Category Archives: History

Why Orwell’s 1984 Still Matters

Posted on June 13, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Each year around this time someone remembers that George Orwell’s iconic novel Nineteen Eighty- Four was first released in June of 1949. I think that bringing attention to the book is always a valuable exercise, now more than ever. Ironically, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, Film, Freedom of Speech, History, movies, Writing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The World In Your Hand

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Regular readers of Travel Between The Pages are well aware of my fascination with maps and globes. Digital cartography is wonderful, but there is nothing like an old fashioned physical map or globe. I have long been intrigued by pocket … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Europe, History, Maps, Museums, Uncategorized, USA | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Maps Make The World

Posted on June 1, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Have you ever wondered how cartographers created accurate maps of the world long before the development of aircraft or satellites ? The very informative short video below cleverly summarizes the history and development of maps throughout the ages. NB: If … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Asia, Europe, Film, History, Maps | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you. Walt Whitman  Happy Birthday Walt “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” is a poem about a man taking the Brooklyn ferry home from Manhattan at the end of a … Continue reading →

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A Memorial Centennial

Posted on May 21, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Way back in the antedeluvian days of the last century, I spent quite a bit of time in Washington D.C.. So much so that I eventually wrote a travel guidebook for budget travelers to the U.S. capital. During my book … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art, History, Tourism, Travel Writing, Uncategorized, USA | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Behind The Scenes

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The exterior of the Thomas Fisher Library offers little clue to the extraordinary treasures inside. Now we can take a ten-minute, behind-the-scenes tour through the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto, Canada, where we can discover a First Folio, the … Continue reading →

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A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The 1827 novel, The Mummy: A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century,  by Jane Webb, was reissued last month as part of the Haunted Library of Horror Classics series. Originally issued as a three-volume pocket-sized novel, the book concerns the Egyptian mummy … Continue reading →

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“Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.”

Posted on May 7, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Sadly, book banning and even book burning continues to be in the news here in the USA. Just this week, I saw a video of members of a State legislature demanding the books that they found objectionable be removed from … Continue reading →

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Forgotten Books, Forgotten Stories

Posted on May 6, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Last month, I found a very interesting piece in Smithsonian Magazine titled “How Much Medieval Literature Has Been Lost Over the Centuries,” which linked to six-minute video from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the journal Science … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Europe, History, Libraries, Tech | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Do Not Pee Towards Russia

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The brutal and unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to serious discussions about expanding NATO and frequent examinations of existing European borders. Russia has land borders with fourteen countries, but just five of them are currently NATO members. Ironically, … Continue reading →

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