Poland
Poland in the Darkness of World War II
The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War By Halik Kochanski (Harvard University Press, 734 pp., $35) The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery By Witold Pilecki translated by Jarek Garliński (Aquila Polonica, 460 pp., $34.95) READ MORE >>
Lech Walesa, Republican Surrogate
Jews, Swedes, and the Shoah, and other films
La Rafle Simon & the Oaks Sister HITLER’S FACE appears. The screen changes. To make that face the very first image of a film is to wipe away millions of possibilities, is to affirm the ice-shock of evil. We watch these clips from the swift visit that he made to Paris in June of 1942, and bound though we already are, we wonder what this film can tell us of his hell that we don’t already know. READ MORE >>
Two Darknesses
Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937–1948 By Madeleine Albright with Bill Woodward (Harper Collins, 467 pp., $29.99) READ MORE >>
So Goes Poland, So Goes America
After months defending traditionally red states like North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, and Ohio, Romney has finally decided to launch an offensive. Where? Poland: The predictably undefended flank of Obama’s route to 270 electoral votes. READ MORE >>
The Neutral’s Final
Could there be a better final for this year’s Euro than Spain vs. Germany? One of the great joys of watching the Euro as an American is the ability to be unapologetically mercenary in my fandom. Germany vs. Portugal? I pick Germany because I can’t stand the smugness of Cristiano Ronaldo’s smile, and those young Germans seem like such good, wholesome guys. Germany vs. Greece? Can’t resist the geo-political underdog narrative, so Greece all the way. READ MORE >>
Trapattoni
The fashion in which the Republic of Ireland were outclassed by Croatia confirmed that, perhaps uniquely in this tournament, they have already achieved their goal. Getting to Poland was enough and as much as anyone could sensibly hope. True, they enjoyed some good fortune on the way being drawn in a respectable but hardly life-threatening group (Russia, Slovakia, Macedonia, etc.) and then getting Estonia in the play-off. Nevertheless, after a decade away from the higher-altitude of finals football, it is grand to see the Irish back. READ MORE >>
The Group of Debt: A TNR Bracket
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, which got underway last week, has our football-obsessed staffers and friends excited for purely sporting reasons (check out our new blog, Goal Post, for ample evidence.) For rest of us, however, the continental soccer tournament is fascinating for the way it intersects with the world’s most important pending economic and political drama: the slow-motion collapse of the European Union. READ MORE >>
