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On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued a unanimous declaration: the thirteen North American colonies would be the thirteen United States of America, free and independent of Great Britain. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration set forth the terms of a new form of government with the following words: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Framed in 1787 and in effect since March 1789, the Constitution of the United States of America fulfilled the promise of the Declaration by establishing a republican form of government with separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, became part of the Constitution on December 15, 1791. Among the rights guaranteed by these amendments are freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and the right to trial by jury. Written so that it could be adapted to endure for years to come, the Constitution has been amended only seventeen times since 1791 and has lasted longer than any other written form of government.]]> 112 Founding Fathers 0553214829 Callum 5
The ineffective Articles of Confederation necessitated the drafting of the Constitution of the United States in 1787. Strongly influenced by the English Bill of Rights and enlightenment thinkers like Locke and Montesquieu, this document delineates the powers of the federal government. The first three articles establish the separation of powers--legislative, executive, and judicial. The remaining articles outline federalist concepts, including states' rights and responsibilities and their interactions with the federal government, amendment procedures, and ratification. It is the oldest continuing written constitution in the world.

The American State Papers are not perfect. Despite the Founding Fathers' ideals of liberty, many people remained unfree. Nonetheless, the "majestic generalities" and recognition of the need for constitutional change enabled activists to obtain their freedoms overtime--e.g., the 13th amendment abolishing slavery, the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote, or the 26th amendment lowering the voting age to 18. Despite ongoing imperfections in America, it is the ideals of these documents and Americans' pursuit to realise them that truly make America great.

Reading the Constitution is essential in America's current political climate. Unprecedented constitutional law is being made. For instance, the Supreme Court recently ruled that states could not disqualify Donald Trump from the presidential ballot by under Section 3 of the 14th amendment. Donald Trump is also frivolously arguing that presidents have unconditional immunity under Article II. This is highly unlikely. However, there is a likelihood of Donald Trump winning the next election, being found guilty of a felony and going to prison. Is he eligible to pardon himself or even continue to serve as president? We shall see.

Addendum:

Donald Trump is president again, and the Supreme Court has found that presidents have immunity while committing an official act. What this means, however, is unclear. As Justice Sotomayor elegantly stated in her dissent: "When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune." America is on the verge of a constitutional crisis, with a president who may be above the law.]]> 4.41 1776
author: Founding Fathers
name: Callum
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1776
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/01
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: politics, political-philosophy, classics
review:
Primarily written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, the Declaration of Independence has some of the most influential and inspiring sentences of the English language. It declares the equality of all men and their unalienable rights--i.e., life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It also asserts the right that people can proclaim their independence based on natural law; outlines a liberal political philosophy justifying revolution; and specifies a list of grievances against the British Crown thereby attesting the American colonies right to secede from the British Empire.

The ineffective Articles of Confederation necessitated the drafting of the Constitution of the United States in 1787. Strongly influenced by the English Bill of Rights and enlightenment thinkers like Locke and Montesquieu, this document delineates the powers of the federal government. The first three articles establish the separation of powers--legislative, executive, and judicial. The remaining articles outline federalist concepts, including states' rights and responsibilities and their interactions with the federal government, amendment procedures, and ratification. It is the oldest continuing written constitution in the world.

The American State Papers are not perfect. Despite the Founding Fathers' ideals of liberty, many people remained unfree. Nonetheless, the "majestic generalities" and recognition of the need for constitutional change enabled activists to obtain their freedoms overtime--e.g., the 13th amendment abolishing slavery, the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote, or the 26th amendment lowering the voting age to 18. Despite ongoing imperfections in America, it is the ideals of these documents and Americans' pursuit to realise them that truly make America great.

Reading the Constitution is essential in America's current political climate. Unprecedented constitutional law is being made. For instance, the Supreme Court recently ruled that states could not disqualify Donald Trump from the presidential ballot by under Section 3 of the 14th amendment. Donald Trump is also frivolously arguing that presidents have unconditional immunity under Article II. This is highly unlikely. However, there is a likelihood of Donald Trump winning the next election, being found guilty of a felony and going to prison. Is he eligible to pardon himself or even continue to serve as president? We shall see.

Addendum:

Donald Trump is president again, and the Supreme Court has found that presidents have immunity while committing an official act. What this means, however, is unclear. As Justice Sotomayor elegantly stated in her dissent: "When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune." America is on the verge of a constitutional crisis, with a president who may be above the law.
]]> 36166009
With nearly two-thirds of the essays written by Hamilton, this enduring classic is perfect for modern audiences passionate about his work or seeking a deeper understanding of one of the most important documents in US history.

AmazonClassics brings you timeless works from iconic authors. Ideal for anyone who wants to read a great work for the first time or revisit an old favorite, these new editions open the door to the stories and ideas that have shaped our world.]]> 592 Alexander Hamilton 1542099420 Callum 4
This book is quite long, and, in parts, repetitive. This is not the authors' fault, as the essays were not originally conceived as a cohesive book. Consequently, for those with limited time, I recommend selective reading. Essays of note include Federalist 10 about the role of factions within the republic; Federalist 32 on taxation powers; Federalist 39 respecting the benefits of the new nation; Federalist 42 on the scope of federal power; Federalist 51 regarding the checks and balances of the federalist system; Federalist 68 about the election of the president; and Federalist 78 regarding the independence of the federal judiciary.

Greco-Roman history is referenced throughout. In Federalist 9, for instance, Hamilton posited his dread at ancient republics' oscillation between tyranny and anarchy. Liberty intermittently flourished but was dismissed by 'tempestuous waves of sedition and party rage'. Only a firm union comprised of virtuous republican citizens can ensure peace and liberty. The present Republican Party led by Donald Trump is not philosophically republican. He incites rage and sedition--January 6th--and routinely calls for his opponents' imprisonment. Only constitutional checks and balances, rooted in ancient principles, are preventing his dictatorial ambitions.]]> 4.20 1788
author: Alexander Hamilton
name: Callum
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1788
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/27
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy
review:
The Federalist Papers are a collection of 85 essays authored by Alexander Hamilton (51), James Madison (29), and John Jay (5). They were written over six months and published under the alias of Publius in various New York newspapers. The authors' raison d'etre was to convince New York citizens to ratify the United States Constitution that had been drafted in 1787. The former Articles of Confederation had proved ineffective, particularly in areas concerning self-defence, taxation, and commerce. With the rise of American global hegemony, the Federalist Papers have become some of the most influential works of political science in modern times.

This book is quite long, and, in parts, repetitive. This is not the authors' fault, as the essays were not originally conceived as a cohesive book. Consequently, for those with limited time, I recommend selective reading. Essays of note include Federalist 10 about the role of factions within the republic; Federalist 32 on taxation powers; Federalist 39 respecting the benefits of the new nation; Federalist 42 on the scope of federal power; Federalist 51 regarding the checks and balances of the federalist system; Federalist 68 about the election of the president; and Federalist 78 regarding the independence of the federal judiciary.

Greco-Roman history is referenced throughout. In Federalist 9, for instance, Hamilton posited his dread at ancient republics' oscillation between tyranny and anarchy. Liberty intermittently flourished but was dismissed by 'tempestuous waves of sedition and party rage'. Only a firm union comprised of virtuous republican citizens can ensure peace and liberty. The present Republican Party led by Donald Trump is not philosophically republican. He incites rage and sedition--January 6th--and routinely calls for his opponents' imprisonment. Only constitutional checks and balances, rooted in ancient principles, are preventing his dictatorial ambitions.
]]> 1031228 The Athenian Constitution is both a history and an analysis of Athens' political machinery between the seventh and fourth centuries BC, which stands as a model of democracy at a time when city-states lived under differing kinds of government. The writer recounts the major reforms of Solon, the rule of the tyrant Pisistratus and his sons, the emergence of the democracy in which power was shared by all free male citizens, and the leadership of Pericles and the demagogues who followed him. He goes on to examine the city's administration in his own time - the council, the officials and the judicial system. For its information on Athens' development and how the democracy worked, The Athenian Constitution is an invaluable source of knowledge about the Athenian city-state.]]> 82 Aristotle 0140444319 Callum 3 3.91 -328
author: Aristotle
name: Callum
average rating: 3.91
book published: -328
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy
review:
Aristotle's students wrote 158 constitutions in Ancient Greece. The Athenian Constitution is the sole surviving document. It is dissimilar in composition to contemporary constitutions like America or Australia. Rather, it provides a concise political history of Athens' democratic development from the 7th to the 5th century BC. It details Solon's overthrow of Draco's laws, the return of tyranny under Pisistratus and his sons, and the establishment of democracy by Cleisthenes and his successors. The final third explains the functioning of Athens' political institutions. Overall, it is a brief and insightful read.
]]> 19083 Both heavily influenced by and critical of Plato's Republic and Laws, Politics represents the distillation of a lifetime of thought and observation. "Encyclopaedic knowledge has never, before or since, gone hand in hand with a logic so masculine or with speculation so profound," says H. W. C. Davis in his introduction. Students, teachers, and scholars will welcome this inexpensive new edition of the Benjamin Jowett translation, as will all readers interested in Greek thought, political theory, and depictions of the ideal state.]]> 368 Aristotle 0486414248 Callum 4
Aristotle outlines that power can be distributed to the one (monarchy and tyranny), the few (aristocracy and oligarchy), or the many (constitutional government or democracy). Depending on the circumstances, there are reasoned arguments for each regime. Aristotle subsequently proposes an empirically-based ideal state: a homogenous society with common fealty united by a constitutional government--the combination of oligarchy and democracy under the rule of law. Such consonance, however, may be undermined by two large factions with equal capabilities competing for power, or this form of governance differs from surrounding ones.

Aristotle's postulations dissented Plato's. The latter's ideal state was antipolitical--i.e., harmony was ensured and change was unnecessary. Aristotle reinserted politics into the ideal state, positing that change may be necessary overtime despite harmony initially being achieved via constitutional government. Moreover, asserting that members of a state have common fealty, Aristotle differs from Hobbes and rationalist economists in presupposing that individuals are not merely self-interested. Lastly, Aristotle somewhat anticipates thinkers like Polybius and Montesquieu by suggesting that power diffusion produces greater regime stability.

Aristotle's relevance to contemporary America is evident. Congress, akin to oligarchy, is largely comprised of affluent individuals or political families. They are elected by the people and governed by the rule of law. However, America's regime is arguably threatened. Two polarising equal factions vie for power--Democrats and Republicans. Moreover, America is a great power rival to authoritarian states like China and Russia, who seek to usurp Western liberal hegemony. Aristotle warns that a spark may burn down the constitutional order. By this time, it is too late. Reform should have happened yesterday. This spark may be Donald Trump.]]> 4.00 -350
author: Aristotle
name: Callum
average rating: 4.00
book published: -350
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: political-philosophy, classics
review:
Aristotle's Politics is the foundational text of political science. In short, Aristotle propounded that political science was the study of the regime. It is the master science because politics impacts the operation of all other science, and it is a practical science that normatively expresses the common good. There are several questions a political scientist ought to analyse: what is the best regime given the circumstances, what knowledge is required to ensure regime stability, and how one may change the regime if it is necessary. Optimal results require methodological plurality and ensuring that the method meets the subject and not the reverse.

Aristotle outlines that power can be distributed to the one (monarchy and tyranny), the few (aristocracy and oligarchy), or the many (constitutional government or democracy). Depending on the circumstances, there are reasoned arguments for each regime. Aristotle subsequently proposes an empirically-based ideal state: a homogenous society with common fealty united by a constitutional government--the combination of oligarchy and democracy under the rule of law. Such consonance, however, may be undermined by two large factions with equal capabilities competing for power, or this form of governance differs from surrounding ones.

Aristotle's postulations dissented Plato's. The latter's ideal state was antipolitical--i.e., harmony was ensured and change was unnecessary. Aristotle reinserted politics into the ideal state, positing that change may be necessary overtime despite harmony initially being achieved via constitutional government. Moreover, asserting that members of a state have common fealty, Aristotle differs from Hobbes and rationalist economists in presupposing that individuals are not merely self-interested. Lastly, Aristotle somewhat anticipates thinkers like Polybius and Montesquieu by suggesting that power diffusion produces greater regime stability.

