To those interested in pseudohistory.

The neo-Stalinist freak Grover Furr has accused me of a "lie" on a Katyn-related matter, so of course I had to hand his butt to him...

Here in English: http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2022/08/grover-furrs-lie-about-my-claim-about.html

Here in Russian: http://katynfiles.com/content/romanov-v-v.html

I’ve been reading for the last few months the non-fiction works of Javier Cercas, a relatively prominent Spanish novelist. In particular, I have read three of his books, entitled (in English) The Anatomy of a Moment, The Impostor, and Lord of All the Dead. Each deals in some way with the Spanish Civil War, Francoism, and the transition to democracy in the late 1970s.

The first, Anatomy of a Moment, recounts the failed coup attempt of 1981, in which disgruntled military officers stormed the Cortes (Spanish legislature), discharged their guns, and ordered everyone to hit the floor. Three people present refused: the outgoing Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez, the incoming Prime Minister Leopoldo Salvo Sotelo, and the chairman of the Communist Party, Santiago Carrillo. Cercas argues that the moment at which these three men defied the order and remained standing was the moment at which the coup failed because it demonstrated the commitment of the three men to democracy despite the foregoing dictatorship, in which Suarez himself had participated. While telling this story, Cercas describes in painstaking detail how Suarez deftly guided the transition to democracy, taking major risks (like reversing the ban on the Communist Party) and expending all his political capital for the sake of a successful transition. It’s a great look overall at Suarez in particular as a major figure in recent Spanish history and how regular Spaniards like the author’s own right-wing family came to support the transition with Suarez’s guidance.

The Impostor tells the story of Enric Marco, a Catalan man who had become famous for his political activism during the Civil War and, in its aftermath, for having been a prisoner at the Nazi concentration camp at Flossenburg with other Spanish leftists. In 2005, it was revealed that Marco was an impostor: not only had he not been at Flossenburg (he had instead served a prison sentence at Kiel for a nonpolitical offense), but he had volunteered to travel to Germany as part of a work exchange program entered into between Franco and Hitler. Cercas interviewed Marco at length for the book, which meditates in detail on how some left wing Spaniards constructed stories for themselves about how they resisted Franco, even as nearly the entire country accepted the outcome of the Civil War. Marco, it seems, was just an extreme example of the everyday imposture required of Spain under Franco.

Finally, Lord of All the Dead details the author’s attempts to determine the fate of his great uncle, Manuel Mena, a Falangist killed at the Battle of the Ebro at the age of 19. Although consistently embarrassed by the political leanings of his family, Cercas pursues the fate of Mena as a way of showing how even the people most seemingly dedicated to their sides in the war lost faith over time and how, although they fought against democracy and for an ignoble cause, not every Nationalist soldier could or should be denounced.

In all three books, Cercas acts as historian, but far more so in Impostor and Lord, in which we can see him engaging in a version of the historical method, examining (and reproducing for our benefit) primary sources, comparing firsthand accounts, seeking corroboration, etc. Anatomy, instead, like fiction, is more character driven. Lord seems to find a happy medium between the two techniques by alternating chapters about the author’s search for his great uncle’s story and the story itself, often told in the style of popular military histories.

Even as Spain continues to struggle with the lack of reckoning with its past that, arguably, a successful transition to democracy should have required, Cercas does a great job of probing the legacy of the civil war and Franco. He’s not Paul Preston, but on the other hand, Preston’s not a novelist. I strongly recommend these three books as a counterpoint to dryer histories of 20th century Spain.

If you are interested in the history of secrecy in the United States, particular as it pertains to whether a former president can declare any papers in his position declassified, I wrote a piece for Lawfare that tries to go into both the legal issues (as I understand them, though IANAL), rooted in the historical development of the two main classification regimes in the United States.

Our town meeting has an entry, "Voted: That the swine be at large." This entry (or some variation of it) is in the Town Meeting minutes every year throughout the 1700s. We're in Massachusetts. Why did the swine get to run free, and why did it need to be voted on every year?

I love using these Friday posts for my random history thoughts, keeps me engaged.

This week in Irish history I made the mistake of quoting literature at those who only wish to accept the contrary as fact. I think when it comes to your national history it’s hard not to take things personally, I certainly did once upon a time.

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How widely was the Irish Republicans Army supported by local citizens? Were folks in Northern Ireland broadly in favor of the violence, or against it?

Where does the stereotype of British food being bad come from?

Pure curiosity, but does anyone know another example of fantasy people/creature that in ancient time was viewed as legitimate natural subject, like how the Amazon was treated as natural history or the unicorn was viewed as natural biology?

What book/movie is insanely historically inaccurate that you actually love?

I’ll go first. Pirates of the Caribbean. Always been a huge fan, especially as a kid, but even as an adult. Always fantasized about a life of adventure and Jack Sparrow’s adventures take him to so many crazy places. And he fights the mega-corporation on the way.

would ariq boke been a better khagan than kublai? he seemed to have the support of most of the mongol empire when compared to kublai

Do you think ogedai khan had melanoma or skin cancer? I saw a portrait and he has a super large mole which sometimes means melanoma and of course he died pretty quickly and melanoma is pretty quick, I'm aware alcoholism is still most likely

Hiya. Apologies my previous question broke the rules. Hope it fits here now. Archery in combat throught history. Firing en masse at masses of enemies I understand. However - a la a less fantastical version of robin hood - have their been prominent examples of sharp shooter activity throughout history? Pick your target. Aim. Loose.

Are there any famous examples in history of us thinking someone looks way different than they actually looked? (except Jesus)

I mean like, some lord or king or queen that had some huge birthmark or some deformity that they demanded all the peons who painted his or her portraits to always omit it?

What is your favorite betrayal in Chinese history?

To those interested in presentism and reactions to presentism among contemporary historians:

American Historical Association president issues groveling apology after racialist social media attack

"The president of the American Historical Association (AHA), Professor James Sweet of the University of Wisconsin, has issued a groveling apology for a mild criticism he made of the 1619 Project and the influence of identity politics on historical writing. "