Archive for September 2014
Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors
If you’ve spent much time here in the Margins, you know that I’m fascinated by historical boundaries: the times and places where two cultures meet (peacefully or, more often, not) and change each other. One of my favorite examples of a historical boundary is Islamic Spain, where Dar al Islam and Christendom met in exciting…
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Who Was The Most Successful Pirate in History*
Any guesses? Edward Teach, commonly known as Blackbeard? Captain Kidd? Captain Morgan?** Grace O Malley, aka the Pirate Queen? Sir Francis Drake?*** None of them are even close, though Drake has the distinction of capturing what may well have been the largest prize taken in a single raid: the Spanish galleon Cagafuego. The title goes…
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When Paris Went Dark
When Nazi troops marched into Paris in June, 1940, the city surrendered without firing a shot.* In When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944 , historian Ronald C. Rosbottom explores face-to-face interactions between occupiers and occupied, the effect of the Occupation on daily life in Paris, its psychological and emotional…
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