ok. when Dr. H told us that this book was chosen for this class and agreed upon by both sides, i figured i was about to read a kick-ass book.
no offense to anyone... and wait, am i allowed to swear??.... but i do not like this book. maybe because its still so far back in the past, still seems so hard to grasp.... like dude seriously what the hell do i know about the byzantinians? i hope that as the book comes closer to modern times that i will be able to get through it easier, bc its a slowwwwwwwwwww process as of now.
random fact- ch 6 is called "Antioch in Judea"- i was born in Antioch, california. yeah. im pretty famous.
and whats with all this destruction and rubble? depressing. imagine working so hard and for so long to build something to call your own, in a place that you believe is so important, just for it all to be demolished in a few decades. jeez.
i like that the chapters are starting to discuss the societies though, not just as a name and date. like how in chapter 8 they started talking about the divide between jews and christians. not that im glad to see these hostile divisions start., im just glad to get some real humanity up in hurr.
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I fee ya! I'm definitely not a historian and that, well, because history isn't really my bag. I mean, my research focuses on the post-9/11 - I apparently don't even want to go back to the '90s!
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think that - even though it's slow going - it's really, really important for us to have this history. I think that often times we "divorce" contemporary events from their historical context, and that can keep us from really thinking deeply and critically about a situation or event.
I have to agree with the above comment about the separation that occurs between contemporary events and their historical context. Though this book is a tough read and I do mean tough I think that it does do a great job in illustrating the underlying history of conquest and conflict in the area. This I feel is something needed in order to understand the current situation. In taking things at face value we often overlook the complexities and underlying issues generalizing and losing the illusive truths.
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