Another Chance to Win a Copy of Mankind
Those of you who didn't win a copy of Mankind: The Story of All of Us have a second chance. I'm blogging about Big Bang, Big Brains, Big History over at Wonders & Marvels today as part of the 12 Books of Christmas give-away. Leave a comment on the blog post over there to be included in the drawing for Mankind. (Comments left on this blog won't count for the drawing.) While you're there, check out the essays and books of my fellow contributors and comment on anything that takes your fancy. If you want an additional chance to win, sign up for the newsletter.
Book promotion will be over soon, I promise.
Road Trip Through History: Portsmouth
![HMS Victory](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/HMS_Victory_-_bow.jpg/366px-HMS_Victory_-_bow.jpg)
H.M.S. Victory, photo courtesy of Jamie Campbell
My Own True Love and I went to Portsmouth primarily to visit the Historic Dockyards. Restored historic ships, the story of the Tudor warship the Mary Rose, the history of the dockyards themselves--it sounded right up our alley. And in fact it was. The quality of the exhibits ranged from the fabulous to the dated and dusty, but we spent a happy day there. The exhibits on the discovery and underwater excavation of the Mary Rose and the construction and conservation of Admiral Horatio Nelson's warship, the HMS Victory were excellent. I came away with several "oh wow!" moments:
- The attempted French invasion of Britain in July 1545 was larger than the Spanish Armada. Who knew? (Attempted French invasions were a repeated theme of our trip.)
- Before mechanical watches were invented, mariners, shepherds and other peripatetic types carried pocket sundials. (Am I the only one who didn’t know this?)
Obviously, these were the Patek Phillipes of pocket sundials. I suspect shepherds carried something a little plainer.)
- A hands-on exhibit for children included a chain mail shirt sized for a ten-year-old boy. It was so heavy I could barely pick it up. I can’t even imagine putting one on without help, let alone fighting in it.
- In 1802, Nelson commissioned an oak tree plantation in the forest of Dean. Two hundred odd years later, the oak is now ready to use for repairs to the Victory. Somehow this brought the fact that timber for ships was a major issue in the days before metal ships to life for me in a new way.
But interesting as the Historic Dockyards were, the unexpected high point of Portsmouth was the D-Day Museum. Despite the fact that I read Antony Beevor's excellent book on The Second World War a few months ago, I was chagrined to realize how little I had retained about the invasion itself--a handful of names and a few images. I certainly knew nothing about the preparations leading up to the invasion or the Portsmouth's key role in those preparations.
The museum does an excellent job of portraying the invasion itself, but it is not "just" a military museum. A significant portion of the exhibit focuses on social history of the period, looking at bombing raids, women in the workforce, black outs, evacuation and rationing as experienced in Portsmouth. I was particularly taken by the oral history element of the museum: the museum not only provided book after book of first hand accounts for the visitor to read, it also played recordings of those accounts in the relevant sections of the museum. My favorite line was from a woman working in a munitions factory:
"They used to tell you that you couldn't do it, but at the same time there was no-one else to do it…You had to get it done."
Sing it, sister.
Twelve Days of Christmas ( or Holiday of Your Choice) at Wonders and Marvels
One of my favorite history sites on the internet, Wonders and Marvels, is celebrating the holidays by giving away twelve signed copies of books by regular contributors, including Mankind:The Story of All of Us. It's a great selection of history and historical fiction, if I do say so myself.
A new book will go up each day from December 6 through December 17. All you have to do to enter the contest for a specific book is to comment on the related post. You can enter the drawing for as many of the books as you like. Winners will be announced on December 24.
Happy, Merry, Blessed, or just plain Jolly.