Aristotle's relevance to contemporary America is evident. Congress, akin to oligarchy, is largely comprised of affluent individuals or political families. They are elected by the people and governed by the rule of law. However, America's regime is arguably threatened. Two polarising equal factions vie for power--Democrats and Republicans. Moreover, America is a great power rival to authoritarian states like China and Russia, who seek to usurp Western liberal hegemony. Aristotle warns that a spark may burn down the constitutional order. By this time, it is too late. Reform should have happened yesterday. This spark may be Donald Trump.
]]> 81779
In the course of a lively drinking party, a group of Athenian intellectuals exchange views on eros, or desire. From their conversation emerges a series of subtle reflections on gender roles, sex in society and the sublimation of basic human instincts. The discussion culminates in a radical challenge to conventional views by Plato's mentor, Socrates, who advocates transcendence through spiritual love. The Symposium is a deft interweaving of different viewpoints and ideas about the nature of love--as a response to beauty, a cosmic force, a motive for social action and as a means of ethical education.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 90 Plato 0140449272 Callum 4 classics, philosophy
Phaedrus states that love is courage and virtue. Pausanias says there is base love: sexual gratification with women; and noble love: erotic and affectionate sharing wisdom with young men. Eryximachus expounds that love affects not just humans, but all things. Aristophanes satirically states that there were originally three sexes: all-male, all-female, and androgynous. Zeus split them apart. Love is the desire to find their other half. Agathon outlines love as youthful beauty. Socrates asserts that love is wisdom--i.e., philosophy. Alcibiades extols his love for Socrates, his enslavement to his passions, and jealousy of Socrates' platonic love.

Justice is the implicit theme of this dialogue. In 415BC, Alcibiades led the Sicilian Expedition in the Peloponnesian War. Athens was routed and Alcibiades fled to Sparta. Thucydides contends that this calamity led to the ultimate downfall of the Athenian Empire by Sparta in 404BC. Alcibiades, driven by love of glory, found himself unable to master his passions. In "The Republic," Plato asserts that justice is temperance of the passions, favouring wisdom so the soul functions harmoniously. If Alcibiades could have achieved personal justice/love and instilled that on Athens, the city-state may have avoided destruction, and instead flourished in harmony.]]> 4.11 -380
author: Plato
name: Callum
average rating: 4.11
book published: -380
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/24
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, philosophy
review:
The Symposium by Plato was written around 380BC and is considered one of the great works of literature and philosophy in the Western canon. Narrated by Apollodorus, it depicts a drinking party in Ancient Athens in 416BC celebrating Agathon's prize for best tragedy at the Lenaia festival. Notable attendees include Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Socrates, and Alcibiades. The Symposium is a dialogue. However, unlike Plato's other dialogues, much of the content is delivered via speeches with the exception of Socrates' postulations which follow the Socratic Method. The topic of discussion is Eros, the god of love and desire.

Phaedrus states that love is courage and virtue. Pausanias says there is base love: sexual gratification with women; and noble love: erotic and affectionate sharing wisdom with young men. Eryximachus expounds that love affects not just humans, but all things. Aristophanes satirically states that there were originally three sexes: all-male, all-female, and androgynous. Zeus split them apart. Love is the desire to find their other half. Agathon outlines love as youthful beauty. Socrates asserts that love is wisdom--i.e., philosophy. Alcibiades extols his love for Socrates, his enslavement to his passions, and jealousy of Socrates' platonic love.

Justice is the implicit theme of this dialogue. In 415BC, Alcibiades led the Sicilian Expedition in the Peloponnesian War. Athens was routed and Alcibiades fled to Sparta. Thucydides contends that this calamity led to the ultimate downfall of the Athenian Empire by Sparta in 404BC. Alcibiades, driven by love of glory, found himself unable to master his passions. In "The Republic," Plato asserts that justice is temperance of the passions, favouring wisdom so the soul functions harmoniously. If Alcibiades could have achieved personal justice/love and instilled that on Athens, the city-state may have avoided destruction, and instead flourished in harmony.
]]> 1354
Taking the form of a dialogue between Socrates, Gorgias, Polus and Callicles, Gorgias debates perennial questions about the nature of government and those who aspire to public office. Are high moral standards essential or should we give our preference to the pragmatist who gets things done or negotiates successfully? Should individuals be motivated by a desire for personal power and prestige, or genuine concern for the moral betterment of the citizens? These questions go to the heart of Athenian democratic principles and are more relevant than ever in today's political climate.]]> 208 Plato 0140449043 Callum 4 philosophy, classics
Although this is a fictional dialogue, it is important to recognise an empirical flaw in Plato's/Socrates' argument. Socrates taught Alcibiades, an Athenian statesman and general. Alcibiades acted unjustly. He was accused of aspiring to tyranny and fled to Sparta--Athens' enemy during the Peloponnesian War. Plato was also the teacher of many tyrants, including Dionysius of Syracuse. If the teacher is to blame for the actions of their students, therefore Socrates and Plato are culpable for the unjust actions of Alcibiades and Dionysius. Perhaps philosophers are not good teachers; perhaps philosophy does not guarantee justice.

Socrates contends that receiving injustice is preferable to inflicting it, as the latter harms ones soul, while the former does not. Socrates implicitly asserts that all souls are the same, and that harmed souls will be punished by the gods if they escape punishment in the mortal world. However, modern evidence suggests that tyrants--e.g., Alcibiades and Dionysus--are often sociopaths. Their 'soul' may therefore not be corrupted by acts of injustice. Additionally, Socrates readily admits that his judgment in the afterlife argument is based on Greek mythology. Such logic appears comparable to the sophist who prioritises conviction over facts.

Intertwined in this dialogue are several other themes, including temperance, ethics, and the pursuit of happiness. Compared to other Platonic dialogues where Socrates' postulations are met with agreement by his interlocutors, the sophists offer more rigorous rebuttals. The arguments presented can be esoteric at times and may require rereading. This said, Gorgias is reasonably short and provides a good introduction into Platonic philosophy. For deeper understanding, I recommend reading it alongside other dialogues concerning Socrates' trial and execution, namely Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno and Phaedo.]]> 3.94 -380
author: Plato
name: Callum
average rating: 3.94
book published: -380
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/15
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: philosophy, classics
review:
Gorgias is a Platonic dialogue between Socrates and sophists. Socrates begins by pursuing the nature of sophistry, specifically rhetoric. Gorgias argues that rhetoric, as a form of persuasion, prioritises conviction over facts. Gorgias asserts that rhetoric ought to be used for good, yet admits that one may not do so. If the latter, Gorgias proclaims that the teacher cannot be blamed. Socrates believes this is unjust. If one was a good teacher, they would instil justice into their pupil. Vis-à-vis politics, Socrates argues that the philosopher is the specialist in matters of justice. Philosophy, not sophistry, should therefore underpin a political education.

Although this is a fictional dialogue, it is important to recognise an empirical flaw in Plato's/Socrates' argument. Socrates taught Alcibiades, an Athenian statesman and general. Alcibiades acted unjustly. He was accused of aspiring to tyranny and fled to Sparta--Athens' enemy during the Peloponnesian War. Plato was also the teacher of many tyrants, including Dionysius of Syracuse. If the teacher is to blame for the actions of their students, therefore Socrates and Plato are culpable for the unjust actions of Alcibiades and Dionysius. Perhaps philosophers are not good teachers; perhaps philosophy does not guarantee justice.

Socrates contends that receiving injustice is preferable to inflicting it, as the latter harms ones soul, while the former does not. Socrates implicitly asserts that all souls are the same, and that harmed souls will be punished by the gods if they escape punishment in the mortal world. However, modern evidence suggests that tyrants--e.g., Alcibiades and Dionysus--are often sociopaths. Their 'soul' may therefore not be corrupted by acts of injustice. Additionally, Socrates readily admits that his judgment in the afterlife argument is based on Greek mythology. Such logic appears comparable to the sophist who prioritises conviction over facts.

Intertwined in this dialogue are several other themes, including temperance, ethics, and the pursuit of happiness. Compared to other Platonic dialogues where Socrates' postulations are met with agreement by his interlocutors, the sophists offer more rigorous rebuttals. The arguments presented can be esoteric at times and may require rereading. This said, Gorgias is reasonably short and provides a good introduction into Platonic philosophy. For deeper understanding, I recommend reading it alongside other dialogues concerning Socrates' trial and execution, namely Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno and Phaedo.
]]> 30289 416 Plato 0140449140 Callum 4
I was surprised by Plato's quasi-feminism. Ancient Athenian women did not have the same political liberties as their male counterparts. Their primary purpose was to raise children and run the household. Plato believed that women were generally inferior to men. However, he recognised that many women individually have equal or greater capacity at performing tasks than men. In The Republic, Socrates consequently theorises that women ought to be able to hold any position in society if they possessed the appropriate capacities, including serving in the military or becoming a philosopher queen. This starkly contrasts with Kallipolis' general illiberalism.

Karl Popper criticised Plato's political philosophy as authoritarian and its subsequent influence on twentieth century totalitarianism. In The Republic, Plato effectively called for the destruction of the family and individual liberties to create a state buttressed by egalitarian communalism. Marx was inspired by Plato when formulating his ideas around communism. In praxis, however, this political system led to the systematic dehumanisation and destruction of the people within the Soviet Empire. This society was also underpinned by a Platonic noble lie--societal regimentation/oppression was necessary to bring about communist utopia.

Although Plato's rationalist underpinnings in applied Marxist theory led to catastrophe, Plato did not believe that Kallipolis would ever come to fruition. Condemning Plato for twentieth century ills may therefore be unfair. This said, when evaluating The Republic as a literary philosophical work, I was astounded by its capacity to provoke thought. I disagreed with many of Plato's ideas, yet I had to pause and ruminate on why. There are many fallacies within the text--e.g., appeal to authority--and other non-sequiturs that are not readily apparent without closer perusal. Nonetheless, it is a must read text for those interested in politics and philosophy.]]> 3.97 -400
author: Plato
name: Callum
average rating: 3.97
book published: -400
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/11
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy
review:
The Republic by Plato centres on Socrates' ideas concerning justice. In essence, Socrates rationalises a perfectly just state called Kallipolis, and draws analogous conclusions with the perfectly just person. Kallipolis is regimented into three groups: rulers (wisdom), auxiliaries (courage), and producers. The state is perfectly just when these three groups perform their own work and cooperate harmoniously. The soul is similarly just when its appetitive parts are tempered by wisdom and courage. Socrates also peruses his thoughts on philosopher kings, the noble lie, theory of forms, ageing, the perilousness of poetry, and immortality.

I was surprised by Plato's quasi-feminism. Ancient Athenian women did not have the same political liberties as their male counterparts. Their primary purpose was to raise children and run the household. Plato believed that women were generally inferior to men. However, he recognised that many women individually have equal or greater capacity at performing tasks than men. In The Republic, Socrates consequently theorises that women ought to be able to hold any position in society if they possessed the appropriate capacities, including serving in the military or becoming a philosopher queen. This starkly contrasts with Kallipolis' general illiberalism.

Karl Popper criticised Plato's political philosophy as authoritarian and its subsequent influence on twentieth century totalitarianism. In The Republic, Plato effectively called for the destruction of the family and individual liberties to create a state buttressed by egalitarian communalism. Marx was inspired by Plato when formulating his ideas around communism. In praxis, however, this political system led to the systematic dehumanisation and destruction of the people within the Soviet Empire. This society was also underpinned by a Platonic noble lie--societal regimentation/oppression was necessary to bring about communist utopia.

Although Plato's rationalist underpinnings in applied Marxist theory led to catastrophe, Plato did not believe that Kallipolis would ever come to fruition. Condemning Plato for twentieth century ills may therefore be unfair. This said, when evaluating The Republic as a literary philosophical work, I was astounded by its capacity to provoke thought. I disagreed with many of Plato's ideas, yet I had to pause and ruminate on why. There are many fallacies within the text--e.g., appeal to authority--and other non-sequiturs that are not readily apparent without closer perusal. Nonetheless, it is a must read text for those interested in politics and philosophy.
]]> 30292 Five Dialogues presents G. M. A. Grube's distinguished translations, as revised by John Cooper for Plato, Complete Works (Hacket, 1997). Cooper has also contributed a number of new or expanded footnotes and updated Suggestions for Further Reading.]]> 156 Plato 0872206335 Callum 4
Plato's Five Dialogues concern various aspects surrounding Socrates' death. Socrates' dialogue with Euthyphro analyses what piety is with the question: Is something holy because the Gods love it, or do the Gods love something because it is holy? This aporia is left unresolved. Primarily through monologue, Socrates defends himself against the charges brought before him in the Apology. He outlines contradictions in the plaintiffs arguments, and counters that he is a 'social gadfly' sent by the Gods to improve the lives of Athenians. Unsuccessful and awaiting death in prison, Crito attempts to persuade Socrates to escape. Socrates refuses, primarily arguing that he has an obligation to obey the laws of Athens.

Meno transpires a few years prior to Socrates' trial. It concerns the definition of virtue, and the paradoxical nature of how one may come to inquire about something that they do not know. Many of the ideas presented are reutilised and refined in Phaedo, where Socrates propounds the immortality of the soul. This dialogue occurs immediately prior to Socrates' execution. I found many of the arguments in Phaedo and to a lesser extent Crito, unpersuasive. Furthermore, for greater understanding of these dialogues, I recommend reading them alongside supplementary sources like YouTube. Overall, they were thought-provoking and challenged my beliefs.]]> 4.16 -385
author: Plato
name: Callum
average rating: 4.16
book published: -385
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/03
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: political-philosophy, classics
review:
Socrates was a philosopher who utilised the eponymous Socratic method with fellow Athenians to question their thoughts on ethics and epistemology. Socrates often left his interlocutors in states of confusion, having undermined ideas that they previously thought of as true. Admitting to knowing nothing, Socrates was deemed the wisest person of Athens by the Oracle of Delphi: the holiest site of Ancient Greece. Socrates, however, was perceived as a threat to Athenian tradition by his fellow citizens, and was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. He was found guilty, and sentenced to death.

