Alan Sargeant - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Alan Sargeant

Many people won’t know that The Great Gatsby once had a prologue. It was ditched by Fitzgerald wh... more Many people won’t know that The Great Gatsby once had a prologue. It was ditched by Fitzgerald when he realised that it didn’ fit with the ’general neatness’ of the book’s design. Instead, he offered to H. L. Mencken’s new American Mercury magazine for a $118. It’ s a deeply enigmatic tale, so what is it about? And did Fitzgerald preserve elements of the story in the novel published the following year?

Revised 01.11.24. The scholar Thomas P. Riggio was among the first to explore the similarities be... more Revised 01.11.24. The scholar Thomas P. Riggio was among the first to explore the similarities between Theodore Dreiser’s Mr X in Twelve Men and Fitzgerald’s titular hero, Jay Gatsby, but few if any have explored Robin’s life in any real detail. This mini-book takes a look at the life and times of the sky-rocket millionaire from his days as a struggling immigrant bootblack in Times Square to his spectacular rise and fall of one of New York’s most flamboyant and mysterious millionaires.

When F. Scott Fitzgerald announced that his third novel, The Great Gatsby, would have a “Catholic... more When F. Scott Fitzgerald announced that his third novel, The Great Gatsby, would have a “Catholic element”, many assumed it to have been lost when the writer discarded the novel’s prologue and published it separately as Absolution in June 1924. Scott’s biographer, Matthew J. Bruccoli, regarded by many as the ‘dean of Fitzgerald Studies’, believed it to be “entirely absent” in the novel. And those who persevered with the idea continue to look for evidence in the finished novel for overtly Catholic symbolism, glib, parodic reprovals of his faith or perceive it as “secularization” of those beliefs or even as evidence of the author’s Jansenism, as Thomas J. Ferraro suggests. In taking a closer look at the depth and character of his Catholic upbringing, and the influence of ‘Americanist’ priest, Isaac T. Hecker on the founding of Fitzgerald’s Catholic prep-school, the Newman School for Boys, I hope to show how the author’s work was less a repudiation of his Catholic faith and more of an attempt to extend, and perhaps update, the Modernist principles that Isaac T. Hecker and the Americanist movement had used to ‘humanize’ the Catholic faith in North America and build on its notions of liberty and human ingenuity (‘genius’) that the group believed was vital to their dreams of ‘perfecting’ the world. And no, I'm not a Catholic.

A Case For The New Historical Novel, Jun 1993

Featuring Toni Morrison's Beloved and Myself and Marco Polo by Paul Griffiths. The following d... more Featuring Toni Morrison's Beloved and Myself and Marco Polo by Paul Griffiths.

The following dissertation proposes the emergence of a new genre in the mid-1980s period: the New Historical novel; as uniquely defined within the broad panorama of Post Modernist Literature as Magic Realism and Metafiction. I would also like to propose that its emergence and popularity is a manifestation of a crisis within the notion of genre itself and can be viewed against the wider anxieties of modern culture. Each of the novels looked at address issues relating to Foucault’s concept of the ‘heterotopia’ and the processes by which reality is constructed socially and history is produced. I have focused on two novels: Myself and Marco Polo (1989) and Beloved (1987).

The ending of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining has chilled and intrigued movie-goers for years. In t... more The ending of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining has chilled and intrigued movie-goers for years. In the closing scene of the film the camera moves from Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance sitting upright, dead in the snow to a gallery of pictures in the ballroom of the Overlook Hotel. On one of the pictures is Jack in a black Tuxedo. The date and location of the picture are written in script at the bottom: Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921. What did Kubrick mean? Is it a simple case of reincarnation or are there hidden dimensions that throw light on American history and the troubling dark-side of the American Dream?

Issues explored include the background and history of Boulder and Estes Park, Colorado and the Los Seis de Boulder of 1974, The American Dream, American Isolationism, the impact of John Lennon's Instant Karma on King’s title for the book, the Fourth of July Day celebrations and President Harding’s 1921 Emergency Quota act.

