Spy

Did she really know what she was signing up for when she accepted a position as a spy in Nazi-occupied France during WWII??? 

Code Name Madeleline by Arthur J. Magida

Passive Resistance

Magida reports a fascinating dialog that took place between Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Buber over the effectiveness or the ineffectiveness of passive resistance in the case of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Noor Inayat Kahn, the daughter of a Sufi mystic herself and inclined toward non-violence, nonetheless seemed persuaded that some kind of active resistance was required.

Midred Harnack

Finished reading Rebecca Donner's All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days. A very interesting follow-up to Erik Larson's The Demon of Unrest. 

Expansionist Views

In Larry Gara's The Presidency of Franklin Pierce, he makes clear how the United States has long entertained "expansionist views", especially when it comes to various countries both north and south of our present borders. Strange, but true.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

"Indeed, a limited civil war was already raging in Kansas." -- Larry Gara

So could the violence and bloodshed that resulted from passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act maybe have been avoided had President Pierce been more even-handed in his policies toward the new territories? 

Diaries

I really appreciate seeing these snippets of handwriting from various diaries in Rebecca Donner's book.

Bonhoeffer

"Dietrich Bonhoeffer is inside the Castle Church in Wittenberg listening to Bishop Müller blabber on about the glories of Hitler." - Rebecca Donner

Fascinating & Disturbing

Finished reading Mark Braude's The Typewriter and the Guillotine last night. A very interesting take on life in France both before and during WWII as told through the lives of a journalist, Janet Flanner, and, rather shockingly, a serial killer, Eugen Weidmann. As fascinating as it is disturbing. 

Orgeval - Bordeaux

  

In Braude's The Typewriter and the Guillotine, Janet Flanner flees Paris to Orgeval (marked), then to the port city of Bordeaux, hoping there to catch a ship back to the United States.

All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

Spotted this in my local bookstore and wondered if I might also find it in my public library. Huzzah! It was there and, better yet, available, perhaps because it was first published in 2021. 

Totalitarianism

It happened. (From Mark Baude's The Typewriter and the Guillotine) 

Hitler

"Her [Janet Flanner's] harshest criticism was that Hitler 'has mystical tendencies, no common sense, and a Wagnerian taste for heroics and death. He was born loaded with vanities andhas developed megalomania as his final decoration.'" - Mark Braude, The Typewriter and the Guillotine

The Typewriter and the Guillotine

Brutal and gruesome opening chapter, so I had to temporarily put it down. Subsequent chapters, however, have kept me coming back for more.

Franklin Pierce

Name just one thing you can remember learning about Franklin Pierce's presidency? Right. Well, you probably have a better memory than I have, 'cause I couldn't think of a single thing when I spotted this 1991 publication on my local library's shelf. So here goes one man's attempt to rescue Pierce from almost total obscurity.

Braude & Gara

Another trek to the library, this time to pick up Mark Braude's just recently released book and, while I was there, Larry Gara's biography of Franklin Pierce, first published way back in 1991.