bks1953's review: "It would be quite unfair to the LT community for me to read one entry a day from W.B. Marsh's "Voices From the Past" and then submit a review of the book to a candid world. So, instead, leave us just select date or two at random (and one or two of not so randomly selected), and see what we get!
From an initial perusal, "Voices" can be described as a blending, if you will, of John Carey's "Eyewitness to History" (Harvard University Press, 1987) and William O. Douglas's "Almanac of Liberty" (Doubleday and Company, 1954). Its dustjacket describes "Voices" as a book of "great quotations for every day of the year -- and the stories from the history that inspired them." So, leave us peruse some great quotes (and the stories behind them).
We'll begin with the day this copy arrived, 29 November. Marsh gives us this delicious quote: "It is better to eat the dog than be eaten by the dog." Uttered by one British nobleman, William Montagu, in 1330, to the future Edward III. Seems that a baron, Roger Mortimore, "had seduced Edward's mother and probably murdered his father" (among other things). On 29 Nov. 1330, Edward III heeded his Montagu's advice, and Mortimore was hanged for treason.
Let's have a peek at 8 December, the day of "Voices"'s publication. Oh my, another royal intrigue! Across the channel this time, to Paris, and four centuries later (1793), where we witness Madame du Barry (mistress to Louis XV} being taken to the guillotine. The quote, "She dishonoured the scaffold as she dishonoured the throne" was the observation of French politician and writer Alphonse de Lamartine.
Also, we're given a bonus for this date!: Marsh advises us that on this same day, in 1976, Gore Vidal honestly and acidly "defines ambition in America: 'It is not enough to succeed. Other must fail.'"
To conclude, let's visit the very first day of the year. "Hail Caesar! We who are about to die salute you." Marsh writes that this "was the opening ritual in the bloodiest entertainment ever devised, one that had been part of Roman life since the 3rd century BC. But today [1 January 404],the savage spectacle of man killing man for sport made its last appearance, its final victim ... a Christian monk."
In the time it took you to read this, you read and walked through some 13 centuries. Saw perhaps too much blood spilled, but hey, this is human history, there's a lot of it. But there are non-lethal dates in "Voices" as well ... for example, 4 August 1693, when monk Dom Perignon, having created champagne exclaims, "I have tasted the stars!" Intrepid reader/traveler, peruse the 366 days its 660-ish pages of "Voices From the Past" and discover for yourself."
bks1953's review: "It would be quite unfair to the LT community for me to read one entry a day from W.B. Marsh's "Voices From the Past" and then submit a review of the book to a candid world. So, instead, leave us just select date or two at random (and one or two of not so randomly selected), and see what we get!
From an initial perusal, "Voices" can be described as a blending, if you will, of John Carey's "Eyewitness to History" (Harvard University Press, 1987) and William O. Douglas's "Almanac of Liberty" (Doubleday and Company, 1954). Its dustjacket describes "Voices" as a book of "great quotations for every day of the year -- and the stories from the history that inspired them." So, leave us peruse some great quotes (and the stories behind them).
We'll begin with the day this copy arrived, 29 November. Marsh gives us this delicious quote: "It is better to eat the dog than be eaten by the dog." Uttered by one British nobleman, William Montagu, in 1330, to the future Edward III. Seems that a baron, Roger Mortimore, "had seduced Edward's mother and probably murdered his father" (among other things). On 29 Nov. 1330, Edward III heeded his Montagu's advice, and Mortimore was hanged for treason.
Let's have a peek at 8 December, the day of "Voices"'s publication. Oh my, another royal intrigue! Across the channel this time, to Paris, and four centuries later (1793), where we witness Madame du Barry (mistress to Louis XV} being taken to the guillotine. The quote, "She dishonoured the scaffold as she dishonoured the throne" was the observation of French politician and writer Alphonse de Lamartine.
Also, we're given a bonus for this date!: Marsh advises us that on this same day, in 1976, Gore Vidal honestly and acidly "defines ambition in America: 'It is not enough to succeed. Other must fail.'"
To conclude, let's visit the very first day of the year. "Hail Caesar! We who are about to die salute you." Marsh writes that this "was the opening ritual in the bloodiest entertainment ever devised, one that had been part of Roman life since the 3rd century BC. But today [1 January 404],the savage spectacle of man killing man for sport made its last appearance, its final victim ... a Christian monk."
In the time it took you to read this, you read and walked through some 13 centuries. Saw perhaps too much blood spilled, but hey, this is human history, there's a lot of it. But there are non-lethal dates in "Voices" as well ... for example, 4 August 1693, when monk Dom Perignon, having created champagne exclaims, "I have tasted the stars!" Intrepid reader/traveler, peruse the 366 days its 660-ish pages of "Voices From the Past" and discover for yourself."
