Recent reading
Sep. 7th, 2022 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaWomen, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe by John A. Lynn (2008)
This is fic research, to check whether I got anything seriously wrong in the story where Alison goes with the army in the ’45. I think my story is basically all right, although the focus of the book is not officers’ wives, but working class women, who of course made up the majority of women in armies. I'm going to write out a fuller account of this book forcahn’s salon, but just as a short summary: in the 16th and about half of the 17th century, there were about as many women as there were men in armies, though the women weren't soldiers. The reason is that state capacity was poor, so the state could not supply the logistical needs of armies or indeed pay them, so they were forced to supply food and other needs by means of plunder, often in the countries they were fighting for. Women formed an important part of this war economy: they took part in the plundering and organized the results of plunder. As state capacity grew stronger, the state took over the supply of armies so they didn't have to plunder, and cut down on the number of women in armies. Wow, it seems to have been so much better to be a civilian in time of war in the 18th century than 100-200 years before. This is, of course, why the treatment of the Highlands in the '45 was shocking to many people; it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow during the Thirty Years' War.
I was out hiking last weekend! I am hiking the trails running up Sweden's west coast, a little bit at a time, and the weather was lovely for it. I'm very satisfied with my camping gear, which is light enough that my backpack feels easy to carry. This is what I listened to while walking:
Persuasion by Jane Austen (1818)
I hadn't done a reread of this one in quite some time, and I quite enjoyed it. I recommend the Librivox recording that I linked to--the reader is very good! I do enjoy the book as a romance, and I like being in Anne's head, but it also really struck me how un-conservative it is: the characters who care about rank are portrayed as selfish, vain, and conceited, or purely unscrupulous in Mr Elliott’s case, and Frederick Wentworth is not born with rank or riches but rose in the navy by his own merits.
This is fic research, to check whether I got anything seriously wrong in the story where Alison goes with the army in the ’45. I think my story is basically all right, although the focus of the book is not officers’ wives, but working class women, who of course made up the majority of women in armies. I'm going to write out a fuller account of this book for
cahn’s salon, but just as a short summary: in the 16th and about half of the 17th century, there were about as many women as there were men in armies, though the women weren't soldiers. The reason is that state capacity was poor, so the state could not supply the logistical needs of armies or indeed pay them, so they were forced to supply food and other needs by means of plunder, often in the countries they were fighting for. Women formed an important part of this war economy: they took part in the plundering and organized the results of plunder. As state capacity grew stronger, the state took over the supply of armies so they didn't have to plunder, and cut down on the number of women in armies. Wow, it seems to have been so much better to be a civilian in time of war in the 18th century than 100-200 years before. This is, of course, why the treatment of the Highlands in the '45 was shocking to many people; it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow during the Thirty Years' War. I was out hiking last weekend! I am hiking the trails running up Sweden's west coast, a little bit at a time, and the weather was lovely for it. I'm very satisfied with my camping gear, which is light enough that my backpack feels easy to carry. This is what I listened to while walking:
Persuasion by Jane Austen (1818)
I hadn't done a reread of this one in quite some time, and I quite enjoyed it. I recommend the Librivox recording that I linked to--the reader is very good! I do enjoy the book as a romance, and I like being in Anne's head, but it also really struck me how un-conservative it is: the characters who care about rank are portrayed as selfish, vain, and conceited, or purely unscrupulous in Mr Elliott’s case, and Frederick Wentworth is not born with rank or riches but rose in the navy by his own merits.
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Date: 2022-09-07 10:44 pm (UTC)Today I'm going out to buy gear for the Antarctica trip, since all my Scottish hiking gear is way out of date. Am expecting to come back in a state of reeling shock, and a good deal lighter in the bank account.
Persuasion is my favourite of all her novels, for that among other reasons. Have you read Jane Austen: The Secret Radical, by Helena Kelly? I don't5 agree with allthat she postulates, but I reckon that chapter is spot-on.
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Date: 2022-09-09 08:25 pm (UTC)Pride and Prejudice is my favorite, and Persuasion my second favorite! No, I haven't read that book, but thanks for the rec.
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Date: 2022-09-10 12:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2022-09-11 05:42 pm (UTC)Is that for horseriding over the plains? : D Never heard this brand name...
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Date: 2022-09-12 02:20 am (UTC)https://www.rohan.co.uk/
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Date: 2022-09-08 02:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-09 08:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-08 04:47 pm (UTC)I am always meaning to re-read some more Jane Austen—I'm sure I'll get round to it eventually, and Persuasion is a very good one. That's an interesting point about the anti-snobbishness.
I was just about to recommend this lovely f!Frederick fic, but opening it to link I see your name is already on the kudos list. :D
Aww, and the hiking sounds lovely.
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Date: 2022-09-10 07:18 am (UTC)