The Forbidden City for the masses

That's what my reaction to my first day at Walt Disney World was.By no means was this meant as a snobbish put-down. When it comes to Forbidden Cities, I am one of the mass...

Phil Paine on Metis democracy

http://academia.edu/1649062/The_Hunters_Who_Owned_Themsel...

You are history

A friend of mine wrote this perceptive piece.  An excerpt:“I want to make sure we get everything back to where it belongs,” [An institutional librarian] said.I nodded. “You know, you should get some deacidification spray and treat each page. Also, make a note as to when you drew them, and sign them.”He looked at me like I was nuts. Deacidification spray is expensive....

A Tribe Called Red

Contemporary Native Canadian music out of Ottawa as broadcast on CBC's...

Who has the heavy horses?

In the last generation, many medieval military historians have applied and adapted the idea of a military revolution to the era of the Hundred Years War. One element of that supposed revolution was the deemphasis of cavalry and new emphasis on infantry, especially infantry using...

Secret History of the Bill of Rights

This Salon article reveals the messiness of early American constitutional history:http://www.salon.com/2013/06/20/the_secret_history_of_the_bill_of_rights/An excerpt:Ironically, it is to the pressure of the slave-holding oligarchy on Virginia’s federal representatives that we owe the Bill of Rights. To be specific, in running for the first Congress in 1788 James Madison beat his...

Foreign Policy on democratic transitions

I have been reading the magazine Foreign Policy recently, and despite the fact that is understandably American-centric, it does tend to take a broader than usual view of world events.This article on democratic transitions is pretty good. Here is an excerpt:2. On elections, "Fake it till you make it."A clear lesson from our case studies is that elections -- even sham elections --...

One of many walls in the world

Cosmo Sarson's mural of Jesus breakdancing on the wall beside The Canteen, Bristol, England.One of many great walls on this edition of The Big Pictu...

The Good Duke speaks

Duke Louis of Bourbon proposes a plan when he hears that the English army, besieging a Spanish city, is dying of disease:Since they are dying, it would be a good thing to go help them to die some mo...

A hillside settlement in Sichuan

...

George RR Martin, master storyteller

This blog post is dedicated to the proposition that George RR Martin is objectively a major figure in the literature of the early third millennium.I speak as someone who has read the Ice and Fire books, some of them more than once, but has not been following the TV series week by...

Good news from Iraq

The marshes are coming  back!http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22706024The BBC article shows a town hall made of reeds, just like in the old, old days.&nb...