Grand unified books thread

[Admiral Yi]

Really enjoying Generation Kill right now.

[Queequeg]

Really enjoying Generation Kill right now.

The HBO miniseries was amazing.

[Admiral Yi]

In From Beirut to Lebanon Friedman describes the Alawites as a Muslim sect with Christian-like beliefs, whereas I'd learned that they are a Christian sect.

He also describes the Druze as a Muslim sect with beliefs they keep secret from any non-Druze, whereas I'd learned they believe some dude who wandered into the desert in Egypt was the mahdi.

Who's right and who's wrong?

[Malthus]

In From Beirut to Lebanon Friedman describes the Alawites as a Muslim sect with Christian-like beliefs, whereas I'd learned that they are a Christian sect.

He also describes the Druze as a Muslim sect with beliefs they keep secret from any non-Druze, whereas I'd learned they believe some dude who wandered into the desert in Egypt was the mahdi.

Who's right and who's wrong?

I always understood the Alawites as Shi'ite Muslims; other Mulsims consider them heterodox. That said, I know nothing of their beliefs.

Druze are most definitely considered their own, seperate religion; originally also an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. Fun fact: the Druze serve in the armies of both Israel and Syria.

I guess the best way of putting it is that Shi'ite sects are continually springing up throughout history, and given that they often have secretive, strange doctrines, often based on gnosticism, they have a tendency to drift away from what could be considered "Islam". The Druze are much, much further down this particular path of drift than the Alawites.

[Sheilbh]

In From Beirut to Lebanon Friedman describes the Alawites as a Muslim sect with Christian-like beliefs, whereas I'd learned that they are a Christian sect.

They're Muslim.  An off-shoot of Shi'ism.  One of the things that marked the beginning of Syrian-Iranian cooperation was when Ayatollah Khomeini declared that though the Alawites (of which the ASsads are members) are a bit heterodox they were not heretics from Islam.

He also describes the Druze as a Muslim sect with beliefs they keep secret from any non-Druze, whereas I'd learned they believe some dude who wandered into the desert in Egypt was the mahdi.

Who's right and who's wrong?

My understanding is that the Druze keep their beliefs away from non-Druze but also keep some beliefs away from non-initiated Druze and so on.

[Sheilbh]

I've recently finished a bit of a crime drama binge.

I read C.J. Sansom's Shardlake series which is about a hunchbacked Tudor lawyer.  They're very fun if a bit derivative. 

Similarly I've read Stieg Larsson's novels (the two translated into English) and they're really great reads until you finish and you think it was all a bit too coincidental.  In the moment, though, he's an irresistably good thriller writer.

I also read the remarkable and quite fascinating 'The Mantle of the Prophet'.  It's an amazing book I really recommend that tells a general history of Iran, especially in from Reza Shah to Khomeini, and Shi'i Islam largely through its links to the life of a mullah.  So his time at school leads to a discussion of Iran's education system, his attempt to learn mysticism leads to a lengthy chapter of Persian poetry and mysticism's disputed place within Shi'i Islam.  A terrific book, though not the first one I'd read about either Islam or Iran:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mantle+of+the+prophet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

And Hilary Mantel's magnificent 'A Place of Greater Safety'.  I've always been dubious of historical novels (as opposed to an historical thriller, for example) because I'm not sure what they're for or what the setting is about really.  This is an incredible novel set in the French Revolution, largely dealing with Danton, Robespierre and Desmoulins.  It's a terrific, incredibly enjoyable and well-written work that I just loved.  I can't wait to read her latest (bookie's favourite for the Booker prize) which is called 'Wolf Hall' and is, apparently, an sort-of answer to 'A Man for All Seasons'; it's largely about and sympathetic to Thomas Cromwell and has got some good reviews so I'm quite hopeful.  If 'A Place of Greater Safety' is anything to go by, I think it could be really impressive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Place-Greater-Safety-Hilary-Mantel/dp/000725055X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250304370&sr=1-2

It's inspired me to buy another copy of 'Citizens' (I gave my last copy to a charity shop) and re-read it.  Also does anyone know of any other good histories of the revolution (as I say I've read Schama, but also Carlyle and LeFebvre) and more particularly has anyone got any recommendations for a book about the Terror and the Directoire?

Edit:  Is it worth getting Michelet or Taine's books on the Revolution?

[Oexmelin]

Given your Romantic leanings, I think you would enjoy quite a lot Michelet. It is wonderful and wonderfully dated. You can almost hear his voice cracking when he speaks of «Le Peuple».

Other interesting reads about the (pre-)Revolution:

Journal of My Life, by Jacques-Louis Ménétra (a glazier's self-indulgent recollection of his life, fascinating).
David Garrioch, The Making of Revolutionary Paris.  (Urban history)

Other readings of the Revolution:
Any books by Soboul for the classic Marxist interpretation
Tocqueville (Ancien Régime and the Revolution) and Furet (Interpreting the French Revolution).
...but those aren't really accounts to speak of.

On the Terror, I am not really up to date with the anglo-saxon production (not much, IIRC), except for the old Palmer, Twelve who Ruled. The Directoire is really only coming up as a topic of interest in French, because it is squeezed between the Revolution's glory years and Napoléon's rise.

[Sheilbh]

The Directoire is really only coming up as a topic of interest in French, because it is squeezed between the Revolution's glory years and Napoléon's rise.

This is why it interests me.  The only thing I know about it is the famous fashion for women to wear a red sash around their necks.  But that in itself suggests an interesting period.

Thanks for the other recommendations I'll have a look about them

[sbr]

Anyone have a recommendation on a broad overview, "light reading" book on the Roman Empire and times?  My historical interest/knowledge is most recent and American history; the American Revolution is about as far as I go back.

Thanks

[Oexmelin]

This is why it interests me.  The only thing I know about it is the famous fashion for women to wear a red sash around their necks.  But that in itself suggests an interesting period.

Thanks for the other recommendations I'll have a look about them

I have just checked and one of the classical studies about Thermidor's youth has recently been translated. You can look up François Gendron's The Gilded Youth of Thermidor. I think you'd enjoy it.

[Capetan Mihali]

Twelve Who Ruled is a very fun read, if nothing else.  I remember it as straining a little too hard to draw parallels between the government of the Terror and 20th-century totalitarian regimes, but well worth the read.

I recently picked up The Terror by David Andress from the library, it has some glowing blurbs from the British press on the back, so I have high expectations.  It seems to be more of a "popular" treatment.  Also got G. Lefebvre's The Great Fear of 1789: Rural Panic in Revolutionary France, written in 30s, enjoying it a lot at the moment.

[Ed Anger]

I'm reading The path of victory on the the war in the Med in WWII. A mix of hilariously inept Italians (demobilize 600K wops then decide to invade Greece), apathetic greeks and Churchill acting like a flaming nutball (like making plans to invade Sicily in '40).

Not bad for a 6 dollar remainder book.

[Admiral Yi]

Reflecting back on the part in From Beirut to Jerusalem concerning the Hama massacre, is it too obvious to mention that sending bloodthirsty jihadists to Iraq to die was a convenient way for Assad to rid himself of domestic opponents?

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Just about finished The Cult at the End Of The World... about the Aum cult... The trial part will be tonight's bedtime story. Next? I may revisit Dune. :spice:

[garbon]

Re-reading Like People In History (finally seeing it in a more critical light) and a bio of James I of England.