Spring 1941. A young man in a small town in Poland hears the constant noise. In little Staszów, 75 miles northeast of Cracow, you couldn’t miss it – the reverberation of German artillery and armored cars, driving through town night and day, riding through the market square and out Church Street toward the Golejów Forest, on the new road built …
Magna Carta – An American Tourist
After spending several months last year in the Library of Congress and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Magna Carta is back home in England. But events of the last century might have given it a very different fate. It’s a tale that involves the 1939 World’s Fair, the Second World War, an English cathedral and Winston Churchill. Eight hundred …
Barbarians Rising
Barry had a great time doing interviews for History Channel’s new series, “Barbarians Rising,” which has its US and World Premiere at 9 p.m. Monday June 6. The subject is the warriors and rebels who went up against one of the greatest empires in history – Rome. What leadership skills did they display? “You had to be a bit of …
“The US military is one of the greatest fighting forces in history”
At the USAF Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado yesterday President Obama said the US has the greatest military in the history of the world.” I was asked to comment and responded thus: “If it’s pardonable exaggeration for the president to call the US military the greatest fighting force in history, it is not an exaggeration by much. No one …
D-Day, A Myth to Live By
I was five years old in 1959 when Cornelius Ryan’s The Longest Day appeared and it was probably another 20 years before I picked up a copy but I was already hooked. The 1962 movie – or, rather, the re-release several years later – made me a fan. It was, in its way, my Game of Thrones: an epic …
“MY HONOR FOR MYSELF” – The Liberation of Rome 1944
The Allies marched into Rome on June 4, 1944. Some years ago I asked a US army veteran who was there about his experience. “It was the greatest day of my life,” he told me. “The streets were lined with crowds. Everyone was clapping and cheering: Americani! Americani! Viva gli Americani!” American troops came into town through the Porta San …
Memorial Day 2016: Five Books on America’s Wars for Summer Reading
As I headed out onto the lake this morning in my single scull, a large bird flew by off the port side. I stopped and stared and realized that it was a bald eagle, big, beautiful, majestic and moving slowly as if in salute. It has been our national symbol since 1782, and tomorrow is a national holiday. Memorial Day …
How Anti-Trade Nativism Wrecked the Ancient Greeks
In my latest op-ed, published on May 22, 2016 in the Wall Street Journal, I talk about how insular politics can negatively impact trade and the economy, both through the lens of ancient Greek demagogues as well as the current state of affairs leading up the American Presidential Election later this year. Scroll down to read the full article. …
North Korean Missiles and Greek Spears
Barry looks at the recent failed missile tests by North Korea and deepens our understanding of them by an ancient Greek case study.
From Perpetual Peace to Armed Camp in the Baltic
Könisberg, Germany, where Kant dreamed of perpetual peace, is now Kaliningrad, Russia, where a major military and naval buildup is shaking the security of the Baltic — and of NATO. Barry explains how and why.