This Week in History...

Last Wednesday, the 24th of October, marked the anniversary of the publication of the first comic strip in an American newspaper. The strip, called 'The Yellow Kid', appeared in the New York Journal on October 24th, 1897.
Although cartoons had been around in various forms since almost before the American Revolution, 'The Yellow Kid' was the first comic strip with a continuous set of characters to be published in a newspaper as opposed to a magazine. Although the strip has of course not survived this long, it began the   practice of publishing comic strips in newspapers that has certainly continued to this day.

Pogo (Walt Kelly)

Comic strips have always had a large part in my life, for several reasons. Every morning for as long as I have attended school, I have read the comics with my breakfast. I have favorite comic strips in the paper (Zits, Candorville, Pearls) and comic strips I refuse to read (Prickly City and that sports one). Half a shelf next to my desk is devoted to comic books, from vintage Pogo books to brand-new Zits books. I also have every volume of the Cartoon History of the Universe and Cartoon History of the Modern World books, which are the source for eighty percent of my historical knowledge (and I highly recommend them to anyone, interested in history or not).
Each of the comic strips I read in some way represent an aspect of my character.
 Pogo is a nod to my roots, to my father's side of my family and to my general philosophy. It is funny, whimsical and strange.

Cartoon History of the Universe
(Larry Gonick)

Foxtrot, by far my favorite comic strip for pure humor, is unbelievably funny and imaginative.
Cartoon History of the Universe, although not technically a comic, is incredibly intelligent and also very funny. Almost everything I know about history is from that cartoon.

But I can only have one favorite comic strip. And that comic strip will always be Calvin and Hobbes. I own the complete Calvin and Hobbes, of course, and I read it often. Calvin and Hobbes was the first comic I ever read, and certainly the one that had the most impact on me. It combines the most basic forms of physical and visual humor with discussions of things that in any other comic strip would seem out of place. Calvin is childish and immature, but also shockingly intelligent. Every element of Calvin and Hobbes just makes the strip more powerful and more funny, and it will always be my favorite.

This Week's Book

(Side note- I will be alternating between "This Week In History" posts and "This Week's Book" posts to try and show that I am interested in things other than history. Not many things, but still.)

This week, I will be reviewing one of my favorite books of all time (although, unusually, not by my favorite author of all time, Terry Pratchett)- The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

The Shadow of the Wind can probably best be described as a noir mystery with elements of a classic gothic novel. It takes place in Barcelona in 1945, after the end of the incredibly violent Spanish Civil War. The wounds left by the civil war, and the country's struggle to face the atrocities committed,  provide a noir backdrop for an incredibly convoluted and dramatic plot. The main character, Daniel Sempere, is the son of a book dealer and grows up surrounded by books. After his mother dies, his father takes him to a mysterious and fantastical place called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where hundreds of thousands of rare books are stored and kept safe. Daniel finds a mysterious book called The Shadow of the Wind, by Julian Carax and is tasked with protecting it and making sure it never disappears, as patrons of the Cemetery are required to do.   He gradually discovers that the copy of the book he owns is the only one left in existence- the rest have been destroyed by a mysterious figure that calls himself after the villain in The Shadow of the Wind. Daniel becomes trapped in a dangerous web spun by someone bent on erasing every shred of evidence that proves Carax ever existed, and discovers that Barcelona is hiding secrets even darker than those he already knows.

The Shadow of the Wind's finest feature for me is its dialogue. The exchanges between Daniel and various other characters, most notably his jaded, broken and consistently humorous side-kick Fermin Romero de Torres, add a dash of cynical humor to what would otherwise be an incredibly dark book. The descriptions in the book are also stunning, and the beautiful vocabulary and elegant descriptions make me think that if books loose something in translation, then the original Spanish version must be a masterpiece. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a deep, beautifully written mystery to completely absorb them.

This Week in History...

Tomorrow, October 12th, marks the 475th birthday of Edward VI of England. It is fitting to start off my series of posts about historical events and book reviews with a topic that I am extremely interested in: Tudor history.

The Basic Facts:
As some people might know, Edward VI was the third legitimate child of Henry VIII, and the only son who survived past infancy. He was born to Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, at Hampton Court in London. Popular opinion seems to dictate that Edward was a weak and sickly child because of his death from tuberculosis at age 16. Reports from various ambassadors at Henry's court show that in fact, despite a spate of illnesses, Edward was no weaker than a normal boy. He ascended to the throne in 1547 at age 10 and was ruled by a Lord Protector for the rest of his reign. The main point of interest in Edward's reign was the changing of the Act of Succession left behind by Henry VIII so that the throne would pass on to Lady Jane Grey, Edward's Protestant cousin, rather than his half-sisters Mary, a Catholic, and Elizabeth. This change was part of a power-play on the part of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, Edward's protector. After Edward died, the English public rejected his choice of Lady Jane Grey, and raised Mary to power as Queen Mary I.

In My Opinion:
The most interesting thing about Edward VI is that he was the first king to be a firm Protestant. Henry VIII, although renowned as the king who brought about the Protestant Reformation in England, was actually a staunch Catholic in his early life and was given the title "Defender of the Faith" by the Pope for his criticisms of Martin Luther and the Lutherans.  Edward was never raised Catholic, and grew into an incredibly devout Protestant. His Protestantism is interesting, because it shows a striking counterpoint to his two half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. One of his sisters, Mary, was also deeply religious, while Elizabeth was not. Neither Edward nor Mary was nearly as popular during and after their reign as Elizabeth was. I believe that it was in part due to their firm religious beliefs that Edward and Mary were not popular, and that Edward's short and tumultuous reign shows what happens when a monarch is not flexible on issues of religion.