How was it that under a regime which introduced radio on a mass scale to the average family, that pioneered the Americanization of political campaigning in Europe and that openly encouraged the average citizen to at least boycott their Jewish neighbors, how could the average citizen claim ignorance of the actions of the Nazi regime?  The regime made no secret of its ideology nor of most of its methods and yet, even in the period leading up to the start of the war, yet after the war, people claimed that they did not know what was happening right before their eyes.

I am sure that there are those who will applaud the action of the “greenies” and “indigenous peoples”, but they have to be individuals who are totally devoid of common sense. At a certain point, any business will simply say, “no more” and take their money and jobs and go elsewhere. The people who get them to do that are often the same ones who cry about lack of opportunity, never realizing that they are killing their own future. What a shame, too bad for Canada. https://nationalpost.com/opinion/diane-francis-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-canadas-high-living-standards

150 Piccadilly

Monday-Sunday 10am-11pm

Located next to the Rivoli Bar, this attractive room offers the weary shopper or businessman a comfortable shelter from the craziness that can be London. Aside from an excellent humidor with all the top Cuban cigars, they also offer a line of Ritz cigars which are hand rolled in the Dominican Republic using tobaccos from Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Considered Thomas Mann’s first great novel for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1929. It traces the decline of a North German family which has been engaged in the export grain business for several generations.  Like all families, this family has its share of fools, marriage missteps, successes, dreams, individual failures, good and bad luck.  We follow one generation, the last of this family from the very summit of their success to their extinction. Are they bad or evil people?  Do they lie or cheat in personal or business relationships?  No, but none the less, they begin a descent which cannot be stopped and their line withers and stops in the most ordinary of ways.

When Manchester was diagnosed with the illness that would eventually kill him, he took time off from his work on the third volume of Winston Churchill’s life (the volume was eventually completed by another author after Manchester died but it met with lukewarm reviews).  Manchester admits that he started this book based on a fellow authors request for Manchester to write the preface to a history on Magellan, but he found the subject so engrossing that he expanded the preface into this work.  He also admits that he started the book with poor knowledge of the subject which led him to write in an entirely different manner, almost as if he were a graduate student working on his thesis.  He was especially careful of sources and consulted noted historians who specialized in the time period for their input and feedback.

Nedrasov who fought as a sapper in the trenches of Stalingrad does not present a sweeping, patriotic novel of individual bravery, but rather a story of small episodes where individual soldiers flit in and out of the main characters life during the battle.  Some are brave, some are stupid, some seek to earn medals while others wait for their end. 

There are numerous books written mostly by officers of Napoleon’s campaign in Russia, but this one, told by an NCO of the Imperial Guard, is, in my opinion, one of the very best.  Sergeant Bourgogne had campaigned with Napoleon for several years and he describes the retreat from Moscow in terms which are not sensational but rather in terms which brings the reader into the very action of which he writes.  You can feel his hunger and his cold, the pain he feels for comrades left behind and the joy as others long thought of as dead, are found.

For a couple of years, my favorite wife has wanted to spend a month in the French countryside; she is originally from Montreal, speaks excellent French and enjoys the French culture, wine and history.  Anyone who has been to Paris realizes that France can be very expensive, but we found a way to live well, enjoy the countryside and keep our expenses to a reasonable level. How? One advantage was by traveling with another couple, in this case my wife’s parents.  By splitting some costs, our month-long visit to rural France costs much less, about $175/night per couple. 

Rokin 96

1012 KZ Amsterdam

020-623-7494

www.hajenius.com

Walking in the rain of Amsterdam can be a bit tiring or you may be feeling quite victorious for not being run over the the bicyclists (who seem to believe that they totally own the roads). When that time comes and you want to have a good cigar, I recommend Hajenius; they not only have an excellent selection of Cuban brands (if you are heading to London, pick up your Cubans here as they are much less expensive than in London), and a great exhibit of beautiful humidors and accessories, but they also have their own brand which features Sumatra tobacco harking back to colonial times (they were founded in 1826)

These two novels finish the trilogy by Margaret George (The Autobiography of Henry VIII was previously reviewed).  Of the two novels, Mary Queen of Scotland has the more complex character development, and while Elizabeth is good, it seems Ms. George must have been worn out by the time she got to the last book in the trilogy.