Tagged: history
Lazy Sundays: Revolutions Podcast
After Mike Duncan’s amazing podcast The History of Rome I was pretty disappointed. It had been a great podcast that got me through a lot of boring days at work and on the weekends and I was sad to see it go. At the same time, I was pretty eager to see what Mike Duncan was going to do next. Enter Revolutions.
Revolutions is a podcast chronicling several different revolutions throughout world history. It starts with the English Revolution and once that was done we moved on to the American Revolution. Currently we’re on the insanely complicated French Revolution and I couldn’t be happier. Mike Duncan makes history so accessible to the average person and although he gaffes sometimes, his research is very thorough and is usually spot-on. He combines both humour and fact to make what I thought were boring events absolutely fascinating. So every Sunday like today I eagerly await the newest episode of Revolutions.
If you like podcasts in general or you love history, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s free on iTunes and he runs a sort of voluntary donation service where you can do a one time donation or a monthly donation in appreciation for his efforts. It’s pretty cool and you can check it out on his official site.
Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be refreshing the Revolutions feed on iTunes every hour or so until the new episode comes out.
Discussion: Forgotten Figures
As sort of a lead-up to my first real Forgotten Figures article on Monday or Tuesday, I thought we’d have a discussion about it. Not the articles themselves, but the whole concept of obscure historical figures.
My idea with the series is, as I’ve said, to bring to light figures that are forgotten in mainstream history. I still love Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and Charlemagne, but who can forget the accomplishments of Aurelian, Zenobia and Emperor Li Shih-min? Some of those names are far from obscure in the circles of history buffs, but they have been forgotten by most people. As in, you could go up to a random person on the street, tell them the name and ask what they accomplished and most people would look at you blankly. So basically, as far as I define it, it’s all about name recognition.
That’s why I chose to start on what will hopefully be a regular article series here on The Mad Reviewer. I have a passion for history that I want to share and although it’s not necessarily the most book-related thing ever, many of these people are people I discovered either within books or people I’d love to see represented in fiction. So if you’re an aspiring historical fiction writer, maybe you’ll find inspiration here in the weeks to come.
Enough preamble, though. What I want to know is this: Who is your favourite historical figure that’s been forgotten by the mainstream media? Why?
(And on a side note: Is there a particular figure you’d like to see me feature in Forgotten Figures? I’m quite open to suggestions and I have the resources to mount at least a decent research effort into most eras, so please don’t hold back if you want to share your love of an obscure figure.)
Forgotten Figures: Introduction
So the poll results are in and you guys voted largely in favour of me writing them all. However, the most popular series by far was this one I’m doing right now: Forgotten Figures. 31.25% of people voted for it alone, plus the 25% of people that voted for all of the above, which made me really happy because this is an article series I’m really looking forward to. So now I’ll give you a brief introduction and explain how it’s going to run.
There are many fascinating figures throughout history that have largely been forgotten by the public these days. Everyone’s heard about Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and Christopher Columbus. If you asked a random person on a normal city street and gave them that list, they’d be able to tell you the accomplishments of at least one of those. (Or so one would hope, especially for the last person on that list.)
But what about the interesting people that mainstream history has forgotten? What about Galla Placidia, Zenobia, Sneferu, Aurelian, Shapur and so many more? The accomplishments of these people should not be forgotten, but I’m also going to dive into the history that people would rather forget: the brutal reign of Caracalla, the just weirdness of Elagabalus and so many more ugly little pieces of history.
However, at one point during this hopefully long article series, you’re probably going to say, “Carrie, do you think we’re all stupid? Of course I know who [x] is.” That’s right, you probably will know someone I’m doing a feature on at one point or another. And it’s probably because you’ve studied history a little more than the average person. If you’re a fan of Roman history and you’re scoffing at me including Aurelian on the list of forgotten figures, that’s fine, but just remember that I’m talking about people forgotten by the general public. Let’s face it: if you asked random people on a city street to name the two major things Aurelian did during his five-year reign, they’d probably just look at you blankly. Scholars of Roman history easily could, but the average person? Not so much because you never hear about him in the mainstream media.
One of my goals is also to bring more famous Eastern historical figures to my largely Western audience. So if you’ve even made a cursory study of Chinese history, you’re going to scoff at me when I talk about Princess Zhao of Pingyang and Emperor Li Shih-min (T’ai-Tsung). You’ll have to bear with me on those articles because although they are very well known in their countries of origin, they don’t exactly ring bells to Western ears. Heck, I only know about them thanks to a humour site called Cracked and some ancient history books I picked up at a garage sale. And that’s a shame.
My specialty is ancient Roman and Egyptian history, but hopefully if the series goes well I’ll take more time to research and learn about obscure figures from around the world. I know Greek history would be fascinating and I’m eager to learn more about China’s long history. Of course I’ll also be taking some more modern figures that have been forgotten, but those will be a little more rare.
I don’t know how I’m going to format things yet, but I’ll probably give you a background look at the times the particular Forgotten Figure lived in, then a (hopefully detailed) biography followed by a summation of their accomplishments. If this format seems popular, I’ll probably stick to it but just be aware that if it doesn’t seem to be working, I’m going to be changing things around.
So there’s your introduction to my newest series: Forgotten Figures. Come back next week for my first installment in the series, Forgotten Figures: Aurelian.
