Kurt wrote:Lost Boy wrote:Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger.
That is one thing I realize I know nothing about other than it happened.
Unlike others in Quarantine I have found reading books to be just as easy or easier than before.
Right now I am reading The Secret World: A History of Intelligence by Christopher Andrew. It's big and since it references other points in history without going into great detail about them (like The Frond before the reign of Louis XIV ) It takes a while.
What I thought was the most interesting part of it (so far) was that in the mid 1600's the Mughals, Chinese, Ottomans, and Persians were all much more powerful than any country in Europe. They had more intelligence on us than we had on them, in fact some of "us" where still thinking that we could find a shortcut to "them". When the superpowers of that time discovered that the west was settling a "New Land" they thought we were idiots. They could take land that was ancient, cultivated and had a history of producing wealth and being able to muster armies. They let "us" have a few trading outposts here and there like the Mughals allowed the Portuguese to use Goa, but really there attitude was "they are stupid, smelly and the more they focus on the New World and fighting one another for it and their weird sectarian wars then they will eventually need the Ottoman's to restore peace"
The Mughals never would have guessed that within 100 years the Brits, who they had hardly been aware of, would be in control of their old puppets, or that the Qing Dynasty would be carved apart in 200 years, partially by the New Land that they mocked, and eventually the political system that lasted started in 200 BCE would be destroyed.
That also made me realize I have not read any History or literature from Persia, especially ancient Persia. Just what the Greeks wrote about. If anyone has any advice where I should start on this I would appreciate it.
After reading Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates, I recommend reading The Red Cliffs of Zerhoun, by Matthew Bracken.