The Second World War, especially the war in the Pacific and its prisoners, and the British home front.
The Invention of Veganism, 1944
Others had done it. They named it.
- The Quotable Vegan: Inspirational words from the newsletter that defined the peaceful practice of veganism.
- The Vegan and the FEPOWs: Donald Watson’s encounter with two survivors.
- Meet Sally Shrigley and The Hendersons Will All Be There: More on founding British vegans.
- Ration Yourself: One small way to help save the world.
Probably Too Much About Desmond T. Doss
The first conscientious objector to be awarded America’s Medal of Honor, and Mel Gibson’s film about him (Hacksaw Ridge), and how we should live.
- Piecemeal Miracle: “Lord, help me get one more.”
- All You Have to Decide: Chaos everywhere. What do you do, actually you, right there?
- Miracle at Hacksaw Ridge: A Collage Musical: Don’t make a musical of Hacksaw Ridge, but do enjoy this mix of gospel, folk, and swing.
- Andrew Garfield Is My Spiritual Director: Doss as a hero of prayer.
Meet the Far East Prisoners of War
They went through hell; some lived to tell.
- Far East Prisoners of War: Recommended Resources: Things to read and watch about this compelling time, place, and population.
- Moral Imagination, Mr. Lawrence: Lessons about humanity from Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.
- Paris and Heart Mountain: Latter-day terrorism and the FDR-ordered internment of Japanese-Americans.
- Seventy Bells for Hiroshima: An August remembrance of a day the world changed.
- Most of History is Mourning: History – engrossing and horrifying all at once.
- Bataan and Beyond: Recommended reading about World War II in the Pacific, based on the collection of the New York Society Library
- Watch That War: Films About POWs and the Pacific Theater
- Film Scores: Pacific POWs and Friends
- Meeting Mr. Lawrence: How I met the war (and why it was all David Bowie’s fault)
- Amazing What Men in Captivity Can Put Together! The best aspect of the POW story: ingenuity.
- Tom Boardman’s Ukulele: One resilient POW and his beautiful handmade instrument.
- I Can’t Describe the Poignancy of This Picture: A few words on POW art and solidarity.
- Peninsula, Then Ship: My visit to the U.S.S. Bataan and the meaning of its name.
- Reasons Alistair Urquhart Is Pissed Off: How the Pacific POWs disappeared from the war’s chessboard (and why you should read Ian W. Toll).
- POWs and Politics Then and Now: The positives and negatives of that POW/MIA flag.
- Tojo Called. He Wants His Opinion Back. A history-informed rant about the tiff between Donald Trump and John McCain.
- Back to Your Knitting: Postwar Britain in wool, from a beautiful vintage book.
