tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post3640820764893410883..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: 'The Private Life of Pawns' by A L BerridgeMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-5036753683406679042014-06-22T18:10:44.473+01:002014-06-22T18:10:44.473+01:00War as entertainment.. the thing is, you put stuff...War as entertainment.. the thing is, you put stuff out there, and people make of it what seems good - or fun - to them, and that's the risk of ANY fictional writing, or even non-fiction. However, there is so much writing that glorifies war, I think it's crucial to show it exactly how it is. Some people will find that enjoyable, of course, but you have said what seems important to you, and some people will get what you are putting out. To me, the worst form of war as entertainment was the way in which the first night of the bombing of Baghdad was reported in the second Gulf War. It was horrific to hear people treating it as fun - and I had an ex-student in Baghdad, who had gone back there to be with her mother, who is disabled.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-53760202058495933282014-06-21T13:56:53.906+01:002014-06-21T13:56:53.906+01:00What a treasure trove! Fascinating and thought-pro...What a treasure trove! Fascinating and thought-provoking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-45631183383174757012014-06-21T13:56:47.705+01:002014-06-21T13:56:47.705+01:00What a treasure trove! Fascinating and thought-pro...What a treasure trove! Fascinating and thought-provoking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-1756940779559674432014-06-21T13:04:14.494+01:002014-06-21T13:04:14.494+01:00Maybe my diary would be a gold mine to historians ...Maybe my diary would be a gold mine to historians wanting to know about my life, in case I'm ever famous, but anyone else would soon get bored with this teenager's friendship issues. :-) Even memory can fool us. I have a clear memory of someone running into the school shed where we were painting sets for the annual play and saying, "Hey, the prime minister has just drowned!" It couldn't possibly have happened, because he disappeared during the school holidays. And I was in my first school play that year anyway, not building sets till I was comfortably settled into the drama club. Yet I remember it, clear as anything. If I'd written it in my diary...Sue Bursztynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-74983017599016317692014-06-21T11:59:53.877+01:002014-06-21T11:59:53.877+01:00That's it exactly, Sue - and it's why our ...That's it exactly, Sue - and it's why our diaries would actually be of more interest to historians than we'd suppose! Everyone knows about the moon landing, but anyone wanting real understanding of that period would find your diary a goldmine.<br />Not that anyone's going to be allowed to see mine from the Seventies. Just - not ever.alberridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15986443240923520466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-25887811165207238482014-06-21T09:47:14.616+01:002014-06-21T09:47:14.616+01:00Thanks for a fascinating post, Louise! It really d...Thanks for a fascinating post, Louise! It really desn't surprise me that the letters, valuable as they were for research, didn't have anything exciting in them. For George, what he discussed WAS important. Some years ago, I unearthed a diary I kept in my teens. I lived in some of the most exciting years of the twentieth century, I remember going hoe from school to see the moon landing on TV, but what was in my diary? Details of my everyday life, my lives, hates, friendships ...Not one word of what was on in the news! Not even,"Went to (my friend) Denise's house to eat condensed milk and watch the moon landing." Disappointing to Sue, the writer and researcher, but very important to the teen I was.Sue Bursztynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-12146613337027752682014-06-20T23:17:35.954+01:002014-06-20T23:17:35.954+01:00Thanks so much, everyone - and again huge thanks t...Thanks so much, everyone - and again huge thanks to Anne. There's much more to be mined here, but I didn't want to nick the best bits!<br /><br />Leslie, I think I agree. I'm a pacifist myself and think it's crucial that we understand what war really means in human cost.<br /><br />I suppose what I'm wondering is whether commercial action adventure is the place to really push it. Then again, I start wondering if we should really write war as ANY kind of entertainment - at which point my head explodes. Way too big a subject to discuss here, but it's been on my mind a lot and I wanted to bung it out there.alberridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15986443240923520466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-42852835239375168812014-06-20T20:27:46.565+01:002014-06-20T20:27:46.565+01:00Soz, meant to type 'the history of the world.&...Soz, meant to type 'the history of the world.'Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-12528181334297568222014-06-20T20:27:13.708+01:002014-06-20T20:27:13.708+01:00What a find! And yet, you know, I'm not sure a...What a find! And yet, you know, I'm not sure about the importance of keeping private lives private. But then I am a pacifist, and I think it is important to know, in order to understand what warfare truly is, that 'this history of the world lies under every gravestone' as the poet Heinrich Heine put it. Very thought-provoking, anyway.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-9511421087006288602014-06-20T18:26:42.013+01:002014-06-20T18:26:42.013+01:00Gosh, how wonderful for you to have so generously ...Gosh, how wonderful for you to have so generously been given this access and insight and, conversely, how wonderful for Anne Beale and George's family to have found such a responsive writer. <br />Clare Mulleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11592100764046914574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-4562485809043957662014-06-20T14:35:12.797+01:002014-06-20T14:35:12.797+01:00What a wonderful resource those letters are - than...What a wonderful resource those letters are - thanks for telling us about them!Joan Lennonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15763862159032836768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-68830736149311833862014-06-20T09:38:55.465+01:002014-06-20T09:38:55.465+01:00What am amazing stroke of luck to see those letter...What am amazing stroke of luck to see those letters! The lives of ordinary people are so difficult to unveil, as I found out when I tried to research stable boys. And they wouldn't have nbeen able to write, so no chance of letters.<br />What a sad ending George had - like so many. I suppose that his letters were only presevered because he did die. They because valuable because, beside the baby, they were all his loved ones had left of him.Marie-Louise Jensenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18006940874591015786noreply@blogger.com