Showing 1 - 10 of 32
A Chinese empire?
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 17/11/2017
» As a youngster in the Big Apple during the Great Depression, I recall men with billboard signs with "The world is coming to an end -- REPENT". The people they passed on the streets shrugged them off. l didn't fully understand what it meant, but I knew that threats aren't to be taken lightly.
A Druid victory
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 13/10/2017
» I didn't realise how many contemporary historians there are until I began reviewing their books. However, their interests don't vary greatly. Ancient Rome and the Tudor periods are predominant. Followed by World War II and the Templar knights. Then Ancient Egypt and the Napoleonic Wars.
Supply and demand
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 22/09/2017
» During the era of the Raj, India was the leading poppy grower. It was sold worldwide as a treatment for hysteria in women and hyperactivity in children. Only China refused to have anything to do with it because it was addictive, but two opium wars taught them how to take it.
The Dark Ages
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 08/09/2017
» I was taught that the Roman Empire fell to the barbarians in 476 AD. My next grade teacher was vague. There were the Dark Ages, Medieval times and Middle Ages. I heard the word Byzantine only once, when the Turks captured Constantinople in 1455 AD. The Crusades took place halfway between.
Renaissance history
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 14/07/2017
» I am so conditioned when I pick up a new book about Italy that I expect it to be a historical novel about Ancient Rome. That period seems to fascinate historians and historical novelists. This reviewer finds it no more than somewhat interesting.
Recognise yourself?
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 20/01/2017
» In this atomic-digital era, millennia-old mysteries are constantly being solved, but one will never be: How long will each of us live? Life insurance company mathematicians, pharmaceutical company chemists, astrologers, fortune-tellers et al are tackling it from different directions, none agreeing. Barring wars, epidemics and droughts, we are aware that we are living longer than our ancestors, women especially. The old are a "problem". The age of retirement is moving up around the world. How long before it reaches 70? Which lengthens the time for 20-year-olds to advance.
A Cold War thriller
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 09/09/2016
» It's a fact of human nature that some wars stick to the mind more than others. World War I rings a faint bell, the Spanish-American War none at all. The Korean War sounds a tinkle. The Vietnam is receding from memory. The Gulf War came and went.
The war went on
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 18/07/2016
» One of the annoying things about wars is that they don't all end when they are supposed to. After Yorktown, the American Revolution dragged on for two years. The Battle of New Orleans in 1815 was fought after the War of 1812 was officially over.
Reinventing oneself
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 20/06/2016
» It isn't uncommon for people to reinvent themselves when they move to another country. Doing so in their homeland is difficult, as they may well be recognised, even of they undergo cosmetic surgery. Yours truly had an interview column for a while, and more than a few subjects (farangs) made up lies about themselves as they went along.