Plato's Five Dialogues concern various aspects surrounding Socrates' death. Socrates' dialogue with Euthyphro analyses what piety is with the question: Is something holy because the Gods love it, or do the Gods love something because it is holy? This aporia is left unresolved. Primarily through monologue, Socrates defends himself against the charges brought before him in the Apology. He outlines contradictions in the plaintiffs arguments, and counters that he is a 'social gadfly' sent by the Gods to improve the lives of Athenians. Unsuccessful and awaiting death in prison, Crito attempts to persuade Socrates to escape. Socrates refuses, primarily arguing that he has an obligation to obey the laws of Athens.

Meno transpires a few years prior to Socrates' trial. It concerns the definition of virtue, and the paradoxical nature of how one may come to inquire about something that they do not know. Many of the ideas presented are reutilised and refined in Phaedo, where Socrates propounds the immortality of the soul. This dialogue occurs immediately prior to Socrates' execution. I found many of the arguments in Phaedo and to a lesser extent Crito, unpersuasive. Furthermore, for greater understanding of these dialogues, I recommend reading them alongside supplementary sources like YouTube. Overall, they were thought-provoking and challenged my beliefs.
]]> 3140 The Bridge on the Drina earned Ivo Andric the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961.

A great stone bridge built three centuries ago in the heart of the Balkans by a Grand Vezir of the Ottoman Empire dominates the setting of Andric's stunning novel. Spanning generations, nationalities, and creeds, the bridge stands witness to the countless lives played out upon it: Radisav, the workman, who tries to hinder its construction and is impaled on its highest point; to the lovely Fata, who throws herself from its parapet to escape a loveless marriage; to Milan, the gambler, who risks everything in one last game on the bridge with the devil his opponent; to Fedun, the young soldier, who pays for a moment of spring forgetfulness with his life. War finally destroys the span, and with it the last descendant of that family to which the Grand Vezir confided the care of his pious bequest - the bridge.]]> 314 Ivo Andrić 0226020452 Callum 4 classics
The bridge was built during the Ottoman period for a dual purpose: to unite the peoples of Visegrad and as a demonstration of Ottoman rule over them. A similar phenomenon occurs following the later ascertainment of suzerainty over the region by Austria-Hungary and their imposition of industrial modernisation. Although life remains relatively constant throughout the book, modernity and nationalist fervour ultimately shatters this tranquil continuity. This is symbolised with the destruction of the bridge following the outbreak of World War I, which erupted after Bosnian-Serb nationalists assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

The bridge continued to be an enduring representation of the vicissitudes of imperial and sectarian/ethnic conflict in the Balkans post-1914. Varying peoples ostensibly coexist, yet latent ethnic hatred lurks beneath. Indeed, this occurred on a large scale during World War II when the Germans utilised the bridge to conquer the region, leading to the mass murder of Slavic people and Jews. Such wanton violence resurfaced in the 1990s during the Bosnian War. Hundreds of Muslim Bosniaks were slaughtered by Bosnian Serbs on the bridge and thrown into the Drina River. Today, the region is at peace. Alongside the bridge, however, sectarian/ethnic tensions endure.]]> 4.34 1945
author: Ivo Andrić
name: Callum
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1945
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/20
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:
Written by Ivo Andric and published in 1945, The Bridge on the Drina is a work of historical fiction that follows the lives of various peoples over approximately three hundred years who live in Visegrad (contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina) on the Drina River. Due to the vast expanse of time, there is no singular protagonist. The focal point is instead the bridge that crosses the Drina River, which stands witness from the time of its construction in the mid-16th century until the book's conclusion in 1914. It serves as a backdrop for Andric's allegorical exploration of the human condition and historical forces that affect ones daily life. v

The bridge was built during the Ottoman period for a dual purpose: to unite the peoples of Visegrad and as a demonstration of Ottoman rule over them. A similar phenomenon occurs following the later ascertainment of suzerainty over the region by Austria-Hungary and their imposition of industrial modernisation. Although life remains relatively constant throughout the book, modernity and nationalist fervour ultimately shatters this tranquil continuity. This is symbolised with the destruction of the bridge following the outbreak of World War I, which erupted after Bosnian-Serb nationalists assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

The bridge continued to be an enduring representation of the vicissitudes of imperial and sectarian/ethnic conflict in the Balkans post-1914. Varying peoples ostensibly coexist, yet latent ethnic hatred lurks beneath. Indeed, this occurred on a large scale during World War II when the Germans utilised the bridge to conquer the region, leading to the mass murder of Slavic people and Jews. Such wanton violence resurfaced in the 1990s during the Bosnian War. Hundreds of Muslim Bosniaks were slaughtered by Bosnian Serbs on the bridge and thrown into the Drina River. Today, the region is at peace. Alongside the bridge, however, sectarian/ethnic tensions endure.
]]> 4934
This award-winning translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky remains true to the verbal inventiveness of Dostoevsky’s prose, preserving the multiple voices, the humor, and the surprising modernity of the original. It is an achievement worthy of Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel.]]> 796 Fyodor Dostoevsky 0374528373 Callum 5
Dostoevsky delimits that having faith in God and an afterlife, one will lead a morally fulfilled and law-abiding existence because fearing God's retribution ensures compliance with social and legal codes. Conversely, lacking faith leads to lawlessness and nihilism since "everything is permitted." I disagree. One can be an atheist and not be a nihilist, as evinced by philosophies like existentialism and absurdism. Furthermore, actions stemming from fear or expectancy of reward are, in my opinion, morally dubious. One could alternatively follow humanism, which promotes leading an ethical life for the sake of improving the happiness of oneself and society.

Dostoevsky argues that people are overburdened by free will. It enables freedom to sin and leads to existential questioning that undermines ones sanity. Instead, one would obtain greater freedom by embracing the bosom of God, which relieves one of these encumbrances. I again disagree. Constant questioning of extant paradigms is an essential part of the human condition. Moreover, I question the sanity of embracing a totalitarian ideology that has done much to limit human progress in science, philosophy, and society because such actions are perceived as blasphemous or sinful. Despite my disagreements, however, this book remains intellectually rigorous and is exhilarating to read.]]> 4.36 1880
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Callum
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1880
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/26
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy
review:
Written by Fyodor Dostoevsky and translated by David McDuff (at least my copy was), The Brothers Karamazov is one of the best books that I have read. Set in Russia a few years after the abolishment of serfdom, this book is a piece of realist philosophy in the guise of literature. Its main themes include theological apologetics, alongside critiques of psychological determinism. Such issues are allegorically intertwined with the complicated and ultimately murderous relationship between Fyodor Karamazov and his three sons--Alyosha, Ivan, Dimitri--and perhaps a fourth son--Pavel Smerdyakov.

Dostoevsky delimits that having faith in God and an afterlife, one will lead a morally fulfilled and law-abiding existence because fearing God's retribution ensures compliance with social and legal codes. Conversely, lacking faith leads to lawlessness and nihilism since "everything is permitted." I disagree. One can be an atheist and not be a nihilist, as evinced by philosophies like existentialism and absurdism. Furthermore, actions stemming from fear or expectancy of reward are, in my opinion, morally dubious. One could alternatively follow humanism, which promotes leading an ethical life for the sake of improving the happiness of oneself and society.

Dostoevsky argues that people are overburdened by free will. It enables freedom to sin and leads to existential questioning that undermines ones sanity. Instead, one would obtain greater freedom by embracing the bosom of God, which relieves one of these encumbrances. I again disagree. Constant questioning of extant paradigms is an essential part of the human condition. Moreover, I question the sanity of embracing a totalitarian ideology that has done much to limit human progress in science, philosophy, and society because such actions are perceived as blasphemous or sinful. Despite my disagreements, however, this book remains intellectually rigorous and is exhilarating to read.
]]> 107301
Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life. Jean's travels leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her war-time ordeals.]]> 359 Nevil Shute 1842323008 Callum 3 australia, classics
The narrative centres upon Jean Paget, an Englishwoman, and Joe Harmen, an Australian. They initially meet in Malaya, but do not expect to see each other again. Post-war, Paget returns to England, and Harmen returns to Australia. Both protagonists find themselves unexpectedly endowed with money, albeit more substantively in Paget's case. They simultaneously discover that each survived the war. Paget embarks to Australia the same time that Harmen embarks to England. They later reunite and fall in love. The subsequent narrative arc chronicles Paget's entrepreneurial pursuits in assimilating herself to regional Australian life.

This book is predictable, lacks gripping elements, and has limited character development. For instance, despite enduring traumatic events in Malaya, both protagonists maintain an unswerving disposition. Intriguingly, the narrator, also Paget's lawyer, hints at having fallen in love with her. This plotline, however, remains unresolved by the story's conclusion, which makes it somewhat superfluous to the overarching plot. Nevertheless, Neville Schute's adept prose ensures a seamless reading experience. Lastly, the account of Paget's ordeal as a prisoner of war draws inspiration from the experiences of Dutch women in Sumatra under Japanese occupation.]]> 4.13 1950
author: Nevil Shute
name: Callum
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1950
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/31
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: australia, classics
review:
In 1942, Imperial Japan invaded British Malaya. Their occupation was brutal. Prisoners of war, for instance, were treated like expendable slave labour. This book is situated against this historical backdrop. It avoids a literary analysis of the Imperial Japan's severity, particularly concerning its treatment of women. Most of the story, however, predominantly transpires within the Australia. It accurately depicts outback Australian society: hot, lonely and racist. Derogatory terminology vis-a-vis Indigenous people is pervasive. Moreover, it captures the frontier essence of Australia, which endured into the mid-20th century.

The narrative centres upon Jean Paget, an Englishwoman, and Joe Harmen, an Australian. They initially meet in Malaya, but do not expect to see each other again. Post-war, Paget returns to England, and Harmen returns to Australia. Both protagonists find themselves unexpectedly endowed with money, albeit more substantively in Paget's case. They simultaneously discover that each survived the war. Paget embarks to Australia the same time that Harmen embarks to England. They later reunite and fall in love. The subsequent narrative arc chronicles Paget's entrepreneurial pursuits in assimilating herself to regional Australian life.

This book is predictable, lacks gripping elements, and has limited character development. For instance, despite enduring traumatic events in Malaya, both protagonists maintain an unswerving disposition. Intriguingly, the narrator, also Paget's lawyer, hints at having fallen in love with her. This plotline, however, remains unresolved by the story's conclusion, which makes it somewhat superfluous to the overarching plot. Nevertheless, Neville Schute's adept prose ensures a seamless reading experience. Lastly, the account of Paget's ordeal as a prisoner of war draws inspiration from the experiences of Dutch women in Sumatra under Japanese occupation.
]]> 38180 On the Beach is a remarkably convincing portrait of how ordinary people might face the most unimaginable nightmare.]]> 296 Nevil Shute Callum 4 classics, australia
Written in 1957, the book captured a moment when humanity was on the brink of nuclear conflict. Underpinned by the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, America and the Soviet Union stood poised to annihilate one another and their allies. Indeed, they almost did during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Although flawed in its portrayal of radiation's global lethality, the book correctly foresees the concept of humanity's destruction. Nuclear blasts would immediately kill hundreds of millions of people. Billions more would likely die from widespread famine in the subsequent 'nuclear winter'.

The collapse of the Soviet Union reduced immediate fears of nuclear conflict. Contemporary geopolitics, however, demands renewed attention to the macabre outcome of this book. Conflict between America and China looms large. Both nations possess formidable nuclear arsenals. The question arises: in the midst of war, would either nation unleash nuclear weapons to avoid defeat? Russia's recent threats in Ukraine to use 'tactical' nuclear weapons adds another possibility for global nuclear conflagration. The fate of humanity ultimately hinges on maintaining stable international relations amongst nuclear powers or more simply, a handful of men.]]> 3.95 1957
author: Nevil Shute
name: Callum
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1957
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/16
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, australia
review:
Set in the aftermath of a 'Third War,' this book portrays a morbid reality where major cities in the Northern Hemisphere have been obliterated by nuclear weapons, and the survivors succumb to radiation sickness. As radiation gradually spreads southward across the globe, the narrative follows the daily lives of Australian civilians and their interactions with American navy personnel who managed to survive the conflict. Their lives are overshadowed by impending radiation-induced death. There is no hope--everyone dies. This story underscores the perennial potential for a similar catastrophe in our future.

Written in 1957, the book captured a moment when humanity was on the brink of nuclear conflict. Underpinned by the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, America and the Soviet Union stood poised to annihilate one another and their allies. Indeed, they almost did during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Although flawed in its portrayal of radiation's global lethality, the book correctly foresees the concept of humanity's destruction. Nuclear blasts would immediately kill hundreds of millions of people. Billions more would likely die from widespread famine in the subsequent 'nuclear winter'.

