tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post1895290204103951015..comments2024-03-27T20:34:09.464+01:00Comments on zmkc: Looking at Historyzmkchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-25769824268644678782013-03-17T13:26:51.161+01:002013-03-17T13:26:51.161+01:00Thank you so much for commenting. I genuinely love...Thank you so much for commenting. I genuinely love his books. Did you know him? I hope he had a happy life and realised how his books were valued.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-56801594065900954372013-03-16T23:23:23.952+01:002013-03-16T23:23:23.952+01:00RJ Unstead was my great uncle. It warms my heart t...RJ Unstead was my great uncle. It warms my heart to hear people speak with such affection of his work. I never knew his books were text books when my father shared them with me, they were just Uncle Bob's books.<br />Now I will look forward to sharing them with my children. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-31573656770716431842013-02-25T05:37:55.854+01:002013-02-25T05:37:55.854+01:00Re Social history versus political history, I am r...Re Social history versus political history, I am reminded of the thought for the day on the Books Inq blog the other day:<br />Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes of more trivial men.<br />— George Jean Nathan (I looked him up - he was a critic in, I think, the 1920szmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-68684252019970652552013-02-24T14:40:35.046+01:002013-02-24T14:40:35.046+01:00Being an historian was my trade for almost my whol...Being an historian was my trade for almost my whole working life. Any books that provide historical information that captures the imagination of people, children in particular, sit well with me. <br /><br />This looks beautifully readable. I would take pleasure in going through it. The writing of history is always subjective. When something is obviously propaganda, then I object to it, regardless of how appealing it seems. The chronicles of "great men" are not what I call history.<br /><br />Social history is not the sign of a trivial mind. <i>People</i> are the stuff of history. How they live and what they think create the world to be written about.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-51164649741788341612013-02-24T03:49:39.283+01:002013-02-24T03:49:39.283+01:00I read a review of a biography about Strindberg re...I read a review of a biography about Strindberg recently that claimed Strindberg was the first person to write history from the point of view of ordinary people. I am endlessly curious about what people ate and what they wore and slept on et cetera, much less so about treaties and multi-national trade agreements, which seemed to be what history was full of at school. I suppose it's the difference between political history and social history. Of course, you can't do entirely without the political, but I like it to be no more than a framework within which I learn about day-to-day life as it was. Probably the sign of a trivial mind zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-73539604246872131962013-02-24T03:45:46.380+01:002013-02-24T03:45:46.380+01:00I just looked up the Pan and it appears to be the ...I just looked up the Pan and it appears to be the one at South Kensington tube station (which I hope hasn't closed?) The Chelsea Bookshop was about 5 shops down from the Essoldo Cinema, near Paultons Square. I think it probably closed in 1967 or a year or two after that, along with Laffeaty's, the toy shop opposite, and, of course, the late lamented Thomas Crapper'szmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-48209418235695856842013-02-21T15:49:09.339+01:002013-02-21T15:49:09.339+01:00I loved books like these when I was growing up. Th...I loved books like these when I was growing up. There was a biography series I read through that was specifically for kids...focusing on their childhoods and how they lived. Formative stuff, meant to inspire.<br /><br />I think it's the clarity of such books that I miss the most, something that got muddied the more I read. Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-77031076797584956592013-02-21T00:43:41.381+01:002013-02-21T00:43:41.381+01:00I have to agree - marvellous books and very good f...I have to agree - marvellous books and very good for adults too, if they want an overview of English history. The details of domestic life are fascinating.<br /><br />Was it the Pan Bookshop in Chelsea? That was run by June Formby, who was a rather formidable woman. Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.com