Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa.
I’ve just been chillin’ with family the past week or so. My brother got home from Paris recently and my sisters arrive in town, from Utah, sometime this weekend.
I’ve been browsing through the Bismark section of Kissinger’s Diplomacy, as well as the Bismark sections of Ozment’s A Mighty Fortress and Tipton’s A History of Modern Germany Since 1815. I’m trying to get a feel not so much for the man himself but for how he created a federal state out of many and called it Germany. I would welcome recommendations on this topic.
I’ve also been reading the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. There is not enough gratuitous sex and violence for me to recommend the series (in fact there has been no sex at all in the series so far, and I’m about halfway through the second book), but the story line has hooked me enough that I’ll read through the entire trilogy. I think I’m done with fantasy though. I mentioned that I read the A Song of Ice and Fire series and really liked it, but apparently that series is considered an anomaly of sorts within the fantasy genre. A damn shame.
Notes On Liberty 
have fun!
Reblogged this on bertpowers.
You shouldn’t have John!
Branden, I’m not a Bismarck expert, or an expert on the German history of that time, but I have read a couple of books that might be helpful for you. 1. *Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Blecihroder and the Building of the German Empire* (1979) by Fritz Stern. Bleichroder was the major private financier of the Prussian monarchy and then the German Empire and as he was Jewish provides a useful focus for discussion of Bismark’s/Prussian attitudes towards Jews, as well providing a focus for the financial history of the period, financial history in a very broad context. 2. *The Iron Kingdom, The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947* (2008) by Christopher Clark a well known general history of Prussia which has full cover of Bismarck and unification.
Excellent. Thanks for the heads up Dr Stocker!