Who Is My Neighbor? Revisited

One of the justifiably beloved novels of fairly modern times is “Les Miserables,” by French writer Victor Hugo.

It may in fact be his ‘piece de résistance’ — his masterwork.

Since the work is in public domain and Hugo is long dead (1885), I think it fair to talk about it without issuing spoiler alerts.

If you have not read the almost 1500 page book by now, you may never. However, you may be familiar with its plot.

The book spawned no fewer than 7 films, as well as the well-known French musical.

The protagonist, a seemingly ordinary man named Jean Valjean, has just been released from prison after serving 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister and her starving child. His original sentence was for 5 years, but sentences have a nasty habit of being lengthened, sometimes into paragraphs.

The Europeans were not known for being kind to indigenous people. Even less so than to their own.

The French subjugated Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, amongst other countries in the French colonial empire.

The Spanish subjugated South Americans as well as denizens of other countries in the Spanish colonial empire.

It was once said the sun never set on the British empire.