Tag Archives: history

Mark Lewisohn’s Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years, Vol. 1

So who can keep up with all the books about The Beatles? Not me, obviously. I’ve been a fan since Beatlemania first broke on these American shores in early 1964, and in my life probably the only thing I’ve done … Continue reading

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Chicago’s Field Museum of Natura History: Inside Ancient Egypt

As we traverse Stanley Field Hall, the central main-floor atrium of the Field Museum of Natural History, we notice off in the southwest corner, behind a row of arches, what looks to be an ancient Egyptian mastaba. Well, close — … Continue reading

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Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman, eds.’ Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World

A number of years ago I read and greatly enjoyed John Dos Passos’ USA Trilogy. In his jazzy, frenetic narrative style, Dos Passos provides a glimpse into the lives of several fictitious and as many real people who lived and … Continue reading

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Merritt Ruhlen’s The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue

Being the purist that I am, I wince when people talk about the evolution of this, the evolution of that – evolution has nothing to do with automobile design or cell phones or political systems. It is, however, a legitimate … Continue reading

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Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light

Just as her protagonist Thomas Cromwell set himself a near impossible task in attempting to steer the mercurial temperament of Henry VIII, Hilary Mantel set herself a near impossible task in following the first two masterful volumes of this story. … Continue reading

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William E. Deal’s Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan

If the title sounds daunting, don’t be worried. William E. Diehl’s Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan is a well-organized and eminently usable reference to the history, arts, and customs of Japan from 1185, the beginning of … Continue reading

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Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History: The Ancient Americas

When I offered to take my cousin to the Field Museum, showing off my new membership, and suggested that we see the permanent exhibition “The Ancient Americas,” she said, “What’s that?” “Indians,” I said, “from Day One.” She said later … Continue reading

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Justin Hall, ed., No Straight Lines

It’s tempting to say that comics underwent a radical transformation in the 1960s and ’70s. They didn’t. What did happen was that comics as a medium, with the rise of underground comics through the agency of R. Crumb and his … Continue reading

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Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History: Evolving Planet

The Field Museum of Natural History was founded in 1893 as the Columbian Museum of Chicago; the building was part of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (read “World’s Fair”). It is devoted to just about everything that has to do with … Continue reading

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Joseph Campbell’s The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension

The Flight of the Wild Gander is a series of essays produced betwen 1944 and 1968 in which Campbell was, he says, “circling, and from many quarters striving to interpret, the mystery of mythology.” The “mystery,” as comes clear as … Continue reading

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