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This book is the first thing I've ever won in a goodreads giveaway! Usually the idea behind the giveaways is they send you a free copy in exchange for an honest review on the site. I've only just started but it is so far a pretty funny book of personal essays.
Still working on the same annoying order at work, but yin afterwards left me feeling much more chill & happy. Came home and made tomato soup with tortellini, and a little BLT with leftover tempeh bacon from the cookoff. Jeff & I watched a couple episodes of Bojack Horseman, cleaned the kitchen, and suddenly it was almost bedtime? Why does this keep happening?
52/365.
Vicksburg, Mississippi est. 1825, pop. (2013) 23,542 • MS Delta
• Captain Louis Guion (1838-1920), Company D, 26th Regiment, Louisiana Volunteer Infantry • born in Lafourche Parish, LA • attended U. of Mississippi, & law school at U. of Virginia & U. of Louisiana (now Tulane) entered Confederate army in 1861 • postwar resumed law practice • was at various times a sugar planter, melter & refiner at the New Orleans Mint & Confederate Commisioner of Vicksburg National Military Park • considered an authority on Southern history [photo]
“During the dark Reconstruction days he stood staunchly shoulder to shoulder with those fearless ones who helped to keep the honor of the Southland unblemished, for he loved the land of his birth with the passionate devotion of a true patriot.” —Obituary, Confederate Veteran Magazine, March, 1920
Lewis Guion Log (Vicksburg, 1863)
“Friday [May] 22nd. Enemy commenced with Artillery & musketry at daylight The cannoning terrific about 11 A.M. About 12 N. the enemy commenced massing in our front & charged our position about 3 P.M. & came within 30 steps of parapet, but were repulsed with heavy loss. Regmt behaved finely, men mounted on top of parapets to receive the enemy. This charge was led by the 9th Iowa Regmt which lost 40 percent of men engaged. This Regmt (9th Iowa) left home with 1100 men & now number 145. (this is the statement made by Adj. of the regiment while they were burying their dead under a flag of truce) The forces were from 5 Regmts, Gen. Steele was slightly wounded. Neither Genl. led the charge, a number of the enemy remained near the trenches, where they could not be enfilied [sic], & left under the cover of night. They were engaged all night removing their dead & wounded & not fired upon by us. 6 Killed & 3 wounded today” —The Defense of Vicksburg: A Louisiana Chronicle
monument cost: $270 for bronze, $280 pedestal, paid for by daughter Mary Guion Boatner • sculpted, 1920, by Massachusetts sculptor Tho. A.R. Kitson, aka Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson (1871-1932) [bio]
• Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg (1863) • the 47-day Union siege ended in the Confederate surrender of the city. Victory here & at Port Hudson, LA, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River • park includes 1,325 historic monuments & markers, 20 miles (32 km) of Civil War era trenches & earthworks, 144 cannons & the USS Cairo, a restored gunboat... read on
• originally established in 1899 • 5th national military park under the control of the U.S. War Department • ownership transferred to the U.S. Department of the Interior & the National Park Service, 1933 • 8th oldest National Park • Facebook
• the military leaders of the Battle of Vicksburg [photos]
• National Register # 66000100, 1966
...it is not yet the time of fulfillment. We are still in the midst of everything and in the logical inexorability and relentlessness of destiny.…Space is still filled with the noise of destruction and annihilation, the shouts of self-assurance and arrogance, the weeping of despair and helplessness. But round about the horizon the eternal realities stand silent in their age-old longing. There shines on them already the first mild light of the radiant fulfillment to come. From afar sound the first notes as of pipes and voices, not yet discernable as a song or melody. It is all far off still, and only just announced and foretold. But it is happening, today.”
― Alfred Delp, Advent of the Heart: Seasonal Sermons And Prison Writings 1941-1944 www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/advent
[Photo from the Christmas window of peuramoda.com/]
Kachinas are spirit beings in western Pueblo religious beliefs, often represented through masks and dolls, as shown here. This snapshot is from a wonderful book by Barton Wright entitled ‘Kachinas: A Hopi Artist's Documentary’, which Adam got for me in a recent trip to New Mexico. I devoured it from cover to cover — and it’s given me a vision for my next art project: an interactive Kachina World with animatronics dolls. Each of the kachinas depicted in these pictures could be characters in that interactive play, dancing to the music and giving you inspiration about the spirits they represent. It was so nice of Adam to give me this marvelous book — he immediately thought of me and thought I should have it. :)
Learn more about Kachinas:
Learn more about the Kachinas book:
www.goodreads.com/book/show/1966616.Kachinas
View photos of our related Wonderbots experiment:
“Bleak House” opens in the twilight of foggy London, where fog grips the city most densely in the Court of Chancery. The obscure case of “Jarndyce and Jarndyce,” in which an inheritance is gradually devoured by legal costs, the romance of Esther Summerson and the secrets of her origin, the sleuthing of Detective Inspector Bucket and the fate of Jo the crossing-sweeper, these are some of the lives Dickens invokes to portray London society, rich and poor, as no other novelist has done. “Bleak House,” in its atmosphere, symbolism and magnificent bleak comedy, is often regarded as the best of Dickens. A “great Victorian novel,” it is so inventive in its competing plots and styles that it eludes interpretation.
Vicksburg, Mississippi (est. 1825, pop. 23,542) • Facebook • MS Delta • The Town & the Battle —NY Times
Inscription:
John C. Pemberton
Lt. General C.S. Army
Commanding Department of
Miss. and East Lousianna
Cadet U.S. Military Academy 1833
2nd Lt. 4th Art. July First 1837
First Lt. Mar. Nineteenth 1842
Captain September Sixteenth 1850
Resigned April Twenty-Fourth 1861
Brig. Gen. C.S. Army June 17 1861
Major General February 13 1862
To Rank From Jan. Fourteenth 1862
Lt. General Oct. Thirteenth 1862
To Rank From October Tenth 1862
• Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton (1814-1881) • born in Philadelphia, PA • graduated 27th of 50 cadets in the U.S. Military Academy class of 1837 • fought in the Seminole Wars (1835-1842) • wounded & decorated for gallantry during the Mexican–American War (1846-1848)
• met & married Martha (Pattie) Thompson (1827-1907) of Norfolk, VA while in garrison at Ft. Monroe, 1848 • Patty owned a house slave, a gift from her father • she was a descendant of Elbridge Gerry, a signator of the Declaration of Independence, 5th Vice President of the U.S. & namesake of "gerrymandering," a manipulation of electoral district boundaries to gain political advantage
“To Pemberton's family a southern girl was a strange animal, and the visit to Martha's relatives, planned by his sister Anna, ‘was about like an excursion into darkest Africa.’” —Pemberton: Defender of Vicksburg, by John C Pemberton (the General’s grandson), 1942
• stationed in the South & married to a southern woman, Pemberton admired southern values & had long advocated states’ rights • at the outbreak of the American Civil War he was offered a colonelcy in the Union Army but, in concert with Pattie's wishes, Pemberton cast his lot with the Confederacy • appointed Lieutenant Colonel • rose to Lieutenant General —John C. Pemberton, by Michael B. Ballard
• in the spring of 1863, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (once a slaveholder himself) launched the Union Army campaign to capture Vicksburg with a force that grew to 77,000 men • Pemberton, who had fought along side Grant in Mexico, commanded the 33,000-man Army of Vicksburg in defense of the city
"See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket... We can take all the northern ports of the Confederacy, and they can defy us from Vicksburg." —President Abraham Lincoln
the Siege of Vicksburg was a decisive battle in the American Civil War, fought over a bid for independence by slaveholding states in the agricultural South • a Northern view of slavery —Quora • a British view of the Rebellion —History Today
• the Federals under Gen. Wm. Tecumseh Sherman attacked 19 & 22 May • when repulsed with great loss, Grant decided to lay siege to the city, cutting off Confederate supply lines • Women Lived in Caves During the Siege of Vicksburg —Maggie MacLean
• the victory over Sherman aside, Pemberton, remained a "Yankee" in the eyes of many of his men, unable to restore their confidence in his leadership after their defeat at the Battle of Champion Hill:
"Today proved to the army and the country, the value of a General. Pemberton is either a traitor or the most incompetent officer in the Confederacy. Indecision, indecision, indecision ... Is he a traitor? Time will show. I cannot believe him such a villain. He is incompetent. Our soldiers and officers are determined not to be sold if they can possibly help it." —Cofederate Surgeon John A. Leavy, John Pemberton: The Wrong Man at the Wrong Place, Civil War Trust
• Pemberton's urgent requests for reinforcements were refused by Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who had earlier urged the outmanned & outgunned Pemberton to abandon Vicksburg in spite of orders from Richmond to hold it at any cost • Johnston's 24,000-man "Army of Relief" remained on the sidelines while half-starved Confederate soldiers & Vicksburg citizens suffered the privations of siege warfare for 47 days —Civil War Trust
Marker: Debate and Decision
From his headquarters in this grand mansion, Confederate General Pemberton followed the movement of enemy troops during the siege. He watched his men suffering from lack of food and the relentless Union bombardment. After nearly 7 weeks, he gathered his commanders together. Did they have the will to keep fighting? Debating late into the night of July 2, 1863, Pemberton made the difficult decision to surrender.
