritage of America (1968) * 1 f Comprehensive survey of the Indian cultures of North and South America; brief, savage final chapters on the arrival of the whites. Essential background to Brown (qv). See MYTHOLOGY (Burland) Kammen, Michael People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization (1972)* f Kammen, a colonial historian, argues that from the outset the Americans were confronted with dual systems of authority and belief — those of the Old World and the New. He carries the theme toward our own time, maintaining that Americans have become addicted to dualisms. Witty, resourceful and provocative. Also: A Rope of Sand: The Colonial Agents, British Politics and the American Revolution; A Season of Youth: The American Revolution and the Historical Imagination
Kennedy, John F.. American, 1917-1963. Profiles in Courage. Rec: LAT King, Martin Luther, Jr.. American, 1929-1968. Why We Can't Wait. Rec: ML Nonfiction Kofsky, Frank. American, 1935-1997. Harry Truman and the War Scare of 1948. Rec: Counterpunch NF Kolko, Gabriel Main Currents in Modern American History (1976) 9* Occasionally doctrinaire, but very good on class, economic structure and foreign policy since about 1870. Also: The Triumph of Conservatism. 1900-1916; Railroads and Regulation, 1877-1916 Kraditor, Aileen S. The Ideas of the Women's Suffrage Movement, 1890- 1920(1965)
Also: Up from the Pedestal: Selected Writings in the History of American Feminism. See FEMINISM (Flexner) Lasch, Christopher The New Radicalism in America, 1889-1963 (1965)
Opinionated assessments of various opinionated Americans, from Jane Addams and Randolph Bourne to Norman Mailer. Also: The Agony of the American Left; Haven in a Heartless World: The Family Besieged
Le Sueur, Meridel. American, 1900-1996. North Star Country (history of Minnesota). Rec: Counterpunch NF
McCullough, David. American, 1933- . The Great Bridge. Rec: ML Nonfiction (history) McNaught, K. The History of Canada (1970) McPherson, James M.. American, 1936- . Battle Cry of Freedom. Rec: ML Nonfiction National Review Mencken, H. L. The American Language (1936)
Serious, thorough study by the enfant terrible of US journalism of the language that he loved and studied all his life. Nothing escaped his quick eye and ear and all of it is here. Mencken, H. L.. American, 1880-1956. The American Language. Rec: ML Nonfiction Meyers, Marvin The Jacksonian Persuasion: Politics and Belief (1957) Political rhetoric, economic and reformist ideas, Tocqueville, the social novels of James Fenimore Cooper — out of such materials Meyers evokes the mood of mid-19th-century USA. Miller, Perry The New England Mind: From Colony to Province (1953)
0 9* Miller did as much as anyone to rescue Puritanism from the caricatures of Mencken and others. A historian of ideas, he revealed the power and profundity of Puritan theology — and in this book, the retreat of the Church (up to about 1730) in the face of New England secularism. Also: The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century; Errand into the Wilderness: The Life of the Mind in America, from the Revolution to the Civil War, etc Morgan, Edmund S. The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop (1958)
Economical, vivid biography of the Suffolk gentleman-lawyer and Puritan churchman who sailed for the New World in 1630 to become the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Also: The Stamp Act Crisis; The Puritan Family Morison, S. E. Oxford History of the American People (1965) Controversial, idiosyncratic, fascinating history of America by the dean of New England historians. One of the two or three best single-volume histories — much more fun than Beard's (qv) for example. See BIOGRAPHY; TRAVEL Morison, Samuel Eliot. American, 1887-1976. The Oxford History of the American People. Rec: Fadiman 3 Morris, Edmund. American, 1940- . The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. Rec: ML Nonfiction New York Times (publisher). American, Pub. 1971. The Pentagon Papers (Investigative reporting by Neil Sheehan et al.). Rec: LAT Parkman, Francis The Oregon Trail (1847)
Parkman, a frail Harvard graduate, followed the track of Lewis and Clark and in the process became a man — and a great historian. Also: The Conspiracy of Pontiac, etc. See BIOGRAPHY; TRAVEL (Lewis) Parkman, Francis. American, 1823-1893. France and England in North America. Rec: Bloom Rexmo The California and Oregon Trail. Rec: Bloom Parrington, Vernon Louis. American, 1871-1929. Main Currents in American Thought: An Interpretation of American Literature from the Beginnings to 1920. Rec: National Review Peterson, Merrill The Jefferson Image in the American Mind (1960) This book traces the ups and downs of the great man's reputation since his death in 1826.
Philby, Kim, English, 1912-1988. My Silent War. Rec: Counterpunch NF (history — cia) Washington Post (publisher). American, Pub. 1974. The Presidential Transcripts (Ed. By Carl Bernstein, et al.). Rec: LAT Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. The Imperial Presidency (1973) 9 Tends to blame Republican incumbents for creating the "runaway" presidency, and to be kinder to Democrats. Yet abundantly documented, lucid and incisive. Also: The Age of Jackson; The Age of Roosevelt; Robert Kennedy and His Times Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr.. American, 1917- . A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Rec: LAT The Age of Jackson. Rec: ML Nonfiction Sheehan, Neil. American, 1936- . A Bright Shining Lie. Rec: ML Nonfiction (history — Vietnam) Sinclair, Andrew Prohibition: The Era of Excess (1962)
_I/
High-spirited, boldly argued social history held together by a clear thesis: that rural and small-town America has kept on fighting last-ditch battles against the city slickers. Also: The Betted-fait The Emancipation of American Women Slotkin, Richard Regeneration through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600— 1860 (1973)
The rich and complex function of the American wilderness in the European and then the American imagination: solitude, savagery (noble and ignoble), Davy Crocketts and Daniel Boones. Eloquent, analytical follow-up to the work of Turner (qv); especially interesting to read in conjunction with Thoreau's Walden. See Smith. Smith, Henry Nash Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth (1950)
*
Still one of the best attempts to portray America, and the West in particular, as a state of mind or set of ideas (a passage to India, a desert, a land for farmers, a back-drop for dime-novel heroics). Excellent use of imaginative literature. See Slotkin; Turner.
Smith, Page. American, 1917- . A People's History of the United States. Rec: Fadiman 3 (history)
Tarbell, Ida. American, 1857-1944. The History of the Standard Oil Company. Rec: Boston PL Counterpunch NF Thompson, Hunter S.. American, 1937-2005. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. Rec: LAT Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Rec: Counterpunch NF Turner, Frederick Jackson The Frontier in American History (1920) 4*
The key essay in this collection, "The Significance of the Frontier", dates back to 1893. It brought fame to Turner and started off decades of argument as to whether — Turner's argument — American democracy was truly and wholly a product of the frontier West. See Slotkin; Smith.
Turner, Frederick Jackson. American, 1861-1932. The Frontier in American History. Rec: ML Nonfiction Twain, Mark Life on the Mississippi (1883)*
There are those, not a few, who feel this was Twain's greatest book. Trenchant, uproarious revelations of the American character — a wise and marvellous book. See FICTION/NOVELS; FICTION/SHORT STORIES; HUMOUR; TRAVEL
Valentine, Douglas. American, 1949- . The Phoenix Program. Rec: Counterpunch NF (history — Vietnam)
Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnamese, 1912- . How We Won the War. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Williams, William Appleman. American, 1921-1990. The Contours of American History. Rec: ML Nonfiction Wilson, Edmund Patriotic Gore (1962)
dti *
Literary history in Wilson's special vein: relaxed, ruminative; good on personality as well as on style and social context. Essays, beginning with "Uncle Tom's Cabin", on North-South antagonism, the Civil War and its aftermath. Also: The Triple Thinkers; The Shock of Recognition; The American Earthquake, etc. See DIARIES; LITERARY CRITICISM; POLITICS Woodward, C. Vann Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel (1938)
Watson was a Georgia demagogue, veering between sincere radicalism and the politics of resentment. Splendid introduction to the Dixie mentality. Also: Reunion and Reaction; The Compromise of 1877. See POLITICS Worster, Donald. American, 1941- . Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West. Rec: Counterpunch NF Zinn, Howard. American, 1922- . A People's History of the United States. Rec: Harvard Utne

Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn, whose historical work centers on the history of the colonies, the American Revolution and the Anglo-
American world in the preindustrial era, is the Adams University Professor at Harvard University and director of the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History. He has written extensively in his field and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for The Ideological Origin of the American Revolution. He has taught at Harvard since 1949.
Wonderful books to read: David Thomson. Woodbrook (1974). New York: Irish Book Center, 1981. (Pb)
A profoundly moving memoir of a young English historian's love affair with Ireland and with his young Irish tutee. It is a perfect merging of personal experience and historical awareness, beautifully written. It explains the Anglo-Irish tragedy better than any book I know, and shows history to be a living force. Thomas Mann. Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer, Adrian Leverkahn, as Told by a Friend (1947).
H. T. Lowe-Porter, trans. New York: Random House, 1971.
A brilliant commentary, in fictional form, on German culture — its great achievements and deadly disease. Beyond all the learning and speculation in the book, it is wonderfully inventive, simply as fiction. Ernest Jones. The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud (1953-57). 3 vols. New York: Basic Books, 1961. (Pb)
I read this as something of a morality tale of the heroic achievements of one of the most creative minds in the history of Western culture. It is told as a triumph of sheer genius and creativity over all sorts of adversity. And it happens to be true. William Faulkner. Absalom! Absalom! (1936). New York: Random House, 1972. (Pb)
This dark, multigenerational saga of Southern life, woven in an elaborate narrative structure, swept me along by its wildly imaginative storytelling. And then I discovered that there are real historical models for most of the major figures, especially the mysterious Colonel Sutpen. It is soaring fiction and weirdly perceptive history at the same time. William Trevor. The Stories of William Trevor. New York: Penguin, 1983. (Pb)
These are the best contemporary short stories I know: deadly bullets, all of them, piercing some sensitive area of common experience. Trevor, William, Irish, 1928- . The Love Department. Rec: Ward The Children of Dynmouth. Rec: Ward Virginia Woolf. The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Nigel Nicolson, ed. 6 vols. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 197580.
The sheer verbal skill in these dashed-off letters is superb — and they are marvelously perceptive and penetrating. So are her Diaries.

Alan Brinkley

Alan Brinkley is the Dunwalke Associate Professor of American History at Harvard, specializing in twentieth-century American history. His attention focuses on the Depression, the Neu) Deal, and the American South, His work Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression won the American Book Award in 1982. He will soon publish The Transformation of New Deal Liberalism. William Faulkner. Absalom! Absalom! (1936). New York: Random House, 1972. (Pb)
When I try to think of books that have given me particular pleasure and that have affected me in particularly important ways, I think first of William Faulkner's Absalom! Absalom! (1936), which I have always considered one of the greatest of all American novels, a work I've read and reread with constantly increasing admiration. Long before I became a historian, I loved this book for its remarkable depth and complexity and its enormous passion and excitement. Eventually, however, I came to see in this novel some compelling justifications for my own interest in the past. It succeeds better than any work I know in revealing how history can operate as a living force in the lives of men and women. Robert Penn Warren. All the King's Men (1946). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.
For many of the same reasons, I'm greatly attached to Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men. It's a novel principally concerned with individuals and their pasts; and it too reveals how history defines (and often burdens) us in dealing with the present. But it's also a novel about politics, and few works of literature convey as clearly the elemental forces that politics can at times unleash. Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). New York: Harper & Row, 1984. (Pb)
For somewhat different reasons, I think of Huckleberry Finn, the greatest of Twain's works and in my opinion the greatest American literary achievement of its, and perhaps any, era. Huckleberry Finn reveals more about nineteenth-century America than any work I know. And yet it also displays a moral sensibility that resonates clearly with the values and beliefs of our own era. George F. Kennan. Memoirs (1967). 2 vols. New York: Pantheon, 1983.
George Kennan's Memoirs, especially the first volume (1925-1950), have always seemed to me a work of special importance. It's an account of an indisputably important public life, and yet it reveals as well the private world of a man of enormous sensitivity and reflectiveness. I know of few pictures of the public world so deftly and contemplatively drawn. Richard Hofstadter. The Age of Reform; From Bryan to F.D.R. New York: Knopf, 1955.
Richard Hofstadter's The Age of Reform is a work with which I for the most part profoundly disagree. But it has also always been a model to me of literate, bold, and imaginative historical inquiry. It's a reminder to professional historians of how scholarship can move beyond the narrow, specialized bounds we impose on ourselves and make itself of interest and importance to a larger world. Graham Swift. Waterland: A Novel (1983). New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.
Among very recent works, I'm particularly fond of Waterland, a novel by a young English writer named Graham Swift. Like Absalom! Absalom! and All the King's Men, Waterland is not only a "story," but a "history," an exploration of how families struggle with the burdens of their own pasts. It's also a wonderfully entertaining and absorbing mystery of great sophistication and complexity.

John R. Stilgoe

Author of Common Landscape of America, 1580 to 1845, Metropolitan Corridor: Railroads and the American Scene and a forthcoming book on American suburbs, John R. Stilgoe teaches the analysis of landscapes at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. He farms as an avocation.
These five books introduce five scales of space — from the Mediterranean basin to an obscure New England farm — and offer a feast of perceptual biases and techniques: whatever the challenges of the next century, the delight that so often accompanies disciplined scrutiny of the physical environment will continue to hearten alert travelers and readers, and perhaps make the challenges less daunting. Fernand Braudel. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (1949). Sian Reynolds, trans. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. (Pb)
One of the few genuinely masterful works of modern geographical-historical writing, Braudel's fourteen-hundred-page Mediterranean defines a region ecologically (from the southern limits of the date palm to the northern limits of the olive tree) and culturally (from the Arab east and south to the Catholic north and west), demonstrating in intricate detail the complex and fragile interaction of physical environment and human effort in one moment of time past. No recent work better displays the sumptuous richness of meanings implicit in the word region. Henry James. The American Scene (1907). Leon Edel, ed. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1968. (Pb)
Written after a self-imposed absence of some two decades, The American Scene is James's nonfiction account of stupendous change in the landscape and life of the eastern United States, change best designated as "modernization" perhaps, but certainly change that no participant — and no foreign visitor — perceived so crisply. James left an essentially agricultural nation and returned to one urban, industrialized, and ensnared in mechanized haste; high-speed trains, rural trolley cars and motorcars had changed forever the traveler's perception of landscape, foreshortening distances, twisting angles of vision and blurring detail, making the whole visual environment a sort of scene. Timothy Dwight. Travels in New England and New-York (1821-22). 4 vols.. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969.
At the close of the eighteenth century, the president of Yale College began riding horseback (and later by chaise) through the northeastern part of the new Republic. His Travels details not only thousands of landscape constituents — everything from the texture of soil to the shape of bridges to the color of meetinghouses — along his winding routes, but interprets the landscape emerging from wilderness as the emblem of distinctly American virtues — order, simplicity, individualism, self-reliance. His volumes offer a glimpse of slow, self-paced, methodical wandering and a wealth of insight into the cultural baggage any observer of landscape and customs brings to a region, and particularly to his own. Henry David Thoreau. Cape Cod (1865). New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1972. (Pb)
As Thoreau walked the edge of the land, he found real wilderness, a spray-soaked zone of eroding sand, shipwreck, packs of wild dogs, sharks and people inured to assaults by wind, tide and surf, a zone that disconcerted the lover of Concord woodlots and fields. Cape Cod grapples with the concept of the margin, the amorphous zone neither wholly landscape nor wholly sea. There Thoreau encountered the edge of fear, the awesome recognition that tiny Cape Cod thrusts into an alien element, an element so powerful that it shapes not only Cape Cod landscape, but Cape Cod life, Cape Cod unmasks the Thoreau disguised in Walden, reveals the incredible fragility of a small land continuously besieged, and rams home the terrible intimacy of the walker exploring alien space. Donald Hall. String Too Short to Be Saved (1961). Boston: David R. Godine, 1979. (Pb)
A New Hampshire hill farm in the Depression and the early years of World War II forms the setting for autobiographical memory. But more than memory suffuses this brilliant book. Hall inquires deeply into the love of a farmer for his farm and its neighborhood, the love for individual rocks and blueberry plantings, for old cellar holes and hay fields, for neighbors as individuals; and he scrutinizes the survival of nineteenth-century (and earlier) agricultural techniques and attitudes into the twentieth century. On the slopes of Ragged Mountain endure an earlier landscape and an earlier way of living almost wholly isolated from the world-shaking events far off in cities, in Europe, in the Pacific. Stewardship. simplicity, forbearance, compassion — such are the virtues manifested in the fields and buildings city folk scorn as scrubby, rundown, or old-fashioned as their automobiles race past.
The Worlds of Christopher Columbus
W.D. and C.R. Phillips
Small Earth
Columbus
F. Fernandez-Armesto
Small Earth
The Invention of America E. O'Gorman
Small Earth
The Columbian Exchange A.W. Crosby
Small Earth

Ancient History

The predominance of Greek and especially Roman topics reflects, perhaps, a consistent Western preoccupation with cultural and social origins. But there are good representative books on the other principal ancient civilizations too.

