Bessie Beatty and The Red Heart of Russia

I was recently digging about in the history of women’s magazines in the early twentieth century when I came across a familiar name: Bessie Beatty. I knew Beatty’s work from her reporting on Russia’s Women’s Battalion of Death,  which I wrote about in Women Warriors. At the time, I was totally engrossed in the women…

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In which I abandon my main story and fall down a rabbit hole

I have spent far too much time over the last week working on a blog post about the Siberian Intervention: a minor American military expedition at the end of the First World War that has been crossing my path for more than a year. It just isn’t working. Even though I regularly reduce complicated stories…

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In which I review (okay, squeal about) Wake by Rebecca Hall

Back in January, I pre-ordered Rebecca Hall’s Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts for reasons that will be clear to anyone who has followed this blog for a while. (Hint: Women warriors!) It came in the mail last week on its publication date.* I started reading it that afternoon. I was caught immediately…

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