The Protocols Matrix: George Shanks and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 2021

A recent find in the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections at Trinity College... more A recent find in the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections at Trinity College Dublin revealed that George Shanks, the man who published the first English translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in January 1920 was working as a clerk in the Chief Whips Office at 12 Downing Street under Coalition Whip, Freddie Guest. A closer look at Shanks' background also reveals he was the nephew of Aylmer Maude, the famous friend and translator of Tolstoy who became a leading voice in the pro-Interventionist movement of the Russian Affairs Committee during the Russian Civil War of 1917 to 1922. Maude’s colleagues at this time included former members of Britain’s wartime propaganda bureau in Petrograd, Harold Williams, Bernard Pares and Hugh Walpole, who were working closely with Winston Churchill on a no-holds barred campaign to destroy Lenin's Bolsheviks. I also explore the impact of Churchill's no less incendiary article for the Illustrated Sunday Herald, Zionism versus Bolshevism, which cynically combined the needs of making progress on the issue of British Mandate Palestine with attempts to undermine the trade negotiations between David Lloyd George's governmentand Soviet Russia.

A brand new find also reveals that Shanks co-translator, Major Edward G.G. Burdon was serving as Secretary to the United Russia Socities Association under House of Commons Speaker, James Lowther and alongside members Sir Bernard Pares, John Buchan and Hugh Walpole in support of White Russia's war against the Bolsheviks..

Historians do a fantastic job of recovering the past but like everybody else they're not infallible. There are many reasons for omissions, with few (if any) arising from outright conspiracy or deliberate attempts to deceive.

Please note that this book DOES NOT support the paranoid notion that The Protocols is real. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a crude and malicious fake, as this unfinished draft of book sets out to prove.

The PDF download available here takes the form of a guide to a book that has yet to be completed. It is a rough, unfinished draft.

Becoming Gatsby, 2023

A look at issues relating to White Supremacism and Eugenics in F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gat... more A look at issues relating to White Supremacism and Eugenics in F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, The Vegetable and his Princeton composition, Love or Eugenics?

Why was exiled revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin lodging with Liberal Candidate Phllip Whitwell Wilso... more Why was exiled revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin lodging with Liberal Candidate Phllip Whitwell Wilson and his family at the height of the first Russian Revolution in 1905 and how did his friend and press colleague, Henry Brailsford get embroiled in an assassination attempt at the Hotel Bristol in St Petersburg that same year? A look at a peculiar turn of events previously overlooked by historians. Press cuttings, maps and pictures relating to this story can be found here:

https://pixelsurgery.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/percy-circus-london/

Please join me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/repeat_the_past

A brief celebration of work and influence of essayist and novelist, Umberto Eco who died in Febru... more A brief celebration of work and influence of essayist and novelist, Umberto Eco who died in February 2016.

Please join me on Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/repeat_the_past

Benzion Netanyahu, father of Binyamin Netanyahu served as chief aide and secretary to Vladimir Ze... more Benzion Netanyahu, father of Binyamin Netanyahu served as chief aide and secretary to Vladimir Zeev Jabotinsky, the leader of the rightwing Revisionist breed of Zionism, precursor to the now-ruling Likud party. This essay explores the role played by the 1905 Revolution and the brutal pogroms of Odessa and Moldavanka in the eventual creation of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.

Link below:
https://www.monocledmutineer.co.uk/storms-of-a-russian-spring/

Becoming Gatsby: How the High Priest of the Jazz Age Wrote the Gospel of the American Dream, 2023

Fully updated with fresh finds. After sharing a number of exciting new finds with Gatsby investig... more Fully updated with fresh finds. After sharing a number of exciting new finds with Gatsby investigator, Horst Kruse, I decided to take a closer look at the life of Long Island mystery-man, Max Stork Gerlach. This article explores the ambiguous relationship between Gerlach, his wartime friend and sponsor, Major Cushman A Rice and the Broadway Mobster, Arnold Rothstein, generally regarded as the inspiration for Fitzgerald's Meyer Wolfshiem, Gatsby's mentor. Also features a brand new look at Gerlach‘s possible links to Scott Fizgerald’s brother-in-law Major Newman Smith, who would become decorated ‘Master of Deception’ during the war against Nazi Germany.