The collapse of the Soviet Union reduced immediate fears of nuclear conflict. Contemporary geopolitics, however, demands renewed attention to the macabre outcome of this book. Conflict between America and China looms large. Both nations possess formidable nuclear arsenals. The question arises: in the midst of war, would either nation unleash nuclear weapons to avoid defeat? Russia's recent threats in Ukraine to use 'tactical' nuclear weapons adds another possibility for global nuclear conflagration. The fate of humanity ultimately hinges on maintaining stable international relations amongst nuclear powers or more simply, a handful of men.
]]> 261243 648 Thucydides 0140440399 Callum 3
"The History of the Peloponnesian War" is a seminal work in history and international relations. Thucydides chronicles the conflict using careful source cross-referencing, eyewitness testimony, and personal recollections. Such scrupulous study was feasible because Thucydides was a wealthy individual with spare time (he was ostracised from Athens for two decades after their defeat at the Battle of Amphipolis in 423 BC). He subtly critiques Herodotus' historiography, asserting his commitment to historical truth rather than uncritically relaying tales. Moreover, despite his Athenian affiliation, Thucydides endeavours to remain impartial, criticising Athens and praising adversaries when deserved.

The foundational underpinning of realist theories in international relations is encapsulated within this text. Key tenets of realism include states as the primary actors in global politics; the international system is anarchic; state conduct is driven by rational self-interest; and states pursue power to ensure self-preservation. Additionally, Thucydides' insights resonate with contemporary dynamics of great power politics. This is exemplified by Graham Allison's concept of the Thucydides Trap: a framework characterising the likelihood of conflict between a rising and an established power--i.e., China and the United States.

In the "Funeral Oration," Pericles--the Athenian leader at the onset of this war--asserts that Athens' casus belli was to preserve their laws, liberty and democracy. However, Thucydides exposes the fallacy of this claim through the Melian Dialogue. This exchange contrasts Athens' idealist motivations, revealing instead an adherence to realist precepts. Melos, a neutral city-state, declined an alliance with Athens. In retribution, Athens murders all male inhabitants and enslaves the women and children. Thucydides asserts the axiom, "the strong do what they can, and the weak do what they must." Athens' rationale for control over the island was rooted in power, not liberalist ideology.

Thucydides provides a chronological examination of this war. Although it concluded with Spartan victory in 404BC, this book abruptly finishes mid-sentence in 411BC. It is thought Thucydides died before completion. Thucydides' outlines the major themes of the war, including plague in Athens, the Peace of Nicias as a de facto continuation of proxy warfare, the disastrous Sicilian campaign by the Athenians, and Spartan collaboration with Persia. The book, however, is lengthy at 700 pages and at times is quite confusing to follow, particularly given the myriad engagements waged among numerous city-states across decades. Nonetheless, Xenophon's "A History of My Times" provides a contemporaneous account of the final years of this war.]]> 3.90 -411
author: Thucydides
name: Callum
average rating: 3.90
book published: -411
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/13
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: history, international-relations, political-philosophy, classics
review:
Thucydides was an Athenian general and historian who lived from 460-400BC. He perceived the outbreak of war between Athens and Sparta in 431BC as "more worthy than any that had preceded it". Early in the fifth-century BC, normally inimical Greek city-states had united under the tutelage of Athens and Sparta to resist Persian invasions. Post-Persian Wars, Athens and Sparta maintained empires, with the latter holding pre-eminence in the region. However, the former--primarily through its navy--substantially grew in power. Thucydides subsequently argues that "it was the rise of Athens, and the fear that this instilled in Sparta, that made war inevitable."

"The History of the Peloponnesian War" is a seminal work in history and international relations. Thucydides chronicles the conflict using careful source cross-referencing, eyewitness testimony, and personal recollections. Such scrupulous study was feasible because Thucydides was a wealthy individual with spare time (he was ostracised from Athens for two decades after their defeat at the Battle of Amphipolis in 423 BC). He subtly critiques Herodotus' historiography, asserting his commitment to historical truth rather than uncritically relaying tales. Moreover, despite his Athenian affiliation, Thucydides endeavours to remain impartial, criticising Athens and praising adversaries when deserved.

The foundational underpinning of realist theories in international relations is encapsulated within this text. Key tenets of realism include states as the primary actors in global politics; the international system is anarchic; state conduct is driven by rational self-interest; and states pursue power to ensure self-preservation. Additionally, Thucydides' insights resonate with contemporary dynamics of great power politics. This is exemplified by Graham Allison's concept of the Thucydides Trap: a framework characterising the likelihood of conflict between a rising and an established power--i.e., China and the United States.

In the "Funeral Oration," Pericles--the Athenian leader at the onset of this war--asserts that Athens' casus belli was to preserve their laws, liberty and democracy. However, Thucydides exposes the fallacy of this claim through the Melian Dialogue. This exchange contrasts Athens' idealist motivations, revealing instead an adherence to realist precepts. Melos, a neutral city-state, declined an alliance with Athens. In retribution, Athens murders all male inhabitants and enslaves the women and children. Thucydides asserts the axiom, "the strong do what they can, and the weak do what they must." Athens' rationale for control over the island was rooted in power, not liberalist ideology.

Thucydides provides a chronological examination of this war. Although it concluded with Spartan victory in 404BC, this book abruptly finishes mid-sentence in 411BC. It is thought Thucydides died before completion. Thucydides' outlines the major themes of the war, including plague in Athens, the Peace of Nicias as a de facto continuation of proxy warfare, the disastrous Sicilian campaign by the Athenians, and Spartan collaboration with Persia. The book, however, is lengthy at 700 pages and at times is quite confusing to follow, particularly given the myriad engagements waged among numerous city-states across decades. Nonetheless, Xenophon's "A History of My Times" provides a contemporaneous account of the final years of this war.
]]> 443095
Lives: Lycurgus, Agesilaus, Agis, Cleomenes.
Sayings: sayings of Spartans, sayings of Spartan Women.
Appendix: Xenephon: Spartan Society]]> 260 Plutarch 0140449434 Callum 3 history, classics
Agis IV, reigning from 245-241BC, attempted to mitigate Spartan opulence by reintroducing Lycurgus' reforms. He reinstated the agoge (austere military training), syssitia (collective messes), cancelled debts, and redistributed land. Despite his efforts, he was betrayed and executed by opposing ephors (powerful magistrates). Cleomenes III ruled from 235-222BC and continued Agis IV's reforms. He also sought to restore Spartan hegemony in the Peloponnese against the Achaean League. Although initially successful, Macedonian intervention in favour of the Achaeans led to their ultimate defeat. Cleomenes III consequently fled to Egypt after instructing Sparta to pledge allegiance to Macedonia and later committed suicide.

Plutarch includes a chapter on Sparta's famous laconic witticisms. For example, when a Spartan woman was asked by a woman from Attica, "Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?", the Spartan woman replied, "Because we are also the only ones who give birth to men." In the appendix, Plutarch additionally provides Xenophon's writings on Spartan society during Agesilaus' reign. Overall, this book provides good insights into specific Spartan lives, yet the book lacks a holistic understanding of Spartan history. It overlooks centuries of Spartan society between Agesilaus' and Agis IV's reigns and provides no information on Sparta post-Cleomenes' III defeat and its eventual conquest by Rome in 146BC.]]> 4.13 100
author: Plutarch
name: Callum
average rating: 4.13
book published: 100
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/21
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: history, classics
review:
This book provides brief biographies of four notable figures from Sparta: Lycurgus, Agesilaus, Agis IV, and Cleomenes III. Lycurgus (~800BC), a legendary figure, was the lawgiver of Sparta. He transformed the ruling Spartiates into a formidable military force, supported by the labour of conquered Messenian slaves and the trade of relatively free Perioeci. Agesilaus governed Sparta during 400-360BC. His rule witnessed the decline of Sparta's hegemony in Greece post-Peloponnesian War. The city-state transformed from a dominant force to a middle power after they were defeated by Thebes in 371BC. The subsequent liberation of the Messenians by Thebes dismantled Sparta's erstwhile militaristic and societal structures.

Agis IV, reigning from 245-241BC, attempted to mitigate Spartan opulence by reintroducing Lycurgus' reforms. He reinstated the agoge (austere military training), syssitia (collective messes), cancelled debts, and redistributed land. Despite his efforts, he was betrayed and executed by opposing ephors (powerful magistrates). Cleomenes III ruled from 235-222BC and continued Agis IV's reforms. He also sought to restore Spartan hegemony in the Peloponnese against the Achaean League. Although initially successful, Macedonian intervention in favour of the Achaeans led to their ultimate defeat. Cleomenes III consequently fled to Egypt after instructing Sparta to pledge allegiance to Macedonia and later committed suicide.

Plutarch includes a chapter on Sparta's famous laconic witticisms. For example, when a Spartan woman was asked by a woman from Attica, "Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?", the Spartan woman replied, "Because we are also the only ones who give birth to men." In the appendix, Plutarch additionally provides Xenophon's writings on Spartan society during Agesilaus' reign. Overall, this book provides good insights into specific Spartan lives, yet the book lacks a holistic understanding of Spartan history. It overlooks centuries of Spartan society between Agesilaus' and Agis IV's reigns and provides no information on Sparta post-Cleomenes' III defeat and its eventual conquest by Rome in 146BC.
]]> 2794 The Crying of Lot 49 opens as Oedipa Maas discovers that she has been made executrix of a former lover's estate. The performance of her duties sets her on a strange trail of detection, in which bizarre characters crowd in to help or confuse her. But gradually, death, drugs, madness, and marriage combine to leave Oedipa in isolation on the threshold of revelation, awaiting the Crying of Lot 49.]]> 152 Thomas Pynchon 006091307X Callum 4 classics 3.70 1966
author: Thomas Pynchon
name: Callum
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1966
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/25
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:
This is a fun, albeit discombobulating, short read. It follows the protagonist unexpectedly becoming the executor of her former partner's will. In this role, she ostensibly uncovers an international underground network, which initiates a series of humorous escapades in search of answers. With fluctuating scenes and characters, this post-modernist literary work requires close attention. The book's enticing ending, along with apparent plot digressions, are critical to the overall story. Furthermore, set in 1960s America, the author intertwines elements of the zeitgeist, including Freudian psychology, drug experimentation, and American wars.
]]> 781787 Out of Africa is Isak Dinesen's memoir of her years in Africa, from 1914 to 1931, on a four-thousand-acre coffee plantation in the hills near Nairobi. She had come to Kenya from Denmark with her husband, and when they separated she stayed on to manage the farm by herself, visited frequently by her lover, the big-game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton, for whom she would make up stories "like Scheherazade." In Africa, "I learned how to tell tales," she recalled many years later. "The natives have an ear still. I told stories constantly to them, all kinds." Her account of her African adventures, written after she had lost her beloved farm and returned to Denmark, is that of a master storyteller, a woman whom John Updike called "one of the most picturesque and flamboyant literary personalities of the century."

Isak Dinesen (1885��1962) was born Karen Christence Dinesen in Rungsted, Denmark. She wrote poems, plays, and stories from an early age, including Seven Gothic Tales, Winter's Tales, Last Tales, Anecdotes of Destiny, Shadows on the Grass and Ehrengard. Out of Africa is considered her masterpiece.]]> 401 Isak Dinesen 0679600213 Callum 2 classics



]]> 3.94 1937
author: Isak Dinesen
name: Callum
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1937
rating: 2
read at: 2023/06/10
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:
This book was dull. Karen Blixen recounts her experiences managing a coffee plantation in British-controlled Kenya during the early twentieth century. Regrettably, it offers only a superficial understanding of life and society during that era, while perpetuating an orientalist portrayal of the indigenous people. Despite spending a considerable amount of time in Kenya, Blixen overlooked the opportunity to delve into the intricacies of the local cultures and political dynamics that shaped her stay. However, it must be acknowledged that Blixen's writing skilfully weaves eloquent prose, painting vivid portraits of Africa's breath-taking landscapes and captivating wildlife.





]]> 18405 1037 Margaret Mitchell 0446365386 Callum 5 classics 4.30 1936
author: Margaret Mitchell
name: Callum
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1936
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/01
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:
This book is a literary masterpiece. It boasts a profound interweaving of the American Civil War and its consequential era of Reconstruction. The author--Margaret Mitchell--offers a sociological analysis of the age-old traditions upheld by the Southern aristocracy. Within its pages unfolds an epic contemplation on the profound philosophical themes of love, life, and death. The principal protagonists--Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler--emerge as exemplars of the American libertine ethos. That said, their pursuit of self-interest, unaccompanied by a genuine concern for the welfare of others, renders the hedonistic lifestyle inherently futile. In the inexorable passage of time, the imperative of sacrifice gradually reveals itself. However, it is noteworthy that when executed judiciously, the act of sacrifice may harmoniously coexist with the fulfilment of one's deepest desires.
]]> 150723
Following an Australian government edict in 1931, black aboriginal children and children of mixed marriages were gathered up by whites and taken to settlements to be assimilated. In Rabbit-Proof Fence, award-winning author Doris Pilkington traces the captivating story of her mother, Molly, one of three young girls uprooted from her community in Southwestern Australia and taken to the Moore River Native Settlement. At the settlement, Milly and her relatives Gracie and Daisy were forbidden to speak their native language, forced to abandon their aboriginal heritage, and taught to be culturally white. After regular stays in solitary confinement, the three girls scared and homesick planned and executed a daring escape from the grim camp, with its harsh life of padlocks, barred windows, and hard cold beds.

