On Afghanistan and Failure
By Tom Weiss
Dan Bolger has been on my mind lately. You probably don’t know him. A quiet professional, he’s not a staple on cable news and only writes the occasional op-ed. In the faculty directory of NC State University, he is listed simply as an “Assistant Teaching Professor.”
I, and many others who served with him in uniform, know him for different reasons. When he commanded the 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq, we knew him as the guy who spent more time on the streets of Baghdad than he did in his office.
Custer’s Unpublished Letters vs. Woke America
By H. W. Crocker III
One of the pleasures of working for a venerable publishing house with an attic full of musty files is digging through long forgotten correspondence. A few years ago, I was engaged in just such an endeavor and came upon a bit of historical gold.
‘Shoot Them in the Leg’ and Other Idiocies
No, If You Have To Shoot, Shoot Center Mass
By David Churchill Barrow
The shooting by a police officer of the knife-wielding teenager in Columbus, Ohio has summoned forth the same absurd comments by media and politicians who know nothing about firearms – and their use in adrenaline-filled situations – that we heard from Joe Biden more than once during the campaign: Perhaps the words of wisdom Miyagi gave to Daniel-San should be given unto them: “You… too much TV.” Since they do watch TV, and presumably the movies shown thereon, perhaps the most famous gunfight in the history of the United States would serve to drive the point home: If you have to shoot, put your target down.
October 26, 1881 – Tombstone, Arizona Territory. All of the participants in this fight were skilled with the powerful weapons they possessed; i.e. .44 and .45 cal. pistols, a 12 gauge double-barrel shotgun, and Winchester rifles. Some of the participants had killed men before this fight, and would kill again afterwards. When the fight commenced, the combatants were only about six feet apart in an empty lot next to Fly’s photograph studio. (Some of the “cowboys” had come through the back entrance to the OK Corral nearby, but that is its only connection to the fight.) The shooting lasted only thirty seconds, but in that time about thirty shots were fired. Consider that for a moment – six feet apart, thirty seconds, thirty shots. What were the hits?
That Only America Could Have Produced: Chambers, Schlesinger, Nixon, and Hiss
By Scott Seward Smith
Among the multitudes that America used to contain were Whittaker Chambers and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. A few months ago I happened to reread both Chambers’ autobiography Witness and Schlesinger’s Journals 1952-2000 one after the other. These two men are of different generations: Chambers lived from 1901 to 1961 and Schlesinger 1917 to 2007. They are of completely different temperaments, milieus, politics, and tastes. But there are some fascinating overlaps that have some bearing on the difficult passage we are traversing today as a nation. Both were superb writers.
The Coronavirus as Left-Wing Theatre
By Robert Cooperman
I need you to stick with me on this one. I promise it will be worth your time.
We are now in the age of the coronavirus and we shall soon see the mettle of our country based on our response to this pandemic. I have no doubt that a play will be written about it soon and it will either be a “Trump didn’t do enough and people died and he has blood on his hands” play, which will have a limited shelf life but will be all the rage for a good month or two; or a heart-rendering, mind-numbing tragedy about all the truly good people who lost their battle with COVID-19 and the one survivor who must live on in a world that’s done him or her wrong. Both will be terrible plays but will be considered “deep” and “thought-provoking,” no doubt spawning a musical by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt (the perpetrators of next to normal and If/Then). If the pandemic doesn’t doom us, the dramatic response to it will.
Entertainment in the Time of Pestilence
By Robert Arrington
About two weeks ago (as you read this column), just as the coronavirus lockdown was beginning, I decided I needed a break from anything too contemporary, and to watch something “historical” for entertainment. I picked re-watching World Without End, the mini-series based on the novel by Kenneth Follett.
I wound up laughing at myself. It had been almost ten years since I had read the novel, and seven or eight since I watched the series. I had forgotten that a large part of the story deals with how the principal characters dealt with the Bubonic Plague of the mid 1300s.
Books To Give For Christmas: Battle Cry By Leon Uris, the Most Accurate Novel About the Marines Ever Written
By David Churchill Barrow
If you happen to take my advice and give this book to someone, be careful to whom you give it; there may be unintended consequences. All three of our children loved the book, especially knowing how much it tracked the WWII experiences of their “Grandpa Barrow,” who like Uris, served in the 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. For all three, it was part of the inspiration to join the JROTC program in high school. For our oldest, that didn’t lead to the Marine Corps, but it did lead to West Point, deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Bronze Star – and that was a daughter.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: The Mayflower Compact Goes West
By David Churchill Barrow
In his National Review piece Kyle Smith notes that this movie is most famous for its cynicism of the press, and the puncturing of Old West mythology; its most famous line being “This is the West, Sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” In this view, the film was pioneer postmodern. There should not be an abundance of joy in the destruction of myth. As Jordan Peterson often reminds us, shared mythology is part of the cultural cement that holds us together, just as the Arthurian legends instructed actual knights on the meaning of chivalry.
Dark Psychic Forces? Maybe. But No Wars of the Roses Yet.
By Robert Arrington
Marianne Williamson, who is one of twenty-something Democrats running for the party’s presidential nomination, and who has absolutely no chance of being nominated, recently made a few waves when she spoke of “dark psychic forces” emanating from Donald Trump.
Regardless of the accuracy of Williamson’s admittedly bizarre accusation, it does seem that the country is going through a rather contentious period. Yet history teaches us that it can be much worse, and that nations seem to go through periods in which Dark Psychic Forces (capital letters mine) seem to be in play.
I have written more than once about the HBO Series “Game of Thrones” and the analogies that can be drawn from the events in the story. The series has concluded, so we won’t (at least until the prequel is released) be getting any more analogies drawn from GOT for a while.
But fear not. If “Game of Thrones” is not available, then what about its historical inspiration, the Wars of the Roses in 15th Century England? For those interested, there are options for late-summer viewing and reading readily available. The Starz Network has release three mini-series based on the novels of Phillipa Gregory: “The White Queen”, “The White Princess”, and “The Spanish Princess”. Conn Iggulden has given us a four volume retelling of the Wars of the Roses, beginning with “Stormbird” and ending with “Ravenspur: the Rise of the Tudors.” These novels and films give us a painless way to absorb some history and ponder its relevance to our own times.
Theatre Review: The Mueller Report-Based ‘The Investigation: A Search for Truth’
The Church Report
By Robert Cooperman
Well, it didn’t take long! Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report was made public on April 18, 2019 and by June 24, 2019 we had a “play” about it! Eighteen notable actors—including John Lithgow, Annette Bening, and Kevin Kline—took the stage at the Riverside Church in Manhattan, and offered an hour-long reading of the Mueller report, entitled The Investigation: A Search for Truth, a title that forces one to sing “Dah-dah-daaahhh” after saying it.
Obviously, it would take way more than an hour to read the 400+ pages of the Mueller report. However, playwright Robert Schankken efficiently cut out most of the report—including the large portion that found no collusion committed by President Donald Trump or anyone on his campaign staff—focusing instead on the obstruction of justice section, which Mueller apparently was unsure about. Schankken himself is a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, whose most recent piece before The Investigation(Dah-dah-daaahhh!) was Building the Wall, a May 2017 play about “life in the Donald Trump era.” I’ve yet to figure out how a President can define an “era” just five months into his administration.
