In 2023 I took the biggest risk of my life: to become an independent author. I am yet to earn a substantial income, but I have, through trial and error, found my voice, my metier, and my way through the obscure forest. And I found you: a small, kind, growing audience.
Thank you for joining me on this recovery of my Burning Archive. As we celebrate the New Year, and in the Southern Hemisphere prepare to go to the beach, we are all doing our individual reviews and resolving new paths for the year to come.
Highlights of 2023
My three top author highlights of the year were
Publication of my articles in Pearls and Irritations, beginning with “The West’s Grand Illusions in Ukraine”
Publication of my book Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat, which is also deposited at the State Library of Victoria and National Library of Australia
My interviews with historians, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto and Marie Favereau. You can listen to them on podcast platforms or via the podcast page at jeffrich.substack.com.
My best listen, read, and watch this year
My best read was Richard Overy, Blood and Ruins: the Great Imperial War 1931-1945.
More broadly, I have done a video for the YouTube channel on five books that changed my mind about world history in 2023. Check it out.
My best listen was consistently The Duran podcast. The Duran and Glenn Diesen put together a stunning series of interviews with leading figures from around the world about the changing world. Check them out.
My best watch. I think probably the film, RRR. I watched a lot of great TV series too, but none stand out quite as much as RRR
Join the Infinite Conversation
By the end of 2023, I felt I had left behind years in the darkest part of the obscure forest that Dante found himself lost in. I could explore with courage and some hope new clearings in world history.
World history provides infinite material for conversation between people of different perspectives. I aspire on the Burning Archive to stimulate such conversation here and within your network.
Your invitation to a learning conversation
In 2024 I will be extending my course offerings in history and writing.
Would you like to join me for a 15 minute learning conversation about what you would be interested to learn about history and writing, and how I can help you do that?
I am looking to book in over the next month some conversations with members of the Burning Archive community about what would interest you.
You can make a booking for these calls via ZCal here:
This is completely free and no obligation. I’d love to know better if and how I can help you by sharing some of what I have learned over the years.
Please subscribe and share.