The Not-Just-Irish Potato Famine

In a recent blog post, I made a reference to the Irish Potato famine, started to link to the prior post I was sure I had written on the subject, and was stunned to realize that blog post existed only in my imagination.* Allow me to rectify that error. When the Spanish imported potatoes from…

Read More

Marie von Clausewitz: An Interview with Vanya Eftimova Bellinger

As long-time readers here at the Margins know, I’m a fan of the Pritzker Military Library.   I attend several of their programs each year and listen to more through their live-streaming feature.* Back in January, I attended a presentation at the Priztker in which Vanya Eftimova Bellinger spoke about her new book, Marie von Clausewitz:…

Read More

1815: A Year in Review

This summer the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo dominated Historyland:  a real life reenactment in Belgium, a real time reenactment on-line, thousands* of new books on the subject, and a gazillion Waterloo-related blog posts on topics as large as the Congress of Vienna and as small as false teeth. It was a big, flashy…

Read More