Common Sense (January 10, 1776) (Redux)

Belongs here.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Declaration Of The Second Continental Congress (July 6, 1775)

John Hancock.  In the beginning, our ancestors moved to America seeking to establish a new life for themselves, securing in the most radical way possible their own liberty.  The system worked for a long, long time, to the enormous benefit of those on both sides of the ocean.  And the benefit was never more obvious than during the recent French and Indian War, when the contributions of the colonists won the day for the Empire.  But since that moment, and the transfer of power to the new regime, we have struggled beneath a more and more oppressive yoke.

Long list of grievances:

• Monetary manipulation
• Foreign courts and deprivation of trial by jury
• Suspending local governments
• Restrictive trade rules
• Encouraging an enemy state in Canada [heh]
• Worst of all, for passing a a statue giving parliament the right to "make laws to bind us in all cases whatsoever," an unlimited assertion of power that cannot stand.

Our petitions have gone unheeded byt he Crown.  When we resisted, the Empire responded with military coercion and force.  The aggression has come to a head at the recent battles at Lexington and Concord, where the British soldiers were ultimately "compelled to retreat by the country people suddenly assembled to repel this cruel aggression." [Hells yeah]

Confiscation of arms and the establishment of martial law in Boston hasn't helped matters.

Our choice is stark: slavery, or resistance by force.

Our cause is just.  Our union is perfect.  Our internal resources are great, and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtably attainable.  We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine favour towards us, that his Providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown up to our present streangth, had been previously exercised in warlike operation, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves.  With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverence, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves.

Note: we still pledge our allegiance to the Crown, if the current difficulty can be overcome.  We only fight for our rights as free men.

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death (March 23, 1775)

Patrick Henry.  Basically a response to the members of the Virginia Convention who urged restraint, patience, and prudence in dealing with the English.  Henry claimed that the English continually offered platitudes of concession while strenghening their grip on the colonies more and more.  Worse, this pattern had continued for ten years now, with no end in sight.  Worse yet, it was now obvious that the English were preparing militarily to put a stop to any colonial uprising once and for all.  With any delay, English subjugation of the colonies would be permanent.

Essentially, Patrick Henry is the hawk to end all hawks, and he's had it with the doves.

Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace.  The war is actually begun!  The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!  Our brethren are already in the field!  Why stand we here idle?  What is it that gentlemen wish?  What would they have?  Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  Forbid it, Almighty God!  I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

 Of course, he had practiced that line before.

Speech On The Stamp Act (January 14, 1766)

A rebuttal against the imposition of the Stamp Act on the American colonies, by member of Parliament William Pitt.  I'm reading it out of order with the others because this jerk from Georgia Tech told me it happened in 1775.

Standard boilerplate arguments at this point, focusing on the injustice of imposing taxes on colonial subjects without representation, and on the economic benefits of the trade relationship on its own.

I'd skip over it completely, except this passage is amazing:

I maintain, that the parliament has a right to bind, to restrain America.  Our legislative power over the colonies is sovereign and supreme.  when it ceases to be sovereign and supreme, I would advise every gentleman to seel his lands, if he can, and embark for that country.  When two countries are connected together, like England and her colonies, without being incorporated, the one must necessarily govern; the greater must rule the less; but so rule it, as not to contradict the fundamental principles that are common to both.  If the gentleman does not understand the difference between external and internal taxes, I cannot help it; but there is a plain distinction between taxes levied for the purpose of raising a revenue, and duties imposed for the regulation of trade, for the accomodation of the subject; although, in the consequences, some revenue might incidentally arise from the latter.

It's confusing because his audience already knows what he's talking about, and I can't tell the difference between the internal and external taxes, and the difference between the revenue tax and the regulation tax, and which one he's supporting.  But he seems to be saying that Parliament's power to regulate commerce in the colonies is unlimited, while its power to tax is restricted by constitutional restraints.  And he's encouraging Parliament, if they must get there hands dirty in the affairs of the Americans, to do it through the legitimate regulation channels instead of the illegitimate taxation channels.

My mind is reeling.

The takeaway is that power will find whatever justification is at hand for the aggrandizement of that power.  And those of us who think there are rules by which we can trust to avoid imposed mandates from our political representatives are mistaken.  The game is rigged.  There's always room for more.

