Negative Space: war
- Cabaret
- This is the musical that beat the crap out of “The Godfather” in 1972. The music takes place on the stage of the Kit Kat Klub, where MC Joel Grey reigns over a motley collection of strippers, transvestites, vaudeville acts, and, of course, Liza Minelli. Grey, Minelli, and director Bob Fosse made a great movie about the twilight beauty of Germany’s nightclub decade. “Mi cabaret, au cabaret, tu cabaret!”
- Casablanca
- Ah, Play it, Sam! If this isn’t the most-quoted movie outside of Macbeth, you’re in the wrong country. This is a beautiful DVD. The movie is presented in the original full-screen format. Languages are French and English, both spoken and subtitled. It also includes a nice documentary hosted by Lauren Bacall.
- The First Casualty
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This book is a great collection of war reporting anecdotes from the Crimean War up to Vietnam. It also attempts to be an analysis, and pretty much fails to not only come to any conclusion, but to decide what its goals ought to be.
- One Assault Weapon’s Story
- The historic tale of a .30 caliber carbine, by Chris Ferris.
- The presumption of innocence and prisoners of war
- Fairness means raising the standards of others, not lowering our own.
- Republicans overreact to Mexican army visit
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Recent visit by Mexican armed forces to San Diego brings out the worst in Republican lawmakers. Congress’s approval is at an all-time low following incendiary comments by prominent Republican representatives.
- The Thirty Year War
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War does not always occur between two well-defined sides. Often, war that results on the edge of great ideas will involve a complex interplay of ideals, fears, and political expediencies.
- The Tin Drum
- A strange German fantasy taking place between World War I and the end of World War II, about a young boy who refuses to grow up.
- Washington Goes to War
- The Washington Metropolitan area’s population increased by over 50% between 1930 and 1941. Another 70,000 arrived in 1942, and 5,000 new federal workers were added every month. The reason was war, and the rumor of war. The book covers the period from 1939 to 1945, with much wandering in between. Part of it is from Brinkley’s personal memories of the period, and much more from interviews.
More Information
- The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny• (paperback)
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“For a few brief months in the winter and spring of 370-369 a single man had created a vast democratic army that changed the course of Greek history. So too in a matter of weeks Sherman fashioned the Army of the West into the most lethal army the world had yet seen. In less than a year George Patton had turned 250,000 amateur American recruits into a mobile and lethal force that could charge ahead at forty miles and more a day through enemy-occupied territory.” (Victor Davis Hanson)
