History

John Ford’s combat footage from the Battle of Midway – June 4, 1942

by Andrew Hazlett June 7, 2010

via vanishedamericana.com Amazed to see this short color film via Vanished Americana… we forget how bleak and uncertain things looked for the allies in 1942. Posted via web from Andrew Hazlett Share this:Tweet

The Arab as “white foreigner” – the contested heritage of Timbuktu

by Andrew Hazlett April 12, 2010

The legendary city of Timbuktu – a center for trade and learning for centuries and is the home of the oldest library south of the Sahara. Now, African and Saudi donors are joined in a contest to reframe the cultural heritage of a continent: No one in Timbuktu has forgotten how the Moroccans conquered the [...]

How a carefully disguised corpse helped win World War II

by Andrew Hazlett January 25, 2010

On April 30, 1943, the body of Glyndwr Michael, disguised as Major William Martin of the Royal Marines, was dropped into the sea off Huelva on the Spanish coast. In his briefcase were letters, meticulously faked by British intelligence officers to give the impression that the Allies intended to attack Greece, and not Sicily. So [...]

Civil War ghosts haunt Sally Mann’s photography

by Andrew Hazlett January 20, 2010

A documentary film about photographer Sally Mann focuses on her use of 19th Century technology to capture haunting images of Civil War battlefields. Appropriately spooky.

Sad news: Bannerman’s Castle on an island in the Hudson River is crumbling

by Andrew Hazlett December 30, 2009

Bannerman’s Castle was already an enigmatic ruin in the middle of the Hudson River, a dreamy landmark for passing train travelers and a passionate cause for preservationists. But then in the silence of last Saturday night, a large chunk of history suddenly disappeared when the castle’s stone, brick and cement sighed under a century’s weight [...]

The Vivid Imperial Scrolls of China

by Andrew Hazlett December 14, 2009

Imagine waking one morning as heir to a major share of the planet: “In 1689, Kangxi, the emperor of China, embarked on a tour to inspect his southern provinces, undertaking a two-thousand-mile journey from Beijing to the cities and towns of the Yangzi Delta and back…” Read more about the Imperial scrolls at Humanities magazine. [...]