Oct - Dec 2022 - Before WWI (1900 - 1913)

The era begins with the death of Queen Victoria, and Edward VII taking the throne of England, followed by the eruption of Mount Pelée, Martinique (40,000 killed). The Wright Brothers make first controlled flight in aeroplane in 1903 and Henry Ford designs first mass-produced cars.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is completed, and in 1905 comes "Bloody Sunday" the massacre of protestors in St Petersburg. In 1905 Albert Einstein develops special theory of relativity.

Young Turk" Revolution establishes constitution in Turkey, in 1908 Bulgaria is liberated from Turkish rule by Russia. In 1909 American Robert Peary first to reach North Pole. In 1909 Union of South Africa is established.

In 1910 the Mexican Revolution under Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa leads to civil war. And in 1911 there is the Chinese Revolution - Sun Yat-Sen establishes a Republic.

In 1912 the African National Congress (ANC) is formed in South Africa to fight apartheid and in 1913 Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" causes an uproar. Also in
1913 Nijinsky and Pavlova perfom Fokine and Diaghilev's ballets.

So lots happening in a few short years, and these are only a few of the highlights.

Please update the wiki at: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Reading_Through_Time_Quarterly_Theme_Rea...

I'm tentatively stacking The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890–1914 (by Barbara W. Tuchman for this one...

Does the Eagle know what is in the pit
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole?
Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod,
Or Love in a golden bowl?

If I have time, I'm going to read The Wings of the Dove (Norton Critical Edition) along with Henry James: Novels, 1903-1911 (Library of America), which includes The Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl, and The Outcry. The only one of James's late novels that I've read is The Golden Bowl, and that was decades ago. Maybe I'll combine reading The Outcry, James's last completed novel, with the November theme of "Ends and Endings" – and arguably The Golden Bowl could also qualify, considering that it's James's last great novel.

A couple other Big Fat Books I can go with are Sons and Lovers and Doris Kearns Goodwin's The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. I've always suspected Taft may be getting short shrift in the Presidential ratings — but I know Taft primarily from his very distinguished career as Chief Justice, so it could be an interesting read.

For a quicker read, I've got Siegfried Sassoon's Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man.

ETA: >2 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I read The Proud Tower for a previous (1900-1913) read some years ago. Read it in the Library of America edition and then went on to reread The Guns of August. It's a twofer single LoA volume.

*bump*

While set in 1914, I think The Summer Before the War fits the pre-WWI time period so I've pulled it off my shelves.

I’m rereading Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, which was published in 1900. I’m also listening to the audio narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and loving his performance and the different way into this novel.

My plan is to either read The White Peacock or The Trespasser by D.H. Lawrence.

>1 majkia: "in 1908 Bulgaria is liberated from Turkish rule by Russia."

That's incorrect. :) Liberation is in 1878 after which Bulgaria became autonomous principality (which is not the same as the previous 5 centuries of Ottoman rule) and despite not being completely free, politics and daily life become independent from the empire.

In 1908 Bulgaria announced/proclaimed its complete independence and while Russia may have been at the wings in the 1908 event, just as with the Unification of 1885, the independence was mostly driven from inside of the country and its ruler - Russia was the major helper in 1878 and would remain a major factor in the country's history but giving them the credit of the 1908 independence is not something that even the Communist-era historians did :)

>8 AnnieMod: okay then. 🙂

I finished The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 (by Barbara W. Tuchman; narrated by Wanda McCaddon). This is a collection of an introduction and eight essays, each covering a topic relevant to the zeitgeist of the years running up to WWI form the Anglo perspective. At first, I was a little overwhelmed by all the names to keep up with and had trouble seeing the forest for the trees, but when I pulled back my focus, I was able to see and appreciate the trends being discussed. I did have a moment of confusion in listening to the audio when the narrator kept referring to the "Carkey" elections in England. It's turns out she was talking about English Khaki elections! So maybe print might be better for those who want to more dutifully track the people involved in the various movements (The Dreyfus Affair in particular is a tangle of people with various fealties and alliances) or; those unaccustomed to undiluted British accents. Still, in either print or audio, an enlightening work that can serve as touchstone for further inquiries, in particular the topics of British nobility, Anarchism, US Imperialism/Spanish-American War, The Dreyfus Affair, The Hague, Richard Strauss, British Parliament and, Jean Juarès.

