Stromata Blog: Cheers for Curt Schilling

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Worth Reading (Fiction)

Mamet, David: Chicago: A Novel
In Roaring 20's Chicago, a Great War veteran turned hard-boiled reporter falls in love with the wrong woman and then seeks to find her killer.
Nelson DeMille: The Cuban Affair: A Novel
Two million dollars to charter a boat for a fishing tournament? A great way for the owner to pay off the boat's mortgage, but it turns out to include slipping into Castro's prison island in search of a lost (and perhaps imaginary) treasure.
Kate Atkinson: Life After Life: A Novel
Ursula Todd has the opportunity to relive her life, over and over and over, moving steadily through the Great War and its sequels and accumulating shards of memory.
Connie Willis: Crosstalk: A Novel
An empathy app leads to complications involving telepathy, Irish women and a true love that runs most unsmoothly. Classic Willis comedy.
Mark Steyn: The Prisoner of Windsor
In a 21st Century sequel to Anthony Hope, the heir to the Ruritanian throne must fill in for the kidnaped Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Tim Powers: My Brother's Keeper
Werewolves, the Brontë sisters, their wayward brother, their heroic dog and a conspiracy to unleash an almost dead deity.
Tim Powers: Declare: A Novel
An intricate Cold War fantasy that seems so plausible that one wonders whether it is the true story of why the Soviet Union rose and collapsed.
H.F.M. Prescott: The Man on a Donkey
Set during the Pilgrimage of Grace, this is the rare historical novel that captures the mindset of the actors. The hero, Robert Aske, was martyred in a way that makes burning at the stake look merciful.
Theodore Odrach: Wave of Terror
Based on the author's experiences when the Soviet Union occupied his homeland after the Stalin-Hitler Pact, this book melds Chekov and Solzhenitsyn. By stages, the isolated folk of the Pripyet Marshes learn that there are worse masters than their former Polish overlords.
Simon Montefiore: Sashenka: A Novel
Both grim and funny, this historical novel peers into the inner world of an upper class Russian girl turned loyal Bolshevik, highlighting her youthful fling at revolution-making in Petrograd, her fall from grace under Stalin, and an historian's effort, after the end of communism, to ascertain her fate.
Harry Turtledove: The Man with the Iron Heart
Can the U.S. maintain its resolve against a defeated enemy's terrorist campaign? Imagining a post-World War II Nazi insurgency, Harry Turtledove puts this question into a new context. As Reinhard von Heydrich's "werewolves" devastate Germany, war-weary Americans call for withdrawal, regardless of the consequences.
Neal Stephenson: Anathem
If you have not a smidgen of interest in how Platonic philosophy relates to the "many worlds" version of quantum mechanics, you still may like this novel, though you'll probably wish that the characters talked less. Persevere. After a slow start, the story grows compelling, and the intellectual dialogues turn out not to be digressions.
Alfred Duggan: Lord Geoffrey's Fancy
Perhaps the finest book of one of England's finest historical novelists. The setting is 13th Century Greece, where Crusaders fought each other and the shattered Byzantine Empire. The history is accurate, the writing graceful and the characters not merely modern people in fancy dress.
Rodney Bolt: History Play : The Lives and Afterlife of Christopher Marlowe
A pseudo-history springing from the premise that Shakespeare's flashy predecessor survived the famous Deptford brawl and fled to the continent, where he secretly wrote almost all of the Bard's works. A clever, tongue-in-cheek reworking of literary history that also recreates the milieu shared by many real Elizabethan exiles.
Charles W. Chesnutt: Stories, Novels, and Essays (Library of America, 131)
Fiction and essays by a black American writer who deserves a wider audience.
Harry Turtledove: Gunpowder Empire
Debut of a juvenile series set in parallel worlds. 22nd century teen siblings, trapped without adult aid in a besieged city, must cope with the bizarre (to them) customs and prejudices of a never-fallen Roman Empire.

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Friday, October 29, 2004

Cheers for Curt Schilling

After frequently deriding Democrats’ obsession with celebrity endorsements, the folks at the NRO Corner are upset with Red Sox star Curt Schilling for making a lame (literally) excuse for backing out of a campaign appearance with President Bush. At which I roll my eyes. Maybe the Red Sox management pressured him (the team is, after all, partly owned by the New York Times), or maybe he didn’t feel comfortable leaping into the political arena and perhaps being hounded with detailed questions about current events (did he keep up with the news from al-QaQaa during the World Series?), or maybe his doctor really did warn him that he needs to rest his injured ankle. He was already scheduled for a parade at Disney World; adding another day on his feet doesn’t intuitively seem like a great idea for a guy whose career would be ruined by a permanent leg problem.

