For All the Tea in China

A decade or more ago, I picked up For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History by Sarah Rose from the free box that used to sit outside a used bookstore down the street from my office.* And then it sat on my shelf, unread. I will…

Read More

1824: A Year in Review

Once I learned this was also  a leap year, it took only the briefest trip down the rabbit hole to learn that all the years ending in 24 are leap years. Because, math. Empires expand and contract The First Anglo-Burmese War (known as the First British Invasion in Burmese accounts*) broke out in March, following…

Read More

Lady Florence Dixie, the First Woman War Correspondent. Sort of.

  For the next two months, as the launch date for The Dragon From Chicago (1) hurdles toward me, it’s going to be women journalists all the time here on the Margins. (It is perhaps not surprising that I “met” a number of them over the last four years.) First up, Scottish writer, traveler and…

Read More