Michael Taylor on John Keegan, Part II: The Mask of Command

This week, Michael Taylor, Associate Professor of History at SUNY Albany, returns to offer a continuation of his look at the work of British military historian John Keegan. Last time, he discussed Keegan's most famous work, The Face of Battle, while this week Michael turns to discuss what he argues is one of Keegan's best … Continue reading Michael Taylor on John Keegan, Part II: The Mask of Command →

Collections: Who Were ‘the Celts’ and How Did They (Some of Them) Fight?

This week we're going to take a bit of a detour to talk about how we should imagine the warriors of Gallic/Celtic armies were equipped and fought. I wanted to write about the topic because the YouTube algorithm served me up a video on it, which isn't ever fully wrong but struck me as importantly … Continue reading Collections: Who Were ‘the Celts’ and How Did They (Some of Them) Fight? →

Collections: The Great War: Western Front, A Gain of Inches

This week we're looking at The Great War: Western Front, a hybrid turn-based/real-time strategy game about the First World War developed by Petroglyph Games, a renowned maker of real-time strategy titles. Petroglyph generally tend to do games set in science-fiction or fantasy settings, so when this product was announced I was immediately interested to see … Continue reading Collections: The Great War: Western Front, A Gain of Inches →

Collections: Academic Ranks Explained Or What On Earth Is an Adjunct?

This week we're going to take a detour into understanding the structure of academia, in particular the different kinds of 'professors' and their academic ranks in the American system, with a particular focus on 'non-tenure track' faculty (which is to say, as we'll see, 'most teaching faculty.') This is intended as the first in a … Continue reading Collections: Academic Ranks Explained Or What On Earth Is an Adjunct? →

Collections: How to Polis, Part III: People and Gods Beyond the Politai

This is the third and last part of our three(ish) part series looking at the governing structures of the Greek polis (I, IIa, IIb, IIc). Over the last three sub-parts, we looked at the political structures created and manned by the politai. This week I want to look, briefly, beyond the politai themselves to the … Continue reading Collections: How to Polis, Part III: People and Gods Beyond the Politai →

Collections: How to Polis 101, Part IIc: The Courts

This is the third part of the second part of our three(ish) part look at the governing structures of the Greek polis (I, IIa, IIb). At some point I promise I will write a series whose organization does not look like a parody of itself. Last time, we looked at the particular role of magistrates … Continue reading Collections: How to Polis 101, Part IIc: The Courts →

Michael Taylor on John Keegan’s The Face of Battle: A Retrospective

In a special treat this week, Michael Taylor, Associate Professor of History at SUNY Albany is back (he has written here once before). This time Michael is taking a look back at what is probably "he most influential book on any aspect of military history in the last fifty years" and I'd argue probably the … Continue reading Michael Taylor on John Keegan’s The Face of Battle: A Retrospective →

Collections: How to Polis, 101, Part IIb: Archons

This is the second part of the second part of our three(ish) part look at the governing structures of the Greek polis (I, IIa). Last time, we looked at the basic institutions of governance, how nearly every polis has magistrates, an assembly, and one or more councils which function together to govern the polis. We … Continue reading Collections: How to Polis, 101, Part IIb: Archons →