历史
Jungle of Stone: The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya 豆瓣
所属 作品: 石像、神庙与失落的文明
作者: William Carlsen William Morrow 2016 - 4
In 1839, rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world’s most intrepid travelers. Seized by the reports, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood—both already celebrated for their adventures in Egypt, the Holy Land, Greece, and Rome—sailed together out of New York Harbor on an expedition into the forbidding rainforests of present-day Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. What they found would upend the West’s understanding of human history.
In the tradition of Lost City of Z and In the Kingdom of Ice, former San Francisco Chronicle journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist William Carlsen reveals the remarkable story of the discovery of the ancient Maya. Enduring disease, war, and the torments of nature and terrain, Stephens and Catherwood meticulously uncovered and documented the remains of an astonishing civilization that had flourished in the Americas at the same time as classic Greece and Rome—and had been its rival in art, architecture, and power. Their masterful book about the experience, written by Stephens and illustrated by Catherwood, became a sensation, hailed by Edgar Allan Poe as “perhaps the most interesting book of travel ever published” and recognized today as the birth of American archaeology. Most important, Stephens and Catherwood were the first to grasp the significance of the Maya remains, understanding that their antiquity and sophistication overturned the West’s assumptions about the development of civilization.
By the time of the flowering of classical Greece (400 b.c.), the Maya were already constructing pyramids and temples around central plazas. Within a few hundred years the structures took on a monumental scale that required millions of man-hours of labor, and technical and organizational expertise. Over the next millennium, dozens of city-states evolved, each governed by powerful lords, some with populations larger than any city in Europe at the time, and connected by road-like causeways of crushed stone. The Maya developed a cohesive, unified cosmology, an array of common gods, a creation story, and a shared artistic and architectural vision. They created stucco and stone monuments and bas reliefs, sculpting figures and hieroglyphs with refined artistic skill. At their peak, an estimated ten million people occupied the Maya’s heartland on the Yucatan Peninsula, a region where only half a million now live. And yet by the time the Spanish reached the “New World,” the Maya had all but disappeared; they would remain a mystery for the next three hundred years.
Today, the tables are turned: the Maya are justly famous, if sometimes misunderstood, while Stephens and Catherwood have been nearly forgotten. Based on Carlsen’s rigorous research and his own 2,500-mile journey throughout the Yucatan and Central America, Jungle of Stone is equally a thrilling adventure narrative and a revelatory work of history that corrects our understanding of Stephens, Catherwood, and the Maya themselves.
Carbon Democracy 豆瓣
作者: Timothy Mitchell Verso 2011 - 11
Oil is a curse, it is often said, that condemns the countries producing it to an existence defined by war, corruption and enormous inequality. Carbon Democracy tells a more complex story, arguing that no nation escapes the political consequences of our collective dependence on oil. It shapes the body politic both in regions such as the Middle East, which rely upon revenues from oil production, and in the places that have the greatest demand for energy.
Timothy Mitchell begins with the history of coal power to tell a radical new story about the rise of democracy. Coal was a source of energy so open to disruption that oligarchies in the West became vulnerable for the first time to mass demands for democracy. In the mid-twentieth century, however, the development of cheap and abundant energy from oil, most notably from the Middle East, offered a means to reduce this vulnerability to democratic pressures. The abundance of oil made it possible for the first time in history to reorganize political life around the management of something now called "the economy" and the promise of its infinite growth. The politics of the West became dependent on an undemocratic Middle East.
In the twenty-first century, the oil-based forms of modern democratic politics have become unsustainable. Foreign intervention and military rule are faltering in the Middle East, while governments everywhere appear incapable of addressing the crises that threaten to end the age of carbon democracy—the disappearance of cheap energy and the carbon-fuelled collapse of the ecological order.
In making the production of energy the central force shaping the democratic age, Carbon Democracy rethinks the history of energy, the politics of nature, the theory of democracy, and the place of the Middle East in our common world.
2018年6月8日 已读
颠覆了我的很多成见,比方美国外交,中东,甚至“经济”作为一门学科。start to think the movie Matrix is probably more non-fiction than fiction... :-O //刚开始看,有意思。。。
中东 历史 政治 英文
Peter the Great 豆瓣
所属 作品: 彼得大帝
作者: Robert K. Massie Random House Trade Paperbacks 1981 - 10
"Enthralling . . . As fascinating as any novel and more so than most." The New York Times Book Review
The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Bestseller by the author of DREADNOUGHT.
Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia unfolds the magnificent story of Peter the Great, one of the most extraordinary rulers in history. Impetuous and stubborn, generous and cruel, tender and unforgiving, a man of enormous energy and complexity, Peter the Great is brought fully to life in this exceptional biography.
2018年6月8日 已读
found this on the massive bookshelf in the ski cabin we rent in Aspen during Jan. 1998. couldn't finish it during the one week stay, bought a copy afterwards and finished it. a really fascinating read.
历史 英文
Moorish Spain 豆瓣
作者: Richard Fletcher University of California Press 2006 - 5
Beginning in the year 711 and continuing for nearly a thousand years, the Islamic presence survived in Spain, at times flourishing, and at other times dwindling into warring fiefdoms. But the culture and science thereby brought to Spain, including long-buried knowledge from Greece, largely forgotten during Europe's Dark Ages, was to have an enduring impact on the country as it emerged into the modern era. In this gracefully written history, Richard Fletcher reveals the Moorish culture in all its fascinating disparity and gives us history at its best: here is vivid storytelling by a renowned scholar.
