Literary Non-Fiction Vote • March 2013

[sun surfer]

Help us choose the March 2013 selection to read for the MR Literary Club! The poll will be open for two days.

The vote is multiple choice. You may vote for as many or as few as you like.

A discussion thread will begin shortly after a winner is chosen.

In the event of a tie, there will be a one-day non-multiple-choice run-off poll. In the event that the run-off poll also ends in a tie, the tie will be resolved in favour of the selection that received all of its initial nominations first.

Note - The Conquest of the Incas has one more vote than the poll is showing. (see the rest of the thread)


Select from the following works:


The Conquest of the Incas by John Hemming

Spoiler:

The blurb from Goodreads:

On 25 September 1513, a force of weary Spanish explorers cut through the forests of Panama and were confronted by an ocean: the Mar del Sur, or the Pacific Ocean. Six years later the Spaniards had established the town of Panama as a base from which to explore and exploit this unknown sea. It was the threshold of a vast expansion.

The Conquest of the Incas, John Hemming's masterly and highly acclaimed account of one of the most exciting conquests known to history, has never been surpassed. From the first small band of Spanish adventurers to enter the mighty Inca empire to the execution of the last Inca forty years later, it is the story of bloodshed, infamy, rebellion and extermination, told as convincingly as if it happened yesterday.

The 2012 e-book edition includes an extensive revision and update of the text, bibliography, notes and other end-material, to report the latest theories and discoveries. It also has a new appendix about recent finds of Inca ruins in Vilcabamba.


The Amazon blurb cites several reviews:

“Distinguished by an extraordinary empathy, a feeling of one’s way into the minds of the sixteenth-century Spaniards and Indians . . . Provocative.” — New York Times

“An extraordinary book. Combining rigorous historical research and profound analysis with stylistic elegance, this work allows the reader to appreciate the tragic and fabulous history of the Incan empire in all its richness and diversity. It reads like the most skillful novel.” — Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature

In 1532, the magnificent Inca empire was the last great civilization still isolated from the rest of humankind. The Conquest of the Incas is the definitive history of this civilization’s overthrow, from the invasion by Pizarro’s small gang of conquistadors and the Incas’ valiant attempts to expel the invaders to the destruction of the Inca realm, the oppression of its people, and the modern discoveries of Machu Picchu and the lost city of Vilcabamba. This authoritative, wide-ranging account, grounded in meticulous research and firsthand knowledge and told from the viewpoints of both protagonists, “keeps all the complex issues to the fore . . . the deeper wonder of the conquest and the deeper horror of its results” (Washington Post).

“The bible for historians and archaeologists studying the final days of the Inca. For the past thirty years, The Conquest of the Incas has remained the most influential book for Inca scholars. There is no other book which is even in the same class.” — Brian S. Bauer, professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, leading archaeologist of the Inca

Arabian Society in the Middle Ages by Edward Lane

Spoiler:

It can be found in the Mobile Read library here:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=202947


Doitsu the formatter gives the following description:

"When Edward William Lane (1801-1876) translated the "1001 Nights" he often added long notes at the end of the stories. His grandnephew Stanley Lane-Poole (1854-1931) basically recycled these footnotes for this book. Of course he continued the family tradition by adding his own elaborate footnotes.

The title is somewhat misleading, because even though the book contains many quotes from medieval Arab writers, Lane often interspersed his notes with entertaining anecdotes from his years in Egypt.

The book contains 11 chapters: Religion, Demonology, Saints, Magic, Cosmography, Literature, Feasting and Merrymaking, Childhood and Education, Women, Slavery, Ceremonies of Death.

IMHO, it's a treasure trove of Arabian trivia. Not only will you find out about the prophet's favorite drink and fruit, you'll also learn about naked saints and why Muslims aren't supposed to pray in bath houses."


fantasyfan has the Lane translation of the 1001 Nights in three volumes and can testify to the quality and interest of those utterly wonderful footnotes and thinks that this book is far more interesting than the title perhaps indicates.

Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves

Spoiler:

Possibly an interesting companion piece to Sassoon's war poems.


From Kobo:

In 1929 Robert Graves went to live abroad permanently, vowing 'never to make England my home again'. This is his superb account of his life up until that 'bitter leave-taking': from his childhood and desperately unhappy school days at Charterhouse, to his time serving as a young officer in the First World War that was to haunt him throughout his life.

