Powell History Recommends (2006)

PHR 1 (03/06): Modern Progress by Willis Mason West

As any student of "Invitation to History" and "A First History for Adults" knows, I consider Leopold von Ranke to the be the "Kant of History." It was his work, and that of his nineteenth century followers that forged the discipline of modern, value-barren "scientific" history. Fortunately, however, the penetration of Rankean premises into the work of American historians and history teachers was a gradual process. Some readers of history have no doubt heard that the best history books were written around the turn of the century (from c.1880 to c.1910). It is precisely because the Rankean takeover was gradual that such early histories are superior.

In future editions of PHR I will take the time to point out which of the early histories are my favorite and why, but in this edition I want to focus in on one exception to the rule that earlier is better.

The first of the general works on the history of Western civilization that I want to recommend to today's readers is "Modern Progress" by Willis Mason West. It was first published in 1931, and I have seen a few editions of it, one of which was co-authored by West's daughter Ruth.

West's theme is progress. He values present-day America, freedom, and technology, and he seeks to present the past in terms of the fundamentally positive progression, without, however, treating progress as an oversimplification. On the whole, "Modern Progress" is an admirable attempt to provide the whole history of the West in one accessible tome.

Of course, West is not an Objectivist. His value system can only be described as "liberal Christian"--with all the attendant confusions and contradictions. Like many intellectuals of the period between the World Wars, he evinces a naive optimism about international relations during that time, and a disconcerting sympathy for communist Russia. The closer West gets to the 20th century, the more the facts he selects and the interpretations he gives are troubling. Also, West is sympathetic to religion in virtually all its forms, which creates obvious difficulties in the interpretation and evaluation of Christianity's role in the progress of Western civilization.

Despite such flaws, however, West's telling is fundamentally successful, for reasons stated in the forward: "...history must leave no chasm between past and present," because the point of history is to study "the common adventure of mankind." As I've stated in my own lectures, I consider myself to be at war with what I call the "Past-Present Dichotomy", and it's always exciting to see someone who has some sense of the same purpose--and who succeeds because of it!

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PHR 2 (04/06): Three Books on Prince Henry "The Navigator"

Having written so admiringly about Prince Henry "the Navigator" in my last issue of PHR, I thought I would help students out there learn more about this remarkable man.

To start, however, I want to first warn readers away from anything written after 1980.

I have to say that to peruse a modern historical monograph on any historical topic, whether it's a period or an individual, is the surest way to lose interest in that topic, especially if you are a first time reader. Modern historians, acting either on the premise of "scientific history," that every undigested aspect of the past is equally worthy of attention--or on the subjectivist premise that the history of Western civilization is merely one perspective--or on both!--do little more than obfuscate the past with overwrought narratives, full of minutiae and hateful theses. Works of this sort include "Prince Henry the Navigator," by Peter Russell (Yale University Press, 2001), which readers are advised to avoid like the plague.

Unfortunately, modern popularizers of the past do less damage only by saying less. The quality of children's books on history has dropped so drastically, that I have not found any to recommend since I started looking. An example of a waste of time of this sort is "Prince Henry the Navigator," by Leonard Everett Fisher (Macmillan, 1990).

Fortunately, through the wonderful institution of used bookstores, one can avoid the work of the most recent generation of historians and excavate an almost completely different view of the past. It is through used bookstores that one will encounter two kinds of books that are otherwise inacessible. One such type is books written in the latter nineteenth century, by which I mean from 1880 to 1914. Another type is popularizations of a topic--sometimes in the form of children's books--which can date as late as the 1970s. (1980 seems to be another of the turning points--downward--in the quality of historical writing similarly to 1914.)

Of the first type, I recommend "Prince Henry the Navigator," by C. Raymond Beezley (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1903). This book is part of a series called "The Heroes of the Nations," which I haven't yet had time to sample more widely, but which looks fairly promising.

Beezley is genuine admirer of Henry, and of the European explorers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. His focus is on the life of Prince Henry, which Beezley considers to be the "turning-point, the central epoch in a development of many centuries, which brought "European Expansion" its "greatest successes."