See ARCHAEOLOGY (Chadwick, Clark, Cottrell, Hume. Mackendrick); ARCHITECTURE (Boethius, Lawrence, Vitruvius); AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Caesar); BIOGRAPHY (Plutarch); DIARIES (Cicero, Pliny, Seneca); FEMINISM (Pomeroy); FOOD (Apicius): HISTORY/ASIAN (Barham, Eberhard, Hall. Hambly); HISTORY/LATIN AMERICAN (Katz); LITERARY CRITICISM (High-et); MATHEMATICS (Lindsay); MYTHOLOGY (Harrison, Kirk); POLITICS (Aristotle, Plato); TRAVEL (Pausanias)

Arrian, Greek, ca. 100-180 CE. Anabasis. Rec: Ward Georg Gerster, The Past from Above Rec: cooltools
2005, 415 pages
$41 Gibbon, Edward Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-88)
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Certainly the wittiest and possibly the greatest of all European historical works; should be read in its "damned thick" entirety — but for the faint-hearted there is D. M. Low's excellent one-volume abridgement. Gibbon, Edward, English, 1737-1794. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Rec: Adler Aquinas Bloom GBWW Good Reading Lubbock Rex Rexmo Seymour-
Smith Ward Autobiography. Rec: Adler Grant, Michael The Ancient Mediterranean(1969)
Grant is one of the great modern popularizers of ancient history. He takes short cuts, makes quick assessments; but he is persuasive and generally reliable. This book discusses the interplay between all the civilizations round the Mediterranean — a vast amount of disparate erudition encapsulated in 300 readable pages. Also: A History of Rome; Nero. etc Various Authors, Greek, 7th C BCE-10th C CE. Greek Anthology. Rec: Rex Grote, George, English, 1794-1871. A History of Greece. Rec: Lubbock Herodotus Histories (5th century ac)
The "father of history" ranges far and wide to analyse and describe the confrontation between East and West with which the 5th century BC began. Discursive, anecdotal, personal: one of the most enjoyable books of the ancient world. Herodotus, Greek, ca. 484-425 BCE. The Histories. Rec: Adler Aquinas Bloom Col37 Col61 Collh91 Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 GBWW Lubbock Rex Seymour-Smith SJC (Selections) Ward Heyden, A. A. M. and Scullard, H. II. Atlas of the Ancient World (1955)
a*J
Not just maps, but hundreds of splendid photographs and a well-written, informative text. Introduces classical history and culture as well as geography. Huart, C. Ancient Persia and Iranian Civilization (1972)
Crisp, clear and informative on the culture, society and military achievements of the ancient Medes and Persians. See HISTORY/ASIAN (Irving) Johnson, P. The Civilization of Ancient Egypt (1978)
For the beginner, a useful guide: enthusiastic, well-written (in attractively breathless style), reasonably accurate. Readers whose interest Johnson whets will go elsewhere for more objective, authoritative views (his bibliography points the way); but there is no better starting-point than here. Jones, A. H. M. The Later Roman Empire, 284-602(1964)
"This book is not a history of the later Roman empire. It is a social, economic and administrative survey of the empire, historically treated" — and all you are ever likely to want to know about it can be found herein. Also: The Greek City; The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces Josephus A History of the Jewish War (AD 75-79)
Jewish history, until Masada, recounted in choice vocabulary and high literary style by ex-combatant Jewish turncoat. Of particular interest to those who seek illumination on the Jewish character (or characters) at the time of Christ. Also: Jewish Antiquities Lehmann, J. The Hittites (1977)
If you can stomach its relentlessly jolly, journalistic style, this book sheds fascinating light on a very dark corner of Old Testament history. Lempriere, Jean Bibliotheca Classica (1788)
Oa*
Also called Classical Dictionary; an absorbing alphabetical account of personalities, themes and structures of classical works, as quirky and personal as Dr Johnson's Dictionary. Avoid all modern editions, which soften the delights in favour of academic accuracy. Lewis, N. and Reinhold, M. Roman Civilization: A Sourcebook (2 vols, 1955) 111
Anthology of translated extracts covering all aspects of Roman life: volume I the republic, volume li the empire. Authors range from the grandest of historical figures to humble soldiers writing home from barracks far overseas; translations are excellent, notes, bibliography and index are unobtrusive, helpful. Livy History (1st century AD)
Oa*
The remains of Livy's vast history of Rome (originally in 142 volumes, now reduced to something like 700 pages) have, more than any other works, formed later views of the Roman character. Moralistic historiography in its finest flowering. Livy, Roman, 59 BCE-17 CE . History of Rome. Rec: Adler Aquinas Lubbock Early Rome. Rec: Rex Mellersh, H. E. L. Chronology of the Ancient World (1976) Magnificently simple: chronology of events from 10,000 BC to AD 799. Covers every available area of civilization; endlessly fascinating cross-parallels. Procopius The History of the Wars (c. 565)
The reign of Justinian and the achievements of Belisarius (about whom Robert Graves wrote a famous novel), recorded by a contemporary. The A necdota (Secret History) forms an appendix not to be missed by those whose taste is (in the author's words) for "wanton crime and shameless debauchery, intrigue and scandal". Good English translation: Loeb Library. See FICTION/NOVELS (Graves) Procopius, Byzantine Greek, ca. 498-ca. 560 . Works. Rec: Ward Radice, Betty Who's Who in the Ancient World (1971)
a
Pocket reference to Greece and Rome. Mythological and historical characters presented with essential details and useful reference to their place in later art, music and literature. Good introduction on the classical tradition in the Western world, and its relevance today. See LITERARY CRITICISM (Highet) Rostovtzeff, M. The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World (1941)
Planned originally as a "short survey", this monumental work is the classic treatment of one of the most important periods of Greek history. Also: Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire Saggs, H. W. F. The Greatness That Was Babylon (1962)
A thick book (560 pages) on a neglected subject. Comprehensive; accessible. Sallust The Conspiracy of Catiline (c. 35 BC)
Analysis of the decline and fall of the Roman republic by a perverse, morose but not unintelligent contemporary. Vivid, stylized portrait of Catiline as a species of half-mad revolutionary mobster; much information on political and social conditions and attitudes as the republic rocked towards its end. Selzer, M. Caesar, Politician and Statesman (1968)
Standard scholarly biography of the "bald-headed adulterer" (as his soldiers, marching behind his triumph, sang of him). For a cooler, less authoritative view, see Michael Grant's (qv) Julius Caesar, for a fictional gloss, see Rex Warner's Young Caesar. See AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Caesar); DIARIES (Cicero) Suetonius Lives of the Twelve Caesars (c. 121)
i a
Suetonius was the arch gossip columnist of the Roman world: his book is full of scurrilous gossip, damaging innuendo, distortion and over-emphasis. Hugely entertaining. Good English translation by Graves (who also plundered Suetonius for many of the juicier details in his I Claudius and Claudius the God). See FICTION/NOVELS (Graves) Suetonius, Roman, ca. 69-ca. 150 CE. Twelve Caesars. Rec: Ward Syme, R. The Roman Revolution (1939)
The modern classic work in ancient history. The subject is the establishment of the imperial autocracy by Augustus; the style is wilful and self-pleasing, demanding several readings; the rewards are great. Tacitus, Roman, ca. 55-ca. 117 CE . Annals. Rec: Adler Aquinas GBWW Seymour-Smith SJC (Selections) Ward Histories. Rec: Adler GBWW Rex Ward Agricola. Rec: Adler Germania. Rec: Adler Lubbock Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War (5th century BC) Thucydides' work (perhaps the first-ever "scientific history") is idiosyncratic in its selection and treatment of material, and in style. Fascinating chiefly for intelligent discussion of some of the philosophical problems thrown up by history: the purpose of historiography itself, the sources of political power, the problems of empire, and the reasons for decline and defeat. Good translation: Crawley. Thucydides, Greek, 470/460-ca.400 BCE. History of the Peloponnesian War. Rec: Adler Aquinas Bloom Col37 Col61 Colcc91 Collh91 Fadiman 3 Fadiman 4 GBWW Good Reading Harvard Lubbock Rex Seymour-Smith SJC Utne Ward Toynbee, A. J. Hannibal's Legacy (2 vols, 1965)
Exhaustive and perhaps the best account of the effects of Hannibal on Italy and the Mediterranean world. See HISTORY/WORLD
Veyne, Paul, French, 1930- . The Roman Empire. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Xenophon Anabasis (4th century Bc)
it
Fascinating memoir of the extrication of 10,000 Greek mercenaries from Persia by the general who led them. Xenophon's appeal is largely in his relaxed unaffected style. Without literary aspirations, he has an interesting, human tale to tell, and tells it well. Also: Hellenica: Memorabilia Xenophon, Greek, ca. 429-ca. 354 BCE. Cyropaedia. Rec: Ward Memorabilia. Rec: Lubbock Anabasis. Rec: Lubbock

Franklin Ford

Franklin Ford is Harvard's McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History, respected for his work in modern French and German history. His research interest in the history of murder and tyrannicide culminated in the recent book Political Murder. He is a former dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
My selection, as you will see, is highly personal. They are all favorites of mine, in part because each of them has helped me to think in the present, about the past, with some hope of making more sense of the rest of the time continuum: the part that still stretches ahead.
A fuller understanding of humanity, including its gropings and errors, but also its achievements and flashes of greatness, is what I take to be one of the historian's primary goals. It must also be a goal of anyone who thinks seriously about dangers and opportunities, some of which are already urgent realities while others require imagination to discern even as serious possibilities. My choice of works that seem "historical" in the best, because extended, sense will no doubt surprise some readers; but so may the contents of the works themselves, when seen in that light. Garrett Mattingly. The Armada (1959). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984. (Pb)
Mark Twain. The Comic Mark Twain Reader. Charles Neider, ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977.
George Otto Trevelyan. The Early History of Charles James Fox (1880). New York: AMS Press, 1971.
Max Weber. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (1946). H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds. and trans. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. (Pb)
Anatole France. The Gods Will Have Blood (Les dieux ont soy) (1912). Frederick Davies, trans. New York: Penguin, 1979. (Pb)
Karl Polanyi. The Great Transformation (1944). Boston: Beacon, 1985.
Michael Shaara. The Killer Angels (1974). New York: Ballantine, 1975. (Pb)
Sybille Bedford. A Legacy (1956). New York: Echo Press, 1976. (Pb)
Felix Gilbert. Machiavelli and Guicciardini (1965). New York: W. W. Norton, 1984. (Pb)
T. H. White. The Once and Future King (1958). New York: Putnam, 1958.
Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War (ca. 431-404 B.C.). Richard Livingstone, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960. (Pb)
Robert Nisbet. Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary (1982). Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983.

Classical Literature

Graham Ley

Classical literature now commands greater attention than ever before, with good-quality translations of a large number of ancient authors prompting a wide readership to explore the origins of a European tradition. Recent approaches to epic, drama, lyric poetry, the novel, and the prose genres of historiography and rhetoric have drawn on developments in contemporary literary criticism and theory, and have tended to integrate social with purely formal considerations. Partly as a result of this expansion in interest, it is now easier to find accessible works on individual authors than the kind of broad introduction that was popular a generation or so ago. But most translations now include an up-to-date introduction and some useful suggestions for further, critical reading.
A poet is a light, winged, holy creature, and cannot compose until he is possessed
and out of his mind, and his reason is no longer in him; no man can
compose or prophesy so long as he has his reason.
PLATO ION The Cambridge History of Classical Literature (1983) edited by E J Kenney and. W V Clauseh. A series of introductions by literary specialists to the full range of Greek and Latin literature in antiquity. Available in sections devoted to particular genres and subjects. The Oxford History of the Classical World (1988) edited by John Boardman. An illustrated compendium of introductions to ancient literature, an, history, and culture by specialist authors, with each chapter carrying suggestions for further reading. The Pelican History of Greek Literature (1985) by Peter Levi. A good general introduction by a Greek scholar who is also a poet.
A Short History of Greek Literature (1985) by Jacqueline de Romilly. A translation of an introduction by one of the most sensitive critics of Greek tragedy. Ancient Greek Literature (1981) edited by Kenneth Dover. A selection of helpful introductions to major genres and authors. Roman Literature and Society (1980) by Robert Ogilvie. A good, contextual introduction for the student or general reader. The Latin Love Poets from Catullus to Ovid (1980) by R Lyne. An outstanding study of a major tradition in Latin poetry of the later republic and early principate. Virgil (1986) by Jasper Griffin. An accessible introduction to the leading national and ideological poet of the Augustan era.
The series of translations in Penguin Classics offers many of the ancient authors in separate volumes. Two anthologies of translated selections, Greek Literature (1977) and Latin Literature (1979), both prepared by Michael Grant, may be helpful in providing an impression of the range available.

Asian, African and Middle Eastern History

Many areas of the world are sparsely represented on library shelves — West Africa and Australasia, for example, offer few satisfactory comprehensive histories. Other areas, especially in the Third World, are evolving so quickly that modern histories are obsolete before they even reach the shelves. The books suggested here, therefore, are a very broad sweep: without claims to comprehensive or final coverage, they make at least a start.

See AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Gandhi); BIOGRAPHY (Howarth); DIARIES (Stanley); ECONOMICS (Myrdal); POLITICS (Cabral, Hinton); RELIGION (Guillaume); TRAVEL (Kingsley, Lawrence, T. E., Maclean, Polo, Ronay, Roy)

Ajayi, J. F. Ade A Thousand Years of West African History (1966) MI Serious, dependable synoptic history of Africa; important and eye-opening. Allen, Charles (ed) Plain Tales from the Raj (1975)
Book originated in a series of radio interviews with fifty surviving administrators of colonial India. Extraordinary detail of extraordinary daily lives: coping with high collars, rigid etiquette, recalcitrant natives, the Edwardian British at their dotty, pragmatic best.
Anene, J. C. and Brown, G. (eds) Africa in the 19th and 20th Centuries (1966)
Collection of research findings and other scholarly writings; bitty and unsystematic; but individual papers are illuminating, authoritative. See Ajayi; Thompson. Basham, A. L. The Wonder That Was India (1954)
it a* Catchpenny title; magnificent book. Fat (600 pages), comprehensive, badged in every sentence with the author's zest for his subject. Covers the ancient history of India from 3000 BC to the coming of Muslims in AD 1565. Particularly strong on culture and social life. Usefully read in connection with Nehru (qv). Batatu, Hanna, Palestinian writing in English, 1926-2000. The Egyptian, Syrian, and Iraqi Revolutions. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Beasley, W. G. The Modern History of Japan (1963) 0 Excellent volume in recommended Asia-Africa series. Traces Japanese affairs from its opening to the West in the mid 19th century to the amazing first fruits of the economic boom after World War II. Annotated bibliography particularly useful. Also: Great Britain and the Opening of Japan. See Bergamini. Bergamini, David Japan's Imperial Conspiracy (1971)
Compendious political indictment of Hirohito and his faction; disputable interpretations, but a readable, extraordinary book. See Beasley. Boulnois, L. The Silk Road (1963)
Brilliant history of the silk trade, from Roman times to the Boxer Rebellion. Caroe, Olaf The Pathans, 550 BC-AD 1957(1958)
Northwest frontiersmen withstood Greeks, Arabs, Moguls, British Raj, and (more recently) Russian tanks. Exhaustive, illuminating study. Eberhard, W. A History of China (1948)
Admirable introductory survey. Use fourth English edition and supplement (for the 20th century) with McAleavy (qv) and especially Suyin (qv). See ARCHAEOLOGY (Chang) Edwardes, M. The Last Years of British India (1963)
Sympathetic historical study, seeking to place politics in a wider perspective. Objectivity at times leads to opaqueness; but is otherwise admirable. See Nehru. Elvin, Mark The Pattern of the Chinese Past (1973) Ji
Outstanding examination of technological and social forces in pre-modern China; essential analysis of causes and effects in Chinese imperial history. Particularly good on agriculture and printing — and on the reasons for China's technological stagnation after 1350.
Farrell, J. G., English, 1935-1979. The Siege of Krishnapur. Rec: Bloom Fitzgerald, C. P. A Concise History of East Asia (1966)
✓
Divided into three sections (China; Japan and Korea; South-East Asia); outstanding for style, precision of information, clear-
sightedness of historical judgement.
FitzGerald, Frances Fire in the Lake( 1972)
First-hand journalistic analysis of the modern history of Vietnam, a tragi-comedy (if you can't see the blood or smell the corpses) of East-West misunderstanding and mismanagement. Definitive answer to those who believe "we" were right to be in Vietnam. Gabrielli, Francesco The Arabs: A Compact History (1963) a -1
Also published as A Short History of the Arabs. Compared to Glubb (qv) a sparrow beside an eagle; but ideal for those who want a brief, clear survey of the facts. Particularly good on the early spread of Islam. Glubb, John The Course of Empire (1965) * I .1
Third volume of a monumental, recommended history of the Arabs. Offers, among other pleasures, a unique study of the First Crusade and Moorish Spain from the Arabian point of view. Hall, D. G. E. A History of South East Asia (1965)
0 a * .1
Marvellous 1000-page survey. Modern section has been updated to 1968 (3rd edition), but the volatility of the area outstrips even Hall's dexterous pen. For the first 10,000 years, however, a prescriptive read. Hambly, Gavin (ed) Central Asia (1969)
Historical survey from 500 BC to the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. Excellent on the Mongols, Uzbeks and Turks; a grim overview of a ruthless colonizing process, continuously bloody, from all directions, over 2500 years. Also: Cities of Mughal India
Hersey, John. American, 1914-1993. The Wall. Rec: BOMC Hiroshima. Rec: NYPL (history) Hibbed, Christopher The Dragon Wakes (1970)
Excellent popular account of China's relations with the West between 1793 and 1911. The section on the Boxers is particularly good. Also: The Great Mutiny, etc. See HISTORY/BRITISH
Various authors, Japanese, Pub. 1986. Hibakusha: Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Trans. by Gaynor Sekimori). Rec: Counterpunch Trans (history)
Hinton, William. American, 1919-2004. Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village. Rec: Counterpunch NF (sociology) Ibn Khaldun, 'Abd Ar-Rahman bin Muhammad, Arab, 1332-1406. Prolegomena (Muqaddimah). Rec: App Oriental Ward Ingham, K. A History of East Africa (1962) 01 J Inglis, Brian The Opium War( 1976)
fi 1 3
Opium trade between British India and the Chinese — urbane account of one of the most bizarre 19th-century encounters between inscrutable East and imperious West. Also: Roger Casement; The Forbidden Game Irving, Clive Crossroads of Civilization (1979) a ./ Journalistic survey of Persian history from earliest times to 1939. Continuing, blood-soaked saga of modern Iran starts here. See HISTORY/ANCIENT (Huart)
James, C. L. R., Trinidadian, 1901-1989. The Black Jacobins. Rec: Bloom Counterpunch NF (Jamaica)
The Future in the Present. Rec: Bloom Judd, Denis The Boer War (1977) di a *
Good use of first-hand documents. Popular historiography at its best. Also: Someone Has Blundered: Calamities of the British Army in the Victorian Age
Kapuscinski, Ryszard, Polish, 1932- . The Emperor. Rec: NYPL (history of africa)
Kinross, Lord Ataturk: The Rebirth of a Nation (1964)
9 ✓
Breakup of the Ottoman Empire during World War I seen as the starting-point for the modern Middle East and its problems. Lockhart, J. G. and Woodhouse, C. M. Rhodes (1963)
Access to Cecil Rhodes' private papers makes this a definitive biography of the seminal figure for 19th- and 20th-century southern Africa. Ludowyk, E. F. C. The Story of Ceylon (1962)
46 1
Discursive; informative; better on events after the Portuguese arrival in the 16th century than on earlier history. Second edition (1967) best. Usefully read in conjunction with Silva (qv). McAleavy, Henry The Modern History of China (1967)
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19th- and 20th-century China, set forthwith sense and style. In conjunction with Elvin (qv) and Suyin (qv), will supply all the necessary basic information. McCoy, Wilfred W. The Politics of Heroin in South-East Asia (1972) Fully documented account of the unsung anti-heroes of the whole Indo-Chinese adventure between 1945 and 1972 — the poppy-growers and their customers, including the governments of South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc, who pushed narcotics in order to finance the cause of freedom, and turned the US army in Vietnam on to a nearly 10 per cent addiction to hard drugs. The fine print of history, blown up. McEwan, P. 3. M. and Sutcliffe, R. B. (eds) The Story of Africa (1965)
Comprehensive account of social, economic and political issues in modern Africa, linked to historical causes.
Morris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears(1965) * Rise and fall of the Zulu nation. Unblinking, objective, devastating account of bravery, repression and genocide. Nehru, Jawaharlal The Discovery of India (1951) * Passionate, partisan, personal; "history" of India written "in Ahmadnagar Fort prison during the five months April to September 1944". History as advertising copy: the nation pulses with life before your eyes. Those who prefer a more objective view — and those whom Nehru excites to read further — are referred to Basham (qv). Phillips, Wendell Unknown Oman (1966) 4' _I
South-eastern tip of the Arabian peninsula, explored by the first Western historian and archaeologist to make a systematic study. Some of the book is an account of his travels; but the second half is a valuable historical survey. Also: Quataban and Sheba Preble, George H. The Opening of Japan (1962)
s _1
Preble was a US naval lieutenant in the fleet of Commodore Perry, which first opened Japan to Western commerce in 1853. This diary of the voyage (ed Szczesniak) is witty, detailed, and full of delightfully wide-eyed accounts of the wonders and customs of the fabled East. Interesting, too, for sidelights on 19th-century naval life. See TRAVEL (Dana) Ransforcl, Oliver The Great Trek (1972)
History outstrips legend. Well told, thoroughly documented account of one of the great epic stories of the whites in Africa. Also: The Rulers of Rhodesia; The Battle of Spion Kop Sadler, A. H. L. A Short History of Japan (1963) a Earliest times to 1951; the flow of events is charted with brisk clarity. Usefully read in conjunction with Beasley (qv).
Salih, Tayeb, Sudanese writing in Arabic, 1929- . A Season of Migration to the North. Rec: Meaningful NYPL Severin, Timothy The African Adventure (1973)
di a 3
Popular account of 400 years of African exploration. Standard names like Stanley are given good coverage; but the book is chiefly interesting for lesser-known Portuguese and Belgian figures. Illustrated from contemporary drawings, many by the explorers themselves. Silva, K. M. da (ed) Sri Lanka: A Survey (1977)
Pa
Geography, history, politics, culture. Comprehensive; objective. See Ludowyk. Sima Qian (Ssu-ma Ch'ien), Chinese, 145-86 BCE. Records of the Grand Historian. Rec: Fadiman 4 MW Asian Rexmo StJE Ward Sinuhe, Egyptian, Ancient, ca. 2000 BCE. The Story of Sinuhe. Rec: Ward Snow, Edgar Red Star over China (1937)
Influential account of the Chinese Revolution based on Snow's encounters with Mao Tse-tung, Chou En-lai and others on the 1936 Long March. See Suyin. Spence, Jonathan, English, 1936- . The Death of Woman Wang. Rec: Bloom The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci. Rec: Bloom The Gate of Heavenly Peace. Rec: ML Nonfiction Stanley, R. and Neame, A. (eds) The Exploration Diaries of H. M. Stanley (1961)
4*f Suyin, Han The Morning Deluge (1972): The Wind in the Tower (1976)
Massive two-volume biography of Mao; subtitle (Mao Tse Tung and the Chinese Revolution, 1893 - 1975) tells all. See Snow. Thompson, E. B. Africa, Past and Present(1966)
a -If
An attempt, for the general reader, to set modern Africa in its historical context. At its best when discussing the multifarious Western exploitation of Africa — a sordid, riveting tale. Vatlidotis, P. J. The Modern History of Egypt (1969) .1 _I
Egyptian history, 1800-1969. Good on political and ideological struggles between independence in 1922 and the establishment of the republic in 1956. Wilson, M. and Thompson, L. (eds) The Oxford History of South Africa (2 vols, 1969-71)
P
Exhaustive account, particularly good on indigenous cultures. Donnish objectivity is a welcome corrective to the partisan approach of many writers on this subject.