Declaration Of The First Continental Congress (October 1774)

This is a legal document, which makes it a pain in the ass to read.  Essentially a listing of grievances and violations of rights, with a promise to return to peaceful and happy relations if the situation is rectified.  Perhaps most important, it reiterates the need for all Legislative power within the colonies to reside within the colonies-- as once again, true represenation in Parliament is currently lacking and impossible anyway.  The Crown would have the authority to dictate some international economic agreements, but that's it.  Independence is on its way.

Many of the complaints worked their way into the Bill of Rights-- specifically, the quartering of soldiers, the right to a fair and local trial by jury, and the right to peaceably assemble and petition for the redress of grievances.  Most complaints are referred to specific Acts of Parliament that must be redressed.

There were three acts specifically levied against the "province of Massachusetts-bay".  No wonder they moved the whole thing to Philadelphia.

And again, one of the complaints was the establishment of the "Roman Catholic Religion in the province of Quebec, abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there, to the great danger, from so great a dissimilarity of Religion, law, and government, of the neighboring British colonies by the assistance of whose blood and treasure the said country was conquered from France."  Did we give Quebec back to France after the war as a consolation prize?  And c'mon, guys, we mean you no harm.  Simmer down.

The Rights Of The Colonists (November 20, 1772)

Ben Franklin, summarizing the current state of the colonies, as an introduction to the resolution for the English public at large:

The colonists have grown accustomed to being left alone, and so appreciated the flexible arrangement with the English Crown that they had adopted many English customs and adapted to many English requests.  The Stamp Act, however, ruined the comity, and the colonists responded with a general boycott.  The repeal of the Stamp Act, save for the tax on tea, was met with the end of the boycott, save on tea-- and even that was expected to be resolved soon.

The imposition of the English bureaucracy in establishing this one rule, however, grew so intrusive that more forceful responses were required.  An enormous black market developed whereby French and Dutch tea is drunk nearly exclusively in the colonies.  The loss of benefits to the Crown are enormous-- and for what?  Simply selling English tea to the colonists ought to be beneficial enough, and yet they are put upon to the breaking point.

This nation, and the other nations of Europe, may thereby learn, with more certainty, the grounds of a dissension that possibly may, sooner or later, have consequences interesting to them all.

Sam Adams:

The rights of the colonists begin with the natural rights of all men, as expressed (nearly word for word-- including the phrase "life, liberty, and property") by John Locke.  Civil society is a ceding of some of these natural rights-- with the consent of the governed-- to a civil authority.  And as long as men aren't complled to remain in the society against their will, this is all fine.

One of the most important natural rights that must in all cases be protected by civil society is the right to freely worship as one sees fit.  (Except in the case of the Papists, of course.  The problem there, apparently, is that when the religious authority excommunicated a political leader from the Church, it also forced his removal from civil office.  This cannot stand.  [I agree.])

The civil leaders work for the people.  They are very much like employees.  So the greatest injustice is done when one of these leaders aggrandizes himself financially or by usurping additional power, and thereby establishes tyranny.  He would do this thinking is has some special ability to exert civil authority that the entire remainder of the public lacks.  He is mistaken-- many, many others could do the job well.  There is no shortage of decent representatives.

This grand agreement has been codified in the Magna Charta for centuries.

In the case of the American colonies, they of course possess all the natural rights of man.  And this includes the right to establish for their own society a Legislative power-- including the restriction that the Legislature "has no right to absolute, arbitrary power over the lives and fortunes of the people."

Given all this, the British House of Commons can have no legitimate authority over the colonists.  First, the colonists are not currently represented there.  And second, it is impossible that they could be properly represented there.  The population is too large for the tiny representation the House would be willing to allow.  Moreover, "[h]ad the Colonists a right to return members to the British Parliament, it would only be hurtful; as, from their local situation and circumstances, it is impossible they should ever be truly and properly represented there."  The situation, then, is ripe for abuse, and treachery.  "The Colonists have been branded with the odious names of traitors and rebels only for complaining of their grievances.  How long such treatement will or ought to be borne, is submitted."

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The Revolution is already baked into the cake.  There is no getting around it.

The English bureaucracy charged with enforcing the Stamp Act/Tea Act are the SEC and EPA rolled into one.