2018年7月10日 已读
看完了。很喜欢。简明扼要覆盖了历史经济文化,伊斯兰各种分支的争斗,和基督教小国间的关系。不是很同意作者最后的判词。虽然同意他说西方文化历来太美化摩尔人,但是感觉他强调的摩尔人统治时期的问题并不比别的帝国更糟,而他们创建的文化和他们对异族的宽容确实是非常独特的。//很有趣。看到一半,Party Kings那一章,里面提到有文艺范儿的摩尔人King跟手下玩的游戏好耳熟,一个是"联句“(Improvising second lines)一个是”曲水流觞“。鉴于发生时代是十世纪,我猜是跟咱们学哒!
2018年7月21日 评论 摩尔人的伊比利亚 - 我一直很懵的一些概念,这次好像搞明白一点了。 阿拉伯/大食 - 起源于叙利亚沙漠,七世纪伊斯兰教出现后成为信徒,定都繁荣于大马士革的族群。八世纪初宫廷政变后迁都巴格达。属于逊尼派(Sunni)。中国古文记载中的大食。 白衣大食 - 倭马亚王朝 Umayyad Caliphate 黑衣大食 - 阿拔斯王朝 Abbasid Caliphat 波斯 - 今天的伊朗,非常古老的帝国。阿拉伯人崛起后,跟波斯战事不断。665年波斯帝国被阿拉伯征服,但是也经常暴乱反抗。16世纪初再次独立成波斯帝国(Safavids)。被阿拉伯人征服后信奉伊斯兰,16世纪转成什叶派(Shia)伊斯兰。 柏柏尔人 - 摩洛哥原住民,今天依然占摩洛哥人口主流。游牧民族,彪勇善战,公认的最好的战士。阿拉伯人的带领和诱导下慢慢信奉了伊斯兰教。但是因为看不上伊比利亚半岛阿拉伯人建立的伊斯兰王国的腐败,自己又演绎出了好几拨原教旨主义者(Fatimids十一世纪初,Almoravids十一世纪末,Almohads十二世纪中)都是追随什叶派,也是什叶派里壮大起来的最早的一支。 摩尔人 - 最模糊混淆的一个名词。最开始代表阿拉伯人为首,柏柏尔人为兵但是人口组成更重的安达卢西亚王国的人。后来演变成代表一切西班牙的信奉伊斯兰教的人。曾经一度被用于黑皮肤的北非伊斯兰教人。但是现在基本定义为不限种族肤色的地中海西岸(北非和伊比利亚)的伊斯兰。 西罗马帝国410年陷落后,德国血统的西哥特人(Visigoth)占领了整个西班牙半岛,包括今天的葡萄牙。首都设在托雷多(Toledo). 在七世纪时,以大马士革为中心的阿拉伯人陆续占领了北非,八世纪初711年阿拉伯人带领了如今摩洛哥地带的柏柏尔人跨过海峡,登陆了直布罗陀。带领这支部队的阿拉伯将军名字叫Tariq, 他命名了自己登陆的地方“Jebel Tariq” (The Rock of Tariq),后来演变成了Gibraltar (直布罗陀)。他们开始骚扰西哥特人的城镇。712年他们和西哥特人的国王打了一战(在Jerez和Algeciras 之间某处,详细地名没有记载),居然赢了,于是长驱直入北上打下来托雷多。之后只花了不到四年时间占领了全部西哥特人的地盘,从西班牙半岛一直到南法國的普罗旺斯. 但是信奉伊斯兰教的阿拉伯人不喜欢西班牙半岛北边比利牛斯山一直到南法國的树林地带,尤其不喜欢生活在树林里大群野猪。来自北非的柏柏尔人更喜欢开阔富饶的南部。这里和海峡南边的摩洛哥地理气候非常相似。后来北边比利牛斯山区又聚集起了基督教团体,打打杀杀,于是他们定都科尔多巴。慢慢放弃了北面的领土。 到底为什么阿拉伯人和柏柏尔人依靠很少的军队就打败了西哥特人呢(听上去简直有点像西班牙人带着小队人马就灭了印加帝国一样)?这个历史纪录不是很详尽。大概猜测有两个,一是西哥特人内部当时有内战,所以已经自我削弱了力量。还有一个是当时西哥特人效仿拜占庭的模式对境内的犹太人非常苛刻,曾经一度禁止他们跟外国经商。但是在阿拉伯统治下的叙利亚北非的犹太人受到很好很宽容的待遇,所以历史学家怀疑西哥特人国内的犹太人在这场争斗中起了搭桥引线的作用,帮助阿拉伯人推翻了西哥特人。 756年,阿拉伯王国发生宫廷政变。本来掌权的Umayyad家族几乎全族被诛杀。唯一逃出来的王子Abd al-Rahman才二十岁,他一路逃到了西班牙半岛,在科尔多巴住下,开始建立自己的王朝。而在他的老家,阿拉伯的新政权把首都从大马士革搬到了巴格达。 八世纪的西班牙半岛在阿拉伯人进入后并不消停。先是740年柏柏尔人因为不满被阿拉伯人当作二等公民暴动,整个西班牙半岛al-Andalus 分成好多个阿拉伯人的小“军阀”,比利牛斯山区的基督教徒自立的小团体慢慢趁着半岛混乱强大起来变成一个个小王国。大马士革逃亡来的Umayyad王子接下来的三十多年都是在半岛四处征战,慢慢安抚了北面Zaragoza中部的托雷多南面塞维利亚。大概到780年才安定下来搞建设,科尔多巴的mezquita大清真寺就是在他执政的晚年,半岛终于安定的时候建的(784-786)。接下来的继承人把科尔多巴建成当时欧洲最繁华富足的城市,可以跟巴格达比肩。Mezquita大清真寺也不断被扩大。 伊斯兰法从一开始就对犹太人和基督教很宽容,允许共存,不要求他们一定转信伊斯兰。但是非伊斯兰教徒要交很重的税,而伊斯兰教徒完全免税。所以慢慢的转信伊斯兰教的人越来越多。这也是为什么Mezquita大清真寺不断被扩大的原因。科尔多巴的信徒成倍增加。 十世纪是阿拉伯人统治下的安达卢西亚的顶峰。Abd al-Rahman 三世统治五十年,简直就是安达卢西亚版的唐玄宗。他自封为Caliph 哈里发。科尔多巴人口达到十万。是当时世界上最繁华发达的城市之一,当时欧洲最大的城市也是贸易政治文化哲学艺术中心。936年,拜占庭给Abd al-Rahman 三世送来一份礼物,古希腊药用植物学家Dioscorides的著作。正式挑起摩尔学者对古希腊的兴趣,但是当时安达卢西亚没有懂希腊文的学者,于是哈里发立刻向拜占庭请求提供希腊文/阿拉伯文的翻译人才。此后科尔多巴成为大批翻译古希腊著作的中心。十二,十三世纪这些阿拉伯译本被翻译回到拉丁文,中世纪处于知识沙漠的欧洲学者们开始如饥似渴重新学习,文艺复兴开始了。靠这种方式被重新发现的亚里士多德的作品改变了整个欧洲的命运。航海用具比如星盘辅佐了欧洲舰队发现美洲新大陆,牛顿的物理成就如果没有伊斯兰阿拉伯传递过去的数学理论是不可能的。