An Inclination to Rest in Uncertainty
Even before Shakespeare wrote “hap by hap may” in Taming of the Shrew in 1623, Raphael Holinshed employed the phrase “the hap of things” in his famed 1587 book Chronicles.…
Nothing can be compared to you, Rome
Image: Emperor Maximilian I My headline comes from a poem written in the 12th century, but its opening line does not prepare one for the punchline. The four lines in…
The Rebel Romanov
Placing Julie of Saxe-Coburg in the tangled web of European royalty is actually quite easy: she was the niece of England’s Queen Victoria. And she came very close to being…
A Tapestry of Letters
The appeal and meaning of a tapestry is best appreciated by distancing oneself from it. Especially for large tapestries, one has to stand back 15-20 feet to take it all…
Dazzled by Poetry
A philosopher with a poetic style? That apparently was what the world needed in the early years of the 20th century, as Henri Bergson achieved a level of fame and…
The Conqueror’s Gift
It is typical for an author to summarise the chapters of a book in the Introduction. Sort of like a film teaser, where you get a glimpse of the best…
The Book of Genesis Lay in Ruins
When I first saw the title of this book, Impossible Monsters, I thought it was about members of a certain state legislature whose prime purpose for existence appears to be…
SHOW WINDOW OF THE KINGDOM: The Islands of Orkney
Peter Marshall won the 2018 Wolfson history prize for Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation. He is also Professor of History at the University of Warwick. Thus,…
Hidden Art Gem in Dallas
My headline should actually say “Gems” as there are two here in east Dallas. The first is historic building itself; the second is the art it displays on a rotating…
Maxims for a Fulfilling Life
A combination of adages, maxims, aphorisms and plain old common sense, this book embodies a host of life-long truisms. And while value of the quote depends on each individual person…