So...the erasure of Russia and the Eastern front from American accounts of the war is the source of no great mystery...it's obviously a relic of the Cold War and just general jingoism...however, I'd be curious if at any point this was a planned or systematic thing. Were textbooks edited, etc? Was there an actual propaganda campaign to claim the US "won the war against fascism" more or less on its own (with, of course, the help of the plucky British, whose ass we proverbially saved)?
― Fizzles, Thursday, 13 June 2019 05:48 (four years ago) link
like the interviewer I was quite surprised by how largely backwards and poor the late 30's German economy was revealed to be in Wages of Destruction. They were miles behind Britain and France in GDP, electrification, motorisation and hamstrung with stagnant growth and a bigger population to feed. Despite having a huge army they were a bit of a basket case really and their expanding reich brought as many new problems as short term benefits.
― calzino, Thursday, 13 June 2019 07:20 (four years ago) link
i also the remember the book mentioning some of the social housing built by the nazis was barely just 19th century standard with no power supply circuits nor toilets.
― calzino, Thursday, 13 June 2019 07:34 (four years ago) link
Enjoying that Vichy book by Julian Jackson. On Jacques Doriot who went full fash after getting booted out of the communist party (might be a warning from history to Tommy Yack Yack!):
Doriot's image of heroic, working-class virility made him attractive to self-hating middle-class fascist intellectuals. Until he became rather fat, Doriot looked the part of the fascist leader (except for his glasses).
― calzino, Thursday, 13 June 2019 09:28 (four years ago) link
sorry rushomancy , didn't catch your post at the time: no, I don't think that's what Putin's take is, and am somewhat baffled as to what Putin has to do with anything I said?
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 13 June 2019 10:02 (four years ago) link
my favourite bit of World at War is always when it sets up the topic of the next ep, and sir larry's reading of the final line "Nemesis would come… from the SEA!"
― mark s, Wednesday, 12 June 2019 21:45 (yesterday) Bookmark
lol! been re-watching this tonight and my fave portentous epilogue by lazza was " the sun had set on one imperial power... on another.. the sun was still rising". if only Redd Pepper's voice had broken in them days..
― calzino, Thursday, 13 June 2019 21:46 (four years ago) link
Dan Carlin did a like 70 hour series on the Eastern Front a few years back, and I imagine a lot of people heard it
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Friday, 14 June 2019 14:08 (four years ago) link
I mean more than will read a 500 page book about it
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Friday, 14 June 2019 14:09 (four years ago) link
Just reading this review of Alexiviech's book, collected oral testimonies of people who were children during WWII. Love the two books of hers that I've read, but they are tough (especially Chernobyl Prayer)
https://www.bookforum.com/print/2602/last-witnesses-an-oral-history-of-the-children-of-world-war-ii-by-svetlana-alexievich-22005
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 14 June 2019 19:39 (four years ago) link
Yeah, the concentrated child misery means I think I will have to skip this one.
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Monday, 17 June 2019 23:55 (four years ago) link
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/597751/stalingrad-by-vasily-grossman-translated-from-the-russian-by-robert-chandler-and-elizabeth-chandler/9781681373270/
this sounds interesting.
― calzino, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 07:28 (four years ago) link
i think this is the first year that i haven't heard a single peep about pearl harbor from any person or news organization.
― budo jeru, Friday, 8 December 2023 03:49 (five months ago) link
As we remember Japan’s aggression in the Pacific, we need to ask ourselves this question: is the remilitarization of Japan, which is presently underway, truly a good idea? We need to be careful that shortsighted, self-serving leaders do not end up bringing us again face-to-face…— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) December 7, 2023
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 8 December 2023 03:54 (five months ago) link
xp. Seems reasonable. Pearl Harbor was 82 years ago. The national trauma du jour is now Sept. 11, 2001. You'll be hearing about that one until the day you die.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Friday, 8 December 2023 04:06 (five months ago) link
my annual report: hawaii still knows it’s pearl harbor day
― difficult listening hour, Friday, 8 December 2023 05:42 (five months ago) link
lol @ that tulsi tweet. god she's a kook
― budo jeru, Friday, 8 December 2023 06:07 (five months ago) link