Word With a Past: How Did Germany Become the Hun?

The original Huns were a tribe of nomadic horsemen from Central Asia who rode fast and fought hard.* When they reached Europe in the second half of the fourth century, the Huns triggered a mass migration of Germanic tribes that contributed to the fall of Rome in the fifth century.  Under the leadership of Attila,…

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The Christmas Truce–1914

For most of us, the most vivid images of World War I are the trenches on the Western front.  Men dug into positions on either side of a no-man’s land of craters and burned out buildings.  Barbed wire and sandbags provided little protection from enemy shelling or snipers; they provided no protection from rats, lice,…

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History on Display: Elizabeth Rex

If you’re in Chicago between now and January 22, or are close enough that you can get here with no difficulty, I strongly recommend you get tickets to Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production of Elizabeth Rex  by Canadian playwright Timothy Findley. * Findley builds his story on three historical facts: The Earl of Essex, a court…

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