Archive for the ‘History’ Category
A review of the book “War. What Good Is It For?”
October 19th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I try to alternate reading fiction and non-fiction. The latest work of non-fiction that I have read is “War. What Is It Good For?” by Ian Morris. You can read my review here.
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Why has the West been so globally dominant in the last 500 years? It’s latitudes not attitudes that explains it.
September 29th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading “War: What Is It Good For”? by Ian Morris and this fascinating look at big history frequently refers to the ‘lucky latitudes’. This led me to look up earlier writing by Morris on this idea that it is geography and not biology that has largely shaped the history of civilisations. In this […]
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The fascination story of the remains of King Richard III
September 28th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I did a blog posting some time ago about the discovery in a Leicester car park of the skeleton of England’s King Richard III who was killed at the battle of Bosworth in . The city of Leicester put on a temporary exhibition in the city about the discovery of the remains and the decretive […]
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The war of Jenkin’s ear – the oddest name for a conflict in British history?
September 23rd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading “War: What Is It Good For”? by Ian Morris and he mentions the war of Jenkin’s ear which prompted me to remind myself what this oddly-named conflict was all about. It was a war between Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748, with major operations largely ended by 1742. The body […]
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How a Soviet duty officer may have saved the world from nuclear war
September 17th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
You’ve probably never heard of the man or the incident. Either I never knew about it or I had forgottob until I started reading a book this week: “War: What Is It Good For”? The author of the book is Ian Morris and I attended a talk he gave at the House of Commons upon […]
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The real story behind the hit movie “Pride”
September 16th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Last weekend, I saw the new British film “Pride” which tells the true story of how, during the miners’ strike of 1984-85, a South Wales community received substantial support from a London-based group called Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. I loved the movie and you can read my review here. Today, the “Mirror” newspaper […]
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The Imperial War Museum and the First World War
August 13th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I have visited the Imperial War Museum in London many times but, on 19 July 2014, the museum reopened with new First World War Galleries to mark the centenary of the outbreak of what used to be called the Great War. So today I revisited the museum with my Sloval friend Ivan to see the […]
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“Hard Choices” (4): my review of the memoir
August 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I have now finished reading the 600-page memoir by Hillary Clinton of her four years as America’s Secretary of State. You can read it here.
Posted in American current affairs, History, World current affairs | Comments (0)
American presidents (7): Bill Clinton
August 9th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The final session of my City Lit course on post-war US presidents covered two: the elder Bush and Clinton. This session saw a return of the lecturer Paul Hadjipieris who had previously covered Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. He is a personable and able lecturer and we all learned a lot. Bill Clinton was the […]
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American presidents (6): George H W Bush
August 8th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The final session of my City Lit course on post-war US presidents covered two: the elder Bush and Clinton. This session saw a return of the lecturer Paul Hadjipieris who had previously covered Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. He is a personable and able lecturer and we all learned a lot. George H W Bush […]
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