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June 18, 2024

The Waning of the Modern Age

Happy centennial, Johan Huizinga! He wrote his famous history book, The Waning of the Middle Ages, in 1919, but an English translation came out in 1924 and changed the way many thought about writing history. Continue Reading...
June 13, 2024

Liz Truss: A Short but Vital Tenure

Liz Truss’ tenure as the United Kingdom’s prime minister will almost certainly be reduced to two footnotes. First, she was invited to form a government by Queen Elizabeth II during Her Late Majesty’s last public engagement. Continue Reading...
June 05, 2024

The Genius of Franklin

The United States’ Office of the Historian “Milestones” webpage “1776–1783: Diplomacy and the American Revolution” devotes one of its eight sections to Benjamin Franklin, “the most distinguished scientific and literary American of the colonial era” and “the first American diplomat.” Continue Reading...
June 03, 2024

Hidden in Kafka’s Castle

Should we blame Max Brod? Brod was almost certainly the nearest thing Franz Kafka ever had to a friend, and in time Kafka appointed him his literary executor. The instructions he gave were unequivocal: all the work that remained unpublished on his death, which came on June 3, 1924, including three novels and a large number of stories, was to be promptly destroyed. Continue Reading...
May 31, 2024

The Immeasurable Value of One Life

His name will never be as widely recognized as it ought to be, but Nicholas Winton is one of the authentic heroes of the last century. Born in 1909 in Hampstead, London, Winton’s parents were Jewish, but he was brought up in the Church of England. Continue Reading...
May 30, 2024

A Graves Goodbye to WWI

This year marks the 95th anniversary of the book that for many solidified the view that World War I dealt a deadly a blow to European culture: Robert Graves’ Goodbye to All That. Continue Reading...