Helen Carr (1)Rezensionen

John of Gaunt was the third son of Edward III. Born in Flanders during war, he grew up to be an individual who divided opinion. On one hand he was a brilliant leader of troops, a forward-thinking patron of the arts and religion and a devoted family man. On the other he was derided as a rich and sinful man who supported his nephew unstintingly and paid a heavy price in terms of cost. What John did do is to found the Lancastrian line through the Wars of the Roses.
This is not an excessively long book, it is tightly written and very readable. The key things that come through are around John's loyalty to his family. He gave up the woman he loved as he felt that he was being sinful and he supported his nephew Richard over his own brother due to a deathbed promise to the boy's father. There have not been many biographies of John, even though he is a key figure in 15th century politics and this is excellent.

This book presents itself as an update of the famous book by E.H. Carr, What is History? from 1961. The compiler Helen is a great-granddaughter of the British diplomat and specialist in International Relations. She makes no secret of the fact that this is also a tribute to her ancestor. This translates into about 20 short chapters that discuss an aspect of history, often from a current affairs perspective, very diverse in terms of themes, and also reasonably committed. The latter refers to the task of bringing more attention to minority groups (women, indigenous peoples, queer history, etc.). “Sixty years on from What is History? E.H. Carr's questions about how we investigate and interrogate the past remain. Sixty years on, it is crucial as well as timely to reinvestigate, reinterrogate and reinterpret our understanding of the past. Not the past of the select few, but the past of the many, in order to demonstrate, share – shout from the rooftops – that history belongs to us all.” Commendable, certainly, but isn’t this approach slightly outdated by now? Anyway, this is a very worthwhile book. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5958006276.

What is History, Now? is in a sense What is History IV?: it follows on from the highly influential What is History? (1961), and two previous follow-up collections, What is History Today? (1985) and What is History Now? (2002). Editors Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb have produced a broad array of essays with their eye firmly on accessibilty. I could see many of these—such as Jaipreet Virdi’s on the history of disability—working really well in the undergraduate classroom. There are a small number of fairly flimsy contributions that I didn’t think said much that was new or striking, although perhaps they might find an appreciative reader in someone very new to a particular subject. Equally, while this is a collection that aims for an understanding of the importance of global history, it is one written with its feet very firmly planted in Britain.

This is a well-researched and well written biography of one of the most prominent of Medieval characters who did not actually become king. He was the third son of King Edward III, and grew up against the background of the early stages of the Anglo-French conflict known to later generations as the Hundred Years War, learning from the military exploits of his father and his elder brother Edward, the Black Prince. In many ways he was a conventional nobleman of his times, a military figure and a mainstay of the thrones of his father and later of his nephew King Richard II against the growing power of the nascent Parliament and of the common people, as shown in the so-called Peasants' Revolt. At the same time, he is possibly best known to many readers now for his famous love affair with Katherine Swynford, mother of his illegitimate children, who were later legitimised after they got married in the last decade of his life, after the death of his second wife Constance of Castile. This of course paved the way in the following century for the conflict known as the War of the Roses. At his death he was witnessing his Lancastrian inheritance from his first wife Blanche being severely challenged by the increasingly tyrannical King Richard II. This is a well rounded account of the subject's life, though of course much is unknown about his life especially in his earlier years, and a lot of this period is about the events of the time, and mentioning that John was or may have been involved. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in Medieval history.½

What is History Now? – An interesting discussion of where history is today.

What is History Now? Is the 21st century answer to the original text What is History? From EH Carr. I have seen some reviews which complain about this excellent book because it does not give examples of what Carr meant all of them years ago. I think they must have missed a word in the title, now rather than back in the 1960s. Carr’s book was very much a book of the mid-20th century, and the world has changed since then. We have women that are now professors in their own right rather than being administrative support as they were then.

There are nineteen excellent chapters that discuss the state if history in the 21st century and reflects the many differences that have helped moved the subject forward. Carr himself stated that history needs a consistent interrogation and reinterpretation and that there should be ‘a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his [her] facts.’ It also raises the question that if the government is so concerned with history and heritage then it should fund research, rather than allow it to fester and rot, while allowing the populist to mis-quote history.

I do not have much argument with many of the chapter in this book as an academic historian it is always interesting to see areas where research is growing. The only disappointment for me was Simon Schama writing about History and Nature. This is probably a generational point for me. As while Professor Schama’s writing is beautiful he takes the classists view of natural and environmental history. While engaging, it is very much a twentieth century view of the subject. Talking about nature and man’s interaction with the world. Today the elephant in the room is the urban part of nature, you cannot remove urban from natural history. Anyone studying this area knows that some of the best work on natural and environmental history is happening in America. Whereas here in Britain we are playing catch up, because the classists mistakes with standing on the rock and not looking underneath it.

To me Leila K. Blackbird sums up the current state of history, not only in the USA but here in the UK where we have mythologised accounts of colonisation and challenging the narrative is seen as woke. She quite rightly states that history has been come a crucible in modern politics. Rather like the German’s we British seem to think we have our own Sonderweg (special path) especially how we use the Second World War to colour our discussion. Pity most of those that actually lived through it are either dead or their final destination is getting close. But the modern day we cannot get away from the ‘blitz’ spirit’, Dunkirk resistance, or when we ‘stood alone’, when we did not.

This really is an excellent collection of essays, raising some very wide topics, whether it be on queer history, how film and movie history are all important parts of our culture. Carr said that history should reflect one’s age – and this collection certainly does that.

This was one of my anticipated reads for 2021. I’ve been a fan of Helen Carr and her podcast Hidden Histories for quite some time now, so I was excited for her book. The Red Prince did not disappoint, which has made me so happy. Helen Carr does a fantastic job in detailing John’s life and ties in the socio-economic and political environment that he lived in. There were a few parts that I had to re-read, but it was mainly because I accidentally speed read through them. (Also, as an American, the British spellings sometimes confused me, but that wasn’t much of an issue in the end.) I read this in my Kindle app, and I do plan to buy a physical copy sometime soon. I highly recommend this as a read.