Comments on: Book Review: Diane Purkiss — The English Civil War: A People’s History http://www.investigations.4-lom.com/2006/11/17/review-diane-purkiss-civil-war/ Failing better at understanding the past Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:44:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Barista » Blog Archive » History Carnival XLIV http://www.investigations.4-lom.com/2006/11/17/review-diane-purkiss-civil-war/#comment-76 Barista » Blog Archive » History Carnival XLIV Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:57:31 +0000 http://www.investigations.4-lom.com/2006/11/17/review-diane-purkiss-civil-war/#comment-76 [...] Investigations of a Dog has reviewed Diane Purkis’ book The English Civil War: A People’s History “Above all, this book is about diversity, complexity, ambiguity, and the chaos of war. Purkiss shows that everyone had their own unique experiences of the civil wars. While giving enough of a broad outline of events for newcomers to get their bearings, she tries to bring out varied and engaging stories of individual experience. We get to hear the voices of ordinary men and women, but no class is privileged here because kings and aristocrats were people too.” [...] [...] Investigations of a Dog has reviewed Diane Purkis’ book The English Civil War: A People’s History “Above all, this book is about diversity, complexity, ambiguity, and the chaos of war. Purkiss shows that everyone had their own unique experiences of the civil wars. While giving enough of a broad outline of events for newcomers to get their bearings, she tries to bring out varied and engaging stories of individual experience. We get to hear the voices of ordinary men and women, but no class is privileged here because kings and aristocrats were people too.” [...]

]]> By: Gavin Robinson http://www.investigations.4-lom.com/2006/11/17/review-diane-purkiss-civil-war/#comment-36 Gavin Robinson Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:39:06 +0000 http://www.investigations.4-lom.com/2006/11/17/review-diane-purkiss-civil-war/#comment-36 The hunger thing was civil war armies in general, as she emphasised that they often couldn't get enough food but still had to do a lot of strenuous marching. The experiment she referred to was done in the US just after the Second World War and involved restricting the subjects to half their normal food intake for 6 months. They became obsessed with food and started hoarding random objects that they didn't need, which Purkiss uses to shed new light on plundering. The hunger thing was civil war armies in general, as she emphasised that they often couldn’t get enough food but still had to do a lot of strenuous marching. The experiment she referred to was done in the US just after the Second World War and involved restricting the subjects to half their normal food intake for 6 months. They became obsessed with food and started hoarding random objects that they didn’t need, which Purkiss uses to shed new light on plundering.

]]> By: Gracchi http://www.investigations.4-lom.com/2006/11/17/review-diane-purkiss-civil-war/#comment-35 Gracchi Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:37:39 +0000 http://www.investigations.4-lom.com/2006/11/17/review-diane-purkiss-civil-war/#comment-35 Interesting review- I must go and look at this- have been toiling in the more obscure corners of natural law theory so have missed it. Interesting blog though I'm just going through your archives. One question when she is talking about the psychology of starving soldiers does she give much detail and is it one particular army or the royalist, Parliamentarian, Irish etc armies she refers to in general. I know some research in particular at Cambridge at the moment which is making use of the psychological literature and seige warfare and I wonder whether it cuts across. Definitely I think that the psychology of civil war is fascinating because so much of the experience seems so foreign to us and making use of the insights from another subject might help us probe and understand it more. Thanks for this post- its made me think a bit. Interesting review- I must go and look at this- have been toiling in the more obscure corners of natural law theory so have missed it. Interesting blog though I’m just going through your archives. One question when she is talking about the psychology of starving soldiers does she give much detail and is it one particular army or the royalist, Parliamentarian, Irish etc armies she refers to in general. I know some research in particular at Cambridge at the moment which is making use of the psychological literature and seige warfare and I wonder whether it cuts across. Definitely I think that the psychology of civil war is fascinating because so much of the experience seems so foreign to us and making use of the insights from another subject might help us probe and understand it more. Thanks for this post- its made me think a bit.

]]> By: Tim Worstall http://www.investigations.4-lom.com/2006/11/17/review-diane-purkiss-civil-war/#comment-34 Tim Worstall Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:02:30 +0000 http://www.investigations.4-lom.com/2006/11/17/review-diane-purkiss-civil-war/#comment-34 <strong>Britblog Roundup #92...</strong> We seem to be getting closer to that century mark with our little roundups of your nominations of what you think the rest of us should see.You can add to next week's set by simply emailing the URL to britblog... Britblog Roundup #92…

We seem to be getting closer to that century mark with our little roundups of your nominations of what you think the rest of us should see.You can add to next week’s set by simply emailing the URL to britblog…

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