ETA: >3 CurrerBell: Yes! I did see that in the Wiki! I was looking for inspiration for this quarter and when I saw The Proud Tower, I knew it would be my pick! :-)

We are starting to make plans for our 2023 monthly reading themes. Come and join in: https://www.librarything.com/topic/345058#

I finished O Pioneers by Willa Cather, published in 1913.

I’ve finished Heart of Darkness, beautifully narrated by Kenneth Branagh, who brings out the eerie, haunting, ghost-story like effects of the novella. For me, it is the ultimate horror story. Closer to the 31st I want to listen to Derek Jacobi’s reading of The Hound of the Baskervilles, also written within our time frame.

One of my fav books about this era 1913: the year before the storm is an interesting book that focuses on the the literary and artistic scene in pre-WWI Europe. Vienna seemed to be the place to be for on the edge artists/writers. Here are some of the players:
- Louis Armstrong
- Franz Kafka
- Sigmund Freud
- Lou Andreas-Salome
- Thomas Mann
- Ernst Junger
- Stalin
- Hitler
- Rainer Maria Rilke
- Pablo Picasso
- Carl Jung
- Marcel Proust
- Gertrude Stein
- Jozip Broz (Tito)
- Herman Hesse
- Leo Bronstien (Leon Trotsky)
- Albert Schweitzer
- Albert Einstein
- Virginia Woolf
- Hiram Bingham
- Charlie Chaplin
- Henry Ford
That's just a short list, there are many more. the book is written like a monthly calendar of events and people. the closer it gets to the end of the year, you can feel a change a coming Many of the bits are hilarious (see Alma Mahlers doll) others are thought provoking and moving. Its been a while since I read it, think I might do so again for this theme and the closer it gets to the end of the year, you can feel a change a coming

another fav - Birds without wings is a tale of a the fortunes of one small community in southwest Turkey (Anatolia) in the early part of the last century — a quirky community in which Christian and Muslim lives and traditions have co-existed peacefully over the centuries and where friendship, even love, has transcended religious differences. As the ottaman empire starts to disintergrate, changes start happening that will shape the destinies of this village and people. Dont be put off by the 600 pages It actually took me a couple of times to get into it, -but once I did I was totally pulled in to the story..

>13 dianelouise100: I love that recording of The Heart of Darkness! It's been a couple of years since I've listened to it. It may be time to queue it up again :-)

>14 cindydavid4: I have put this by to read. There's also a sequel: https://www.librarything.com/work/22511073 but apparently it hasn't been translated into English.

oh too bad! Hope you enjoy the first.

I finished listening to The Guns of August (by Barbara W. Tuchman; narrated by Wanda McCaddon) - This is the second half of the author's duology, "The Coming of the Great War" -- and at first, I was a bit mystified as to why this wouldn't count solidly as the beginning of the Great War. It's August 1914 and the Germans are sweeping through Belgium and France, the Russians are getting their butts handed to them at the Battle of Tannenburg, and everyone has literally dug in at the Marne... Then I went over to re-visit "The Great War" video blog series on YouTube for some geographic context and of course, went down a rabbit hole. It turns out that, in August 1914, while there were a lot of people fighting, not everyone was fighting for the same reasons at all and; as much as Europe was consumed with the war, a lot of non-European interests had yet to get directly involved (e.g., Japan & the US). I also discovered one of the weaknesses of Tuchman's narrative in that it pretty much ignores what was happening in the Balkans and, Austria-Hungary's role as an active participant in all of this... Anyway, The First Battle of the Marne is considered the first battle of WWI and that's where The Guns of August ends-- in September!

I read Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. I had started this years ago, but did not finish. I finished it this time, still didn't like it! It is the story of single individual vs. group common good.

>19 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I knew about the 'the ghost war' that happened just before WWII, didn't realize it also happened in the first. stands to reason I suppose. First a couple of countries are involved then all their allies jump into the fray. I also didn't realize the mistake Tuchman made (tho I still think the book is amazing) and you are right, it does ignore the balkans which is weird coz the shot that led to the war happened in Sarajevo, against Austrians Archduke. Interesting.

