One of my favorite books is The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. It's an allegorical tale of his time in Vietnam, set in the "future" of 1996 (the book was published in the 1970's). A soldier goes on a journey through multiple planets, engagements and thousands of years to finally reach the conclusion of the war. …
Continue reading Criticism Through Literature: Science Fiction and a Combat Veteran Writer
Roman History is one of my favorite subjects. I have read about the Roman Legions, Caesar and the Republic since I was a boy. In college, I never really took any Ancient History courses, or studied Rome formally, but it is one of my favorite subjects to read up on and to write on. I …
I love boxing. Some of my earliest memories are watching Mike Tyson fights with my old man, or going to Atlantic City and watching fights with him too. The raw, unbridled nature of the sport attracted me, but as I got older I came to appreciate the rules and regulations of the sport even more. …
Continue reading Quick Hits: Violation of The Marquess Of Queensberry Rules
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte led the country of Chile for 17 years (1973-1990) and used torture, repression, and even political killings to keep a firm hold on power. His tactics show a clear example of state sponsored terrorism. Pinochet’s rule is a highly interesting one because of his outright use of terrorism to maintain control and …
Continue reading Augusto Pinochet: The Rise and Fall of a Right Wing Warrior
Last week I published an article about using arguments and different perspectives to write new and informative pieces on old subjects. I generally adhere to this idea and believe that having an argument or thesis is a good way to write an article, especially when it is a history related article. Modern politics and the garbage …
Continue reading Quick Hits: Sometimes arguing isn’t necassary
The reason I did a soft launch on my site was to make sure all the glitches and bugs are worked out before I really went ahead writing and publishing full steam... Since I do all the coding, graphics and other stuff myself, and I'm a novice, it took a little bit of time to …
I am a huge fan of the Western Canon. It's a list of great books, authors, concepts and other important and classic ideas that have lasted throughout the century in the Western World. The Western World is usually considered places descended from Europe and the places Europe colonized. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle? Check. Voltaire, Bentham, Burke? Of …
Continue reading Great Books And The Eastern World: Why is there no requisite canon?
This week has been a bit of a busy one for me, but I am still sticking to the publication schedule! The feedback and discussions I have had from family, friends and followers on these articles is highly encouraging and I really appreciate everything. I thought I would have a lot more negative feedback and …
Books these days are different than the oral tales that eventually were written down. If an author sells 100 books, they did a better than average job. If an author sells 1,000 books they had a decent amount of success. People want to read an author or genre they are comfortable with, and editors and …
Continue reading Enduring Literature: The Iliad and The Odyssey
When I read an interesting piece that I really enjoy, it often advances some sort of argument. The blandest, most boring articles I read are just flowery non-sense that spit out facts anyone can find on Wikipedia. I prefer to read articles grounded on facts and solid research, but that mainly have an idea or …
Continue reading Viewpoints and Angles: Making or Breaking an Article
Steel and Stylus 