It is still true that the Legislature "has no right to absolute, arbitrary power over the lives and fortunes of the people."  But it apparently has the power to tax to its heart's content, so long as it remains representative.  Sigh.

The word Papists makes me giggle every time I see it.

Resolutions Of The Stamp Act Congress (October 19, 1765)

No taxation without representation!

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The language is exceedingly polite, and the entire argument is delivered explicitly from their recognized status as subjects of the British Crown.  C'mon guys, flip the king the bird!

The seeds of independence are already sown, however, as they hint that representation in Parliament is nigh impossible.

That the people of these colonies are not, and from their local circumstances cannot be, represented in the House of Commons in Great Britain.

Even this early, all of the arguments are couched in terms of securing the "rights and liberties" to which they are entitled.  Idle thought: have we gone astray by bleating about freedom all the time instead of liberty?  "Freedom" has the connotation, for me at least, of a bird in flight, entirely unbound.  This is the image attached to FDR's invocation of positive rights: freedom from "the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment."  "Liberty", on the other hand, connotes self-direction, but makes no promises against the entirely natural slings and arrows of life.  "Pursuit of happiness" indeed.  These guys were good.

I like the argument that the Crown was already profiting enormously from their trade with the colonists, and that any taxation on that commerce would only lessen the benefits already enjoyed.  The Laffer curve lives!

The Peloponnesian War (Thucydides)

I added this to my reading list when I first decided to make this a universal human knowledge project, and not simply a human literature project.  Philosophy selections will be thrown in for the same reason.

It's also important for me to read this because I want to better understand Picture This by Joseph Heller when I finally get back to it.  That book was amazing, and it would probably be even more amazing if I knew exactly what went on between the Athenians and the Spartans.

Thucydides was also prominently mentioned in the discussions of Grand Strategies: Literature, Statecraft, and World Order by Charles Hill, interviewed on several of my favorite podcasts last year.  It seemed a worthwhile commentary on the things I've been reading, and the Peloponnesian War is the basis of the rest of the historical comparisons in that book.

I purchased my copy at the same time I purchased Hill's book in early 2011-- at the time, I thought it was a pressing purchase.  I chose the translation by Steven Lattimore, son of Richmond Lattimore, who I used for Homer.

But I was so impressed with the Landmark Herodotus, that I've also borrowed the Landmark Thucydides from the Mount Prospect Library.  If nothing else, it's maps should be helpful as I orient my mental space toward the battle action.  And I started by reading its appendices, which give a nice background to the political and cultural, and military life in which Thucidydes lived and wrote and in which the war was fought.

I don't know if I'll be keeping detailed notes or if it will follow the patterns of the Herodotus.  I've got a little more time to finish this, so we shall see.

Herodotus, 9.82

After the Greek's ultimate victory over the remaining Persian invasion at the Battle at Plataea:

It is also reported that Xerxes had left his tent to Mardonios when he fled from Hellas, and that when Pausanias saw these quarters of Mardonios and how they were furnished with embroidered draperies, he ordered the bread bakers and the cooks to prepare a meal for him like those they had made for Mardonios.  When they had carried out their orders and Pausanias saw the golden and silver counches with sumptuous coverings and the tables, also of gold and silver, all set out with a magnificent feast, he was struck with wonder at the good things lying before him, and then, as a joke, ordered his servants to prepare a Laconian meal.  When the banquet was ready, the difference between the two was great indeed, and Pausanias laughed, and then sent for the generals of the Hellenes.  When they had all come to him, Pausanias, as he pointed to each of the meals that had been served, said, "Men of Hellas, I have brought you here together, because I wanted to show you what an idiot the leader of the Medes was.  This was his lifestyle, but he came to us, who have this miserable way of life, in order to deprive us of it."  That is what Pausanias is reported to have said to the generals of the Hellenes.

Civilizational confidence.

Herodotus, 8: The Battle of Salamis

Retreating after the eventual loss at Thermopylae, the Hellenes try to determine their next course.  The Spartans, Argives, and Achaians build a wall across the Isthmus of Corinth to protect Peloponnesia.  All the residents of Athens are evacuated to the island of Salamis.

