Day: July 18, 2010

Quick Link | An American hero time forgot | Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/18/2010

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Barry’s family were originally from Wexford!

One of Barry’s most horrific battles, in May 1781, showed his courage and ability to inspire others – even while wounded.

The bloody action with two British ships in the Atlantic nearly ended in defeat. Without wind, Barry’s already damaged and undermanned frigate, the Alliance, was an easy target for the more mobile enemy vessels, HMS Atalanta and HMS Trepassey. They raked the stranded Alliance with continuous fire, at one point wounding Barry in the shoulder with a heavy piece of iron grapeshot.

He was taken below for emergency surgery as the situation worsened. But when asked if the colors should be struck and the ship surrendered, he “became a wounded lion,” McGrath wrote. ” ‘No!,’ he roared. ‘If the ship can’t be fought without me, I will be carried to the deck.’

via An American hero time forgot | Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/18/2010.

Go Read This | A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: With Change Comes… Anger?

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Great post today from JA Konrath. I’ll take his monthly ebook sales if no one else will!

Change is always painful. It’s difficult, and frightening. When a technology changes an industry, especially a media industry, a lot of people get hurt by it. Jobs are lost. Stores close. The carefully maintained balance of power shifts. None of this is easy, and it often isn’t pleasant.

via A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: With Change Comes… Anger?.

Quick Link | ComingAnarchy.com » Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Sounds like a great book!

I greatly appreciated two aspects of the book. First was the historiographical analysis of how Genghis Khan has been perceived through time by historians, many of whom are descendants of the people conquered by Genghis Khan and his offspring. It is this that has lead to a wholly negative view of the Mongols. Weatherford argues that we in the West have the French philosopher Montesquieu to thank for our cultural recollection of the Mongols as “barbarians at the gate”. When examining history as far back as Genghis, it is important to amend the Churchillian maxim that “history is written by the victors”. History is written by the survivors.

The second aspect of the book I appreciated was Jack Weatherford’s hands-on approach to history. Although he mostly relied on The Secret History of the Mongols for details of the Great Khan’s life, he took it upon himself to go to the locales in Mongolia and along the Silk Road that were important to the development of Genghis and his ancestors. In the introduction Weatherford states: “Books can lie, but places never do.” Anyone who has ever been on a battlefield tour, I am sure would confirm that.

via ComingAnarchy.com » Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.