十七世纪的医学发展也是站在阿拉伯人的医学成就这个巨人肩膀上。 拜占庭给Abd al-Rahman 三世送来一份礼物,科尔多巴皇宫(后来被毁掉)画家是十九世纪的 Dionisio Baixeras 在十世纪的安达卢西亚本地,阿拉伯人带来了新的农作物,米,硬麦,高粱,甘蔗,棉花,橘子,柠檬,青檬,香蕉,石榴,西瓜,菠菜,朝鲜蓟和茄子。硬麦(用来做意面)更适于在干旱地区生长,而且因为比软麦(用来做面包)含水分少,更便于长期储存和运输。减少了荒年的威胁。与农作物一起输入安达卢西亚的还有阿拉伯人在罗马水利工程基础上完善的更复杂的灌溉系统,更方便传播到各个角落。最有名的就是利用水车把水抬高再分配。据说瓦伦西亚地区就是这么被从荒原变成富饶农田的。国富民安,人口增长,城市化也加快了。各种手工业开始发展运作:矿业,金属加工,制陶,玻璃,木器,皮革加工,丝棉制品,造纸,制书,象牙雕刻等等。安达卢西亚比较出名的出口产品包括马拉加的无花果,托雷多和科尔多巴之间的水银矿产出口到整个伊斯兰领土,丝绒和毛毡,棉布(出口给埃及),还有各种各样的丝绸(因为安达卢西亚的印染技术非常高超)。 但是盛世总是不长久,接下来发生的故事几乎是咱们魏晋南北朝的翻版。前面说到十世纪初,摩尔人的“唐玄宗”Abd al-Rahman 三世自封阿里发(Caliph,意思是穆罕穆德继承人). 其实到他这代,安达卢西亚的伊斯兰王国已经跟巴格达对峙了两百年,这时候正式封自己这个称号,不是为了和巴格达抗争(因为到这时候这两个伊斯兰王国隔海而立已是既成事实)。而是为了对抗在北非沙漠中开始出现的一支新的伊斯兰原教旨主义者(Fatimids, 什叶派;巴格达/大马士革/科尔多巴都是逊尼派)。也是在这时候,摩尔人开始在沿海建工事防范南面的敌人,Tarifa塔里法就是这个时候开始驻防的。 十一世纪初,Abd al-Rahman 三世去世后,科尔多巴的皇宫里开始上演重臣夺权的各种戏码,皇位上的人走马灯一般换了又换,最短的一届皇帝只在皇位上坐了四十几天。这其中一个皇帝很不明智的为了打败敌人请来北非Fatimids的军队助阵,结果鸠占雀巢,Fatimids军队就跟鬼子进村一样开始四处烧杀抢掳。安达卢西亚进入了藩镇割据的乱世。这一阶段安达卢西亚“战国”时期被历史学家命名为taifas (Party Kings). 科尔多巴的皇帝图书馆被卖的卖烧的烧,Abd al-Rahman 三世建的美丽皇城沦为废墟。只留存于阿拉伯的诗歌里了。像不像大明宫? 在这个藩镇割据阶段,各个藩镇主人不仅仅都是阿拉伯人,不少的柏柏尔人将军也占山为王。格拉纳达就是在这个时候被一个柏柏尔人将军Zawi建起来的。甚至也有从奴隶到将军再到藩王的例子(瓦伦西亚地区的Denia). 而这些藩镇主人开始与虎谋皮,跟不同的北部基督教小国合作,雇佣他们当自己的军队。大量的金银流进了北方基督教国家,本来式微的小国们一个个被安达卢西亚的财富给喂肥壮大起来。与中国南朝那些分裂小国一样,有一些小国国君在战争缝隙之间依然继承发扬了安达卢西亚的文化艺术传统。比方塞维亚的国君跟爱臣最爱的一些文学游戏简直就是抄袭咱们的魏晋之风。从连句到曲水流觞。看时间线应该是跟咱们老祖宗学哒!下面这些描述让我想起萧梁王朝。 The poets who were attracted to Seville by the patronage of the Abbadid dynasty caught the prevailing tone. Ibn Hamdis is a good example. A native of Sicily born in 1055, he fled from his native Syracuse when it was conquered by the Normans and made his way via Tunis to Seville. Al-Mu’tamid put him to the test of improvising second lines, to follow his own firsts, in the description of a glass-worker’s furnace which they could see winking at them in the night from the window where they stood. Al-Mu’tamid: ‘Look at the fire glowing in the darkness,’ Ibn Hamdis: ‘Like the lion’s glances in the darkness of night!’ Al-Mu’tamid: ‘See him open both his eyes, then close them,’ Ibn Hamdis: ‘Like a man whose eyelids suffer from trachoma.’ Al-Mu’tamid: ‘Fate deprived him of the light of one of them;’ Ibn Hamdis: ‘Has a mortal being ever escaped his fate?’ This performance was so pleasing to the ruler that he took Ibn Hamdis into his service on an annual salary. Here is one of his characteristic poems, celebrating a party at which the drinks were floated along a stream to the drinkers who sat on its banks: I remember a certain brook that offered the impiety of drunkenness to the topers sitting along its course, with its cups of golden wine, Each