Academic Earth has a (free) video lecture series about France since 1871.  I’ve watched a few, it seems good. Go have a look.

Why France?  Well, why not?  I find myself more and more interested in 20th century history these days.  The subject is so big, and the change is so rapid, that wherever you look there’s something interesting and unexpected.

The movie marathon is a part of that, especially since I reached the war years.  All stories of the 20th century converge on World War II.  The war itself actually doesn’t interest me so much, (we need to get over our obsession with this war), what interests me is how people understood and responded to it, and how it’s connected with what came before and after.

Movies bring the past to life, and books provide the actual facts and details.  Most of the history books I read are audio books or lectures, because I don’t like to read huge and difficult paper books, and good history books are often huge and difficult.  Unfortunately I don’t know how to review audio books, (the writing part of my brain shuts down when I listen), so I don’t blog about them.

Right now I’m listening to a history of the Algerian War. Earlier it was a biography of Charles de Gaulle. And I’ll probably keep going with the above-mentioned lecture series.  I like to fill in the blanks, and French history is one of the blanks.  Up next: Well, practically anything!