The rise of the Cattle King and the demise of Pompeii

Pompeii by Mary Beard
Hardcover, 348 pages Published 2008 by BBC

I am a sucker for books on history but inevitably, I find the style to be dry, pitched at the upper levels of academia or aimed at primary school aged children by being overly simplified. Mary Beard does not fall into these categories at all; she has a wonderful, enthusiastic approach to history. With Pompeii, Beard takes you by the hand and guides you through the city streets. You are provided with insights into the daily life of the citizens through their words scrawled on walls and the possessions left behind.
Beard provides you with the conventional and opposing views on how archaeologists interpret the discoveries. How many brothels were there? How did the baths actually work? How were the streets laid out? How was a vineyard laid out? While Beard is taking you through this history she is gently challenging the preconceived notions that we have of Pompeii as a city suddenly frozen in time by a volcano.
This is a fascinating read and provided me with such a deeper understanding not of the history of Pompeii but of the challenges faced by archaeologists. It is just not a matter of revealing the physical evidence. It is about trying to determine how Pompeii melds into the greater historical narrative of Rome and how the ordinary citizen lived.

The Cattle King by Ion Idriess
Paperback, 303 pages Published March 1st 2013 by Harper Collins (first published 1936)
 I had over the years heard a great deal about Ion Idriess but had never come across any of his works. Apparently some of his first editions are highly collectable. So I was really pleased to locate a copy of the Cattle King. Finally I could see what all the fuss was about.
The Cattle King is a somewhat fictionalised account of Sidney Kidman's life from young man to significant land owner in Australia. We meet Kidman as a teenager, learning the craft of being a bushman and the craft of business. Kidman traverses Australia so many times, for so long, that the recounting of the journeys wanted me to pull out a map and mark where he was going.
Idriess is quite adept at capturing the lingo of the time and the ambience of the bush. It should be noted that the lingo, includes words that are now out of favour and for good reason. After a while I found his writing style of recounting every town, how many head of cattle, how many acres of land a bit monotonous after awhile.

Kidman is portrayed as almost a saint, who was generous, hard working and successful. There is not a negative word said against him. I do not know enough about Kidman to confirm or dispute this. This really is a book of it's time and I enjoyed the read. I am surprised that this has not been turned into a mini-series or a movie.

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