A Blanchard House podcast I had a hand in researching and taking part in is available now on Audible: (8 episodes)

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/American-Dreamer-Who-Was-Jay-Gatsby-Audiobook/B0CYQW3YT8

An exciting collection of new finds sheds fresh light on the mystery of what the symbol means and... more An exciting collection of new finds sheds fresh light on the mystery of what the symbol means and how F. Scott Fitzgerald may have been introduced to the Spanish-Cuban artist Francis Cugat.

One of the most memorable scenes in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is the Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in the Valley of Ashes. But what was the meaning and the symbolism behind it? Where did the author Francis Cugat get his inspiration?

Becoming Gatsby, 2023

April 10, 2023 marked 98 years since the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, a... more April 10, 2023 marked 98 years since the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and 111 years since the RMS Titanic left Southampton’s White Star Dock on its ill-fated maiden voyage. This article explores the meaning and symbolism behind the green light and its possible inspiration in the Titanic disaster of April 1912.

Also featuresa look at G.K. Chesterton, Henry Brooks Adams and the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse (Lantern Memorial Tower)

A detailed look at Father Georgy Gapon, the Russian Orthodox priest who led the Bloody Sunday Rev... more A detailed look at Father Georgy Gapon, the Russian Orthodox priest who led the Bloody Sunday Revolution in 1905 and who was brutally murdered in March 1906. This essay explores the various responses to his death and the role it played in the development of Russia's Zionist and Revolutionary movements. Figures include Pinchas Rutenberg, Maxim Gorky, David Soskice, Lenin, An-sky, Mark Twain and Zeev Jabotinsky

The Original Russian Job: The forgotten story of how a 'secret compact' between Churchill and Ame... more The Original Russian Job: The forgotten story of how a 'secret compact' between Churchill and America very nearly saved Russia from Lenin and the Soviet Union. This is the story of James V. Martin, an aviation pioneer who blew the whistle on American plans to smash the Bolsheviks at the height of postwar trade negotiations with the Soviet. It's a tortuous, complex tale of political manoeuvring, espionage and high-stake deals performed in the utmost echelons of power, featuring such legendary figures as Sidney Reilly 'Ace of Spies', pioneer aviator Glenn Curtiss, William J. Donovan and an unscrupulous consortium of bankers, bluffers and brokers. The story features a first-time exploration of Sidney Reilly's trip to New York in April 1919 with previously unacknowledged travel companions Grennadie Chmourlo, Captain Herbert Halsey Noyes, Ernest W. Byshhe and Anthony Jechalski.

Figures and events covered include 1919 Paris Peace Conference, Churchill's Secret War Documment scandal of May 1919, the Russo-Asiatic Corporation, Leslie Urquhart, the Siberian Supply Company, the Russo-Canadian Development Corporation, the the National City Bank, the National Security League, the American Legion, Andrew Carnegie, William Jennings Bryan, Thomas E. Watson, Guaranty Trust Company, Grayson M.P Murphy, Russian Supply Committee of New York, Peter Demens, Lily Irvine and Tony Jannus.

Becoming Gatsby: How the High Priest of the Jazz Age Wrote the Gospel of the American Dream, 2022

Whether you’ve seen the films or read the books, the thing that everybody seems to remember most ... more Whether you’ve seen the films or read the books, the thing that everybody seems to remember most about The Great Gatsby are the fantastic house and the riotous parties. But where did Scott get his inspiration for the house? And what was the house intended to say? At the time the novel was written Scott Fitzgerald was at a crossroads: he could either cling to his Catholic past or row furiously with the tide into an exciting, uncertain future. For answers, Scott looked to his old hero, Shane Leslie and his new hero, James Joyce.

