In honor of my 13th blogversary today, I’ve overcome some long-running technical problems and broken into my own blog in order to say hello. My dire need for a new website/blog developer (comment with your resume!) reminds me of the good old days of my blog’s random removal from listings by the now-defunct search-engine Technorati…
book club
Book Club: A Distant Mirror, the Finale
For this post, the fourth and final one on my favorite history book, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitious 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman, I wish I had a deep-voiced television announcer to say, “Previously on Wendy Brandes Jewelry …” and give a summary of the three preceding posts. Since I don’t have that guy, I’ll…
Book Club: A Distant Mirror, Part III
Welcome to Part III of my report on A Distant Mirror, The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. Read Part I and Part II to get yourselves oriented. On Saturday, in my second of a series of posts on the book A Distant Mirror, I listed the disasters of the 1300s. Those included what Tuchman…
Book Club: A Distant Mirror, Part II
Today is a day for celebration: it is the one-year-and-one-day procrastination-versary of my introduction to my favorite history book, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. On March 26, 2009, I posted about A Distant Mirror and told you to come back the next week for more. I wrote a long and…
Book Club: Introduction to A Distant Mirror
It’s become de rigueur for newspaper columnists, bloggers and people standing around the water cooler to bemoan the decline of civilization as evidenced by what one historian called “economic chaos, social unrest, high prices, profiteering, depraved morals, lack of production, industrial indolence, frenetic gaiety, wild expenditure, luxury, debauchery, social and religious hysteria, greed, avarice, maladministration,…
Thursday Book Club: Author Randy Shilts
If you’re anything like me, there was only one possible reaction to Senator Dianne Feinstein’s opening remarks at the inaugural ceremony last week: Get me the names of her doctor and hair stylist! CLICK FOR VIDEO. Dianne is 75, people. Seventy-five! And she looks great. Clearly, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and President Obama…
Thursday Book Club: Juana La Loca
Halloween is coming, so it’s a good time for spooky jewelry! Yesterday, I gave you bats. Today I give you skulls. My Juana Skull Necklace is now available in sterling silver with white sapphire eyes for $500. Juana Skull Necklace © Wendy Brandes 2007-2008 Want it? Email me at wbjewelry at hotmail dot com. The…
Thursday Book Club: Southern-Fried Kansas
My last Book Club post took a lot out of me. In fact, Book Club posts always take a lot out of me. When I had drinks with my old friend Dave Kansas recently and was reminded that he majored in history, I realized I could interview him by email for a Book Club post,…
Thursday Book Club: Inspired by Poland
Last week, I told you how my recent trip to Poland inspired me to read Sala’s Gift and The Lost, but I never got around to talking about the books themselves. I’ll rectify that now and, to thank you for your patience, I’ll throw in a number of bonus book suggestions as well. Sala Garncarz…
Thursday Book Club Is a Lesson of 2 Evils
It’s been a while since my last Book Club post. Last month’s visit to Warsaw and Krakow made me (temporarily) set aside my medieval queens in order to read two books about Polish Jews and the Holocaust: Sala’s Gift and The Lost. I had read a lot about the Holocaust in the past in part…