Julius Caesar: A Biography

Michael Grant (1914 - 2004) was a prolific freelance historian who wrote many books of "popular history" on the history of the Greeks, Romans and other ancient cultures.  Over the course of a long weekend vacation, I read Grant's 1969 short biography of Caesar, which has been republished many times in many different editions.

This short book (187 pages) is more of an overview of the life and career of Caesar than an in-depth study.  It is, nevertheless, filled with fascinating facts.  If you think that our current politics in the United States are a mess, it hasn't gotten as bad as the late Roman Republic yet.  At least bribery and assassination have not become the norm.  Grant recounts that during several elections there was so much money being borrowed to finance bribes to fix the election, that the interest rates rose.  Also, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  I read my wife, who is a bankruptcy attorney, a passage from the book detailing how Caesar as dictator basically introduced a primitive form of bankruptcy protection for debtors.  Grant also recounts how, because there was a shortage of gold and silver that many estates were being foreclosed on.  Because there was a glut of foreclosed real estate on the market, the property sold for much less than was owed on it.  My wife asked, "When was this?"  I said, "49 B.C."  She said"Sounds like the 2007!"

Grant also gives a good overview of Caesar's military campaigns.  Caesar waged what we would consider genocide against a number of Gaulish tribes which gained him money and fame.  Caesar's famous Commentaries were written to inflate his reputation at home to help him gain and keep political power.

I just thought this picture of Lictors carrying the Fasces was cool!

Over all, this little book was a worthwhile read.  Five out of five Fasces.

 Michael Grant (1914 - 2004)  

BEAUTIFUL AZAAN IN A CHURCH USA (LATEST)

Most Beautiful Azan ever heard.

Understanding Islamic Terrorism

I ordered and read this book after hearing Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo on Dr. Deal Hudson's Church and Culture program on Ave Maria Radio.  I read with interest on the internet that Dr. Sookhdeo was convicted by a British jury earlier this year of a misdemeanor grade sexual assault for groping a woman at this office at a Christian charity.

Regardless of whether Sookhdeo did or did not commit sexual battery, he knows his stuff when it comes to Islam.  Sookhdeo's 2004 book Understanding Islamist Terrorism: The Islamic Doctrine of War is excellent and should be read by every American.

Is Islam really "a religion of peace" as our political leaders keep telling us?  Not according to Sookhdeo.  Islam was a faith born in battle and spread by conquest.  Although modern liberal Islamic theologians have developed the idea that the battle for personal purity and against sin is "the greater Jihad" and that the literal jihad against infidels is the "lesser jihad," in classical Islam jihad means struggle against unbelievers.  Fundamentalist groups like Al-Qaeda and Isis take jihad against infidels seriously and see it as a duty of all Muslims.

Patrick Sookhdeo

Islam is not just a religion, it is a total system of politics, law and spirituality.  The book traces the history of jihad from the time of the Prophet until the 9/11 attacks.  In his conclusions, Sookhdeo states:  ". . . wars continue to be fought in which the name of Islam as a religion is invoked along with the concept of jihad; as has been seen, this reflects the mainstream interpretation of Islamic scholars in the classical period of Islam.  A twenty first century imam, who feels strongly that Islam is oppressed by the tyrannous and unjust governments of the US and Europe, comments: We say it proudly that Islam recognizes the near inevitability of recourse to war.  Islam in its classical interpretation finds it difficult to coexist with the modern world.  Such coexistence will remain a challenge unless Islam can examine itself and make modifications.  No matter how much is done to improve the socio-economic status of impoverished Muslim populations, no matter how carefully the West tries to avoid causing any kind of 'humiliation' which might inflict psychological pain on Muslims, there will remain reasons for Muslims to wage war on non-Muslims, unless Islam itself can change.  How far the Islamic world is capable of coming to terms with its own history, theology and practice is hard to estimate.  Typically Islam finds great difficulty in admitting fault or the need for change.  However, there are contemporary Muslims who are beginning to face this reality."

Beautiful Islamic Call To Prayer

Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron

This concise book (198 pages) sets the record straight on the biography of Eva Peron and the odyssey of her mummified body after her death.

Eva Peron

First published in 1980 after the success of the Broadway musical Evita, authors Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro debunk many myths that have risen up about Eva Marie Duarte's rise to power in Argentina.

Young Eva Maria Duarte

Born the illegitimate child of a ranch overseer, Eva and her family were ostracized by polite society. Wanting to be a famous actress like her idol Norma Shearer, Evita left home at age 15 to seek fame and fortune in Buenos Aires.  The author's debunk the anti-Peronist legend that Evita was taken off as the mistress of a wealthy entertainer and say that she most likely was accompanied to the big city by her mother.

