What we’re about
Do you like to read books on history, politics, or economics--preferably a mix of all three? You don't have to be an expert, just someone who likes good conversations and stimulating reading. There are a lot of great books out there to geek out on. Let's have a chat about them with like-minded people over a beer.
Upcoming events (1)
See all- Let's read "Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War"Away Day Brewing, Portland, OR
Let's read "Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War Hardcover," by Lyndal Roper. I was convinced by this one due to the really compelling interview with the author and excellent reviews.
(Note that the book has over a hundred pages of end notes, so it's really more like 400 pages of text. The Audible version is 13+ hours.) Amazon, Powell'sI've once again reserved space at Away Days. We will have flexibility to sort the tables to fit the size of the group.
Here are some reviews and an interview:
- NYTimes: Book Review: 'Summer of Fire and Blood,' by Lyndal Roper
- TLS: Luther’s unruly disciples
- Tides of History Podcast Interview with the author
Book description:
In this “extraordinary and brilliant book” (Helen Castor, author of She-Wolves), a prize-winning historian offers the definitive account of the sixteenth-century uprising that revolutionized EuropeThe German Peasants’ War was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. In 1524 and 1525, it swept across Germany with astonishing speed as well over a hundred thousand people massed in armed bands to demand a new and more egalitarian order. The peasants took control of vast areas of southern and middle Germany, torching and plundering the monasteries, convents, and castles that stood in their way. But they proved no match for the forces of the lords, who put down the revolt by slaying somewhere between seventy and a hundred thousand peasants in just over two months.
In Summer of Fire and Blood, the first history of the German Peasants’ War in a generation, historian Lyndal Roper exposes the far-reaching ramifications of this rebellion. Though the war’s victors portrayed the uprising as naive and inchoate, Roper reveals a mass movement that sought to make good on the radical potential of the Protestant Reformation. By recovering what the people themselves felt and believed, Summer of Fire and Blood reconstructs the thrilling, tragic story of the peasants’ fight to change the world."
