Traveling is a great way to learn. Every new city visited is a deeper insight into the region’s past and why it developed as it did. We traveled from Shanghai to Seattle by land and sea, and all the while reading. While the books did not always reflect the location we were in, they were insightful in different ways along our journey and helped to paint a more clear picture of the past, and explain why some areas we visited were in poverty and others in plenty. History is the only real explanation for how diverse and varied our species is, and its an amazing story more fascinating than fiction.
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A Peace to End All Peace, by David Fromkin. This telling Pulitzer price book finalist tells of the causes of World War I (on the Eastern front between 1914 and 1922) and how the policies before, during and after the conflict have resulted in the most tumultuous area on the planet– the Middle East. The book begins with a young Winston Churchill visiting the Bosporus and concluding that any army hoping to take the Ottoman Empire would only have to control the Aegean. This thought came to fruition later in Churchill’s life as he sent British troops during WWI up the straights in a failed attempt to destroy the Ottoman Empire and end the war. It is shocking how daringly close the plan came to success. The war rages on and the Ottoman Empire collapses, and is ruled eventually by Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal). They gain in power and reinforce the German’s advances, further prolonging the war on all fronts. Eventually the dust settles to reveal the Central Powers have been defeated, but what is less commonly known is that each government in the Allied Powers Alliance has fallen and their internal opposition parties came to power. Essentially, those who began the war were replaced in all cases except Germany, and the mission and goals of the war changed dramatically as a result of new voices in the arena post fighting. Thus, new faces sat around the table deciding how to divide winnings and the states of Iraq, Iran, Jordan and Lebanon were formed, and the Israeli homeland question was raised. The Allied Powers promised a homeland to the Israelites and set about making it happen, not knowing the cultural and religious currents they would stir in so doing with neighboring Arabs. This book explains the root causes of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict, as well as why modern Turkey is so different from other Muslim countries. This book does not touch on the wars in Iraq (Desert Storm of Operation Iraqi Freedom) or 9/11 or Afghanistan.
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Guests of the Ayatollah, by Mark Bowden. This book about the Iran Hostage Crisis read like an adventure novel, but was in fact very well researched. Bowden interviewed countless survivors, read everything he could get his hands on about the Iranian student’s movements, and fully explains the reasons why Muslims dislike Americans. For an American, this book is almost a must-read simply because Bowden is able to get inside the minds of the students who took the American Embassy hostage, and reveals their motives, desires and, years later, what happened to these children. His subtitle is: “The First Battle in the West’s War with Militant Islam,” and Bowden explains why the hostage crisis was a precursor to events that transpired later between the Muslims and the West, and why westerners often fail to fully grasp the rationale and motivations of those militant Muslims in places like Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.
These are just two examples. Other historical books we’ve read and would happily and confidently recommend to any history or travel buff are : Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, by Peter Hopkirk; Afghanistan, by Stephen Tanner; and Charlie Wilson’s War, by George Crile. If it seems all these books represent a trend, then you are an astute reader my friend. We’ve been traveling through predominately Muslim countries, and our books of choice reflect a desire to better understand the historical context of our culture clashes. We are historians, so naturally our interest in understanding the present lead us to the past. At any rate, all of these books were also page-turners that we think almost anyone could easily enjoy.
If you live or vacation in Southern – Central Texas, this is especially important to all the winter Texans, take a short drive North of Brownsville to visit the Palo Alto Battlefield. Easy to find and only taking an hour or so see, the Palo Alto Museum was a refreshing overview of sometimes forgotten American, and Mexican, history. The quaint museum displays artifacts from the battlefield as well as detailed information regarding political debate on the subject before, during, and after the war. There are uniforms, guns, cannon balls, maps, and pictures, but if you museumed’ out, you can watch the PBS video on the battle of Palo Alto, which gives a great overview of the battle as well as the museum.
The museum argued that the first battle of the Mexican – American War (Palo Alto) was provoked by President Polk, who had his mind set on the acquisition and extension of the United States to the Western seaboard. According to what we saw at the Palo Alto Museum, after skirmishes and heated debate over Texas, the United States, and the Mexican border was ongoing in congress. Polk himself declared the Rio Grand as the border, although it was not recognized as the official border by either side. When Mexican General Mariano Arista crossed the river with his 3,400 troops, it was portrayed as an invasion by Polk politicians and Zachary Taylor, sent by President Polk earlier to further stir up Mexican fear of a U.S. invasion, moved towards ‘Fort Texas.’ The front line, still visible today, stretched over one mile. The terrain made any type of charge suicide so Taylor used new artillery tactics called ‘flying artillery’ to fire once and relocate the artillery to fire against any flanking attempts by the enemy. The U.S. was unaware of their artillery’s devastation until morning when they discovered that General Arista had pulled out and left over 100 casualties behind in the field. The American artillery used newer explosive cannon balls which shot shards of shrapnel all around the impact area. The Mexican army, on the other hand, used older (non- impact – explosive) weapons and artillery.
General Taylor was ordered to push forward and invaded Fort Brown (modern day Brownsville) and Matamoros before pushing deep into Mexican territory, eventually all the way to Mexico city. In two short years, Polk had negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico in which Mexico lost over half its land to the United States and the US pushed its borders down to the Rio Grand in Texas as well as purchased what is now California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah for 15 million USD (about 370 million in 2009). You can walk through the snake infested trails of Palo Alto in amazement at the epicenter of what would eventually lead to the the largest expansion of the United States since the Louisiana Purchase. A highly worthwhile and recommended visit for anyone who appreciates history, especially the less well known aspects.