There is little doubt that in the course of her rise in the Argentine entertainment industry that Evita probably spent some time on the proverbial casting couch, leading to the myth that she had been a prostitute.  Gaining notoriety as a soap opera actress on the radio, the young Eva met Colonel Juan Peron, the labor minister, when he recruited celebrities to raise money for the victims of an earthquake.  She soon became Colonel Peron's mistress.

Eva and Juan Peron

The book details Peron's rise to power.  When the ruling junta decided that Peron had too much power, they had him arrested and hauled him off to a prison on an island.  While labor minister, Peron had granted many concessions to the labor unions, causing him to be beloved by the workers.  When news of his arrest spread, the workers of Buenos Aires poured into the streets demanding Peron's release.  Realizing that they could not machine gun a crowd of 200,000 unarmed civilians, the government capitulated and released Peron.  In the following election, Juan Peron was elected President of Argentina.

The President and his lady

Eva Peron became beloved of the people when she began personally overseeing massive social programs for the poor.  The book details that if the Eva Peron Foundation called up a business and asked for a "donation" it better be forthcoming or else health and building inspectors would be on their way to write up all the violations they would find.  The book details that one businessman was so upset that his company accidentally sent Evita a bill that he fled to Uruguay to avoid arrest.

In the early 1950s, Eva was diagnosed with the uterine cancer which eventually took her life.  One of the great demagogues of all time, Evita was able to stir the crowds into a frenzy.  At times, even her husband was shocked and surprised by the level of near worship which was afforded Evita by the Argentine public.

The book details Eva's death and subsequent near canonization by the Argentine masses.  It also goes into great detail about what happened to Evita's body.  Mummified by an Argentine doctor, the body was held out awaiting the construction of a massive tomb.  Before this could be built, Juan Peron was removed from power by a military coup.  Fearing that Evita's body would be an object of worship for the Peronists, the junta set about to get rid of the corpse.  After sitting around in a general's attic for years, the body was finally shipped to Italy and buried under a false name in an Italian cemetery.  Peron's second wife, who became President of Argentina after Peron's death in 1974, had the body brought back to Argentina to try to shore up her sinking regime.  After she was removed from power by yet another military coup, the body was quietly buried in a Buenos Aires cemetery.

Evita the Mummy

Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron is well worth the time to read it.  Highly recommended.

"Protector of the Humble"

John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of a Confederate General

I just finished reading Stephen M. Hood's book about his distant relative General John Bell Hood.  Sam Hood feels like his famous relative has had a bad time at the hands first of former Confederate officers who wanted to deflect the blame for the Southern defeat away from them and onto Hood, and from 20th and 21st Century historians and writers who have perpetuated myths and falsehoods about the General.

If you Google this book, you will find plenty on the web about Stephen Hood's bashing of other Civil War historians, especially Wiley Sword, the author of the acclaimed book The Confederacy's Last Hurrah.  Reviews and discussions of the controversy swirling around this book can be found Here, Here, Here, Here, and Here.

I don't want to wade into all the controversy.  Suffice it to say that I greatly enjoyed reading the book and I think that Mr. Hood has proven that his famous cousin has been libeled by history.  For whatever it's worth here's my two cents about General Hood.  I think that General Hood was a brave and competent officer who was given an impossible job.  In my judgment, even if the Army of Tennessee had been commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great and George Patton, by the Summer of 1864 it probably wouldn't have made too much difference.  The North had an overwhelming superiority in men and supplies and, unless the South could have scored enough victories to cause Lincoln to lose the election of 1864, military defeat was inevitable.

As to the whole controversy surrounding the Battle of Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin, I think that Hood's plan at Spring Hill was sound but he was poorly served by his subordinates who failed to block the road out of town and allowed the Union Army to slip away during the night.  While I think that Stephen Hood has conclusively proven that General Hood was not drunk or high on laudanum during the Battle of Spring Hill, I think (and if Stephen Hood reads this, this is just my opinion and is not based on any evidence) that a more physically vigorous man without Hood's devastating injuries (General Hood had an arm mangled at Gettysburg and lost a leg at Chickamauga) might have personally gone to the front and made sure that the road from Spring Hill was blocked.

What really interests me is what this book shows about how history is written and transmitted.  Mr. Hood has proven conclusively that many myths, falsehoods, half-truths and down right lies have crept into the history books about General Hood.  If this is true of a relatively modern figure like John Bell Hood, how can we rely on anything written about an ancient figure like Hannibal, Alexander or Caesar?

One of the things that Stephen Hood criticizes Wiley Sword for is playing up Hood's engagement to the Southern Belle Sally "Buck" Preston and saying that Hood ordered the assault at Franklin, TN to impress his girlfriend.  In order to play up the prurient interests of the readers of this blog, here's a picture of Sally "Buck" Preston

I enjoyed John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General.  For anyone interested in the subject, I highly recommend it.