Ken Follett's addictive historical novels

I just powered through the 3,000 pages of Ken Follett’s magnificent historical epic, the Century Trilogy.

It begins with Fall Of Giants, as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.

Winter of the World follows the same five families—American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh—through a time of enormous social, political, and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the Third Reich, through the great dramas of the Spanish Civil War and World War II, and into the beginning of the Cold War and nuclear age.

In Edge of Eternity, the families come to one of the most tumultuous eras of all: the 1960s through the 1980s, from civil rights, assassinations, Vietnam, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, presidential impeachment—and rock and roll.

The last book starts about the time I was beginning college, so the subsequent events, turbulence, political activism and war are somewhat familiar. What’s fascinating is how deeply interestingly and understandable the earlier periods of the 20th century are rendered by Ken Follett. WWI always seemed absurd to me, but in fall of Giants we see it as the end of another world, that of colonies, monarchies, alliances and class discrimination.

That Mr. Follett recounts historical fact through dramatic events affecting five families is brilliant. We care about, or at least are fascinated by, these people and their generations. He did the same in his medieval Kingsbridge trilogy, beginning with The Pillars of the Earth, set in the 12th century and the building of a cathedral in England. The same location is used in World Without End, but in the 14th century. The final volume, A Column of Fire, is set in Elizabeth I’s 16th century, and comes out in September. Each of these is 1,000 pages, also. Believe me, the time flies by. (Did I mention that there’s lots of sex to go along with the impecable historical research?)

The overwheming sense of these books is a compassion for humanity. The aristocrats have no corner on intelligence. Goodness and evil exist among every nationality and class. We pull for the goodness, but must acknowledge the power of the dark side, too.