"He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish" (opening line). The Old Man and the Sea is a rich and deep novella about an old fisherman named Santiago and his Herculean effort to overcome a fishing dry-spell. … Continue reading The Writer’s Endurance: The Old Man and the Sea
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Love and War In For Whom The Bell Tolls
For Whom The Bell Tolls is the novel that was supposed to win Ernest Hemingway his first Pulitzer Prize in 1941. However, like Sinclair Lewis before him, Hemingway was denied the prize by the President of Columbia University. As the story goes, the 1941 Novel Jury recommended several books for the Pulitzer Prize including, but … Continue reading Love and War In For Whom The Bell Tolls
The Sicilian Expedition: Alcibiades and Nicias in Thucydides’s Peloponnesian War (Books VI-VII)
Thucydides claims the Peloponnesian War is the greatest event or movement in human history, and the most important part of this great war takes place in Books VI-VII: The ill-fated Sicilian Expedition. The Sicilian Expedition represents the turning point in the war. Thucydides begins to explain the expedition by offering a history of the origins … Continue reading The Sicilian Expedition: Alcibiades and Nicias in Thucydides’s Peloponnesian War (Books VI-VII)
The Grapes of Wrath: An Epic Dust Bowl Tragedy
"To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth" (opening lines) The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck's epic story of a Dust Bowl migrant family, celebrated its 80th anniversary this year. The novel was originally born out of a … Continue reading The Grapes of Wrath: An Epic Dust Bowl Tragedy
Anglo-Saxon England, Part IV
Taking a step back for a moment, we return to the Viking pirates, the fearless thieves of the icy north who surprised much of Western Europe when their long-boats suddenly appeared out of the fog of the Dark Ages, sacking coastal towns, raiding churches, slaughtering and conquering thousands. At the time, the early Christian kingdoms … Continue reading Anglo-Saxon England, Part IV
Anglo-Saxon England, Part III
After the death of Alfred The Great, his bloodline would produce a series of warrior kings that were destined to conquer the Danes and dominate the British isle. The dream of a unified Aengla Land would fall to his son Edward "The Elder." Edward continued his father's uncompromising resistance to the Danes, and he gained … Continue reading Anglo-Saxon England, Part III