At 10 AM to-morrow I propose to evacuate the works in and around Vicksburg, and to surrender the city and the Garrison under my command, by marching out with my colors and arms, stacking them in front of my present lines, after which you will take possession.
General John Pemberton
July 3, 1863
• Pemberton surrendered his forces on July 4, 1863, American Independence Day • the Mississippi River was now in Union hands & once again open to the North's commercial traffic • Rashomon at Vicksburg —NY Times • The Unconditional Surrender Continues —HistoryNet
• the humiliating defeat exacerbated the cross-cultural antipathy toward Yankees that had pervaded the South for generations & would continue to do so well into the future • the devastated City of Vicksburg did not officially celebrate the nation's birthday again until 1944 (though unofficial celebrations were not uncommon)
• the victorious Union (U.S.) Army, which sealed the fate of both the Confederacy & slavery in America, was desegregated — in 1948 —How Liberals Invented Segregation by Nicholas Guyatt
• blamed by many Southerners for the loss of Vicksburg, Pemberton was again accused of incompetence & because he was a Northerner, labeled a traitor • he accepted a reduction in rank & continued to serve the Confederacy as a colonel
"This brave officer has suffered more from traducers than any other in the Southern Confederacy. He happened to have been born in a Northern State, and although he had married in Virginia, had reared his children as Southern people, had resided many years among us, and had rejected the offer of a large fortune to cast in his lot with the North, there were not wanting men ungenerous enough to impute his Northern birth to him as a crime, and to 'foretell' that upon the first opportunity he would prove a traitor to the cause he had espoused at so great a cost." —Richmond Times Dispatch, June, 1863
"He was accused of being a traitor to Vicksburg. He was not a traitor to Vicksburg. He was a loyal man fighting a losing battle." —V. Blaine Russell (1890-1980), historian & columnist, "Vicksburgesque," Vicksburg Evening Post
• despite his refusal to come to Vicksburg's aid, Johnston retained his command in the Confederacy • after the war he became friends w/Union Gen. Sherman, later serving as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral
• Pemberton requested a court of inquiry into his controversial role at Vicksburg, but was refused • he & Joe Johnston continued blaming each other for decades —Under Siege!: Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg, by Andrea Warren
The Man Who Surrendered Vicksburg Dead —Harrisburg (PA) Patriot
• with negligible financial resources after the war, Pemberton worked a small farm in Warranton VA, a gift from his mother • returned to Philadelphia with his family, 1874 • after his death in 1881, Pattie moved to NYC where she lived at 226 W. 78th St. with their daughter, Patti Pemberton Berman (1850-1940) & grandson Leopold Clarence Berman (1882-1959) • Leopold legally changed his name to Pemberton Berman while a student at Yale (1899-1903) • became a prominent Wall Street broker & close friend of U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
• the General, Pattie & 3 of their 7 children are buried in Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cemetery • in 1961, the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy installed a bronze memorial at his grave site
• bronze statue cost $2,880, paid for by the Federal Govt. after neither his home state of Pennsylvania nor Mississippi, which he defended, were willing to provide the funds • sculpted 1917 by Edmund T. Quinn (1868-1929) • studied painting at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins & trained as a sculptor at the studio of Jean Antoine Injalbert, Paris
• Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg (1863) • the 47-day Union siege ended in the Confederate surrender of the city • victory here & at Port Hudson, LA, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River • park includes 1,325 historic monuments & markers, 20 miles (32 km) of Civil War era trenches & earthworks, 144 cannons & the USS Cairo, a restored gunboat... read on
• originally established in 1899 • 5th national military park under the control of the U.S. War Department • ownership transferred to the U.S. Department of the Interior & the National Park Service, 1933 • 8th oldest National Park • Facebook
• Vicksburg's State Memorials • the military leaders of the Battle of Vicksburg [photos]
• National Register # 66000100, 1966
My contribution to the new craft special of 91Magazine, January 2014... a little Nordic pincushion pattern. x
Willcox, AZ, (1877, pop. 3,796) • Pinterest
• town founded 1877 as "Mahley's Camp" or just "Maley" • originally a tent city called Sour Dough Camp housing laborers, most Chinese, building the Southern Pacific Railroad • named for the owner of the right of way, James H. Mahley (b. c. 1850), who apparently changed the spelling of his name to "Maley" c. 1882, the year he moved to Dos Cabezas, AZ (now a ghost town)
• spelling issues arose again in 1880 when the town was erroneously renamed “Wilcox” (with one "L") in honor of two-L’d Union General Orlando B. Willcox (1823-1907), a vet of the Mexican-American & Civil Wars, then commanding the Department of Arizona • the missing “L” was added to the town’s name in 1889 —Willcox by Kathy Klump, Peta-Anne Tenney
• in the early 20th c., Willcox was the top cattle producer in the US
• in 1911, William Randolph Hearst offered a $50,000 prize to the 1st aviator to fly coast to coast in less than 30 days • Calbraith (Cal) Perry Rodgers was the winner, piloting the Vin Fiz Flyer on the 1st transcontinental U.S. flight ever • en route, he landed at Willcox on Haloween, Tues.,Oct. 31st, 1911 [poster] • The Tale of the Vin Fiz —Wright Brothers • The Epic Flight of the Vin Fiz Flyer —Aerofiles • How a Grape Soda Powered the First Transcontinental Aeroplane Trip —Atlantic
• birthplace of 50s cowboy singer and actor Rex Allen (1920-1999) • known as "The Arizona Cowboy" [photo] • narrated over a hundred Disney movies & TV shows • wrote & recorded many songs, starred in several Westerns during the early 1950s & in the syndicated television series Frontier Doctor (1958–1959) [promo] • Willcox also among the locations of syndicated series 26 Men (1957–1959)
• Railroad Avenue Historic District, National Register # 87000751, 1987
I love Isaac Bashevis Singer's books. I love his Jewish humor.
