Review: Powers & Thrones by Dan Jones

Synopsis: Dan Jones's epic new history tells nothing less than the story of how the world we know today came to be built. It is a thousand-year adventure that moves from the ruins of the once-mighty city of Rome, sacked by barbarians in AD 410, to the first contacts between the old and new worlds in the sixteenth century. It shows how, from a state of crisis and collapse, the West was rebuilt and came to dominate the entire globe. The book identifies three key themes that underpinned the success of the West: commerce, conquest and Christianity.

Across 16 chapters, blending Dan Jones' trademark gripping narrative style with authoritative analysis, Powers and Thrones shows how, at each stage in this story, successive western powers thrived by attracting – or stealing – the most valuable resources, ideas and people from the rest of the world. It casts new light on iconic locations – Rome, Paris, Venice, Constantinople – and it features some of history's most famous and notorious men and women.

This is a book written about – and for – an age of profound change, and it asks the biggest questions about the West both then and now. Where did we come from? What made us? Where do we go from here?

It should come as no surprise that Jones has decided to take on 1000 years of history and condense it into one tome.

To be perfectly blunt, I can take or leave Jones as an author - its nothing personal. I've read his books and find them entertaining enough, but to be honest he is not one of my "go to" authors - I don't go all "fan girl" when I see his books.

Having said that, this is quite a good, well-rounded read, that will appeal to the masses. It is broken down into four parts, and four sub topics, that flow in a linear timeline. The focus encompasses both Roman Empires (East & West), Europe and the UK. Its only when discussing the Arabs and Mongols does Jones veer from a predominantly Euro-centric narrative.

To give you an idea of what is in store for the reader, I have provided a little summary - each chapter and part can be read as a "stand alone" .

Part I - 470 - 750.

Its four sub catergories are:

Romans - the Roman Empire (social, military, culture and religion) with a focus on Britain and its invaders

Barbarians - Goths, Vandals, Visigoths, Huns, et el

Byzantines - predominantly Justinian and Theodora

Arabs - invasions and their conflict in the Mediterranean (Greeks and Franks)

Part II - 750 - 1215

Franks - Merovingians and Carolingians, focusing on Charlemange up the fracturing of the kingdom

Monks - looking mainly at the Christianity of the monks, pilgrimage sites

Knights - rather self explanatory, with good detail on El Cid, and the chivalric romances

Crusades - covers from the First to the decline, circa Emperor Frederick III

Part III 1215 - 1347

Mongols - their push westward, biographies on notable leaders including Tamerlane

Merchants - Venice and Genoa feature, with the emphasis on trade routes, banking, the rise of the Republics, and of course, Marco Polo and Dick Whittington

Scholars - rise of the universities, translations of Arabic sources, the insular nature of the church scholars, Isidore of Seville

Builders -Edward I's castle building in Wales, cathedrals, fortified cities

Part IV 1347 - 1527

Survivors - plague, little ice age, economic reform and rebellion, reign of Richard II of England

Renewers - Joan of Arc, Jan van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci, the Medici, the Renaissance, Chaucer, Dante, Petrarch

Navigators - siege of Constantinople, medieval voyager to India, Africa and the Americas, and the explorers such as Henry the Navigator, Magellan, Columbus, and the Conquistadors

Protestants - papal schism, reformation, Martin Luther, Henry VIII, Charles V

So, you can pick and choose areas of interest, which makes the one thousand year history over seven hundred plus pages seem not that daunting.

The aim here is to entertain and inform, and Jones does this remarkably well; and there is - of course - plenty of notes and references for the avid history buff to go exploring further on their own.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a slightly different take on the history narrative - and for all fans of Jones!

All Made Up by Rae Nudson

A fascinating journey through history and culture, examining how makeup affects self-empowerment, how people have used it to define (and defy) their roles in society, and why we all need to care.

There is a history and a cultural significance that comes with wearing cat-eye-inspired liner or a bold red lip, one that many women feel to this day, even if we don’t realize exactly why. Increasingly, people of all genders are wrestling with what it means to be a woman living in a patriarchy, and part of that is how looking like a woman—whatever that means—affects people’s real lives.

Through the stories of famous women like Cleopatra, Empress Wu, Madam C. J. Walker, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marsha P. Johnson, Rae Nudson unpacks makeup’s cultural impact—including how it can be used to shape a personal or cultural narrative, how often beauty standards align with whiteness, how and when it can be used for safety, and its function in the workplace, to name a few examples.

Every woman has had to make a very personal choice about her relationship with makeup, and consciously or unconsciously, every woman knows that the choice is never entirely hers to make. This book also holds space for complicating factors, especially the ways that beauty standards differ across race, class, and culture. Engaging and informative, All Made Up will expand the discussion around what it means to participate in creating your own self-image.

Jewish Women and Their Salons by Emily Bilski & Emily Braun

From their debut in Berlin in the 1780s to their emergence in 1930s California, Jewish women’s salons served as welcoming havens where all classes and creeds could openly debate art, music, literature, and politics. This fascinating book is the first to explore the history of these salons where remarkable women of intellect resolved that neither gender nor religion would impede their ability to bring about social change.

Emily D. Bilski and Emily Braun examine the lives of more than a dozen Jewish salonières, charting the evolution of the salon over time and among cultures, in cities including Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London, New York, and Milan. They show how each woman uniquely adapted the salon to suit her own interests while maintaining the salon’s key characteristics of basic informality and a diversity of guests. 

Other distinguished contributors to the volume discuss in detail the Berlin salons of the 1800s; the salon in terms of Jewish acculturation and its relation to gender and music; and the relations of Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, and Gertrude Stein to the literary salon. 

The book is enriched with a lavish array of illustrations, including documentary photographs, paintings, drawings, prints, and decorative arts.