The girls headed for the nearby rabbit-proof fence that stretched over 1,000 miles through the desert toward their home. Their journey lasted over a month, and they survived on everything from emus to feral cats, while narrowly avoiding the police, professional trackers, and hostile white settlers. Their story is a truly moving tale of defiance and resilience.

About the author:

Doris Pilkington is also the author of Caprice: A Stockman's Daughter. Rabbit-Proof Fence, her second book, is now a major motion picture from Miramax Films, directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Kenneth Branagh.]]> 135 Doris Pilkington 0786887842 Callum 3 australia, classics
Although the book offers a poignant portrayal of the girls' experiences, it falls short in its attempt to connect the story of these children to the broader machinations of Australian political history. The narrative briefly touches upon Indigenous-European interactions following the latter's settlement of Western Australia, but it fast-forwards to the early-20th century, when state and federal governments were implementing a series of child removal policies that would later become known as the Stolen Generations. One may find themselves uncertain as to why these children were removed, especially if they are not familiar with Australian history.

In short, the British Empire's conquest of Australia led to the decimation of Indigenous populations through disease and frontier violence. White colonisers, therefore, assumed that Indigenous people were a "dying race." A. O. Neville, the architect of the Stolen Generation policy, believed that by educating Indigenous children with some white heritage in white society, they would assimilate into that society. Policemen and other officials were thus given the authority to locate babies and children and bring them to state institutions, primarily missions.

The book does not adequately address the disastrous effects of this policy. Up to 100,000 children were removed, leading to significant psychological trauma for both the families and the children involved. These removed children were several times more likely to engage in substance abuse, obtain a police record, and have high incidences of suicide. Additionally, there are inter-generational effects, where children who grew up in households where a member of the Stolen Generation was present were more likely to experience adverse health outcomes and social destitution.

It is peculiar that the story denotes a tale of Indigenous pursuit for freedom yet neglects to elaborate on why Indigenous trackers were used to hinder that pursuit. The book could have done more to explain the complexities of Indigenous relations with British colonisers. The former weere often coerced into performing such acts to ensure their own freedom after infringing upon colonial laws or to obtain a life with a few more privileges. Delving into this dichotomy would have enhanced the book's content.]]> 3.72 1996
author: Doris Pilkington
name: Callum
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/12
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: australia, classics
review:
This book is considered an Australian classic. It portrays the true account of three Indigenous girls--two sisters and their cousin--who were forcibly taken from their families in the Pilbara to be assimilated into white society in a Christian mission near Perth. Upon arriving, the girls escaped and were pursued by A. O. Neville, the Chief Protector of the Aborigines for Western Australia, and his aides. Using the rabbit-proof fence, the two sisters managed to regain their freedom. The cousin, who took a different route to find her mother, was eventually captured and returned to the mission.

Although the book offers a poignant portrayal of the girls' experiences, it falls short in its attempt to connect the story of these children to the broader machinations of Australian political history. The narrative briefly touches upon Indigenous-European interactions following the latter's settlement of Western Australia, but it fast-forwards to the early-20th century, when state and federal governments were implementing a series of child removal policies that would later become known as the Stolen Generations. One may find themselves uncertain as to why these children were removed, especially if they are not familiar with Australian history.

In short, the British Empire's conquest of Australia led to the decimation of Indigenous populations through disease and frontier violence. White colonisers, therefore, assumed that Indigenous people were a "dying race." A. O. Neville, the architect of the Stolen Generation policy, believed that by educating Indigenous children with some white heritage in white society, they would assimilate into that society. Policemen and other officials were thus given the authority to locate babies and children and bring them to state institutions, primarily missions.

The book does not adequately address the disastrous effects of this policy. Up to 100,000 children were removed, leading to significant psychological trauma for both the families and the children involved. These removed children were several times more likely to engage in substance abuse, obtain a police record, and have high incidences of suicide. Additionally, there are inter-generational effects, where children who grew up in households where a member of the Stolen Generation was present were more likely to experience adverse health outcomes and social destitution.

It is peculiar that the story denotes a tale of Indigenous pursuit for freedom yet neglects to elaborate on why Indigenous trackers were used to hinder that pursuit. The book could have done more to explain the complexities of Indigenous relations with British colonisers. The former weere often coerced into performing such acts to ensure their own freedom after infringing upon colonial laws or to obtain a life with a few more privileges. Delving into this dichotomy would have enhanced the book's content.
]]> 2584240 Description of book

��... far better than any novel; an incomparable record of a greart family and of a series of great actions.�� The Bulletin

When Patrick Durack left Western Ireland for Australia in 1853, he was to found a pioneering dynasty and build a cattle empire across the great stretches of Australia.

With a profound sense of family history, his grand-daughter, Mary Durack reconstructed the Durack saga - a story of intrepid men and ground-breaking adventure.

This sweeping tale of Australia and Australians remains a classic nearly fifty years on.]]> 445 Mary Durack 0552110558 Callum 3
The book's strengths include its intimate portrayal of family relationships and daily life on the frontier. However, some readers may find that the historical and political context surrounding the various economic downturns impacting both the Durack family and the wider community is insufficiently explained. Another strength of this book is the provision of a colonial perspective on the complex and violent relationship between Indigenous and European peoples during this period.

Durack delineates the fears and anxieties of European pioneers in the face of Indigenous attacks. However, the book neglects to acknowledge the pivotal role of pastoralists in the conquest of Australian land from Indigenous people. Indigenous attacks were often retaliatory acts as part of a guerrilla warfare campaign. The book disproportionately examines the deaths of Europeans at the hands of Indigenous people while relegating Indigenous deaths to a lesser status. Ultimately, the Durack family's success is rooted in the destruction of Indigenous livelihoods.]]> 3.74 1959
author: Mary Durack
name: Callum
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1959
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: australia, biography, history, classics
review:
Mary Durack's literary work, "Kings in Grass Castles," presents a detailed account of the pioneering experience of the Durack family in Northern Australia during the late 19th century. Durack employs a vivid narrative style that captures the multifaceted experiences of the family as they traversed the harsh Australian outback, enduring a wide range of triumphs and hardships.

The book's strengths include its intimate portrayal of family relationships and daily life on the frontier. However, some readers may find that the historical and political context surrounding the various economic downturns impacting both the Durack family and the wider community is insufficiently explained. Another strength of this book is the provision of a colonial perspective on the complex and violent relationship between Indigenous and European peoples during this period.

Durack delineates the fears and anxieties of European pioneers in the face of Indigenous attacks. However, the book neglects to acknowledge the pivotal role of pastoralists in the conquest of Australian land from Indigenous people. Indigenous attacks were often retaliatory acts as part of a guerrilla warfare campaign. The book disproportionately examines the deaths of Europeans at the hands of Indigenous people while relegating Indigenous deaths to a lesser status. Ultimately, the Durack family's success is rooted in the destruction of Indigenous livelihoods.
]]> 662 This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?

Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world’s motor �� and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the characters in this story.

Tremendous in its scope, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life �� from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy �� to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction �� to the philosopher who becomes a pirate �� to the composer who gives up his career on the night of his triumph �� to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad �� to the lowest track worker in her Terminal tunnels.

You must be prepared, when you read this novel, to check every premise at the root of your convictions.

This is a mystery story, not about the murder �� and rebirth �� of man’s spirit. It is a philosophical revolution, told in the form of an action thriller of violent events, a ruthlessly brilliant plot structure and an irresistible suspense. Do you say this is impossible? Well, that is the first of your premises to check.]]> 1168 Ayn Rand 0452011876 Callum 2 3.67 1957
author: Ayn Rand
name: Callum
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1957
rating: 2
read at: 2023/04/23
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy
review:
I read the first third of this massive book��1200 pages—and finished the rest as an audiobook on a road trip. Without the trip, I would not have bothered finishing it. The story lacks depth, with negligible character development. The protagonists, 'the producers,' are inherently good, while the antagonists, 'the looters,' are inherently bad. This deliberate literary device emphasises Rand's "Objectivist" philosophy but makes for a predictable and tedious reading experience. Readers interested in Rand's philosophy should focus on Part III Chapter VII, or Rand's non-fiction work, 'The Virtue of Selfishness,' which is a more succinct 170 pages.
]]> 3698 Graham Greene's classic exploration of love, innocence, and morality in Vietnam

"I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused," Graham Greene's narrator Fowler remarks of Alden Pyle, the eponymous "Quiet American" of what is perhaps the most controversial novel of his career. Pyle is the brash young idealist sent out by Washington on a mysterious mission to Saigon, where the French Army struggles against the Vietminh guerrillas. As young Pyle's well-intentioned policies blunder into bloodshed, Fowler, a seasoned and cynical British reporter, finds it impossible to stand safely aside as an observer. But Fowler's motives for intervening are suspect, both to the police and himself, for Pyle has stolen Fowler's beautiful Vietnamese mistress.

First published in 1956 and twice adapted to film, The Quiet American remains a terrifiying and prescient portrait of innocence at large. This Graham Greene Centennial Edition includes a new introductory essay by Robert Stone.]]> 180 Graham Greene 0143039024 Callum 5 politics, classics 3.97 1955
author: Graham Greene
name: Callum
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1955
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: politics, classics
review:
Published in 1955, Greene presciently critiques America's imperialist policies vis-à-vis Vietnam. America thought they were spreading democracy; America thought they were not a colonial power; and America thought they would win. America was wrong. America advanced its neo-colonial empire through napalm and ultimately lost "with honour". The delusion of liberal-American militarism was briefly rekindled with victory in the Cold War but has diminished once more post-Iraq/Afghanistan. Liberalism must be hard won by a nation's citizens, not imposed by a foreign power. Greene recognised this 70 years ago. That is why this book is a classic.
]]> 824078 Leaving Las Vegas, the first novel by John O’Brien, is a disturbing and emotionally wrenching story of a woman who embraces life and a man who rejects it. Sera, a prostitute, and Ben, an alcoholic, stumble together and discover in each other a respite from their unforgiving lives. A testimony to the raw talent of its young author, Leaving Las Vegas is a compelling story of unconditional love between two disenfranchised and lost souls—an overlooked American classic.]]> 200 John O'Brien 0802134459 Callum 4 classics 4.00 1990
author: John O'Brien
name: Callum
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/26
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 168642
As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.]]> 343 Truman Capote 0679745580 Callum 4 classics, journalism 4.08 1966
author: Truman Capote
name: Callum
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1966
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/29
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, journalism
review:

]]> 11012 I regret to see that my book has turned out un fiasco solenne.' James Joyce's disillusion with the publication of Dubliners in 1914 was the result of ten years battling with publishers, resisting their demands to remove swear words, real place names and much else, including two entire stories. Although only 24 when he signed his first publishing contract for the book, Joyce already knew its worth: to alter it in any way would 'retard the course of civilisation in Ireland'.

Joyce's aim was to tell the truth �� to create a work of art that would reflect life in Ireland at the turn of the last century and by rejecting euphemism, reveal to the Irish the unromantic reality the recognition of which would lead to the spiritual liberation of the country.

Each of the fifteen stories offers a glimpse of the lives of ordinary Dubliners �� a death, an encounter, an opportunity not taken, a memory rekindled �� and collectively they paint a portrait of a nation.]]> 352 James Joyce Callum 3 classics 3.86 1914
author: James Joyce
name: Callum
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1914
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 28676 American Psycho is a bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront.]]> 399 Bret Easton Ellis 0679735771 Callum 3 classics 3.82 1991
author: Bret Easton Ellis
name: Callum
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/22
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 17245 You can find an alternative cover edition for this ISBN here and here.

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.

In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

This Norton Critical Edition includes a rich selection of background and source materials in three areas: Contexts includes probable inspirations for Dracula in the earlier works of James Malcolm Rymer and Emily Gerard. Also included are a discussion of Stoker's working notes for the novel and "Dracula's Guest," the original opening chapter to Dracula. Reviews and Reactions reprints five early reviews of the novel. "Dramatic and Film Variations" focuses on theater and film adaptations of Dracula, two indications of the novel's unwavering appeal. David J. Skal, Gregory A. Waller, and Nina Auerbach offer their varied perspectives. Checklists of both dramatic and film adaptations are included.

