Fictional History Lesson
Quick post as I watch the Wild take care of Vancouver... (damn good to have hockey back.)
During high-school, I had an AP European History class that went through a rather large amount of history. Something like 1492-1900 ... Columbus through the Renaissance, French Revolution, etc. Subjects such as the Thirty Years War, the Reformation, Machiavelli's The Prince, and so on were covered. That's a lot of guys and gals with whigs.
Of all of this, I probably remember a few basic events, a few of the more important people, and maybe some of the underlying ideas that they were all about.
I am in the midst of "The Baroque Cycle" by Neal Stephenson, which is basically an enthralling ficitious epic that just happens to be an excellent history lesson as well. Isaac Newton is a character, Louis XIV is a character, Gottfried Leibniz is a character, Huygens is a chacter, etc. etc. Long story short, if you like intelligently written stories & characters, Stephenson is your man, and this series just happens to be an excellent history lesson as well.
amazon.com links:
Quicksilver
The Confusion
The System of the World
During high-school, I had an AP European History class that went through a rather large amount of history. Something like 1492-1900 ... Columbus through the Renaissance, French Revolution, etc. Subjects such as the Thirty Years War, the Reformation, Machiavelli's The Prince, and so on were covered. That's a lot of guys and gals with whigs.
Of all of this, I probably remember a few basic events, a few of the more important people, and maybe some of the underlying ideas that they were all about.
I am in the midst of "The Baroque Cycle" by Neal Stephenson, which is basically an enthralling ficitious epic that just happens to be an excellent history lesson as well. Isaac Newton is a character, Louis XIV is a character, Gottfried Leibniz is a character, Huygens is a chacter, etc. etc. Long story short, if you like intelligently written stories & characters, Stephenson is your man, and this series just happens to be an excellent history lesson as well.
amazon.com links:
Quicksilver
The Confusion
The System of the World
posted by Matt at 9:50 PM
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