The 1970s were the years I had found him and had started to read continuously almost all his books.
Shosha is one of my favourites. The story is fascinating !
"Shosha is a hauntingly lyrical love story set in Jewish Warsaw on the eve of its annihilation. Aaron Greidinger, an aspiring Yiddish writer and the son of a distinguished Hasidic rabbi, struggles to be true to his art when faced with the chance at riches and a passport to America. But as he and the rest of the Writers' Club wait in horror for Nazi Germany to invade Poland, Aaron rediscovers Shosha, his childhood love-still living on Krochmalna Street, still mysteriously childlike herself-who has been waiting for him all these years."
A fabulous new craft book featuring a project from my dear friend Kirsty Anderson of Wooden Tree, reviewed on my blog today. x
Vicksburg, Mississippi (est. 1825, pop. 23,542) • Facebook • MS Delta • The Town & the Battle —NY Times
• aka Pemberton House, Mrs. Willis's House • 2-story Greek Revival brick residence • double-tiered portico added later • built by wealthy businessman William Bobb (1802-1871) • newly widowed Martha Patience Vick Willis (1796-1856) purchased the house in 1823, moved in w/son John • Mrs. Willis was the niece of Vicksburg founder, Newit Vick
• bldg. served as one of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's two Vicksburg headquarters during the 1863 Siege of Vicksburg, a decisive battle in the American Civil War (1861-1865), fought over a bid for independence by slaveholding states in the agricultural South • the North’s attitude toward slavery —Quora
• by the 1860s, the Mississippi River had become crucial to the U.S. economy • to strangle northern commercial interests, Confederate forces closed the waterway to navigation • the blockade was enforced at Vicksburg, called the "Gibraltar of the West" because of it's strategic location on bluffs overlooking the river —National Park Service
"See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket... We can take all the northern ports of the Confederacy, and they can defy us from Vicksburg." —President Abraham Lincoln
• in the spring of 1863, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, a former slaveholder, launched the Union Army campaign to capture Vicksburg, with a force that grew to 77,000 men
• Confederate Gen. Pemberton, a Northerner (Pennsylvania) who had fought along side Grant in Mexico, commanded the 33,000-man Army of Vicksburg in defense of the city
• the Federals under Gen. Wm. Tecumseh Sherman attacked 19 & 22 May • when repulsed with great loss, Grant decided to lay siege to the city
• Pemberton's urgent requests for reinforcements were refused by Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston • had earlier urged the outmanned & outgunned Pemberton to abandon Vicksburg in spite of his orders to hold it at any cost • Johnston's 24,000-man "Army of Relief" remained on the sidelines while half-starved Confederate soldiers & Vicksburg citizens suffered the privations of siege warfare for 47 days —Civil War Trust
Marker:
Debate and Decision
From his headquarters in this grand mansion, Confederate General Pemberton followed the movement of enemy troops during the siege. He watched his men suffering from lack of food and the relentless Union bombardment. After nearly 7 weeks, he gathered his commanders together. Did they have the will to keep fighting? Debating late into the night of July 2, 1863, Pemberton made the difficult decision to surrender.
At 10 AM to-morrow I propose to evacuate the works in and around Vicksburg, and to surrender the city and the Garrison under my command, by marching out with my colors and arms, stacking them in front of my present lines, after which you will take possession.
General John Pemberton
July 3, 1863
• Pemberton surrendered his forces on July 4, 1863, American Independence Day • the Mississippi River was now in Union hands & once again open to the North's commercial traffic • Rashomon at Vicksburg —NY Times • The Unconditional Surrender Continues —HistoryNet
• the humiliating defeat exacerbated the cross-cultural antipathy toward Yankees that had pervaded the South for generations & would continue to do so well into the future • the devastated City of Vicksburg did not officially celebrate the nation's birthday again until 1944 (though unofficial celebrations were not uncommon)
• the victorious Union (U.S.) Army, which sealed the fate of both the Confederacy & slavery in America, was desegregated — in 1948 —How Liberals Invented Segregation by Nicholas Guyatt
• blamed by many Southerners for the loss of Vicksburg, Pemberton was accused of incompetence & because he was a Northerner, labeled a traitor • he accepted a reduction in rank & continued to serve the Confederacy as a colonel
"This brave officer has suffered more from traducers than any other in the Southern Confederacy. He happened to have been born in a Northern State, and although he had married in Virginia, had reared his children as Southern people, had resided many years among us, and had rejected the offer of a large fortune to cast in his lot with the North, there were not wanting men ungenerous enough to impute his Northern birth to him as a crime, and to 'foretell' that upon the first opportunity he would prove a traitor to the cause he had espoused at so great a cost." —Richmond Times Dispatch, June, 1863
"He was accused of being a traitor to Vicksburg. He was not a traitor to Vicksburg. He was a loyal man fighting a losing battle." —V. Blaine Russell (1890-1980), historian & columnist, "Vicksburgesque," Vicksburg Evening Post
• despite his refusal to come to Vicksburg's aid, Johnston retained his command in the Confederacy • after the war he became friends w/Union Gen. Sherman, later serving as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral
• Pemberton requested a court of inquiry into his controversial role at Vicksburg, but was refused • he & Joe Johnston continued blaming each other for decades —Under Siege!: Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg, by Andrea Warren
• the house was purchased in 1890 by Mary Frances Harris Cowan (1849-1914), whose husband, Confederate Lt. Ludwell Blackstone Cowan (1828-1892) is said to have participated in the building of the electric spark underwater torpedo (naval mine) • on 12 Dec, 1862 it sank the USS Cairo, the first US warship ever destroyed by this type of weapon
• the building later housed Sisters of Mercy Catholic boarding school St. Anthony's Hall, then a tour home/B&B • acquired by the National Park Service as part of the Vickburg National Military Park, August, 2003
• Pemberton's Headquarters —National Park Service • Historic Structure Report —National Park Service
• HABS: MS-266 (1972) • National Register 70000319, 1970 • Uptown Vicksburg Historic District, National Register 93000850, 1993 • designated National Historic Landmark, 1976
"People come, people go – they’ll drift in and out of your life, almost like characters in a favorite book. When you finally close the cover, the characters have told their story and you start up again with another book, complete with new characters and adventures. Then you find yourself focusing on the new ones, not the ones from the past." - Nicholas Sparks,
#TheRescue
#Goodreads
"The gull sees farthest who flies highest"
— Richard Bach (Jonathan Livingston Seagull)
deGull, he follows me everywhere :-)
Bryngwyn Views #3
* Pentax K20D + Samsung 50-200mm Lens - Single Shot
I met my GoodReads reading goal for 2012 on December 24, 2012! 55 books! I almost didn't make it due to the period of too much magazine reading in the summer! Yeah, right before my vacation in Salem I read a ton of witch trial books..many historical books that I didn't even bother adding to my list because let's face it, I read bits and parts of just the stuff I wanted to know about. FYI, I read a lot of fantasy/sci-fi books. If you're looking for the NY Times Best Seller list, it ain't happening with me.
