tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post3510127879063976057..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: Personal Histories by Imogen RobertsonMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-41688098763172693282014-11-13T11:51:59.947+00:002014-11-13T11:51:59.947+00:00I went to the exhibition yesterday, of 'German...I went to the exhibition yesterday, of 'Germany, Memories of a Nation' and shall be blogging about it this month. I missed the Radio 4 series, but have the Book of it and the exhibition (weighs a ton). I can recommend the exhibition, and I suspect that having listened to the radio series would give one more depth on it. I was glad I'd read about half the book before I went - it did tell me many things I didn't know, though in other areas I thought it didn't go far enough. I guess that would be inevitable. I got Danubia when I was there, and began to read it on the way home. It's a good read, and very interesting, and like the exhibition, focuses on the 'Germany' beyond the bounds of the political state, which of course is where my family comes from. Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-23239134814014934292014-11-13T09:36:01.094+00:002014-11-13T09:36:01.094+00:00What a great post Imogen, thank you. Sorry I misse...What a great post Imogen, thank you. Sorry I missed it earlier. I heard about the Butcher/Princip book before and thought it sounded good, but it and the other are now on the Xmas list. I have been enjoying listening to radio 4's 'Germany: Memories of a Nation' recently too - downloaded, late as usual - and recommend these too.Clare Mulleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11592100764046914574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-592400275054642092014-07-22T10:20:43.608+01:002014-07-22T10:20:43.608+01:00Terrific, Imogen. I am so glad he responded. It is...Terrific, Imogen. I am so glad he responded. It is always fun to introduce writers to one another and to meet others we admire.Carol Drinkwaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05837854482139736944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-53030635128214620222014-07-22T08:24:55.104+01:002014-07-22T08:24:55.104+01:00Very interesting, Leslie! I'm looking forward ...Very interesting, Leslie! I'm looking forward to learning more about him. And thank you Ruan, it shows just how different our perceptions of history can be.<br />Thank you, Carol. I was wondering about telling him about the piece (we have friends in common) but got all shy, but he emailed me to say he'd seen it which was lovely.Imogenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08925800621947616280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-37680030413577427552014-07-22T07:31:03.609+01:002014-07-22T07:31:03.609+01:00I passed your blog to Tim Butcher, Imogen. It is a...I passed your blog to Tim Butcher, Imogen. It is always so satisfying to find one's work spoken of in unexpected sources. He said he would have missed it so I was pleased to have flagged it. <br />Fascinating post, thank you.Carol Drinkwaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05837854482139736944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-19683343710840912512014-07-22T07:27:35.284+01:002014-07-22T07:27:35.284+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Carol Drinkwaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05837854482139736944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-34468736758823621572014-07-21T19:44:10.280+01:002014-07-21T19:44:10.280+01:00My step mother in law is a Serb, in the early 90&#...My step mother in law is a Serb, in the early 90's no male member of her family over 7 and under 70 was spared, so her family consists of vast numbers of women spread all over the world, with now a group of young men growing up with the outside view and the family view at odds. You wonder if it hadn't happened if something else would have kicked the war off.Ruan Peathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17999492027801288004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-33199896062433714282014-07-21T17:48:11.987+01:002014-07-21T17:48:11.987+01:00Oh, I'm sure FF would have been repressive! He...Oh, I'm sure FF would have been repressive! He was anti-Semitic and anti-democracy and deeply prejudiced against Slavs, and refused to go out of the back door of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna after a really rather magnificent modern building was put up there (shades of Prince Charles there.) But apparently he wasn't keen on war, possibly his one redeeming feature - apart from having defied his family to marry for love, so that poor emotionally-challenged old Franz Josef said the assassination was God's judgement on him. Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-62496042461139267002014-07-21T17:36:53.212+01:002014-07-21T17:36:53.212+01:00So glad you liked Theft of Life, Leslie! Yes, it i...So glad you liked Theft of Life, Leslie! Yes, it is incredibly complex. Indeed the Archduke was on his way to visit the injured, but no one had told the driver, which meant he had to slow down and turn the car just where Princip was waiting. Some of the 1912 commentaries I've read about Franz Ferdinand thought he would be a deeply repressive ruler and feared the day the would take power. Impossible to know what would have happened if things had played out differently that day. <br /><br />Sleepwalkers is very interesting, isn't it? And I think that's so interesting what you say Lisbeth about you and your husband having such different takes on European History. When I told one of my (younger) Serbian nephews the other day that Britain fought against the Nazis in WWII, he wouldn't believe me at first. He thought it was just Russia and Serbia who defeated them. Imogenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08925800621947616280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-90736375396288436132014-07-21T17:21:16.461+01:002014-07-21T17:21:16.461+01:00Very interesting post. Thank you for the tips on S...Very interesting post. Thank you for the tips on Simon Winder. His books sounds very interesting and I will look for them. I am reading 'The Sleepwalkers' by Christopher Clark for the moment which it is very interesting. The map of Europe has changed so many times and it was always turbulent. Just the difference between me and my husband; I am Swedish and he is Austrian. Although we are born in the end of the 50s, we have a whole different view on the history of Europe. Of course, Austria being in the middle of Europe was always more prone to attacks from outside, than, for example, Sweden in the north.<br />I think the more we know of the backgrounds and the different peoples the more we will have an understanding for each other. Lisbeth https://www.blogger.com/profile/00466904375353041610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-53146692922367822592014-07-21T12:35:28.253+01:002014-07-21T12:35:28.253+01:00Franz Ferdinand and his wife were, of course on th...Franz Ferdinand and his wife were, of course on their way to visit the injured when Princip shot them - perhaps they might have escaped otherwise, who know? I am no fan of the Archduke, but one must say that for him. Also, had he lived, and Austria wanted retaliation for an attempted assassination, he might well have argued for peace, perhaps successfully, since he had done so on previous occasions.<br />The Balkans is enormously complex, as you say, and I certainly know little about it. I agree with you that it is vital not to demonise the Serbian people - or any other group, come to that, but I gather that the Bosnians have a quite different perspective on the assassination and on the role of the Dual Monarchy, which they felt added to their prosperity.. I guess it was inevitable, though, that Austria-Hungary should fall apart; Austrians knew that at the time, really, and the sense of an ending, of decay, is implicit in the literature of the immediate pre-war period. Then I have read that there was enormous and justified resentment that nobody took up the cause of other groups the way the Empress Elizabeth took up the Hungarian cause. <br />It is a deep tragedy that the aspirations and desires of the national groups couldn't be realised without the cataclysm that followed.<br />I look forward to reading your new book,Imogen - I am a great fan of your work and have been devouring Crowther and Westerman. I loved the last one about the slave trade.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-68183611183624510382014-07-21T09:50:13.915+01:002014-07-21T09:50:13.915+01:00Thanks, guys. They really are both excellent sourc...Thanks, guys. They really are both excellent sources for a more subtle understanding of the history.Imogenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08925800621947616280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-84529886396755465572014-07-21T09:38:40.077+01:002014-07-21T09:38:40.077+01:00A good thing, I feel, about the WWI anniversary is...A good thing, I feel, about the WWI anniversary is an increased interest in the history of Europe (the "Why?" factor) that gives room for the publication of books like these, especially when the subject is so complex, and suddenly so alive.Penny Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16386668303428008498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-58442569668314570742014-07-21T09:04:58.993+01:002014-07-21T09:04:58.993+01:00Thanks very much for these recommendations, Imogen...Thanks very much for these recommendations, Imogen. I'm also very interested in the contrast between the kind of history we as an island have, and the kind that central and eastern Europe has - have read more recent histories, but these sound fascinating!Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.com