On Sowing the Wind
Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli Arthur Travers Harris was a career officer in the British Royal Air Force. He was […]
Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli Arthur Travers Harris was a career officer in the British Royal Air Force. He was […]
“Civilization—To Your Health! [A Great War-Era Postcard Featuring an Image by the Dutch Artist, Louis Raemaekers] World War One—the “Great War”—certainly counts as one of the major events in modern human history. Its effects were felt for decades after the guns fell silent—and in important respects (not least, the political borders of the […]
I acknowledged, in earlier posts to this site, that I have become obsessively interested in the hideous tragedy we recall as “World War I”—the “Great War.” As related in those posts, I formed a particular interest in the ways in which picture postcards of the period document both the course of the conflict […]
I had intended to give all of us a rest from JudgmentsHere . . . But then I received intelligence that obliges me to post, today, as a matter of civic responsibility and a demonstration of my regard for the sensibilities of faithful readers. I read, today, in the latest copy of FOOD & […]
As of this writing, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of 160,000 of our friends and relations. It is a measure of the tragedy that large numbers of bits and bytes would be consumed by the mere listing of their names. Remembering even a small fraction of those dead in any meaningful way would […]
Offered here, for the delectation of readers, is a list of songs that are favorites of JudgmentsHere. An effort has been made to have the selections span a variety of genres, and to tilt toward the neglected and the obscure. There are few better feelings than stumbling on a piece of music […]
Propaganda Postcards and the German Invasion of Belgium “The first casualty when war comes is truth,” observed United States Senator Hiram Johnson in a 1918 speech. Coincidentally, his subject was the Great War—America’s involvement in which Johnson had opposed. “Truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of […]
I will not live long enough to see any particular lump of coal become a diamond. But I have lived long enough to see a love song written by one of my contemporaries mischaracterized as “traditional”—the song being thereby attributed to that prolific genius of yore, Anonymous. Such attribution cuts the song loose […]
The images on picture postcards sent to and from soldiers on the First World War’s western front captured, in “real time,” the passions and prejudices (etc.) of the men who fought the war, and of the societies that sent them into the trenches. The postcards were rolled off the presses quickly, to serve needs of […]
Daddy found the boys in the upstairs part of McDonald’s. They had found seats at a little counter that faced a window, through which you could see people walking on Third Avenue. Nathan had taken one chair, and Lewis had taken another. They had put their backpacks on the chair between their chairs, to […]