silver cup in it filled as though it contained the soul of the sun in the body of the full moon. Whenever a glass reached anyone in our company of topers, he would grasp it gingerly with his ten fingers. Then he drinks out of it a grape-induced intoxication which lulls his very senses without his realising it. He sends the glass back in the water, thus returning it to the hands of a cupbearer at whose will it had floated to him. Because of the wine-bibbing we imagined our song to be melodies which the birds sang without verse, While our cupbearer was the water which brought us wine without a hand, and our drink was a fire that shone without embers, And which offered us delights of all kinds, while the only reward [of the cupbearer] was that we offered him to the ocean to drink. It is as if we were cities along the riverbank while the wine-laden ships sailed the water between us, For life is excusable only when we walk along the shores of pleasure and abandon all restraint! 藩镇割据的局面虽然有过短暂的和平。但是该来的还是要来。1055年北方的基督国Leon-Castile皇帝Fernando 一世占领了葡萄牙,驱逐了所有摩尔人,1085年Fernando一世的儿子Alfonso六世收复了托雷多。安达卢西亚的藩王们傻了眼,讨论再三决定去请摩洛哥的Fatimides最新取代者Almoravids来帮忙打北方入侵基督徒。虽然有着Fatimides鸠占雀巢的前车之鉴,但是这些伊斯兰教藩王在“去摩洛哥赶骆驼,还是为基督徒养猪”之间,果断的选择了前者。结果是Almoravids一举占领了整个安达卢西亚取代了藩王们。藩王们被流放摩洛哥。如愿以偿赶骆驼去了。 跟之前的阿拉伯人的统治不同,这些原教旨主义者对异教徒采取了零容忍态度,或者转信伊斯兰或者被驱逐。安达卢西亚宽容的多民族文化到此终结。文化范儿的皇帝和文人也到此终结。更致命的是本来各个藩王和北方基督教国家签的雇佣合同被终结,断了北方各个基督教小国的财路。 但是就像南北朝时,北方善战的军队一旦度过长江就被六朝金粉腐化迷惑丧失战斗力一样,安达卢西亚对北非来的占领者有着同样的“软化”作用。十二世纪中期开始,被安达卢西亚的奢靡生活软化的Almoravids 被另一支来自摩洛哥的原教旨主义者Almohads给取代了。与此同时北方的基督教国家Leon-Castile, Aragon-Catalonia, Portugal 被养得肥肥的日益强大。安达卢西亚的基督徒被压迫得要造反,原教旨主义者又关闭了基督教国家的财源。天时地利人和。十三世纪开始,基督教国家开始了著名的“收复失地”战争。1236年收复科尔多巴,1238年瓦伦西亚,1248年塞维利亚。 格拉纳达成了残存的摩尔人的最后城府。而且竟然残喘了两个多世纪。格拉纳达之所以这么一枝独秀要归功于城市本身的易守难攻地形,高明的外交手腕和与Castile王国签的不平等条约(每年进贡国库收入的二分之一)。当时基督教各国之间分分合合,Castile王国内部也有各种矛盾,摩洛哥在Almohads之后新兴的Merinids也很强大。格拉纳达就在这些各种各样的亦敌亦友间玩外交战。玩了两百多年后,1453年地中海东岸的奥特曼帝国攻陷了康斯坦丁堡,基督教的圣战徒们反异教徒的呼声达到新高,摩洛哥的Merinids衰落无法出战,连埃及的伊斯兰王国也自顾不暇。格拉纳达孤立无援,他们的出口商品也慢慢被别的安达卢西亚城市蚕食,航运被意大利热那亚人控制,价格被越压越低,经济开始崩溃,国民的税越来越重苦不堪言。1492年一月一日,格林纳达签署了投降协议,开放城门迎进了基督军,摩尔人的皇族被流放到摩洛哥。 摩尔人的西班牙正式谢幕。
伊斯兰 历史 摩尔人 英文 英文版
赭城 豆瓣
所属 作品: 赭城
8.3 (11 个评分) 作者: 田晓菲 江苏人民出版社 2006 - 3
本书通过亲身游历和直接体验西班牙所遗留的古代阿拉伯文化遗产,以及对于古代摩尔人在西班牙的王朝兴替等历史史迹和阿拉伯相关优秀文学遗产的翻译和解读,作者把对西班牙南部历史名城"赭城"的游历变成了一次旅途中的旅途,从现实中的地理的旅行进入了历史与文化的深层文本旅行。并配以相关精美的艺术与历史遗迹的图片,使得本书成了一场活色生香的文字的盛宴。作者少年即负诗名,文字精致老到,译笔(包括散文和诗歌)天衣无缝。实为文字之美的生动展示。
Empires of the Sea 豆瓣
作者: Roger Crowley Random House 2008 - 7
In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic struggle between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world.
