Posts by Pamela
Moscow Nights
In 1958 the Cold War was at its height–or perhaps its depths. Think Sputnik, Krushchev’s overthrow of Stalin, backyard bomb shelters, and bomb drills in schools.* Not to mention Elvis Presley’s induction into the army–a Cold War weapon of a different kind. Culture was as much of a battlefield as space. In April, Soviet Russia…
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Road Trip Through History: Climbing Brunelleschi’s Dome
One of the first things My Own True Love and I did in Florence was visit Brunelleschi’s dome.* I suspect we are not alone in making that choice. The first thing you need to know about visiting the Duomo is that it is part of a complex of impressive buildings, made up of the cathedral,…
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Blue Mutiny
In the fall of 1859, two years after the violent uprisings in Northern Indian known as the Indian Mutiny or Sepoy Rebellion,* thousands of peasant-farmers (ryots) in the Indian province of Bengal refused to accept cash advances to plant indigo crops in the spring–an act of resistance that became known as the Blue Mutiny. Property…
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