Historical and Political Musings
Tuesday 25, April 1916 was a fine, spring day. There had been gentle showers earlier, but the land had dried since then, and the rest of week promised to be warm. After a disastrous start on Easter Sunday, things had gone as smoothly as could be expected for Irish Volunteer, Lieutenant Richard Mulcahy. After reporting… Continue reading The Battle of Ashbourne
I’ve been thinking about Balakian’s memoir and two points that stuck out the most to me were: the international community’s culpability/lack of proper response and Turkey’s complaints once the Armenians were murdered. Starting with the Turk’s complaints, it’s so similar to the U.S. right now, it’s terrifying. Balakin writes that the Armenians were the core… Continue reading More notes on Armenian Golgotha
Armenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian. Published by Vintage in 2009. This memoir was written by Grigoris Balakian, a bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Balakian was an educated Armenian, having studied in Germany and spoke Armenian, Turkish, and German. He was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide and wrote this memoir to chronicle what he… Continue reading Book Review: Armenian Golgotha
The Anonymous Soldiers by Bruce Hoffman. Published by Random House in 2015 This is a well written and well researched book that is easy to read, and is packed with information. While there is a lot in there, it’s not a ‘dense’ book. It is a definitely a book that needs to be ready multiple… Continue reading Book Review: Anonymous Soldiers
I decided to combine all my short Easter Rising posts, into a big one. Easter Rising is one of the most momentous Irish rebellions in its long, tortuous and bloody history. It caught the British by surprise (despite the Castle knowing all there was to know about the planned exertion) and lasted for five days… Continue reading Easter Rising
In the Shadow of the Sword by Tom Holland. Published by Anchor in 201 I bought this book because I was blown away by Dan Snow’s interview of Tom Holland about this book, which can be found on HistoryHits. The two observations discussed in the interview that struck me were Holland’s claim that the Quran’s… Continue reading Book Review: In the Shadow of the Sword
The Empire of the Steppes: a History of Central Asia by Rene Grousset. Published in 1970 by Rutgers I picked this book up two years ago because I had a vague interest in the steppes and Central Asia and I’m really glad I did. While it is an old book, originally published in 1939, it… Continue reading Book Review: the Empire of the Steppes
My favorite museum in Chicago, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library, was having a book sale this weekend. I may have bought a few books…haha. I thought it would be fine to review what I bought, since they were bought in a whirl. Samurai I will be honest, I wasn’t expecting there to be so… Continue reading Book Haul 6/9/18
Easter 1916 the Irish Rebellion by Charles Townshend. Published in 2015 by Penguin I’m going to start this review with a warning: Charles Townshend is one of my favorite historians. I have read few historians who can take complicated messes and break them down into short, easy to understand chapters within a chapter, while also… Continue reading Book Review: Easter 1916 the Irish Rebellion
