Tag: History

The Emperor Who Tried to Stop World War I: Charles of Austria

He knelt there beside the emperor’s bed, forehead pressed into palms, as the murmuring of the prayers for the dying filled the stillness of the room. And as his lips moved in supplication for his granduncle, his thoughts drifted to the overwhelming possibility of what could soon be. As Emperor Franz Joseph I’s worsening condition…


History Off the Beaten Path: Cravens House Near Lookout Mountain, Tenn.

Since the mid-19th century, Cravens House has been prominently visible on Lookout Mountain, Tenn., from the city of Chattanooga in the valley below. In fact, a December 26, 1863, Harper’s Weekly etching depicting a noteworthy Civil War battle that occurred there is on display at the Lookout Mountain Battle Visitor Center, and the “white house”…


Christine de Pizan and the City of Ladies

Good role models are hard to find. In most places we look, we see celebrities glorifying “sexual liberation” (a promiscuous hook-up culture), expressing “nice” opinions about shifting cultural winds (virtue-signaling political correctness), and admonishing everyone to just “do you” (be narcissistic). Young people of both sexes, but especially females, are suffering from record rates of…


Social Security Benefits Rounded Down

Q: I’ve heard that Social Security is cheating me and millions of other Americans out of Social Security benefits they are due because they round down to the nearest dollar when they are supposed to be rounding up. Is this true? A: Well, it’s true … and it’s false. It’s true when you say that…


Film Review: ‘The Forger’: An Inspiring, Fact-Based Holocaust Drama With Better Characters Than Plot

NR | 1h 55min | Drama, War, Biography, History | 02 May 2023 (Germany/Luxembourg) Easily the most horrific event of the 20th century, the Holocaust is also a seemingly endless source of inspirational and heartbreaking films that remind each subsequent generation that evil in all of its forms can and must be thwarted. “The Forger” is based on the autobiography of…


Edgar Guest: Remembering ‘The People’s Poet’

“Poetry is not my strong suit, I’m no good at writing verse. My prose may be no better, but at least I could do worse.” Oh my gosh, I’m a poet and don’t know it! If it hadn’t been for a couple good English teachers in high school, I might have never read more than…


Documentary Review: ‘Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law?’: Embattled Defender of Hong Kong Democracy 

NR | 1h 30min | Politics, Documentary Profile | May 1, 2023 Of the three most visible leaders of the 2014 and 2019–2020 Hong Kong student protests, two have been silenced by the CCP. Joshua Wong is in prison. Agnes Chow has been released, but she is clearly not at liberty to speak freely. That leaves Nathan Law as the only…


TV Miniseries Review: ‘White House Plumbers’: Pithy Watergate Lampoon Wobbles Slightly but Sticks the Landing

 TV-MA | 4h 32min | Comedy, Satire, Politics, History, Crime | 01 May 2023 (USA) The new 5-part HBO miniseries “White House Plumbers” (“Plumbers”) opens with this text: “The following is based on a true story. No names have been changed because nearly everyone was found guilty.” At the end of each episode, different riffs on this same pithy, tongue-in-cheek commentary…


A Detectorist in a Royal English Court

A popular children’s pastime of hunting for buried treasure begins with dreams of unearthing pots of gold or a cache of jewels, but usually ends with potholes in a backyard revealing nothing more than sticks and stones. Those who continue to try their luck as adults use a better tool than a spade and shovel:…


Ocean Grove: Jersey Shore’s Unique Victorian Town

In the mid-1970s, my friend and I were riding along Route 71, south of Asbury Park, New Jersey, ready to explore the Jersey Shore. I was riding in her green Camaro on Sunday afternoon, when we drove past a community entrance road that was chained shut with a safety barricade out front. “That’s Ocean Grove,”…