Whatever the reasons, this doesn’t even qualify as a kerfuffle, and I mention it only as an excuse to cheer Mr. Schilling for a reason unrelated to politics. Several years ago, toymaker Hasbro acquired the venerable Avalon Hill Gaming Company. Hasbro had no interest in AH’s hard core wargames, such as Advanced Squad Leader and the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War series, and their demise seemed imminent. Curt Schilling, an ASL grognard, saved them by putting up most of the money for Multi-Man Publishing, which licensed the lines from Hasbro and has since expanded them considerably. As a further service to the hobby, MMP later bought The Gamers, enabling its principals to concentrate on designing wargames instead of struggling to run a small business.

To the serious wargamer, whatever he thinks of the Boston Red Sox or George W. Bush, Curt Schilling is a hero. Let him soak his ankle in peace.

Posted by Tom Veal on Friday, October 29, 2004 at 09:47 AM in Current Affairs, Election 2004, Games, Sports | Permalink

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Books by Tom Veal

Strange Tales for Strange Times
Get the stories shown below plus more in one inexpensive package.
The Miracle Wrought by Silas Gantry
What if everyone believed in miracles?
Igor's Campaign: A Tale of Ambition
The World Science Fiction Convention comes to Yeltsin-era Russia.
The Monkey and the Amazon: A Tale of Illusions
Intrigue, disguise and magic in Hellenistic Babylon.
Daimon Born: The First Adventure of Theagonistes
A being who dwells between the Moon and the Empyrean makes a (literal) impact on the Earth.
Shadowloves: A Tale of Desire
Where romantic dreams come all too true.
Clicks & Colluders
Hillary Clinton won in 2016, but not as expected. Her narrow victory sparks intrigue, catching a callow reporter in a fast spinning news cycle.

Articles and Fiction

Worth Reading (Non-Fiction)

