Two Historians, Two Books

Norman Davies – “Beneath Another Sky: A Global Journey Into History.”

Professor Davies is a Bolton-born historian of Welsh ancestry – and proud of it. A specialist in Eastern European history, in particular that of Poland (where he spends much time, having taken citizenship in 2014, and has a home in Krakow), he is without a doubt my favourite historian. His books are always entertaining, packed with detail that really gets under the skin of his subject matter. Davies doesn’t merely record a dull succession of historical facts, characters, events and dates, although they are all there. They are supported by a wealth of anecdotes, fragments of poetry and song from the period and country in question, documents, detailed maps and illustrations that bring his subject to life. His writing is clear and, considering that his topic can be complex and a bit dry, hugely entertaining.

I’ve read several of his books, and never failed to enjoy them immensely and learn from them. “At the Centre of Europe: A Brief History of Poland” and his classic two-volume “God’s Playground: A History of Poland” both taught me about my adopted country and its people, and have proved invaluable. His superb “Risng 44: The Battle for Warsaw” relates a day-by-day journal of the tragic Warsaw Uprising in 1944, when the city was largely destroyed in street to street, house to house fighting between the Polish Home Army resistance movement, with its boy soldiers (some as young as 9 and 10 years old) and the Nazi occupiers, while Stalin’s Red Army watched from across the river and refused to intervene. “The Isles: A History” and “Europe: A History” are huge, 1000+ page epics that tell the history of the British Isles from pre-history to Tony Blair, and pre-history to the EU respectively, whilst “Vanished Kingdoms” focuses on once mighty kingdoms that flourished in Europe (Burgundy, Castille and the Austro-Hungarian Empire for instance), ran their course and died. In an Epilogue, Davies suggests that the next vanished kingdom may turn out to be the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, torn apart by arguments about EU membership and an increased desire for independence in Scotland and Wales. The book was published in 2011, long before Cameron announced the Referendum that makes Davies’ prediction seem even more prescient.

“Beneath Another Sky” is something altogether different, however. Part history and part travelogue, it recounts a round the world trip taken by Davies and his wife to fulfil a number of speaking engagements. Starting from Cornwall, the journey takes in visits to, amongst other places, Azerbaijan, India, the UAE, Australia/New Zealand, French Polynesia and Texas – the kind of trip I would love to make but never will. Written in his usual style, Davies delves into what each destination is like now, and its history. This time, as well as the snippets from local legend, music, and the arts, he uses his family stamp album (passed down to him by his Uncle Norman, a pilot killed in World War 1) to illustrate points of historical relevance. He jokes and complains in equal measure, and finds time to discuss and present his own theory for the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in 2014 – and it’s as plausibe as any other suggestion out there.

For someone who, as I do, has interests in travel and history writing, this book is an absolute joy, and one to be read and enjoyed during these difficult times.

Yuval Noah Harari – “21 Lessons for the 21^st Century”.

Israeli historian Harari could hardly be more different from Norman Davies, but his books have captured my imagination just as much. I stumbled across him about 5 years ago, en-route to Chennai. Browsing the Waterstones outlet in Heathrow T5 before my Sunday departure, I saw his first book, “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” and bought it to read on the long flight. A superb book, it entranced me from page1 and I read it through the week, finishing it on my return flight the following Friday. A mixture of history and philosophy, fact and speculation (can we really say with any certainty how and where we as a species came up with the idea of agriculture, or invented religion?), I found it a fascinating world history unlke any I had read previously.

 The cover advertised a sequel, “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow” and I resolved to get it as soon as possible. In the event it took me another three years before I tracked it down in a bookshop in Luxembourg, but it was worth the wait. This time, Harari turns his attention to how our species may develop in the coming years. He speculates on how AI and biotechnology may help us to live longer and richer lives, end famine, eradicate many common diseases and end the need for warfare. But there are warnings too, in particular about the danger of such advances leading to what he terms a “useless” class: the millions, possibly billions, of us who at present do manual work like cleaning, assembly line working, and so on that could in the future be done by machines, and who are unable (or unwilling) to learn other skills.

Taken together the books make a coherent and thought provoking picture of how we as a species got to where we are now and what may lie in store. “21 Lessons” essentially completes the trilogy, and Harari turns his attention to the challenges that face us now, how we can tackle them and take our lives and our children’s and grandchildren’s lives safely through towards the future speculated in “Homo Deus”. All the usual suspects are covered: terrorism, religious intolerence, the rise of nationalist movements, global warming, pandemics and armed conflict. While no clear solutions are described – as is to be expected – there are many insights and suggestions as to what we could do to mitigate some of them. Harari has used many of the themes covered in “Homo Deus” and this has given rise to some complaints of cut-and-paste, lazy writing but in my view it’s a device he has used well to start a topic that has then been skillfully and thoughtfully expanded.

“21 Lessons” for me is as entertaining and thought provoking as its two forerunners, and it’s another book to entertain during our self-isolating days. Whether you could class it as a history book, or indeed class Harari as a historian is open to debate, but he is certainly an entertaining writer with some interesting views. Well worth a look.