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Savage Anxieties: The Invention of Western Civilization
by Robert A. Williams
The Nutshell:
University of Arizona legal scholar Williams presents a history of the western world’s obsession with the savage that begins with Homer’s description of the savage centaurs and ends with James Cameron’s Na’vi people. In between, he explores Roman, medieval, early Christian, Renaissance, and early U.S. stereotypes of who was civilized-and who was not.
Literary Lovechild Of:
Peter Silver’s Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America and Edith Hall’s Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self-Definition Through Tragedy.
You'll Find It On Your Bookshelf If:
When you read The Odyssey, you rooted against Odysseus and for the Cyclops.
Cocktail Party Fodder:
The Greeks caricatured many savage barbarian peoples as unable to hold their liquor. Drinking like a Scythian, a member of a nomadic northern group, meant drinking wine neat, unadulterated by water.
For Optimal Benefit:
Read after you’ve given up on finishing Herodotus’ Histories.
Snap Judgment:
Williams covers a huge amount of intellectual and historical territory-with impressive close readings–and links it all together seamlessly.
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A People’s History of the U.S. Military: Ordinary Soldiers Reflect on Their Experience of War, from the American Revolution to Afghanistan
by Michael A. Bellesiles
The Nutshell:
The nutshell: Using primarily first-person sources like diary entries, letters, memoirs, films, and newspaper articles-mainly by enlisted soldiers, their families, and a handful of low-level officers-Central Connecticut State historian Bellesiles offers a history of the American military from those who lived it, stretching from the American Revolution to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Literary Lovechild Of:
Tim O’Brien’s If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home and Studs Terkel’s The Good War: An Oral History of World War II.
You'll Find It On Your Bookshelf If:
You’ve got a yellow ribbon somewhere.
Cocktail Party Fodder:
U.S. Army morale was so low in 1826 that desertions equaled half of new enlistments. In 1831, 1,200 soldiers deserted out of 5,000 total–and in the late 1840s, during the Mexican-American war, one-tenth of the army deserted in Mexico.
For Optimal Benefit:
Read before enlisting.
Snap Judgment:
Bellesiles’ military history is neat and lucid, but most fascinating is reading how the soldiers’ letters and diary entries have changed over time-as well as what has stayed the same.
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Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750
by Odd Arne Westad
The Nutshell:
London School of Economics historian Westad covers two centuries of Chinese foreign policy to explain China’s place in the world today. He’s looking not just at interactions between governments but at tourism, trade, and cultural and religious exchanges.
Literary Lovechild Of:
Jonathan Spence’s Search For Modern China and Walter Russell Mead’s Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World.
You'll Find It On Your Bookshelf If:
You’re still talking about the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies, even after the queen parachuted into the London games.
Cocktail Party Fodder:
One-third of all projects under communist China’s first Five Year Plan were paid for with Soviet or East European assistance. The Soviets gave the Chinese Communists a bit less than 1 percent of the Soviet GDP each year from 1946 to 1960.
For Optimal Benefit:
Take it on your next pilgrimage to China’s Maoist landmarks.
Snap Judgment:
Another book on China? Yes, but so much more! Westad traces China’s current rise back to its roots with contagious intellectual curiosity.
