History in the Margins

I’m up to my knees in the rushing waters of history right now. Once I climb out, dry off, and have a reviving shot of whiskey or three, I’ll be back in here in the Margins with new stories. I promise. Leave the light on for me.

Books about foreign correspondents in the first half of the twentieth century are popular at the moment, which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned.* I am happily reading them as part of my deep background reading for the current book. (It’s nice to have a reason to choose one book from the…

I will admit that I approached historian James Carter’s book Champion’s Day: The End of Old Shanghai with seriously mixed feelings. On the one hand, I spent some time last year reading about the International Settlement in Shanghai in the 1930s while I was working on a piece on self-styled “girl reporter” Peggy Hull I…