It also contains memorable encounters with fellow writers and poets, including Siegfried Sassoon and Thomas Hardy, and covers his increasingly unhappy marriage to Nancy Nicholson. Goodbye to All That, with its vivid, harrowing descriptions of the Western Front, is a classic war document, and also has immense value as one of the most candid self-portraits of an artist ever written.

South by Sir Ernest Shackleton

Spoiler:

By the legendary Anglo-Irish explorer.

The book is of great historical interest, literate, exciting and accurate. Shackleton himself was a remarkably charismatic leader. As time has gone on his star has risen while that of his great rival, Scott, has dimmed.


Here's the review by Susan Paxton on Amazon.

"Although there have been a number of new books and reprints recently focusing on the Endurance expedition, this is the one book everyone should read, Sir Ernest Shackleton's own story of the tragedy he turned into a triumph. Shackleton fully covers the expedition from its inception, through the loss of the Endurance, the stranding of the men on desolate Elephant Island, the majestic small-boat journey in search of rescue to South Georgia, the many attempts to evacuate the men from Elephant Island, and the little-known story of the Ross Sea Party of the expedition, who established a base on the opposite side of the Antarctic continent to lay depots for the planned Antarctic crossing and in spite of horrible deprivation caused when their ship was swept out to sea in a storm, managed to complete all their work laying the groundwork for a trip that never happened. After rescuing his men on Elephant Island, Shackleton had to rescue this party as well, something pretty much ignored in most modern books about the expedition. Very much worth reading. . . . "


And here's an extract from the preface to give you an idea of his style. He discusses the attempt to cross the Antarctic continent:

"We failed in this object, but the story of our attempt is the subject for the following pages, and I think that though failure in the actual accomplishment must be recorded, there are chapters in this book of high adventure, strenuous days, lonely nights, unique experiences, and, above all, records of unflinching determination, supreme loyalty, and generous self-sacrifice on the part of my men which, even in these days that have witnessed the sacrifices of nations and regardlessness of self on the part of individuals, still will be of interest to readers who now turn gladly from the red horror of war and the strain of the last five years to read, perhaps with more understanding minds, the tale of the White Warfare of the South. The struggles, the disappointments, and the endurance of this small party of Britishers, hidden away for nearly two years in the fastnesses of the Polar ice, striving to carry out the ordained task and ignorant of the crises through which the world was passing, make a story which is unique in the history of Antarctic exploration."


It's in the public domain and available right here in the Mobile Read Library.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55749

Engineers of the Soul by Frank Westerman

Spoiler:

Review Random House:

Engineers of the Soul is the riveting story of two journeys — one literal, one imaginary — through contemporary Russia and through Soviet-era literature.Travelling through present and past, Frank Westerman draws the reader into the wild euphoria of the Russian Revolution, as art and reality are bent to radically new purposes. Writers of renown, described by Stalin as ‘engineers of the soul', were encouraged to sing the praises of canal and dam construction under titles such as Energy, The Hydraulic Power Station and Onward, Time! But their enthusiasm — spontaneous and idealistic at first — soon becomes an obligatory song of praise. And as these colossal waterworks lead to slavery and destruction, Soviet writers labour on in the service of a deluded totalitarian society.Combining investigative journalism with literary history, Westerman examines both the landscape of ‘Oriental despotism' and the books — and lives — of writers caught in the wheels of the system. ‘It is easy to die a hero's death,' wrote Konstantin Paustovsky, ‘but it is difficult to live a hero's life.'Engineers of the Soul sweeps the reader along to the dramatic dénouement: the final confrontation between writers and engineers that signalled the end of the Soviet empire.

(desertblues couldn't find it as ebook, but asked Amazon to provide it as such. Won't be in time for the reading...).

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

Spoiler:

It's available as an ebook and at libraries via Overdrive. It won the National Book Award in 2012.


From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the twenty-first century's great, unequal cities.

In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human.

Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees "a fortune beyond counting" in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. With a little luck, her sensitive, beautiful daughter--Annawadi's "most-everything girl"--will soon become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest Annawadians, like Kalu, a fifteen-year-old scrap-metal thief, believe themselves inching closer to the good lives and good times they call "the full enjoy."

