(no subject)

[randomness]

It does catch me up short when people who I consider well-educated show both a lack of knowledge of and a concern for history.

Comments

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

If you treat history as one big soap opera, it makes it easier.

Really. Forget about the dates, and concentrate on the relationships.

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

Good advice! I get inspired to learn more about the real history of a period when I read a really relationship-focused book on that period. This is why I know a ton about WWI from the Canadian perspective, and only just recently found out waht the Dunkirk evacuation was in WWII-- just hadn't run across literature that referenced it yet.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Ian McEwan's wrenching but beautiful novel Atonement has a section that takes place during the Dunkirk evacuation. It's one of my favorite parts of the book.

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia told me that in the process of writing these comments, yes! Now I want to read it. I read Blackout last weekend and that got me all excited about Dunkirk.