Of all the heavy bombers that saw action during the Second World War, none earned as much admiration, gratitude, and affection from their crews as the B-17. It was durable, maneuverable, easy to fly. It was fast for its size and well-armed. It could bring you back alive even with its tail shot off, or […]
Archives for September 2018
Are Pictures Worth More Than Words?
They are at The New York Times, it seems. My tut-tutting staff has noticed they have been for some time. Yesterday the print edition provided the most recent example in which the ratio of photo to text, for a book feature no less, is ridiculous. The subject of the article, having written an evocative novel, […]
Weapons of Choice: Mustill’s MESSKIT
“Mess kit” is defined as “a portable set of usually metal cooking and eating utensils, used especially by soldiers and campers.” For Norman O. Mustill, America’s “messkit” consisted of silent weapons, play money, dancing the two-step, and industry in art. During the Vietnam War, when MESSKIT was published, that meant flamethrowers, napalm, Agent Orange, billions […]
#MeToo: ‘The No Holes Bard’
Documentary Spotlight at NY Film Fest
A newly restored print of William Wyler’s World War II air-combat documentary The Memphis Belle and Erik Nelson’s new documentary The Cold Blue (created from recently discovered raw footage shot during the filming of Memphis Belle) are to be featured in screenings at the 56th New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, accompanied by interviews […]
She Knows the Nuances of No
Remembering Bukowski
The animation, directed by John Hodgson, dates to 1999. A tip of the hat to IT: International Times, The Newspaper of Resistance, for reminding us of it. The poem is included in The Last Night of the Earth Poems, published by HarperCollins in a 2009 reprint. The first edition was published in 1992 by Black […]
50 Ways to See the Middle Ages
Our tireless staff of thousands is often asked to review all sorts of books, and from time to time one or another seems worth noting. This one, for example, by Elina Gertsman and Barbara H. Rosenwein. Since the staff knows much too little about the Middle Ages — and even less about the 50 objects […]