Books On Third World Literature

Kadiatu Kanneh

This collection of texts problematizes and engages with the category of 'Third World' writing, allowing for an informed critical focus. The texts vary from a direct analysis of a range of Third World literatures to a more theoretical or political discussion of prevalent themes, issues, histories. The texts examine debates around language, history, gender, often exploring how issues of self-determination and independence affect the analyses of literary criticism.
Night after night my mother would talk-story until we fell asleep. I
couldn't tell where the stories left off and the dreams began, her voice
the voice of the heroines in my sleep.
MAXINE HONG KINGSTON Myth, Literature and the African World (1976) by Wole Soyinka. This text interrogates the definition, both of African literature and of Africa, engaging directly with a range of literary texts from Africa and contextualizing their meanings and aesthetic value within a conception of Africa as a distinct mythic and philosophical whole. Decolonising the Mind (1986) by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. This text presents a polemic against colonial domination and the prevalence of colonial languages in African literatures. A major touchstone for political readings of African literatures. The Empire Writes Back (1989) by Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin. This text defines the field of 'Third World literature' as 'postcolonial', and presents a survey of the major issues and complexities which currently dominate literary critical analysis in this area.
The Wretched of the Earth (1961; translated 1963) by Frantz Fanon. This French text is rightly called an enduring classic. Dealing with the effects of colonialism on the identity and economics of the Third World, Fanon's argument insists on the relevance of political resistance to literature and its criticism. African Literature and African Critics (1988) by Rand Bishop. This text discusses a history of African literary criticism, dealing with contested issues of cultural appropriation, linguistic determination, and literary value. Chinua Achebe (1990) by C L Inns. This careful analysis of Achebe's novels and their significance usefully contextualizes his work and provides thorough readings of the narratives. Reading the African Novel (1987) by Simon Gikandi. A very useful reading of African literatures, both anglophone and francophone, with close analysis, comparative work, and insightful argument. Manichean Aesthetics (1983) by Abdul R Janmohamed. A well-argued and interesting polemic on the theory and analysis of African literatures, examining a range of African literatures and literatures about Africa. Motherlands (1991) edited by Nasta Susheila. A collection of essays on women's writing from the Caribbean, Africa, and S Asia. Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory (1993) edited by Patrick Williams and Laura Chrismas. This collection of critical essays designates the field as 'post-colonial'. The introduction addresses the politics of this designation, and the text provides a very useful collection of major essays. Resistance and Caribbean Literature (1980) by Selwyn R Cudjoe. A critical survey of Caribbean novels, drawing from the English-, French-, and Spanish-speaking traditions in the Caribbean.

British History

Books about breeding and taste, not least in royal circles, stud this list — and tell us, some will say, something of the British character itself. There is marked insularity too: often, it seems, the British went out into the world only to conquer, to govern or to disapprove.

See ARCHAEOLOGY (Frere); ART (Conrad); AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Bamford. Brittain, Graves, Hervey, Macmillan): BIOGRAPHY (Cecil, Donaldson, Longford, Nicolson, WoodhamSmith); DIARIES (Carlyle, Chesterfield, Evelyn. Greville, Montagu, Pepys): FEMINISM (Hiley, Norris): HISTORY/AMERICAN (Bridenbaugh); POLITICS (Bagehot, Clarke, Cowling); SOCIOLOGY (Chesney, Reeves, Roberts): TRAVEL (London)

Bacon, Francis Essays (1597) 0 Pungent observations on his own changing world, on man and society, on politics, ambition, marriage, youth and age, education: all the major issues which concern Bacon as much as they do us. Bede The Ecclesiastical History of England (731)
King Alfred thought this one of the books "most necessary for all men to know", and it's still fascinating. The history of Britain from the landing of St Augustine in 597 to the year 731, discussed in elegant, quiet prose. Blythe, Ronald The Age of Illusion (1963) ti „1
Emotive, with essays on the England of the 1920s-1930s: covers such topics as the General Strike. the Jarrow March. and Munich. Also: The Aspirin Age Blythe, Ronald Aketzfield(1969) First-hand accounts of life in a Suffolk village at the beginning of the 20th century. Pastoral idyll in parts — but poverty, accident and illness are there as well. People talking about their own lives: the red meat of history. Also: The View in Winter(on old age). See Bragg; Thompson; SOCIOLOGY (Terkel) Bragg, Melvyn Speak for England (1976) &If Oral history of the author's home town of Wigton, Cumbria, in the 20th century. Vivid recollections by ordinary people of their lives and experiences. Parallel to Thompson (qv). See Blythe; Briggs. Briggs, Asa (ed) They Saw It Happen, 1897-1940(1960)
a
Last of four volumes (all recommended) covering British history 55 BC—AD 1940. Anthology of first-hand documents, thematically arranged. The series strongly reinforces the view that history is collective memory, is people not events. Also: Victorian People; Victorian Cities, etc. See MEDIA Brown, R. Allen English Castles (1954)
1t J
Castles, the most emblematic of medieval buildings, are an essential study for anyone hoping to understand feudal society; this book (preferably use the 3rd edition) is the most comprehensive account in English. Also: The Normans and the Norman Conquest; The Origins of English Feudalism; The Origins of Modern Europe Burn, W. L. The Age of Equipoise (1964)
Admirable general introduction to the Victorian era; covers social and artistic matters as well as historical events. Burnet, Gilbert A History of My Own Titne (1723)
Cocky, garrulous, unpopular Scot, who went into exile under James II, came back with William of Orange, ended up Bishop of Salisbury. Pungent style, excellent information, shrewd insights, obviously prejudiced. An invaluable eye-witness account of the Civil Wars, the Commonwealth and their turbulent aftermath. Burton, Elizabeth The Georgians at Home, 1714-1830(1966) & Daily life in Georgian England: homes and gardens, furniture and artefacts, food, medicine, diversions and amusements. Also: The Elizabethans at Home; The Jacobeans at Home Cruickshanks, Eveline Political Untouchables: The Tories and the '45 (1979)
The author tackles the subject of England at the time of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion with aplomb, makes full use of the French archive material without which the story makes no sense. For specialists, essential; for those interested in the politics of rebellion, fascinating.
Dillon. M. and Chadwick, N. The Celtic Realms (1967)
DTI
Useful study of pre-Norman British society, essential for understanding the independent cultures of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as the Celtic underlay of later English culture. Particularly good on religion, literature and art. The History of Civilization series (from which this comes) is patchy; this volume is excellent. Elton, G. R. Studies in Tudor and Stuart Politics and Government (2 vols, 1974)
Important collection of articles, mainly on the government of Tudor England, by an influential British historian. Also: The Tudor Constitution, etc Ensor, R. C. K. England, 1870— 1914(1936) 10 By far the best of the volumes on modern history in the Oxford History of England series. Detailed, accurate, sensible. Feiling, Keith A History of England (1966) A a-1
Basic one-volume history from pre-Roman times to World War II. Clear, readable text gives a swift but not unreliable view of the flow of events. Superb index; helpful bibliography; useful maps and charts. A model, in short, of what such a book should be. Also: The Life of Neville Chamberlain; The Second Tory Party, 1714-1832 Fitzgibbon, Constantine Red Hand: The Ulster Colony (1971) Good historical survey of the relations between Ireland and (particularly) England from the time of Elizabeth Ito the troubled end of the 1960s. Clear-eyed, dismaying read. Also: Out of the Lion's Paw: Ireland Wins Her Freedom. See Woodham-Smith. George, M. Dorothy English Political Caricature (2 vols, 1959) A IS Historians ignore political caricature at their peril; the general reader will be amused as well as informed by this excellent two-
volume survey of the great age of caricature, 1700-1832. No subject is sacred: ministers, taxation, the loss of the American colonies, the French Revolution, Napoleon — all are here. Glover, Janet R. The Story of Scotland (1960)
Revised 2nd edition best. Series, The Story of . . , generally recommended: crisp, authoritative, concise.
Green, John Richard, English, 1837-1883. A Short History of the English People. Rec: Lubbock Harrisson, Tom Living through the Blitz (1975)
The London Blitz, recorded through the war-time reports of Mass Observation. Fascinating record of civilian morale, the hardships of the home front, and hopes for a better future. (Compare C. Perry: Boy in the Blitz.) Hibbert, Christopher George IV (2 vols, 1972 - 73)
Fascinating; satisfying. Plumb's dictum on George IV, "never, never a dull moment", is fully justified. Also: The Court at Windsor, The Grand Tour, London: The Biography of a City. See Plumb; HISTORY/ASIAN Hill, Christopher The World Turned Upside Down (1972)
it *
Study of radical groups (scientific, religious, political, sexual) during the English Revolution. Essential reading for anyone who believes that England during the 1640s and 1650s was "Puritan". Also: The Century of Revolution, 1603 - 1714; Milton and the English Revolution; The Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution Laslett, Peter The World We Have Lost (1965)
A grass roots — or rather parish register — enquiry in depth into the lives of the ordinary people of 16th- and 17th-century England. Does for Britain what Demos did for 17th-century America. See HISTORY/AMERICAN (Demos) Longford, Elizabeth Victoria R. L (1964) A Easy to read, well researched biography, in a different class to Lytton Strachey's Queen Victoria, which is for those who are looking for imaginative literature, not history. See BIOGRAPHY Macaulay, T. B. The History of England (4 vols. 1848— 55)
A Old hat, of course; the quintessential Whig historian. Make allowance for his prejudices, and — pace T. S. Eliot — enjoy the superb narrative style. Famous, long Chapter 3 still gives an unrivalled picture of 17th-century English society. Also: The Lays of Ancient Rome. See LITERARY CRITICISM Magnus, Philip King Edward the Seventh (1964)
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Workmanlike combination of essential facts with a reasonable ration of titbits. Biographies of Edward VII are a crowded field; this is one of the very best. Also: Kitchener, William Ewart Gladstone, etc Mathew, Gervase The Court of Richard II(1968)
A *If
Mathew's study of the literature, art and way of life of Richard and his courtiers uncovers the origins of Renaissance court culture and of the cult of sensibility. Also: Byzantine Aesthetics Mattingly, Garrett The Defeat of the Spanish Armada (1959) a Absorbing account based entirely on contemporary record; more exciting than any fiction. Also: Catherine of Aragon; Renaissance Diplomacy More, Thomas Utopia (1516)
*RA
Ironic commentary on early Tudor England; the wit and wisdom of the "man for all seasons" and his vision of a new society won him admirers as diverse as High Tory Anglicans and Russian Leninists. More, St./Sir Thomas, English writing in Latin, ca. 1477-1535. Utopia. Rec: Adler Bloom Good Reading Rex Ward Morgan, Robin, See Sisterhood is Powerful Neale, J. E. Queen Elizabeth (1934) A _1 Brilliant mingling of scholarship with humane and compassionate understanding of a woman in high politics. Its only weakness is the somewhat pervasive view that the queen could do no wrong. Also: The Elizabethan House of Cornrnons; Elizabeth I and Her Parliaments. See Read: Rowse. Orwell, George The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)
a*
Perceptive, harrowing account of "life on the dole" in the 1930s; helped influence a generation's attitude to the spectre of mass unemployment. See FICTION/NOVELS; LITERARY CRITICISM; POLITICS Plumb, J. H. The First Four Georges (1956) *1/ Plumb was the first scholar to stress the complexity of George I; here he surveys the following three Georges with a similarly unjaundiced eye. Compulsive. Also: Sir Robert Walpole; The Growth of Political Stability, 1675 — 1725; Chatham, etc. See Hibbert. Power, Eileen The Wool Trade in English Medieval History (1941) Unlikely-sounding subject; but fascinating and of far more than parochial interest. Economic history at its elegant best. Priestley, J. B. English Journey (1934)
Sensitive evocation of England during the early 1930s by famous author and broadcaster. Read, Conyers Mr Secretary Walsingham and the Policy of Queen Elizabeth (1925)
M., jor study of Elizabethan foreign policy and elucidation of the intelligence system built up and operated by the spiritual ancestor of MI5 and the CIA. Also: Mr Secretary Cecil and Queen Elizabeth; Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth. See Neale; Rowse. Rowse, A. L. The England of Elizabeth (1950)
a*
First and best of a series of studies of the Elizabethan age. Better on aristocrats than on what he calls "the idiot people", especially the Puritans. Furious fun. See Neale: Read. Rude, George Hanoverian London, 1714— 1808(1971)
3
Marvellous evocation of Georgian London; when and why the churches were built and the squares laid out; shows how the 1715 rebellion affected the capital with its Jacobite versus Hanoverian protagonists. Also: Wilkes and Liberty; A Social Study of 1763-1774 Scarisbrick, J. J. Henry VIII(1968)
Scarisbrick sees Henry's reign as fractured by the break with the papacy, and portrays the king as a complex, Renaissance ruler, cruel and cultivated, foolishly intent on war with France, against all reason. Authoritative, accessible. Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England (1943)
111
Master-work on the subject; another outstanding volume from the Oxford History of England series. Also: The First Century of English Feudalism Strong, Roy Splendour at Court: Renaissance Spectacle and Illusion (1973)
The politics of spectacle. Fascinating illustrations.
Tawney, R. H. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (1926)
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Classic which finally destroyed the concept of "the Puritan Revolution" by showing the connections between Puritanism and the needs of developing capitalism. Also: History and Society; Equality, etc Taylor, A. J. P. English History, 1914- 1945 (1965) *
Invigorating survey of 20th-century Britain. Taylor's occasionally idiosyncratic evaluations of people and events only add to the liveliness of the narrative. Also: The Origins of the Second World War, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848-1918; The Habsburg Monarchy, 1815 - 1918. etc. See BIOGRAPHY Thomas, Keith Religion and the Decline of Magic (1971)
Anthropological and sociological techniques uncover the life and thought of ordinary people in 17th-century England. Book that transformed its subject: essential reading. Thomas, Keith, Welsh, 1933- . Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England. Rec: Counterpunch NF TLS Thompson, E. P. The Making of the English Working Class (1963) Superb book by one of this century's leading British historians. Also: Protest and Survive (crucial polemic on need for disarmament). See BIOGRAPHY Thompson, E. P., English, 1924-1993. The Making of the English Working Class. Rec: Counterpunch NF ML Nonfiction TLS Thompson, Paul The Edwardians: The Remaking of British Society (1975)
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Based largely on interview material; vividly conveys the texture of grass-roots Edwardian society. Trevelyan, G. M. England under Queen Anne (1930-34)
di II
Charts the rise, through war and peace, of England as mistress of the seas, an equal of France on land and the cradle of the Golden Age. Fluent, authoritative style. Also: England under the Stuarts; English Social History British History in the Nineteenth Century, etc Wilson, David Harris King James VI arid /(1956)
Fascinating account of the baffling character who united the crowns of England and Scotland and who was a combinationof wit and pedantry, learning and folly. Woodham-Smith, Cecil The Great Hunger: Ireland, 1845 — 49 (1962)
111 One of the best books on Irish history. If you are English it should make you blush with shame. Also: The Reason Why; Queen Victoria, etc. See Fitzgibbon; BIOGRAPHY

European History

This list concentrates, in the main, on the most useful and accessible surveys of this vast subject (the history, in part, of the whole modern civilization of the West). A few books on specific topics are included (usually where the subject is neglected or the treatment unique); but for the multitude of specific topics we recommend browsing in the bibliographies of Cantor (qv). Fisher (qv) and Lichtheim (qv).

