Putting it all together

Putting things together for the first time for 1870.  Quite exciting.  Still a long way to go.  But it feels like it all goes together.  I've left some room for my opinions, not just history.

Now to gather some maps, some more images, maybe a few charts.  Engage every sense.

Preface

Doing an Introduction or a Preface or a Foreword - subtle distinctions - is much harder than a continuing historical or fictional narrative.  It has to set up the story and "pre-qualify" the reader.  I don't want anyone even trying to read my book who isn't a good fit for it - that is, who isn't historically literate and highly skeptical, especially of sacred cows such as the Enlightenment.  And I want to give an  accurate idea of what's contained and what great ideas may be contained.  Tantalize and excite but don't give everything away - that's the idea!

Pictures - maybe some maps and graphs - would seem to be vital.  My gosh, but a book is a lot of work.  Lots less with the Internet, though.

Football's coming on TV today, but I'll still get some stuff done. 

Some sort of winding up

It almost feel like I'm sort of finished.  I have my scheme complete.  I need more polishing, more editing, more debugging, as the tech guys would say.


Here's the progress of Prussia towards the German Reich:

I feel like these guys:
Taking a break but with so much more to do:

Finale

Matching up events of 1870 with the future. World War I looks interesting.  The fall of Four Empires.  Only Germany came out intact.  Well, Russia, too, I suppose.  I need to make sure a good sharp line exists connecting events of 1870 with Twentieth Century disasters.  Plenty of those.


Bismarck - Flag                                              Bismarck and Napoleon III

Hoffer

Cited a few bits from Eric Hoffer's books "The Ordeal of Change" and "The True Believer" today to get me started on more analysis of the effect of the Commune on social movements. 

Then I found a post by David Warren that got me going on the implications of socialism, nationalism and democracy.  It seems that everywhere I look these days I see references to the Commune, or to something that could have been affected by the Commune, or Napoleon III or Pio Nono or Garibaldi or Bismarck.  I know, that could be happening because I am, quite unknowingly, looking for that sort of reference.

Into the Summary

Now is the summary of our discontent.  Turned into glorious winter by the breezy sun of October.

Plowing the fields of wordy chapters organizing the materials without which one cannot possibly understand the jubilee year of 1870.

Part summary, part flats

Doing 2500 on one project and 500 (ok, a thousand) on another keeps life interesting.  Now when the imagination flags on one project, I can just switch!

I'm starting to get a point of view together, especially on the Commune.