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German soldiers of the 134th Saxon Regiment pose with men of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 'No Man's Land' on the Western Front in December 2014. Photo is in the Public Domain. You can read the article HERE

I am returning for a third time to an earlier post about a film that still moves me deeply: Joyeux Noel, the 2005 film that was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film. This has become my favorite Christmas movie, and I watch it each year.

The individual stories highlighted in the film were fictitious, but the over all story is based on a true happening on a Christmas Eve in 1914, in the theater of war: Scottish, French, and German troops agreed to a cease fire, and put down their weapons to celebrate Christmas Eve. Bonds were formed. The next day, troops  even warned each other of planned shellings and offered refuge in each other's trenches when the shellings occurred.

On Christmas Eve, German soldiers began playing music familiar to both German and British soldiers. Soon an informal truce was struck. Troops visited each other, gave each other food and small gifts. Some played games. For a little while, Peace broke out. Afterwards, as in the movie, army generals made sure it would not happen again. In the following war years, at Christmastime, generals stepped up the fighting to ensure no one would even think of a truce.

For all three military groups, the only thing that saved troops from being tried for treason was the fact that 200 or so in each case would have to be tried. Instead, all the participants were transferred to other fronts to make sure such an event wouldn't happen again.

Joyeux Noel is a remarkable film--a reminder that we are human first, and that the human impulse is toward peace. It is the political impulse that moves nations to war.

So here it is, the New Year ion its way, the Christmas message hovering still. We still live in a troubled world, wondering how to meet the challenges.

Best wishes for a time of true peace, when people can be united again in their common humanity.

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

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Over the last few weeks, historian Gordon Martel, author of The Month That Changed The World: July 1914, has been blogging regularly for us, giving a week-by-week and day-by-day account of the events leading up to the First World War. July 1914 was the month that changed the world, but who were the people that contributed to that change? We wrap up the series with a Who’s Who of World War I below. Key countries have been highlighted with the corresponding figures and leaders that contributed to the outbreak of war.

Download a jpeg or PDF of the map.

Gordon Martel is a leading authority on war, empire, and diplomacy in the modern age. His numerous publications include studies of the origins of the first and second world wars, modern imperialism, and the nature of diplomacy. A founding editor of The International History Review, he has taught at a number of Canadian universities, and has been a visiting professor or fellow in England, Ireland and Australia. Editor-in-chief of the five-volume Encyclopedia of War, he is also joint editor of the longstanding Seminar Studies in History series. His new book is The Month That Changed The World: July 1914.

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The post Political map of Who’s Who in World War I [infographic] appeared first on OUPblog.

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In honor of the centennial of World War I, we’re remembering the momentous period of history that forever changed the world as we know it. July 1914 was the month that changed the world. On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, and just five weeks later the Great Powers of Europe were at war. But how did it all happen? Historian Gordon Martel, author of The Month That Changed The World: July 1914, will be blogging regularly for us over the next few weeks, giving us a week-by-week and day-by-day account of the events that led up to the First World War. Before we dive in, here’s a timeline that provides an expansive overview of the monumental dates to remember.

Download a jpeg or PDF of the timeline.

Gordon Martel is the author of The Month that Changed the World: July 1914. He is a leading authority on war, empire, and diplomacy in the modern age. His numerous publications include studies of the origins of the first and second world wars, modern imperialism, and the nature of diplomacy. A founding editor of The International History Review, he has taught at a number of Canadian universities, and has been a visiting professor or fellow in England, Ireland and Australia. Editor-in-Chief of the five-volume Encyclopedia of War, he is also Joint Editor of the longstanding Seminar Studies in History series.

Visit the US ‘World War I: Commemorating the Centennial’ page or UK ‘First World War Centenary’ page to discover specially commissioned contributions from our expert authors, free resources from our world-class products, book lists, and exclusive archival materials that provide depth, perspective and insight into the Great War.

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The post The month that changed the world: a timeline to war appeared first on OUPblog.

