Wednesday, August 02, 2006
History rhymes ...
... and maybe biography does, too. Michael Barone has just read William Hague's biography of Pitt the Younger, which I reviewed when it came out and praised highly (I later had the opportunity to introduce Hague at the Free Library and was impressed by his intelligence, wit, and modesty. To read what Barone has to say about Hague's book you have to scroll down to In for the long haul. (Given an email exchange we had recently, Maxine may find this especially interesting.)
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Yes, it is an interesting article, Frank, thank you for pointing me to it.
ReplyDeleteHaving a great interest in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and quite a bit of knowledge about Pitt the younger, the Congress of Vienna et al. (which orginated in my study of it all for History O level), I endorse Hague's opinion of the long-termism that was favoured by Pitt and other politicians then.
Many would say that it is a great pity this same approach was not used by the major powers after the end of the First World War, as the grinding-down of Germany was one of the significant factors leading to the rise of Hitler.
In his own brief sojourn as shadow prime minister, I am not persuaded that Hague adopted the same approach as Pitt: he is probably better employed as a biographer than as a politician. (Incidentally, Frank, have you ever read books by Robert, later Lord, Blake? I think you may like those. He was official historian of the Tory party and wrote its "history from Peel to Churchill" but also wrote tomes such as "Disraeli" and "Rhodesia".)
As to the latter part of the review, likening Pitt the Younger to Bush Jr, I would not know. I have not been impressed by Bush's lack of integrity in some ways (eg what he said about global warming before being elected compared with what he did about it after), but I am sure he does have his good points too. I just don't know enough about him or political affairs to say anything intelligent about him.
However, one thing for sure, if the USA and the UK stopped selling or otherwise supplying arms to these unstable countries, Israel included, that would be a start.