See ARCHAEOLOGY (Piggott, Sandars); ARCHITECTURE (Clark, Conant. Harvey, Murray); AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Kropotkin, Saint Simon, Speer); BIOGRAPHY (Bainton. Bullock, Huizinga, Lachouque, Taylor); DIARIES (Frank); FEMINISM (Porter, Thomas); MATHEMATICS (Irving, Mendelssohn); MEDICINE (McNeill); POLITICS (Carr, Orwell, Stern, Trotsky); RELIGION (Deanesly); SOCIOLOGY (Blok, Elias); TRAVEL (Ley, Michener, Polo)

Barraclough, Geoffrey The Medieval Papacy (1968)
Fine study of what many regard as the single most important institution in the history of Western Europe. Brisk; short; complete. See HISTORY/WORLD Bloch, Marc, French, 1886-1944. Feudal Society. Rec: Counterpunch Trans TLS Strange Defeat. Rec: National Review Boussard, Jacques The Civilization of Charlemagne ( 1968) _I
Good account of the first unifier of Europe — salutary reading for those illiterati who try to use history as an argument against European solidarity. If it worked for Charlemagne ... Braudel, Fernand The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip 11(1973) *
Dextrously interweaves public with private affairs; makes more sense out of the tangled events of this turbulent time than might have been thought possible. Braudel, Fernand, French, 1902-1985. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Fadiman 3 TLS Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century. Rec: Fadiman 3 Calmette, Joseph The Golden Age of Burgundy (1949) Cantor, Norman F. Medieval History (1963) a ✓ Accessible, authoritative study of Europe in the 2nd-15th centuries. Particularly good on Church and State; Carolingian section outstanding. Chandler, David The Campaigns of Napoleon (1967)
II a *
Outstanding; essential companion to the biography by Lachouque. Also: The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough, etc. See Geyl; BIOGRAPHY (Lachouque) Churchill, Winston, English, 1874-1965. Nobel Laureate The Second World War. Rec: ML Nonfiction National Review TLS The Gathering Storm (Volume 1 of The Second World War). Rec: NYPL Cohn, Norman Europe's Inner Demons (1975)
0
Scathing, scholarly attack on supposed Devil-worship leading to the witch hunts of the Middle Ages and later. Also: Warrant for Genocide; The Pursuit of the Millennium
Cohn, Norman, English, 1915- . The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages. Rec: National Review TLS Conquest, Robert, English, 1917- . The Great Terror. Rec: National Review (history) Derry, T. K. A History of Scandinavia (1979)
II ✓
Fawtier, Robert The Capetian Kings of France (1960)
* Fisher, H. A. L. A History of Europe (1936) a ✓
If European history can be covered at all in 1200 pages this book does so. Froissart, Jean, French, ca. 1337-ca. 1410. Chronicles. Rec: Bloom Fussell, Paul. American, 1924- . The Great War and Modern Memory. Rec: LAT ML Nonfiction Geyl, Pieter Napoleon. For and Against (1965)
*
Exactly what the title says: the arguments lucidly and elegantly marshalled. Gilmore, Myron P. The World of Humanism, 1453-1517(1952) a Characteristic volume from (recommended) The Rise of Modern Europe series. Grey, Ian Catherine the Great (1961)
it a Grierson, Edward The Fatal Inheritance (1969)
✓
Urbane account of bloodthirsty, terrible events: Philip II and the revolt of the Spanish Netherlands. Slips down as easily as milk
— but what an aftertaste! See Braudel.
Guicciardini, Francesco, Italian, 1483-1540. History of Italy. Rec: Ward Hale, J., Highfield, R. and Smalley, B. (eds) Europe in the Late Middle Ages (1970) Hart, Basil Liddell History of the First World War(1935)
at a
Authoritative one-volume history of the "war to end wars". Also: History of the Second World War; The Other Side of the Hill. See AUTOBIOGRAPHY Haskins, Charles H. The Normans in European History (1915) There were few more formative influences on Europe than the Normans. This unpretentious, well-written survey of their manifold achievements is the best introduction. Also: Norman Institutions; The Twelfth-century Renaissance Hole, Edwyn Andalus: Spain under the Muslims (1958)
MI a _I
Readable, popular treatment of an important subject. Fascinating to compare with the Arabian view in Glubb (HISTORY/ASIAN). Huizinga, Johan Men and Ideas (1969)
*
Luminous essays by a leading 20th-century scholar and humanist. "The Task of Cultural History-; "Patriotism and Nationalism"; "Chivalric Ideals"; biographical studies of John of Salisbury, Abelard, St Joan, Erasmus and Grotius. Contains famous, influential pieces on "The Problem of the Renaissance" and "Renaissance and Realism". See BIOGRAPHY
Huizinga, Johan, Dutch, 1872-1945. The Waning of the Middle Ages. Rec: Counterpunch Trans GBWW National Review TLS Jones, Gwyn A History of the Vikings (1969)
&Oaf Keegan, John The Face of Battle (1976)
*4
The uncharted (perhaps unpalatable) face of much history: an anatomy of the soldiers who stood in line, who did the work. Their conditions, feelings, reactions. Disturbing, unforgettable book, despite weak conclusions. See Middlebrook.
Keegan, John, English, 1934- . The Face of Battle. Rec: ML Nonfiction The Second World War. Rec: National Review Ladurie, E. le Roy Montaillou(1975)
P *
Pyrenean village, 1294-1324, caught between Albigensian heretics and the Inquisition, brilliantly reconstructed from contemporary documents. Ordinary community is laid bare as authentically as in a novel. Also: Carnival, etc
Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel, French, 1929- . Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error. Rec: Counterpunch Trans The Peasants of Languedoc. Rec: TLS (history) Larkin, Maurice Gathering Pace (1969)
a Excellent textbook on continental Europe, 1870-1945. Readable, objective. Lawrence, D. H. Movements in European History (1921)
Conceived as a school textbook, for money, this "series of vivid sketches of movements and people" encapsulates some of Lawrence's most idiosyncratic views of the historical process, leadership, political morality. 1971 edition (recommended) includes later Epilogue on fascism, Russian communism and British democracy post-1918. Rare, fascinating oddity. See DIARIES; FICTION/NOVELS ; FICTION/SHORT STORIES; LITERARY CRITICISM ; POETRY ; TRAVEL
Lefebvre, Georges, French, 1874-1959. The Coming of the French Revolution. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Lewis, Peter Later Medieval France (1968) Lichtheim, George Europe in the 20th Century (1972)
; Cultural survey, seeking to place political, social and artistic movements in philosophical/historical context. Good on the decline of bourgeois liberalism, and on the effect of supra-national organizations on the nation state. Macartney, C. A. and Palrner, A. W. Independent Eastern Europe (1962)
P ✓
Authors believe that Eastern Europe between 1919 and 1939 presented a unity, posing an identity of problems and playing a single crucial role in the development of subsequent political attitudes. This view, persuasively argued, underlies a good general survey of the area and the period. Massie, Robert K. Nicholas and Alexandra (1968) it a * ✓ _I
Dispassionate account of moving, tragic events, often more like Dostoyevsky than real life. Good use of diaries, letters and other first-hand evidence. Maurois, Andre A History of France (1949) it Is a *
Personal, discursive, engrossing — a great polymath in full control. Third edition (1960) revised (and extended to cover the rise of de Gaulle). Middlebrook, Martin The First Day on the Sorrune (1971)
a *
Compilation based on hundreds of first-hand accounts. Like Keegan (qv) essential reading for anyone who believes in the glory and nobility of war. Fine maps and appendices. Also: The Kaiser's Battle; Battleship, etc Moss, H. L. B. The Birth of the Middle Ages, 395— 814(1935)
Finely written account of the decline of the Roman empire, barbarian settlements in the West, Byzantium, Muslim conquests, the history of the Franks to Charlemagne, and the early history of the papacy. No Dark Ages here: a luminous, exciting book. Mundy, J. H. Europe in the High Middle Ages, 1150- 1309(1973) 0 Nelson, W. H. The Soldier Kings (1970)
The house of Hohenzollern, from its shabby 15th-century origins to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II after World War I. Best read with the pinch of salt provided by E. J. Feuchtwangler in Prussia, Myth and Reality (1970). Origo, Iris The Merchant of Prato (1957)
*
Evocative study of the archives of the Datini family, makes it possible to revive an individual 14th-century merchant in all facets of his commercial and social life. Pares, Bernard A History of Russia (1926)
Marvellous account to the Revolution, and good on the politics of the succeeding Bolshevik years. Second edition (1947) extends the story to include Russia under Stalin, by an old man out of sympathy with communism. This dying fall should not obscure the book's general objectivity and excellence.
Pemoud, G. and Flaissier, S. The French Revolution (1959)
*
Story of aristocrats and ordinary people, told entirely in eye-witness accounts. Psellus, Michael Fourteen Byzantine Rulers (1063-75)
r4 *
Contemporary statesman on emperors and empresses of the Byzantine golden age. Extravagant lives; extravagant, splendid telling. Runchnan, Steven A History of the Crusades (3 vols. 1951 -54)
* One of the best, most thrilling historical books of the 20th century, engrossing for specialists, accessible for all. Also: The Sicilian Vespers; The Fall of Constantinople; The Last Byzantine Renaissance Ryder, A. J. Twentieth-century Germany: From Bismarck to Brandt (1973)
a -1
Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic, 1178-1241. Egil's Saga. Rec: Smiley Heimskringla. Rec: Ward Prose Edda. Rec: Bloom Solzhenitsyn, A. I. The Gulag Archipelago (1973)
*
Extraordinary, heart-rending report on the lives — and deaths — of the victims of Stalin's repression. The Gulag was the system of prison camps through which millions of Russians passed in the years before and after World War II. Solzhenitsyn's account is fervently biased — but how could it be otherwise? As a writer, he has here found his great theme; beside this book his fiction (worthy enough but grossly overpraised — political rawness is no guarantee of literary quality) pales into its proper subordinate place. Southern, R. W. The Making of the Middle Ages (1953)
a*.f
Begins more or less where Moss (qv) leaves off, and ends in 1200. This is the period of the founding of our civilization, and the author, steeped in every aspect of it, writes quite beyond the range of most historians. Simply outstanding. Also: Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages
Sukhanov, N. N., Russian, 1882-1940. The Russian Revolution, 1917. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Taylor, A. J. P., English, 1906-1990. The Struggle for Mastery in Europe. Rec: TLS Thompson, David Europe since Napoleon (1957)
1$ Fat (800 pages), comprehensive, smoothly written. Weaker on culture than on politics and military history; notably good on 19th-century colonialism. Tuchman, Barbara The Guns of August (1962)
*
To be compared with Middlebrook (qv), Tuchman's book reminds us again that never in human history was so much folly manifested by so many as in World War 1 — the "Great War", as we ironically call it. Also: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century; The Proud Tower Tuchman, Barbara. American, 1912-1989. The Guns of August. Rec: ML Nonfiction Tyng, Sewell. American, 1895-1946. The Campaign of the Marne, 1914. Rec: National Review Tyler, Royall The Emperor Charles the Fifth (1956) 01 -If Wilmot, Chester The Struggle for Europe (1952)
Outstanding first-hand account of World War II. Wilmot, Chester, Australian, 1911-1954. The Struggle for Europe. Rec: National Review Yates, Frances, English, 1899-1981. The Art of Memory. Rec: Counterpunch NF ML Nonfiction This book "drew attention to the key role played by magic in early modern science and philosophy" (Wikipedia)

Walter Jackson Bate

Walter Jackson Bate is the Kingsley Porter University Professor at Harvard and a distinguished scholar of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English literature. Among his many books are From Classic to Romantic (1946). The Burden of the Past (1969) and two biographies, John Keats (1964) and Samuel Johnson (1977), each of which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography.
Great books are the most valuable means of deepening us as "experiencing natures"; and it is only as experiencing natures that we can prepare for new challenges. Benjamin P. Thomas. Abraham Lincoln (1952). New York: Knopf, 1974. (Pb)
The most succinct of the many biographies of one of humanity's greatest heroes. The Bible. King James version (1611).
Often called the "noblest monument of English prose," the King James version is interwoven with the texture of our speech, and remains a supreme beacon for the spiritual and moral life of mankind. James Boswell. The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). New York: Random House, 1964. (Pb)
The most fascinating of all biographies, and one of universal appeal because its subject shared so deeply almost every aspect of the experience we all share. Werner W. Jaeger. Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture (1934). Gilbert Highet, trans. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. (Pb)
A profound study of what permitted a small people to create the basis of Western culture. Alfred North Whitehead. Science and the Modern World (1925). New York: Free Press, 1967. (Pb)
Unrivaled in showing what, from the ancient world to the twentieth century, permitted and encouraged the giant adventures of the mind that have formed our world. William Shakespeare. Shakespeare: Complete Works (1592-1611). Alfred Harbage, ed. Baltimore: Penguin, 1969.
The most searching example in literature of the interplay of human action presented in language no other writer has equaled.

Stanley Hoffmann

Stanley Hoffmann is a professor of government and the C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France at Harvard University. Professor Hoffmann has been teaching and writing both about international affairs and about France for thirty years. Educated in France, he came to Harvard as a teacher in 1955.
All of these books (1) deal with the most fundamental choices — often tragic — individuals are called upon to make, particularly as citizens, and (2) are works of art and not merely of instruction. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Social Contract (1762). Maurice Cranston, trans. New York: Penguin, 1968. (Pb)
The most powerful attempt to reconcile freedom and authority, self-fulfillment and community. It fails, I think — but what an impressive and instructive failure. Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace (1865-69). Louise Maude and Aylmer Maude, trans. George Gibian, ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1966.
The greatest novel ever written and the most probing attempt to show the effects of war on a diverse group of individuals. Jean-Baptiste Racine. Andromaque (1667). John Cairncross, trans. New York: Penguin, 1976. (Pb)
Love, revenge, lust, motherhood and the aftermath of the Trojan War, in the perfect poetic mix of passion and formality that is Racine's genius.
Roger Martin du Gard. Les Thibault (1922-40). New York: Larousse, n.d. (Pb)
Even longer than, albeit not as rich as War and Peace, this is another fresco about individuals and war (the First World War) and a humane, wise, compassionate and deeply pessimistic study of lives. Charles de Gaulle. The Complete War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle (1954-59). J. Griffin and R. Howard, trans. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964.
The epic story of France's fall and liberation, written by the chief actor in the drama, a leader of genius who was also a magnificent writer. Raymond Aron. Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations (1962). Richard Howard and Annette Baker Fox, trans. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966.
The most comprehensive study of international politics, which tells us both about the limits and about the possibilities of empirical theory and explores the dilemma of ethical action in world affairs.

John V. Kelleher

John Kelleher is about to retire as professor of Irish studies at Harvard University. where he is acting chairman of the Celtic Department. His connection with Harvard began in 1940 as a member of the Society of Fellows — in his words, "to paraphrase an old joke: the first in the field and the first to leave it.-
I wrote sketches for recommended readings several times, but they were in lame prose and besides I was put off by the realization that it wasn't particular books but individual authors that had significantly influenced me. I hope the resulting compromises may be of use. Sean O'Faolain. The Finest Stories. Boston: Little, Brown, 1957.
I put down this title because I must record my debt to O'Faolain and because he is best known here for his short stories, but I could as properly cite his biographies of Irish figures, or his editorials in The Bell (1939-45), or his many studies of the Irish people and the nation they have been creating. He is supremely the writer as citizen. I know of none so sensitively perceptive and sane. James Joyce. Ulysses (1918-20). New York: Random House, 1976. (Pb)
For years I wondered why the book continued to appeal despite the steadily rising barrier of interpretation that surrounds it. Finally it dawned on me that Ulysses is about the only upbeat masterpiece of this century — and immensely funny too. In its own artfully tangled way it records the heartening adventures of people of quiet courage. John Millington Synge. The Playboy of the Western World (1907). New York: Barnes & Noble, 1968.
I think Synge was the greatest of all modern Irish writers. His work is all of a piece, rammed with vitality, and, for all of Synge's own iron reserve, it has extraordinary emotional range. In this play he also shows that he is a wonderful comic writer — probably the more so for his basic sense of tragedy. Eoin MacNeill. Celtic Ireland (1921). Dublin: University Press of Ireland, 1981.
Again one title to indicate my debt to a man's entire work. MacNeill would be happy to know that much of what he wrote is now outdated. He was that rare type, a great innovative scholar quite without vanity. Almost alone he transformed the study of early Irish history from apology or polemic to true historiography, and did that happily. Maria Edgeworth. Castle Rackrent (1800). New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. (Pb)
An extraordinarily seminal work by a woman of genius. It is not only the first true Irish novel, but the first regional novel, immensely admired in its day and imitated everywhere. Raised in England, brought to Ireland as a young girl, she somehow learned more about Ireland, present and past, than I am sure she was aware of knowing. The result is a work of vivid realism. William Butler Yeats. The Poems of W B. Yeats (1887-1939). Richard Finneran, ed. New York: Macmillan, 1962. (Pb)
I cite the latest and most complete edition. Yeats parlayed the damnedest combination of natural gifts, spasmodic learning, native shrewdness, indomitable dedication, some willful half-beliefs, and a few deep insights — parlayed these into memorable, powerful poetry. Useful poetry, too, that sticks to the ribs.
Europe: the Emergence of an Idea D. Hay Europe
Europe: a HistoryN. Davies
Europe
The Times Illustrated History of Europe
F. Fernandez-Armesto
Europe

Latin American History

These books catalogue the (continuing) collisions between the Old World and the New, and, less obviously, the progress of one of the last and bloodiest confrontations between Christianity and ordered pagan civilization. The ideological conflicts of the wider world are galvanized by technological overkill; but they yield nothing in violent dogma, dogmatic violence, to the death-
throes of the old.

