1918: Some Books From A Century Ago

1918. On November 11 of this year the First World War finally came to an end. Millions had died in the conflict that began in August of 1914, and large sections of France and Belgium were nothing but wasteland after years of battle. But the end of the conflict was welcome news across the globe.…

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July 8, 1918: Ernest Hemingway Is Severely Wounded In Italy

What a difference a year makes. In June of 1917, Ernest Hemingway had just graduated high school, a kid enjoying the rounds of parties and celebrations and hijinks that marked the conclusion of his secondary education, an event that was the subject of a post here on Buckeyemuse. By October of the year he would…

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John Dos Passos on Eugene Debs: “Lover of Mankind”

The novelist John Dos Passos (1896-1970) gave us one of the great fictional treatments of the United States coming of age during the early twentieth century in his trilogy U.S.A., which consists of The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936). The trilogy follows a series of characters through the early years…

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Congratulations, Graduate: Ernest Hemingway, Class of ’17

Ernest Hemingway… What comes to mind when you hear the name? The famous author big-game hunting on the African savannah? The young aspiring writer in a Paris cafe, drinking cafe au lait and rum and writing about Michigan? The war correspondent on the front lines in the Spanish Civil War, or traveling with the U.S.…

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Published 70 Years Ago: Ernie Pyle’s “Brave Men”

There was no shortage of outstanding reporters in World War II. In the United States alone, journalists such as William L. Shirer, Edward R. Murrow, John Hersey, Quentin Reynolds, Martha Gellhorn, and Richard Tregaskis are still read today for their reporting of this titanic conflict of the twentieth century. Literary lights also served as war…

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Daunted by NaNoWriMo? Try “NaNovellaWriMo” instead

The month-long frenzy of novel writing called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is soon to begin. This has become a phenomenon in recent years, an event complete with not only the requisite website, but also support systems, group writing sessions, merchandise, and so on. The goal is to produce, if not a finished first draft…

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