World Affairs

As one who has done a fair amount of research on World War One and whose great uncle died in that war, I was especially eager to read Bill Welch’s book, Duty, Terror and Survival: The World War One Diary and Art of Doughboy Cp. Harold W. Pierce. Bill and I were part of the Erie…

Would any of us today in North America have the fortitude to resist a fascist government or dictatorship? To withstand prolonged periods of cruel torture? To lose our lives? To see our children killed before our eyes because of our own actions, though noble? Thousands of Italian women during World War II said yes. Of…

I, like so many, feel utterly helpless sitting here at home while a maniacal monster scourges the landscape of Ukraine. I wish I could reach back in time and change the course of history and the insidious spread of communism into China in 1949.  I learned about China’s civil war as I researched my book William…

Last week, I attended a performance of Rent’s 20th Anniversary Tour. The musical follows a year in the lives of several artists, some of whom are afflicted with HIV/AIDS. In 1996, the future was grim for those who had the disease. Over the years I’ve seen Rent on Broadway, on tour, and on the big screen. Reflecting on the passage…

What was it like in Erie, Pennsylvania, during the 1918 pandemic (Spanish Flu, H1N1 virus, influenza)? Well, now that we can browse the Erie Daily Times online from the late 1800s to present, we can get a pretty good idea. Accessed through NewsBank and the Erie County Public Library, nearly 40 newspaper articles referencing influenza from late…

Social isolation because of the COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on all of us, but the elderly, and other vulnerable people, without computers, have suffered most. They need us more than ever. Months ago, I wrote a post about how computers are destroying humanity. In The Digital Age is Killing Humanity, I discussed the challenges that…

We call it the “Forgotten War,” but thanks to the many projects and programs that have taken place during the four-year observance of its centenary, World War I has finally received the attention it deserves. One project, in particular, is the film, They Shall Not Grow Old, directed and produced by Peter Jackson, well-known for the Lord…

Recently, I watched the 1988 movie City of Angels starring Nicolas Cage, and this led me to its 1987 German predecessor,Wings of Desire with Bruno Ganz. Then, I learned that Ganz had starred in another movie called Downfall, released in 2005, about the last days of Adolf Hitler. A movie set in the infamous bunker wasn’t too appealing to…

Grenades, especially hand grenades, are devices of war that most of us are familiar with, although mostly associated with World War II, in film and television, rather than World War I, also known as the Great War, World War, or the War to End All Wars. It was with World War I that great advances…

When is a debate not a debate? As part of the Jefferson Educational Society’s Global Summit, in Erie, Pennsylvania, Howard Dean, retired Democratic politician, and Elise Jordan, Republican political analyst participated in a debate on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. The event was moderated by Steve Scully, C-SPAN political editor,…