Daniel Francis

Reading the National Narrative

What I'm Reading: June 16, 2013

Jun 16, 2013

Or in this case, viewing. When I was a kid spending my summers on Bowen Island we used to while away rainy afternoons at the community hall watching movies. I've never forgotten being engrossed in the 1955 war adventure, "The Dam Busters," starring Richard Todd, about British planes dropping "the bouncing bomb". The blog at History Today has a short video describing the actual operation.

The Seattle Public Library is dispatching librarians on bicycles to selected outdoor events this summer.

Last week the British government agreed to pay compensation to thousands of Kenyans who were tortured by colonial authorities during the Mau Mau Rebellion. Historian Caroline Elkins's book Imperial Reckoning (2005) played a significant role in revealing the truth of what went on in Kenya. Elkins has a piece in The Guardian about the role of revisionist historical scholarship.