Amazing. It's neat that you highlight the connections between these. 1984 is a great read, and I saw way too many parallels to our current world. Too many for comfort. 😅

This is absolutely amazing. Thank you so very much for sharing this. My mind is reeling under all the ideas you share. I was dreading another long, grey winter at home with KZread cooking, decorating shows. Now I see there is a world of ideas that can expand my mind and heart. Mostly I have already started to look at other people in a new light…and I can see myself better too. Thank you.

Hi Tristan! Have you read “We” from Yevgeny Zamyatin? It’s known to have inspired Orwell’s 1984 ☺️ I read it recently, and made me think a lot, it’s short and strange and a dystopian from 1921!! Great video as always 👋🏻☺️

Great wrap up. Could listen for hours to you... thank you.

Alone in Berlin is a superb read and the messages conveyed are contemporary even today.Thank you for the recommendations, greetings from rainy Greece .

May I suggest biographies on the French Revolution by Austrian Stefan Zweig. There are "Joseph Fouché", "Marie Antoinette". He wrote many other biographies from various spheres. That is in addition to his great fiction. For a political autobiography, "The World of Yesterday" is probably the best you can find. He describes the first 30 or so years of the 20th century. For me, it is essential reading.

Wow, I don't know any of these except "1984." I read it some years ago, and then read it twice within the past couple of years. It's extraordinary how it's happening right in front of us. (And most people are still asleep.) What gets me is that my brain seems to block out the ending each time. Even when I read it twice within a few months, I somehow forgot how bleak it is. It felt like a gut punch each time. It's brilliant.

Great video. Alone in Berlin is on my radar and I am so looking forward to it. ❤❤❤❤❤

@tristanandtheclassics6538

4 ай бұрын

Ooo I envy you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.😀❤️

Tristan you are awesome!❤

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

Thank you Veronica, so are you 😀

Tristan -absolutely love your channel! You are so cogent, so learned and so passionate about what you read. I’m a retired English teacher, but i’m still learning much from your channel, and you’re helping me branch out in my reading. i’ve already read 1984 - when I was in my teens - and loved it, and read Alone in Berlin last year. Will have to seek out the de Toquville book because I studied the French Revolution for ‘A’ level history many moons ago, and now I’d like to fill in some of the gaps about that time. Thank you. Love your content!

Great video as always ❤. I’m so glad you liked Alone in Berlin because It’s a push for me to read it for myself. I actually thrifted the first Penguin modern classic edition. Greetings from Angola 🇦🇴

@bad-girlbex3791

7 ай бұрын

The Penguin Modern Classics as always a solid choice. They hold up really well to being carried around, manhandled and littered with marginalia! Good bendy spines too! Hope you enjoy it!

I just read _Twelve Who Ruled_ by R. R. Palmer, on the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution. It was a thorough history of the "year of terror" and biographies of the members of the Committee. It seems like they were trying to root out all semblance of Christian civilization, down to the 7 day week and 12 month year. I ended up having more sympathy for Robespierre than I had before. I have put de Tocqueville's book on my TBR; it sounds like something I was looking for in my French Revolution inquiries.

@nedludd7622

2 ай бұрын

Robespierre wasn't the what he is portrayed to be. He had his good as well as his bad points. I am not sure why you had more sympathy for him. There are two or three possibilities, only one of which I would agree with.

Excellent content as always. I read 1984 when...ahem...that year was still in the future. But I must revisit it as the discussions here and in Patreon remind me!

That is one heck of a one month reading list. 1984 is indeed brilliant, #22 on my goat list.

I think your video on BLEAK HOUSE is wonderful as an allegory and warning of the need to reform otherwise revolution would come upon them...and remember that the Peterloo Massacre was very manifest in the British people's mindsets...the Romantics had already pointed that out, or at least Shelley...but one thing, and it was a lesson when I did a talk and used the word Jewess: it is considered racist...I did not know that until I used it instead of Jewish woman and was torn apart and it was a minor detail like here...

Great Wrap-Up!

Alone In Berlin is a great, powerful novel I read a few years ago. I loved your final statement on The Gods Want Blood: It is a wonderful elixir of information!"