My favorites are in bold.
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce
This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Into the Cold Fire by Lynne Ewing
This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
Role Models by John Waters
Hollowland by Amanda Hocking
The Abandoned by Amanda Stevens
Conjured by Chelsea Bellingeri
After Midnight by Lynn Viehl
Her Dear and Loving Husband by Meredith Allard
New England Witch Chronicles by Chelsea Bellingeri
November in Salem: The Bargain of Witches by L.C. Russell
Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
The Fear by Charlie Higson
Evil Dark by Justin Gustainis
Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis
77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
The Moonlit Mind by Dean Koontz
Evil Ways by Justin Gustainis
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson
Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Sympathy for the Devil by Justin Gustainis
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Breathless by Dean Koontz
Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
A Dry Spell by Susie Moloney
Bloody Valentine by Melissa de la Cruz
The Thirteen by Susie Moloney
Goddess of the Night by Lynne Ewing
Insatiable by Meg Cabot
Zombicorns by John Green
At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
Wild Thing by John Bazell
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Beastly by Alex Flinn
Cloaked by Alex Flinn
The Book Without Words: A Fable of Medieval Magic by Avi (Tim Zulewski)
The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanof
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adri's elBulli by Lisa Abend
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson
In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard
Already Dead by Charlie Huston
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston
Blind Sight by Meg Howrey
Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender
---Derby Square Bookstore Window---Salem, Massachusetts.
“Does it not seem to you at times, when
Twilight walks through the house , that
Right here alongside us is another element,
In which we live quite differently?
- "A Candle Is Brought In" by Innokenty Annensky, The Silver Age of Russian Culture: An Anthology -
This island that actually has many trees is named “Two Trees Island.” It was named for what may be the last Native American New Yorker to live off the land. The island was named after Joe Two Trees or “The Last Algonquin.”
The recording of the life of Joe Two Trees began all the way back in 1924. That year a 12-year-old Boy Scout named Theodore L. Kazimiroff was exploring the Bronx woods on the shores of the Long Island Sound and Pelham Bay when he met and befriended Joe Two Trees.
In that remote area of the Bronx, the man who had once tried to live “the civilized life” but had been rejected and abused by the Manhattan population was living off the land in seclusion. It is a story of a 20th century loner living off the land in the Bronx who had been living there since the Civil War. It is a sad story of racism induced isolation and a happy story of teaching one teenage friend, forging, hunting, fishing, trapping and basket weaving.
The young naturalist would lead a fruitful life. Theodore L. Kazimiroff became a successful Bronx dentist, the official Bronx historian and founder of the Bronx County Historical Society. He was a community leader who would teach local children earth science and a community activist who lead the fight to stop dumping garbage in Pelham Bay Park. Mr. Kazimiroff has had a Bronx street named after him, plus nature trails in both Van Cortlandt and Pelham Bay Park,
But he never told that story of Joe Two Trees. Theodore L. Kazimiroff passed away in 1980 and his son Ted Kazimiroff Jr. recorded what he could remember from the stories about the hidden lifestyle of Joe Two Trees. In 1982 a book was released named The Last Algonquin.
The book was met a great deal of disbelief. It is a story of a man's bitter struggle, courage, and quest for dignity but many didn't like a story of a Native American child's clan either being killed or sold into slavery and the boy being left as an orphan to fend for himself. Or perhaps the controversy stemmed from people not willing to accept a person choosing a deserted forest in the Bronx over urban New York.
Whatever their problems were the saddest part was that Joe Two Trees was the last of his clan but believed in his isolation that he was the last living Native American. “Like E.T. the last Algonquin was a being stranded in an alien culture.”
Kachinas are spirit beings in western Pueblo religious beliefs, often represented through masks and dolls, as shown here. This snapshot is from a wonderful book by Barton Wright entitled ‘Kachinas: A Hopi Artist's Documentary’, which Adam got for me in a recent trip to New Mexico. I devoured it from cover to cover — and it’s given me a vision for my next art project: an interactive Kachina World with animatronics dolls. Each of the kachinas depicted in these pictures could be characters in that interactive play, dancing to the music and giving you inspiration about the spirits they represent. It was so nice of Adam to give me this marvelous book — he immediately thought of me and thought I should have it. :)
Learn more about Kachinas:
Learn more about the Kachinas book:
www.goodreads.com/book/show/1966616.Kachinas
View photos of our related Wonderbots experiment:
Waiting for Broad Street Southbound Train at SEPTA 15th Street Station in Philadelphia PA on Saturday afternoon, 24 August 2019 by Elvert Barnes Photography
The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subway book by Doug Most at www.goodreads.com/book/show/17934384-the-race-underground
THE RACE UNDERGROUND / PBS / AMERICAN EXPERIENCE at www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/race-underground/
PEOPLE READING Series
RIDE BY SHOOTING / SEPTA Philly Project
En route to 11th PHILLY NAKED BIKE RIDE 2019 Pre-Ride Festival
Elvert Barnes 11th PHILLY NAKED BIKE RIDE 2019 docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/PNBR2019.html
Carved wall tomb with angels one holding a scroll, two playing music
"Edward Mammatt; Born March 26th 1807; Died April 23rd 1860, this monument was raised an the window above restored to mark the regard of surviving friends for one though blind from early boyhood, employed the powers of an accomplished mind for the welfare and enlightenment of all around him"
(Edward was born in Measham, Derbyshire, the son of Edward Mammatt & Eliza Simmonds
Possibly along with his father, he was agent to Lord Noira, afterwards 1st Marquis of Hastings, and to George, 2nd Marquis , gaining practical experience which included "arduous mining speculations" whilst exercising the "care and direction" of their mines in the area , to whom he dedicated his treatise "Principles of Geology" in 1833
He m Harriet Buller having 3 children , they lived at Over Seal Cottage
1. Edward Frederick 1843 - 1891 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/4j1HGG solicitor, m Marie Elise
2. Arthur Simmonds 1848 - 1901
3. Ellen b1849
Brought up by gifted parents, Edward although blind , was interested and knowledgeable in science and published books on this and the local area such as his treatise on the geology of N. W. Leicestershire of 1938 . He also took an interest in church organ building - at Appleby Magna church it was recorded that a few days after the organ arrived it "was opened by Mr E Mammatt a blind man ... "
- Church of St Helen, Ashby de la Zouch Leicestershire
...courage, or determination to follow their own dreams will often find ways to discourage yours. Live your truth and don't EVER stop!”
- Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free -
Upon discussing my daughter's college graduation and her major I was asked what my major was and I told her that for my associates degree I did not have one but my ambition was to one day join the FBI... she asked what attracted me to the FBI... to which I have yet given her a reply. Well I never became an agent but I can truly tell her that an investigation has always had an allure for me... this kind of ways to a mean... the detective work.
And it brings me to 'The Lost Painting' I have just purchased less than a week ago. The painting is from the 19th century, oil on academy board, 17 inches x 22 inches, and of a well to do lady with two noticeable scars...one above her right eye and one along her right cheek.
