The first book I read by Jay Winik, April 1865, is excellent, and I have reviewed it earlier in this blog. When I saw this audio book in the library, because it had Winik's name on it, I snatched it off the shelf in anticipation of another great learning experience. Granted, The Great Upheaval was definitely harder to get my arms around - the premise is huge: 1788-1800 as the pivotal period of political history marks the end of the Old Order and the beginning of the Modern World, and it is primarily shaped, defined, and changed by the leaders, people, events and interconnected actions and reactions to one another of the fledgling United States, revolutionary/Napoleonic France, and ... Russia, yes, Russia, the Russia of Catherine the Great.
As with most books, I listened to this one in my car every day while commuting to and from work; 26 CDs in all; I thought it would never end, but I was in no hurry for it to end. After teaching world history for 14 years, I was asked a few years ago to teach American history, and, reluctantly at first, I left the Pelopponesian Wars behind and began exploring my own country's history. It didn't take long for me to leave the Romans behind (is that really even possible?) and become totally immersed and engrossed by the story of our nation... no, not the red-white-and-blue fireworks version, but the real record of America, both good and bad and in between, the litlle bit of black or white and the tons of gray. I totally forgot about the ancient Mediterranean world, the Middle Ages, etc. BUT... what Winik helped me to see, to re-remember, is that hardly anything (I was tempted to say nothing) happens in isolation, but, for the most part, events around the world are interconnected and occur in some kind of relationship to other events elsewhere in the world, and, like the proverbial pebble in the pond, have their own effect upon future events. Enough: if you want to learn more about so many of the personalities of this era in David McCulloughesque detail, then read/listen to this book. If you want to see how the French Revolution shaped the development of our own republic, how it was responsible for the Russian Revolution of the 20th century, then read/listen to this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, learned tons from it. The Great Upheaval has changed the way I consider the past and the events of our own time that are now shaping our world.
As with most books, I listened to this one in my car every day while commuting to and from work; 26 CDs in all; I thought it would never end, but I was in no hurry for it to end. After teaching world history for 14 years, I was asked a few years ago to teach American history, and, reluctantly at first, I left the Pelopponesian Wars behind and began exploring my own country's history. It didn't take long for me to leave the Romans behind (is that really even possible?) and become totally immersed and engrossed by the story of our nation... no, not the red-white-and-blue fireworks version, but the real record of America, both good and bad and in between, the litlle bit of black or white and the tons of gray. I totally forgot about the ancient Mediterranean world, the Middle Ages, etc. BUT... what Winik helped me to see, to re-remember, is that hardly anything (I was tempted to say nothing) happens in isolation, but, for the most part, events around the world are interconnected and occur in some kind of relationship to other events elsewhere in the world, and, like the proverbial pebble in the pond, have their own effect upon future events. Enough: if you want to learn more about so many of the personalities of this era in David McCulloughesque detail, then read/listen to this book. If you want to see how the French Revolution shaped the development of our own republic, how it was responsible for the Russian Revolution of the 20th century, then read/listen to this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, learned tons from it. The Great Upheaval has changed the way I consider the past and the events of our own time that are now shaping our world.