I love these thematically curated reading lists. I'm thinking of doing that for '24.

I read the first 2 books, will give "the gods want blood" a go. I also recommend Mother Courage and Her Children , The Good Person of Szechwan , by Bertolt Brecht.

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

Thank you, I've never read any Brecht, so this is a very welcome recommendation 😀

Hullo Tristan I have just finished the last days of a condemned man my Victor hugo.its terrific a simple yet fascinating read peace.

@mtnshelby7059

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for reminding me of this one!

For someone going down the classic dystopian rabbit-hole, I suggest reading these, in publication order: 1) _We_ from Yevgeny Zamyatin 2) _Brave New World_ by Aldous Huxley (and the many years later follow-up _Brave New World Revisited_) 3) _1984_ 4) _Darkness at Noon_ by Arthur Koestler and 5) _One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich_ (not dystopia, but for me it completes the Russian / communist arc of _We_ to _Darkness_ to _One Day_ and from warning to reality) _We_ is not a gripping plot-wise, but it is worth the read from a historical bookish perspective; you can definitely see the roots of _1984_. (which shows how well Orwell brought those ideas to the masses). I think we live in a "1984 New World" because we have too many aspects in our society from these books. All were written as Warnings but unfortunately today are seemingly being used as Guidebooks. Below, I see Herman Hesse's _The Glass Bead Game_ (sometimes published under the title as _Magister Ludi_), but as I have not read it (yet) so I cannot recommend it (yet).

"Alone in Berlin" sounds amazing.

Alexis de Tocqueville was not at all in the British Colonies when the war for independence from Britain began. He was sent to the United States decades later by the restored French monarchy to analyze the organization of the U.S. penal system. He took notes about other social phenomena at that time and returned to France to submit his report to the govt. and then he wrote. _Dem. in America_ .

@tristanandtheclassics6538

8 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for this correction. I genuinely appreciate it.😀👍

I'm reading around WW1 (and 2) right now (Jünger, Remarque), have read Fallada's The Drinker which was great and need to read Alone in Berlin, thanks for the reminder and the suggestions!

Great channel dude cheers 🍻

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

Thank you too ☺️

I wouldn't have guessed that 1984 was the most lied about book. If I had to guess I'd have gone with something like War and Peace. 1984 is one of my favourites of all time.

@kurtfox4944

7 ай бұрын

most lied about book:? It has got to be the Holy Bible

Well right now I'm reading the second Sherlock Holmes novel the sign of the four(I'm almost finished with it.) The way the scenes are described just wraps around you like a warm blanket and your left to observe the moments the characters go through is astronomically wonderful. Other than that I've read some more Lovecraft short stories recorded and scheduled to release on my channel. Other than that when it comes to reading in general I usually lean to fiction stories as a whole. I wrote down george Orwells 1984 written down on my books to read list. But as of now I'm really enjoying Sherlock Holmes! 🙂❤📚

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

Sherlock Holmes books are delicious. One can almost sense the enveloping Victorian London mists. You are right, 'a warm blanket' is precisely how it feels.

>> "He died. That puts an end to most people's career.". Tom Clancy is doing Ok for himself. 😉

I am currently reading Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym and loving it. I read Alone in Berlin and really liked it even though it was very sad. However, I read it under a different title - Every Man Dies Alone. I've read 1984 but it's been awhile - Maybe time for a re-read! Love the book reviews!

I've read 'Dinner with Joseph Johnson' by Daisy Hay. Anyone who was seeing Pitt as the hero regarding the ending of slavery, will get a more rounded view of him. It's interesting how Johnson's authors (he was a publisher) are pro the French Revolution (Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Payne, Wordsworth) at the beginning. The best biography I've read in years: the Priestley Riots, Pitt's terror etc. I learned a lot

Thanks Tristan! Always wanted to read something by Anatole France. I should say that your list would've been complete with Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game! In terms of cultural matters its insights are incredibly relevant.

@bad-girlbex3791

7 ай бұрын

Master Ludi approves of this suggestion.