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The Clarion reminded me a bit of V.V.’s Eyes, and also of K. It’s not really as smart as either of those, but it’s mostly pretty delightful. It turns out that Samuel Hopkins Adams can be charming even when dealing with disease, corruption, betrayal, and the loss of ideals. Although I guess it’s less about the loss of ideal than about their creation, or about growing into them. That’s mostly where my V.V.’s Eyes comparisons come in. I’m comparing it to K mostly because a lot of silly, melodramatic things happen in a sympathetic way.

Whatever is happening to the ideals in question, most of them belong to Harrington Surtaine, who will henceforth be referred to as Hal. Hal is the son of itinerant quack turned millionaire patent medicine manufacturer Dr. L. André Surtaine, formerly Andy Certain, and when the book opens — after a prologue I’m choosing to ignore — the two are reunited after the trip abroad with which Hal has capped his long boarding school and college education. They’ve spent time together on vacations, but Hal has never been to his father’s new home base, the city of Worthington.

Dr. Surtaine hopes Hal  will want to join the family business, but if I were him I’d be trying to keep Hal as far away from the Certina factory as I could. Dr. Surtaine’s business is founded on two things: the tasty, alcoholic recipe for Certina, and his amazing skill at advertising. Hal, however, believes that the medicine really works. It’s clear from the beginning that Hal is eventually going to have to learn and deal with the truth; his impulse purchase of the trashiest newspaper in town only raises the stakes.

It’s not a surprise to me that The Clarion was made into a movie only a couple of years after it was first published. It is surprising that it hasn’t been filmed since. I mean, really: a naive young man buys a newspaper and is taken under the wing of a cranky, secretly idealistic journalist and the two of them set out to publish a honest paper in a town full of corrupt ones. Add in the father and son stuff, the inevitable romance, and a moderate amount of gunshots and explosions, and you would think it would be catnip for filmmakers.

It’s almost too formulaic, but the characters make it work. Hal is flawed and sympathetic and makes enough bad decisions to be believable, while Dr. Surtaine is more likeable than he has any right to be. Esmé Elliott, the love interest, is sort of a toned down version of Carlisle Heth from V.V.’s Eyes, although I was never able to like her as much as I wanted to. Milly Neal, Dr. Surtaine’s smartest employee, did not get the ending she deserved, but she did get to be more interesting than anyone else for most of the book. And I’m not really sure how to talk about Hal’s journalistic mentor, McGuire Ellis, because I kind of adore him. I kind of want a whole book of Mac Ellis being awesome, only — well, this is that book.

Tagged: 1914, journalism, samuelhopkinsadams

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Burroughs, Edgar Rice. 1914. Tarzan of the Apes. 262 pages.

I had this story from one who had no business to tell it to me, or to any other.

Who is Tarzan? Is Tarzan's boast at the end of the novel true? "My mother was an Ape, and of course she couldn't tell me much about it. I never knew who my father was." What do you think?

Our story begins with a young couple in love traveling the seas*. Unfortunately, they're in the wrong place at the wrong time. The sailors on board have mutinied. Their lives are spared, but they're abandoned. Left ashore who knows where. (They certainly don't know.) They do have a son, but before he's a year old, he's an orphan. First his mother, then his father. Fortunately, he's discovered soon after by an ape. Kala becomes Tarzan's mother. She's just lost her baby--in fact she leaves her baby behind, in the cabin, in the cradle.

Raised by apes, Tarzan is as savage as savage can be. Mostly. Tarzan does realize--quite early on as he begins to mature--that he's not like the other apes. And he seeks to discover more. He returns to the cabin--discovers it I should say. And he begins to go through his parents' things. Of course, he doesn't know that the two skeletons (yes, they're still there) are his parents. And their remains don't bother him the least. He finds some books. And through the course of a decade (give or take a few in either direction) he teaches himself to read and write English. (Pretty amazing, isn't it???) That you could teach yourself to read and write all on your own having never heard a single word uttered? Also pretty convenient that his parents just happened to have the right kinds of books. Primers I think they're called.

