Archive for June 28th, 2021

Obit watch: June 28, 2021.

Monday, June 28th, 2021

NYT obit for Frederic Rzewski, which went up after I posted yesterday.

John Langley. He was perhaps best known as the creator of “COPS”.

Apart from Cops, Langley also produced American Vice: The Doping of a Nation, which showed live drug arrests on television. Other credits include Inside American Jail and Las Vegas Jailhouse; documentaries Cocaine Blues, American Expose: Who Murdered JFK?, Anatomy of a Crime and Terrorism: Target U.S.A.;and series’ Video Justice, Undercover Stings, Jail, Street Patrol, Vegas Strip and Road Warriors.

He also was involved in off-road racing, and apparently did quite well at that:

In 2009 and 2010, Langley’s team, COPS Racing, took first place in its class in the Baja 1000, an off-road motorsports event held annually in Baja California.

He died of an apparent heart attack while his team was competing in the “Coast to Coast Ensenada-San Felipe 250” this past weekend.

I have not seen this elsewhere, but “Reason” is reporting the death of libertarian economist Steve Horwitz.

Happy Gavrilo Princip Day!

Monday, June 28th, 2021

Let us pause for a moment of silence in memory of FotB and valued commenter guffaw, who originated Gavrilo Princip Day.

“The Guns of August” is a long (almost 1:40) documentary adapted from Barbara Tuchman’s book.

Shameful confession: I greatly admire Barbara Tuchman. I loved The Proud Tower. I think Practicing History is an excellent collection of essays. I read A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century a long time ago, but it was at the right time for me, and I’m fond of that book.

I have never been able to read The Guns of August. I have tried three times and just cannot get through it. I think it may be a matter of just too many people to keep track of…

Bonus: I may be pushing things a little bit, but here you go: “The Russian Civil War in Siberia” from “The Great War” channel.

It isn’t exactly WWI, but I believe (and I think Mike Duncan will agree with me) that the 1917 Revolution and the Russian Civil War were consequences of a lot of things, including WWI, so I’m including this here.

Bonus #2: This is an aspect of history I’m interested in, but I have not had a chance to sit down and watch this video yet. “Blood and Oil: The Middle East in World War I”. Looking at the description and comments, it may be somewhat biased: I would take this with some salt.

Note for myself: The T. E. Lawrence Society.