The Persian army sacks Athens, while the Persian navy surrounds the island.  Xerxes is advised to simply wait them out, and victory will be his.  Meanwhile, the Hellenes cannot come to an agreement about what to do next.  So Themistokles from Athens secretly sends a messenger to Xerxes, pretending to have changed sides, and encouraging him to begin a final battle he is expected to win.  This message convinces Xerxes to abandon his strategy of patience, and his action then convinces the Hellenes to pull together to fight.

The battle is a massacre in favor of the Greeks, who have well-developed naval tactics while the Persian ships all act at odds with one another.

Xerxes, chastised, leaves an army of 300,000 with the commandor Mardnios and returns to Persia with the rest.  Many die of hunger and sickness on the way home.  At one point, Xerxes was in peril on a ship during a storm, and the helmsman through most of the Persian soldiers overboard to steady the ship.  Xerxes rewarded him with a crown for saving his life, then beheaded him for killing so many soldiers.  (Herodotus seriously doubts this story.)

Mardonios tries to buy off the Athenians without a fight.  They string him along for a bit, long enough for the Spartans, panicking, to send envoys to find out what's going on.  The Athenians calmly tell off the Persians, and tell off the Spartans for good measure (8.143):

The Athenians first answered Alexandros as follows: "We ourselves are already well aware that the forces of the Mede are many times greater than our own, so there is no need to admonish us about that.  Nevertheless, we shall defnd ourselves however we can in our devotion to freedom.  So do not attempt to seduce us into an agreement with the barbarian, since we shall not be persuaded.  Report back to Mardonios that the Athenians say: 'As long as the sun continues on the same course as it now travels, we shall never come to an agreement with Xerxes.  Trusting in the gods and heroes as our allies (for whom he showed no respect when he burned their homes and images), we shall advance against him and defend ourselves.'  As for you, Alexandros, in the future, do not appear before the Athenians with speeches such as this one, nor pretend to be doing us a favor while encouraging us to commit deeds that violate all tradition.  For we would not want you, our proxenos and friend, to suffer anything unpleasant at the hands of the Athenians.

After giving this answer to Alexandros, they turned to address the messengers from Sparta: 'It was quite natural for the Lacedaemonians to fear we would come to an agreement with the barbarian, but nevertheless, we think it disgraceful that you became so frightened, since you are well aware of the Athenians' disposition, namely, that there is no amount of gold anywhere on earth so great, nor any country that surpasses others so much in beauty and fertility, that we would accept it as reward for medizing and enslaving Hellas.'"

Notables: Artemisia was a female commander in Xerxes army.  At one point, her ship was pinned in by the surrounding Persian ships while pursued by a Greek ship.  To escape, she rammed a Persian ship, causing the pursuit to cease while Xerxes looked on, impressed.

8.98:

As Xerxes was doing all this, he also sent a courier to Persia to report his present misfortune.  There is nothing that travels faster, and yet is mortal, than these couriers; the Persians invented this system, which works as follows.  It is said that there are as many horses and men posted at intervals as there are days required for the entire journey, so that one horse and one man are assigned to each day.  And neither snow nor rain nor heat nor dark of night keeps them from completing their appointed course as swiftly as possible.  The first courier passes on the instructions to the second, the second to the third, and from there they are transmitted from one to another all the way through,  just as the torchbearing relay is celebrated by the Hellenes in honor of Hephaistos.  The Persians call this horse-posting system the angareion.

The Persians invented the Pony Express, and Herodotus wrote the U.S. Postal Service Creed.  Son of a bitch.

Herodotus, 7.175-239: The Battle at Thermopylae

First, a word about the badasses from Sparta and Athens.  The Spartans had killed some envoys from Xerxes who were offering a peaceful invasion.  Sparta then sent two messengers to Xerxes, allowing them to be killed in response.  But brought before the king, the messengers refused to bow to him (7.135-136):

[Hydarnes] entertained them by serving them a feast during which he asked them, "Lacedaemonians, why are you trying to avoid becoming the King's friends?  You can see that the King knows how to honor good men when you look at me and the state of my affairs.  This could be the same for you if only you would surrender yourselves to the King, since he would surely think you to be good men and allow each of you Greek territory to rule over."  To this they replied, "Hydarnes, you offer us this advice only because you do not have a fair and proper perspective.  For you counsel us based on your experience of only one way of life, but you have had no experienced of the other: you know well how to be a slave but have not yet experienced freedom, nor have you felt whether it is sweet or not.  But if you could try freedom, you would advise us to fight for it, and not only with spears, but with axes!"