There are some clues:
There was so much dust on the painting and frame that I used a fine bristle artist brush to gentle remove it.
The back still has it's black paper backing and the label of the frame maker: D B Murray 22 South Street Perth.
The frame has numerous wood worm holes and the molding, gilt, and gesso is worn to the wood on the complete right side with same wear but not to the wood on the top side. Where has it been for this to happen?
The ladies fashion is somewhere from 1850 to the 1860's
What happened to her face and why are her eyes so sad?
There can be many dead ends in research or what seems to be one, but sometimes it takes going back for that small lead that brings true enlightenment!
* A great book to read on this subject is 'The Lost Painting' by Jonathan Herr. The book is a true story that reads like fiction... The lost Caravaggio of Judas's Betrayal lost for two hundred years until painstakingly found:
The Lost Painting
by Jonathan Harr:
www.goodreads.com/book/show/27398.The_Lost_Painting
Our Daily Challenge:
PAINTED is the topic for Monday 24th May 2021
Kamera: Nikon FE2
Linse: Nikkor-O Auto 35mm f2 (1970)
Film: Kodak 5222 @ ISO 250
Kjemi: Rodinal (1:50 / 9 min. @ 20°C)
Wikipedia: Gaza Genocide
Janta Ka Reporter: Trump silent amidst global outrage on Jenin video; unthinkable step by UK govt. (Publ. 29 Nov. 2025)
- Today I’m going to present to you a true hidden gem.
But before I do that, I have to tell you that during the years 2007-2011 I myself had UN-affiliated assignments in the occupied West Bank. What I saw - and experienced - was for me very difficult to understand and comprehend and put into words at the time.
Incidentally, during approximately the exact same timeframe as I was there, a truly remarkable investigative journalist named Max Blumenthal (b. 1977) was doing ground work in Israel and Palestine for his book ‘Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel’ (publ. 2013).
What I was not able to describe, Blumenthal did.
Please do read his book.
But let us go on. I just recently discovered a truly remarkable collection of insightful interviews in relation to this subject. These are interviews with leading academics at the time (2010) and revealed to the public for the first time now in 2025. These are incredibly important and valuable talks to take into consideration for any concerning human being who wants to understand and educate themselves on today’s very pressing issues of judaism, zionism and the fascist, genocidal, religious extremist apartheid State of Israel.
Presented here are truly compelling long-form interviews with eminent distinguished leading scholars and academics such as linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky (b. 1928), political scientist and activist Norman Finkelstein (b. 1953), historian and author Norton Mezvinsky (1932-2022), historian and author Richard Lukas (b. 1937), linguist and political advocate Ian Hancock (b. 1942) and historian and author Albert Lindemann (b. 1938) - all presented by Ron Kelley in his recently established Youtube channel called ‘Is It Antisemitic to Tell the Truth?’.
And this seems to be just the beginning. More interviews are being published almost daily.
As it turns out, I have found that Kelley himself certainly is an accomplished photographer of note, as attested to in Sondra Hale’s article Out of Place: Israel in the Photography of Ron Kelley (2000 Al Jadid Magazine) as well as in his own article Israel’s Bedouin: The End of Poetry (1998 AMEU - The Link).
Here is Ron Kelley’s own introduction to his channel:
«The origin of this channel was when I had a year-long Fulbright Fellowship to Israel in 1992-1993. My project, as a visual ethnographer, was to document recent Ethiopian and Russian immigration to the Jewish state. Part of the project was also to document the indigenous Arab Muslim Bedouin. I lived in a desert kibbutz and it wasn't long before I began hearing disturbing stories about widespread state mistreatment of the Bedouin, legitimate citizens of the Jewish state. I then decided to tell their story by videotape, completely independently, as well as my other Fulbright tasks.
Returning to America with 100 hours of videotape material, I discovered only censorship, uninterest/avoidance of my documentary -- it had no platform and I gave up.
In 2010, in the U.S., I hoped to do a documentary about Jewish identity, the Holocaust, and Israel. I interviewed a few dozen scholars and others -- mostly Jewish -- and these interviews will be posted here at this site, for the first time seen.»
Ron Kelley’s first video presented is his own documentary Israel’s Destruction of Its Bedouin Citizens, filmed in 1992-1993. Kelley’s own introduction to his documentary is as follows:
«This documentary, an indictment of the "only democracy in the Middle East, " was recorded when I was a Fulbright Fellow -- for a year, as a visual ethnographer to investigate Ethiopian and Russian Jewish immigration to the Jewish state, as well as the indigenous Bedouin -- in Israel, 1992-93. It documents Israel’s destruction of its Bedouin (Arab Muslim) citizens. These people are formal CITIZENS of Israel, not outsiders of some kind.
The systemic Israeli mistreatment of the Bedouin was shocking, but it was equally shocking to discover that I could find no one to help me edit and finish the film when I returned to America. This movie cost me $25,000 out of my own pocket. No one, no grant organization, nor any other group, was willing to contribute a nickel to help complete the work from the 100 hours of material I had recorded.
I have no personal root to the Arab/Israeli conflict. My effort was purely a labor of moral conviction.
The most astounding shock, however, was when I returned to America after the year in Israel, created the movie, alone, as best I could, and discovered that there was no forum in America to show the movie. I went, physically, in person, to various Jewish organizations requesting them to view it. The only such person who was willing to give it a look was a rabbi at a Hillel group at a Midwest university. But he didn’t watch the whole film, only a little, and his sole response was that parts of it seemed “antisemitic.” No one, anywhere, wanted to see it. PBS and other TV venues had zero interest. The only forum this documentary ever had was through Americans for Middle East Understanding, a tiny, ignored organization critical of Israel. A few VHS copies that I created in my living room were sold through them. I even sent the documentary to an Arab film festival in Seattle. A guy from the festival eventually phoned me; he said they loved the film but were afraid to show it for fear that Jews would protest their festival. I am serious. I am not exaggerating. It was then that I realized that the walls of fear and censorship – including self-censorship in the Arab community – rendered my film project hopeless folly. No one dared to platform the ugly side of the Jewish state. I had no choice but to give up, years ago.
I present this movie now, recently digitalized from video -- still with help from no one -- with great sorrow that I failed to be able to aid those individuals within it who pleaded for help. But the injustices – to the Bedouin, and others – go on. The outrageous atrocities in Gaza, and the internet, however, have opened new opportunities for people to be afforded the truth about what Israel really is, beyond the Wall of Propaganda that has for decades enveloped us.
Welcome here, then, as is proclaimed, to the “only democracy” in the Middle East.»
The full interviews with the various scholars are the following (together with Kelley’s introductory notes below):
- Noam Chomsky: Antisemitism, Holocaust, Israel etc. (2010 Interview)
Interview with Noam Chomsky in his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010 (This interview has never been publicly seen until now – November 2025)
«In an interview recorded in 2010 (but never publicly presented until now), Professor Chomsky, famed as he is, was extremely generous in affording me time for an interview. I had a long list of questions for him, but was caught off guard when I discovered he could – understandably – only give me about a half an hour. I rummaged through my questions and edited them down, fast.