See ARCHAEOLOGY (Deuel); BIOGRAPHY (Madariaga, Morison); MEDICINE (McNeill): MYTHOLOGY (Burland); SOCIOLOGY (Lewis): TRAVEL (Chadwick)

Boxer, C. R. The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415 - 1825
(1969) Oaf
Portuguese expansion in Asia and in the Americas; stylish general his ,ory of colonial Brazil. Useful background to Freyre (qv) and Hemming (qv). Also: The Golden Age of Brazil, 1695 - 1750; The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600- 1800 Collier, Simon From Cortes to Castro (1974)
a
General history of Latin America to 1973, combined with chapters of social, economic and political analysis. Also: Ideas and Politics of Chilean Independence, 1808-33
Cunha, Euclides da, Brazilian, 1866-1909. Rebellion in the Backlands. Rec: Counterpunch Trans Freyre, Gilberto The Masters and the Slaves (1933) P* *
According to one critic (Tannenbaum), the creation of national identity and pride, which in Mexico required "a bloody revolution, untold suffering and the loss of a million lives", was achieved in Brazil "by this one man and this one book". Also: The Mansions and the Shanties-, Order and Progress Gerbi, Antonello The Dispute of the New World: The History of a Polemic, 1750- 1900 (1973)
p
Masterpiece of intellectual history traces in witty, learned style the origins and development of the great debate on the alleged inferiority of both man and environment in the Americas. Gibson, Charles The Aztecs underSpanish Rule (1964)
0 P History of Mexico from the Spanish conquest to 19th-century independence, reconstructed with scholarly care and told with sympathy and objectivity. Also: The Inca Concept of Sovereignty and the Spanish Administration in Pent; Spain in America Hennaing, J. Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians, 1500 - 1800(1976)
Well-researched, readable corrective to Freyre's (qv) somewhat roseate view of Brazilian racial integration; powerful case study of this central, if grim, theme in Latin American history. Also: The Conquest of the Incas Hennessy, Alistair The Frontier in Latin American History (1978)
9
Something of a misnomer. Sees the frontier (political, military, economic, racial) as a central theme of Latin American history from the Conquest to the present; this allows coverage of a wealth of topics (some neglected in conventional narrative histories). Difficult, but worthwhile. Katz, Friederich The Ancient American Civilizations (1972) ita-1 Stimulating analysis of pre-Columbian civilizations, particularly good on social and economic structures (less so on art and literature); usefully points the way to further reading. Also: a major study of Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution, in preparation and should be worth waiting for. Lynch, John The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808 —26 (1973) Good general study of the independence movements which liberated Latin America from Spanish colonial rule, concentrates on Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico. Also: Spain under the Habsburgs Meyer, Jean A. The Cristero Rebellion: The Mexican People between Church and State, 1926-29(1976)
Pa./
A brilliant account by French historian of the "alternative" Mexican Revolution, focusing on the Catholic peasant revolt of the 1920s but illuminating wider aspects of religion and politics in modern Mexico. Also: The A merican Revolution, 1910-40 Parry, J. H. The Spanish Seaborne Empire (1966)
&a/
Probably the best general account in English of the Spanish empire in the New World. Also: The Age of Reconnaissance; Europe and a Wider World Prescott, William H. History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843)
109
One of those monumental narrative histories which (rightly or wrongly) historians seldom now attempt; describes Cortés's conquest of the Aztec empire in grandiloquent style and with immense local detail — even though Prescott never once himself set foot in Mexico. Also: History of the Conquest of Peru Thomas, Hugh Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom (1971)
Pa J
Comprehensive history of Cuba from the Spanish conquest to Castro (concentrating attention on the modern period). Prolix, chaotic. Also: The Spanish Civil War Wachtel, Nathan The Vision of the Vanquished: The Spanish Conquest of Peru through Indian Eyes, 1530-1570(1976)
Poignant contrast to Prescott's (qv) account; draws on Indian sources to give Indian perspective. Womack, John Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (1968)
Pedants cavil at the book's colloquial style, and the social scientists at its dearth of sociological analysis; it remains the best work in English on the Mexican Revolution.
World History
A convincing, definitive synthesis of world history remains to be written. For future master-masons, these books may offer guidelines; for the rest of us, interested visitors to the quarry. they are intriguing, rough-hewn blocks announcing a potential they cannot yet fulfil. Barnes, Harry Elmer. American, 1889-1968. A History of Historical Writing. Rec: Ward Barraclough, Geoffrey The Times Atlas of World History (1978) v * Geographical, historical, cultural and military information clearly and concisely displayed. Essential reference book, and a model of its kind. See HISTORY/EUROPEAN Bowra, M. et al Golden Ages of the Great Cities (1952)
Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Paris, Venice, Vienna, London, New York — each described at a moment of cultural or historical supremacy by one of a galaxy of respected historians. Cambridge Modern History (1957)
Fourteen-volume standard history of the world since the Renaissance. Essential work of reference, flawed only by excessive concentration on Europe. Carr, E. H., English, 1892-1982. What is History?. Rec: Counterpunch NF Collingwood, R. G., English, 1889-1943. The Idea of History. Rec: National Review TLS Durant, Will The Story of Civilization (1935) &RI Multi-volume one-man's view of human history and achievement. Durant's style is lucid and elegant. His judgements can seem selective and glib; but this remains a monumental work, at once stimulating and unique. Durant, Will and Ariel. American, 1885-1981 and 1898-1981. The Story of Philosophy. Rec: Good Reading The Story of Civilization. Rec: Fadiman 3 Fukuyama, Francis. American, 1952- . The End of History and the Last Man. Rec: National Review Grenville, J. A. S. A World History, 1900— 1945 (1979) 09 Wide-ranging, authoritative study by a leading scholar. Also: Lord Salisbury and Foreign Policy; Europe Reshaped, 1848 -1878 Grun, B. The Timetables of History: A Chronology of World Events (1975)
Fascinating compendium of dates and events. Herzl, Theodor, Austrian, 1860-1904. The Jewish State. Rec: NYPL Johnson, Paul, English, 1928- . Modern Times. Rec: National Review (history)
Kennedy, Paul, English, 1945- . The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Rec: TLS Roberts, J. M. The Hutchinson History of the World (1976) a * /
Ambitious attempt at a full history of the world from earliest times to the present day. Compression; judgement — an impressive achievement. Also: Europe, 1880-1945; The Mythology of the Secret Societies Spengler, Oswald, German, 1880-1936. The Decline of the West. Rec: Boston PL Toynbee, A. J. Cities of Destiny ( 1967)
Magnificent history of the city — its origins, development and ultimate domination of the civilized world. See HISTORY/ANCIENT Toynbee, Arnold, English, 1889-1975. Armenian Atrocities: The Murder of a Nation. Rec: NYPL A Study of History. Rec: Adler ML Nonfiction TLS Civilization on Trial. Rec: Adler Vico, Giovanni Battista, Italian, 1668-1744. New Science of Giambattista Vico. Rec: Aquinas Bloom Seymour-Smith Ward Wells, H. G. A Short History of the World (1922)
Still the most accessible brief world history. Displays many of Wells' prejudices, but is coherent and perceptive. See FICTION/NOVELS; FICTION/SF

Ernest R. May

Ernest May is a Texan, educated in California, who has been a professor of history at Harvard since the 1950s. A former dean of Harvard College, he is currently the Charles Warren Professor of History and teaches at the Kennedy School of Government. He is author, coauthor and editor of works on the history of the United States, modern international relations and the uses of history for decision nicking.
My choices offer the reader the opportunity to extend his own range of experience five hundred years back and across a variety of political systems. William H. Prescott. History of the Conquest of Mexico (1839). Abridgment, Gardiner C. Harvey, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. (Pb)
Prescott's account of Cortez' expedition is the first history I read that held me as much in thrall as any novel. He made me see that almost incredible adventure. Harold G. Nicolson. Peacemaking 1919 (1933). New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1965.
Part reminiscence, part history, part spleen, part analysis, this is the best case study of an international conference ever written in English. It still helps me understand better how outcomes in negotiation can be affected by factors of personality, temperament, age, comparative fatigue, staging, and the like, which do not necessarily surface in documentary records. Eckart Kehr. Schlachtflottenbau and Partei-Politik 1894-1901. Berlin: E. Ebering, 1930.
This monograph on the German naval building program of 1898-1902 is justifiably renowned among historians of Germany and of international relations. It is a finely crafted analysis of how domestic parliamentary politics influenced a national policy supposedly "above politics." I read it as a graduate student, and it has continuously influenced my own research and teaching — much of which has dealt with the same theme, played in a number of other settings. Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz. Personal Influence: The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications (1955). New York: Free Press, 1964. (Pb)
This pioneering study of the ways "opinion leaders" shape public opinion was to me enormously enlightening. No other book has helped me so much to understand democratic processes. Richard E. Neustadt. Alliance Politics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1970. (Pb)
For my mind, this study of the Suez and "Skybolt" crises of 1956 and 1962 plays counterpoint to Eckart Kehr's. It explores the ways court and organizational politics influence outcomes consciously (and conscientiously) designed to be "nonpolitical."
Bernard Bailyn. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1965). Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967. (Pb)
This book argues compellingly that Americans and Englishmen of the 1770s saw issues differently in part because they had different histories in their heads. They read differently the lessons of the English seventeenth-century revolution which was their common heritage, and they respected different authorities and traditions. As so graphically developed by Bailyn, the example of the American Revolution has helped to keep in my own mind — I hope — awareness not only of the varieties of perception possible among seemingly similar individuals but also of what a German philosopher labeled (with uncharacteris-
tic elegance) the Gleichzeitigkeit der Ungleichzeitigkeiten — the contemporaneous existence of things noncontemporaneous.

Richard Pipes

Richard Pipes is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of History at Harvard and has been a member of the Harvard faculty since 1950. From 1981 to 1982, Professor Pipes was director of Eastern European and Soviet affairs on the National Security Council. His many works include: Survival Is Not Enough (1984): U.S.-Soviet Relations in the Era of Détente (1981): and Formation of the Soviet Union (1954).
I did not provide a list of the most important books but only of those which have had a strong personal influence on me. They may do nothing for others. Friedrich Nietzsche. The Basic Writings of Nietzsche (1872-95). Walter Kaufman, ed. and trans. New York: Modern Library, 1968.
The first author to make a great impression on me was Friedrich Nietzsche, whom I "discovered" at the age of fifteen. I devoured all he wrote (in the original German). He suited well my adolescent sense of rebellion. Once I reached seventeen I found him less and less palatable, and I have not been able to read him since. Rainer Maria Rilke. Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (1897-1923). Stephen Mitchell, ed. New York: Random House, 1982.
The poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke I first read at the age of nineteen or twenty. Its profound lyricism, its serenity have affected me more than any other poetry and do so to this day. Francois P. Guizot. The History of Civilization in Europe (1828). William Hazlitt, trans. Darby, Penn.: Arden Library, 1983.
I discovered this book while I was a soldier and it showed me that history can be a form of philosophy and literature. It persuaded me to become a professional historian. The Bible (so-called "Old Testament").
I first read it late, at the age of twenty-eight or so, in connection with tutoring in history and literature, where it was obligatory. I was overwhelmed by nearly all of it, but especially the Book of Job and the Psalms. Michel de Montaigne. Selections from the Essays (1595). Donald M. Frame, ed. and trans. Arlington Heights, III.: Harlan Davidson, 1973. (Pb)
I tried to read the Essays (in the Florio translation) at the age of twenty-five but it bored me. Then I read it again at the age of forty-seven and found it the wisest book ever written. I never fail to be impressed and influenced by Montaigne's outlook. Sir Max Beerbohm. Works and More (1930). St. Clair Shores, Mich.: Scholarly Press, 1969.
Max Beerbohm has had a much smaller influence on me and yet I love reading him: his quiet elegance, detachment, serenity appeal to me greatly, as does his exquisite humor. I first read him when I was fifty or so.

Thomas C. Schelling

Thomas Schelling is the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy at Harvard's John F Kennedy School of Government and a professor in the Department of Economics. He is the author of numerous works including The Strategy of Conflict (1961), Arms and Influence (1966), Micromotives and Macrobehavior (1978), and Choice and Consequence (1984). In addition to teaching at Harvard since 1958, he is director of Harvard's Institute for the Study of Smoking Behavior and Policy, which fulfills his research interest in addictive and habitual behaviors and other issues in self-management. His other research interests include national security and climate changes.
These books give readers a taste of the best in natural science, social science, classical and modern history and literary style. Charles Darwin. The Origin of Species (1859). New York: Penguin, 1982. (Pb)
I have had a fascination with evolutionary biology, provoked by such beautiful books as George Gaylord Simpson's This View of Life, but had never picked up a copy of Darwin's original work until ten years ago. I have rarely had such pleasure and excitement in reading a sustained piece of scientific reasoning and presentation of evidence. It is technically accessible to any intelligent reader. It is a genuinely participatory experience. Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War (ca. 431-404 B.C.). Richard Livingstone, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960.
I knew that classical Greece produced people at least as smart as people anywhere today, but until I read this I had no idea how modern they were in their thinking. Nothing written in this century can touch Thucydides (or the people he quotes) for subtlety of political and diplomatic discourse and strategy. I like Rex Warner's translation in the Penguin edition, but some readers may need large print. If you like it go on to Herodotus and Xenophon. Erving Goffman. Interaction Ritual: Essays in Face-to-Face Behavior (1967). New York: Pantheon, 1982. (Pb)
I was hooked on Goffman from the time I read "On Face Work," the first essay in this collection. If you like this try "Stigma," "Forms of Talk," and "Asylums." He looks at the same people we look at doing the same things we see them doing, and he sees things we can't see without his help. He once pointed out to me that a woman can be naked with her husband without embarrassment, naked with her sister without embarrassment, but not naked without embarrassment in the presence of both. Laurence Sterne. Tristram Shandy (1759-67). New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. (Pb)
I bought a copy in 1943 because it fit in my pocket and I was vaguely aware that it was a classic. I read it for an hour on a streetcar and was captivated by the story, the style and the purported author. It is an endlessly digressive autobiography that begins with his conception and barely gets up to his birth. Sterne writes a lovely, leisurely sentence that can wind on for three hundred words and you never lose your way or have to look back. John Keegan. The Face of Battle (1976). New York: Penguin, 1983. (Pb)
I have a book on baseball that says fear is the fundamental factor in hitting, and hitting with the bat is the fundamental act of baseball. For John Keegan, a distinguished military historian, fear is the fundamental factor in exposing oneself to enemy weapons, and exposing oneself is the fundamental act of corn-bat, as he vividly describes, at the level of the individual soldier, the battles of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme. A superbly thoughtful history of military combat. Lloyd Weinreb
Lloyd Weinreb has been a professor of law at the Harvard Law School since 1965. His specialties are criminal law and legal philosophy. In addition to his textbook, Leading Constitutional Cases on Criminal Justice, he has published Denial of Justice and Law of Criminal Investigation. Homer. The Iliad (ca. 800 B.C.). Robert Fitzgerald, trans. New York: Doubleday, 1975. (Pb)
The great epic, full of the grandeur and pain of the human condition. Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colon us (ca. 441-401 B.c.). New York: Penguin, 1984. (Pb)
The unlimited tragic vision. The meaning of human freedom is laid bare. William Shakespeare. King Lear (1605). New York: Penguin, 1984. (Pb)
Everyone must choose which of Shakespeare's plays is closest to him. In this end, I return most often to Lear. The Tempest is a close second. Michel de Montaigne. Selections from the Essays (1595). Donald M. Frame, ed. and trans. Arlington Heights, Harlan Davidson, 1973. (Pb)
Montaigne is a wise, compassionate friend to accompany one throughout life, ready to converse about every important subject, whatever one's mood. James Joyce. Dubliners (1914). New York: Penguin, 1976. (Pb)
Small lives seen closely enough to disclose eternal truths. Ulysses is as good for the same reason.
William H. McNeill. The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community (1963). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970. (Pb)
Truly great history. McNeill, William H.. American, 1917- . The Rise of the West. Rec: Fadiman 3 ML Nonfiction

History: Introduction

John Stewart

The study of the past is something that has fascinated human societies from at least the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and before this in certain eastern cultures. This does not mean, however, that those who study the human past in a scholarly way, that is professional historians, can necessarily agree on the usefulness or otherwise of such a pursuit. For some, history can provide a guide, albeit an imprecise one, to an understanding of the present and, more problematically, the future. Others see this as an unrealistic or pretentious claim for history, arguing instead that its virtues lie in such matters as evaluating evidence and in beginning to understand the complexities of human existence. The latter group tend to be 'conservative' in their historical practice, and are unhappy about any alliances between history and other disciplines such as sociology. Such debates go to the heart of what we mean by 'history', and the books listed below provide an introduction to these debates from a number of different standpoints.
Not to know what took place before you were born is to remain for ever a child.
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO History and Social Theory (1992) by Peter Burke. This work argues for a closer relationship between history and the social sciences, and for the use of appropriate'theory' in historical study. A number of case studies are also provided suggesting how such a relationship might work in practice. Burke is a distinguished historian in this field, and his arguments therefore come right from the heart of the debate. What is History? (1961) by E H Carr. A controversial figure, Carr claimed a 'scientific' basis to historical study, while acknowledging, in a famous phrase, that history was an 'unending dialogue between past and present'. Of particular concern to his critics, however, was his definition of historical 'facts'. Although difficult to defend nowadays as a whole, this work was significant not least in provoking other historians to try and describe and analyse exactly what it was they did when undertaking research and writing. The Practice of History (1967) by Geoffrey Elton. The late Geoffrey Elton was one of the most articulate exponents of the more 'traditional' approach to history. In this work he reveals, clearly and lucidly, the kind of painstaking procedures a historian has to go through in order to produce a useful piece of historical research. Elton also makes clear his scepticism about any predictive or 'scientific' qualities which might, mistakenly, be attributed to history. In part, this work is a response to Carr. Return to Essentials (1991) by Geoffrey Elton. In a sense, the title says it all. Elton attacks those who would distort history by seeking to force historical evidence into pre-determined theoretical patterns. Instead, Elton seeks to emphasize the traditional historical practices of which he himself was such an admirable exponent. This book is worth reading alongside Marwick, Tosh, and, especially, Burke. What Is History Today? (1988) edited by Juliet Gardiner. This is a collection of essays on the different branches of history - political history, economic history, and so on - by experts in the various fields. Clearly written and with a useful introduction, this work brings out both the diversity of historical study and the range of opinions about its value. The Nature of History (1989) Arthur Marwick. Writing in a witty and provocative style, Marwick seeks to show the 'necessity of history', by which he means the need for societies to study and attempt to understand the past in order to be able to make sense of present-day society. The book also deals with such topics as the development of historical studies and the problematic nature of primary sources. Introduction to History (1986) by the Open University. Designed for an Open University distance-learning course, and written by Arthur Marwick, this is one of the best places for any newcomer interested in the nature of historical study to start. Marwick carefully takes readers through various meanings of the word 'history', and again argues the case for the necessity of society's understanding its historical origins. There are a number of video recordings also associated with this course which, if access can be gained to them, further illustrate the points being made. The Pursuit of History (1991) by John Tosh. Like Marwick, Tosh sees a necessity for historical study. His work is particularly useful in alerting readers to some of the main types of historical study, and to recent developments such as the use of quantitative methods.