But then Abdul the garbage sorter is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and a global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power and economic envy turn brutal. As the tenderest individual hopes intersect with the greatest global truths,the true contours of a competitive age are revealed. And so, too, are the imaginations and courage of the people of Annawadi.

With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century's hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.

From the Hardcover edition.

France: The Dark Years, by Julian Jackson

Spoiler:

From Amazon:

This is the first comprehensive study of the German occupation of France between 1940 and 1944. The author examines the nature and extent of collaboration and resistance, different experiences of Occupation, the persecution of the Jews, intellectual and cultural life under Occupation, and the purge trials that followed. He concludes by tracing the legacy and memory of the Occupation since 1945. Taking in ordinary peoples' experiences, this volume uncovers the conflicting memories of occupation which ensure that even today France continues to debate the legacy of the Vichy years.


From Reviews in History:

Julian Jackson’s monumental history of Vichy is a powerful contribution to the historiography. No one knows more about this subject than he: every book, article, memoir and dissertation on it seems to have been located, analysed and woven into this account. Despite the thickness of the work it is also a pleasurable read: judicious, well crafted, always with an eye for the telling quotation or anecdote.

[Bookpossum]

Some great-sounding books to choose from this month. Having checked my library, I can see I will have difficulty getting hold of several of them, so reluctantly couldn't vote for those ones.

[fantasyfan]

In the end I voted for the books I nominated and the two I supported--not that the others aren't equally interesting and are sure to be enjoyable.

[paola]

damn, this time I am seriously restricted by travel, and need an ebook, because i would have loved to discuss the Conquest of the Incas. Great selection this month too, anyway!

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by paola

damn, this time I am seriously restricted by travel, and need an ebook, because i would have loved to discuss the Conquest of the Incas. Great selection this month too, anyway!

I'd like to read it too, but I don't have a lot of reading time for the next month and it's 800 ish pages. I found an ebook version on Amazon.ca, not sure if it's legit or if it does you any good.http://www.amazon.ca/Conquest-Incas-ebook/dp/B00B3IKAQM

[paola]

Originally Posted by Synamon

I'd like to read it too, but I don't have a lot of reading time for the next month and it's 800 ish pages. I found an ebook version on Amazon.ca, not sure if it's legit or if it does you any good.http://www.amazon.ca/Conquest-Incas-ebook/dp/B00B3IKAQM

oh no, now for some reason it also shows up in Amazon.co.uk:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Conquest...2&sr=8-1-fkmr0

damn, I wish I could have voted for that one now - SunSurfer, if this is not against the rules, wonder whether my vote for the Conquest of the Incas could be made to count...

Synamon, many thanks!

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by paola

oh no, now for some reason it also shows up in Amazon.co.uk:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Conquest...2&sr=8-1-fkmr0

damn, I wish I could have voted for that one now - SunSurfer, if this is not against the rules, wonder whether my vote for the Conquest of the Incas could be made to count...

Synamon, many thanks!

paola, I'm not a mod so I can't edit the votes to add yours in on the poll.

[paola]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

paola, I'm not a mod so I can't edit the votes to add yours in on the poll.

fair enough, my fault for not checking better in the first place.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by paola

fair enough, my fault for not checking better in the first place.

I have thought of another way of adding your vote in. I could just do it manually - so once the poll is over, I'll post the results with your Incas vote added in, and that will be the official results.

I think I might've done that some other month for some other reason as well; it just seems like I remember having to post vote totals again after a poll was over with some change for some reason.

So everyone, during these last hours of voting, keep in mind - The Conquest of the Incas has one more vote than it is showing in the poll.

[paola]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

So everyone, during these last hours of voting, keep in mind - The Conquest of the Incas has one more vote than it is showing in the poll.

this is making the poll even more exciting - thank you so much sun surfer!

[sun surfer]

The final votes, with the extra vote for Incas added in, are:

The Conquest of the Incas - 6
Arabian Society in the Middle Ages - 6
Goodbye to All That - 5
South - 6
Engineers of the Soul - 4
Behind the Beautiful Forevers - 6
France: The Dark Years - 2

Which means, we have a four-way tie! A one-day single-choice run-off poll will be up soon.