In Empires of the Sea , acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written his most mesmerizing work to date–a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiraling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar and features a cast of extraordinary characters: Barbarossa, “The King of Evil,” the pirate who terrified Europe; the risk-taking Emperor Charles V; the Knights of St. John, the last crusading order after the passing of the Templars; the messianic Pope Pius V; and the brilliant Christian admiral Don Juan of Austria.
This struggle’s brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, seven years that witnessed a fight to the finish decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta, in which a tiny band of Christian defenders defied the might of the Ottoman army; the savage battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defense of southern Europe at Lepanto–one of the single most shocking days in world history. At the close of this cataclysmic naval encounter, the carnage was so great that the victors could barely sail away “because of the countless corpses floating in the sea.” Lepanto fixed the frontiers of the Mediterranean world that we know today.
Roger Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality, technology and Inca gold. Empires of the Sea is page-turning narrative history at its best–a story of extraordinary color and incident, rich in detail, full of surprises, and backed by a wealth of eyewitness accounts. It provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilizations.
2018年7月27日 已读
“THE TREATY OF 1580 RECOGNIZED a stalemate between two empires and two worlds. From this moment, the diagonal frontier that ran the length of the Mediterranean between Istanbul and the Gates of Gibraltar hardened. ”
历史 欧洲 穆斯林 英文
1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed 豆瓣 Goodreads
1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed 所属 作品: 文明的崩塌
作者: Eric H. Cline Princeton University Press 2014 - 3
In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the “Sea Peoples” invaded Egypt. The pharaoh’s army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen?
In this major new account of the causes of this “First Dark Ages,” Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries.
A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age—and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece.
2019年8月1日 已读
很不错。推理严谨,干货满满。虽然没有定论但是明白了各种可能。最好的是把自己所知的人类文明退远到公元两千年前!太刺激了!
历史 古代史 英文
Byzantium 豆瓣
所属 作品: 拜占庭
作者: Judith Herrin Princeton University Press 2009 - 9
Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism--gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium--long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium--what it was, and what special significance it holds for us today.
Bringing the latest scholarship to a general audience in accessible prose, Herrin focuses each short chapter around a representative theme, event, monument, or historical figure, and examines it within the full sweep of Byzantine history--from the foundation of Constantinople, the magnificent capital city built by Constantine the Great, to its capture by the Ottoman Turks.
She argues that Byzantium's crucial role as the eastern defender of Christendom against Muslim expansion during the early Middle Ages made Europe--and the modern Western world--possible. Herrin captivates us with her discussions of all facets of Byzantine culture and society. She walks us through the complex ceremonies of the imperial court. She describes the transcendent beauty and power of the church of Hagia Sophia, as well as chariot races, monastic spirituality, diplomacy, and literature. She reveals the fascinating worlds of military usurpers and ascetics, eunuchs and courtesans, and artisans who fashioned the silks, icons, ivories, and mosaics so readily associated with Byzantine art.
An innovative history written by one of our foremost scholars, Byzantium reveals this great civilization's rise to military and cultural supremacy, its spectacular destruction by the Fourth Crusade, and its revival and final conquest in 1453.
2018年10月1日 已读
没看完//刚开始看,很有意思。各种有趣的新鲜事,比方鱼子酱来自拜占庭,阿拉伯穆斯林王国多次与拜占庭合作建清真寺之类。。。
medieval 历史 弃读 英文
Ibn Khaldun 豆瓣
所属 作品: 伊本·赫勒敦
作者: Robert Irwin Princeton University Press 2018 - 1
The definitive account of the life and thought of the medieval Arab genius who wrote the Muqaddima
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world--a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the Muqaddima, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas.
Irwin tells how Ibn Khaldun, who lived in a world decimated by the Black Death, held a long series of posts in the tumultuous Islamic courts of North Africa and Muslim Spain, becoming a major political player as well as a teacher and writer. Closely examining the Muqaddima, a startlingly original analysis of the laws of history, and drawing on many other contemporary sources, Irwin shows how Ibn Khaldun's life and thought fit into historical and intellectual context, including medieval Islamic theology, philosophy, politics, literature, economics, law, and tribal life. Because Ibn Khaldun's ideas often seem to anticipate by centuries developments in many fields, he has often been depicted as more of a modern man than a medieval one, and Irwin's account of such misreadings provides new insights about the history of Orientalism.