Ancient Egyptian History

Geraldine Pinch

The birth of Egyptology is usually dated to Jean Francois Champollion's decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphic script in 1822. Egyptologists are concerned with every aspect of the civilization of ancient Egypt; not just with those topics, such as pyramids and mummies, that have caught the popular imagination. Egypt is important in the history of humanity as the first large state to be ruled by a central government. The 'pharaonic' culture created in the late 4th millennium BC lasted for over 3,000 years and produced some of the world's most impressive art and architecture. In spite of the huge quantity of surviving remains, and frequent new discoveries, many aspects of life in ancient Egypt remain mysterious.
I now proceed to give a more particular account of Egypt; it possesses
more wonders than any other country, and exhibits works greater than
can be described, in comparison with all other regions; therefore more must
be said about it. The Egyptians, besides having a climate peculiar to themselves,
and a river differing in its nature from all other rivers, have adopted customs
and usages in almost every respect different from the rest of mankind.
HERODOTUS Ancient Egypt: A Cultural Atlas (1980) by John Baines and Jaromir Malek. A reliable introduction to ancient Egyptian history and culture. It includes a guide to all the main ancient sites with many excellent maps and plans. Ancient Egypt: The Land and Its Legacy (1988) by T G H James. A journey through Egypt describing the surviving towns, temples, and tombs. A beautifully illustrated book that combines impeccable scholarship with sensitivity to the atmosphere of ancient sites. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization (1989) by Barry J Kemp. A thought-provoking study of the political, social, and economic life of the ancient Egyptians written by a leading archaeologist. Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt (1982) by Erik Hornung (translated by John Baines). A challenging book for anyone seriously interested in understanding the complex world of ancient Egyptian religion. Building in Egypt: Pharaonic Stone Masonry (1991) by Dieter Arnold. A detailed, technical book that answers every conceivable question about how the pyramids, and all the other great monuments, were built. Egyptian Painting and Relief (1986) by Gay Robins. An essential, brief guide to understanding and enjoying Egyptian paintings and sculptured reliefs. It explains the materials, methods, and unique conventions of ancient Egyptian art. Egyptian Hieroglyphs (1987) by W V Davies. The best short introduction to the languages and scripts of ancient Egypt.
Ancient Egyptian Literature volumes 1-3 (1973, 1976, 1980) by Miriam Lichtheim. These books allow the ancient Egyptians to speak for themselves. They include translations of stories, love poems, royal inscriptions, and passages from the famous Book of the Dead
Akhenaten, King of Egypt (1988) by Cyril Aldred. A comprehensive study of a ruler who has been called 'the first individual in history'. It explores the religious reforms of the 'heretic pharaoh' and his wife Nefertiti, and the troubled history of the controversial Amarna period. The Complete Tutankhamun (1990) by Nicholas Reeves. A full, and magnificently illustrated, account of the reign of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamen, and of the astounding contents of his tomb.

Greek and Roman History

Graham Ley

There is an abundance of general histories of both Greece and Rome, which vary from the lavishly illustrated to detailed studies of the available archaeological and literary evidence about events and personalities. I have included in this list primarily books that provide a reliable overview of extensive periods, and that incorporate in an accessible form the results of continuing scholarship. The Greek and Roman historians, of whom the most important for general study are Herodotus and Thucydides (for classical Greece) and Livy and Tacitus (for republican Rome and the early Roman Empire), have been translated in the Penguin Classics series. Also fascinating, for their suggestive portraits of individuals, are the biographies written by Plutarch (of Greek and Roman military and political leaders) and by Suetonius (of the early Roman emperors).
It will be enough for me if these words of mine are judged useful by
those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the
past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or
other and in much the same ways, be repeated in the future.
THUCYDIDES The Routledge Atlas of Classical History (1971; revised edition 1994) by Michael Grant. A graphic presentation of the major historical events and eras. The Historians of Greece and Rome (1969) by S Usher. An informative and accessible introduction to the major ancient writers themselves. The Fontana History of the Ancient World (1976 onwards) by various authors. A comprehensive and accessible multivolume account by specialists, which pays attention to social and cultural history as well as to economics, military affairs, and politics. The volumes are: Early Greece by O Murray, Democracy and Classical Greece by J Davies, The Hellenistic World by F Wallbank, Early Rome and the Etruscans by R Ogilvie, The Roman Republic by M Crawford, The Roman Empire by C Wells, The Later Roman Empire by A Cameron. The Early Greeks (1976) by R J Hopper. A clear and interesting survey of Greek history from the Minoan period to the emergence of the classical Greek city-state. The Greek World 479-323 BC (1983) by Simon Hornblower. Probably the best short survey of a crucial period in Greek history, which saw the rise and decline of classical Athens. The Miracle That Was Macedonia (1991) by N Hammond. A recent account of the growth and apogee of Macedonian power under Philip and his son Alexander the Great by a leading historian. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age (1990) by Peter Green. A detailed picture of the changing historical and cultural relations in the Mediterranean in the period of the gradual decline of Greek power, and of the growth of Rome. A History of the Roman World 753-144 BC (1980) by H Scullard. A continually revised, authoritative history of the first six centuries of the Roman republic. The Roman Revolution (1939) by Ronald Syme. The classic study of the transformation of the Roman republic into a principate under Augustus. For up-to-date studies of the Roman Empire, in its earlier and later periods, I should recommend the books by Wells and Cameron in the Fontana series.
Three other books deal with areas that may be of particular interest to readers: The Roman Invasion of Britain (1980) by Graham Webster;
Greeks, Romans and Barbarians (1988) by Barry Cunliffe; The Ancient Economy (1984) by M Finley.

Ancient Middle Eastern History

Stephanie Dailey

The civilizations that once flourished in the Middle East have been uncovered gradually during the past 150 years. Their numerous and varied writings on stone and clay are still being excavated and are mostly deciphered, so that we can reconstruct very ancient life and literature in astonishing detail. Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, Canaanites, Elamites, and Persians are all linked together by their use of cuneiform (wedge-shaped) writing, by trade and empire, and by splendid cities. They made extraordinary progress in are, architecture, astronomy, and technology, and we are only just beginning to appreciate the true extent of their achievements.
It is indeed one of the most remarkable facts in history, that the
records of an empire, so renowned for its power and civilisation, should have
been entirely lost; and that the site of a city (Nineveh) as eminent for its extent
as its splendour, should for ages have been a matter of doubt; it is not perhaps
less curious that an accidental discovery should suddenly lead us to hope that
these records may be recovered, and this site satisfactorily identified.
AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD Ancient Iraq (1980) by George Roux. A beautifully constructed account which introduces Mesopotamian history and culture to the nonspecialist. The Greatness That Was Babylon: A Survey of the Ancient Civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley (1988) by Harry W F Saggs. An excellent overview showing clearly why this civilization ranks among the foremost in world history. Mesopotamia (1991) by Julian Reade. A brief, elegant account containing brilliant illustrations taken mainly from the superb collections in the British Museum. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (1990) by Michael Roof. This fine book gives an overview of the whole subject, beginning with the remarkable prehistoric cultures. It is lavishly illustrated throughout the text. Ancient Near Eastern Art (1995) by Dominique Collon. If you ever got the impression that the Egyptians and Greeks invented fine architecture or freestanding statues, carving in very hard stone or narrative sculpture with lifelike scenes to take your breath away, read this and think again. Myths from Mesopotamia (1991) by Stephanie Dailey. Even earlier than the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Mahabharata, the ancient Mesopotamians were writing epics and myths that still have power to compel modern man. These translations are eminently readable, and show how scholars have pieced together the oldest stories in the world. Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History (1992) by J Nicholas Postgate. An original and fascinating book which combines archaeology and texts to give new insights into the development of ancient civilization. Beautifully illustrated too. From the Omens of Babylon: Astrology and Ancient Mesopotamia (1994) by Michael Baigent_ This remarkable book, by a nonspecialist who has taken great care with the scholarly material to write an account that is highly readable, is the envy of specialists. It shows that Chaldaean astrologers did not become famous worldwide without good cause, and how their learning contributed to humanism in the Renaissance. The Hittites (1990) by Oliver R Gurney. This remains one of the best books to describe the ancient Indo-European people of Anatolia who took over much of the learning of Mesopotamia and helped to transmit it to Hebrews and Greeks.
The Bible and Recent Archaeology (1987) by P Roger and S Moorey. An extensive revision of Kathleen Kenyon's book of 1978. It relates with great clarity and fine photographs how the tricky linkage between archaeology and the Bible continues to excite furious debate.

Medieval European History

Simon Hall

Since World War II, medieval historians have pioneered alternatives to the traditional, event-based study of history. Today, most medievalists attempt either to present a snapshot recreation of medieval culture as a whole - intellectual, economic, and material - from as wide as possible a selection of its surviving records, or to trace long-term changes in the ideas, economic trends, technology, demography, and even environment of the medieval world. The following selection offers an introduction to both traditional and new medieval history.
These may seem small things ... but taken together they build up a complicated sense of the past, which must always be made up of small things vividly perceived.
R W SOUTHERN The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe (1992) edited by George Holmes. A superbly illustrated, modern, thematic introduction which combines both traditional and new approaches. Cambridge Medieval History 8 volumes (1923-36) by various authors. A multi-volume series offering the most authoritative traditional account of the Middle Ages. Feudal Society (1965) by Marc Bloch. A ground-breaking analysis by an extraordinary historian and Resistance hero that helped to create the new approach to history. The Making of the Middle Ages (1953) by R W Southern. The best short introduction to the medieval world, transcending the division between traditional and new history, by possibly the greatest British medievalist of all. The World of Late Antiquity (1971) by Peter Brown. An outstanding short, illustrated introduction to the early medieval period, from AD 200 to about 800, packed with thematic insights. The Three Orders: Feudal Society Imagined (1978) by Georges Duby. The most influential book by the most celebrated modern French medievalist, tracing the emergence, importance, and disappearance of a concept fundamental to medieval social thought. Reason and Society in the Middle Ages (1978) by Alexander Murray. An exploration of all aspects of the interaction between the mental and real worlds of medieval Europe. Medieval Monasticism (1984) by C H Lawrence. A straightforward factual introduction to one of the most complex and important features of medieval culture, and one of the most alien to modem readers. Medieval Civilization (1988) by Jacques Le Goff. A unique combination of narrative history with an analysis of time and space, material culture, Christian society, and mentalities, sensibilities, and attitudes in medieval Europe.

The Renaissance

Martyn Rady

The Renaissance is commonly considered to extend from the 14th to the 16th century. The Renaissance was a cultural movement which sought to restore the forms of classical Roman and Greek civilization which had been lost during the period of the Middle Ages. This restoration involved not only an, architecture, and sculpture, but also a renewal of interest in Latin and Greek texts, poetry, and drama. The Renaissance had its place of birth in Italy, in particular in the courts of the north Italian princes who acted as patrons of the arts. Italy was also the home of the earliest humanists, so called because of their interest in 'human letters' (hierae hurnaniores): poetry, literature, and history. The humanists edited classical works, the original texts of which had been corrupted during the Middle Ages, and sought to perfect the Latin and Greek languages used in their own day. The Renaissance spread out from its Italian birthplace during the 15th century and affected an, architecture, and literature across most of Europe.
The 16th century ... runs from Columbus to Copernicus, from
Copernicus to Galileo, from the discovery of the earth to the discovery
of the heavens. That as when man found himself.
JULES MICHELET Cultural Atlas of the Renaissance (1993) by C F Black and others. A very well-illustrated volume which covers the principal trends of the period. The Art of the Renaissance (1963) by Peter Murray and Linda Murray. Another well-illustrated book which concentrates primarily on developments in an and architecture in Italy. The Italian Renaissance in its Historical Background (1961) by Denys Hay. The author investigates not only the values and meaning of the Renaissance in Italy but also its political background and subsequent dissemination north of the Alps. The Renaissance in National Context (1992) edited by Roy Porter and Mikulas Teich. Although the volume includes several chapters on the Renaissance in Italy, the bulk of the work is devoted to the Renaissance in northern Europe. It thus provides a valuable counterweight to the 'Italianocentric' approach of most books on the Renaissance. The Impact of Humanism on Western Europe (1990) by Anthony Goodman and Angus MacKay. Provides a thorough survey of the humanist 'programme' and includes discussion of the relations between humanism and the Reformation, court patronage, and magic. Renaissance Europe 1480-1520 (1971) by J R Hale. Provides valuable and entertaining social, religious, economic, and cultural background.
Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1550; several translations) by Giorgio Vasari. Vasari records the biographies of the leading Italian artists from Cimabue and Giotto in the late 13th century to Leonardo and Michelangelo in his own day. The Prince (1513) by Niccolo Machiavelli. By separating politics and government from theology and ethics, The Prince may be considered one of the first works of political science.

Protestant Reformation

Martyn Rady

The Protestant Reformation began as a reaction to the theology and practices of the Catholic church. It is frequently considered to have commenced in 1517 when the German monk Martin Luther launched a public attack on the Catholic practice of selling indulgences, which were documents absolving the purchaser from sin. Luther's protest and his desire to 'purify' and reform the church won him immediate and wide-spread support in Germany. The success of Protestantism in Germany owed much, however, to the backing of the princes who protected Luther and established churches of their own independent of the pope. The movement of religious protest and renewal begun by Luther was given clarity and coherence by the Swiss reformer John Calvin, who composed his seminal theological text The Institutes of the Christian Religion in Geneva during the 1530s. By the middle years of the 16th century, Germany, Scandinavia, England, Scotland, the Low Countries, and large parts of France and central and eastern Europe had been won over to the Protestant Reformation. The reaction of the Catholic church (known as the Counter-Reformation) was to define its theology more closely, to eliminate abuses, and to urge the persecution of Protestants.
All the strength, all the weakness of the German character was
reflected and magnified in his [Luther's] passionate temperament, its
tenderness and violence, its coarseness in vituperation and old-fashioned
Biblical piety ... its conviviality and asceticism, its homely common sense and
morbid self-scrutiny, its paroxysms of contrition and heady self confidence.
H A L FIsR
Reformation Europe 1517-1559 (1963) by G R Elton. Provides a thorough historical account of the origins and early development of the Reformation in Europe. Reformation and Society (1966) by A G Dickens. A well-illustrated text which covers the principal themes of the period. The author explains the popular appeal of the Reformation with reference to the social conditions of the period and the role of the printing press in the dissemination of ideas. Luther: His Life and Work (1963) by Gerhard Ritter. A leading German scholar explains not only the life and theology but also the popular appeal of Martin Luther. Martin Luther: Selections from his Writings (1961) edited by John Dillenberger. Luther's writings still retain, even in translation, a strong and emotive power. John Calvin (1975) by T H L Parker. An introduction to Calvin's life and work which explains his theology in simple and straightforward terms. Popular Culture and Popular Movements in Reformation Germany (1987) by R W Scribner. A collection of essays which analyse the progress and impact of the Reformation from the point of view of popular belief, hierarchy, and social anthropology. The Catholic Reformation (1971) by Pierre Janelle. A Catholic scholar traces the history of the Catholic or Counter-
Reformation and discerns its origins in a movement for reform within the Catholic church which actually predates Protestantism. The Dutch Revolt (1977) by Geoffrey Parker. From the middle of the 16th century onwards, the conflict between Protestantism and the revived Catholicism of the Counter-Reformation led to military contests in Germany, France, and the Low Countries. This book traces the history of the most violent of these confrontations.

Modern European History

Glyn Redworth

The transformation of Europe between the Reformation and the 20th century is impossible to contain in one list. The period is characterized by the growth of powerful nation-states, whose antagonism had bloody consequences. It is also the age when capitalism came of age, and was too often unrestrained by notions of the common good. The democratic liberties championed during the French Revolution were not to be matched by economic and social liberties until this century.
And which is the first of these rights? That of existence. The first
social law is, therefore, that which assures every member of society of
the means of existence; all other laws are subordinate to it.
MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE The Perspective of the World (1979) by F Braudel. The third volume of this monumental work deals with the 15th to 18th centuries, and is no means confined to Europe. A masterpiece, it sets the scene for the economic and global setting of the rise of modern Europe. The Thirty Years' War (1987) by Geoffrey Parker. Well illustrated, especially with maps, this gives an account of a conflict which still can claim to herald the beginning of a new phase in European politics. After 1648, wars are fought for secular rather than religious reasons. The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age (1987) by Simon Schama. A breathtaking essay on an and representation in the first affluent culture of modem Europe. Origins of the French Revolution (1980) by William Doyle. Recognized as the best introduction to the epoch of liberty, fraternity, and equality.
Spain: 1808-1975 (1982) by Raymond Can. More wide-ranging than it appears. Liberalism was invented in early-19th-century Spain, and this account is an excellent introduction to efforts, in vain in Spain's case, to face the challenge of modernization.
The Russian Empire 1801-1917 (1967) by H Seton-Watson. A classic account of Russia's expansion of influence both in the Balkans and, territorially, into Asia. Its readability and authority make it a classic. The Habsburg Empire, 1790-1918 (1969) by C A Macartney This period is examined in detail, though the poignancy of the Dual Monarchy is nowhere more vividly brought alive than in the novels of Joseph Roth. Selected Writings of Karl Marx (1977) edited by David McLellan. This makes the works of the father of communism accessible. After all, Harold Wilson claimed he could never get beyond the first page of Das Kapital. A close study of Marx's own works reveals a more humane and sympathetic figure than the pronouncements of latter followers might suggest.

20th-Century Europe

M R D Foot

By the beginning of this century, Europe was the world's dominating continent; by the end of it, it had been displaced by North America, of which the predominance in turn was under threat from east Asia. Two European civil wars each spread into a world war, in 1914-18 and 1939-45, with catastrophic effects within Europe and out-side it. From World War II, the part-
European colossus of the USSR emerged strengthened, till its own internal contradictions destroyed it later in the century. At the western end of the continent, the French and the Germans, long opposed as enemies, formed the core of a European common market of which the principal aim was to prevent any more major European civil wars. Minor national differences can still make fierce trouble, as the current crisis in Bosnia shows: the catastrophe of 1914 began at Sarajevo, and it is unclear whether more such catastrophes can ever be stopped. At least European powers no longer own many colonies.
Other regions' claims to displace Europe in the centre of our world picture are impressive. Africa, despised and disordered, boasts antiquity of human settlement; Asia encloses mature civilizations; North America is commercial by its economic might, South America by its rapid development; the Pacific rim by economic promise and achievement alike. All this competition has shrunk
Europe's share of the map but has also forced Europeans into an increased dependence on each other and an enhanced European solidarity. They can no longer afford the internecine squabbles of the era of European world hegemony.
FELIPE FERNANDEZ-ARMESTO Millenium (1995) by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. Explains how Europe secured its temporary predominance over the other continents; it ranges far back in history - so much the better. The Rise and Fall of Great Powers (1988) by Paul Kennedy. Also goes back, though only half as far as Fernandez-Armesto, before the 20th century; more diplomatic and less cultural in its coverage. Europe 1880-1945 (1967) by John Roberts. An unusually lucid account of the diplomatic and political wrangles that attended the turn of the century and the two world wars. The Myriad Faces of War (1986) by Trevor Wilson. Outstanding among the shelves-full of books that cover the Great War of 1914-18, which brought down four European empires and precipitated two revolutions in Russia. A History of the Modern World (1983) by Paul Johnson. Begins with Lenin's revolution in Russia, and runs on into the early 1980s: Europe in these years cannot be considered in isolation from the rest of the world. Lenin: Life and Legacy (1994) by Dmitri Volkogonov. Turns three generations of belief and misbelief upside down: a masterpiece of revisionist history. The Oxford Companion to the Second World War (1995) edited by I C B Dear. Presents current scholarship on its formative subject. The Age of Terrorism (1987) by Walter Laqueur. May well make its readers' hair stand on end: perils remain around us. The Century of Warfare (1995) by Charles Messenger. Not confined to Europe, this is nevertheless Eurocentric.

