Day 8:
(1/2
I guess, some of knew what was coming when I placed my comment on Day 7 regarding Day 6 (Pillars of the Earth). Well, here's the thing, I did like "La catedral del mar" (#CathedralOfTheSea) by #IldefonsoFalcones. It is about the uring the construction of a cathedral. But it is the lesser known Santa Maria del Mar, not the...
@MaJ1 @mattotcha
@mina
@2ndStar
@energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99
@si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
Day 8
(2/3)
...#SagradaFamília of the Catalan #AntoniGaudí (to be completed in 2033.)
That wasn't the only disappointment. I had expected something like Pillars of the Earth, but architecture is pretty much absent and construction work is chiefly just a background story.
That said, as it was one of my first novels in...
@MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
(3/3)
...Spanish, and the medieval court intrigues were interesting, I still remember it fondly.
It is all about managing expectations, I guess. ;)
//
@MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
I did not see that coming (as I never heard of the novel).
Still, Santa María del Mar is a beautiful cathedral!
@MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
Huh, I would have thought that you knew author and novel.
I have been to Barcelona a few times, I don't remember that church, but the visits were but a day.
@MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
OT:
#Gothic
(1/n)
Yes, la Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar in #Barcelona is picturesque. :)
"A jewel of the La Ribera neighborhood, this is #Barcelona's last remaining #Catalan #Gothic-style church, with majestic naves and beautiful stained glass windows."
So it is one of the architectural brethren of the fictious one in #Kingsbridge, ...
@MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
OT:
#Gothic
(2/n)
...Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle de #Paris, Notre-Dame de #Strasbourg
as well as the #Gothic #cathedrals in #Sens, #Reims, #Amiens, #Chartres, #Rouen, #Wells (#Somerset, #England,) #LincolnCathedral, #CanterburyCathedral, #KingsCollegeChapel (#Cambridge,) #WestminsterAbbey,
as well as the Dome of #Magdeburg, the Marienkirche (#Lübeck, #Germany),...
@mina @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
(3/3)
...the #KölnerDom (#Cologne, Germany,) the #UlmerMünster, not to forget the cathedrals of Italy, #Siena, #Orvieto, #Florence, and #Milan, and those of #Spain: Santa María de #Burgos, #Sevilla, #Cuenca, #Toledo, #León, Palma de #Mallorca, #Ávila, #Oviedo, #Segovia, #Pamplona, #Girona*,...
Ok, I admit it, I love the #Gothic style . 🥰
//
*
https://viajerosexploradores.com/11-catedrales-goticas-en-espana-que-tienes-que-visitar/
@mina @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
@HistoPol @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
Day 8
Aaaaaaa
so good
I want to read that one...
@HistoPol @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 9:
Let's start with the 1st digitized book.
I am sure you all agree that this book 📖, IF it had influenced all our lives decades earlier, the world 🌎 would be a better place.
Failed education. Humankind's calamity
@VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
No doubt, this is one of the most influential books ever written.
I have never read it, though.
@VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
@evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
(2/2)
#Fahrenheit 451, however, it is but one of the #SciFi #dystopias that seem to be becoming reality in many countries. Here are some:
For now, we're looking in awe at what is happening in the US, especially in the Bible Belt, but there is no room for complacency: If we don't push against it, we will get the same.
@evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
@mina
#USpol #BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day11:
I have been looking with increasing dismay at the political situation in the #US: they are a #DemocracyInChains, a book by historian #NancyMcLean.
(To be fair, I'm cheating a bit here, as I've so far only read a detailed but excellent article on the book so far:
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/112598602729129143
It is on the top of my reading list, though.)
@evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
It's on my bucket list, too.
Despite everything, the US is still by far the world's most important and most powerful country, so what happens there, concerns us all.
The author Annika Brockschmidt has also written excellent books about the fight of the Christian Right against US democracy.
I also love to listen to Leeja Miller, a US lawyer with a YouTube channel.
@evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
As we were talking about it yesterday, this sums up the precarious #political situation in the US quite ftittingly:
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/112644064233277399
@evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
@HistoPol @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
so SF authors are dangerous. Got it !
Actually, yes.
#SciFi authors are dangerous--for (would-be) totalitarian rulers like Putin or Trump, because they show what can (or has already) happened.