Subjects discussed include Norman Finkelstein, including Chomsky’s respect for his work, Finkelstein’s courage at DePaul University leading to destruction of his career (“exposing the American intellectual class”) as a university professor, Finkelstein’s meticulous criticism of the popular Joan Peters (1936-2015) pro-Israel book and the campaign to silence Finkelstein by pro-Israel ideologue Alan Dershowitz (b. 1938). This subject segued to how the Holocaust has become exploited as a political tool by the State of Israel and how, more generally, Gypsy/Roma decimation under the Nazis is not given much attention because the Jewish “Holocaust” – by those who run (as Finkelstein calls it, the “Holocaust Industry”) -- is widely considered to be “unique.”
Commentary further includes Chomsky’s perspective that Israel Shahak (1933-2001) (a Holocaust survivor, later resident of Israel, and activist for human rights, including Palestinian) and Finkelstein had/have been vilified by intellectual elites in both America and Israel. Chomsky also discusses how both the Holocaust and the accusation of antisemitism are used as tools to silence free speech dissent, how mainstream Jewish/Zionist interest in the Holocaust – and increased accusations of antisemitism -- took on special meaning and attention beginning with Israel’s 1967 war, and how mainstream American Jewry didn’t actually want Holocaust survivors to come to America (!) until that time.
Other topics explored by Chomsky include the accusation of “Jewish self-hatred”, sometimes – in Jewish mainstream circles -- the Jewish parallel to being a non-Jewish antisemite. Discussion also includes free speech issues around the loose subject of “Holocaust denial,” especially with laws regarding this subject in Europe.
Further discussion includes Jewish American activism in the Civil Rights movement and how it began to falter (and why), the Haredim (religious ultra-Orthodox Jews) who are largely anti-Zionist, The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and its abandonment of dedicated civil rights issues to become a shill for Israel, and Chomsky’s critique of Mearsheimer and Walt’s book THE ISRAEL LOBBY.»
- Norman Finkelstein: Israel, Holocaust, Antisemitism, ADL, etc. (2010 Interview)
«This interview – never publicly available until now -- with Finkelstein was in 2010. He was doing a tour, giving speeches at colleges, and he generously afforded me time for an interview in the midst of his road travel.
Noteworthy, and affording him extra credence in his world view, Finkelstein’s Jewish parents were survivors of Nazi concentration camps.
Much maligned – and censored -- by supporters of Israel, Professor Finkelstein has reached special prominence on the internet recently because of his studied expertise about Gaza and the recent genocide there. Among his many limited-circulation -- but influential books -- is THE HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY (2000), a volume addressing the exploitation of Jewish suffering during World War II on behalf of modern Israel. Finkelstein has been a relentless critic of the Jewish state and its treatment of the Palestinians and, as such, has many ideological detractors.
Referenced at the beginning of this interview is the film AMERICAN RADICAL (released in 2009), which is a documentary about Mr. Finkelstein.
The interview here includes the subjects of:
The misinterpretation of an internet “viral” excerpt wherein Finkelstein passionately responds to a weeping woman about the Holocaust, the contradiction between how so many American Jews perceive social justice activism in America versus Israel, Jewish privilege and power in the United States, the “Jewish sense of superiority” (per secular achievement), the Holocaust’s “uniqueness doctrine” (wherein Jewish suffering is seen to transcend all others’ in World War II), the vendetta in academia against Finkelstein for his human rights activism (mainly regarding Palestinians), Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) and his “mystical” vision of the Holocaust, the weaponization of the accusation of antisemitism (including accusations of antisemitism against former President Jimmy Carter (1924-2024), Finkelstein’s disdain for “epithets” like “Zionism” or “anti-Zionism”, Jewish influence today (in the media, the publication world, and the arts), the use of Finkelstein’s work by antisemites, scholar John Murray Cuddihy (1922-2011) (wherein, in Finkelstein’s words – “You’re not allowed to find a rational explanation regarding Jewish conduct. That’s prohibited”), American Jewish claims to victim status despite being “an amazing success story,” mainstream reactions to Finkelstein’s books, Finkelstein’s rejecting of notions like “confronting Zionism,” etc.»
- Norton Mezvinsky: Israel, Jewish Supremacy, Judaism, Chabad Lubavitchers, Pt. 1 (Interview 2010)
- Norton Mezvinsky: Israel, Jewish Supremacy, Judaism, Chabad Lubavitchers, Pt. 2 (Interview 2010)
«Never seen before, I interviewed professor Mezvinsky in about 2010 at Central Connecticut State University where he was a teacher, eventually for over 40 years. He died in 2022. Ardent free speech activist, he was Jewish and, according to one Jewish journalist, was "an academic known for his anti-Israel views...who has been labeled as anti-Zionist [and who] holds strong views questioning the right of Jews to a homeland in Israel". In this regard, and because of his ardent criticism of traditional Jewish religious beliefs, he was typified by many in the mainstream Jewish world as a “self-hating Jew.”
Among his books was “Christian Zionism” and “Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel,” which he co-authored with Israel Shahak (1933-2001). (Shahak is famed as a Holocaust survivor, professor in Israel, prominent civil rights activist in Israel, and critic of Zionism and traditional Judaism, whose own book JEWISH HISTORY, JEWISH RELIGION (1994) was an exposé about troubling details of traditional Jewish religious faith). As one Jewish supporter of Israel, Asaf Romirowsky, noted, “Mezvinsky and Shahak are prime examples of Jewish academics who throughout their careers questioned their own religion and the legitimacy of the State of Israel.”
A local rabbi in Connecticut, Stephen Fuchs, once complained that Mezvinsky “has slanted the views of a whole generation of students about the Middle East. I am concerned that he has created a negative attitude towards Israel.” In later years, Mezvinsky was a co-founder and president of the International Council for Middle East Studies (ICMES).
In part 1 of the interview, professor Mezvinsky addresses:
Secular Jews versus Orthodox Jews in Israel, controversies about conversion to Judaism in Israel, Judaism is not a proselytizing faith, Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism aren’t considered legitimate by Orthodox rabbis, about a third of Soviet immigrants to Israel weren’t Jewish, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) and the Chabad Lubavitcher organization, Mezvinsky’s studies of Yiddish texts by Schneerson, the “complicated” variety of interpretation of religious texts by various Jewish strands, Mezvinsky’s discussion that he is a member of a Chabad congregation, Rabbi Schneerson’s assertion that Jews have a superior soul over non-Jews as willed by God (and the only people who can convert to Judaism have an innately Jewish soul), the general notion in broader, traditional Judaism of Jewish superiority over non-Jews -- including in traditional prayers, Chabad rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh’s “extremist” views, is Yitzchak Ginsburgh (b. 1944) in good standing in the Chabad group?, dangers of Jewish and other faith’s fundamentalism, does antisemitism hold the Jewish community together?, etc.
