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[Sharpiefan]

I feel it is my sad duty, dear fellow Horatians, to inform you that Professor Richard Holmes has died. He was a great historian: able to inform the uninformed in a way which didn't simply gloss over things but explained them. I first read his Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket about eight years ago, and it was possibly the first non-fiction, reference-type, of book that I have read literally from end to end, as though reading a novel.

Richard Holmes, 1946-2011 May you rest in peace.

SF

[juliet]

Oh, no. 65 is too soon. I agree with you about Redcoats, Sharpie. I read it right through, and have gone back to it so many times since, as well as his Wellington bio. And I own the dvd of the terrific series he did on the American Revolution. He will be missed.

As a side note related to British historians of "our" period, I saw that the Today Show had Andrew Roberts (Napoleon and Wellington on as one of their royals "experts" during the Royal wedding. Anyone else make the connection?

Jules

[AnneElliot]

Okay, I see where this is now.  I went looking after Jules tipped me off on another thread.  I did not realize this was the same author I am now reading. 

The Age of Wonder is really great.  The NY Times gave it a great review and stated with this book he had essentially framed and named a unique era in science history. It caught my attention because of the great review and it is about the late 18th-early 19th century in science. A writer with the knack for great readable non-fiction is hard to find, and it sounds like he had it over many books.
Something from this book:
"Romanticism as a cultural force is generally regarded as intensely hostile to science, its ideal of subjectivity eternally opposed to that of scientific objectivity. But I do not believe this was always the case, or that the terms are so mutually exclusive. The notion of wonder seems to be something that once united them, and can still do so."

[juliet]

"Romanticism as a cultural force is generally regarded as intensely hostile to science, its ideal of subjectivity eternally opposed to that of scientific objectivity. But I do not believe this was always the case, or that the terms are so mutually exclusive. The notion of wonder seems to be something that once united them, and can still do so."

Oooh. I love that! I do need to read that book!

Jules

[AnneElliot]

*oops*
Two different Richard Holmeses.
One is a military historian, now deceased.  The other is a biographer, who wrote the book I read.
Sorry about the confusion!

AE