Terry Jones' Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History by Terry Jones and Alan Ereira

Disappointed. Sorely disappointed.

I was perusing my local bookshop and I found Terry Jones' Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History. I was excited by the endorsement on the back cover from a historian that said, "I wish all historical books written by non-historians were so informed and all books by historians so well written." Good enough for me - I grabbed it up and eagerly started reading, looking forward to reading this work by the creator/host of one of my favorite history-based documentaries, The Story of 1.

Boy, was I disappointed.

First of all, neither Jones nor his co-author Alan Ereira are trained historians (neither am I, but I have an appreciation for expertise in an area and how that makes the commentary more accurate) and it clearly shows. Right off the bat (p. 13) they attack Julius Caesar and belittle Romans in general for falsely describing the true nature of the elk (Romans were told of exotic animals by natives and they duly recorded the descriptions, usually false or exaggerated - this happened throughout the Roman era - Jones must not appreciate an inquisitive nature...) and then questions Caesar's ability to describe the Gauls (p. 14) because if Caesar cannot properly describe an elk, what can he describe? Cheap shot, but a warning as to the nature of the book.

Terry Jones

The book is based on a simple premise - the barbarians that surrounded Rome were more sophisticated and advanced than most histories of Rome give them credit for. To their credit, Jones and Ereira do make this point early and often. But, rather than just making that point they repeatedly go after the Romans as being the real barbarians filling the book with snide comments about how the Romans destroyed science for more than one thousand years (pp. 152-5) and did little but destroy, loot and maim. Rather than build up the barbarians, they embark on a strategy of tearing down the Romans to make the barbarians look better by comparison. It's cheap history and does not work well. Note, I am not asserting that Rome was morally superior to their "barbarian" neighbors. Clearly, Rome had horrific, barbaric habits such as the gladiatorial games and a very willing tendency to knock their neighbors about for their cash. But, this book pushes it too far.

Other problems:

On page 194 William Cowper is given credit for writing the beloved hymn Amazing Grace. This was written by a friend of Cowper, John Newton. The story of this hymn was the subject of a recent motion picture (also called Amazing Grace). and has been recounted in numerous anti-slavery histories for generations. I'm astounded they (and the editors) were so ignorant of the famous and touching story behind the hymn - it inspired the end of the slave trade by the UK and turned the Royal Navy into the world's largest abolitionist force.

Augustine of Hippo

But, then again, maybe I'm not surprised. On matters of theology Jones and Ereira show an astounding lack of sophistication. They write extensively on Augustine of Hippo but cannot grasp basic matters such as "Original Sin"(p. 229). My 10 year old can explain it with more depth and understanding than these two educated gentlemen. They also fail to grasp the meaning behind Augustine's comments on the sack of Rome in 410. Augustine notes the relative decency of those barbarians under Alaric (for the most part they did not loot churches or the religious items of civilians and they respected churches as sanctuaries). They mockingly summarize Augustine's thoughts on the matter as "It was Christ who bridled their ferocity and made them act so mercifully - for of course, Alaric was a Christian." (p. 133) They summarize the idea correctly but do no understand why it was correct. Augustine was noting that the spirit of Christ restrained them, as it should any true Christian. The fact that they were Christians is the reason that the churches were respected as sanctuaries. These men are certainly entitled to their opinions but if they cannot grasp the rather basic arguments behind them they should keep those opinions to themselves until they are prepared to write intelligently on the matter.

Archimedes

Archimedes. Please, can we all just agree that he was a genius but he did not invent a ship-burning mirror array? (pp. 148-9) Jones and Ereira note (correctly) that Archimedes could have invented a mirror array that, given time, could start a fire by aiming it's intensified light at one single point for an extended period of time. The problem - the array would have been aimed at MOVING ships - ships that moved up and down by bobbing about in water while they were also moving forward into Syracuse harbor. Most modern computer aided targeting systems would have a hard time aiming at one single pinpoint on a ship in those conditions. How do you thing a group of uneducated slaves would do with manual aiming?

They also credit Archimedes with a defensive technique (using cranes to drop weights on opponents) that was used during the Sicilian campaign of the Peloponnesian War hundreds of years earlier, ironically, also at Syracuse.(p. 148)

How about the famous Baghdad batteries? Let's bring out a device that no one's really tested (they do work as batteries if you fill them with modern chemicals but not time-appropriate chemicals), everyone's pretty sure was just a storage vase and claim they were used to electroplate with gold if wires that were not invented at the time were used. Besides that, use it as a chance to bash the Romans as the goons who killed off the people who invented and used electricity (p. 168), thus setting civiilization back by more than a thousand years. Did the Romans kill of the steam engine and vending machines? Why, yes they did, those barbarians! (pp. 153-154)