In part 2 of the interview, professor Mezvinsky addresses:
The threat of antisemitism as the major rationale for the existence of Israel; the Talmud; two versions of the Talmud; the Talmud explains the Bible; traditional Judaism built on Talmud commentary; Jewish dietary laws; Reform Judaism; the concept of “self-hating Jew” (“Apologists and propagandists” label Jews like Mezvinsky/Finkelstein/Chomsky “self-hating Jew”); Parallel types of criticism from those labeled “self-hating Jews” in America aren’t labelled “self-hating” in Israel; The book 'The Israel Lobby' by John Mearsheimer (b. 1947) and Stephen Walt (b. 1955); The Israel lobby is the major reason U.S. supports Israel (Mezvinsky disagrees here with Chomsky); Mezvinsky’s refusal to be silenced for his critical views of Israel and some aspects of traditional Judaism; Importance of personal advocacy; the widespread censorship/misrepresentation of Hebrew texts when translating to English; why so many American Jews support civil rights in the U.S. but are “blind” to similar issues in Israel; the “syndrome of the Holocaust”; the minority of Jews who are rising to criticize Israel – especially on college campuses; the Anti-Defamation League which has “become an organization whose major purpose is to silence criticism of Israel; religious reference to Amalek and Jacob and Esau; Gush Emunim group in the West Bank; Israel Shahak as a “human rights activist” against God; Biblical sanction of mass murder by Israelites; Israel is not a democracy for non-Jews; efforts to censor and intimidate Mezvinsky, etc.»
- Richard Lukas: The Forgotten Holocaust / Non-Jewish Polish Genocide Under the Nazis, Pt. 1 (Interview 2010)
- Richard Lukas: The Forgotten Holocaust / Non-Jewish Polish Genocide Under the Nazis, Pt. 2 (Interview 2010)
«Little known; Polish Catholics, as well as Jews and others, were slaughtered en masse by the Nazis, who considered Poles/Slavs as “Untermenschen” (subhumans).
This interview, seen for the first time here, was conducted in 2010 at Mr. Lukas’ home in Florida. Lukas has taught history at Tennessee Technological University, Wright University, and the University of South Florida. He began his career focused on military history. He has written a number of books, among them Did the Children Cry? Hitler’s War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939-1945; Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation; and, the best known, The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944.
He is also the author of an article entitled “Jedwabne and the Selling of the Holocaust”, a response to a book, Neighbors, by Jewish author Jan Gross (b. 1947), which -- in Lukas’ view -- misrepresents facts and exaggerates Polish antisemitism.
Defender of the Polish people against smears of endemic antisemitism, struggling to present the story of non-Jewish Polish suffering under the Nazis, and daring to conflate both Jewish and non-Jewish children's stories under Nazi rule in Poland, Lukas eventually received the Janusz Korczak (1878-1942) Literary Award by the Anti-Defamation League (evaluated by a committee of Jewish and non-Jewish judges) in 1996. It had been granted and then rescinded (!) before it was quietly granted again by the organization’s “political leadership.”
Professor Lukas fought long for the Polish story under the Nazis to be heard, and was sometimes defamed, insulted, and/or ignored by monitors of the mainstream "unique" Jewish Holocaust narrative, and here he addresses, among other issues:
When starting his research, “there was very little I could get about the Polish tragedy unless I got it through the lens of Jewish Holocaust writers” (which Lukas believes is largely biased); how “World War 2 is mostly viewed -- thanks to mass media and popular culture -- by many as a “Jewish thing”;
Conflicts between mainstream Jewish historiography and Polish perspectives about the Nazi occupation of Poland; the difficulties of attaining free speech against the “traditional [Judeocentric] truth of the Holocaust”; the granting of a literary award to him by Jewish and non-Jewish judges for the Anti-Defamation League and its rescinding of his award by the ADL’s “political leadership” because, he believes, he didn’t focus on alleged Polish antisemitism; the eventual granting of the award without public fanfare;
Lukas’ irritation with Jewish author Jan Gross’ book NEIGHBORS, largely about an alleged endemic Polish antisemitism; mainstream Jewish historians and commentators about the Holocaust neglect or minimize too much about Nazi genocides of non-Jewish victims; Lukas’ critique of mainstream Holocaust scholars; media and other biases against Poles and Poland; enormous amount of “personal and professional animosity” against those who don’t accept the Jewish-centered genocide narrative;
How the mass media and popular culture focus on Jewish Holocaust suffering during World War II (an “inundation” of material that typically frames Poles in a pejorative "antisemitic" light), etc.
In part 2 of the interview, professor Lukas addresses:
Reasons for anti-Jewish hostility in Poland; exaggeration/misrepresentation by mostly Jewish historians about Polish antisemitism; Jewish monopoly in Poland in some trades; case of British historian Norman Davies (b. 1939) who (at odds with some historians about Poland) had an offered chairmanship in history at Stanford University rescinded, ostensibly for poor scholarship (but he was offered soon after to edit the Oxford History of Europe); Polish aid to Jews during World War II; passivity of Jews in Poland until Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943;
Jewish Orthodox non-assimilation in Poland and difficulties in aiding them; rising Polish nationalism in Poland versus widespread Jewish nationalism (towards the communist Soviet Union or Zionism); Polish non-Jews’ tragedy under Nazism subsumed beneath the Jewish Holocaust; “inundation” of literature, movies, etc. about the Jewish Holocaust; “We have some real problems with the historiography of this [World War II] period,” hope for younger historians to be more objective about the Holocaust era; etc.»
- Ian Hancock: The Nazi Genocide Against the Roma (Gypsies), Part of the ‘Holocaust’, Pt. 1 (Interview 2010)
- Ian Hancock: The Nazi Genocide Against the Roma (Gypsies), Part of the ‘Holocaust’, Pt. 2 (Interview 2010)
«This interview, never publicly seen before, was conducted in 2010 at the University of Texas.
Professor Hancock is of Romani (traditionally known in popular culture as “Gypsies”) heritage and has been both a scholar on various linguistic subjects and an advocate for his people, writing over 300 books and articles about the Romani language and community. He was the first Roma to acquire a PhD in Great Britain and is one of the best-known activists for Roma rights and heritage. He has headed the Romani Archives and Documentation Center at the University of Texas, has represented the Romani people at the United Nations, and has been a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council under president Bill Clinton (b. 1946). (Often ignored or minimized, the Nazi genocide against the Romani [“Gypsy”] community during World War II is called the Porajmos).
Professor Hancock retired from active teaching in 2018. In this interview he addresses:
Stereotypes of the Romani culture; overview of Romanis; Jewish culture is “exclusive,” like Roma; some in the Jewish community see the Holocaust as an exclusive – and unique – event; a similar percentage of Roma were murdered by the Nazis as Jewish victims; both Jews and Roma were subject to a parallel Nazi “final solution”; racism against -- and disrespect of -- Roma at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council; William Duna’s and Hancock’s struggles at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council wherein “we have been called all kinds of horrible things – that we’re trespassing [on the Jewish Holocaust], that it’s an insult to the Holocaust [for the Roma] to be associated with it,” the injustice of the Holocaust victimhood “ranking system”; with the change of U.S. presidents Roma were inexplicably not represented on the U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum council; no difference between Jewish and Roma fates under the Nazis; Norman Finkelstein’s work about the Holocaust; etc.
In part 2, professor Ian Hancock continues his comments, including Romani (Gypsy) difficulties in getting recognition for the genocide against them by the Nazis in World War II; Racism, ignorance, and bigotry against the Romani even by council members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Romani difficulties in penetrating the mainstream "exclusivity" of the mainstream Jewish Holocaust narrative, etc.
NOTE: William Duna, fellow Roma mentioned here by Professor Hancock and who served on the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum council before Hancock, was also interviewed and his comments about his experiences – including those on the Holocaust council --will be posted here soon.»