After giving that answer to Hydarnes, they traveled inland to Susa and gained an audience with the King.  At first the King's bodyguards ordered them and actually tried to force them to prostrate themselves before the King; but they refused to do so, saying that they would never do that, even if the bodyguards should try to push them down to the ground headfirst, since it was not their custom to prostrate themselves before any human being, and besides, that was not the reason for which they had come.

When the Hellenes were looking for allies to fight against the invasion, they came to Syracuse for help.  Gelon of Syracuse was willing to help, but only if given command either of the land army or the navy.  The Athenian delegation (7.161):

And now the envoy sent by the Atheneians interjected before the one from the Lacedaemonians could reply: "King of the Syracusans, Helalls did not send us to you because it needed a leader, but rather because it required an army.  But you have given us no indication that you would send an army unless you were to become the leader of Hellas; to command its forces is what strongly attracts you.  Now as long as you were asking to lead the entire force of the Hellenes, we Athenians were content to keep quiet, knowing that the Laconian would be capable of answering for us both.  But now that your leadership over the whole force has been ruled out and you ask to command the fleet, you should know that this is the situation: even if the Laconian yields the command of hte fleet to you, we shall not yield it to you.  For that command belongs to us, unless the Lacedaemonians want it.  Now if they want to lead the fleet, we shall not oppose them, but we shall allow no one else to command it.  For if we yield our leadership to the Syracusans, it would then be all for nothing that we have acquired the greatest naval force of all the Hellenes-- we, the Athenians, who represent the most ancient nation of the Hellenes and are the only ones who did not migrate.  Even Homer the epic poet said that the best man to go to Troy and to draw up and marshal the troops was one of ours, so we cannot be reproached for asserting this claim."

The Greeks scouted the terrain and settled for the narrow pass by the city of Thermopylae to set up their defenses, as it was the only rational path through the mountain ranges to the southern Greek peninsulas.  They set up to fight despite the warnings of the oracles.  They caught a break when a storm smashed a few hundred of the Persian ships.  On top of that, several Persain ships sailed into the wrong harbor and were taken by the Greeks.

Finally, Xerxes' army approached the pass.  On the other side, the defense forces were led by Leonidas of Sparta (a direct descendant of Herakles), and were comprised of several thousand from the different cities.  The first waves of Persian soldiers were slaughtered, as their great numbers were of no use in the narrow terrain.  "Indeed, the Hellenes made it clear to everyone, and especially to the King himself, that although there were many in his army, there were few real men" (7.210.2).  Finally, they sought a different way through, taking the even narrower Anopaia Path through the mountains.

Leonidas learned of their plans, and sent the majority of his soldiers away to avoid the upcoming slaughter, but kept the 300 Spartans to fight on.  Knowing they were fighting to their death, they fought more valiantly than usual, charging unexpectedly into the oncoming waves of Persians.  Leonidas himself was killed and Xerxes had him beheaded.

In response to the battle, the Persians changed their invasion plans, sending the ships to occupy the Spartans from the south while the army continued to subjugate the Greeks cities on their march from the north.

Herodotus 7.34-35

It was from Abydos to this promontory, then, that the bridges were built by those assigned to this task, the Phoenicians working on the white flax bridge and the Egyptians on the papyrus bridge.  The distance between Abydos and the opposite shore here is about 1,350 yards.  But in fact after these bridges had been built, a violent storm descended upon them, broke them up, and tore apart all that work.

Xerxes was infuriated when he learned of this; he ordered that the Hellespont [river] was to receive 300 lashes under the whip, and that a pair of shackles was to be dropped into the sea.  And I have also heard that he sent others to brand the Hallespont.  In any case, he instructed his men to say barbarian and insolent things as they were striking the Hellespont: "Bitter water, your master is imposing this penalty upon you for wronging him even though you had suffered no injustice from him.  And King Xerxes will cross you whether you like it or not.  It is for just cause, after all, that no human offers you sacrifice: you are a turbid and briny river!"  Thus he ordered that the sea was to be punished, and also that the supervisors of the bridge over the Hellespont were to be beheaded.