In contrast, Irwin presents an Ibn Khaldun who was a creature of his time—a devout Sufi mystic who was obsessed with the occult and futurology and who lived in an often-strange world quite different from our own.
2018年8月1日 已读
终于翻完了!看完之后对Ibn Khaldun的著作一点兴趣都没有。但是看到他这种千人千面的特性还是很佩服的。简直就是大力丸,包治百病。:) //看到43页,第三章。感觉在读阿拉伯版的魏晋南北朝史。。。
伊斯兰 传记 历史 英文
香识 豆瓣
所属 作品: 香识
作者: 扬之水 广西师范大学出版社 2011 - 8
《香识》为京城才女扬之水的品香之作,兼论香诗与香事,分“莲花香炉和宝子”、“香合”、“两宋香炉源流”、“印香与印香炉”、“宋人的沉香”、“龙涎真品与龙涎香品”、“琉璃瓶与蔷薇水”七篇,主题集中,考论精练,彩图丰富,香味四溢,令文人小资倾羡。
2019年4月14日 已读
真好看,从银叶隔火,到北方(先秦)时的雁香炉到南北朝后出现的熏香小鸭,到薰衣时要有水汽混合香气,让衣物的香味长久。。。长知识
历史 古典 名物 物质生活 随笔
武则天 豆瓣
所属 作品: 武则天
8.8 (5 个评分) 作者: (日)原百代 译者: 谭继山 / 高阳 中国友谊出版公司 1985
日本女作家原百代花了十一年的时间写成了《武则天》,书成时已七十高龄。为了写此书,她自学汉语,读懂弄通了《新唐书》、《旧唐书》、《资治通鉴》、《大唐西域记》以及全唐诗和演义小说。她因此书获得了日本"女性文化大奖"。本书极为翔实的记录了武则天从入宫到统治结束,乃至韦后之乱,太平公主自尽直至唐玄宗继位这一中国封建历史上女性政治活动的最高潮。本书的主要事件都按照史料记叙写作,戏说成分极少,不但有小说的意趣,作者原百代也在一些事件上面提出了自己的见解,因此也有很高的史学价值。
译者序:在中国的帝王史上,武则天是一位杰出的帝王;在中国的女权运动史上,武则天更是一位不让须眉,光辉千古的女性。于是,有人褒她、贬她;有人羡慕她、嫉妒她。关于她的政治生命及宫廷生活,更有种种不同的传说。然而,多数的记载及流传,都只从某一个角度去看她,而未能从整个历史背景,及她周围的环境,以及人性个不可抹煞的矛盾与挣扎,勾绘出她诡谲多变,昂然傲然的一生,使这位千古的奇女子活生生地重现在我们的眼前。
本书的作者原百代,集一生的学养与精力,综合了古今的论据,以时代为经,事件为纬,谨慎细密,又不失趣味地写成了这部《武则天》,一时轰动了日本文坛。此书兼有正史的正确与批判,野史的妙意与趣味,可当传记看,可当史料看,更是一部令人不忍释手的文学佳构。不同的读者,都可从不同的角度,在本书中得到他自己的需要、满足与快乐。译者在翻译此书时,也本着作者初衷,尽量保持书中的旨趣,除了求其正确之外,更重视笔调的流畅,趣味的保持,若仍存疏失之处,还请读者诸君不吝指正!
2019年4月2日 已读
非常感谢原百代还原武则天的真面貌。治理唐朝五十年,精力充沛脑筋清楚不拘泥教条。前卫厉害得简直就是唐朝的RBG! 原百代简明扼要讲述了初唐史(从贞观之治到开元之治)。唯一没讲到的大概只有赋税了。真好看!
中文 历史
罗马人的故事1 豆瓣
所属 作品: 罗马人的故事1
8.2 (66 个评分) 作者: 盐野七生 译者: 计丽屏 中信出版社 2011
罗马人,智力不如希腊人,体力不如高卢人,技术不如埃特鲁利亚人,经济不如迦太基人,但为何却能一一打败对手,建立并维持庞大的罗马帝国?
《罗马不是一天建成的》作为系列作品中的第一部,讲述的是罗马从建国到第一次、第二次布匿战争之前的五百年间的历史。这是一个饱经苦难的漫长岁月里的故事,即使在它的鼎盛时期,它都时常处于进一步退半步的状态。罗马后来之所以能成就大业的重要原因,基本上就是在这五百年间萌芽的。就好像一个人在青少年时期积蓄起来的力量到了三十而立之年才开始了解其真正的价值一样。
罗马人的故事2 豆瓣
所属 作品: 罗马人的故事2
8.9 (43 个评分) 作者: 盐野七生 译者: 计丽屏 中信出版社 2012 - 1
《罗马人的故事2:汉尼拔战记》以战争为题材,描述130年间罗马称霸地中海的历史,公元前218年—公元前202年,汉尼拔从西班牙率军,翻越阿尔卑斯山,进攻意大利本土,历时16年的战争,双方八回合的交战,难分难解。最终西阿庇击败盖世名将汉尼拔。令人击掌称快的战争场面,胜利逆转的精彩情节,引人思索。战争人反映类的思维和行为方式。为什么知识优越的希腊人、军事力量强大的迦太基人最后会败给罗马人?