Beezley usefully ties Prince Henry's work to the Renaissance by linking the rebirth of geography that Henry promoted to its classical roots and to the more generally flowering of geographical science during the great reawakening of the West. The usefulness of the chapters on the Vikings and Crusades is less certain, but the purposeful quality of the book resumes when the history of Portugal is taken up as an driving context to the Age of Discovery. One gets a sense of the challenges of the time, and of how Henry succeeded in overcoming them, and push the boundaries of knowledge. Quite appropriately, Beezley's telling ends by tying the story of Portuguese discovery to Henry's great successor, Columbus.

Despite all that is good in Beezley's book, I must say that it rests nowhere near in my esteem to a seemingly simpler and humbler "children's" book written in 1973 by W.J. Jacobs, entitled, of course, "Prince Henry The Navigator". Jacob's book is also a part of a series: the "Visual Biography" series, by publishers Franklin Watts.

What sets this work apart in my mind is that it is genuinely accessible to the first time reader of history, without being simplistic or childish. It is well structured, and written in a clear, flowing style. At only 51 pages in length--including ample and perfectly selected images--you can read it in one sitting. But then you can return to it to even greater advantage, because despite it's small size, this book is packed with good stuff!

Not surprisingly, Jacobs singles out Beezley as a particular usefully reference, but there is no question in my mind that one should read Jacobs first, and second, AND third,...and then Beezley!

I hope some of you will take me up on these recommendations, especially after hearing lecture 4 of 1HFA, Part 1 on Portugal and the Age of Discovery!

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PHR 3 (05/06): The Growth of the French Nation by George B. Adams

As perhaps everyone who receives PHR knows by now, I am a great advocate of old (and very old) history books. Although it is true that modern scholarship has added a few decimal places of precision to a good number of historical facts, there is no question in my mind that this increased precision has come at the expense of a proper focus on integration. And the latter is a far greater value than the former.

For instance, what great harm is done to you as a reader if you memorize that the Tarquin Kings were expelled from Rome c.508 BC or c.509 BC? What great loss is it if you know about Ferdinand Magellan, but don't know the life story of Sebastian del Cano (the man who took over after Magellan was killed in the Philippines)? The idea of the birth of the Roman Republic and the idea of the Age of Discovery are far more crucial to grasp, if you want to understand history. (Which is not to say that shouldn't strive for precision, and an ever expanding context of knowledge, but you have to integrate the plethora of historical facts into a body of knowledge in a certain order, as in any other systematic study. Too many details at first, as any overburdened reader or student of history can attest, is not the way to go.)

By this standard "The Growth of the French Nation" by George B. Adams (Chautauqua Century Press, 1896) is a great history book. Written in 1896, there are sure to be minute inaccuracies in it--though I haven't found any--but what is striking about the book is that it is written with a clear, valid historical theme. Whether it is read with an eye to later American history, or to understand Europe for itself, what stands out about the story of France is the character of its national growth, both culturally and in terms of government. It is the distinctive evolution of France's national monarchy during the Middle Ages that sets it apart from all its neighbors, though most importantly its rivals England and Germany. To present this theme Adams is highly selective in his narrative. As he explains, "I have endeavored...to resist the temptation to use the space at my command for other facts, however interesting, if they do not seem to bear upon the national growth." Consequently, he creates an accessible, enjoyable single-volume history of France. A great place to start for any reader!

PHR 4 (06/06): John Fiske, Historian of America

In past issues of PHR, I have tended to focus on specific subjects (such as Prince Henry "the Navigator" or French History). In this issue, I want to take the time to recommend a historian, whose range of historical works I am confident will satisfy any reader. That historian is John Fiske.

John Fiske (1842-1901) is a writer whose works have helped me to understand major topics in American history. His book, "The Critical Period of American History, 1783-1789," is definitely the best book I know of on the subject of the period immediately following the Revolutionary War. Another of his important titles is "The Discovery of America" (2 vols.), which has given me a deeper appreciation of the true place of Columbus in world history.

