Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MAY 30, 2023 – (Cont.) Second: the plight of women. This is one of history’s great challenges. With some notable exceptions, women have shouldered burdens and abuse disproportionate to their 50% representation of humanity. (In the case of extremist Ukrainian atrocities against the Poles of Volhynia, women and children were a sizable majority of the …
MAY 30, 2023 – One evening recently I stumbled upon a Polish film entitled Wołyń (pronounced, VO-win), which is a region of Central-Eastern Europe fraught with history and bloodshed in a four-way tug-of-war among Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Russians and Germans. Notice that I said “four-way” but named five “tribes.” That’s because historically, the Jewish population …
MAY 9, 2023 – Late this month, Brown University will confer honorary doctorate degrees on six Americans of distinction. Among them will be the inimitable Ruth Oppenheim. I first met Ruth during college. Her son, Jeff, a close friend of mine, had invited me to stay with the family in Barrington, Rhode Island over Thanksgiving …
MAY 2, 2023 – Juxtaposed to denial of the undeniable results of the 2020 presidential election, the Watergate scandal that ended the Nixon regime now looks comparatively tame. A deeper examination of the record, however, reveals the broader danger that Nixon posed to the democracy. Without “White House Tapes”—voice-activated recordings of Nixon’s Oval Office conversations—might …
APRIL 27, 2023 – Finally, 650 pages and the comprehensive survey of the worst conflagration the world has ever known are behind me. I speak of Inferno, The World at War, 1939 – 1945 by Max Hastings. Few books have had such an impact on my psyche and my world view generally. I could easily …
APRIL 22, 2023 – The world awaits Ukraine’s much anticipated spring offensive against the Russian invaders. Perhaps I overstate matters when I say, “the world.” At the time of the invasion 14 months ago, when news coverage was 24/7, we watched slack-jawed as Putin unleashed his horrors on the sovereign nation of Ukraine. The assault …
APRIL 18, 2023 – The other day I enjoyed a long conversation with a college friend-classmate during which we talked a fair amount of politics. He’s a student of history, and in the context of our political discussion, historical perspectives necessarily came into play. He struggles, as do I, with making judgments about the views, …
APRIL 16, 2023 – (Cont.) I was soon drawn into the series by the wits and courage of the protagonists. They were young and well-educated Americans who put grand-scale principles of personal gain, pleasure and safety. They exhibited unusual chutzpah and were leagues ahead of their government in understanding the full implications of the coming …
APRIL 15, 2023 – I’m amazed by what people do. I speak here not of the bad stuff, though granted, we do a lot of that too. No, I refer here to the extraordinary feats of creative, curious and determined minds that produce works of wonder. My astonishment exceeds ever so slightly my ignorance of …
MARCH 26, 2023 -Yesterday’s post expressed anxiety if not pessimism about the nation’s current heading. Today a burst of spring weather, including uninterrupted sunshine accompanied by snowmelt off the back roof, helped temper yesterday’s worry. But what better assuaged my concern was another 50 pages (thus far today) of Inferno by Max Hastings (see 3/16, …
MARCH 23, 2023 – A few posts ago I mentioned Inferno, a brilliant survey of WW II by the British journalist and military historian, Max Hastings. I’m now several hundred pages deeper into the conflict and to borrow a phrase that George W. Bush deployed in hubris when we invaded Iraq 20 years ago this …
MARCH 16, 2023 – Currently, I’m deep into Inferno by Max Hastings, a British military historian, who’s written extensively about the biggest conflagration ever visited upon civilization. I’ve read lots about WW II, and I wasn’t looking for yet another (650-page) tome on the subject. When a mint-condition copy of “hell on earth” surfaced atop …
FEBRUARY 22, 2023 – Today, as any school kid of my generation could tell the teacher, is George Washington’s birthday. It wasn’t a hard thing to forget when in the first few years of grade school, February 22 featured some prominent reminder: cherry cupcakes for lunch; a story reading by the teacher; an art project …
FEBRUARY 20, 2023 – (Cont.) Now back to the big lie of Ivan’s “murder.” In fact, he was alive—if not exactly well—as proved by Peter’s mother (Ivan’s step-mother) courageously leading both boys by the hand out to confront the crazy mob of Streltsy crazies (egged on, historians believe, by Ivan’s older sister, Sophia, who sought …
FEBRUARY 19, 2023 – Today I didn’t attempt to ski. I risked life and limb slipping, sliding and otherwise navigating a course to “Little Switzerland” to confirm that I couldn’t ski without risking life and limb. Between audible cursing and intense concentration to stay upright, I considered proposals for the subject of today’s post. Since …
FEBRUARY 8, 2023 – Later known as “Catherine the Great,” Sophia Augustus was considered the most enlightened monarch of her era. Many historians today also conclude that of all absolute rulers of the 18th century, Catherine was a standout. I recently completed reading Robert Massie’s acclaimed biography of the thoroughly German princess who, by a …
JANUARY 31, 2023 – After nearly a year into the Russian war against Ukraine, I’m amazed that any people or buildings are still standing in the second largest (geographically) country in Europe. Russia’s brutal assault, prompted by delusions of imperial grandeur and fed by the age-old Russian tactic of quantity over quality, seems destined to …
JANUARY 21, 2021 – Recently, a college friend with academic credentials deeper than the seven layers of Troy uncovered a volunteer opportunity with the National Archives Citizen Archivist Project. The task involves transcribing old documents. As a PhD anthropological archeologist, he’s eminently qualified. In his email about it he wrote, “Transcribing some of these records …
JANUARY 16, 2023 – Of all our national shortcomings, the legacy of our Original Sin remains the most persistent contradiction of our basic stated operating principles; a contradiction with real, hard, extensive, corrosive consequences for all of us. The sine qua non of redemption is acknowledgment, yet many Americans still actively resist hearing, reading or …
JANUARY 8, 2023 – Movies, filled with dramatic distortions, embellishments and exaggerations, are often an unreliable source of historical information. Just as often, however, despite the lack of factual reliability, a film will stir the viewer’s curiosity and prompt further investigation of the historical record. That was the case when I stumbled across the 2014 …
DECEMBER 26, 2022 – I’m well into that paradoxical stage of life when the more I learn, the more I learn I haven’t. This is particularly true of my knowledge of history; not just what’s “fascinating” but what’s necessary for an understanding of the world and essential to counter repetition of its darkest moments. Some …
DECEMBER 14, 2022 – With less than two weeks before Christmas, I’m well into my annual panic over what to buy my spouse. My panic increases each time I see under the tree, another present bearing the tag, “To Eric.” I wanted to write about this panic phenomenon, but in researching the origins of the …
DECEMBER 11, 2022 – Currently, snow conditions aren’t optimal, but I’ve learned to adapt. I’ve found a loop of skiable snow in “Little Switzerland,” a 10-minute walk from our house. My course is only a little over a kilometer but has what every serious x-c skier needs: two straight-aways—one for “V-1” (poling with every other …
DECEMBER 4, 2022 – Surely you’re acquainted with the right-wing “America First Party” with the motto, “Fighting for Faith, Freedom and the Constitution to Put America First.” Likewise, you’ve heard of Holocaust-denier, Nick Fuentes, Trump’s recent lunch guest and instigator of the annual America First Political Action Conference (“AFPAC”). But how many people who encounter …
DECEMBER 3, 2022 – I’m currently reading Robert Massie’s acclaimed biography of Catherine the Great, Empress of all the Russias. I’d first read it a decade ago, and as I’ve discovered with multiple books lately—including other Massie masterpieces: Peter the Great and Nicholas and Alexandra—a second reading heightens retention as well as comprehension. I read …