A lot of unsettling “news” as we approach 11 September but there is a WaPo item some may miss in the Travel section. “Operation Vacation” is a stinging condemnation of the US of A health care system masquerading as a way to mix surgery with sightseeing.
Also here on Bacon’s Rebellion Blog the 4 Sept post “Nathaniel Bacon Vindicated, Gov. Berkeley Shamed” is not just a teaser for Richard Thornton’s column, it has accumulated further insights from Thornton and Jim Bacon.
It looks like there is material here for a sequel here to Jared Diamond’s “Guns Germs and Steel” featuring the slave trade impact on Africa, and the slave trade / demise of agricultural / trading settlements in the Southeastern USA.
Add some details from what the English, French and Spanish did on small Caribbean Islands and the impact of Spanish horses on the Native Americans from around our home town and you have another layer of guns and germs and steel insights that rewrites what we thought we knew about European “settlement” and the “diffusion of knowledge” / civilization.
EMR