Oh, and sometimes the authors are a think-tank collective writing non-fiction, such as the #HeritageFoundation with the takeover agenda of #Project2025:
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/111700111654540893
@evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
@HistoPol @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
One think that still eludes my poor brain is how books like 1984 or the matrix showed us dystopias that will all agreed upon were dystopias yet we kinda walked toward something not too different
This is a complete mystery. We have been warned over and over, and yet, we still go in full throttle!
@HistoPol @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
@HistoPol @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
I sometimes feel we also are heading to a bit of idiocracy too
"Sometimes" is a lovely euphemism in that context.
@HistoPol @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 12:
(1/6)
I just realized that this master piece in captivating #biographies was my first book about politics. The 4-volume saga was also the heaviest, LOL, with a total of over 3,000 pages.
I picked up this book at a mountain hotel, left their by a tourist...
#Bookwyrm
#20Days20Books (We'll see 😉)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Years_of_Lyndon_Johnson
@mina @Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
@mina @Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 12:
(2/n)
...and was utterly captivated by this book.
Lyndon B. Johnson, a #US president before my time, had initially seemed rather lackluster. Reading MASTER of the Senate,...
#Bookwyrm
#20Days20Books (We'll see 😉)
#USpol
#UShistory
#History
@mina @Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 12:
(3/n)
...it became clear to me that he has been the political #SunTzu of the #US Senate. Initially not having the hard power for direly needed reform, #Johnson managed to transform the "upper chamber" representing the "states rights" into a masterpiece of...
#Bookwyrm
#20Days20Books (We'll see 😉)
#USpol
#UShistory
#History
@mina @Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 12:
(4/n)
...knowledge and writing skills, I' love to write a book in the style of #AlternateHistory, where #LyndonBJohnson, a grandmaster of backroom deals and finding morning majorities, would clash with #HenryClay, #TheGreatCompromiser, and one...
#Bookwyrm
#20Days20Books (We'll see 😉)
#USpol
#UShistory
#History
@mina @Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 12:
(5/n)
...of the "#GreatTriumvirate" or the "#ImmortalTrio" of [19th century #US] #congressional leaders, along with his colleagues #DanielWebster..." and #JonCCalhoun, the "cast-iron man" for his rigid defense of white #Southern...
#Bookwyrm
#20Days20Books (We'll see 😉)
#USpol
#UShistory
#History
@mina @Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 12:
(6/6)
...beliefs and practices. His concept of republicanism emphasized proslavery thought..." 2)
That would be an epic battle! 🥰
Short of this, this book is also an excellent tutorial for anyone who plans to have a career in #politics. #MustRead
//
#Bookwyrm
#20Days20Books (We'll see 😉)
#USpol
#UShistory
#History
@mina @Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
PS:
I did mention that there were four books 📚 about #LyndonBJohnson, right? 😉
Book One: The Path to Power (1982)
Book Two: Means of Ascent (1990)
Book Three: Master of the Senate (2002)
Book Four: The Passage of Power (2012)
@HistoPol @mina @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
I wish my reading was as exciting
Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell one of my faves )
A Brief History of Time ( Stephen Hawking)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the trilogy of 5 books, not read the 6th yet) (Douglas Adams.)
Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk)
The Communist Manifesto (
Karl Marx)
and
The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins)
It IS as exciting!
Many of your books have already been highlighted by others on previous Days of #BooksThatInfluencedYou.
Welcome 🍺 🍺
@mina @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
Being honest: I Have no idea of Lyndon B. Johnson, but what you write, seems like it's worth to look into these books.
@Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
I didn't know much about LBJ apart from that he was #VEEP when #JFK was assassinated:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lyndon-B-Johnson
...and that he did get a lot of #CivilRights legislation passed.
I now agree with his biographer, #Caro, that his achievement in reforming the #Senate make him an exemplary figure in #US #history.
Key events in his life:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lyndon-B-Johnson
@Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th U.S. president, who championed civil rights and the ‘Great Society’ but unsuccessfully oversaw the Vietnam War. A moderate Democrat and vigorous leader in the Senate, he was elected vice president in 1960 and acceded to the presidency in 1963 upon the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 13:
Today, I'm recommending another book by #JamesClavel, #TaiPan.
It is the second book in #Clavel's fantastic #AsianSaga.
It describes the rivalry of two English merchant families + their rise 2 power against the well-researched background of the #OpiumWars + #Hongkong's early colonial history.
It 1st got me interested in 🇨🇳.
@mina @Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 14:
(1/n)
As promised, today the book that you should read before you watch the movie. Otherwise, you'll feel somewhat lost at times watching it.
