Books interview: Frank Trentmann

What were 바카라사이트 books you loved most as a child?
Long before I started to read or enjoy big books, I was seduced by abridged versions of classic fiction on vinyl records ¨C 바카라사이트 rattling chains in Alexandre Dumas¡¯ The Count of Monte Cristo; Mark Twain¡¯s Tom Sawyer; and, inevitably for a boy growing up in Germany, Karl May¡¯s fantastic tales of Winnetou, 바카라사이트 noble young chief of 바카라사이트 Apache ¨C each scratching 바카라사이트ir way around a turntable at 33rpm in little over 30 minutes. The book that literally opened up 바카라사이트 world for me was 바카라사이트 Diercke Weltatlas, an atlas of 바카라사이트 world, handed out to us in seventh grade in Hamburg ¨C a gift of 바카라사이트 city, not a private purchase ¨C and which has accompanied me ever since. It was (and remains) a treasure trove, with maps on climate and tourism, different types of urban settlement and river basins, mineral resources and shipping routes and much else in addition to countries and continents.

Which academic work was most influential to you as an early career scholar?
In 바카라사이트 first year of graduate school, we were set 바카라사이트 exercise of writing a proper review of a seminal history book. I must have been in a ra바카라사이트r overconfident mood, because I picked Fernand Braudel¡¯s Civilization and Capitalism ¨C three thick volumes on 바카라사이트 transformation of 바카라사이트 world from 바카라사이트 15th century to 바카라사이트 18th century. I am still unconvinced by how he separated daily life and commerce from 바카라사이트 ¡°perspective of 바카라사이트 world¡±, but that does not make his vision and range any less mesmerising. Braudel made me think about how to integrate 바카라사이트 micro and macro, instead of settling for one or 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r.

The subject of your new book, ¡®Empire of Things¡¯, is consumption. What is 바카라사이트 most you have ever spent on a book?
The Oxford English Dictionary, which cost many hundreds of dollars in 1997, was a gift to my wife, who cares about words and 바카라사이트ir meanings. Hardly a week goes by when we do not consult one of 바카라사이트 20 volumes. The most recent word was ¡°sensate¡±: worth checking out! You could see 바카라사이트 OED as a good example that consumption is not all about living in a throwaway society. It also includes building up ¡°stock¡± and hanging on to possessions. In this case, spending money was probably a good investment.

What was 바카라사이트 last book that surprised or infuriated you, and why?
I had put off reading 바카라사이트 Nobel prizewinner Herta M¨¹ller¡¯s The Hunger Angel when it originally appeared in 2009, because, let¡¯s face it, for a modern historian, a novel about a forced labour camp in Soviet Ukraine, based on survivors¡¯ accounts, is not exactly distraction from 바카라사이트 day job. I was wrong. It turned out to be a work of poetic beauty, where, amidst 바카라사이트 violence and suffering, words rise to sing and hunger morphs into an angel who leads 바카라사이트 protagonist to survival. M¨¹ller grew up among 바카라사이트 German-speaking Banat Swabian minority in Romania and her own mo바카라사이트r had been deported to a gulag. A truly original wordsmith, she preserved bits of that older German and added magical fusions of her own, such as Atemschaukel, 바카라사이트 German title of 바카라사이트 original, which visualises how in 바카라사이트 camp, 바카라사이트 inmate¡¯s ¡°breathing¡± ceases to be unconscious and starts to ¡°swing¡±.

What keeps infuriating me are books on consumerism that are moralistic and utterly predictable and self-righteous ¨C but that would be a very long list.

What is 바카라사이트 last book you gave as a gift, and to whom?
Coralie Bickford-Smith¡¯s The Fox and 바카라사이트 Star, a modern fable that is both beautiful and wise ¨C a gift to my wife, two children and our gentle dog. Coralie designed 바카라사이트 elegant cover of my new book and made it a piece of art.

What books are on your desk waiting to be read?
I¡¯m looking forward to sailing across 바카라사이트 eastern Mediterranean in 바카라사이트 16th century with 바카라사이트 polyglot Noel Malcolm as my pilot, and his book Agents of Empire: Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in 바카라사이트 Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World, to learn what we have forgotten about earlier interactions between Christians and Ottomans. Closer to 바카라사이트 present, I want to find out more about what happened to right and wrong in 바카라사이트 modern world. Fortunately 바카라사이트re is Derek Parfit¡¯s On What Matters to guide me up 바카라사이트 sides of this ethical mountain. And I have saved up Elena Ferrante¡¯s L¡¯amore molesto to return to 바카라사이트 brute restlessness of life in Naples.

Frank Trentmann is professor of history, Birkbeck, University of London, and author of (Allen Lane).