海报:
2019年5月15日 已读
横空出世的天才军事家汉尼拔终究抵不过生生不息的罗马政体为核心的战争机器的车轮战,最后又碰到虚心学习的天才学生西庇阿(Scipio)。最终结果竟然是汉尼拔刺激了罗马的霸权腾飞,埋下迦太基最终灭亡的种子。。。真是唏嘘。Hannibal 和Scipio战后在Ephesus那次对话很有意思。
中文 历史 盐野七生 罗马
罗马人的故事3 豆瓣
所属 作品: 罗马人的故事3
8.8 (33 个评分) 作者: [日本] 盐野七生 译者: 刘锐 中信出版社 2012 - 3
无论多么强大的国家,都不可能持续保持长久的国泰民安。即使没有来自外敌的威胁,也会出现产生于内部的敌人。这就如同人体一样,强健的体魄可以抵御外来疾病的入侵,但是内脏器官的疾患,却会制约身体的健康成长,并使人饱受折磨。
公元前二世纪中叶,受到罗马霸权扩张到地中海全境的刺激,罗马经济结构发生剧变。一方面,骑士阶级兴起,失业人口增加,贫富差距日益扩大;另一方面,由元老院所主导的寡头政体,在面临汉尼拔战争的危机时,高度发挥机能,权力不断集中,而开启“平民派”与“元老院派”抗争的世纪。作者以人物和事件交错的叙述方式,突显公元前133年~前63年这个革命动荡的世纪。成功是必须付出代价的,成为霸者之后罗马人的种种困境与混乱,值得经营现代生活的你我深切反思。
2019年5月15日 已读
明白了为什么评论家批评盐野保守。她颠覆了我对“共和罗马”和帝制罗马的成见。原来西塞罗等为首的所谓“元老院”派试图保留的所谓“共和”只是当时既得利益者的寡头们的利益。而凯撒为首的想把罗马贫富分化的问题缓和一下。。。而这一切都是汉尼拔战争(第二次布匿战争)胜利后种下的祸根,或者说是汉尼拔促成了共和的必然灭亡。。。目瞪口呆,我得缓缓去。。。
中文 历史 古罗马 盐野七生
风雅宋 豆瓣
7.6 (5 个评分) 作者: 吴钩 新民说 | 广西师范大学出版社 2018 - 6
▼内容简介
本书是讲述宋朝“风雅”生活的一本趣味图书。作者从宋画这一新颖角度入手,结合文献记载和前人研究成果,揭示了宋朝“风雅”生活的若干侧面,将宋人起居饮食、焚香点茶、赶集贸易、赏春游园、上朝议事的生活图景活灵活现地展现在读者面前,展现了宋朝特有的社会风貌和时代精神。 书稿分为六辑,第一辑讲述宋人的日常生活;第二辑讲述宋朝文人的雅玩与雅趣;第三辑描述宋朝的社会百态;第四辑介绍宋朝的城市公共设施;第五辑侧重于呈现宋朝的商业繁华;第六辑则考证了宋朝政治生活中的礼仪问题。在史料运用方便,作者通过检索数百幅宋画,还原了宋朝人物的生活景象,同时还以少量宋朝壁画、砖刻、出土文物、文书实物作为补充,以及少数唐画、明画、清画作为参照,以做到相互映证、比对。
▼编辑推荐

本书从宋画的角度呈现出别开生面、活色生香的“风雅”宋朝

本书精选360多张宋代写实画作,展示宋人起居饮食、焚香点茶、赶集贸易、赏春游园、上朝议事等“风雅”生活图景,带您领略独特、前卫的大宋风采……

本书是一部图文并茂、通俗有趣的宋代社会生活史作品。作者切入的角度非常独特,他认为宋画呈现了一个比文字记载更为生动的历史世界,让我们得以近距离观赏到一个别开生面、活色生香的“风雅”宋。书中精选了具有写实功能的宋代画作,展示了宋人起居饮食、焚香点茶、赶集贸易、赏春游园、上朝议事等“风雅”生活图景,其间不乏对宋代风俗礼仪的细致考证,以及横向或纵向的比较,从而展现了宋代文明的独特性、颇为前卫的一面和对后世绵延不绝的影响力。
2019年10月28日 已读
刚看了五十页,宠物钓鱼竿到牙刷,以宋画宋诗词及各种杂文做数据,宋朝日常很有趣啊
历史 文化
中国思想与宗教的奔流:宋朝 豆瓣
中国思想と宗教の奔流 所属 作品: 中国思想与宗教的奔流:宋朝
7.6 (22 个评分) 作者: [日] 小岛毅 译者: 何晓毅 广西师范大学出版社 2014 - 1
本书为讲谈社《中国的历史》中的“宋朝”一卷。全书渐次展开的十章,大体上可以分为三个板块:开端的四章,依照历史的时序,概述了公元9世纪末到13世纪政治史的基本历程。继而进入本书最为核心的内容,以三章的篇幅,讨论这一时段中“思想与宗教的奔流”:作者分别从思想和宗教的变迁、士大夫群体和社会精神、科学和技术革新等角度阐释了“奔流”的意涵。接下来的两章,介绍两宋的文化潮流、普通民众的日常生活,通过延伸性的观察,让人们体味到“思想与宗教”养育蕴蓄的氛围环境与承载体。第十章则是宋代历史的结束,也是全书概观式的收束。
本书内容涉及到政治史、经济史、社会史、学术史、艺术史等纷纭丰富的议题,体现着日本学界具有代表性的中坚力量对于宋代历史的“再认识”。
2019年9月4日 已读
用律管来决定质量衡,用音的高低来决定长度计量单位的方法太让人震惊了。再有就是宋对日本古文化的影响:茶道,抹茶,禅宗。很有意思
中文 历史
宫崎市定中国史 豆瓣
所属 作品: 宫崎市定中国史
7.3 (20 个评分) 作者: [日本] 宫崎市定 译者: 焦堃 / 瞿柘如 浙江人民出版社 2015 - 11
宫崎市定毕生致力于中国史的研究与教学,在众多领域都有创见,被认为代表着日本中国史研究的最高水平。本书是他积四十年研究与教学经验、面向普通读者的结晶之作,以世界史眼光和社会经济史视角为特色,拥有平易的文风和明快的思维,能把精致的实证研究与大气恢弘的通史叙述紧密结合,集中体现了他的研究成果和特色。