I'm referring to #FrankHerbert's #SciFi masterpiece of epic dimensions, the #Dune saga.
The books are more relevant than ever because #GlobalWarming is...
@mina @Yorkshiregeek @evelynefoerster @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @forthy42 @GreenFire
@HistoPol @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Wolke
English Title Fall Out
The Wave
Fahrenheit
1984
Brave New World
Ok, somehow, I goofed up Day 15 and put it outside this record-bound megathread. ICYMI, here it is again:
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/112664763147341064
@Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @mina @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
(1/n)
Day 16:
@mina
So, Mina, bird of a feather, thanks for the inspiration for today, or rather moving it forward in the pipeline. 😏
https://berlin.social/@mina/112676718514500109
There was a time when I used to read all about #Mesoamerica's early history that I could get my hands on. One of the books was #Aztec by #GaryJennings.
Even...
#20days20books
#Bookwyrm
@Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha
@2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
Attached: 1 image Day 14 Karl A. Frank: Als der Sonnenadler stürzte Der Kampf um die Schätze der Azteken - The Sun Eagle's Fall The fight for the Aztecs' Gold 1/? #BooksThatInfluencedYou #20books20days #20days20books @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
#Aztec by #GaryJennings
(2/n)
Day 16:
...Even though it is historical fiction, he works with a lot of love for historical detail. Alas, #GaryJennimgs died in 1999, and so he could only complete the first two of a total of 6 of this #AztecSeries, the other's were written much later than the first one (1980), the last...
@mina @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
#Aztec by #GaryJennings
(3/n)
Day 16:
...in 2012 (#AztecRevenge.)
Now, the first thing to know is that there were no #Aztecs. This people who, according to legend, migrated to the swamps what later on became #Tenochtitlán, nowadays the historic Center of #MexicoCity, were called the #Mexica. Back then, it was an island in...
@mina @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
#Aztec by #GaryJennings
(4/n)
Day 16:
...what was then Lake #Texcoco in the Valley of #Mexico.
They spoke (and many still speak) #Nahuatl.
This first book provides an understanding of the roots of modern-day #Mexico.
Seen chronologically, the book starts in 1466, when the fictious Mexícan narrator is born. The book...
@mina @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
#Aztec by #GaryJennings
(5/5)
Day 16:
...ends with a surprise ending in 1531.
Highly recommended and fun to read.
//
@mina @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
Thanks for the recommendation!
Fits perfectly with mine.
Did I tell you already that I love historic fiction?
@Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
@mina
"Did I tell you already that I love historic fiction?"
You didn't need to. 😉
@Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 17:
I have been busy with some shelves so belatedly, my recommendation for the fascinating (hi)story of the #Mongols and their early khans.
It introduced me to an amazing part of Mongolia's and #China’s, and subsequently #India's as well as Europe's history: the #ConquerorSeries.
Irish author #ConnIggulden is a master storyteller.
@mina @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
#BooksThatInfluencedYou
Day 18:
I've always been interested in the history of the #BritishIsles. Today, I'm recommending a historical novel, the first of #TheSaxonStories, #TheLastKingdom.
It is set at the end of the 9th century and follows the rise + reign of #KingÆlfredTheGreat of the West + then the #AngloSaxons.
#20books
#20books20days
#20Bücher
@bookstodon
@mina @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
@jeztastic
I wouldn't be ashamed.
The authors usually spend a huge amount of resources on research. Moreover, if there were time to read as many pages on any period of history during school, you'd be a pro, too.
@bookstodon @mina @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
I totally agree. It is totally fine to learn history from historic novels, as long as you are aware that the writer will take their liberties when it comes to details.
However: All history is, in the end, story telling. So, the separating line between history and historic fiction is quite a blurry one.
@bookstodon @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @evelynefoerster @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
Just think of all the Swiss, believing that Wilhelm Tell's story told in Schiller's play actually happened.
@jeztastic @HistoPol @bookstodon @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
@mina @evelynefoerster @jeztastic @HistoPol @bookstodon @Neireh @MaJ1 @mattotcha @2ndStar @energiepirat @SilviaMarton @VeroniqueB99 @si_irini @forthy42 @GreenFire
Course it did...
Durch diese hohle Gasse...
I saw it with my own eyes and ate the apple.
HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴
Mina
Vee
si_irini
Eve 
jnpn
Richard
Giftspatz
Jeztastic
PetraPanda