New Books

Robert Fagles, trans., Virgil, The Aeneid (2006) (a new translation of one of my favorite texts) (2006)

Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding (1986)

Sena Jeter Naslund, Ahab's Wife or, The Star-Gazer (1999)

Stalin's Smallpox

At the age of six Stalin contracted smallpox. Is it ethically appropriate to wish that he had died from the disease? After all at the time he was still a mere innocent.

Recent Acquisitions

Orlando Figes, Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History Of Russia

Ted Tunnell, Crucible of Reconstruction: War, Radicalism and Race in Louisiana, 1862-1877

The Wexford Carol

Linky.

Checking In

Just checking in for those who are interested. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

New Acquisitions

John McCardell, The Idea of a Southern Nation - Southern Nationalists and Southern Nationalism, 1830-1860 (1979)

Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before The Civil War (1995)

The South's Main Interest

"The upper South, like the lower, went to war to defend the freedom of white men to own slaves and take them into the territories as they saw fit, lest these white men be enslaved by Black Republicans who threatened to deprive them of those liberties." -- McPherson, Battle Cry Of Freedom, pg. 284

Colbert '08!

I have my candidate!

A380

The A380 has arrived.

KAL 007 Shootdown

Although I was quite young, I remember the moral outrage associated with this incident. Here is Ronald Reagan's response to the shoot down. While I am not agreement with everything that Reagan did during his presidency, his eloquence and presence as a speaker makes one wish someone like him were in office.

Addendum: The video contains more than Reagan's response. It also includes a press conference by George Schultz (then Sec. of State) and some news coverage.

Should The Non-Propertied Have The Vote?

As I was re-reading a portion of the Putney Debates recently I began to think of the way the issue of the nature of the electoral franchise is debate amongst libertarians. Namely that some libertarians argue that only those with a certain level of property should have the vote. I'm in favor of a very broad franchise which does not take wealth into consideration.

Anyway, the debates touch on this matter in much the same way that the modern debate on this issue does and that makes them well worth reading IMHO.

Our Precious...

Homosexuals

What Am I Reading?

Søren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling.

Leaving Iraq?

My prediction is that we will likely not be out of Iraq prior to 2020. Thirteen more years of a major U.S. presence in Iraq in other words.

Domesday

This is quite neat - the complete, searchable text of the Domesday Book.