Criticism collects seven theoretical interpretations of Dracula by Phyllis A. Roth, Carol A. Senf, Franco Moretti, Christopher Craft, Bram Dijkstra, Stephen D. Arata, and Talia Schaffer.

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.]]> 488 Bram Stoker 0393970124 Callum 3 classics 4.02 1897
author: Bram Stoker
name: Callum
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1897
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/13
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 38462 here.

Baldwin's haunting and controversial second novel is his most sustained treatment of sexuality, and a classic of gay literature. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself unable to repress his impulses, despite his determination to live the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured by his sexual identity as he oscillates between the two.

Examining the mystery of love and passion in an intensely imagined narrative, Baldwin creates a moving and complex story of death and desire that is revelatory in its insight.]]> 159 James Baldwin Callum 4 classics, philosophy 4.31 1956
author: James Baldwin
name: Callum
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1956
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/10
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, philosophy
review:

]]> 51496 139 Robert Louis Stevenson 0451528956 Callum 3 classics 3.84 1886
author: Robert Louis Stevenson
name: Callum
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1886
rating: 3
read at: 2022/07/26
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 10775
A sensational bestseller when it appeared in 1986, The Garden of Eden is the last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, which he worked on intermittently from 1946 until his death in 1961. Set on the Côte d'Azur in the 1920s, it is the story of a young American writer, David Bourne, his glamorous wife, Catherine, and the dangerous, erotic game they play when they fall in love with the same woman. "A lean, sensuous narrative...taut, chic, and strangely contemporary," The Garden of Eden represents vintage Hemingway, the master "doing what nobody did better" (R. Z. Sheppard, Time).]]> 248 Ernest Hemingway 0684804522 Callum 3 classics 3.73 1986
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Callum
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at: 2022/07/16
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 338687 Hardcover 565 Robert Ruark 0241906121 Callum 5 classics
The Mau Mau Rebellion was a real historical event and was characterised by extreme violence from each side. The gruesome details are not spared in this book. Robert Ruark--an American--purveys an intricate knowledge of this war, and the psyches of its participants. This is due to his personal experiences in Kenya as a reporter and avid big-game hunter in the incipient phases of this conflict. Ruark's portrayal of the belligerents appear balanced and avoids direct allegorical moral judgements. However, it is implied that the Mau Mau's violence was more 'just' due to their subjugation by the British. In short, this book is a very good piece of historical fiction.

I thought about Australia's colonial history while reading this book. Kenya had few British settlers, which enabled the local majority to ferment violent and historically just resistance. Indigenous Australians lacked comparable agency, and were absorbed into the British-created Australian state. This was only made possible with their destruction. Decimated by disease, extermination policies, and mass British settlement, Indigenous Australians were denied the opportunity for rebellion like Kenya. Consequently, Indigenous people's endure destitution, while Kenyan's, though not affluent, maintain a semblance of self-determination.]]> 4.34 1955
author: Robert Ruark
name: Callum
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1955
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:
This novel centres on Peter McKenzie. His father had settled in Kenya soon after it was proclaimed a colony of the British Empire in 1920. By the mid-1940s, the McKenzie family were wealthy farmers. Their opulence required the serf-like oppression of various local peoples, who were ostensibly loyal to their colonial masters. As a young adult, Peter becomes a safari hunter for affluent internationals, with the intention of one day taking over the family farm. However, as this ambition begins to come to fruition, the Mau Mau Rebellion erupts in 1952. The McKenzie family's tranquil outlook is replaced with terror, and Peter's humanity is stripped bare.

The Mau Mau Rebellion was a real historical event and was characterised by extreme violence from each side. The gruesome details are not spared in this book. Robert Ruark--an American--purveys an intricate knowledge of this war, and the psyches of its participants. This is due to his personal experiences in Kenya as a reporter and avid big-game hunter in the incipient phases of this conflict. Ruark's portrayal of the belligerents appear balanced and avoids direct allegorical moral judgements. However, it is implied that the Mau Mau's violence was more 'just' due to their subjugation by the British. In short, this book is a very good piece of historical fiction.

I thought about Australia's colonial history while reading this book. Kenya had few British settlers, which enabled the local majority to ferment violent and historically just resistance. Indigenous Australians lacked comparable agency, and were absorbed into the British-created Australian state. This was only made possible with their destruction. Decimated by disease, extermination policies, and mass British settlement, Indigenous Australians were denied the opportunity for rebellion like Kenya. Consequently, Indigenous people's endure destitution, while Kenyan's, though not affluent, maintain a semblance of self-determination.
]]> 32585 134 Knut Hamsun 0486431681 Callum 3 classics 4.09 1890
author: Knut Hamsun
name: Callum
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1890
rating: 3
read at: 2022/07/18
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 4921
"We agree that we are overworked, and need a rest - A week on the rolling deep? - George suggests the river -"

And with the co-operation of several hampers of food and a covered boat, the three men (not forgetting the dog) set out on a hilarious voyage of mishaps up the Thames. When not falling in the river and getting lost in Hampton Court Maze, Jerome K. Jerome finds time to express his ideas on the world around - many of which have acquired a deeper fascination since the day at the end of the 19th century when this excursion was so lightly undertaken.]]> 185 Jerome K. Jerome Callum 3 classics 3.86 1889
author: Jerome K. Jerome
name: Callum
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1889
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 122 544 Bryce Courtenay 034541005X Callum 5 classics 4.35 1989
author: Bryce Courtenay
name: Callum
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 2022/05/09
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 250041 208 Nathanael West 082220763X Callum 3 classics 3.65 1933
author: Nathanael West
name: Callum
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1933
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/01
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 113441 The Day of the Locust is a novel about Hollywood and its corrupting touch, about the American dream turned into a sun-drenched California nightmare. Nathanael West's Hollywood is not the glamorous "home of the stars" but a seedy world of little people, some hopeful, some despairing, all twisted by their by their own desires -- from the ironically romantic artist narrator, to a macho movie cowboy, a middle-aged innocent from America's heartland, and the hard-as-nails call girl would-be-star whom they all lust after. An unforgettable portrayal of a world that mocks the real and rewards the sham, turns its back on love to plunge into empty sex, and breeds a savage violence that is its own undoing, this novel stands as a classic indictment of all that is most extravagant and uncontrolled in American life.]]> 208 Nathanael West 0451523482 Callum 3 classics 3.74 1939
author: Nathanael West
name: Callum
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1939
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/01
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 5308
A story of classic simplicity, based on a Mexican folk tale, The Pearl explores the secrets of man’s nature, greed, the darkest depths of evil, and the luminous possibilities of love.]]> 96 John Steinbeck 0142000698 Callum 3 classics 3.52 1947
author: John Steinbeck
name: Callum
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1947
rating: 3
read at: 2022/03/15
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 76171 The exhilarating dystopian novel that inspired George Orwell's 1984 and foreshadowed the worst excesses of Soviet Russia

Yevgeny Zamyatin's We is a powerfully inventive vision that has influenced writers from George Orwell to Ayn Rand. In a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the all-powerful 'Benefactor', the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState live out lives devoid of passion and creativity - until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: he has an individual soul. Set in the twenty-sixth century AD, We is the classic dystopian novel and was the forerunner of works such as George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It was suppressed for many years in Russia and remains a resounding cry for individual freedom, yet is also a powerful, exciting and vivid work of science fiction. Clarence Brown's brilliant translation is based on the corrected text of the novel, first published in Russia in 1988 after more than sixty years' suppression.]]> 256 Yevgeny Zamyatin 0140185852 Callum 3 classics 3.91 1924
author: Yevgeny Zamyatin
name: Callum
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1924
rating: 3
read at: 2022/07/31
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 4406
Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.]]> 601 John Steinbeck 0142000655 Callum 5 classics 4.41 1952
author: John Steinbeck
name: Callum
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1952
rating: 5
read at: 2022/03/08
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 4981 Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.��

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it.

Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]> 275 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Callum 4 classics 4.10 1969
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Callum
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/13
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 30672
Darkness at Noon (from the German: Sonnenfinsternis) is a novel by the Hungarian-born British novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best-known work tells the tale of Rubashov, a Bolshevik 1917 revolutionary who is cast out, imprisoned and tried for treason by the Soviet government he'd helped create.]]> 216 Arthur Koestler 0553265954 Callum 4 4.09 1940
author: Arthur Koestler
name: Callum
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1940
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy
review:

]]> 4631 192 Ernest Hemingway Callum 3 biography, classics 4.04 1964
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Callum
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1964
rating: 3
read at: 2022/07/14
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: biography, classics
review:

]]> 11991
The Fall (French: La Chute) is a philosophical novel by Albert Camus. First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. The Fall explores themes of innocence, imprisonment, non-existence, and truth. In a eulogy to Albert Camus, existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre described the novel as "perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus' books.]]> 147 Albert Camus 0679720227 Callum 4 4.07 1956
author: Albert Camus
name: Callum
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1956
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/23
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy
review:

]]> 117833 The first complete, annotated English Translation of Mikhail Bulgakov's comic masterpiece.

An audacious revision of the stories of Faust and Pontius Pilate, The Master and Margarita is recognized as one of the essential classics of modern Russian literature. The novel's vision of Soviet life in the 1930s is so ferociously accurate that it could not be published during its author's lifetime and appeared only in a censored edition in the 1960s. Its truths are so enduring that its language has become part of the common Russian speech.

One hot spring, the devil arrives in Moscow, accompanied by a retinue that includes a beautiful naked witch and an immense talking black cat with a fondness for chess and vodka. The visitors quickly wreak havoc in a city that refuses to believe in either God or Satan. But they also bring peace to two unhappy Muscovites: one is the Master, a writer pilloried for daring to write a novel about Christ and Pontius Pilate; the other is Margarita, who loves the Master so deeply that she is willing literally to go to hell for him. What ensues is a novel of inexhaustible energy, humor, and philosophical depth, a work whose nuances emerge for the first time in Diana Burgin's and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor's splendid English version.]]> 372 Mikhail Bulgakov 0679760806 Callum 3 4.31 1967
author: Mikhail Bulgakov
name: Callum
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1967
rating: 3
read at: 2022/03/17
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy
review:

]]> 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.

J.D. Salinger's (1919��2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Callum 4 classics 3.81 1951
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Callum
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 4671 The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author’s own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 Callum 5 classics 3.93 1925
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Callum
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 83017 198 Dino Buzzati 1567923046 Callum 3 classics 4.24 1940
author: Dino Buzzati
name: Callum
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1940
rating: 3
read at: 2022/06/05
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 6514 294 Sylvia Plath 0571268862 Callum 3 classics 4.05 1963
author: Sylvia Plath
name: Callum
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1963
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/07
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 2657 "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.]]> 323 Harper Lee 0060935464 Callum 4 classics 4.25 1960
author: Harper Lee
name: Callum
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1960
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/27
date added: 2025/04/06
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review:

]]> 17125 The only English translation authorized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dosotevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury

This unexpurgated 1991 translation by H. T. Willetts is the only authorized edition available, and fully captures the power and beauty of the original Russian.]]> 182 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Callum 4 classics, history 3.98 1962
author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
name: Callum
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 4
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]]> 7604 Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141182537.

Humbert Humbert - scholar, aesthete and romantic - has fallen completely and utterly in love with Dolores Haze, his landlady's gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love. Hilarious, flamboyant, heart-breaking and full of ingenious word play, Lolita is an immaculate, unforgettable masterpiece of obsession, delusion and lust.]]> 368 Vladimir Nabokov 0679723161 Callum 4 classics 3.87 1955
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Callum
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1955
rating: 4
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]]> 7624 182 William Golding 0140283331 Callum 4 classics 3.70 1954
author: William Golding
name: Callum
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1954
rating: 4
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]]> 5129 Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine�� (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New Worldd likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.

"Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." —Chicago Tribune]]> 268 Aldous Huxley 0060929871 Callum 4 3.99 1932
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Callum
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1932
rating: 4
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]]> 6607962 154 Jules Verne Callum 5 classics 4.16 1872
author: Jules Verne
name: Callum
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1872
rating: 5
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]]> 38447
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.]]> 311 Margaret Atwood 038549081X Callum 4 classics 4.15 1985
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Callum
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1985
rating: 4
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]]> 890 “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.��

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.]]> 107 John Steinbeck 0142000671 Callum 4 classics 3.88 1937
author: John Steinbeck
name: Callum
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1937
rating: 4
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]]> 35031085 This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9780143131847.

Mary Shelley's seminal novel of the scientist whose creation becomes a monster.

This edition is the original 1818 text, which preserves the hard-hitting and politically charged aspects of Shelley's original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by author and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.]]> 260 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 0143131842 Callum 4 classics 4.02 1818
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: Callum
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1818
rating: 4
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]]> 485894 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 0553213695 / 9780553213690

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."

With it's startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing—though absurdly comic—meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, "Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man."]]> 201 Franz Kafka 0553213695 Callum 4 classics 3.90 1915
author: Franz Kafka
name: Callum
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1915
rating: 4
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]]> 12158480 Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?

Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are?

Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence?

Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories.

Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including:

   - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West?
   - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority?
   - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More
philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions?

Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.]]> 529 Daron Acemoğlu 0307719219 Callum 5
Acemoglu and Johnson argue that extant theories, including geographical theory, modernisation theory, the theory of ignorance, and the cultural hypothesis, are inadequate. They notably assert that Diamond's widely popular "Guns, Germs and Steel" erroneously argues that the Neolithic revolution originated from the fortuitous abundance of grains and domestic animals in the Levant region, which made farming attractive and induced a sedentary life. However, citing the ancient Natufian civilisation, the authors contend that sedentarism with rudimental property rights preceded agricultural development.

Extractive institutions can induce development, but it is limited. The Soviet Union is an example. The authors also argue that China will follow a similar route. Published in 2012, many were sceptical of this postulation. However, their predictions may be coming true. Under Xi's tutelage, China's rigorous adherence to Marxist-Leninist principles is deleteriously hampering creative destruction and property rights. Foreign direct investment has consequently dropped by 80%, and China's economy is experiencing deflation. With extant extractive institutions, experts are beginning to assert that China may never economically supersede America.]]> 4.06 2012
author: Daron Acemoğlu
name: Callum
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/20
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: political-philosophy, history, economics, classics
review:
The thesis of this book is simple yet highly compelling. A nations prosperity depends on political and economic institutions. Inclusive institutions--i.e., property rights, individual liberty, pluralism--facilitate decisions that underpin prosperity for all. Extractive institutions--i.e., absolutism--systematically hinder development to enrich the elite few. The development of one over the other is historically contingent and dependent on critical junctures, which evolve overtime into virtuous or vicious cycles. Among numerous case studies, England is the quintessential example of inclusive development, whereas the Congo is the antithesis.

Acemoglu and Johnson argue that extant theories, including geographical theory, modernisation theory, the theory of ignorance, and the cultural hypothesis, are inadequate. They notably assert that Diamond's widely popular "Guns, Germs and Steel" erroneously argues that the Neolithic revolution originated from the fortuitous abundance of grains and domestic animals in the Levant region, which made farming attractive and induced a sedentary life. However, citing the ancient Natufian civilisation, the authors contend that sedentarism with rudimental property rights preceded agricultural development.

Extractive institutions can induce development, but it is limited. The Soviet Union is an example. The authors also argue that China will follow a similar route. Published in 2012, many were sceptical of this postulation. However, their predictions may be coming true. Under Xi's tutelage, China's rigorous adherence to Marxist-Leninist principles is deleteriously hampering creative destruction and property rights. Foreign direct investment has consequently dropped by 80%, and China's economy is experiencing deflation. With extant extractive institutions, experts are beginning to assert that China may never economically supersede America.
]]> 30474 The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels' revolutionary 1848 summons to the working classes, is one of the most influential political theories ever formulated. After four years of collaboration, the authors produced this incisive account of their idea of Communism, in which they envisage a society without classes, private property, or a state. They argue that increasing exploitation of industrial workers will eventually lead to a revolution in which capitalism is overthrown. Their vision transformed the world irrevocably, and remains relevant as a depiction of global capitalism today.]]> 288 Karl Marx 0140447571 Callum 3 3.67 1848
author: Karl Marx
name: Callum
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1848
rating: 3
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]]> 30659 Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a remarkable series of challenging spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the emperor struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. While the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation and encouragement, Marcus Aurelius also created one of the greatest of all works of philosophy: a timeless collection that has been consulted and admired by statesmen, thinkers and readers throughout the centuries.]]> 254 Marcus Aurelius 0140449337 Callum 4 philosophy, classics 4.29 180
author: Marcus Aurelius
name: Callum
average rating: 4.29
book published: 180
rating: 4
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shelves: philosophy, classics
review:

]]> 23419 The Consolations of Philosophy takes the discipline of logic and the mind back to its roots. Drawing inspiration from six of the finest minds in history - Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche - he addresses lack of money, the pain of love, inadequacy, anxiety and conformity. De Botton's book led one critic to call philosophy 'the new rock and roll'.]]> 265 Alain de Botton Callum 4 classics, philosophy 4.04 2000
author: Alain de Botton
name: Callum
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2000
rating: 4
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shelves: classics, philosophy
review:

]]> 97412 106 Seneca 0143036327 Callum 4 philosophy, classics 4.20 49
author: Seneca
name: Callum
average rating: 4.20
book published: 49
rating: 4
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]]> 48525445 241 Mary Wollstonecraft Callum 4 4.44 1792
author: Mary Wollstonecraft
name: Callum
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1792
rating: 4
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]]> 166434 422 Niall Ferguson 0141007540 Callum 5 history, classics
Why did the British Empire eventually fall? It was bankrupt. Britain initially stood alone against Germany and Japan in World War II (WWII). Capitulation would have ensured European empires' takeover by worse empires. Ferguson asks whether this cancels out Britain's colonial atrocities. America's accession into the conflict financed the allies' victory. America maintained Britain's inclusive political and economic institutions post-independence. This underpins their current power and prosperity. Post-WWII, America used its position to ensure the dismantling of European empires as they financed Europe's recovery through generous loans.

Ferguson thoroughly examines the British Empire's dialectical legacy. They conquered, subjugated and destroyed various lands and peoples, and systematically appropriated the wealth of their colonies for centuries. However, they also instilled liberal institutions that underpin contemporaneous prosperity in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Industrialisation and free-trade globalisation began in Britain, and was taken over by America in the twentieth century. Moreover, once a notable slave-trading nation, Britain outlawed slavery in the early-19th century, and used its navy to end the Atlantic slave trade.

In short, Ferguson's subtitle is apt: Britain made the modern world. Whether this is for good or bad will be debated for decades, if not centuries. This book is quite short considering it covers several centuries of history. Consequently, some parts of the British Empire are given greater prevalence, while others are given little. For instance, British-India--the jewel of the British crown--is analysed significantly, whereas places like Australia and New Zealand only get a passing mention. This said, this book is highly readable and recommended for those who would like to understand the contemporary world we live in.]]> 3.92 2003
author: Niall Ferguson
name: Callum
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/22
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: history, classics
review:
The British Empire was the largest empire in history. It began in the Elizabethan era with state-sponsored piracy in the Caribbean. At its zenith soon after World War I, Britain controlled approximately a quarter of the world. Within fifty years, however, the British Empire had mostly collapsed. The sun finally set in 1997 with the transferral of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China. Why Britain? Niall Ferguson argues that it was due to British naval supremacy, advantageous economic and financial institutions, surplus population for settler-colonialism, and willingness to use violence to secure avaricious ends.

Why did the British Empire eventually fall? It was bankrupt. Britain initially stood alone against Germany and Japan in World War II (WWII). Capitulation would have ensured European empires' takeover by worse empires. Ferguson asks whether this cancels out Britain's colonial atrocities. America's accession into the conflict financed the allies' victory. America maintained Britain's inclusive political and economic institutions post-independence. This underpins their current power and prosperity. Post-WWII, America used its position to ensure the dismantling of European empires as they financed Europe's recovery through generous loans.

Ferguson thoroughly examines the British Empire's dialectical legacy. They conquered, subjugated and destroyed various lands and peoples, and systematically appropriated the wealth of their colonies for centuries. However, they also instilled liberal institutions that underpin contemporaneous prosperity in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Industrialisation and free-trade globalisation began in Britain, and was taken over by America in the twentieth century. Moreover, once a notable slave-trading nation, Britain outlawed slavery in the early-19th century, and used its navy to end the Atlantic slave trade.

In short, Ferguson's subtitle is apt: Britain made the modern world. Whether this is for good or bad will be debated for decades, if not centuries. This book is quite short considering it covers several centuries of history. Consequently, some parts of the British Empire are given greater prevalence, while others are given little. For instance, British-India--the jewel of the British crown--is analysed significantly, whereas places like Australia and New Zealand only get a passing mention. This said, this book is highly readable and recommended for those who would like to understand the contemporary world we live in.
]]> 15823480 Anna Karenina provides a vast panorama of contemporary life in Russia and of humanity in general. In it Tolstoy uses his intense imaginative insight to create some of the most memorable characters in all of literature. Anna is a sophisticated woman who abandons her empty existence as the wife of Karenin and turns to Count Vronsky to fulfil her passionate nature - with tragic consequences. Levin is a reflection of Tolstoy himself, often expressing the author's own views and convictions.

Throughout, Tolstoy points no moral, merely inviting us not to judge but to watch. As Rosemary Edmonds comments, 'He leaves the shifting patterns of the kaleidoscope to bring home the meaning of the brooding words following the title, 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.]]> 964 Leo Tolstoy 0345803922 Callum 4 classics 4.11 1878
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Callum
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1878
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/17
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
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]]> 153747 "It is the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships' cables and hawsers. A Polar wind blows through it, and birds of prey hover over it."

So Melville wrote of his masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history. In part, Moby-Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopaedia of whaling lore and legend, the book can be seen as part of its author's lifelong meditation on America. Written with wonderfully redemptive humour, Moby-Dick is also a profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.

This edition of Moby-Dick, which reproduces the definitive text of the novel, includes invaluable explanatory notes, along with maps, illustrations, and a glossary of nautical terms.]]> 720 Herman Melville 0142437247 Callum 4 classics 3.53 1851
author: Herman Melville
name: Callum
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1851
rating: 4
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]]> 656
War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman who intrigues both men.

As Napoleon’s army invades, Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world literature.


Tolstoy gave his personal approval to this translation, published here in a new single volume edition, which includes an introduction by Henry Gifford, and Tolstoy's important essay `Some Words about War and Peace'.]]> 1392 Leo Tolstoy 0192833987 Callum 5 classics, philosophy 4.14 1869
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Callum
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1869
rating: 5
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]]> 7144 671 Fyodor Dostoevsky Callum 5 classics, philosophy 4.26 1866
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Callum
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1866
rating: 5
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]]> 9646 232 George Orwell 0156421178 Callum 4 4.09 1938
author: George Orwell
name: Callum
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1938
rating: 4
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date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy, history, international-relations
review:

]]> 9648
In Keep the Aspidistra Flying, George Orwell has created a darkly compassionate satire to which anyone who has ever been oppressed by the lack of brass, or by the need to make it, will all too easily relate. He etches the ugly insanity of what Gordon calls "the money-world" in unflinching detail, but the satire has a second edge, too, and Gordon himself is scarcely heroic. In the course of his misadventures, we become grindingly aware that his radical solution to the problem of the money-world is no solution at all--that in his desperate reaction against a monstrous system, he has become something of a monster himself.

Orwell keeps both of his edges sharp to the very end--a "happy" ending that poses tough questions about just how happy it really is. That the book itself is not sour, but constantly fresh and frequently funny, is the result of Orwell's steady, unsentimental attention to the telling detail; his dry, quiet humor; his fascination with both the follies and the excellences of his characters; and his courageous refusal to embrace the comforts of any easy answer.]]> 297 George Orwell Callum 3 classics 3.90 1936
author: George Orwell
name: Callum
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1936
rating: 3
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]]> 393199 213 George Orwell 015626224X Callum 4 classics 4.10 1933
author: George Orwell
name: Callum
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1933
rating: 4
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]]> 509080 ]]> 278 George Orwell 0156196255 Callum 3 classics 3.80 1939
author: George Orwell
name: Callum
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1939
rating: 3
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]]> 170448 Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.

A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.
When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh.]]> 141 George Orwell 0451526341 Callum 5 4.07 1945
author: George Orwell
name: Callum
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1945
rating: 5
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]]> 30553 215 George Orwell Callum 4 classics, politics 3.92 1937
author: George Orwell
name: Callum
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1937
rating: 4
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]]> 40961427 Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmarish vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life—the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language—and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written.]]> 298 George Orwell Callum 4 4.24 1949
author: George Orwell
name: Callum
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1949
rating: 4
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]]> 2165 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

This short novel, already a modern classic, is the superbly told, tragic story of a Cuban fisherman in the Gulf Stream and the giant Marlin he kills and loses—specifically referred to in the citation accompanying the author's Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.]]> 96 Ernest Hemingway 0684830493 Callum 4 classics 3.81 1952
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Callum
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/08
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 5907 Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001).]]> 366 J.R.R. Tolkien Callum 2 classics 4.29 1937
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Callum
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 2
read at: 2022/02/02
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]]> 3876 The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta) is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.]]> 189 Ernest Hemingway Callum 4 classics 3.81 1926
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Callum
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1926
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/01
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
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]]> 332613 9780451163967

Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy �� the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. Ken Kesey's extraordinary first novel is an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.]]> 325 Ken Kesey Callum 5 classics 4.20 1962
author: Ken Kesey
name: Callum
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/28
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 24583
Unlike his brother Sid, Tom receives "lickings" from his Aunt Polly; ever the mischief-maker, would rather play hooky than attend school and often sneaks out his bedroom window at night to adventure with his friend, Huckleberry Finn ­ the town's social outcast. Tom, despite his dread of schooling, is extremely clever and would normally get away with his pranks if Sid were not such a "tattle-tale."

