Book Reviews
Jul. 20th, 2008 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clarentineI did manage finally to finish a couple of more books on an enforced break from beating my head against the plot problems in the current work in progress and herewith are the reviews.
Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic: Wow. In the previous book review I asked for scholarship. I got it in spades with this book, which took me an unprecedented week+ to work my way through - and even then I really only read about two-thirds of the book, up to the point where the era I'm researching got left behind. I take notes as I read on the bus, or at work, or at the dining room table, on strips of white paper about 8" by 2" (obtained from someone else - free note paper is free note paper, eh, and they fit well in nearly any book), and I have a sheaf of notes ready to be transcribed for this one. If you have any interest in the forces that brought about the settling of the British colonies in the Americas, or the golden age of piracy, or the availability of labor for said settling, this is a terrific resource. With endnotes!
It really was enlightening, let me say, to see the role of the indentured servant (as originally sketchily taught to me in grade school) from the point of view of the person driven to this servitude, rather than that of the former colony which benefitted from their labor and would rather not note how many of them were truly forced to lay the literal groundwork for this state and nation. And to understand the effects of enclosure from both perspectives. And to be given a glimpse - the entire purpose behind reading the book at all - into the mindset of ordinary people of the time and place, so as to extrapolate what went into the thought processes of Josh and his acquaintances.
A great read. Really.
After the Linebaugh/Rediker work came Steven Brust's Dzur - how the hell did I miss this one coming out? I've been waiting, in a sort of back-burner sense, for the book in which Vlad discovers he's procreated, and I missed it! I didn't realize it existed until I went to buy Jhegaala. Ah, well. Now I have both--and I have Vlad's reaction--yes! I'm going to wait on Jhegaala for a little while, however, the better to press onward with the work in progress, at least while it wants to give me progress.
Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic: Wow. In the previous book review I asked for scholarship. I got it in spades with this book, which took me an unprecedented week+ to work my way through - and even then I really only read about two-thirds of the book, up to the point where the era I'm researching got left behind. I take notes as I read on the bus, or at work, or at the dining room table, on strips of white paper about 8" by 2" (obtained from someone else - free note paper is free note paper, eh, and they fit well in nearly any book), and I have a sheaf of notes ready to be transcribed for this one. If you have any interest in the forces that brought about the settling of the British colonies in the Americas, or the golden age of piracy, or the availability of labor for said settling, this is a terrific resource. With endnotes!
It really was enlightening, let me say, to see the role of the indentured servant (as originally sketchily taught to me in grade school) from the point of view of the person driven to this servitude, rather than that of the former colony which benefitted from their labor and would rather not note how many of them were truly forced to lay the literal groundwork for this state and nation. And to understand the effects of enclosure from both perspectives. And to be given a glimpse - the entire purpose behind reading the book at all - into the mindset of ordinary people of the time and place, so as to extrapolate what went into the thought processes of Josh and his acquaintances.
A great read. Really.
After the Linebaugh/Rediker work came Steven Brust's Dzur - how the hell did I miss this one coming out? I've been waiting, in a sort of back-burner sense, for the book in which Vlad discovers he's procreated, and I missed it! I didn't realize it existed until I went to buy Jhegaala. Ah, well. Now I have both--and I have Vlad's reaction--yes! I'm going to wait on Jhegaala for a little while, however, the better to press onward with the work in progress, at least while it wants to give me progress.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 11:19 pm (UTC)Thanks for this. I've just started Slave Ship myself, and I have to say, Marcus Rediker? Possibly my favorite scholar ever to read.
Wish there were more like him.
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Date: 2008-07-20 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 12:46 pm (UTC)