For books that examine delimited topics, Fiske's are remarkably accessible. Not surprisingly, this follows from the key premises that animate his work. In the preface to The Critical Period, Fiske writes, "I have aimed especially at grouping facts in such a way as to bring out and emphasize their causal sequence." If this weren't enough reason to recommend his works, Fiske is also obviously an admirer of the values that move history forward and that made America, and this makes his books all the more pleasurable to read. He writes admiringly of Columbus, and bluntly dismisses the Vikings (after accurately relaying the story of their wanderings). His admiration of the Founding Fathers, who, as he explains, "gave us a form of government under which we have just completed a century unparalleled for peace and prosperity," is obviously genuine. Fiske seems to have an especially keen sense of what is true and important to know about history.

As I scan the list of Fiske's writings, I am struck by the fact that he also seems to have been an advocate of the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, and that he wrote some interesting sounding titles on philosophy, but I cannot speak to the quality of those works. I recommend Fiske as a historian only. Though I haven't yet gotten to them myself, I look forward to reading his "The War of Independence" and "The Beginnings of New England," among other titles.

PHR 5 (07/06): Europe Since 1815, by Charles Downer Hazen

As is customary in PHR, I would like to recommend a book that will benefit adult students of history. This month's recommendation is especially important to me personally, because it's about the nineteenth century, a part of history for which I have found it very difficult to get good resources. The book is "Europe Since 1815" by Charles Downer Hazen (Henry Holt and Company, 1910).

Although I'm still reading it, and thus my recommendation has to be considered somewhat provisional, there's no doubt in my mind that this is a great book. Normally, when one reads about the nineteenth century, one either has to contend with books that focus on too narrow a topic (such as the revolutions of 1848) or too restricted a theme (such as the rise of Nationalism). More often, studies are confined to the story of a single nation, such as Italy or Germany. It is easy to see why this is the case, because the nineteenth century is the most complicated period in history! By contrast, the 20th century, with its obvious large-scale convulsions, is straightforward! Unfortunately, the result is that one cannot expect to grasp this period as a whole without dedicating oneself to it full time. The onus is on the reader of history to integrate this topic, since historians have not.

At least, no one has demonstrated the slightest hope of doing so to me, until Hazen. He has a way of selecting out the facts that are important to the broad progression of events, and discarding the minutiae that normally clutters history books. Consequently, his narrative is purposeful and easy to follow. In recognition of the complexity of the political history of this time, Hazen carefully dissects the sum and presents it in manageable units (such as the story of Spain and Italy from 1812 to 1822.) Crucially, however, one never gets the sense that the telling of one part of the story is disconnected from the rest. Hazen always asserts the broader context and demonstrates the significance of what he is presenting.

The only drawback of "Europe Since 1815" is that it is 736 pages. That means it really isn't an ideal place to *start* learning about the nineteenth century. The solution is, of course, to take "A First History for Adults, Part 2 - Europe: Context and Foil" (starting in the summer of 2007), or, at least to read "Modern Progress" by Willis Mason West, as previously recommended in PHR, to get some context. Once you've made a proper start on the whole story, though, Hazen will take you the rest of the way when it comes to this challenging part of history!

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PHR 6 (08/06): The Middle Period: 1817-1858, by John Burgess

This month's installment of Powell History Recommends focuses on a resource that has greatly enhanced my understanding of the early nineteenth century in America. Students of Session 1 & 2 have already reached this point in their class on the "Story of America," and witnessed the important shift in American culture that attends the passing of the Revolutionary generation. This period, marked by democratization (as symbolized by Andrew Jackson), a tragic failure to eradicate slavery, and, most unfortunately, a significant rise in economic statism, is not easy to wade through. But John W. Burgess makes it seem uncomplicated in his book "The Middle Period: 1817-1858," (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909).

Burgess's great virtue is that he doesn't settle for the typical dispassionate outlook of historians. The usual, exceedingly boring, approach involves presenting merely a succession of presidents, whose terms in office are treated as the natural, chronological schema for presenting the past. Predictably, when historians use such a barren framework, it contributes virtually nothing to our understanding of the times. Instead, Burgess determines to take the events of this time and present them according to an abstract perspective. His purpose is not merely to relay the facts, but to empower readers to achieve a greater moral understanding of the past. In brief, Burgess believes that the true causes of the civil war must be understood as a key spiritual value for the American soul, that "the South must acknowledge its error as well as its defeat...from the brain and the heart and the manly will, before any real concord in thought and feeling...can be established." (He is writing c.1900) This is a far cry from the typical "scientific" approach that the apostles of Leopold von Ranke (the "Kant of history") would espouse.