Tocqueville is a thinker my mothet suggested me to read. She is into philosophy. I have his book about USA and she said that is about bright side of that country.

The corvee still existed for all ordinary French people right through the c.18th and at the same time aristo families still had heritable rights of court judges, for example. Corvee is basically forced labour and a reason why the French had lots of roads, but lots of poor people - who revolted.

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

You are right, Richard, they did. What Tocqueville was speaking to was the situation that had developed over time where the aristos, although ostensibly have heritable rights, weren't actually the ones exercising them. He gives quite a bit of attention to this part. The roles of justice, taxation, and upkeep, was almost solely in the hands of the Intendents appointed by the Royal counsel. The Corvee was a real cause of resentment. Tocqueville says that this was especially exacerbated because the Seigneurs no longer fulfilled any particularly useful roles as the did under the original feudal contract. It sounds like you a very informed of the Revolution. I'm appreciative of comments like these. Please do think I was trying to give a major exposition on it, I was relating some thoughts that Tocqueville wrote of . I am hoping to embark on a deeper dive into the French revolution soon. I'd love to pick your brains at some point.😀👍

It's so bizarre that people will lie about having read 1984 when it's such an eminently readable book. It's not full of the daunting reams of nautical terminology around whaling like Moby Dick. Nor is the language impenetrable like many (myself included) find in a lot of Jane Austen. It's modern enough to not be jarring to the average reader, but whip-smart and relevant to our current problems with government. (And any time I want to sniff out someone who is faking having read 1984, I always ask them about the fountain pen, lol! Works every time!)

Hey Tristan I was wondering what you thought about Jules Verne I don’t think I’ve ever seen you mention about him

I would highly recommend Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

Great book. I love Katusha, she is a brilliant character.

@susprime7018

9 ай бұрын

​​@@tristanandtheclassics6538I too read Resurrection when you recommended it Tristan, thanks for the reviews. Had to read 1984 for school, not enough time at my age for rereading, too many other books in the stack to read for the first time.😊

@susprime7018

9 ай бұрын

I started reading Barchester Towers at Midnight, happy October.🍂🍁🦃🍗🎃 I'm going to read The Haunted Hotel by Wilke Collins toward the end of the month.👻😱🤡

@jaynefederici9140

8 ай бұрын

1984 is a great book. I read it years ago and it has stayed with me I think more than any other book. You have sold me on Alone in Berlin. I'm putting that on my list.

Halfway through An Ideal Husband play by Oscar Wilde, it's great on the idea of power too.

👋❤️

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

😀❤️

Tocqueville was as biased as a badger at a fox hunt - in matters relating France to England at least. Before the revolution of 1789 there was something like 26,000 noble households in France. In England there were about 200. Most of the French nobility were often "poor and unenlightened" but who continued to exact their feudal dues - in the c.18th. (Doyle 2002, 29-30). Feudal dues ceased in England across the second half of the c.14th and first half of the c.15th. Social mobility did exist in France, but not remotely anything like how things were in England, and from at least the c.16th. "What being is most alien to those around him...might it not be a man of merit without gold or title-deeds, in the midst of those who posses one of these two advantages, or both together", mused Chamfort.

Dee-Toke-Vill

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

Thank you😀👍 I really should learn French. I have a brother and sister in law who are both French speakers. There's no excuse for me, really. 😀

@bad-girlbex3791

7 ай бұрын

As British citizens we are not just constitutionally incapable of ever speaking French with a proper accent, but bound by law to never try and make things easier for the French, by learning to speak their language.

@captainnolan5062

7 ай бұрын

@@bad-girlbex3791 I think the British are bound by law to never try and make things easier for the French, period.

It is a shame you have to reassure readers the "Torture" is not too graphic. What are we if we can't take words and not be afraid. Sounds Woke to me, don't hurt my feelings.

Disappointing expressions here of EU-centred propaganda. Was getting to know and like the channel friend.

