Diana Preston

5803. Eight Days at Yalta How Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin Shaped the Post-War World, by Diana Preston (read 10 Oct 2022)..This book was published in 2019 so can look at Yalta more objectively, having the benefit of hindsight. I found the subject very familiar, having lived through all the events and was very conscious of them, as they happened, and of the intense discussion of them in 1945. In large part, I found the treatment very fair and I often agreed with the author. She tells in great detail of the events of the eight days and of the events thereafter. She shows that FDR and Churchill did the best that was doable and that if Stalin had lived up to what he agreed to the postwar world would have been far better than it turned out to be. And one can take some solace in the fact that the Soviet world did eventually collapse and at least briefly the Russian bear behaved as it should have I don't think the evil that Putin is perpetrating can be blamed on Yalta. The book is consistently great reading and is an excellent refresher as to the events recounted… (more)

I looked for and read this book because I am reading [b:Viet Nam: A History from Earliest Times to the Present|12781033|Viet Nam A History from Earliest Times to the Present|Ben Kiernan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1481145095l/12781033._SY75_.jpg|17927532] by [a:Ben Kiernan|34255|Ben Kiernan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]. Reference is made to Dampier and his descriptions of Tonquin (now Viet Nam) and it's people and culture on his visit their in the 1680s. I am also familiar with Dampier from Glyn Williams' excellent book, [b:Naturalists at Sea: Scientific Travellers from Dampier to Darwin|17802943|Naturalists at Sea Scientific Travellers from Dampier to Darwin|Glyn Williams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1366556143l/17802943._SX50_.jpg|24904614].

This is an excellent biography of Dampier and the authors have really done their homework into his life and experiences.

It is an entertaining and well-written book that I had no hesitation picking up every night. The only reason I did not finish it sooner is because I am splitting my time right now between a couple of 500 page books.… (more)

A Pirate of Exquisite Mind says it all, Dampier straddled 16th century privateers like Francis Drake, and enlightened explorers of the 18th century like Captain Cook, a bit of both. This book was written by a husband and wife team who travelled the world in his footsteps, it feels like being there in exotic mostly tropical locations with lush descriptions of nature (since hugely degraded). It's hard to recapture the magic of landing on beaches and walking in forests as a European for the first time, the sense of infinite potential opening, but that does come across at times. Dampier live an action-filled life enough for 10 people. Remarkable life, times and book.… (more)