The US Military’s Secret War on Comic Books
During wartime past, even war-themed comic books designed to help the US military’s reputation were the victims of friendly fire. Ominously, that has changed.
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Steve Reich’s Music Echoes in Jordan Mechner’s Graphic Memoir ‘Replay’
Like Steve Reich’s Different Trains, Jordan Mechner’s graphic memoir Replay is a work of introspection that looks to history and tragic synchronicity.
Rachel Maddow on the Bit Players’ Big Effects on Promoting American Fascism
Rachel Maddow’s latest book on political history, Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, weaves varying players past into a singular danger present.
Inspector Maigret Mysteries Made in Occupied France
There’s no war going on in these subversive Inspector Maigret whodunits from occupied France, but there’s a lot more murder and paranoia than in the era’s newspapers.
The 10 Best English Language Propaganda Films of World War II
“All art is propaganda,” George Orwell observed. Indeed, these 10 Best English Language Propaganda Films from WWII are quite artful with their propaganda.
Biography ‘Saving Freud’ Tells of Struggles with Freud’s Stubborn Denial
Andrew Nagorski’s engrossing biography, Saving Freud, brings forth the dangerous power of denial.
Baby Boomer Optimism and Regret in the Star Wars Trilogies
While the original Star Wars trilogy display George Lucas’ youthful optimism, the prequels reveal his dismay and regret at the world created by the Boomer generation.
Buckle-up for a Retro Future in ’50s Sci-Fi Film ‘Flight to Mars’
Philosophical, rich with eye candy, and powered by historical context, ‘Flight to Mars’ is an orphan amid an army of sci-fi films blasting out of 1950s Hollywood.
Kobayashi’s ‘The Human Condition’ Remains Bleak Unrelenting and Unforgettable
Masaki Kobayashi’s nine-hour epic, The Human Condition, is a Sisyphean journey through WWII-era Japan.
Aleister Crowley and Nikola Tesla’s One Degree of Separation
Influential poet/occultist Aleister Crowley and inventor Nikola Tesla traveled in similar circles but never met. What might have happened if they had?
Apocalypse ’45 Uses Gloriously Restored Footage to Reveal the Ugliest Side of Our Nature
Erik Nelson's gorgeously restored Pacific War color footage in Apocalypse '45 makes a dramatic backdrop for his revealing interviews with veterans who survived the brutality of "a war without mercy".
What Will Come? COVID-19 and the Politics of Economic Depression
The financial crash of 2008-2010 reemphasized that traumatic economic shifts drive political change, so what might we imagine — or fear — will emerge from the COVID-19 depression?