Topics include the relationship between Gatsby's 'factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy and the Abbey of St Stephen the Martyr in Caen (where Beacon Towers drew its inspiration), the allusions to Gatsby as the Son of God, Catholic 'Americanism', the influence of Shane Leslie, Rosecliff and the Petit Trianon in Versaille, Otto Kahn's Oheka Castle and the mock Tudor village of 'Grenwolde' in Great Neck.

Join me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/repeat_the_past

Most people won't know that Nurse Florence Shore, killed on train in January 1920, was not only t... more Most people won't know that Nurse Florence Shore, killed on train in January 1920, was not only the goddaughter of Florence Nightingale but also the cousin of an Mi5 officer in charge of espionage against Russia. Can her cousin's work shed any light on her murder?

As humanity adjusts to globalization it is not moving toward the end of history but going into re... more As humanity adjusts to globalization it is not moving toward the end of history but going into reverse. The complex meta-narratives of post-modernism and consumerism have led to a sense of overcrowding and the ‘blood and soil’ aesthetics of Radical and Romantic Nationalism seem like a crude and often brutal attempt to alleviate this burden and simplify these narratives. 'Let's Make The Past Great Again' explores the idea that the past has become another modern consumable and a powerful rhetorical device and stock option for 'Nostalgia Nationalists' like Donald Trump and UKIP's Nigel Farage. The article also considers the phenomenon in light of Umberto Eco's 14-point definition of 'Eternal fascism', fundamentalism, meta-modernism, social media, conspiracy theory, extremism and in the context of the various 'justice narratives' directed at voters in the West.

Winning the justice narrative features as prominently in the tropes and pledges of Trump and Farage, as it does it in the books found in Bin Laden’s compound. Each of them tells a story of righting wrongs and restoring balances. The work of the Conspiracy Theorist is to negotiate a path through to a promised land where the air is clean and the ground more giving.

Can an analysis of chaos junkies like the Manson Family shed any further light on the paranoid wo... more Can an analysis of chaos junkies like the Manson Family shed any further light on the paranoid worldviews of Isis who similarly prey so consummately on feelings of social, racial and religious persecution?

Charlie Manson’s conspiracy theories seem to have become a part of the cultural mindset. The dark, murderous events of 1969 seem like more of a kind of birthing process in this respect. He’s the father of all paranoia. Or so it seems. This article takes a look at the popularisation of Conspiracy Theory in the broader context of 'Justice Narratives' and both ancient and modern apocalypticism sees the actions of Charlie Manson and his followers in the context of civil disengagement, emotional trauma and ongoing issues of national, ethnic and social identity. Groups and individuals looked at include: Islamic State, Nation of Islam, Malcolm X and the counter-culture movement of the 1960s.

Many people won’t know that The Great Gatsby once had a prologue. It was ditched by Fitzgerald wh... more Many people won’t know that The Great Gatsby once had a prologue. It was ditched by Fitzgerald when he realised that it didn’ fit with the ’general neatness’ of the book’s design. Instead, he offered to H. L. Mencken’s new American Mercury magazine for a $118. It’ s a deeply enigmatic tale, so what is it about? And did Fitzgerald preserve elements of the story in the novel published the following year?

Revised 01.11.24. The scholar Thomas P. Riggio was among the first to explore the similarities be... more Revised 01.11.24. The scholar Thomas P. Riggio was among the first to explore the similarities between Theodore Dreiser’s Mr X in Twelve Men and Fitzgerald’s titular hero, Jay Gatsby, but few if any have explored Robin’s life in any real detail. This mini-book takes a look at the life and times of the sky-rocket millionaire from his days as a struggling immigrant bootblack in Times Square to his spectacular rise and fall of one of New York’s most flamboyant and mysterious millionaires.

