I opted for the audio version of Dan Carlin's new book because I have more time to listen during my commute than I have to read, in general, during the rest of my day. I think fans of Hardcore History will enjoy this. Dan's delivery is less conversational, of course, because he's reading, but he does an excellent job of putting the information across and making it compelling.
The scope of this book is more broad than a typical Hardcore History topic - and touches on many things covered in past podcasts, but in different ways. The early parts of the book deal with the end of the Bronze Age, the fall of the Roman Empire, the impact of plagues throughout history, and others, and then moves on to modern age concerns about "ending it all" with nuclear weapons.
As Dan Carlin refers to himself, he's a fan of history, not a historian. Well, I'm a fan of history but far less well-read than him. I think one of his strong points is that he presents facts - or maybe "viewpoints" is more accurate - from different sources and isn't trying to push an agenda. He's good about presenting many varied sources and using quotes from historical figures and historians to flesh out the work. He essentially plays devil's advocate for issues such as the ethics of using nuclear weapons to end WWII.
Dan Carlin does an excellent job of condensing and coalescing sources to present a fascinating big picture. This book is entertaining, well written and informative, and perhaps most important - it's thought-provoking. If we want to call this "pop history" that's fine with me. I love history but dry, uninspired historical texts are why many people say they "hate" history. This isn't fluff, though, by any means. If you want to spend time considering the ethics of dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the context of the ongoing campaign of extensive firebombing that had been hitting Japan in the months prior to those events, well, Dan will get you thinking.
I appreciate Dan's (I can't help but think of him as "Dan") ability to condense and coalesce lots of sources to bring together a big picture. Over the years his delivery has improved and he has a flare for the dramatic - which is not to say that he's over-the-top, but his voice is emotive and he presents his well-researched material in a way that I always find compelling.
As a first book I think this is a challenging, broad and fascinating effort. I want Dan to write more, but I want him to put out more podcasts....but I want him to write more...but I want him to put out more podcasts....the true dilemma of the Hardcore History fan.
I look forward to his next book and his next podcast episode.
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Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Kunde
Great read for history hobbyist
Reviewed in Germany on November 26, 2023Djilly L.
Lacks Dan’s voice and intonation
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2020
Djilly L.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2020
I feel close to him even though I know very little about the baseball cap-wearing author. It’s because for many years I have been fascinated by his long-form monologues that are only released a couple of times per year - the longest goes on for over 9 hours! Most of Dan Carlin’s audio work I’ve heard several times by now. Ghosts of the Ostfront and the episode about Anabaptists are my personal favourites that I would highly recommend listening to if you own, or plan to read this book. Even though it’s very US-centric I also appreciate his political Common Sense podcast, that he unfortunately mothballed.
This book is essentially about the decline of civilisations and the disintegration of economic/political systems. Each chapter studies a historical disaster, its origins and examines the likelihood of reoccurrence. The book will transport the reader through a sequence of historic periods. It is mostly top down-history, as opposed to bottom-up little facts and details, that will force you to think about how the course of history could have been very different.
The overall message I guess is that most of us have an inherited (and evolutionary-required) optimistic bias. However catastrophic events have happened and will happen. The recent pandemic experience has made it clear to everyone that despite an unusual stretch of peace and property a stable, safe and sheltered existence could turn around quite rapidly.
Obviously I very much appreciate the author’s insights, his excellent, unique and passionate manner of story telling and how he manages to intertwine history with philosophy and human behaviour. Dan does thorough research on each topic, then presents his findings in a nuanced manner. However he doesn’t provide answers, he rather puts things in perspective and asks intriguing questions. I love the approach but I should perhaps warn that the author’s narrative usually requires some thought and concentration.
The individual events in the book aren’t very closely tied together except for the general narrative on top about how things could change. Moreover compared to his many hours of audio work this book is merely an overview. More like a written ‘best of’ collection of his podcasts; the Bronze age collapse, the Assyrians, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Black Death ect. The drawback of this approach is is that most topics are only touched on the surface while for the book I had expected the author to dive a little deeper into each specific topics. Yet whenever the book actually its distracts a little from the broader message. Also like all teachers and mentors Dan tends to repeat certain issues and views that are dear to him. For example nuclear war and mutual assured destruction is one of his recurring themes. So most of the topic and thoughts were familiar to me and I didn’t find the book as thought-provoking as it should be to others.
Nevertheless, it is a book that is worth reading. And I’m glad I could add it to my extensive collection of history books. Similar to some of my other favourite podcasters I would buy his book both out of interest and to support the author. Certainly in Dan Carlin’s case who has been my moral compass and guiding light in the undercroft of history for many years. As such I’m thoroughly biased in my review of this book but have nevertheless tried to provide an objective view.
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Numinar
This is a book about stuff that Dan Carlin likes to talk about. It's very cool.
Reviewed in Australia on October 25, 2020