“You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.”
Sherman Revisited
Ode to Lincoln
“The greatness of Napoleon, Caesar or Washington is moonlight by the sun of Lincoln. His example is universal and will last thousands of years. Washington was a typical American, Napoleon was a typical Frenchman, but Lincoln was a humanitarian as broad as the world. He was bigger than his country-bigger than all the Presidents put together”
2024 Year End Review
Michael, David and Cal discuss their readings from 2024 and goals for 2025.
The Lion of Little Round Top
As my year of studying the Civil War draws to a close, I wanted to share my thoughts on my favorite figure: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. My first encounter with Chamberlain was through a reference in Ken Burns' PBS documentary series. Although not a primary figure, his contributions and background immediately appealed to me. He was... Continue Reading →
His Terrible Swift Sword: Civil War Podcast #2
"It was imperative to strike before we were struck by this overwhelming force in a hand-to-hand fight, which we could not probably have withstood or survived. At that crisis, I ordered the bayonet. The word was enough. It ran like fire along the line, from man to man; and rose into a shout, with which they sprang forward upon the enemy, now not 30 yards away."
Wild Frontier: My Journey Through the 1800s in 2022
"The West is a story. It's not a place. It's a story we tell ourselves about where we've been and where we're going." - Ken Burns
Thucydides and Pericles: A Short Summary on Reason and War
Admittedly, I had only read a little of history and war before Michael and I began reading together. My first attempt at reading history “seriously” was Oswald Spengler’s two-volume set, Decline of the West. I mistakenly thought that history could be comprehended like a novel or short story. I was like a young boy who,... Continue Reading →
Caesar Comes to Gaul
"When the results of this year's campaign were reported in his dispatches, a thanksgiving of twenty days was celebrated in Rome."
Turning Pages II: A Review of Books from 2022
Cal and I discuss the books we took down in 2022 and reflect on our lives as our twenties draw to a close. We also discuss goals for 2023. Thank you to all who have supported us over the years, we look forward to another year and opportunity to learn. Cal Wilkerson and Michael McPhail... Continue Reading →
Time and Memory
“Can it be that there was something evil in the matter from which he made the universe? When he shaped this matter and fitted it to do his purpose, did he leave in it some part which he did not convert to good? But why should he have done this? Are we to believe that, although he is omnipotent, he had not the power to convert the whole of this matter to good and change it so that no evil remained in it? Why, indeed, did he will to make anything of it at all? Why did he not instead, by this same omnipotence, destroy it utterly and entirely? Could it have existed against his will? If it had existed from eternity, why did he allow it to exist in that state through the infinite ages of the past and then, after so long a time, decide to make something of it?
Brains and Brawn 