It was one of those book club deals. Buy five books from this list and you can have your choice of one of these enticing prizes. The enticing prize I chose was The Story of Civilization by Will Durant (The later books in the series were coauthored with his wife Ariel Durant). This is no small thing. It is eleven volumes, eleven thick volumes. And I am not a fast reader, but I do have an interest in history. I knew about the series because my parents had the set, though at the time they bought them there were only seven or eight volumes in the series. I had seen the books on their bookshelf and not paid too much attention to them. When I briefly moved back in with my parents after college, I borrowed one of the books. I think it was the third book in the set called Caesar and Christ. I had been interested in all things Roman since watching I Claudius years before. The book was an interesting look at the history of the Roman Empire, and the history of Christianity, and the collision course they were on. It took me a while to get through Caesar and Christ. I started and stopped a few times, but I did get through it. And when I saw the opportunity to get the entire series for myself, I took it. I didn’t really believe that I would finish the whole set. Maybe I thought of it as a status symbol to have them on my shelf. But maybe I would read just one more book . . .
One book led to
another. I did not sit down and read the whole set. I would read one book over
the course of . . . however long it took me to read it. Then I would read
something else, maybe several something else’s, science fiction, or history, or
general fiction. But eventually I would wind up with another one of the Durant
books in my hand. I do like to set challenges for myself. Eventually, after
reading enough of the series, I started to say, why not finish the whole thing?
Again, it went in fits and starts, but eventually I did finish the whole thing.
I did not set any speed records. From when I started the first book until I
finished the last book, twenty years had passed.
So, am I now an
expert at world history? No. I have some general knowledge, but it is amazing
how much of that huge catalogue of data slipped out of my brain. Some of what I
remember best are historical figures that I did not know much about before:
Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire. I could also be struck
by Durant’s turn of phrase. One time, after recounting some horrific event, he
said, “From barbarism to civilization requires a century; from civilization to
barbarism needs but a day.” Another quote, “When liberty destroys order, the
hunger for order will destroy liberty.”
Durant believed
as others before him that people who do not learn the lessons of history are
condemned to repeat them. But the sad fact is, people never learn the lessons
of history. Dictators rise to power using the same tired methods that have been
used for centuries. Wars are started for the same stupid reasons. Racism is
always just under the surface, and easily exploited. It is tiresome to read the
same mistakes over and over again. But there is also hope. There is also
grandeur. There is also achievement. Not to mention some cracking good stories.
My recommendation is, don’t let big history books intimidate you, especially if
they are written by good writers.
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