As I write this post, the sun is setting over the River Somme in northern France. One hundred years ago today, in the middle of World War I, nightfall hid the grisly sight of nearly 20,000 dead British and Commonwealth soldiers. One of them was a twenty-year old officer named John Sherwin Engall, who had written to his parents … More The Somme at 100
On the single day of July 1, 1916, over 19,000 British soldiers died along France’s Somme river, slaughtered in largely futile assaults on German defenses that had survived the week-long artillery bombardment preceding the attack. The battle raged on until mid-November, with over 75,000 more British soldiers dying and 300,000+ being wounded. British photographers on … More This Day in History: The First Day of the Somme
Earlier this month Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) presented an evening program focused entirely on classical music written by French and English composers during and right after World War I. Here’s the playlist if you’d like to order any of the pieces (for February 7th; the WWI music ran from 8-9pm). For the occasion Classical MPR … More WWI in Classical Music
A series of posts taking you day-by-day through a proposed travel version of my course HIS230L World War I. Read the introduction to the series here, or the previous post here. Monday, January 14, 2013 – The Somme Back on the bus for a brief ride across the Belgium-France border, then we’ll tour sites from … More The War Elsewhere
A series of posts taking you day-by-day through a proposed travel version of my course HIS230L World War I. Read the introduction to the series here, or the previous post here. Thursday, January 10, 2013 – Oxford Already in this series, I’ve singled out several excellent movies that meditate on the First World War. Another … More Tolkien, Lewis, and the Memory of War
A series of posts taking you day-by-day through a proposed travel version of my course HIS230L World War I. Read the introduction to the series here, or the previous post here. Monday, January 7, 2013 – London Well, I’ve put it off as long as I can: try as I might to argue that this … More The First War Documentary
The Pietist Schoolman 