When F. Scott Fitzgerald announced that his third novel, The Great Gatsby, would have a “Catholic... more When F. Scott Fitzgerald announced that his third novel, The Great Gatsby, would have a “Catholic element”, many assumed it to have been lost when the writer discarded the novel’s prologue and published it separately as Absolution in June 1924. Scott’s biographer, Matthew J. Bruccoli, regarded by many as the ‘dean of Fitzgerald Studies’, believed it to be “entirely absent” in the novel. And those who persevered with the idea continue to look for evidence in the finished novel for overtly Catholic symbolism, glib, parodic reprovals of his faith or perceive it as “secularization” of those beliefs or even as evidence of the author’s Jansenism, as Thomas J. Ferraro suggests. In taking a closer look at the depth and character of his Catholic upbringing, and the influence of ‘Americanist’ priest, Isaac T. Hecker on the founding of Fitzgerald’s Catholic prep-school, the Newman School for Boys, I hope to show how the author’s work was less a repudiation of his Catholic faith and more of an attempt to extend, and perhaps update, the Modernist principles that Isaac T. Hecker and the Americanist movement had used to ‘humanize’ the Catholic faith in North America and build on its notions of liberty and human ingenuity (‘genius’) that the group believed was vital to their dreams of ‘perfecting’ the world. And no, I'm not a Catholic.

A Case For The New Historical Novel, Jun 1993

Featuring Toni Morrison's Beloved and Myself and Marco Polo by Paul Griffiths. The following d... more Featuring Toni Morrison's Beloved and Myself and Marco Polo by Paul Griffiths.

The following dissertation proposes the emergence of a new genre in the mid-1980s period: the New Historical novel; as uniquely defined within the broad panorama of Post Modernist Literature as Magic Realism and Metafiction. I would also like to propose that its emergence and popularity is a manifestation of a crisis within the notion of genre itself and can be viewed against the wider anxieties of modern culture. Each of the novels looked at address issues relating to Foucault’s concept of the ‘heterotopia’ and the processes by which reality is constructed socially and history is produced. I have focused on two novels: Myself and Marco Polo (1989) and Beloved (1987).

The ending of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining has chilled and intrigued movie-goers for years. In t... more The ending of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining has chilled and intrigued movie-goers for years. In the closing scene of the film the camera moves from Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance sitting upright, dead in the snow to a gallery of pictures in the ballroom of the Overlook Hotel. On one of the pictures is Jack in a black Tuxedo. The date and location of the picture are written in script at the bottom: Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921. What did Kubrick mean? Is it a simple case of reincarnation or are there hidden dimensions that throw light on American history and the troubling dark-side of the American Dream?

Issues explored include the background and history of Boulder and Estes Park, Colorado and the Los Seis de Boulder of 1974, The American Dream, American Isolationism, the impact of John Lennon's Instant Karma on King’s title for the book, the Fourth of July Day celebrations and President Harding’s 1921 Emergency Quota act.

The Protocols Matrix: George Shanks and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 2021

A recent find in the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections at Trinity College... more A recent find in the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections at Trinity College Dublin revealed that George Shanks, the man who published the first English translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in January 1920 was working as a clerk in the Chief Whips Office at 12 Downing Street under Coalition Whip, Freddie Guest. A closer look at Shanks' background also reveals he was the nephew of Aylmer Maude, the famous friend and translator of Tolstoy who became a leading voice in the pro-Interventionist movement of the Russian Affairs Committee during the Russian Civil War of 1917 to 1922. Maude’s colleagues at this time included former members of Britain’s wartime propaganda bureau in Petrograd, Harold Williams, Bernard Pares and Hugh Walpole, who were working closely with Winston Churchill on a no-holds barred campaign to destroy Lenin's Bolsheviks. I also explore the impact of Churchill's no less incendiary article for the Illustrated Sunday Herald, Zionism versus Bolshevism, which cynically combined the needs of making progress on the issue of British Mandate Palestine with attempts to undermine the trade negotiations between David Lloyd George's governmentand Soviet Russia.

