The Kaiser’s Coolies — German Sailors in WWI
Though All Quiet on the Western Front, 1929, made Erich Maria Remarque far and away the …
Category Archives: History
Stephen Pinker – Getting Better all the Time?
Stephen Pinker, Harvard savant and current leader in the Candide impersonator contest, was up to his usual tricks at the …
American Empire: Going Across the Waters
Those of us who have spent anytime at all in Hawaii, usually on vacation, enjoying the fine weather, the …
The Battle Cry of Freedom — The Beginnings of the Civil War
In these years when many have worried aloud about a neo-civil war brewing between American shores it is somewhat …
Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans
Ken Burns’ PBS series, The Vietnam War has been much in the news, and on many minds, this fall, 52 years …
Croatia — The Sorrows of Separation
The news from Spain and Catalonia this week has made my blood run cold. Plebiscites, exuberance, declarations of independence. The …
Language Does Not Lie — Victor Klemperer
Victor Klemperer was a philologist, a German and a Jew in Dresden during the Nazi regime and the world war. As …
The War at Home 1918-1923
I’ve been away and tramping the back roads of Iceland for two weeks and am so far behind I can’t …
A History of Warfare – John Keegan
A History of Warfare, (1993) by John Keegan is a substantial and interesting book, not for those who want to …
A House Divided: Vituperation in the Beginning
One great thing about long driving trips is the time available to listen to good books. On a trip to …
“A Long Long Way” – the Irish in WW I
Some books are so damn good it seems a sin to write about them. Just go read it, that’s all! …
WW I: Not What Caused it, but What It Was Like
The interest of readers in World War I seems to divide into three main categories: high-level diplomatic threats, promises and …