The saga continues re Malaysia Flight 370 that disappeared a year ago this past weekend. Notwithstanding the labor and equipment employed, not a scintilla of a clue of this aircraft or its 239 passengers and crew has been found. The search extended to the Asia mainland and in the Indian Ocean off the west coast […]
Author Archives: smartinshelton
BOOK REVIEW: The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China by David J. Silbey
This treatise on the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 in Shantung Province in northern China and in Peking is exceptionally well researched and told. Silbey has written this book with keen understanding and the perceptive knack to engulf the audience deeply into his chronicle. Of what I know of the Boxer Rebellion, I would suggest that […]
BOOK REVIEW: A Box of Sand: The Italo-Ottoman War 1911-1912 by Charles Stephenson
I’m conflicted reviewing this book. Stephenson reports the chronologic events of this war in exceptional detail. Unfortunately, it’s dull, and tedious—lacks an empathetic milieu. It’s hard reading for the ordinary citizen. Perhaps it is best as a reference book for the military historian. This war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire early […]
Malaysia Flight 370, # 14
On Friday, 30 January 2015, the Malaysian government formally declared Malaysia Flight 370 an accident and all 239 souls on board are presumed deceased. Flight 370 last reported a position late on the evening of 8 March 2014 (now 327 days missing). Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said “ At this juncture, there is no […]
SHORT STORY: Professor O. B. Fuscate
Professor O. B. Fuscate © By S. Martin Shelton Professor Fuscate’s strides are long and quick. He’s late for his lecture “Deconstructing Dashiell Hammett’s novel The Maltese Falcon.” To save a few steps, he cuts through the parking lot. His mind is focused sharply on telling his students what Hammett meant in the scene where […]
BOOK REVIEW: Bohemians, Bootleggers, Flappers, and Swells by Graydon Carter, editor
The title of this book promises more than it delivers. It’s a completion of seventy-two articles that were published in the magazine Vanity Fair in the 1910s, ‘20s, and ‘30s. On the whole, the articles are thoughtful, perceptive, and sometimes clever. I expected a frivolous, funny, and carefree expose of the Roaring-Twenties: jazz, bootleggers, flappers, […]
S. Martin Shelton’s Upcoming Novel
During the chaos that was China in 1935, Randall Kendrick, a wealthy American collector of fine oriental art, and his savvy daughter, Ingrid, embark on an adventurous quest to purchase a cache of extremely rare Ming yellow porcelains. General Wu Pei-fu, the vicious warlord of Kansu Province, offers the porcelains for sale to the highest bidder. Traveling with Kendrick is the expatriate […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport
This powerful account of the Romanovs’ internment and regicide at “The House of Special Purpose” at Ekaterinburg, July 1918, is compelling, evocative, and horrifying. I suspect that Rappaport’s book on this ghoulish event is the most meticulously researched and accurate account of the Bolshevik’s liquidation of Czar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, and their five children. […]
BOOK REVIEW: Killing Patton by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
Killing Patton is a compelling tale of World War II’s greatest general: George S. Patton (1885 to 1945). The manuscript reads easily—almost as an adventure novel. We are propelled into the story as a participant as our intense empathy builds. Importantly, one does not have to have a keen knowledge of the War to follow Patton’s […]
Malaysia Flight 370: Will they find it?
A couple days ago, Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, announced that they have resumed the search for Malaysia Flight 370. Recall that this flight disappeared on 8 March last. Speculation posits that the Boeing model 777-200 ER crashed into the Indian Ocean some 1,200 miles west of Australia. A cadre […]