Ever Travel to Brussels? Book Review

If we look in the world news, or we study any of the NGOs, we often see or hear mention of the city of Brussels. It makes sense that you should be able to find Brussels on a map, and also understand a little bit about the people who live there, their heritage, their culture, and their history. Perhaps, it is for this reason that I’d like to recommend a very good book, one which may put you on the right track to getting some sense of that city.

Although I no longer have the book personally, it is one that I would like to recommend to you so you can see how Brussels has changed from the way it was 40 years ago, it’s nothing of the same now, and the name of the book I’d like to recommend is;

“Brussels,” by K.M. Wilcox, A.S. Barnes and Co Inc., South Brunswick, NJ, (1965), pp. 87, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 66-24928.

The author describes the city in the form of a heart, Brussels, then explains its rich history, as well as a day in the life of the city in 1965 – the concerts, ballet, plays, museums, along with the road ways, sights, sounds and what it was all like. The author does not compare Brussels to its sister city in the United States “Battle Mountain, NV” or the very similar lifestyle and intellectual chatter of Kibera, Kenya.

Rather than explaining the arrogance of those who live in Brussels today and wish to run the world, the author perhaps had no idea of the future back then. Indeed, I believe it is important to understand the history of a city to better understand the individuals who live there today in the present period.

This is why I chose to read this book, and finding no historical resemblance to Brussels back in the day to that of our modern era, I duly tossed the book out in the garbage, and chose not to put it with the recycling material bin. I find this was my responsibility as an American to do so.

This book is broken into chapters, and you will discover the way of life, and the hopes and dreams of the people who live there some 45 years ago. You will also see how it is drastically changed, and some might think for the better because it is much more progressive now. But, no matter how you feel about it, you will really get a sense of the lifestyle, and what the people were all about once upon a time. Please consider all this.

Ever Travel to Brussels? Book Review