Sparks Commentary

Why one should consider watching classic black-and-white movies This might seem a strange way to start this post, but there is a decades-lon...

“Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” – Alfred Hitchcock Even the worst Hollywood history movies often get people interested in the hi...

I sometimes wish that I had the money to make a  Hollywood movies  about history – or even several of them. I have all kinds of ideas ab...

“We're not trying to entertain the critics … I'll take my chances with the public.” – Walter Elias Disney It's not often t...

“You've listened to a long and complex case, murder in the first degree. Premeditated murder is the most serious charge tried in our c...

“Thus, the earnest hope of the Japanese Government to adjust Japanese-American relations and to preserve and promote the peace of the Paci...

"Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Na...

Warning: This post contains some disturbing pictures related to the Holocaust. One of these, in particular, is very graphic, and may merit...

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country . My fellow citizens of ...

The English Civil War was a war over ideas, much like the American Revolution ... The British historian  Simon Schama  once said that th...

"Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country ...

On both sides of the Atlantic (particularly in the English-speaking world), there is still a great deal of interest in  Winston Churchill ...

What's the best movie about John Adams ? Young John Adams My answer would be that it depends on what you're looking for. A...

There's something about war heroes and statesmen that holds the fascination of many; and so there have been a number of  movies  about...

"It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere ...

"And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS ." - ...

" ... that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom ... " - Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (1863) ...

"Your friend Mr. Lincoln had his Taylors and Paines. So did every other man who ever tried to lift his thought up off the ground. Odd...