Jones and Company go to great lengths to demonstrate that the Romans were not the only ones with laws, since the Romans have a great reputation as being the great lawgivers of the ancient world. True enough, the Romans did not invent the concept of "law." But, they did two important things. 1) in the ancient world they applied a uniform system of laws over a vast geographic area. This uniformity was a great boon for trade, much like free trade zones and the European Union have been in the modern world. 2) The West's legal system is based on Rome's emphasis on property rights. Think it's not important? If you've ever sued someone over a car crash - that's because your property was damaged by another. It is a very Roman concept to want to collect for damages to your property. These are not concepts that can be blown off with a few cutesy phrases if this book is really meant to be taken seriously.

To make it all the worse, the last pages, the ones detailing the long slip and final fall of the Western Roman Empire are so dreadfully dull to read that I had to force myself to finish.

In sum, there is a bit of good information here but it is buried in so much half-truth, speculation, mis-information and misundertanding that I am torn as to whether I should try to sell this book or just dispose of it.

I rate this book 1 star out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon here: Terry Jones' Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History.

Reviewed on February 19, 2010.

Villi the Clown by William Campbell

A fascinating look at the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the late 1970s

Published in 1981 by Faber and Faber.

William Campbell was the stepson of John Ross Campbell, a noted international communist from Scotland. William Campbell decided to move to the Soviet Union in 1932 since he could not find work in London. Villi the Clown is the story of his time in the USSR, from 1932 until his defection back to the U,K. in 1977. It is a fascinating ground-level look at the USSR during the Stalinist years, the Purges, World War II and the Cold War years of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Campbell's first job in the USSR is at an airplane factory. He has no qualification except that he is familiar with how a car is put together, which makes him a relative expert in the mechanical engineering when compared to most of his colleagues at the factory.

His musical and acting skills are noticed and soon enough he leaves the factory and joins a number of touring musical acts. This gives the reader a chance to see behind the Iron Curtain. Campbell holds no punches and frankly talks about the Ukranians he witnessed starving, the political prisoners being sent all over the USSR and the open graft and corruption, including one Soviet official who created his own small harem of prostitutes consisting of wives and daughters of political prisoners that he would use to entertain visitors.

Campbell becomes a clown and performs routines with his wife, a ballerina. Eventually, he films a few movies but finds himself cut off from the stage due to political issues. He moves on and becomes a journalist, a radio personality (he works for the USSR's version of Radio Free Europe).

In some ways this is a typical memoir of an actor - rememberings of petty arguments, funny tales of props gone awry and so on. But, throw in the worm's eye view of the ever-shifting German-Soviet front in World War II, tales of the KGB taking away colleagues in the middle of the night and the well-told story of how they arranged to escape the USSR (with its palpable sense of fear of discovery) and you get a truly unique book.

Well worth the time for anyone that remembers the old Cold War days of the USSR.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Villi the Clown.

Reviewed on February 20, 2010.

The Barbarism of Berlin by G.K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton's The Barbarism of Berlin is a lengthy essay written in 1914 defending the decision by the U.K. to join World War I and fight the Central Powers, Germany in particular.

It is a testament to Chesterton's powerful skills as a writer that I found myself agreeing with him so much because I've typically found World War I to have been one of the most extraordinary wastes of lives in the long history of a world that regularly wastes lives. Note that I do not agree with Chesterton's final conclusion (the war was a worthwhile investment of time, energy and lives) but he does make compelling arguments and the essay is worth reading just to have them so well laid out in front of you.

G.K. Chesterton

Chesterton makes a compelling argument that Germany's outlook on the world is different than France's and England's and that these competing worldviews are bound to confront. Eventually, one will win out - thus the war. Or, as he puts it, Germany has "the perfectly serious aim of destroying certain ideas, which, as they think, the world has outgrown; without which, as we think, the world will die." (location 118)

The essay is a bit dated by anachronistic racial terms and stereotypes, acceptable then but not now - but a knowledgeable reader understands that the world is a different place now. Worthy of your time if you are a history buff, especially a student of "The War to End All Wars."

I rate this essay 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Barbarism of Berlin by G.K. Chesterton.

Reviewed on February 20, 2010.

Walking With Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through the Lord of the Rings by Sarah Arthur

Nicely done

Published in 2003 by Tyndale House Publishing.

Walking With Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through the Lord of the Rings is aimed at middle school through college students. It takes the LOTR trilogy (movie or books) and demonstrates that the struggles in the books are often our own struggles, although perhaps not as dramatic as a battle with the Balrog...

