Comments on: Lal’s Defense of Empires http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/3897.html Some Chicago Boyz know each other from student days at the University of Chicago. Others are Chicago boys in spirit. The blog name is also intended as a good-humored gesture of admiration for distinguished Chicago boys including those pictured above. Thu, 24 May 2012 20:08:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Lex http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/3897.html/comment-page-1#comment-17535 Lex Wed, 01 Feb 2006 16:47:41 +0000 http://www390.pair.com/chicagob/blog/003897.php#comment-17535 I thought Lieven was good on the Habsburg empire, and very good on Russia, as you note, and had good insights on the British Empire. I don't recall particularly his thoughts on contemporary Eastern Europe. Historians are not much better than anybody else at understanding the present. David Hackett Fischer, pretty much my intellectual hero, is weak on contemporary events, at least in his last book. He comes off like a center-left academic. No surprise there. I thought Lieven was good on the Habsburg empire, and very good on Russia, as you note, and had good insights on the British Empire. I don’t recall particularly his thoughts on contemporary Eastern Europe.

Historians are not much better than anybody else at understanding the present. David Hackett Fischer, pretty much my intellectual hero, is weak on contemporary events, at least in his last book. He comes off like a center-left academic. No surprise there.

]]> By: Helen http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/3897.html/comment-page-1#comment-17534 Helen Wed, 01 Feb 2006 16:20:19 +0000 http://www390.pair.com/chicagob/blog/003897.php#comment-17534 Lieven's book is excellent on the Russian empire, which is not surprising as that is his subject and he is one of the leading historians in it. He is pretty good on the others, but finds certain land empires hard to fathom. He most certainly hasn't a clue about what is happening in Europe now, something to do with his refusal to look at earlier European empires in Europe more closely. Lieven’s book is excellent on the Russian empire, which is not surprising as that is his subject and he is one of the leading historians in it. He is pretty good on the others, but finds certain land empires hard to fathom. He most certainly hasn’t a clue about what is happening in Europe now, something to do with his refusal to look at earlier European empires in Europe more closely.

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