With Both Hands

Sign in Subscribe

History

The Long View 2005-07-04: Supreme Invalidations; Churchill

The mention of Churchill myths in this post sent me to look and make sure that Winston Churchill's short story, "The Dream", was in fact real. I see no mention of it on the myths page. Whew. Supreme Invalidations; Churchill Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O&

The Long View: Democracy and Populism

This is the money quote, John Reilly paraphrasing John Lukacs: If you believe the author, the president of the United States is one of the two monarchs remaining in the world; the other is the pope. The presidency differs from the papacy in that its operation is becoming increasingly medieval.

The Long View: The Holy Grail

A nice overview of the grail stories, and how they fit into European history. This was part of my background reading for Tim Powers' The Drawing of the Dark and Last Call. The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief By Richard Barber Harvard University Press, 2004 463 Pages, US$17.

The Long View: Inventing the Middle Ages

Looking up images for this post, I was taken with portraits of Frederick the Great. The man's gaze pierces you even at the distance of 230 years. He isn't the subject of the book in this post, but I couldn't resist! Inventing the Middle

The Long View: A History of the American People

I've never been able to read A History of the American People. I've tried twice, but something about Johnson's style makes his books unreadable to me. I want to read his books, if only because he covers topics that interest me. Maybe it is

St. Augustine and Saxons

Ross Douthat posted a trio of links to articles about St. Augustine, in the service of criticizing Stephen Greenblatt's anti-Christian animus. The articles are pretty interesting, but it was the second one that really caught my eye. Similarly, it is a gross distortion to describe medieval people as

The Long View: Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages

Ignore doomsday at your peril. Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages by Eugen Weber Harvard University Press, 2000 294 pages, US$16.95 (Paperback) ISBN 0-674-00395-0 The University of Toronto asked Eugen Weber, the noted emeritus professor of modern European history at UCLA, to give the 1999