Here we go…
…with more of this horse manure. I refer you back to this for an explanation, and a tribute to Tsongas.
Continue reading →Category Archives: History
If you were wondering about Dole’s motivation…
…in writing that anti-Gingrich letter that all the fuss was about yesterday, TNR’s Timothy Noah offers further background on some possible reasons behind Dole’s anger (in addition to what I’d already suggested here). An excerpt summarizing the gist of it: … Continue reading →
The history of “women and children first”
I’ve got an article up today at PJ with some background on the old (actually, not all that old) “women and children first” rule in maritime disasters. Please click on the link and read the article first, and then come … Continue reading →
Amazon reminder: there’s still time!
[NOTE: Bumped up from yesterday.] There’s still plenty of time left to order from Amazon via the handy neo-neocon widgets on the right sidebar. I’m a big procrastinator, so I know. And there’s even time to sign up for 2 … Continue reading →
The decline of the duel
I’m reading—slowly, slowly—Steven Pinker’s long but fascinating The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Don’t laugh at the title because it seems absurd. Pinker presents a strong case to defend his thesis (although so far I’m only … Continue reading →
Serfs v slaves
I’ve been slowly reading Paul Johnson’s The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830. Don’t let the dry dull title or its length put you off; it’s wide-ranging and has something of interest (and something I didn’t previously know) on … Continue reading →
You think the postal service is bad now?
You should have seen it around 1815: To send a letter from the United States to Britain, you addressed it by domestic U.S. Mail to a shipping house on the coast, enclosing money to cover ocean travel and inland postage … Continue reading →
Unhappy anniversary: Munich
It’s been 73 years to the day that the Munich Pact was signed (on September 30, although it was post-dated September 29), ceding the Sudetenland to Hitler and giving appeasement a bad name. No, I don’t have the date memorized; … Continue reading →
9/11: ten years
Ten years ago today. That’s a long time. So long ago that there are now teenagers who were so young back then that they don’t remember it. To them, 9/11 is just a piece of history, not part of their … Continue reading →
The 9/11 memorial opens
Well, the 9/11 Memorial was a long time coming, but it will be opening tomorrow on the 10th anniversary of that fateful day. Take a look, and perhaps you’ll agree with me that it’s a fitting tribute, classic and moving … Continue reading →
Rating the decades
Ronald Brownstein thinks that the recent ten-year stretch—the one that’s been going on since 9/11—is the worst America’s been through since the Civil War and then the Great Depression. I disagree. I think that the decade beginning some time in … Continue reading →
Nothing new under the sun: Propaganda by the Deed
Ever hear of Propaganda by the Deed? At the beginning of the 20th Century, anarchists were in the middle of what was known as the ”˜Propaganda by the Deed’ period. The idea was that by killing members of the ruling … Continue reading →