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As the Nazi forces of fascist Germany ravaged Europe, Britain and the commonwealth stood alone upholding the ideas of freedom, until the USA entered the war on December 7, 1941, against Japanese imperialism and European fascist brutality, after the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. Britain then curtailed Hitler’s plans to invade Britain (Operation Sea Lion), […]
In a 2012 “documentary” film and book titled The Untold History of the United States, filmmaker Oliver Stone contended that there would have been “no Cold War” had Henry Wallace, FDR’s third-term vice president, not been forced off the ticket by reactionary Democratic Party leaders in 1944.[1] Wallace, rather than Harry Truman, would have become […]
A new book? I hear you cry. Yes! And it’s one that you’ve helped me write. Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing is my second non-fiction book and it draws on a new approach to reading that I’ve developed over the twelve years of writing this blog. Among the many challenges I had to face […]
Elizabeth “Eliza” Fenning was born on June 10, 1793 in the Caribbean island of Dominica. Her parents William and Mary Fenning had a total of ten children, but only Elizabeth survived to adulthood, a common occurrence due to the high infant mortality rate at the time. Her father had been a soldier. Upon his discharge, […]
This book was one of two sent to me by Colin. He was going on a trip to Kosovo and volunteered to go to some bookshops on my behalf to see what Kosovan booksellers would choose for me as standout books from their nation. Kosovo wasn’t included in my original year of reading the world. […]
Origins and Formation Byzantine Emperor Basil II suffered a major defeat against the Bulgarians in 986, at Trajan’s Gate, a strategic mountain pass in Bulgaria. The rebels Bardas Sclerus and Bardas Phocas renewed their attempts to supplant Basil and seize the Byzantine throne for themselves. Surrounded by enemies both within and without the empire, Basil […]
Despite the hold that the internet now has on everyday life, it is difficult to imagine it as something that was ever invented. Unlike the car, the telephone, or the aeroplane, the internet by comparison has managed to achieve ubiquity without us being able to point to an obvious creator. Of course, we see traces […]
Oskar Potiorek Bosnia and Herzegovina was a hotly disputed territory in 1914. It had been annexed by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1910 from the crumbling Ottoman Empire, but was also claimed by neighboring Serbia and had a growing nationalist movement amongst its youth who wanted it to be part of a South Slav state. The […]
If the story rested on the bizarre coincidence of the arrests in 1865 and 1888, that would be compelling enough. But during my research, I encountered an extraordinary figure whose life consisted of a series of crises and scandals. It included two manslaughter cases; violent assaults; arrests for gross indecency; and accusations of business fraud. […]
Origins of the Boxer Movement To comprehend the Boxer Rebellion, one must understand its roots deeply entwined with China’s history of internal strife and external pressures. The late 19th century saw China reeling from a series of humiliations at the hands of foreign powers, compounded by internal turmoil and economic distress. The Boxers, officially known […]