Seven Ages

The distinguished fellow above is one Alistair Horne, born this day 1925, somewhere in merry Olde England (I looked, and was unable to find exactly where). M. Horne was educated in Switzerland, and at Jesus College, Cambridge where he played a little international ice hockey. He served in the RAF, and then the Coldstream Guards during, and directly after World War Two, and then was a foreign correspondent for The Daily Telegraph until beginning his writing career in 1955. It is for that writing career that he is my hero of the day. His "A Savage War of Peace" about the French conflict in Algeria was pretty much required reading for an American military bogged down in Vietnam, and now bogged down in two other countries. However, I am not a military man, and I read his "Seven Ages of Paris" and his "La Belle France." Both of which are outstanding books, and well worth a read. For his scholarship in French history he was made a Chevalier de la Legion d' Honneur by France. These books are enough to put him on the hero pedestal, and as a frustrated author myself, I am slowly beginning to appreciate how fucking hard it is to write a book. I have trouble getting a paragraph to make sense, I can not imagine the work a book would take. Also, I would think mood would have a lot to do with one's ability to write. For me, today has not been a day which finds me in the best of moods. It seems every interpersonal interaction I have goes to shit in about five minuets. At first I thought it was just the other person being unreasonable, but after about four disasters in an hour, I am beginning to suspect that I might be the problem. Which is probably why this post sucks, and therefore must be stopped. So, for writing two fabulous books, no matter what mood he was in, Alistair Horne (November 9th, 1925-present), you are my hero of the day.