>21 cindydavid4: At the start of WWI, the Balkans had just emerged from the second Balkan war in 2 years. We used to joke in class that if that war had gone a bit longer, the archduke or his killer may not have been in the area at the right time. :)

>22 AnnieMod: !!! :) and this saturday is the serbian festival which I plan to go to, as well as sundays armenian festival and next saturdays bulgarian fest. Should be fun

I have finished Tregaron's Daughter which is set in Edwardian England. A great mix of romance, mystery and Gothic that has aged well.

I have finished The Trespasser by D.H. Lawrence, which was written in 1912. You can find my review here.

I was going to include in flanders fields 100 years for this theme, since its more about the end of the war. So never mind

Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism 4****. Although it starts with the early years of TR and Taft and wraps up with their later years (all too briefly, Taft's Chief Justiceship, and he may very well be second only to John Marshall among Chief Justices), the emphasis is on their presidencies, hence 1901-1912 and their falling out with TR's Bull Moose candidacy. Also includes their tie-in, especially TR's, with the journalists of McClure's Magazine (Sam McClure himself, Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, William Allen White, and others).

Also qualifies for the Big Fat Book challenge.

I've just queued up The Wright Brothers (written and narrated by David McCullough) to start tomorrow. The flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina was in 1903, so I suspect the majority of the material will actually be in the 1890s; but I think it will be a good run-up to WWI when planes become a factor.

I've posted the first quarter for 2023: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346246

I’ve finished A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by Simon Winchester. There is A LOT of science here. The actual account of the earthquake and fire doesn’t begin until page 243. It is an account of not only ancient science, but the New Geology that emerged in the 1960s, and that continues today. It includes not only San Francisco history, but events happening in the wider world, fascinating characters and incidents, and even travel. There are charts, drawings, photographs, and maps. I enjoyed it very much.

I have finished 1913 : Der Sommer des Jahrhunderts and found that most of the people mentioned in this were not very likeable.

This morning, I finished The Wright Brothers (written & narrated by David McCullough). While I learned a couple interesting bits of trivia, I came away feeling like the Wright Brothers themselves were strange, unknowable people. Not sure if this is actually the case or the writing. The meat of the story takes place from 1899-1909. From their decision to build and fly the first manned, motor-driven vehicle to the first flight at Kitty Hawk, was only four years! They basically created the field of practical aeronautics, in having to develop wind & propeller theorems, and testing them out. After their success, they were feted throughout Europe and America; but ended up spending most of their careers defending their patents in lawsuits. Nominally interesting, but I can't help but feel there are better books out there on the subject.

>32 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Your touchstone goes to another book of the same title, but by a different author.

I know the feeling, sometimes I read a nonfiction book and I feel like there must have been more to the story, or that something is missing somehow.

>33 MissBrangwen: Fixed! But maybe even though the one by Quentin Reynolds is a children's book it might be better? :-D

A novel set just prior to WWI sounded like just the ticket for this pre-WWI challenge. The Summer Before the War started prior to the conflict with a young woman, Beatrice Nash, showing up in Rye to become the new Latin teacher. She was not what anyone expected nor did the position live up to her visions of it. She was a welcome breath of fresh air in the town and just what was needed as they geared themselves up for war.

A fews days ago, I decided to pick up Einstein's Dreams (by Alan Lightman; narrated by Grover Gardner), admittedly because it is short (192 pages/2.50 hours audio) and I was looking for a "filler listen" before the holidays. My husband had recommended it but I couldn't get him to tell me what was about-- so I went in blind. It turns out to be a historical fiction featuring Einstein in 1905 when he wrote the four annus mirabilis papers (I'm sure I've committed egregious errors on redundancy with that last sentence...) which became the foundation of modern physics. The more grounded chapters feature Einstein in context of his imagined life while the meat of the book consists of the dreams that inspired him in his work on Time. The dreams are actually little narrative expositions of some/many theorems of temporal physics. While this may sound dull, they are actually fascinating, poignant, sometimes heartbreaking vignettes. This is one I am stacking for a later, more leisurely re-read.