The Holocaust

David Cesarani

The Holocaust was the first and only time that a state set out to annihilate every man, woman, and child of a designated group, wherever they lived, and however long it took. No other genocide has approached the intensity of the genocide against the Jews. Yet Nazi racial thinking had terrible consequences for other groups, too. There are varying explanations of why it happened, and why the Jews and the free world responded as they did. These are issues that haunt us today since genocide is clearly not a thing of the past. The Holocaust also lives on in the experiences of the survivors and has become a subject for artists, filmmakers, and novelists.
I could understand the desire to dissect history, the strong urge to close in
on the past and the forces shaping it; nothing is more natural. No question is
more important for our generation which is the generation of Auschwitz,
or of Hiroshima, tomorrow's Hiroshima. The future frightens us, the past fills
us with shame: and these two feelings, like those two events, are closely linked,
like cause to effect. It is Auschwitz that will produce Hiroshima, and if
the human race should perish by the nuclear bomb, this will be the punishment
for Auschwitz, where, in the ashes, the hope of man was extinguished.
ELIE WIESEL The Racial State - Germany, 1939-1945 (1991) by Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wipperman. A superb dissection of Nazi racial policy and practice, revealing how Jews, black people, Gypsies, gays, as well as other German men, women, and youth, were all adversely affected by Nazi race-thinking. The Holocaust. The Fate of European Jewry (1990) by Leni Yahil. The most comprehensive one-volume account. Rich in detail, yet easy to read. The Holocaust in History (1989) by Michael Marcus. A concise work that effortlessly blends an outline of the Holocaust with a discussion of how the study of the subject has evolved, including accounts of the main controversies. Atlas of the Holocaust (1988) by Martin Gilbert. A valuable work of reference which, like his epic chronicle The Holocaust (1987), draws on survivor testimony to give a shocking blow-by-blow record of the catastrophe. The Terrible Secret (1982) by Walter Laqueur. A precise and damning examination of how much the free world knew about the 'final solution' and how politicians, the press, and public opinion responded to the news. The War Against the Jews (1975) by Lucy Dawidowicz. Although the account of Nazi policy is dated, this classic short history sympathetically explained Jewish responses for the first time and has hardly been bettered. Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp (1994) edited by Yisrael Gutman and Michael Berenbaum. The latest scholarship gathered together to unravel the complex history of the largest concentration camp and killing centre which has come to symbolize the Holocaust. Out of the Whirlwind - A Reader of Holocaust Literature (1976) edited by Albert Friedlander. A fine collection of stories, extracts from novels, memoirs, and poetry by survivors that takes us as close as possible to the 'heart of darkness'. It includes extracts from the writing of Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel. One by One by One. Facing the Holocaust (1990) by Judith Miller. For the survivors the Holocaust did not end in 1945: it echoed on in their lives, touching their children, too. Every country involved in World War H had to confront its role in the 'final solution', a much delayed and painful process that is explored in perceptive essays on six different countries.

