Why I Like History

As usual, I'm reading two books at once. This time it is The Barbarian Nurseries, written by Hector Tobar of The Times, recommended by Natalie; the other book is Hitlerland, written by Andrew Nagorski, who we saw at the recent Times Festival of Books.  A novel and a history book. This is a good combination for me because it underscores to me my preferences in books. 
The Barbarian Nurseries is well written. It does what a novel is supposed to do, tells a story. There are problems, there is human silliness (things that happen because too many assumptions are made), there is a resolution. A thick slice of some interesting lives. And really, I'm enjoying it. But it isn't my favorite kind of book.


Now, Hitlerland. Num. Nagorski writes about a part of history we all know well, some maybe more than others. He does the thing I love, he writes about the people who are slightly peripheral to the big story. These are Americans who were in Germany between the wars. They meet Hitler, they see the Brown Shirts. They even see Jews or people who associate with Jews being brutalized. So interesting. But I realized the thing I like best is that I know the ending to this story. Maybe not the ending to every individual highlighted in this story. But I do know how WWII ended. I don't have to listen to the end of the book to know how it turns out. I can just hear every individual's story and enjoy it as it comes. 


Those who know me well know that I read the ends of books all the time. The semi-official rule is that I need to have read/listened to at least 1/4 of the book so I know most of the cast of characters. Then, once I know the end, I can go back to hear how we got there. That is particularly true of mysteries. But there is no mystery in history. We might all have different interpretations of historical events, but the outcome is usually pretty clear. 


So, hurray to Hitlerland, The War to End All Wars, and 1861. I've finished the last two and I'm close to done on the first one. All excellent. All about the people who impacted history or were impacted by it rolling over them. And I didn't read the end first with any of them.