Book Review: Tragedy and Hope - Part 1
I’ve been reading this book over the last few weeks and realized that there really is a difference between reading physical books and audiobooks. The main one being the ability to take notes in the margins, ruminate on some random nuanced idea the author brought up, or even flip back a hundred pages to reference an old section of the text. Tragedy and Hope gives an excellent comprehensive review of world history from 1895 to 1950. It also focuses heavily on the advancements made in the Western Hemisphere’s understanding of economics and finance. Delving into topics such as inflation, the detriments of deflation, orthodox and unorthodox economic theories (Keynesian economics and Austrian economics), revitalization of the gold standard and its subsequent historical periods of abandonment, the corrosive effects of nationalizing industry and property, war reparations, reconstruction loans, etc…
I’m nearly halfway done with the text, however, I can’t really compare it to anything else I’ve read in the past. I could name off a few books that if combined, might give a limited perspective as to the true scale of this work. In reality though, even that wouldn’t really suffice. It’s the history book that I should have been introduced to during my compulsory education; however, even if that were the case. I’d have had no hope of comprehending any part of it during that time. Mainly because Tragedy and Hope is not a high school textbook, but a tome; Carroll Quigley’s magnum opus.
I’m about 600 pages in and the more I read, the more I think about Hegel’s quote, “we learn from history, that we do not learn from history.”
Hello! We’re D.J. Hoskins
We are Davena and Jason Hoskins, co-authors of 30+ books and siblings who write under the pseudonym D.J. Hoskins. Three years apart and in our twenties, we have been fascinated by stories from a young age. Davena is a student attending Princeton University, and Jason attends Georgetown University.