The book is about his adventures in the jungle. His adventures hunting and killing. His quest to outsmart some of the creatures of the jungle. His curiosity in becoming a better hunter, a better killer. His curiosity at the black men he discovers. (A colony of cannibals, I believe.) He learns about bows and arrows and spears and other faster/quicker ways of shedding blood and glorying in it.

And so his life might have gone on quite bloodily--what with all the squabbles and hunts and fights and such--if he hadn't stumbled upon a small group of humans. Humans newly left ashore by another ship whose crew had mutinied. (Or so I recall.) Among them, a young woman named Jane.

And this is where it turns interesting.

As I discuss the novel, my reactions to it, there may be spoilers ahead. Details about what happens that could potentially ruin it for new readers. Granted, the book has been around for generations. And it has been adapted in many different ways. But I thought I'd warn you nonetheless.

I suppose this one could lead easily to the nature versus nurture discussion. Here we have a human child, a gentleman, quality bloodlines, being raised by "savage" apes. He lives in the wild. He knows nothing but hunting, killing, living off the land. He knows nothing of "proper" manners, he eats all his meat raw. And he's, of course, naked as can be. He knows no language but that of the apes. And yet...and yet...Burroughs has him learning to read and write all on his own. At least, Burroughs doesn't have him learning to speak English. Once he begins to read his parents' books he realizes that he's savage, that he should be different, that he should be wearing clothes.

Some things do come naturally. When he first sees Jane, he knows instinctively that he wants her, that he needs her. He desires her. End of story. But Burroughs also has Tarzan realize some of the limits. He comes to realize--with a few cues from Jane guiding the way--that he should not take her by force. That that is something only savage beasts would do.

Things come naturally--instinctively--for Jane as well. There is something within her that is attracted to this super-strength. His hunter/protector skills. There's something so earthy and vital about him that just attracts her. Even though she knows that she probably shouldn't be. Yet part of her wants to be with him--to be a part of his world. Even if it means losing some of her civility.

This one was published in the early twentieth century. And it's a bit brutal and bloody. A bit savage in the destruction of life--both human and animal. Even though the men he kills are killers themselves--hunters and cannibals--there is something about the whole mess that I find disturbing. Not that I want the hunters to kill Tarzan (or Jane or anybody). And I didn't like the fact that they killed Tarzan's mother (his ape mother). But the way that this tribe is described as sub-human could be offensive. I think it could have been a lot worse than what it was. But still. Tarzan doesn't see these men as "men." He sees them almost the same as other beasts in the jungle. Except for the fact that they decorate their bodies with jewelry and paint. (He likes this. So he adopts this. He begins to wear jewelry as well. Things he's taken from the men he's killed.) But even just the animal brutality and slaughter can be a bit much.

*John and Alice Clayton (Lord and Lady Greystoke)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Brinton, Sybil. G. 1914/2008. Old Friends and New Fancies: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen.

Originally written in 1913 (published in 1914), Old Friends and New Fancies is the first Jane Austen sequel ever created. It has been newly published by Sourcebooks. The book is a first in many ways. It is unique too. It is a sequel to all SIX Jane Austen novels: Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, and Sense and Sensibility. You'll find several of your best-loved and best-love-to-hate characters within its pages.

At its heart, Old Friends and New Fancies is a love story. A book all about the ups, downs, twists, and turns of courtship--Austen style. Misunderstandings abound!

I especially loved to see how Mrs. Jennings, Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Emma Knightley are still causing trouble--intentional or not.

The book is essentially concerned with four would-be-pairings. I hesitate to tell you too much. After all, half the fun is seeing which pairs Sybil Brinton imagined being compatible. There are two primary narrators, however, in the book: Georgiana Darcy and Elizabeth (Bennet) Darcy. (Other viewpoints are shown. And it is more than just those two, but over half the book at least are those two.)

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Mix and match: James Morland, William Price, Colonel Fitzwilliam, Tom Bertram...with....
Georgiana Darcy, Kitty Bennet, Isabella Thorpe, and Mary Crawford.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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