Discussion: Your Favourite Historical Figure(s)
This is a topic that comes up frequently amongst historical fiction lovers, but as a lover of historical fiction as well as an extremely amateur historian, I just can’t get enough of it. My question for this week is: Who is/are your favourite historical figure(s)? Why?
Here are some of my favourite historical figures:
- Julius Caesar. His mixture of cunning on the battlefield combined with his impressive political savvy make me really appreciate him as both a man and the legend that he became. When you read about it, his life essentially reads like an epic movie and it’s just plain awesome (aside from the whole violent death part). Having the guts to order around the pirates holding you captive and seemingly always fighting with the smaller force and winning is pretty impressive.
- Hatshepsut. I’ve always had a soft spot for strong female leaders throughout history, and the Iron Lady of Egypt is one of my absolute favourites. She presided over a golden age with minimal military activity and a new resurgence in trade from her Punt expedition. And she did all this in an extremely sexist society where she was never, ever meant to take the throne. The more I read about her, the more I love her.
- Niccolo Machiavelli. This is probably not the most popular choice, but having read The Prince I can’t help but admire his cunning. His political theories ring true throughout history; having a background in Roman history certainly didn’t hurt his credibility. And he presents them in a very concise way without adding in too much fluff like many of his contemporaries.
I could go on and on, but that wouldn’t be fair. Now it’s your turn to answer the question: who is/are your favourite historical figure(s)? Why? How did they come to be your favourite(s)?
Immortal by Gene Doucette
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
“I don’t know how old I am.My earliest memory is something along the lines of fire good, ice bad, so I think I predate written history, but I don’t know by how much. I like to brag that I’ve been there from the beginning, and while this may very well be true, I generally just say it to pick up girls.”
–Adam the Immortal
Surviving sixty thousand years takes cunning and more than a little luck. But in the twenty-first century, Adam confronts new dangers—someone has found out what he is, a demon is after him, and he has run out of places to hide.Worst of all, he has had entirely too much to drink.
Immortal is a first person confessional penned by a man who is immortal, but not invincible. In an artful blending of sci-fi, adventure, fantasy, and humor, IMMORTAL introduces us to a world with vampires, demons and other “magical” creatures, yet a world without actual magic.
At the center of the book is Adam.
“I have been in quite a few tight situations in my long life. One of the first things I learned was if there is going to be a mob panic, don’t be standing between the mob and wherever it is they all want to go. The second thing I learned was, don’t try to run through fire.”
–Adam the Immortal
Adam is a sixty thousand year old man. (Approximately.) He doesn’t age or get sick, but is otherwise entirely capable of being killed.His survival has hinged on an innate ability to adapt, his wits, and a fairly large dollop of luck. He makes for an excellent guide through history . . . when he’s sober.
Immortal is a contemporary fantasy for non-fantasy readers and fantasy enthusiasts alike.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
What I’ve always wondered at is if there really are immortals, how will they live in today’s society where you need an ID to do almost anything? At what point do mortals discover their existence? Well, Gene Doucette certainly deals with that in Immortal.
Adam is probably one of my favourite characters I’ve read about in a long time. Sure he’s a drunken lecher of the first degree, but after sixty thousand years, wouldn’t you be too? He’s clever and street smart, which has kept him alive over the millennia and yet he still holds onto the romantic idea that he’s not the only immortal, that the redheaded beauty he keeps seeing will one day reveal herself to him. If they all don’t get captured by scientists to be poked and prodded and exploited first. I love The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and I have to say that quite honestly, Immortal does have the feel of the classic as Adam tries to sober up to run away from his many would-be captors. I don’t compare classics like Douglas Adams’ book to contemporary works very easily, so you can be certain that I really do enjoy and recommend Immortal.
Even though not all that much is revealed about the origins of Adam’s immortality, I can still say that the world-building in this book was excellent. Why? Because there are very good reasons for his immortality being shrouded in mystery: humans were quite primitive at the time and he himself says that he wasn’t engaging in the kind of complex thought that is present today. “Fire good, ice bad”, indeed. We see flashbacks of his travels across the centuries, sometimes drunken and sometimes not as he encountered everything from demons to famous gangsters. He’s certainly had a pretty cool life, but not in the “I’m immortal so I’ve met every famous figure ever” way. No, sometimes he lived a pretty ordinary life and sometimes not, which makes his current political savvy believable as well as his street smarts.
As for the plot, it was surprisingly fast-paced when you consider that there were occasional interludes into the past. Normally those slow the plot down unbearably, but not so in this case because Gene Doucette is a good writer. I wanted to know more about Adam’s fascinating background not only because it was fascinating but because it was also relevant to where he is today: being hunted so that scientists can figure out how to recreate the conditions for his immortality. Adam’s not too keen on being poked, prodded and possibly dissected so things get very, very interesting toward the end of the novel. Particularly when we see our red-headed friend again.
So all in all, Immortal was a very enjoyable read and I would definitely recommend it to others. Adam is a very memorable character and the world-building is so well done that even with the little knowledge you’re given, you remain fairly satisfied that you know most everything that is relevant to the story itself. Of course I can’t wait to see that expanded in the next book, Hellenic Immortal. I’ll definitely be watching and waiting to read the rest of Adam’s story.
I give this book 5/5 stars.