Sean McMeekin: Stalin's War: A New History of World War II
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Thomas Sowell: Knowledge and Decisions
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Laurent Murawiec: The Mind of Jihad
An exploration of the ideological and sociological roots of the cult of death that has grown up within (but is not entirely of) Islam. One of the half dozen books that anyone who wishes to understand our enemies ought to read and ponder. (*****)
John Emsley: Molecules of Murder: Criminal Molecules and Classic Cases
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Robert Drury: The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat
An hour-by-hour account of a Korean War Thermopylae. In December 1950, single Marine company holds back five battalions of Chinese and plays a key role in saving the overextended U.N. forces from destruction. (*****)
Bernard Lewis & Butzie Ellis Churchill: Islam: The Religion and the People
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Guy Sorman: Empire of Lies: The Truth About China in the Twenty-First Century
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Robert G. Hoyland: Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam
Much of the conventional picture of Islam's first century has little basis in the evidence. This exhaustive survey uses non-Moslem writings of the 7th and 8th Centuries to illuminate this dim period, for which contemporary Moslem sources are rare and later accounts are often anachronistic. (*****)
Michael Yon: Moment of Truth in Iraq: How a New 'Greatest Generation' of American Soldiers is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hope
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Douglas J. Feith: War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism
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Jonah Goldberg: Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
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Andrew Rippin: Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices
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Von Hardesty & Gene Eisman: Epic Rivalry: The Inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race
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Tara Ross & Joseph C. Smith, Jr.: Under God: George Washington and the Question of Church and State
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David Bellavia: House to House
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Jaroslav Pelikan: Whose Bible Is It?: A Short History of the Scriptures
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Michael Schmidt: The First Poets
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Christopher Clark: Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947
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Constantine Pleshakov: Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of WWII on the Eastern Front
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William E. Odom: The Collapse of the Soviet Military
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Charles Allen: God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult And the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad
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Lynne Olson: Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England
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Andrew Lintott: The Constitution of the Roman Republic
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Melanie Phillips: Londonistan
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Nicholas Wade: Before the Dawn : Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
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Peter Heather: The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
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Jung Chang & Jon Halliday: Mao : The Unknown Story
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Charles Spencer: Blenheim: Battle for Europe
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Arthur Cotterell: Chariot : The Astounding Rise and Fall of the World's First War Machine
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Toby Wilkinson: Genesis of the Pharaohs
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N. A. M. Rodger: The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649
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J. E. Lendon: Soldiers and Ghosts : A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity
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Scott McCrea: The Case for Shakespeare : The End of the Authorship Question
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G. Edward White: Alger Hiss's Looking-Glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy
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Frank E. & Fritzie P. Manuel: Utopian Thought in the Western World
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Lynn Struve: Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm: China in Tigers' Jaws
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John H. Fund: Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy
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N. B. Aitchison: Macbeth: Man and Myth
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Burton Watson: Early Chinese Literature
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Michael Hicks: Richard III
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Henry Kamen: The Duke of Alba
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Jonathan M. House: Combined Arms Warfare in the Twentieth Century
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Donald E. Queller & Thomas F. Madden: The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople
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Justin Phillips: C. S. Lewis at the BBC: Messages of Hope in the Darkness of War
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Hugh Elton: Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350-425
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Adrian Keith Goldsworthy: The Roman Army at War: 100 BC-AD 200
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Ibn Warraq: The Quest for the Historical Muhammad
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Ibn Warraq: The Origins of the Koran: Classic Essays on Islam's Holy Book
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Michael Cook: The Koran: A Very Short Introduction
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Richard J. Evans: The Coming of the Third Reich
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Michael Oren: Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
The definitive account of the most crucial war in Israel's modern history. (*****)
Ronald Reagan: Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America
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Andrew Gurr: Playgoing in Shakespeare's London
Study of the characteristics of Shakespeare's audience and the experience of theater going in his day. Essential for students of theatrical history. (*****)
Susan Rose: Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000-1500
Short, useful survey of an obscure aspect of military history. (****)
Stephen Webb: If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life
Wide-ranging introduction to the paradoxes arising from standard assumptions about technological progress, the abundance of sapient life and the age of planets. (****)
M. E. Durham: High Albania: A Victorian Traveller's Balkan Odyssey
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Philip Jenkins: Hidden Gospels: How the Search for Jesus Lost Its Way
Solid, though slightly plodding, refutation of the bizarre "Jesus Seminar" theories about early Christian history. (****)
Walter E. Kaegi: Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium
Life of the Emperor who saved Byzantium from the Persians but could not fend off the Moslem advance. Good on military affairs and government; weak on the important religious side of the story. (****)
R. J. Knecht: The French Civil Wars, 1562 - 1598
Succinct account of the Wars of Religion, considering the religious, social and economic factors that made them prolonged and indecisive. (****)
Noel Emmanuel Lenski: Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D.
Life of the ruler who lost the crucial Battle of Adrianople (A.D. 378). Ably researched but marred by excessive hindsight and anachronistic view of how the Roman Empire functioned. (****)
J. E. Lendon: Empire of Honour: The Art of Government in the Roman World
Superb analysis of the mainsprings of Imperial Roman government. The author has an eye for the telling detail and empathy with a culture whose root assumptions differed from our own. (*****)
Donald Keene: Emperor of Japan
The history of the Meiji Restoration from the viewpoint of its Emperor. Despite a wealth of detail, however, the mind of the central figure remains enigmatic. (****)
Laurence Kelly: Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran : Alexander Griboyedov and the Tsar's Mission to the Shah of Persia
The brief life and tragic death of a brilliant soldier-playwright turned diplomat. (****)
Trevor Royle: Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-1856
Covers all theaters of a conflict that was not limited to the Crimea. (****)
Richard Osgood & Sarah Monks: Bronze Age Warfare
Survey of the fortification sites, weapons finds and other archeological evidence relating to warfare in Bronze Age Europe. Stronger on description than interpretation but excellent at what it does. (****)
Kenneth M. Pollack: Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991
Since 1948 Arab armies have been uniformly unsuccessful against non-Arab enemies. This thorough history and analysis tries to identify the reasons for this record of failure. (*****)
Azar Gat: A History of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Cold War
Revisionist survey of military theory that tries, with mixed success, to show the impact of general ideological trends on ideas about how to fight wars. Strongest when discussing the 19th Century; hit and miss as it approaches the present. (****)

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Friday, October 29, 2004

Cheers for Curt Schilling

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