[contextly_auto_sidebar id="n5XpwhQfRtKBHPK1BXtQynuCSQpBNl9j"] WHY do we fight? Whether you are a World War II soldier trying to save an Italian Renaissance painting from the Nazis, or a 21st century American, trying to produce, assess or defend culture in a marketplace that's less and less interested in it, the question is the same. The answers -- some of them proposed by a new film -- may be … [Read more...]
Oliver Stone’s History Lesson
ABOUT a week ago, I spent some time with Oliver Stone, and his co-writer, the historian Peter Kuznick, talking about their new "Untold History of the United States." The 10-part program, which goes up on Showtime starting tonight, is in a Howard Zinn/Noam Chomsky line in looking at international and domestic issues, starting with World War II.Perhaps the key theme of the series is the idea of … [Read more...]
The Elegant Espionage of Alan Furst
THE spy novels of alan furst are elegant, melancholy glimpses of history and the period right before world war II in central and eastern europe. does any working novelist sketch atmosphere as well as alan furst?because 2008's "the spies of warsaw" was just released in paperback, i'm posting my interview with furst from last year. the book looks at a de gaulle-like aristocrat caught up in movements … [Read more...]