As punishment for skipping school to go swimming, Aunt Polly assigns Tom the chore of whitewashing the fence surrounding the house. In a brilliant scheme, Tom is able to con the neighborhood boys into completing the chore for him, managing to convince them of the joys of whitewashing. At school, Tom is equally as flamboyant, and attracts attention by chasing other boys, yelling, and running around. With his usual antics, Tom attempts to catch the eye of Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get "engaged" by kissing him. But their romance collapses when she learns Tom has been "engaged" previously to Amy Lawrence. Shortly after Becky shuns him, he accompanies Huckleberry Finn to the graveyard at night, where they witness the murder of Dr. Robinson.

Excerpt:
"TOM!"
No answer.
"TOM!"
No answer.
"What's gone with that boy,  I wonder? You TOM!"
No answer.
The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom or never looked through them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her state pair, the pride of her heart, and were built for "style," not service—she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well. She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear:
"Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll��"
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with. She resurrected nothing but the cat.
"I never did see the beat of that boy!"]]> 244 Mark Twain Callum 4 classics 3.92 1876
author: Mark Twain
name: Callum
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1876
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/31
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 2956 327 Mark Twain 0142437174 Callum 4 classics 3.82 1884
author: Mark Twain
name: Callum
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1884
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/30
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 2493
So begins the Time Traveller’s astonishing firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years beyond his own era—and the story that launched H.G. Wells’s successful career and earned him his reputation as the father of science fiction. With a speculative leap that still fires the imagination, Wells sends his brave explorer to face a future burdened with our greatest hopes...and our darkest fears. A pull of the Time Machine’s lever propels him to the age of a slowly dying Earth.  There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature, but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well.  Published in 1895, this masterpiece of invention captivated readers on the threshold of a new century. Thanks to Wells’s expert storytelling and provocative insight, The Time Machine will continue to enthrall readers for generations to come.

���ձ�> 118 H.G. Wells Callum 4 classics 3.91 1895
author: H.G. Wells
name: Callum
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1895
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/27
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 355697
In 1914 a room full of German schoolboys, fresh-faced and idealistic, are goaded by their schoolmaster to troop off to the ‘glorious war��. With the fire and patriotism of youth they sign up. What follows is the moving story of a young ‘unknown soldier�� experiencing the horror and disillusionment of life in the trenches.]]> 296 Erich Maria Remarque 0449213943 Callum 4 classics 4.04 1928
author: Erich Maria Remarque
name: Callum
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1928
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/26
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 319238 305 George Orwell Callum 2 classics 3.53 1935
author: George Orwell
name: Callum
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1935
rating: 2
read at: 2022/01/26
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 56302573 208 Ray Bradbury Callum 5 classics 3.77 1953
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Callum
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/07
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 8909
Inspiring films, radio dramas, comic-book adaptations, television series and sequels,The War of the Worlds is a prototypical work of science fiction which has influenced every alien story that has come since, and is unsurpassed in its ability to thrill, well over a century since it was first published.]]> 192 H.G. Wells 0375759239 Callum 3 classics 3.84 1898
author: H.G. Wells
name: Callum
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1898
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/20
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 5297
In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.]]> 272 Oscar Wilde Callum 4 classics 4.13 1890
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Callum
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1890
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/24
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 56760368 His Name Was Death looks down the double-barreled shotgun of ecological disaster and colonial exploitation—and cackles a graveyard laugh.]]> 144 Rafael Bernal 081123083X Callum 5 classics 4.08 1947
author: Rafael Bernal
name: Callum
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1947
rating: 5
read at: 2022/03/27
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 18114322
First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.]]> 496 John Steinbeck 067001690X Callum 5 classics 4.06 1939
author: John Steinbeck
name: Callum
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1939
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/24
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 9650 276 George Orwell 1421808307 Callum 3 classics 3.87 1934
author: George Orwell
name: Callum
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1934
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 18386
How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?

This short novel was an artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction.
A thoroughly absorbing, and, at times, terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.]]> 86 Leo Tolstoy Callum 4 classics 4.12 1886
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Callum
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1886
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/30
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 4652
"In Our Time" provides key insights into Hemingway's later works.]]> 156 Ernest Hemingway Callum 4 classics 3.74 1924
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Callum
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1924
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/21
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 581552 52 Franz Kafka Callum 4 classics 4.02 1918
author: Franz Kafka
name: Callum
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1918
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/08
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 11989
It tells the story from the point of view of a narrator of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. The narrator remains unknown until the start of the last chapter, chapter 5 of part 5. The novel presents a snapshot of life in Oran as seen through the author's distinctive absurdist point of view.

The book tells a gripping tale of human unrelieved horror, of survival and resilience, and of the ways in which humankind confronts death, The Plague is at once a masterfully crafted novel, eloquently understated and epic in scope, and a parable of ageless moral resonance, profoundly relevant to our times. In Oran, a coastal town in North Africa, the plague begins as a series of portents, unheeded by the people. It gradually becomes an omnipresent reality, obliterating all traces of the past and driving its victims to almost unearthly extremes of suffering, madness, and compassion.

The Plague is considered an existentialist classic despite Camus' objection to the label. The novel stresses the powerlessness of the individual characters to affect their destinies. The narrative tone is similar to Kafka's, especially in The Trial, whose individual sentences potentially have multiple meanings; the material often pointedly resonating as stark allegory of phenomenal consciousness and the human condition.]]> 308 Albert Camus Callum 5 4.05 1947
author: Albert Camus
name: Callum
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1947
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/15
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, political-philosophy
review:

]]> 49552 The Stranger has long been considered a classic of twentieth-century literature. Le Monde ranks it as number one on its "100 Books of the Century" list. Through this story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on a sundrenched Algerian beach, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."]]> 123 Albert Camus Callum 4 4.04 1942
author: Albert Camus
name: Callum
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1942
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/15
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: political-philosophy, classics
review:

]]> 91950 The Myth of Sisyphus transformed twentieth-century philosophy with its impassioned argument for the value of life in a world without religious meaning.]]> 192 Albert Camus 0141182008 Callum 4
Camus describes science as a meagre empirical descriptor that does not add value to the human condition. This characterisation misunderstands the value of such pursuits. Science, for instance, has increased life expectancy thereby enabling individuals greater capacity to revolt and live fully. Moreover, by imagining Sisyphus happy, Camus somewhat contradicts his sceptic and nihilistic postulations by promoting a philosophy of life that affirms certain values. Nonetheless, this book remains very intriguing. I recommend reading it alongside Camus' absurdist fiction--e.g., The Stranger, and The Fall.]]> 4.25 1942
author: Albert Camus
name: Callum
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1942
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/05
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: political-philosophy, classics
review:
"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide." This is the arresting opening line of The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus' treatise on absurdism. Camus argues that the universe is irrational and meaningless. This clashes with rational man who seeks meaning in life. Recognising the absurd, one may react in three ways. Suicide: a confession that life is too much for the individual and not worth living; philosophical suicide: suspending rationality and taking a "leap of faith"; and revolt: accepting the absurd and achieving happiness in the search for meaning regardless and to live a full life.

Camus describes science as a meagre empirical descriptor that does not add value to the human condition. This characterisation misunderstands the value of such pursuits. Science, for instance, has increased life expectancy thereby enabling individuals greater capacity to revolt and live fully. Moreover, by imagining Sisyphus happy, Camus somewhat contradicts his sceptic and nihilistic postulations by promoting a philosophy of life that affirms certain values. Nonetheless, this book remains very intriguing. I recommend reading it alongside Camus' absurdist fiction--e.g., The Stranger, and The Fall.
]]> 26131 The Classical World, eminent classicist Robin Lane Fox chronicles this vast sweep of history from Homer to the reign of Augustus. From the Peloponnesian War thru the creation of Athenian democracy, from the turbulent empire of Alexander the Great to the creation of the Roman Empire & the emergence of Christianity, he serves as a witty & trenchant guide. He introduces extraordinary heroes & horrific villains, great thinkers & bloodthirsty tyrants.]]> 672 Robin Lane Fox 0465024963 Callum 5 classics, history
Freedom is woven into Fox's history. In Homer's epics, it was the freedom from conquest. In classical Athens, it was the democratic freedom of male citizen self-determination. The Roman Republic was founded by overthrowing the monarchy and asserting the freedom from one man rule with a senatorial order. From Augustus onwards, freedom juxtaposed slavery. However, senatorial freedom was extinguished to assuage the emperor's will. Cities' and assemblies' freedom was also curtailed. Hadrian declared Athens a 'free city', but it honoured him as a god. Only the emperor remained free, yet even he feared the 'sword of Damocles'.

This book could have been improved with more detail on other ancient civilisations and the historical period from Augustus to Hadrian. This said, it is an excellent primer for those interested in ancient history and politics. Modern institutions have antecedents in the classical world. This is particular evident when reading The Federalist Papers. The Founding Fathers likened King George III to Caesar, and inspired by Cicero, created a government that preserved freedom. They also feared the tyranny of one man or the majority, and implemented measures to prevent both. America has withstood one term of Trump; can it withstand a second?]]> 3.92 2005
author: Robin Lane Fox
name: Callum
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/10
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics, history
review:
The Roman Empire reached its apogee during Hadrian's rule. Hadrian was a philhellene and took interest in the development of Greece, especially Athens. Whilst at Delphi, Hadrian asked: "Where was Homer born?" Robin Lane Fox uses this as a starting point of his history of the classical world. Fox deftly outlines the rise of the Greek polis in the 8th century BC; their wars with Persia and amongst themselves; the rise of Macedon and the Hellenistic period; the concomitant rise of Rome; Rome's transmogrification from a Republic to Empire; and Rome's conquest of the entire Mediterranean.

Freedom is woven into Fox's history. In Homer's epics, it was the freedom from conquest. In classical Athens, it was the democratic freedom of male citizen self-determination. The Roman Republic was founded by overthrowing the monarchy and asserting the freedom from one man rule with a senatorial order. From Augustus onwards, freedom juxtaposed slavery. However, senatorial freedom was extinguished to assuage the emperor's will. Cities' and assemblies' freedom was also curtailed. Hadrian declared Athens a 'free city', but it honoured him as a god. Only the emperor remained free, yet even he feared the 'sword of Damocles'.

This book could have been improved with more detail on other ancient civilisations and the historical period from Augustus to Hadrian. This said, it is an excellent primer for those interested in ancient history and politics. Modern institutions have antecedents in the classical world. This is particular evident when reading The Federalist Papers. The Founding Fathers likened King George III to Caesar, and inspired by Cicero, created a government that preserved freedom. They also feared the tyranny of one man or the majority, and implemented measures to prevent both. America has withstood one term of Trump; can it withstand a second?
]]> 4630 To Have and Have Not is the dramatic story of Harry Morgan, an honest man who is forced into running contraband between Cuba and Key West as a means of keeping his crumbling family financially afloat. His adventures lead him into the world of the wealthy and dissipated yachtsmen who throng the region, and involve him in a strange and unlikely love affair.
Harshly realistic, yet with one of the most subtle and moving relationships in the Hemingway oeuvre, To Have and Have Not is literary high adventure at its finest.]]> 176 Ernest Hemingway Callum 3 classics 3.55 1937
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Callum
average rating: 3.55
book published: 1937
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/15
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: classics
review:

]]> 98532
When Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch was first published it created a shock wave of recognition in women, one that could be felt around the world. It went on to become an international bestseller, translated into more than twelve languages, and a landmark in the history of the women's movement. Positing that sexual liberation is the key to women's liberation, Greer looks at the inherent and unalterable biological differences between men and women as well as at the profound psychological differences that result from social conditioning. Drawing on history, literature, biology, and popular culture, Greer's searing examination of women's oppression is a vital, passionately argued social commentary that is both an important historical record of where we've been and a shockingly relevant treatise on what still remains to be achieved.]]> 400 Germaine Greer 0374527628 Callum 3 politics, classics 3.72 1970
author: Germaine Greer
name: Callum
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1970
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/15
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: politics, classics
review:

]]> 436982 Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed and The Brothers Karamazov �� Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821��1881) penned the darkly fascinating Notes from the Underground. Its nameless hero is a profoundly alienated individual in whose brooding self-analysis there is a search for the true and the good in a world of relative values and few absolutes. Moreover, the novel introduces themes �� moral, religious, political and social �� that dominated Dostoyevsky's later works. Notes from the Underground, then, aside from its own compelling qualities, offers readers an ideal introduction to the creative imagination, profundity and uncanny psychological penetration of one of the most influential novelists of the nineteenth century. Constance Garnett's authoritative translation is reprinted here, with a new introduction.]]> 96 Fyodor Dostoevsky Callum 4 philosophy, classics 4.08 1864
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Callum
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1864
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/15
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: philosophy, classics
review:

]]>