The Storm of War, by Andrew Roberts

"The real reason why Hitler lost the Second World War was exactly the same one that caused him to unleash it in the first place: he was a Nazi."  (That may be the best final sentence in any book I've ever read.)  It was, in short, the shortcomings of Nazi ideology which led to Hitler's stupidest decisions of the War.  These would include Hitler's belief that his soldiers were racially superior to the slavic foes they would face in the East, and the anti-semitism which led his nation's brightest Jewish scientists to defect to and assist the West during the conflict.

I've always wondered about the central paradox of WWII.  In fighting to free Western Europe from a totalitarian dictatorship, why did we ally with another totalitarian dictatorship, and allow that dictatorship to take over Eastern Europe?  This book's anglo-centric, and therefore euro-centric, view of the war went a long way to helping me understand the whys and the wherefores that led to that particular outcome.  The Soviets suffered 90% of the Allied casualties, and inflicted the vast majority of the casualties suffered by the Germans, during the war.  In short, the Allied Nations couldn't have won WWII without Hitler forcing the Soviets' involvement by launching a premature and ill-fated invasion of that nation, whose citizens suffered terribly under Nazi siege, and whose soldiers would ultimately avenge that suffering in terrible acts of retribution against the women of East Berlin.  (Plenty of war crimes to go around in this, at times, extremely depressing read.)  At the end of WWII, who would have wanted to suffer the same fate the Germans had just suffered by launching a war against the Russian empire?  Better to contain and hold them at bay as best we could for another 60 years of cold war. 

This was an amazing book about a subject that we can never do enough to understand: the costliest and bloodiest conflict in all of human history.

Completed: 2012
Rating: 8/10

Coming Apart, by Charles Murray

"When you get down to it, it is not acceptable in the new upper class to use derogatory labels for anyone, with three exceptions: people with differing political views, fundamentalist Christians, and rural working-class whites."  Charles Murray, Coming Apart

A fascinating but nevertheless sad and disheartening look at the many ways in which Americans of different social, economic, and educational classes have "come apart" from each other, and from the traditions of earlier generations, in their adherence to the values that traditionally kept us together, namely marriage, honesty (or, for statistical purposes at least, lack of criminality), industry, and religion.  Must reading to understand the modern world, including things I'd rather not have lived to see.  A book about class, a book about values, a book about the virtues of snobs and the vices of the  lower classes, as well as the vices of snobs and the virtues of the lower classes.  A book about religion and education and marriage. A book about social bubbles, geographic and social, and their consequences.  Fascinating, fascinating, fascinating. 

After being accused of racism for his book The Bell Curve, it is rather unbelievable that Murray would give this book the subtitle that he does ("The State of White America").  But his point is that we cannot assume ethnic minorities are skewing the statistics on crime, illegitimacy, and other modern social pathologies.  We can look solely at whites and see the same trends, at least among a certain socioeconomic class, and at the end of the book, when he brings in the statistics for the nation as a whole, including minorities, there's no real difference.  These have become, in other words, issues of class and education more so than issues of race.

But the best parts of the book are when Murray addresses deeper philosophical issues than the current differences between American classes, and explains why the four virtues he espouses are central to living a satisfying life.  As in:

“Once you start to think through the kinds of accomplishments that . . . lead people to reach old age satisfied with who they have been and what they have done, you will find (I propose) that the accomplishments you have in mind have three things in common. First, the source of satisfaction involves something important.  We can get pleasure from trivial things, but pleasure is different from deep satisfaction.  Second, the source of satisfaction has involved effort, probably over an extended period of time. . . .  Third, some level of personal responsibility for the outcome is essential  . . . .  You have to be able to say, ‘if it hadn’t been for me, this good thing wouldn’t have come about as it did.’  There aren’t many activities in life that satisfy the three requirements of importance, effort, and responsibility.  Having been a good parent qualifies.  Being part of a good marriage qualifies.  Having done your job well qualifies.  Having been a faithful adherent of one of the great religions qualifies.  Having been a good neighbor and good friend to those whose lives intersected with yours qualifies.  But what else?
 
Let me put it formally: If we ask what are the domains through which human beings achieve deep satisfactions in life--achieve happiness--the answer is that there are just four: family, vocation, community, and faith . . . .  It is not necessary for any individual to make use of all four domains, nor do I array them in a hierarchy.  I merely assert that these four are all there are.  The stuff of life occurs within those four domains."Charles Murray, Coming Apart

"Responsibility for the consequences of actions is not the price of freedom, but one of its rewards.  Knowing that we have responsibility for the consequences of our actions is a major part of what makes life worth living." Charles Murray, Coming Apart

Completed March 13, 2012
Rating: 9/10.

The Warden and Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope

These are fairly enjoyable books.  But the lightness of their plot, and the ultimate insignificance of the events described, even to those living through them, explains why Trollope doesn't have the modern popularity of say, Dickens or Austen.  Still, if you want to know why Europeans ultimately gave up on religion, books like these can go a long way to explaining it.  Religion in 19th century England, if these books are any guide, seems to have been more about sinecures, societal heirarchies, and nice architecture, than about Christian love, service, or least of all, doctrine.

Completed: 2011
Rating: 6/10

The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope

It's a shame more people don't read Trollope.  If he were as popular as Dickens then the character of Melmont, from this book, would be better known.  And being able to call someone a "Melmont" and have people know what you are talking about (a person who is only treated with respect because he is rich, despite being vulgar, uncouth, and having come by his riches in untoward ways) would be extremely helpful cultural shorthand.

It's also a shame that, in the real world, the Melmonts don't always get their comeuppance.  But when it happens in a novel it's an enjoyable read, especially when you have Timothy West narrating it to you on an audible.com audiobook.  Listening to a great British-accented voice read 19th century British literature is like drinking hot chocolate by a warm fire on a snowy day.  Awesome.

Completed: 2011
Rating: 7/10