A GUIDE TO THE UNITED STATES
“THE VAST EXTENT and rapidly changing conditions of the United States make the production of a satisfactory guidebook a peculiarly difficult task.” You’re telling me. I hasten to mention that … Continue reading
WILL THE REAL PIETER BRUEGEL PLEASE STAND OUT
THE MODERN WONDERS of infrared macrophotography, infrared reflectography, and X-radiography have offered new insights into the works of 16th-century Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. “Peeling Back the Paint to … Continue reading
DR. JOHN H. WATSON—FASHIONISTO
SHERLOCKIAN CHRISTOPHER MORLEY wrote that “Watson was a couturier at heart.” Today, maybe we’d say fashionisto, masculinizing the term “fashionista,” defined in Merriam-Webster as “a designer, promotor, or follower of … Continue reading
RESTORATION COMEDY—A PENDULUM SWING OF CROMWELL’S PROTECTORATE
HISTORY HAS a way of oscillating between extremes. One example is the English Restoration as a response to the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell following the 1649 regicide of Britain’s King … Continue reading
SCHADENFREUDE—ETYMOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL VIEWS
“DEAR DR. WORDSMITH, current political goings-on have me experiencing Schadenfreude. Is this okay?” It depends, of course, on how concerned you are about the state of these United States. If, … Continue reading
OLIVER CROMWELL—PURITAN, LORD PROTECTOR, AND A REAL PIECE OF WORK PART 2
YESTERDAY IN Part 1, we saw Oliver Cromwell involved with regicide, the British Rump Parliament, killing women and children in Ireland, and other Puritan sanctimony. Today’s Part 2 has a … Continue reading
OLIVER CROMWELL—PURITAN, LORD PROTECTOR, AND A REAL PIECE OF WORK PART 1
IT’S NOT OFTEN that I take a dislike to an historical figure. Hitler, yes. Mussolini, yes. But then I was born during the war years. However, having read about Oliver … Continue reading
