Blogroll

World War II almost killed Animal Farm

Find a list of the best 20th-century novels, and you’re likely to find both George Orwell’s 1984 and his Animal Farm. The former, published in 1949, is such a classic of dystopian literature that it’s hit the top of Amazon’s bestseller lists twice in the last four years. Yet his first tale of dictatorships, Animal […]

How Hitler became Germany’s “supreme judge”

German shipyard worker Ewald Schlitt probably didn’t know a Berlin newspaper reported his March 1941 assault conviction in a court 275 miles away from the capital. His misfortune was that Adolf Hitler read the article.

In the summer of 1940, Schlitt’s wife of three years confessed to a sexual relationship with another man. She ended […]

Hitler’s Genocidal Plans for the USSR

Adolph Hitler’s decision to invade the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, is a key turning point in World War II. Called Operation Barbarossa, it caused millions of military and civilian casualties. Long before the military strategy was drawn up, though, Hitler made clear that one of his goals was exterminating wide swathes of Russian […]

Book Review: Flashpoint Trieste: The First Battle of the Cold War by Christian Jennings

From time to time, history books present a stumbling block for readers. Some written by historians, particularly academics, read like they were — well — written by a historian. It’s not just writing style. There’s also that pattern of an opening chapter or introduction telling us what each subsequent chapter talks about, with each subsequent […]

Book Review: Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3 by Robert Matzen

The December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor changed America and Hollywood was no exception. Less than three months earlier, A U.S. Senate subcommittee held hearings on whether Hollywood was intentionally producing “propaganda” to encourage the country to enter the war in Europe. Pearl Harbor brought that investigation to a halt and within 10 days […]