A review of Boris Fausto’s “A Concise History of Brazil”

Note: The edition that I’m reviewing here was expanded by Boris Fausto’s son Sergio Fausto, to bring it up to date.

The most populous country in Latin America, with even more people than Mexico

Brazil is the most populous country in Latin America, with even more people than Mexico. It is also the only country in Latin America (or anywhere in the Americas) that speaks Portuguese. This often surprises North Americans, because they expect South America to speak Spanish. And in many other South American countries, they do. But in fairness, Spanish and Portuguese are extremely similar languages, so they’re not too far off. Of all of the major Romance languages, Spanish and Portuguese seem to me to be the closest. In the Old World, Spain and Portugal were neighbors on Europe’s Iberian Peninsula. And in the New World, they are the two dominant languages of South America, with a large border between their respective spheres. Famously, Spain and Portugal both had territorial ambitions on this continent, and appealed to the Pope to settle the boundary between their respective territories there. Spain then got everything to the west of that boundary, while Portugal then got everything to the east of it. The boundary may not be as linear as it once was, but you can definitely see its influence in the modern map of South America. This explains why the modern nation of Brazil speaks Portuguese, rather than Spanish. And it explains many other things about Latin American geography.

Original edition of this book

A review of “The Road to War” (BBC)

Why did World War II happen? It’s a complicated (and interesting) topic, involving causes in many different nations. Some of these involve Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, while others involve Imperial Japan – which is quite distant from these European nations. This topic has enormous power to explain the events of the twentieth century. Most importantly, it explains World War II itself, the largest war in history. Thus, the BBC undertook to explore the causes of the war. In four episodes, they cover the events that shattered the peace, in a documentary aptly titled “The Road to War.” Incidentally, this documentary is written (and narrated) by the British journalist Charles Wheeler.

Neville Chamberlain

A review of John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government” (audiobook)

John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government” is one of the greatest political works ever written. It had a massive influence on the founding documents of the United States – specifically, on our Declaration of Independence (as I show here), and on our Constitution (as I show here). Locke’s “Second Treatise” is often studied in departments of philosophy and political science. But what did Locke say in this great work? What about the lesser-known “First Treatise”? And what sorts of things was Locke trying to respond to here? These are the questions that this audiobook examines. They also try to place the “Treatises” into the fascinating context of their times.

A review of “Chemistry and the Enlightenment” (audiobook)

It’s quite an achievement when you can make an audiobook about chemistry that is understandable for someone like me. Chemistry was literally my weakest subject in school. I particularly struggled with the lab elements of chemistry, although I also struggled with the math side of the subject. Regardless, I understood what they were talking about in this audiobook, because they kept their presentation from getting too technical.

The wisdom of the ages: The enduring legacy of books

“I cannot live without books; but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object.”

– Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams (10 June 1815)

Books allow us to hear from people long dead, and speak to people yet unborn

More than 3,000 years ago, an epic poem was written in Ancient Mesopotamia. It is known as the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” and it is now available as a book. It is still being read, and still being studied – more than 30 centuries after its publication! It’s one of the oldest surviving pieces of literature in human history. The book is proof that writing allows you to “hear from people long dead, and speak to people yet unborn” – to paraphrase some words often attributed to Abraham Lincoln. None of those viewing this post were alive when this book was written. None of them ever met the authors, or even saw the grainiest photograph of them – let alone the people themselves. But we can still read a translation of their words, almost as though we could hear their voices. In a way, their voices can still speak to us, and their words still echo in the ears of the living.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, on clay tablets

A review of “Mussolini: The History of Italian Fascism”

“I have never wished anyone dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

– Paraphrase of defense lawyer Clarence Darrow, in a quote often misattributed to Mark Twain

Mussolini’s fascism arose in Italy in 1922, whereas Nazism did not arise in Germany until 1933 …

People today are fascinated by both sides of World War II, and this is as it should be. To a large extent, this includes an interest in what happened on the Axis side. In particular, history buffs tend to talk about Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, the major players on that side of the war. By contrast, the history of Fascist Italy tends to get relegated to a series of brief historical footnotes. This is understandable, given that Fascist Italy was much smaller than either of these other two nations. Thus, it seems inevitable that its story would become far more obscure outside of the Italian Peninsula. But if history is about learning from the mistakes of others, then we can learn much from the mistakes of Fascist Italy. That is to say, we can learn what went so horribly wrong there, and why Italy went down this terrible road. Most importantly, we can protect ourselves from a similar fate, by learning about this kind of tyranny.

Benito Mussolini, circa 1930’s

A review of Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” (audiobook)

I had heard only a little about Alexis de Tocqueville before I listened to this audiobook. I knew that he was from France, and that he had written a famous book about America. I knew a few other things about him. But for all intents and purposes, I consider this audiobook to be my introduction to Tocqueville’s ideas. Since I first listened to this, I undertook to read the book itself in its original French. The book’s title is “De la démocratie en Amérique” (“Democracy in America”), and it took me over three years to finish. Specifically, I read it from March 2019 to July 2022.