robcrawford
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crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
robcrawford
@crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
87 followers 14 following 340 posts
Writer, book lover, curious soul. Retired. New life in NY after living about 30 years in Europe and Asia.
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crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Poet, Scientist, Courtier, Diplomat
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Poet, Scientist, Courtier, Diplomat
Review of Goethe: A Life in Ideas by Matthew Bell
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December 24, 2025 at 11:38 AM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
An early modern of great daring and courage
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An early modern of great daring and courage
Review of A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age by Steven Nadler
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December 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
The Last Golden Age of Jazz
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The Last Golden Age of Jazz
Review of 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool by James Kaplan
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December 20, 2025 at 4:14 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Umayyad Spain versus Carolingian Europe
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Umayyad Spain versus Carolingian Europe
Review of God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 by David Levering Lewis
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December 8, 2025 at 11:11 AM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Essential fault lines, but too sharply drawn
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Essential fault lines, but too sharply drawn
Review of American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard
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December 8, 2025 at 11:02 AM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
We need to look at alternative societies to understand the range of human potential
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We need to look at alternative societies to understand the range of human potential
Review of The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow
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December 4, 2025 at 12:14 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Cyrus the Great, Darius, and Xerxes
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Cyrus the Great, Darius, and Xerxes
Review of Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West By Tom Holland
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November 30, 2025 at 1:36 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
The roots of the Latin American crisis
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The roots of the Latin American crisis
Review of Silver, Sword, and Stone Three Crucibles in the Latin American Story by Marie Arana
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November 30, 2025 at 12:23 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Humanism and the Reformation, Erasmus v. Luther
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Humanism and the Reformation, Erasmus v. Luther
Review of Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind by Michael Massing
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November 29, 2025 at 11:25 AM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
A republic dies
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A republic dies
Review of Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
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November 28, 2025 at 12:24 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Europe in bloom after the Dark Ages
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Europe in bloom after the Dark Ages
Review of The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350 by Robert Bartlett
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November 27, 2025 at 2:46 PM
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Chicago: a key to modern capitalism
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Chicago: a key to modern capitalism
Review of Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West By William Cronon
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November 26, 2025 at 10:30 AM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Sociological view of Christianity's triumph
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Sociological view of Christianity's triumph
Review of The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World by Bart Ehrman
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November 25, 2025 at 12:52 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Brilliant and brief history of military strategy
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Brilliant and brief history of military strategy
Review of War in European History by Michael Howard
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November 25, 2025 at 1:44 AM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Man, conqueror, God
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Man, conqueror, God
Review of Alexander of Macedon, 356–323 B.C by Peter Green
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November 23, 2025 at 12:17 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
An early Kennedy pathography
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An early Kennedy pathography
Review of The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power by Garry Wills
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November 22, 2025 at 11:16 AM
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Shock of the new
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Shock of the new
Review of American Colonies: The Settling of North America, Vol. 1 by Alan Taylor
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November 20, 2025 at 2:37 AM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
How language shapes our biology and culture
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How language shapes our biology and culture
Review of How Language Began: The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention by Daniel Everett
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November 12, 2025 at 3:29 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
The great, little known gem of early Christianity
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The great, little known gem of early Christianity
Review of Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe by Judith Herrin
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November 9, 2025 at 3:31 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Genghis Khan as enlightened and visionary
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Genghis Khan as enlightened and visionary
Review of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
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November 2, 2025 at 2:53 PM
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Putting Africa at center stage
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Putting Africa at center stage
Review of Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World by Howard W. French
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October 27, 2025 at 12:51 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
A history of prehistory
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A history of prehistory
Review of The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins by Stefanos Geroulanos
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October 25, 2025 at 1:49 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
From Neanderthals to Cro-Magnons
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From Neanderthals to Cro-Magnons
Review of Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans by Brian M. Fagan
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October 23, 2025 at 9:49 AM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
900 years in power
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900 years in power
Review of The Habsburgs: To Rule The World by Martyn Rady
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October 22, 2025 at 6:09 PM
crawdaddysubstack.bsky.social
Nationalism: what is it, where did it come from?
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Nationalism: what is it, where did it come from?
Review of Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson
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October 22, 2025 at 10:27 AM