Xerxes tried to arrest, and then physically and emotionally abused, the river.  Xerxes was nuts.

And a fantastic photo, by "Amy":

Herodotus 6.102-124: The Battle at Marathon

After conquering the Eretrians, the army of King Darius of Persia planned to march on Athens and enslave them as well.  The Athenians got wind of the plan and marched to meet them on the plains of Marathon where the Persian army had landed.  They sent the runner Philippides to Sparta to ask for military assistance.  He ran the 150 miles in one day to deliver the message, but the Spartans would not send aid until the next full moon, 20 days later.

Instead, the Plataeans came to the aid of Athens, having pledged their loyalty in exchange for Athenian protection.  The Athenians confronted them across the plain, with the Athenians on the right flank and the Plataeans on the left, and a weakness of depth in the center.  But they took the Persians by surprise by running to their positions instead of marching.  They drove the Persians back to their boats, losing only 192 men.  The Persians then tried to circle the peninsula and land closer to Athens on the other side, while the Athenians marched quickly home to be ready for a second battle.  But, perhaps having been tipped off by the leaders of the city, the Persians instead turned their ships for their own home.

Later, 2000 Spartans arrived to help.  When told what had happened, they were duly impressed.  Then they went home.

In a break from tradition, the Athenians buried their casualties, not in the city, but on the field where they fell.  The burial mound stands to this day.

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OK, so Philippides didn't run from Marathon to Athens.  Instead, he ran from Athens to Sparta.  And he only did it once.  And he didn't die afterwards.  And it didn't help, because Sparta didn't come.

That's all disappointing, but the whole story is still flippin' awesome.  The whole tone of Herodotus seemed to be different for this episode.  Much less speculation, many fewer outrageous claims.  The battle was within his lifetime, within his geographic region, involving people he must have known-- it's all reliable.  Very cool chapter.

Herodotus, 4.42

And so I am astonished by the way some people have delineated the boundaries of Libya, Asia, and Europe; since these lands actually differ quite a bit in size.  In length, Europe stretches out along both the other landmasses, while in width, any attempt to compare it to the others seems futile to me.  For it is clear that Libya is surrounded by water except for where it borders Asia.  The first one we know of to have discovered this fact was Nechos king of Egypt.  After he had stopped excavation work on the canal, which extended from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, he sent some Phoenicians off on boats with orders to sail around Libya and back through the Pillars of Herakles into the Mediterranean Sea and to return by that route to Egypt.  And so the Phoenicians set out from the Erythraean Sea and sailed the Southern Sea.  Whenever autumn came, they would put in to shore at whatever region of Libya they happened to have reached in order to sow seeds.  There they would wait for the harvest, and after reaping their crops, they would sail on again.  This they did for two years, and in the third, they came around through the Pillars of Herakles and returned to Egypt.  They mentioned something else which I do not find credible, though someone else may: that when they were sailing around Libya, the sun was on their right side as they went.

Wait, so the Phoenicians sailed around Africa in 600 BC?  What the hell?  How come this is the first time I've ever heard about this?  What was the big deal about the Portuguese and the Cape of Good Hope?

The Histories (Herodotus)

I was hemming and hawing over reading this for a long time.  I knew I wanted to read Thucydides for the Peloponnesian War, but I didn't want to get bogged down in long, boring histories instead of getting to the literature at the base of the project.  But this is the time for it, and I had to get some Greek drama out of the library anyway, so I picked this up to give it a shot.

As it turns out, Herodotus is really fun!  This particular translation seems to be really informal in its use of idioms, so its really easy to read.  And the action is actually fast-moving so far, jumping from one interesting episode to the next.  I'm enjoying it enough to finish the whole thing.

So this is the longest book on the list by far up to now.  Ironically, thanks to dragging my feet on the Montesquieu, I've got a week-and-a-half to finish it before it's due back at the library.  Gotta fly now.

The other thing I know is that, due to its length and level of detail packed into that length, good notes are going to be virtually impossible to keep.  Don't know what I'm going to do about that yet.

Update, 3/18: Yup, writing notes is impossible.  If you want to know what happens, just read the outline at the beginning of the book.  I shall plow through.