My Summer Reading I

Now that I am back in school (along with Elliot!) I think I will report on what I read this summer. This will not include stuff I read or worked on as part of my research on the Templars or on chariot warfare. This is the stuff I read just because I wanted to. First installment, the monght of:

MAY

The first month of the summer was taken up with quite a bit of work at the office. Consequently not so many books, though I read journal articles, some as part of my research program, and much material on the Internet. Here are the books I managed to get through.

1. Cobra II by Gordon and Trainor. A revealing account of how we went to war in Iraq and took Baghdad. Makes clear that the war was essentially won by the troops on the ground, while being poorly planned back at the Pentagon. Neither Rumsfield nor Gen Franks come out looking good which seems about right. Neither of them, for example, would listen to their commanders in the field when they reported virtually no resistance from the much vaunted Republican Guard, but fanatical, even suicidal, resistance by irregular Fedayeen troops. In fact Franks nearly fired an officer for saying this to reporters in Iraq. Guess who went on to cause us most of the trouble since el Prez declared ‘Mission Accomplished?' By far the best account yet, though you may want to take a look at John Keagan's The Iraq War for a somewhat narrower view of the militaray effort.

2. Baudolino by Umberto Eco. Listened to this one tape. Excellent historical fiction, if you like magical realism for the ‘fiction' part - the ‘historical' part is actually more fascinating thnt the magical realism, which works by assuming that all the bizarre tales told in the Middle Ages by travelers purporting to describe their adventures were absolutely true! Eco can not fail to be an interesting writer and here he outdoes himself. The historical part is essentially the story of the Emperor Frederick, called Barbarossa, his murder during the Third Crusade and the sack of Constantinople by the Christian crusaders in the Fourth Crusade. Since I had just finished teaching a course where we read an eyewitness account of the siege I was primed to enjoy Baudolino, and I did.

3. Rubicon by Steven Saylor. A simple little murder mystery set in ancient Rome as the armies of Pompey and Caesar are racing to southern Italy. A nice, light read that can teach you a bit about ancient history. Saylor is a good storyteller who can magically create a mood of the first century that is utterly convincing. And the murderer is the last person you ever suspect in a murder mystery.