Lacks the technical and stylistic sparkle of great popular history, but is nonetheless informative and even provocative.
Charlemagne not only conquered much of Europe but also created the idea of “Europe,” one that has lasted far longer than the empire, which began to fracture soon after his death in 814.
Historian and novelist Wilson (The Uncrowned Kings of England, 2004, etc.) takes us on a ride back into a time that antedates the periods of his previous works by a thousand years. The author has two interests here: to tell the “truth” about the historical Charlemagne (difficult to do with primary texts written by folks not principally interested in fact) and to examine how his life has affected ensuing western history. The author does a solid job of the former, peeling away layers of mythology from the biography (there are some good passages about The Song of Roland) and revealing that more than a thousand spurious stories have been published about the emperor. Wilson shows a paradoxical Charlemagne, a Christian warrior—a man who wished to conquer in the name of the Prince of Peace; who revered both learning and the learned; who wished his vast demesne to be populated by those who embraced the teachings of Jesus; whose two favorite books were the Bible and Augustine’s City of God; yet a man whose coevals respected and feared him for his military prowess. Charlemagne dies on page 130 (simple pleurisy felled the emperor), and Wilson devotes the rest of his text to his examination of Charles’ enduring influence. We follow him through the Reformation and Renaissance; we see parallels in the lives of Louis XIV and Napoleon; we see his resurrection in the vile mind of Hitler. And—finally—we recognize his desire to unify in the formation of the European Economic Community. Many useful maps appear throughout to help readers visualize the story.
Lacks the technical and stylistic sparkle of great popular history, but is nonetheless informative and even provocative.Pub Date: June 6, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-51670-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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