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

I can assure you it's not EU stuff, Richard. I am politically neutral. I favour no sides at all. In this video I was only trying to comment based on Tocqueville's book. He certainly didn't like the French aristocracy, but in this book he wanted to consider what life was like under the old regime to trace why the Revolution happened in France and not another realm. One of the points he makes is that the state of affairs in France (according to the mass of records he said he analysed) was not significantly different to the neighbouring countries. One of the big differences that he does cite is the French Peasant's desire to own land. He believed that this was one of the reasons that the Corvee and inherited rights was so detested. If the roads had been a purely municipal affair, he seems to believe they wouldn't have begrudged it so much. But the role of the Intendants and centralised decisions, along with outmoded laws like, using the Lords Mill, were brewing massive discontent. My comments in this video were based off this book. Though I admit I wasn't speaking with greatest precision as this was an off the cuff wrap up. I take your comments as a very welcome reminder to check my precision of expression. Thank you, Richard.

@richarddelanet

9 ай бұрын

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 Please believe me I mean no offense, I have been and am talking plainly. In short I have observed a pattern: history is probably better acquired from a history teacher, rather than from an English literature teacher.

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

@richarddelanet Don't worry, I took no offence 😀 I love learning and that requires listening to others. I read your comments in the spirit intended. 😀👍

@richarddelanet

9 ай бұрын

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 Good stuff. It is indeed the spirit intended - no less!

@gaylaaustin7468

5 ай бұрын

@@richarddelanet NOPE--you DID mean offense. Your comment screams offense.

No, no no!!! And no again. History skills are woeful. Criminal dare i say it. You simply cannot compare France of the c.18th to England, in the c.16th let alone the c.19th. 6mn people visited the Great Exhibition in London across 6 months of 1851. The population at the time was 22mn. That is a mass movement of people.

@tristanandtheclassics6538

9 ай бұрын

Whatho again, Richard😀👍 Once again, you are right. One cannot say that one country is in exactly the same state as another. I was not trying to say that 18th century France was just the same as 17th or 19th century Britain. There are many differences, for sure. My point was that a seething from the bottom echelons of society, based on injustices, poverty, etc, were very much present. 19th century commentators did fear a French style uprising in Britain if the conditions of the lower orders were ignored (a bit like people reference nazi Germany today). My take in this video is from Tocqueville's book itself. In his opinion, the conditions of injustice, oppression, and servility were as bad, if not worse, in neighbouring realms. So why did the revolution birth in France? That was his question. Actually, something I didn't mention in this video because I was only painting with rough strokes, and thus, running the gauntlet of imprecise was that France had the new theories of governance working on society's consciousness. Just a small comment on the comparisons of the different centuries. I was working of the ideas of the principle. A thoroughgoing analytical, historical approach would, as you rightly say, require a much more detailed exploration. On the broad lines of injustice, oppression, harsh conditions, callous government; the feelings and conditions of the poor are similar through constantly repeating eras of history. That was Tocqueville's opening idea. Since there was terrible oppression suffered everywhere, why did France react like it did. He would then go on to narrow his focus and become more detailed. Hope this clears up my position a bit. I will try to be more careful next time.😀🤦‍♂️❤️ By the way, Richard, do you have some kind of background education on the French Revolution? If so, would you fancy a chat sometime as I'd love to learn some things from you.😀

@richarddelanet

9 ай бұрын

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 There were indeed many differences between France and England during the c.18th and c.19th, but there was No "seething from the bottom echelons of society, based on injustices, poverty, etc..." in England. This take on English history is propaganda. I appreciate your video was laying out Tocqueville's writing, but alas when it came to English-French relations, Tocqueville simply cannot be trusted, at all. He says in 'Democracy in America' that England was a much more aristocratic country than France... !!!!! And perhaps he would think North Korea today a typical democratic nation involved in freedom and commerce. Moreover his question why France and not any other country, including England, can be understood amongst a host of other reasons, by consulting memoirs and so forth, not only of English people - Mrs Montague and Nelson for example - but Frenchmen who travelled to England - Voltaire no less - and their descriptions of the poverty of the ordinary classes in France compared to those in England who were in much better and very noticeably elevated circumstance. There was no revolution in England because quite simply things were indeed very different, and for the better in England.