France

M R D Foot

France emerged gradually from the wreck of Charlemagne's empire. It was threatened by the Viking dukes of Normandy, who became lungs of England, and at one stage of the Hundred Years' War owned about half of France's present territory, but were expelled by force of arms. Another threat came from the dukes of Burgundy, with whom the French crown eventually secured a marriage alliance. Religious wars in the 16th century were succeeded by a strong monarchy, run in turn by Cardinal Richelieu, Jules Mazarin, and Jean-Baptiste Colbert; which, late in the 18th century, ran out of cash. Revolution followed; so did terror; resolved by Napoleon Bonaparte's empire, which died of military overextension in 1814-15. The 19th century saw seven different regimes in France; for the last quarter of it, the Third Republic was relatively stable, as industrial development began. An immense historical literature, most of it in French.
The Princess [Mathilde] was a portly little lady, with a startling
resemblance to her uncle Napoleon. 'If it weren't for him, I'd rather be
selling oranges in the streets of Ajaccio,' she would say, in the gruff,
plebeian voice of the Bonapartes. She sat, wearing a string of black pearls,
in a humble armchair to which her presence somehow gave the air of a
throne. She liked to feel that she was no stickler for etiquette, and would
allow the ladies only to begin the movements of a curtsey before pulling
them up by main force for an embrace; while the gentlemen, once they had
shown their intention of kissing her hand, would receive an informal handshake.
GEORGE D PAINTER The Earliest Times (1927) by F Funck-Brentano (translated by E F Buckley). Provides an old-fashioned medievalist's guide. The Middle Ages (1922) by F Funck-Brentano (translated by E O'Neill). Does the same. France, Mediaeval and Modern (1918) by Arthur Hassell. Also has an old-fashioned ring today. The Ancien Regime and the Revolution (1856, several recent translations) by Alexis de Tocqueville. Though much older, has a much more modem ring - the author fore-saw the growth and the perils of democracy - and is still well worth reading. France (1898) by J E C Bodley. Long the standard work. Begins at the revolution of 1789. France (1969) by Douglas Johnson. A much more modem treatment, but also deals mainly with events since 1789. Marcel Proust (1959) by George D Painter. Though it runs over from the 19th century to the next, this is one of the best of biographies, and gives a splendidly complete picture of the society of its day. The Development of Modern France 1874-1959 (1940; revised edition 1967) by D W Brogan_ Remains much the best account of its subject; affectionate, sometimes wayward, always interesting. Grandeur and Misery of Victory (1930) by Georges Clemenceau. Covers the virtual dictatorship that saved France from Germany in 1917-18. De Gaulle (1992) by Jean Lacouture. In two volumes, a life of France's saviour in the following world war. GERMANY Bob Moore
The study of 19th-century German history really began to flourish in the 1970s and 1980s when historians began to look for the origins of the country's turbulence in the 20th century. The amount of literature is enormous and the choices inevitably highly selective, but the following do represent a cross-section of the best standard works in the period and its leading personalities.
Germany is a queer country: one can't regard it dispassionately. I alternate
between hating it thoroughly, stick stock and stone, and yearning for it fit to break
my heart. I can't help feeling it a young and adorable country - adolescent - with
the faults of adolescence.
D H LAWRENCE German History 1770-1866 (1989) by James Sheehan. On the history of Germany before unification, one cannot do better than this book which surveys the development of the Germanic states through the final years of the Holy Roman Empire and through the Napoleonic period into the 19th century, charting both the successes and the failures. Essential if one is to understand the federal nature of the post-1871 German Empire and the role of Prussia within it. A History of Germany 1815-1985 (1987) by William Carr; Germany 1866-1945 (1981) by Gordon Craig. Overlapping or adjoining the previous book are two other survey histories. Both have long timespans and have their own particular strengths. Again, one of these two should be considered essential reading. Origins of the Wars of German Unification (1991) by William Can. Provides a comprehensive account of the political and military circumstances which brought the German Empire into being. It includes all the debates, including the role of Otto von Bismarck and the fiendishly complex Schleswig-Holstein question which so bedevilled statesmen of the period. Imperial Germany 1871-1914: Economy, Society, Culture and Politics (1994) by Volker Berghahn. This is exactly what the title suggests, namely an all-embracing survey of the 'Second Empire'. Bismarck: The White Revolutionary (1990) by Lothar Gall. No reading list on 19th-century Germany would be complete without a biography of its leading statesman, Otto von Bismarck. There are many available, but the outstanding one of the present era is undoubtedly Gall's. Similarly one cannot ignore the Emperor Wilhelm II. As one of the key figures in late-19th-
century Germany, both his life and times demand attention. The following two titles are recommended: The Kaiser and His Times (1964) by Michael Balfour, and The Kaiser and his Court (1994) by John Rohl. The Peculiarities of German History (1984) by David Blackbourn and Geoff Eley. This gives a more detailed insight into the debates on late-19th-century German history and beyond. ITALY Glyn Redworth
The geographical or cultural idea of Italy has existed since classical times, but it was only at the end of the 19th century that Italy became a political reality as well. Italian history is a series of invasions and betrayals, and it is perhaps little wonder that Italy gave birth to Machiavellianism.
There is, in fact, no law or government at all,
and it is wonderful how well things go on without them.
LORD BYRON Italy and her Invaders ten volumes (I880s) by T Hodgkin. This work has not been superseded as an enthralling account of the various barbarian invasions which followed the decline of Rome. History of the Popes (1886-89; translated 1891) by Ludwig Pastor. Another 19th-century masterpiece. Not easy to find, but a good library will be able to help. This work cannot fail to be readable owing to the colourful lives of many of the Roman pontiffs.
Kingdom of the Sun (1970) by John Julius Norwich. A lovingly penned account of some of Italy's less well-known invaders, the Normans, whose empire based on Sicily was one of the most fascinating of medieval societies. The Prince (1513; translation by G BW1 1970) by Niccolo Machiavelli. Available in Penguin, as well as many other editions. His Discourses (1531) on Roman history are possibly even more shocking to the 20th-century moralist, but it is worth remembering that Machiavelli himself was a remarkably unconventional civil servant who was chastised by his superiors for being long-winded. The Bourbons of Naples (1956) by Harold Acton. A fascinating account of one of Europe's most hedonistic dynasties. Italy in the Age of the Risorgimento 1790-1870 (1983) by Harry Hearder. Deals with the period in which Italian nationalism led to the creation of a united and independent state.
Mussolini (1981) by Denis Mack Smith. A well-written life of II Duce by Britain's leading historian of modern Italy. A Political History of Italy: The Post-War Years (1983) by N Kogan. Bravely tackles the almost impossible. RUSSIA TO THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY
Martyn Rady
A Russian principality, with its capital in Kiev, reached during the early Middle Ages from the Baltic Sea almost to the Black Sea. Kievan Russia was destroyed. how-ever, by the Mongol-Tatars in the 13th century. In the 15th century, petty princelings from Moscow (Muscovy) began to extend their power across northern and central Russia, defeating other Russian princes and eventually overcoming the Mongol-Tatars themselves. Ivan III (1462-1505) is commonly considered the fast ruler of Muscovy to have assumed the title of tsar, or emperor. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the tsardom of Muscovy extended its territory across Siberia and into the Ukraine. It was not until Peter the Great (1682-1725), however, that Muscovite Russia became a European power. Peter not only engaged in substantial military and diplomatic activity across Europe but sought to reform the Russian state to make it akin to the states of western Europe. Although Peter built a new, Western looking capital in St Petersburg and obliged the nobles to shave their beards and dress in European fashions, he did not abolish the institution of serfdom. Nor did he establish any representative organs which might limit the autocratic powers of the tsar. Despite its major role in the defeat of Napoleon, Russia remained until the end of the 19th century economically backward and with a despotic system of government.
I have begun to sense what Russian writers have long revealed: that
this is a place where the human spirit is made to struggle, thereby
becoming fuller as well as more repressed.
GEORGE FEIFER A History of Russia (1993) by Nicholas V Riasanovsky. A comprehensive account of Russian history which includes chapters on Russian culture, economy, and society. Russia under the Old Regime (1974) by Richard Pipes. A thematic treatment of Russian history which seeks to explain the origins of Russian autocracy, serfdom, and economic backwardness. Pipes, Richard. American, 1923- . The Russian Revolution. Rec: National Review The Russian Chronicles: A Thousand Years that Changed the World (1990) edited by Tessa Clark; more than 30 contributors. A survey of Russian history from the earliest times which is supported by extracts from contemporary documents and by illustrations. Medieval Russia: A Source Book, 850-1700 (1991) by Basil Dmytryshyn. Provides useful extracts from Russian law codes and chronicles as well as descriptions given by contemporary visitors. Prince A M Kurbsky's History of Ivan IV (1965) edited by J L I Fennell. A con-temporary account of the life of Ivan IV (1533-84), reputedly the most brutal and ruthless of the tsars of Muscovy. Peter the Great: His Life and World (1981) by Robert K Massie. A vivid and comprehensive biography by a leading popular historian.
The Cossacks (1969) by Philip Longworth. A history of the Cossacks of the steppeland and of the Ukraine, whose freebooting way of life fell victim to Russian expansion in the 17th and 18th centuries. Journey for Our Time: The Journals of the Marquis de Custine (1953) by P P Kohler A French account of a journey to Russia in 1839 with some very telling observations on the nature of the Russian state and society.
Reed, John. American, 1887-1920. Ten Days That Shook the World. Rec: Boston PL NYPL
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL Simon Baskett
The two countries that now make up the Iberian peninsula have experienced a turbulent history, at time overlapping and intertwining, at others completely separate. The physical diversity of the peninsula has contributed to a many-stranded history, and its geographical location in Europe has led to an almost unique intermingling of cultures from Europe itself, Africa, and the Mediterranean. From the time of the first settlers arriving from N France in the early Stone Age, the peninsula has been exposed to the influence of a whole host of different peoples, from the Greeks and Romans to the Visigoths and the Moors, each leaving behind a distinct legacy.
In particular the Moorish conquest and subsequent Reconquista left an indelible imprint upon the whole peninsula. Both countries have experienced imperial grandeur followed by rapid decline, both have laboured under long-lasting dictatorships in the 20th century, and both have had to undergo the traumatic transition to democracy. The imperial past of the two countries has meant that they have been a shaping force in the histories of five continents: Africa, North and South America, Asia, and, of course, Europe. There is little doubt that the subject of Portuguese history has been relatively neglected in terms of English-
language books and this is reflected in the book list.
A dry, barren, impoverished land. A peninsula separated from the continent of Europe by the mountain barrier of the Pyrenees - isolated and remote. A country divided within itself, broken by a high central table-land that stretches
from the Pyrenees to the southern coast. No natural centre, no easy
routes. Fragmented, disparate, a complex of different races, languages,
and civilizations - this was, and is, Spain.
J H ELL1oTT
For a century and a half, from the mid-15th to the late 16th century,
Portugal was the supreme power across the oceans of the earth. Its wealth,
from its dominions and monopolies across the globe, was dazzling, the
grandiose effect of the grandest of causes: discovery.
MARION KAPLAN The Quest for El Cid (1989) by Richard Fletcher. An illuminating study of the 11th-century nobleman and soldier-genius. It provides an essential background to Moorish Spain and paints a vivid picture of Spain at this time. Islamic Spain 1250-1500 (1992) by L P Harvey. A richly detailed account of this pivotal period in Spain's history from the fall of Seville to the Reconquista. It covers matters political, social, diplomatic, and cultural. Scholarly and comprehensive. Spain 1469-1714: A Society of Conflict (1991) by Henry Kamen. An extremely thorough and up-to-date survey of Spanish history between these dates. It deals with the rise and fall of the imperial greatness of Spain. Kamen highlights the problems and tensions within Spanish society, and manages to create a fully integrated picture of all aspects of Spain at this time. Imperial Spain: 1469-1714 (1990) by J H Elliott. The standard work on the Spanish Golden Age. It is elegantly written, highly readable, and is characterized by thorough research throughout. Philip II (1995 3rd revised edition) by Geoffrey Parker. Entertaining, accurate, and revealing portrait of the most powerful man of his age, based upon Philip's personal papers and memoranda. Philip is brought to life in this compelling biography. The Golden Age of Spain (1971) by Antonio Dominguez Ortiz. Interesting back-ground on the literature, the arts, religion, economy, and society as well as the politics of Golden Age Spain. The Spanish Armada (1988) by Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker. A fascinating and impressive book vividly recreating the story behind the Armada. It makes use of the latest research and lays some of the old myths to rest. Well illustrated and a thoroughly good read. The Portuguese Seaborne Empire (1991) by C R Boxer. An entertaining account of the deeds of the pioneers of maritime expansion, and the missionaries, soldiers, colonists, and merchants involved in the whole enterprise. Alternatively, A World mi the Move: The Portuguese in Africa, Asia and America 1415-1808 by A J R Russell-Wood provides an equally fascinating study of the first and one of the greatest colonial empires.
A Concise History of Portugal (1993) by David Birmingham. Highly accessible and true to its title - concise; running through Portuguese history up to the 1990s. Includes sections on Brazilian wealth, the wine trade, ties with England, and membership of the European Community, as well as the more obvious political history of topics such as the era of the liberal monarchy and the Antonio Salazar dictatorship. They Went to Portugal Too (1990) by Rose Macaulay. An enduring account of Portugal as it once was; it deals with British travellers to Portugal, combining some excellent stories and entertaining anecdotes interwoven with the history of the country. THE LOW COUNTRIES (NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM) Bob Moore
The history of the Low Countries has not generally been well served by books in the English language. For many years, there was no great publishing tradition among Dutch academics and even when books did start to appear, publishers seldom saw the need to produce English editions. As a result, many of the key texts listed here have been written by 'foreigners', with English and North American authors leading the way. Another distortion has been the immense interest in the Golden Age of the 17th century and the relative neglect of more recent periods. Obtaining a balance does mean that some of the cited works have been available for a long time, but this does not detract from their importance or readability.
I know some Persons of good sense and even of Quality that have no
clearer notion of 'em tho' they are next door to us, than they have
of the Mandarins in China; and what u worse, think themselves no
more obliged to know the one than the other ...
BERNARD MANDMI.LE The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall 1477-1806 (1995) by Jonathan Israel. A volume from the Oxford History of Early Modern Europe. A comprehensive history which incorporates the latest scholarship but with a lightness of touch. An ideal, if not essential, starting point. Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856) by John Lothrop Motley. A great book, not so much for the analysis which has been undermined by subsequent scholarship, but for its descriptions. His account of the siege of Leiden is a real classic. No recent edition but its early popularity means that copies can still be found in libraries and second-hand bookshops. The Dutch Revolt (1979) by Geoffrey Parker. Just to set the record straight. The best recent scholarship on this colourful and turbulent period. The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age (1988) by Simon Schama. How does one begin to provide reading on the Golden Age? Schama has his own inimitable style and a particular way of examining his subject which is always entertaining and often thought-provoking. Culture and Society in the Dutch Republic During the 17th Century (1974) by J L Price. A more straightforward analysis of the period but a work which has stood the test of time. Daily Life in Rembrandt's Holland (1962) by Paul Zumthor. Delivers some solid detail on everyday Dutch society in the Golden Age.
Plain Lives in a Golden Age (1990) by Adriaan van Duersen. A more recent work covering some of the same ground, and widely recommended by specialist historians and art historians of the period. The Dutch Seaborne Empire (1965) by C R Boxer. A series of essays on maritime expansion, which was an essential element in the history of the Dutch republic. The Low Countries 1780-1940 (1978) by E H Kossman. By far the best example of a common approach used by many Dutch and Flemish historians of the 19th and 20th centuries to combine the history of both the Netherlands and Belgium. The Politics of Accommodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands (1968) by Paul R Waibel. A work of political science, but one which provides an under-standing of how contemporary Dutch politics and society are organized.
Literature of the Low Countries: A Short History of Dutch Literature in the Netherlands and Belgium (1971) by Reinder P Meijer. Perhaps the only general survey on Dutch and Flemish literature. EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE (TO THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY) Martyn Rady
East-Central Europe is the term frequently used nowadays to refer to the lands lying between Germany and the historic Russian (later Soviet) frontier. It thus includes modem Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and the Balkans. East-Central Europe is mainly Slavonic-speaking, but it also has large pockets of German, Hungarian, Romanian, and Albanian speakers, as well as Jews and Gypsies (Roma). Although during the Middle Ages, the territory of East-Central Europe included a number of independent kingdoms, it was dominated from the 14th century onwards by the empires. The Ottoman Turkish empire occupied the Balkans, while modern-day Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, and parts of Romania and Serbia were ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs. At the end of the 18th century, the independent Polish state was partitioned between Prussia, Russia, and Habsburg Austria. During the 19th century, the peoples of East-Central Europe were strongly affected by the ideology of nationalism and sought to establish their own independent nation-states. Nationalism led to several abortive uprisings in the region, most notably in 1848. Several independent states were established in the Balkans during the late 19th century, but the rule of empires persisted in most of East-Central Europe until the end of World War I. Historical Atlas of East Central Europe (1993) by Paul Robert Magocsi. Contains not only maps and tables but brief explanations of the principal historical developments in the region. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages (1994) by Jean Sedlar. A thorough, thematically arranged survey of the region during the medieval period. A History of the Habsburg Empire 1273-1700 (1994) by Jean Berenger. Traces the origins and growth of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy in East-Central Europe. Eastern Europe, 1740-1985: Feudalism to Communism (1986) by Robin Okey. A valuable and comprehensive introduction to the more recent history of the region. The Fall of the House of Habsburg (1963) by Edward Crankshaw. Traces the history of the Habsburg monarchy in the 19th century with particular reference to the fortune and fate of the ruling dynasty. Hungary: A Short History (1962) by C A Macartney. A thorough account of Hungarian history from the earliest times.
Czechoslovakia at the Crossroads of European History (1990) by Jaroslav Krejci. Written before the split-up of Czechoslovakia, this remains the first substantial English-language history of the country to be written since World War II. God's Playground: A History of Poland (1981) by Norman Davies. A masterful and entertaining account of Polish history. Arranged chronologically, the volumes are divided by the late-18th-century partition. History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (1983) by Barbara Jelavich. Despite its title, this work provides substantial historical material on the medieval and early modern periods. The bulk of the text is devoted to the wars of national liberation fought against the Ottoman Turks in the 19th century. Danube (1989) by Claudio Magris. A travelogue which by its historical and cultural references yields a mine of observations and insights into the region. A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia (1995) by David Crowe. Provides the first detailed history of one of East-Central Europe's largest and most neglected minorities. The Everyman Companion to East European Literature (1993) by R B Pynsent and S I Kanikova. Gives biographies of East-Central European authors, and guides to the major literary trends in the region.
The Bridge on the Drina (1959) by No Andric. A historical novel about a bridge in Bosnia, set between the 15th and the 20th centuries. BRITAIN: CELTIC HISTORY Martin Henig
The three lists on early British history (Celtic, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon to Norman) cover a period approximately from the 7th century BC until the 12th century AD. Nevertheless they cannot be entirely chronological. Celtic languages and an survived the Iron Age and Celtic culture reached its apogee in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the early Middle Ages. Although the traditional date for the end of Roman Britain is around AD 410, the provincial population can still be recognized, especially in western England, long afterwards, and besides traces of political continuity the Christian church seems to have had some Romano-British roots. The Normans - Vikings who had been settled in northern France for little more than a century - failed to extirpate the distinctive language and an of the Anglo-Saxons. The books selected here are ones I have found exciting to read and consult or, in two cases, to write. If there is a bias it is towards the cultural aspects (art, language, and literature) which define the 'souls' of these heterogeneous peoples.
Although people speaking Celtic languages had probably been present in Britain at least from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, it is only with the arrival of the La Tene art style in the 5th century with its characteristic and familiar S-
scrolls, and with brief notices by Romans and Greeks from the 1st century BC onwards, especially Julius Caesar, Tacitus, and Dio Cassius, that they can be said to enter the light of history. Caesar shows us that Britain was fragmented into tribes often at war with one another and the position had not changed a century later. Nevertheless, despite their bloodthirsty ways and a religion which included human sacrifice, the abstract art of British smiths had reached a high level of virtuosity and beginnings had been made in introducing a monetary economy and in founding oppida, the precursors of Roman cities, at such places as Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (by modem St Albans), and Calleva (Silchester).
All the Bretons dye their bodies with woad, which produces a blue colour, and this gives them a more terrifying appearance in battle. They wear their hair long, and shave the whole of their bodies except the head and the upper lip.
JULIUS CAESAR Iron Age Communities in Britain (1974) by Barry Cunliffe. This is the standard work on the subject, especially good on settlement and the economy. Iron Age Britain (1995) by Barry Cunliffe. A more concise and accessible version of Professor Cunliffe's views, even better illustrated. The Celtic World (1995) edited by Miranda J Green. This is a massive compendium by numerous authors discussing all aspects of the Celts, but very properly with an insular bias. It is, perhaps, an encyclopedia for library use rather than for the general book buyer but it will be consulted with profit for years ahead. Exploring the World of the Celts (1993) by Simon James. Although the production is sometimes irritatingly trendy, this is the best general book on the Celts in all their aspects in Britain and beyond. The Pagan Celts (1986) by Anne Ross. Dr Ross is a passionate enthusiast for all things Celtic, with a wide knowledge of later insular literature. Her wide learning is very apparent in this book, originally published in 1970 with the more accurate title of Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts. Pagan Celtic Ireland. The Enigma of the Irish Iron Age (1994) by Barry Raftery. Although 'Irish' and 'Celtic' sometimes seem to be the same thing today, La Tene culture was evidently an imported phenomenon, confined to the northern half of the island. Whatever the language of Ireland previously, culture and for the most part the population shows strong continuity from the Bronze Age past. This is a very important book showing that invasion is not necessary for cultural change. The Druids (1968) by Stuart Piggott. Here is the classic study of the well-known priestly caste and its place in Iron Age society, together with the story of the reinvention of the Druids by romantics and mystics in much more recent times. Celtic Art from Its Beginnings to the Book of Kells (1989) by Ruth Megaw and Vincent Megaw. This is the best book on Celtic art in general, including insular art. It is superbly illustrated.
'The Work of Angels': Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork 6th-9th Centuries AD (1989) edited by Susan Youngs. This is the catalogue of one of a series of exhibitions which really brought the past alive. No better proof is needed than this one that the greatest achievements of the Celts lay in post-Roman times. Included are works of art produced by the Picts of Scotland, Britons in western England and Wales, and of course Irish artists. The Roman Conquest of Britain (1993) by Graham Webster. This is a classic trilogy to compare, for example, with that by Steven Runciman on the Crusades. Dr Webster explores through archaeology and historical sources the epic clash between Celts and Romans. It comprises revised editions of The Roman Invasion of Britain 1980, Rome against Carataeus 1981, and Boudica 1978. ROMAN BRITAIN Martin Henig
The Roman period begins with the invasion of four legions of the Roman army at the behest of the emperor Claudius, but quite quickly the leaders of native society were led to see the benefits of being incorporated into an empire which was generous in granting citizenship and political rights and encouraged the amenities of civilized life, including baths and banquets. With the exception of a serious outbreak of revolt among the Iceni tribe led by their ferocious queen Boudicca, aimed as much against other Britons as the Romans themselves, there was little trouble except in the frontier regions. Archaeology has revealed the prosperity of town and country, the flourishing of the arts, and a vibrant intermixture of Roman and native religion. In the 2nd century and beyond, virtually everyone thought of him- or herself as a Roman. When, from a combination of external circumstances, the Roman Empire disintegrated in the early 5th century, the Britons were one of the fragments that considered themselves heirs to the empire.
They create a desolation and call it peace.
PUBLIUS CORNELIUS TACITUS The Oxford Illustrated History of Roman Britain (1993) by Peter Salway. This is the revised and illustrated edition of a book first published in 1981. This is the fullest and most readable overview of the subject, with many photographs in black and white and colour, although regrettably these lack scales. Roman Britain (1995) by Martin Millett. Dr Millett is less concerned with the traditional version of Roman Britain centred on the doings of the army and more interested in the more subtle processes of cultural change. The book is both thoughtful and accessible. Agricola (AD 97) by Cornelius Tacitus (translated 1970 as The Agricola and the Germania). One of the great classics of Latin literature. Tacitus' encomium on his father-in-law offers a near-contemporary account of one of Roman Britain's most influential governors. Hadrian's Wall (1987) by David J Breeze and Brian Dobson. This is a lively account of Britain's most famous Roman monument. It deals with life on the Wall as well as military topics and should be in the luggage of any visitor. The Towns of Roman Britain (1974) by John Wacher. Towns were the most characteristic institutions of the Roman Empire. This book has proved its worth over the years by bringing together all the evidence from place names, topography, inscriptions, and archaeology. The People of Roman Britain (1988) by Anthony Birley. By means of a skilled use of inscriptions and other written sources, Professor Birley introduces us haltingly and fleetingly to the actual inhabitants of the province. This book gives a surprising insight into social history. Religion in Roman Britain (1995) by Martin Henig. In this book I have tried to show that Roman tolerance towards and encouragement of religion was a profound agent of cultural change. Religion reflects both popular beliefs and profound faiths, some of which struck root in Britain. Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500 (1981) by Charles Thomas. In this very important work Charles Thomas assembles the evidence for Christianity in the province and makes an unassailable case for continuity into the so-called Dark Ages.
The Art of Roman Britain (1995) by Martin Henig. Until recently most scholars were content to disparage or at least ignore the an of Roman Britain. I have attempted to show that it has the same dynamism and originality as Celtic and Anglo-Saxon an and that it is one of the best indicators of the pagan, literary culture of the 4th-century British gentry. The Age of Arthur (1973) by John Morris. Ever since it was published this book has been controversial. The story he tells is of the resistance of the Britons to the barbarians which crystallized around 'Arthur', and kept alive something of the spirit of Rome. ANGLO-SAXON TO NORMAN HISTORY
Martin Henig
The coming of the English was not a single organized act. Groups of settlers from NW Europe (Netherlands to south Scandinavia) arrived in the 5th century, generally settling in deserted lands but sometimes involved in conflict with Britons or other Saxon groups_ While large parts of western Britain, including Cumbria, Wales, and Cornwall, remained British-speaking, culturally England became Anglo-Saxon; however, the church may have kept Latin alive and it was certainly augmented (if not reintroduced) with the Augustinian mission of AD 597. Thereafter the Anglo-Saxons became highly cultivated, themselves sending missionaries to convert the heathen. In the late Saxon period there were constant problems of Viking raiding, conquest, and settlement.
In some respects the Norman Conquest of 1066 may be regarded as the final act of this drama. However, despite the ruthless suppression of English political freedom, which was made possible through the Norman military and fiscal regimes, Englishness continued to be apparent in art and ultimately the English language would supplant Norman French.
When we compare the present life of man with that of which we have no
knowledge, it seems to me like the swift flight of a lone sparrow through the hall ...
This sparrow flies swiftly in through one door, and out through another.
BEDE Civitas to Kingdom: British Political Continuity 300-800 (1994) by K R Dark. Like John Morris's book, this deals with the Roman inheritance of western Britain and shows the extent to which the Britons of the early Middle Ages were legatees of Rome. The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms (1989) edited by Steven Bassett. Diverse essays by different authors showing that not all kingdoms had the same origin, and showing the part played by indigenous elements as well as the Germanic newcomers. A History of the English Church and People (731; 1955) by Bede (revised 1990 as The Ecclesiastical History of the English People). Bede, born about AD 673, less than a century after the mission of St Augustine, demonstrates how quickly the Anglo-
Saxons became civilized. This is a warm and moving account of politics and religious conversion by a great and highly readable historian. The Making of England. Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900 (1991) edited by Leslie Webster and Janet Backhouse. Here, in a catalogue to a British Museum exhibition, is all the visual evidence for Bede's world and beyond, down to the reign of Alfred. There are excellent introductory essays. The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art 966-1066 (1984) by Janet Backhouse, D H Turner, and Leslie Webster. Although the late Saxon period was troubled, its cultural achievements, partly the legacy of King Alfred, were stupendous. This is another very important offering from the British Museum. Anglo-Saxon Art: A New Perspective (1982) by C R Dodwell. This book looks at what the Anglo-Saxons achieved in its European context. It is one of those books that make one marvel at how those barbarian settlers in 5th-century Britain became (like the Irish) standard-bearers of culture, expressed in the most refined art. The Anglo-Saxons (1982) by James Campbell, Eric John, and Patrick Wormald. This is a fine, illustrated general study of the Anglo-Saxons written by three of the leading authorities on the subject. Alfred the Great. Asser's Lsfe and Other Contemporary Sources (1983) by Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge. This is a collection of texts, the most important of which is Asser's Life of Alfred. Here is the story of a king who is unique in being called 'Great' because his subjects loved him, because he fought off military catastrophe rather than because he undertook vast conquests, and because he educated his countrymen. Very Anglo-Saxon. Viking Age England (1991) by Julian D Richards. A concise and well-written account of the Northmen who harried and invaded but also settled and traded in England. Recent excavation notably at York has very much brought them to life. William the Conqueror (1964) by David C Douglas. This is the classic account of the Conqueror, a great warrior and administrator who changed the face of England. English Romanesque Art 1066-1200 (1984) by George Zamecki, Janet Holt, and Tristram Holland. This is the catalogue of an exhibition held at the Hayward Gallery, London, and still the most succinct account of the Norman artistic achievement. Introductory essays include one on architecture by Richard Gem, a worthy summary of one of the most obvious Norman contributions to the face of England. MEDIEVAL BRITISH HISTORY Simon Hall
The major questions in conventional British medieval history remain similar today to those which exercised 19th-century medievalists: whether the Saxon invasion of Britain was peaceful or violent, whether the Norman conquest introduced a new social order, whether the loss of the Angevin territories in France was a blessing or a disaster, how far the Hundred Years' War isolated England from the culture of late medieval Europe, how far the Scots, Irish, and Welsh managed to preserve their distinct identities. Progress, however, has been great, both from the cross-fertilization of history and archaeology and from the impact of new historical methods.
Here I am destitute of all help; I feel the palpable darkness of ignorance,
and I have no lantern of an earlier history to guide my footsteps.
Wn.t iAnA OF MALMESBURY The Oxford History of England: The English Settlement (1985) by J N L Myres;
The Oxford History of England: Anglo-Saxon England (1971) by Frank Stenton;
The Oxford History of England: From Domesday Book to Magna Carta (1955) by A L Poole;
The Oxford History of England: The Thirteenth Century (1962) by Maurice Powicke;
The Oxford History of England: The Fourteenth Century (1959) by May McKisack;
The Oxford History of England: The Fifteenth Century (1961) by E F Jacob. The standard, large-scale, conventional guide to the whole field of English medieval history. English Historical Documents volumes 1-5 (1953-75) edited by David C Douglas et al. A monumental, accessible and always fascinating collection of the major (and some minor) primary sources. The Anglo-Saxons (1982) by James Campbell. A sumptuously illustrated introduction to all aspects of Anglo-Saxon England, filled with new ideas and insights. The Norman Empire (1976) by John Le Patourel. The magisterial culmination of the career of the greatest modern authority on the world of the Normans. From Memory to Written Record (1979) by M T Clanchy. An analysis of the development of literacy and a literate mentality which demonstrates that the most exciting new approaches to medieval history are not necessarily French. Henry II (1973) by W L Warren. An outstanding biography of one of the most important medieval kings of England. An Age of Ambition (1970) by F R H DuBoulay. An excellent thematic approach to later medieval England. Domination and Conquest: The Experience of Ireland, Scotland and Wales 1100-1300 (1990) by Rees Davies. A good starting point for the history of the non-English kingdoms of medieval Britain.
TUDOR AND EARLY STUART ENGLAND
Glyn Redworth
England from the accession of the Tudors in 1485 to the early 17th century witnessed remarkable changes. Not only was unity in religion broken with the Reformation, but with the doubling of population in the space of 100 years, the stresses and strains of early modem society grew increasingly evident. Political disharmony went hand in hand with ideological diversity. The turbulence of the age is reflected in the writing of history. Older books stress the power of the state, especially over the spread of Protestantism, but more recent 'revisionist' work has stressed the importance of grass-roots movements.
This Realm of England is an Empire, and so hath been accepted in
the world, governed by one supreme head and king, having the dignity
and royal estate of the Imperial crown of the same.
ACT OF APPEALS 1533 England Under the Tudors (1974) by Geoffrey Elton. This classic textbook first appeared in the 1950s and portrays a Tudor state which is effectively ruled by, in the main, exceptionally strong monarchs. Tudor England (1990) by John Guy. Incorporates the latest research and gives a greater insight into the mechanics of Tudor government.
Peace, Print, and Protestantism (1977) by C S L Davies. A wonderfully succinct account of English history from the Wars of the Roses to the mid-16th century, which reveals how early Tudor history is best studied with an understanding of the Middle Ages. The Crisis of Parliaments (1971) by Conrad Russell. Also takes a less than usual overview of the period, and tackles developments in English life from the Reformation to the Civil War. Bosworth Field and the Wars of the Roses (1966) by A L Rowse. A thoroughly well-written account of how, by fair means and foul, the Tudors seized the English throne. The English Reformations (1993) by C A Haigh. A so-called revisionist account of the Reformation not as an event but as a series of processes. This work encapsulates the new consensus. The Court of Henry VIII (1985) by David Starkey. A well-illustrated and vividly written account of the behind-the-scenes history of the king's reign. By emphasizing faction and not policy, Starkey brings alive the cut and thrust of the age. Thomas More (1985) by Richard Marius. A highly controversial account of the martyr's life. Seeing him as much as sinner as saint, this is one of the more engaging of psychobiographies. The Causes of the English Civil War (1990) by Conrad Russell. A forensic account of early Stuart history, where this son of the philosopher Bertrand Russell dissects what we mean by causes. THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR
Glyn Redworth
England's great civil war of the mid-17th century continues to divide modem historians just as much as it did contemporary observers. Did it have long-term causes, or was it really the result of Charles's political incompetence? Even the Marxist interpretations of the 1960s were foreshadowed by 17th-century writers, some of whom felt that the transference of land and power to the gentry after the Dissolution of the Monasteries left the crown at the mercy of its enemies. In the past 20 years, revisionists have eschewed deep-seated reasons for the conflict, but in recent years a return to old-fashioned 'telling the story' has reasserted the notion of constitutional conflict between the crown and Parliament.
Having by our late labours a