The fam had a nice day yesterday on St. Simons Island; beautiful, cozy little place. Gabriel is still all puffy-eyed and runny-nosed today. so he'll go to the doctor's. Julia, who just finished The Keeper of Lost Causes in two days and loved it as much as I did, is waiting for an important phone call this week; indeed, we all are. She leaves for Wichita on Wednesday and will be gone until Saturday; shucks!
What's new in our backyard? Well - just a snapping turtle moseying his way on a rainy Saturday, rabbits, a broadheaded skink, and lots of holes dug by Super Spy Daisy!
Me? I'm just hanging out here with the boy and the dog and the cats, waiting for an opportunity to finish the sterling season five premiere of Mad Men. God, I love this show. It's been too long, old friend, I say: It's the little touches and details on this show that makes it so memorable. I like how Don Draper's new wife (the charming Jessica Pare), planning his birthday party, mouths the word "forty" to Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), smarting and jealous, when asked how old Draper is going to be, causing a mocking, sly look from Peggy.
Today's history lesson? A quick, surface-level look at ten famous military battles in which it might not be clear to everyone (myself first and foremost) who exactly was fighting, who won, and why it mattered. We'll do five today, five tomorrow
1) Battle of Yorktown
When: American Revolutionary War, 1781
Who: the Americans (with French aid) and the British
Winner: The Americans
Result: Was, effectively, the end of the American Revolution. Led to the acknowledged independence of the U.S. Inspired the French to fight tyranny, leading, at the end of the decade, to their own Revolution.
2) Battle of Hastings
When: 1066
Who: the English (led by King Harold II) and the Normans (led by William of Normandy)
Winner: the Normans
Result: Introduced the feudal system to England, a new language and culture, destruction of most of the English aristocracy. The new England became a dominant superpower for the ensuing three centuries.
3) Stalingrad
When: World War II, 1942-3
Who: Germans vs. the Russians
Winner: Russians
Result: The Germans suffered an obscene amount of casualties and captured prisoners. Though he had failed to do so at Moscow and Leningrad, Hitler was determined to take Russia. Germany was so weakened that it could never against mount much of an offensive on the Eastern Front. German morale was weakened too, and the confidence of the Allies' strengthened. (Unfortunately, the Russians were fighting as much to stop Hitler as they were to preserve their own soon-to-be-defunct brand of Communism; hence, Stalingrad was later named Volgograd, to purge all traces of Stalin.)
4) Leipzig
When: Napoleonic Wars, 1813
Who: France (with some Polish, Italian, and German troops) versus Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Russia - known as the Coalition
Winner: Coalition
Result: Napoleon's forces were immensely weakened, the beginning of the end for the emperor, who not too long after was defeated at Waterloo. One of the largest battles in the history of the world. France no longer had any presence east of the Rhine. German forces joined the Coalition. Napoleon's regime was more or less over.
5) Antietam
When: American Civil War, 1862
Who: North (under McClellan) versus the South (under Lee)
Winner: North
Result: The South didn't get the recognition and support it wanted and needed from Europe in order to compete with the industrialized North. If the South would have won, it is highly possible that Europe - specifically France, who already had troops in Mexico - would have given their support to the South. And then, who knows? It was the bloodiest single day of fighting in American history, and it gave Lincoln incentive to deliver his Emancipation Proclamation the following year.
Thanks to: http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/topten/index.html
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/antietam.html
Garry Winogrand (#17)
A popular and influential street photographer, Winogrand (1928-1994) studied at City College of New York and Columbia University. He was in the Air Force and, after getting out, worked in the 1950s and 1960s for, among others, Life and Sports Illustrated. His style: wide-angle lens, 35mm camera, available light, unposed subjects. He is a master of the ordinary, taking fast shots.
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| 1969 |
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| World's Fair, New York City, 1964 |
I just started (and am already captivated) by William Boyd's debut novel, 1981's A Good Man in Africa. It was made into a critically-panned bomb in 1994, starring Sean Connery, Louis Gossett Jr., and John Lithgow, with a screenplay by Boyd and direction by Driving Miss Daisy's Bruce Beresford. I'll have to find it somewhere.
Here are some really good books that would make interesting movies:
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| starring Greg Kinnear |
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| starring Emily Mortimer |
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| not starring Daniel Craig |
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| starring Ciaran Hinds |
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| starring Richard Jenkins |
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