Burgess's narrative proceeds along causal lines, from pivotal episode to pivotal episode. As Burgess puts it, "the truthful record, connection, and interpretation of such events is what I call history in the highest sense, as distinguished from chronology, narrative, and romance."

Bravo! Burgess's "Middle Period" should be on the shelf of any adult student of American history.

PHR 7 (09/06): Our United States, by Woodburn, Moran, and Hill

With an increasing number of students joining Powell History for the "Story of America," I thought I would recommend another book that would make a great accompaniment to "A First History for Adults." That book is "Our United States," by Woodburn, Moran, and Hill (Longmans, Green and Co., 1930).

What makes "Our United States" a great book is that it is actually designed to facilitate the learning of the past by the reader, not simply to expose him to the sum of what the author knows. It is not merely a "knowledge dump," as one of my students has termed it, like virtually every modern presentation of the past. "Our United States" is a selective telling of the fundamental facts about the story of America which must be grasped first, if the reader aims to embark on a productive study of history. In the words of the authors, "it is a better educative procedure to follow...the main lines of progress that have marked the history of our country than to attempt to carry them all along at the same time. Instead of presenting a mass of miscellaneous and unrelated facts merely in the order of their happening, we have sought, therefore, to bring out in a unified way the great movements in our history, their causes, beginnings, and growth, and to make known the achievements and character of the great men and women who have made the United States what it is today."

As this passage indicates, and as the book fully demonstrates, the authors of "Our United States," have a remarkable awareness of how the issue of hierarchy applies to history. There *is* a necessary order of learning in history (with certain options), if one is to properly construct knowledge of the past. When that order is respected, it is possible to create a satisfying orientation to history that meets the needs of a first-time reader. On this level, Woodburn, Moran, and Hill have succeeded brilliantly.

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PHR 8 (10/06): Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, by Sir Edward Creasy

When first learning about history through general narratives, one often encounters compelling moments that demand further investigation. How exactly did the Greeks deflect the invasion of the west by the Persian Empire? What was it that drove the European tribes together to face the Asian onslaught of the Huns, and how did they defeat Attila? To know that the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) or the Battle of Chalons (451 AD) happened is important, and to know how these battles fit in the fundamental causal sequence of history is still more important. But this is merely the beginning of historical knowledge. From this vantage point, myriad options present themselves.

It is natural, for one, to be drawn to the drama and intensity of particularly violent moments, and to want to know more about the men "who flocked to the work of death!" For this purpose, I recommend Sir Edward Creasy's "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World" (Oracle, 1996).

In Creasy's own words, "there are some battles...which claim our attention...on account of the enduring influence on our social and political condition, which we can trace up to the results of those engagements. They have for us an abiding and actual interest, both while we investigate the chain of causes and effects, by which they have helped to make us what we are; and also while we speculate on what we probably should have been, if anyone of those battles had come to a different termination."

Students of POWELL HISTORY are introduced to pivotal battles, such as Chalons, and our main focus in "A First History for Adults" is on their place in the broader narrative, which Fifteen Decisive Battles cannot possibly relate, since that is not its purpose. But once students of history have a proper context in hand, there's no better place to turn than Creasy to expand one's knowledge of these decisive episodes.

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PHR 9 (12/06): Recommended Bibliography for Studying the Middle Ages

The study of the Middle Ages provides an indispensable bridge between the classical cultures of Greece and Rome and the Modern World. The penetration of Christianity into Western culture and the feudal and monarchical roots of statism are key elements of our inheritance from this period.

To appreciate how, after the Fall of Rome, America's "mother continent" was gradually, tortuously reborn and reshaped, one first needs a proper narrative introduction to the period. This is best afforded by Oliver Thatcher's Short History of Medieval Europe. It is the best "first history" in that it is eminently readable and accessible to the layman. Beyond this, one may turn to any number of sources as supplements. Emerton and West are also accessible, but Hoyt and Cantor provide more insight. Since none of the stated works provide sufficient geographical references, Shepherd's Atlas is indispensable.