Wednesday, January 29, 2025

William McKinley: President during the Spanish-American War

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In 1898, President William McKinley sent American troops to fight in Cuba and the Philippines . This conflict is now known as the  “Spanis...
Saturday, January 25, 2025

A review of “Complexity & Chaos” (audiobook)

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In 1993, the original “Jurassic Park” film brought chaos theory to a wide audience. In that movie, the character of  Ian Malcolm  predicts...
Sunday, January 19, 2025

Top secret: The role of spying and code-cracking in the World Wars

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In the 1970s, a British television network made a series called  “The World at War,”  possibly the most comprehensive television history ev...

How much was Latin America involved in the World Wars?

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Anecdote about the European blockade of Venezuela, in the early twentieth century In 1902, three European nations imposed a  naval blockade...
Friday, January 17, 2025

A review of Ken Burns’ “Benjamin Franklin” (PBS)

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Long before I watched this film, I watched another PBS documentary about  Benjamin Franklin . This earlier film was by Muffie Meyer, who has...

A review of Ken Burns’ “Muhammad Ali” (PBS)

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He was born Cassius Clay, but joined the Nation of Islam and then changed his name He was one of the greatest athletes  of the twentieth cen...
Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Millard Fillmore: A moderate on slavery who pleased no one

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In July 1850, President   Zachary Taylor  mysteriously died while still in office. Most seem to believe that his stomach disease was from n...