Sarah Arthur uses LOTR "to drive home timeless truths about life."(p. xii) Tolkein's Christian worldview does come out from time to time in the books (who cannot help but to make an analogy between Gandalf sacrificing himself to defeat the Balrog and the despair of his companions afterwards with Jesus dying on the cross and the behavior of the disciples immediately afterwards?)

The book has 9 pairs of devotionals based on decisions or situations in LOTR (bondage vs. freedom and choosing despair vs. choosing hope, for example). There are a few relevant bible verses thrown in for good measure. A strong group leader could make this a powerful Bible study. Or, it can be quickly devoured by someone like me in about an hour because I skipped the discussion questions. Now, I'm inspired to pull out the DVDs and watch the trilogy all over again with a new angle to watch for.

I rate this study 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Walking With Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through the Lord of the Rings.

Reviewed on February 20, 2010.

Indiana Avenue: Black Entertainment Boulevard by Rev. C. Nickerson Bolden

Published in 2009.

Indiana Avenue: Black Entertainment Boulevard is an important study into a mostly ignored part of Indianapolis history - the African-American cultural heart of Indianapolis in the first half of the 20th century. It was originally a Master's thesis for a community planning degree, but was re-worked a bit for this self-published effort.

There are two kinds of history books. There are the narrative histories, made famous by authors such as David McCollough. A second type of book is the ones that are more research-intensive, mostly facts and they really don't attempt to tell a cohesive narrative. Both are important. The narratives depend on the research books. The research books depend on the narrative books to tell the story to everyone. That simple (and ugly) description is part of a roundabout way of noting that this book is a research book, not a narrative.

Bolden does a pretty thorough job of describing the origins of Indiana Avenue and its growth and eventual decline. It is not the most readable book, but I learned a lot about this neighborhood - a vital part of the history of my city.

If you are looking for less stats and more of a narrative history of the same neighborhood in the 1920s and 1930s, I recommend For Gold and Glory: Charlie Wiggins and the African-American Racing Car Circuit.

One complaint - there are lots of pictures from the Indiana Historical Society in this book. The captions are sparse at best - I wish individual buildings and people would have been addressed. I am especially curious about the picture on page 12 of President Eisenhower riding on a car on Indiana Avenue in what looks to be a parade. That would have been an interesting story to have included.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Indiana Avenue: Black Entertainment Boulevard.

Reviewed on February 28, 2010.

Cherish the Word: Reflections on Luther's Spirituality by Thomas C. Peters

A simple series of Bible studies about everyday life

Published in 2000 by Concordia Publishing.

Lots and lots of Bible studies are concerned with literally studying the stories of the Bible. There is a place for that, but many times problems of everyday life are not addressed, or at least not directly.

This Bible study mines the immensely rich vein of Martin Luther's commentaries, sermons and even dinner table discussions in an attempt to create a Bible study that deals with 13 real life issues such as "Dealing With Temptations", "Counterfeit Christians", "Work...But Don't Worry", "Be Patient in Adversity" and "God Really Forgives Our Sins."

Luther's practical teachings written in everyday language and cemented in a thorough reading and study of the New Testament, shine throughout. Every short study (8-10 pages) begins with a relevant passage from the New Testament, a short story that frames the problem, Luther's relevant commentaries with supportive verses from the Bible and study/discussion questions. Sometimes a relevant hymn written by Luther is included as well.

I rate this study 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Cherish the Word: Reflections on Luther's Spirituality.

Reviewed on March 4, 2010.

The Light In The Forest by Conrad Richter

Two incompatible ways of life symbolized by one young man

Some books stand the test of time, so do not. The Light in the Forest was originally published in 1953 and it still rings true - both historically and as a story.

Based in Pennsylvania during the years preceding the French and Indian War, the story revolves around True Son, a young man who had been kidnapped from his family by Lenni Lenape Indians at age four. True Son is adopted by an honorable, respected man named Cuyolga to replace a son who died from disease. Over time, True Son forgets his white parents and becomes a full Lenni Lenape.

However, a treaty is signed that requires that the white "captives" be returned to their white families. True Son is returned and the bulk of the book concerns itself with True Son's reactions to the white society he was forced to leave more than a decade earlier. Eventually, True Son escapes back to his adopted family and settles back into his comfortable way of life.

Conrad Richter

Up until the last few pages, the reader is left with the impression that the conflict between the settlers and the Indians was primarily a war of brutality on the part of the settlers, but True Son discovers, to his horror, that warriors from his own family group massacred a family and even scalped the children - an accusation that he angrily denied when settlers threw it in his face while he was forced to live with them.

Richter leaves the reader with an unconventional ending, but one that feels right, nonetheless.

Makes a great companion to longer, more detailed (but less conflicted) books by James Alexander Thom such as Follow the River and The Red Heart.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Light In The Forest by Conrad Richter.