I was reminded of this exchange with a colleague in a previous job, and I feel the need to share the pain.

"So," he said. "I've been watching the History Channel a bit. This medieval thing you do. Is that before or after World War I?"

(My part of the exchange involved some involuntary jaw movements.)

Published an article this week from some of my pulp studies research: http://www.rehtwogunraconteur.com/that-fool-olsen/

Basically, one of the highlights of the 1930s was that a number of pulp writers like H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, Henry S. Whitehead, E. Hoffmann Price, Fritz Leiber, C. L. Moore, Henry Kuttner, Robert Bloch, etc. etc. were all more or less in correspondence - with Lovecraft and Weird Tales the most notable "hub" - and of course these guys and gals would share industry gossip and stories and inspirational materials - and fan letters. In the mid-to-late 1930s, one particular fan started sending out some really crazy letters to the authors of Strange Tales and Weird Tales, and of course they had to share a little...

It's really only footnote material. I'm still trying to track down the source(s) of some of Olsen/Olson's beliefs; I have a strong suspicion he got into some of Theosophy's material on vampirism (which isn't talked about much, but is an interesting sidelight on literary vampire-lore). There's just a lot there to unpack. Makes for fun reading, though - and it's the kind of thing I like to do, going through letters from different sources and seeing how they piece together.

Just finished Manning Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (Viking Press, 2011). Here are my thoughts.

First, I'll preface this by saying that I usually study the 19th century and am in no way an expert on Malcolm X's life, the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, or the Nation of Islam. I'm only intending to give my thoughts on a history text outside of my normal specialization but which I think is an important read.

Second, my reading the book was inspired by this excellent AMA on "Roots and American Slavery". I would suggest that people check it out in case you missed it. Specifically, Professor Kellie Carter Jackson (PhD) suggested I read it in order to better understand Malcolm X's life, given that the author of the much more famous Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley, has been strongly criticized for plagiarism as well as editing Malcolm's life story so as to fit his agenda.

So, what kind of biography is it? The book walks the fine line between giving a history of Malcolm's life and being a history of the histories (historiography) of his life as told until 2011. On the one hand, Marable has brought a wealth of new information to light through his access to archives (such as those belonging to the Nation of Islam) which had been (wholly or partially) closed to the public. He also has also conducted numerous original interviews, watched film reels, listened to audio recordings, and read tons of news clippings from Malcolm's life. On the other hand, he also talks about how Malcolm has been represented by diverse authors and, more interestingly, why each has created their specific version of Malcolm X.

One of the key theses of the book, as suggested by its subtitle, is that Malcolm X spent his life 'reinventing' himself. His most famous reinvention was his conversion from hustler to devout follower of the Nation of Islam, while in prison, but Marable also details his countless other reinventions that are less well known. His transformation into "Detroit Red", the hustler, from being a country kid with little experience of big city life or its underworld. His reinvention from Nation of Islam black nationalist into a Revolutionary who saw links between the exploited peoples of the entire third world and who regretted his racist past and increasingly saw class as one of the core issues (while he maintained, contrary to dogmatic Marxist revolutionaries, that fixing class issues would not ipso facto fix race relations). Who really was Malcolm? How deep did his transformation go? How real was it? Marable offers a nuanced explanation of Malcolm's changing world view during the last years of his life.

One truly interesting point comes from the still unanswered questions about his murder. It is now plain that the Nation of Islam was truly behind it, as they were also behind the firebombing of Malcolm's home (they were in a property dispute with Malcolm over it) which almost cost the lives of Malcolm's family. Unanswered questions remain over how far the conspiracy to assassinate Malcolm went within the NOI's hierarchy, how direct the order was, and how involved law enforcement was in permitting the hit (hundreds of police and FBI records surrounding the incident remain classified).

We also get interesting insights into the aftermath of the murder, such as what happened to Malcolm's family, the Nation of Islam in the years after Elijah Mohammed´s death, and the career of Malcolm's protegé Louis X (now Louis Farrakhan).

Marable´s treatment of Malcolm X´s alleged infidelities (very circumstantial evidence), the alleged affair between his wife and one of his advisors (very likely given the evidence), and Malcolm´s apparent exaggeration of his criminal past (to appeal to the everyman more), aren´t gossip rag tidbits. They are meant, it seems, to take Malcolm X off the pedestal while emphasizing the remarkable aspects of his life. As such they are fine inclusions, don´t overstate the evidence for each assertion, and never attempt to be titillating.

All in all, a great book. Pick it up if you have the chance. I got mine off of Audible and the audiobook is definitely high quality.

This week, I was reading through Albert Speer's memoirs, Inside the Third Reich, and I came across one of the perhaps lesser known oddities of Hitler's inner circle. Whilst everyone has heard of Martin Bormann, Hitler's secretary, I had never come across his brother Albert in great detail. Albert was a part of the small pool of adjutants not under Martin's insidious grip. Albert, according to Speer, was the exact opposite of his brother in almost every way; cultured, quite and unassuming. What grabbed my attention is how openly hostile the two were towards each other. They never spoke, unless through adjutants passing messages to one another, even when in the same room, and Martin was particularly disparaging of his brother, nicknaming him "he who holds the Fuhrer's coat". It's remarkable that despite both spending years in virtually the same room together, be it on the Obersalzberg, Rastenburg or even in the bunker the two never stopped feuding. Family, eh?

Any boardgamers here? I've been binge-playing Cruel Necessity, a brutally difficult solo game about the English Civil Wars. It gives a lot of great background information, and I'd be interested to hear from someone who's versed in the history of the time about how accurate it is.

Also, if anyone's in the SF Bay Area, Pacificon is next weekend and always has a good variety of history-related games.

During constructions in the parliament of Niedersachsen workers have found human remains. Historians believe it to be the remains of Christoph count of Königsmarck who was supposedly murdered 322 years ago due to a forbidden love affair. The parliament used to be a palace, so that explains the remains being in the basement, although they were some 8-10 meters deep.

Murder doesn't lapse in modern Germany, so technically this is still an open case. However, the suspected murderer won't get a trial, obviously. Investigators are testing the remains with the DNA of Christoph's descendants.

Link to the article (german)