精湛深厚的京都东洋史学风、与国内学界形成鲜明对照的思路与视角;对于书中涉及的方方面面,几乎都曾做过专门的研究;将中国置于世界史的进程之中,以“景气史观”阐述盛衰兴亡;几乎从不引经据典,论述全凭记忆力与洞察力;三百余个小标题和平均八百字的篇幅,形成独立又贯通的易读结构;愉快而酣畅的叙述,只为唤起普通读者的兴趣。这一切使这部中国通史具有了深厚的学派底蕴、强烈的个人风格、全新的启发性和的可读性。
2019年9月11日 已读
关于东西方历史所有心里的疑问猜测怀疑都得到了解答应证和梳理。一路读来各种草灰蛇线都有了结局,各种的恍然大悟,各种积累下来的心结都被打开铺平。阅读体验一流爽!//西亚到东亚再回到欧洲的文艺复兴传播途径一说太有意思了!
中文 历史 日本汉学
宫崎市定人物论 豆瓣
中国史の名君と宰相 所属 作品: 宫崎市定人物论
6.8 (9 个评分) 作者: [日] 宫崎市定 译者: 林千早 浙江人民出版社 2018 - 4
★史学泰斗、“汉学诺贝尔奖”儒莲奖得主 知人论世力作
★皇帝 名臣 财阀 儒家 文人 画家 盗贼……
★以司马迁之磅礴笔力,重现历史叙述的摄人心魄
★读懂中国史,从读懂这些人开始
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以深厚的史学功底为基础,以独特的视角、生动的文风,对中国古代史上“最有料”的人物之魅力、功罪和时代进行描绘,抽丝剥茧般的分析与想象力飞扬的叙事融合无间,重现了司马迁以降摄人心魄的历史叙述。
宫崎市定毕生致力于中国史的研究与教学,治学方法与中国“知人论世”的史学传统如符若契,又对司马迁顶礼膜拜,晚年曾计划将“人物论”的代表作品《史记·列传》全译为日文。
本书正是宫崎本人的“人物论”,也是他的著作中最为通俗好读的一部,收录了他在漫长的研究生涯中重点关注过的人物,包括“大帝与名君”(秦始皇、汉武帝、隋炀帝、康熙、雍正),“乱世宰相”(李斯、冯道、贾似道),“资本家与地方官”(晋阳李氏、宋江、蓝鼎元),“儒家与文人”(孔子、朱子、张溥、石涛),涵盖各个时代和阶层,极具代表性。
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宫崎市定先生是东洋史学界的巨擘。他对中国史书有广阔博通的视野,研究对象涉及中国史的全部时代,以及政治、经济、文化、东西交流史等所有领域。通过个别的实证研究,先生对中国史重新系统地加以认识,并将之置于世界史的发展中……能将精密的个案实证研究与阔达雄浑的通史叙述紧密结合,堪称稀有。
——岩波书店
宫崎市定以及京都学派的中国史观确实应当重新认识,作为杰出的亚洲史学者,宫崎市定的视野常常超越中国,而涵盖了整个“东洋”即亚洲。
——复旦大学 葛兆光
宫崎市定先生是国外学界中为数不多的对于中国历史文化具有通识的学者,而且其通识是以实证为根基,以亚洲和西洋为参照的。
——北京大学 刘俊文
2019年11月12日 已读
明代的人物写的又细致又有意思从石涛到张浦。。。//迷上汉密尔顿之前在看,看到60%。不错,有点太短了,意犹未尽。好像读陈寅恪的文章。。。
中国历史 中文 历史 日本汉学
The Song of Achilles 豆瓣
所属 作品: The Song of Achilles
7.7 (20 个评分) 作者: Madeline Miller Ecco 2012 - 3
Greece in the age of Heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is nobody, just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. Achilles, 'best of all the Greeks', is everything Patroclus is not - strong, beautiful, the child of a goddess - and by all rights their paths should never cross. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his wing and soon their tentative companionship gives way to a steadfast friendship. As they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something far deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel and deathly pale sea goddess with a hatred of mortals. Fate is never far from the heels of Achilles. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to the hands of Fate. Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.
2021年12月23日 已读
很喜欢后半部,从rage of achiles部分开始。感谢作者给了Braises和Patroclus 声音和故事。
历史 英文