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.