- Albert Lindemann: Do Jewish Beliefs and/or Actions Ever Cause Antisemitism?, Pt. 1 (Interview 2010)
- Albert Lindemann: Do Jewish Beliefs and/or Actions Ever Cause Antisemitism?, Pt. 2 (Interview 2010)
- Albert Lindemann: Do Jewish Beliefs and/or Actions Ever Cause Antisemitism?, Pt. 3 (Interview 2010)
«This interview was conducted in 2010 in professor Lindemann’s office at the University of California – Santa Barbara, a college where he eventually taught for nearly 50 years. (This interview has never been publicly seen until now). He is best known for his book ESAU’S TEARS: MODERN ANTISEMITISM AND THE RISE OF THE JEWS (Cambridge University Press). Among his other books, he was also the author of ANTI-SEMITISM BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST; THE JEW ACCUSED: THREE ANTI-SEMITIC AFFAIRS (DREYFUS, BEILIS, FRANK); and THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN SOCIALISM.
Professor Lindemann is not Jewish. This is a relevant point, as few non-Jewish scholars have risked an objectively detailed study of the subject of antisemitism to – while not defending any justification for such hostility -- examine actual historical reasons for it.
His book ESAU’S TEARS (1997) attracted considerable animosity in some Jewish quarters. Responding to one such scholarly critic in Commentary magazine, Lindemann wrote “I make no apologies about writing a provocative book, one that questions many familiar interpretations and will raise hackles in some quarters—is this not what scholarship is supposed to be about?”
Among Lindemann’s defenders was Jewish scholar Richard Levy (1940-2021) who wrote that “Lindemann, in the company of Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), Jacob Katz (1904-1998), and many others, does not accept the comforting but fallacious notion that Jews have had nothing to do with the generation of anti-Semitism.”
In part 1 of this interview, professor Lindemann addresses:
The subject of antisemitism is extremely emotional for some; there are “sacred cows” in the examination of this field of academic study and research; “If you say certain things you will get people very angry with you”; antisemitism in the Arab world and radical Left; “being hated” as part of Jewish identity (younger Jews are less connected to that); there is more migration OUT of Israel to America than into it; “Jews are certainly very penetrating observers of non-Jewish society, but there aren’t many non-Jews who are penetrating observers of Jewish society”; most “scolding” of Lindemann by (mostly Jewish) critics comes from “far right neo-cons”; the subject of Norman Finkelstein (b. 1953); Lindemann was attacked constantly in the American Historical Review journal; Lindemann has seen a commentary called by some “the Lindemann Thesis” (that Jews are responsible for antisemitism) which Lindemann does not endorse;
Jewish rise in power and position is obvious, and sometimes part of anti-Jewish animosity; widespread belief – even in academia – that “you dare not blame the victim”; traditional Jewish beliefs, per Exodus/Genesis and Jewish holidays like Purim, Hannukah, etc. wherein Jews are brought up -- according to such texts -- that they are “unfairly hated”; “some Jewish texts take pride in the fact that they killed the Jewish dissident (Jesus)”; traditionally, “Jews celebrated the death of Christ” (“Modern Jews have pretty much suppressed that”); most non-Jews don’t know much about Judaism or the Arab-Israeli conflict (and in conversations with Jewish friends and such “most non-Jews become quiet – they are intimidated”);
Discussion of the issue of “race” (for some Jews, especially in Orthodox communities, this is a component of Jewish identity; complications of the question what is “the Jewish people?”; converts to Judaism are not recognized by many Jews as being authentically Jewish; discussion of Orthodox Chabad Lubavitchers and their famous rabbi Menachem Schneerson (1902-1994) (Lindemann believes that some of Schneerson’s teaching, per the Jewish soul, “is an expression of racism”); Jewish author Stephen Bloom’s book about Postville, Iowa, and the Chabad community and its “corrupt rabbis” that caused such problems in that town, etc.
In part 2, professor Lindemann addresses:
The word “antisemitism” as a “whistle blower blown way too much,” is it antisemitism when people don’t like Jews or want to live with Jews? -- those two things describe some Jews’ attitude towards Gentiles; Jews in the U.S. are among the most liberal-minded; limits of free speech; in places like Europe you can be put in jail for years for saying the Holocaust doesn’t exist;
“My responsibility is to say what I think is actually true and not play the game of ‘How will this go down?’”; people of many different perspectives have praised his book ESAU’S TEARS but “some respected scholars have reviewed the book and completely misrepresented it”; there is broad opinion in the Jewish community but there are some who “try to keep debate limited”;
“The defense of Israel has been cruder, the demonization of Arabs cruder …”, some things said in defense of Israel aren’t true; the influential book and movie EXODUS (1960) is “nonsense”; Lindemann’s book ESAU’S TEARS makes issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict more ambiguous; explanation of Lindemann’s title for his book ESAU’S TEARS (in traditional religious lore, Esau – the ‘archetypical Gentile’ – and Jacob – the “father of the Jews’ – are twins. Jacob and his mother trick Esau and the title “Esau’s Tears refers to the tears of indignation when he finds out he had been tricked”;
‘Self-hating Jew’ is a term used “by many Jews to describe someone they don’t like”; discussion of the necessity of generalizations in describing any people, culture, or country, Jewish “dual morality” (yes, but virtually any group has such a thing), etc.
In part 3, professor Lindemann addresses:
Jews in Eastern Europe included religious Ultra-Orthodox Jews, the Socialist Bund, and communists; many Jews, worldwide, had an admiration for Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), who was Jewish; at one point in time there was a death penalty in the Soviet Union for antisemitism; Jews were overrepresented in both the capitalist and communist worlds (Who spoke for the Jews?);
Karl Marx (1818-1883) (fulfilling the notion of the “self-hating Jew”) wrote an article denouncing Jews, saying that, in essence, “the selfish principle is the Jewish principle”; Jews have had the opportunity to tell their history of suffering wherein the history of illiterate peasants in Eastern Europe (Ukraine, etc.) wasn’t often told; Jews were relatively poor in Eastern Europe, but “for most of history Jews were better off than the people around them”;
Many Jews “are persuaded that there is something unique about their suffering” (ultimately a religious concept); increased attention to the Holocaust over the years; many “young people today are historically illiterate”; German and Hungarian Jews had a low opinion of Eastern European Jews; Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the founder of Zionism, “did not like most Jews he came into contact with”; Christianity;
Jews themselves have recognized that some Biblical texts are dangerous; for some Jews, in a religious context, you can look at antisemitism as bad Gentiles -- God using them to punish Jews, etc.»
- End.
Loving this book so far. Have you read it?
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10 Comments on Instagram:
suthnheart: @alliekuramata me, too! I could just them to @goodreads, but screenshots tug harder, don't they? 😄#gimmeallthebooks #alysaapproved
leighkramer: A couple of years ago. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts when you're through! (If we lived in the same town, we would need to be in a Book Club together.)
alysabajenaru: @leighkramer Totally!
rebeccaradicchi: Yes, loved.
aleceronzino: I live on that corner.
emsueo: About halfway through actually!!
alysabajenaru: @leighkramer Just finished. I loved it!! I want to see it as a movie. You?
alysabajenaru: @emsueo How do you like it?