Book recommendation: "Phantom Terror: Political Paranoia and the Creation of the Modern State"

[Recursion]

http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Terror-Political-Paranoia-1789-1848/dp/0465039898

ISBN: 0465039898

I just finished this, and I highly recommend it.

Zamoyski tells the story of Europe from 1789 to 1848, that is, between the French Revolution and the 1848 Revolutions. He singles out the United Kingdom, Russia, and the Holy Roman Empire (which was dissolved during this period and became the Austro-Hungarian Empire) as his main stories, but obviously no narrative of this period could ignore France and the nascent United States, and he has some really interesting sections on both.

First off, this book is insanely heavily researched, and the critical apparatus at the end is an absolute trove for history nerds (you know who you are). Zamoyski has a real skill for drawing out quotes that (other than the anachronisms) could have come from Dick Cheney, Barack Obama, or Vladimir Putin, but he does not hammer home the comparisons (he mentions in the introduction that it's "more pleasant" for readers to draw their own comparisons -- don't worry; you won't miss them).

Zamoyski focuses on the creation of:

1. A police state with universal surveillance

2. A fear of non-state actors with the alleged potential to destroy civilization

3. A cultural and judicial framework for suppressing nationalism (this started much earlier than I had thought -- literally right after the Bastille was stormed; I guess 18th-century monarchs were more forward-looking than I thought)

Anyways: if you like European history, or the history of state paranoia, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

[hobbit709]

1. Interesting time in European history

Learned a lot about that period from my grandfather in Vienna growing up there. He had a degree in history.

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2. It's funny; I literally read it in Vienna last week

We were there for my wife's work so I split time among:

1. Drinking amazing beer
2. Photographing statues
3. Reading this book at a café near the Hofburg

I think the periods from 1618-1648 and 1789-1848 are crucial for understanding both Europe and America, so I'm always eager to read books about those times.

[hobbit709]

3. My old stomping grounds

My grandparents, my mother and I lived about 3 blocks from the Votivkirche.

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4. No way! We stayed on Rathausstrasse

I still think Votivkirche is the most beautiful church in Vienna.

[hobbit709]

5. the Medical School was behind our apartment building.

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6. Oh! I know exactly where you lived

The best and I mean absolutely best Turkish wraps are now sold on that block. Better than I ever found in Istanbul.

[CanadaexPat]

7. I just read a book about the death of Christopher Marlowe,

the Reckoning, that went very deep into the state security apparatus (or, rather, groups run by state actors as private enterprises in support of the Queen, sometimes sanctioned, sometimes not) in Elizabethean England. The depth and breadth of it, the different interests being served usually simultaneously but occasionally and jarringly in opposition, the opportunism and set-ups...it was pretty fascinating. My observation is simply that people haven't changed much in 400 years - I'm sure there are groups running their own spy agencies that sometimes overlap with foverenr agencies and sometimes don't, sometimes advance state interests and sometimes use state power for private interests.

[Recursion]

8. He was a spy for her, right?

Last edited Tue Sep 29, 2015, 06:53 AM - Edit history (1)

And IRRC Walsingham stepped in and helped him out when he was about to flunk out of Oxford?