Category Archives: History

wittgenstein’s poker & patience (after sebald)

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

wittgenstein’s poker a meeting of the moral sciences club in king’s college cambridge in 1946, where, allegedly, wittgenstein brandished a poker threateningly at karl popper: not much material for a book, you might think – but not so, dear reader, … Continue reading →

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“The Trial of Mussolini” by ‘Cassius’

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

A wonderful find (I’ve forgotten where from). A 1943 fictionalised transcript of the trial Benito never had, at some putative war-crimes tribunal in London. Part of the Gollancz series of anonymous books published in the war. The first prosecution speech … Continue reading →

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“Inside Story” by Chapman Pincher

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

(Only read a few chapters) I used to love reading my Dad’s old red hardback copy of Chapman Pincher’s collection science columns for the Express called It’s Fun Finding Out – a title eclipsed on his shelves only by Romping Through … Continue reading →

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“An Introduction to Quakerism” by Ben Pink Dandelion

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

When you take into account the author’s name, this book is surprisingly serious; perhaps Ben Pink Dandelion felt that he had to overcompensate for the expectations his name might generate. But he had no need – as the man in … Continue reading →

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Herodotus’ Histories

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

My previous experience of Herodotus had been, as for many classicists, that of reading isolated episodes, either as set texts for teaching Greek GCSE, or as passages for unseen translation. I’d also read some of his stories in secondary literature, … Continue reading →

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“Wagner and Aeschylus: the Ring and the Oresteia” by Michael Ewans

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

[just the first two chapters: I need to listen to the Ring itself before reading the others] Chapter 1: Wagner and Aeschylus This is a general introduction to them both, especially, as the book’s intended audience is more musicological than … Continue reading →

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“Re-thinking History” by Keith Jenkins

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

This is a short book bought on impulse at the wonderful bookshop in Wemyss Bay station, the ferry port for Bute, on the south side of the Clyde estuary down Glasgow. I think at the time I’d just read Richard Evans’ In … Continue reading →

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“‘My Dear Jim’, a biography of Walter Spradbery”, by John Spradbery

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

Walter Spradbery, artist and pacifist, founder of the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, was married to my great aunt Edna’s sister, the opera singer Dorothy Horsey, known musically as Dorothy d’Orsay. They had a house in Buckhurst Hill called the … Continue reading →

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“Philip of Macedon” by George Cawkwell

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

A standard—looking textbook, first published in 1978. I didn’t read it all, just plundered it for background after reading The Fire from Heaven; this showed how close Mary Renault’s account was to the sources (almost diminishing her imagination). I particularly … Continue reading →

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“Diamond Street” by Rachel Lichtenstein

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

An excellent London book, focusing on Hatton Garden, but ranging pretty widely around, and combining the author’s personal reminiscences with deep research. You learn a lot from this book, painlessly. It’s pushed me now several times to the area, listening … Continue reading →

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