Category: History
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Schumacher (2021)
After a fifty-year drought we’ve reached a golden age of motor racing film and television. There have been major features that weren’t awful — Rush (2013) and Ford v Ferrari (2019) — and a documentary that wasn’t dull — Senna (2010). Netflix’s riveting fly-on-the-wall racing reality show, Formula 1: Drive to Survive, is currently filming…
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Election 2021: A Style Guide
Whee! It’s election time in Canada again. Last Sunday Justin Trudeau put the rumours to rest by requesting and receiving dissolution of the 43rd parliament. We head to the polls for the second time in two years on 20 September. Aside from the — you know — politics of it all, anyone who cares about…
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The War That Ended Peace
The War That Ended Peace is a giant doorstop of a book: more than 700 pages (with notes) in the Penguin trade paperback. But then, it’s tackling a big, difficult question: how could Europe — so peaceful, prosperous, and powerful in 1914 — plunge itself into the horrors of The Great War? Margaret MacMillan’s previous…
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Statute of Westminster Day
If you pass a government building today you may be surprised to see the Royal Union Flag (popularly, the Union Jack) flying alongside the Maple Leaf. This marks an august occasion: 11 December 1931 is Statute of Westminster Day. “What the hell is the the Statute of Westminster?” you may well ask. Confederation in 1867,…
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Revolutions Podcast
I’m proud to say I didn’t spend the whole pandemic bingeing Netflix and eating Tim Hortons doughnuts. I also used the Days of Lockdown to listen to Mike Duncan’s Revolutions podcast. This was a perfect COVID project; the ten seasons run as long as fifty-five (!) episodes. Duncan was a great host for these hours:…
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A Writer at War
In 1941 Vasily Grossman was a Russian-Jewish intellectual and novelist living in Moscow. When Germany invaded, he promptly volunteered for service, but was too old and unfit for combat. Instead he was sent to The Red Star, the army’s official newspaper, as a special correspondent. He accompanied the Red Army through the long retreats of…
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The Black Flight
It’s remarkable that four of the greatest British flying aces of WWI are Canadian. Billy Bishop, with 72 victories, has top score for the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) while Raymond Collishaw, at 60, tops the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Donald MacLaren, at 54 achieved more victories in Sopwith Camels than anyone else. William Barker,…