When Titans Clashed
The Napoleonic War and WW2 taught the Russians that they need neutral countries between Germany and Moscow to act as buffer states to survive a…
Britain’s War Story Revisited
Alan Allport’s two-volume history of the Second World War from the perspective of Britain—Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938–1941…
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Invented in China
Francis Bacon said the three greatest inventions are paper and printing, gunpowder, and the magnetic compass. All three were invented in China by the Chinese.…
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The Jesuit in the Ming Court—Part 3
The Jesuits from 1579 to 1724 mounted a sustained mission to spread Christianity to China during the reign of the Ming Wanli emperor (1563-1620) to…
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The Jesuit in the Ming Court—Part 2
Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia is an expert on Catholicism history. He is best known for his 2010 biography A Jesuit in the Forbidden City, Matteo Ricci.…
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The Jesuit in the Ming Court—Part 1
China had 200 million people at the end of the 16th century. It was the dream of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, to convert…
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Sikhs and the Partition of India, the Raw Deal—Part 1
If you read the papers recently, you will read that Sikh pilgrims from India had to apply for visas from Pakistan to visit the birthplace…
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Tibet and Photography
Tibet in history has two schools of thought. One views Tibet as a feudalistic backwater where religion and rule by theocracy imposed by the elites…
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Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci: An Untraceable Life by Stephen Campbell. This 2025 biography is not typical. It is a very difficult read. By resisting a conventional…
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Ancient Christianities
Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years by Paula Fredriksen (2024) is not an easy read. The book traces the evolution of early Christianity. I…
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The Pen Behind the Gavel
This is a book for judges on how to write good and clear judgments. Ross Guberman in Point Taken (2015) suggests various approaches that a…
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