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History
A selection of articles about the past and the lessons we learn from those who died before we were born. From the bloody birth of Modern Mongolia to bad seeds in the British aristocracy. People don't change much.
African MemoriesJohn Trevelyn in Post-Colonial East AfricaWhile researching my book on the Katanga secession I recently came across John Trevelyn's writings about his time in Africa during the sixties. Trevelyn was a market manager in East Africa during the post-colonial period, the years just after Britain had handed back control of its colonies and the new native-led nations were trying to find their feet. He worked in Kenya, Malawi (formerly Nyasaland), and also in ...
A Kidnapping in PolandHistory’s Revenge on Bolesław Piasecki, PAX, and the Falanga (1957-58)Winter in Warsaw. January 1957. A schoolboy on his way home is lured into a taxi. A ransom is demanded. An unusual crime in Communist Poland, made stranger because the boy's father is Bolesław Piasecki, an important man in the establishment. Is it about the money? Or is it something darker, connected to Piasecki's pre-war past when he marched to a different drummer? CHRISTOPHER OTHEN investigates Poland's most notorious unsolved crime.
Mercenaries, Guns, and Witch DoctorsThe Congo Independence Wars (1960-67)
I am working on a book about the Congo wars of the 1960s that will cover the Katanga secession in 1960, the Simba rebellion of '64, and Jean Schramme's mercenary revolt in '67. Soldiers of fortune, witch doctors, guns, and Belgian colonialism. Can you help? I am interested in hearing from anyone with first hand experience, previously unseen photographs, or in depth knowledge of the Congo or Katanga at that time. E-mail me at brightreview@aol.com or look me up on Skype. My profile mentions the Congo. Discretion is guaranteed - CHRISTOPHER OTHEN.
During the Russian Civil War Baron von Ungern-Sternberg earned a reputation in Siberia as a sadistic warlord whose excesses did more harm to his own side than to his Communist enemies. When the anti-Bolshevik forces collapsed in 1920 the Baron took his men over the border to Chinese-controlled Mongolia. CHRISTOPHER OTHEN looks at the Baron's capture of the Mongolian capital Urga, the first – and last –step of a crazed attempt to build a Buddhist Empire stretching from Mongolia to Portugal.
Murdered Earls, bisexual public school men, and war heroes with dark secrets. The political power of Britain’s upper classes may have declined in recent years but their instinct to lie, cheat, murder and steal is as strong as ever. CHRISTOPHER OTHEN is your guide through a library of wrong doing. Please check your morals at the door.
The page for dates, contact information, and an easy-on-the-eye list of the Bright Review articles.
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