A brand new find also reveals that Shanks co-translator, Major Edward G.G. Burdon was serving as Secretary to the United Russia Socities Association under House of Commons Speaker, James Lowther and alongside members Sir Bernard Pares, John Buchan and Hugh Walpole in support of White Russia's war against the Bolsheviks..

Historians do a fantastic job of recovering the past but like everybody else they're not infallible. There are many reasons for omissions, with few (if any) arising from outright conspiracy or deliberate attempts to deceive.

Please note that this book DOES NOT support the paranoid notion that The Protocols is real. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a crude and malicious fake, as this unfinished draft of book sets out to prove.

The PDF download available here takes the form of a guide to a book that has yet to be completed. It is a rough, unfinished draft.

Becoming Gatsby, 2023

A look at issues relating to White Supremacism and Eugenics in F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gat... more A look at issues relating to White Supremacism and Eugenics in F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, The Vegetable and his Princeton composition, Love or Eugenics?

Why was exiled revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin lodging with Liberal Candidate Phllip Whitwell Wilso... more Why was exiled revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin lodging with Liberal Candidate Phllip Whitwell Wilson and his family at the height of the first Russian Revolution in 1905 and how did his friend and press colleague, Henry Brailsford get embroiled in an assassination attempt at the Hotel Bristol in St Petersburg that same year? A look at a peculiar turn of events previously overlooked by historians. Press cuttings, maps and pictures relating to this story can be found here:

https://pixelsurgery.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/percy-circus-london/

Please join me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/repeat_the_past

A brief celebration of work and influence of essayist and novelist, Umberto Eco who died in Febru... more A brief celebration of work and influence of essayist and novelist, Umberto Eco who died in February 2016.

Please join me on Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/repeat_the_past

Benzion Netanyahu, father of Binyamin Netanyahu served as chief aide and secretary to Vladimir Ze... more Benzion Netanyahu, father of Binyamin Netanyahu served as chief aide and secretary to Vladimir Zeev Jabotinsky, the leader of the rightwing Revisionist breed of Zionism, precursor to the now-ruling Likud party. This essay explores the role played by the 1905 Revolution and the brutal pogroms of Odessa and Moldavanka in the eventual creation of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.

Link below:
https://www.monocledmutineer.co.uk/storms-of-a-russian-spring/

Becoming Gatsby: How the High Priest of the Jazz Age Wrote the Gospel of the American Dream, 2023

Fully updated with fresh finds. After sharing a number of exciting new finds with Gatsby investig... more Fully updated with fresh finds. After sharing a number of exciting new finds with Gatsby investigator, Horst Kruse, I decided to take a closer look at the life of Long Island mystery-man, Max Stork Gerlach. This article explores the ambiguous relationship between Gerlach, his wartime friend and sponsor, Major Cushman A Rice and the Broadway Mobster, Arnold Rothstein, generally regarded as the inspiration for Fitzgerald's Meyer Wolfshiem, Gatsby's mentor. Also features a brand new look at Gerlach‘s possible links to Scott Fizgerald’s brother-in-law Major Newman Smith, who would become decorated ‘Master of Deception’ during the war against Nazi Germany.

A Blanchard House podcast I had a hand in researching and taking part in is available now on Audible: (8 episodes)

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/American-Dreamer-Who-Was-Jay-Gatsby-Audiobook/B0CYQW3YT8

An exciting collection of new finds sheds fresh light on the mystery of what the symbol means and... more An exciting collection of new finds sheds fresh light on the mystery of what the symbol means and how F. Scott Fitzgerald may have been introduced to the Spanish-Cuban artist Francis Cugat.

One of the most memorable scenes in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is the Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in the Valley of Ashes. But what was the meaning and the symbolism behind it? Where did the author Francis Cugat get his inspiration?

Becoming Gatsby, 2023

April 10, 2023 marked 98 years since the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, a... more April 10, 2023 marked 98 years since the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and 111 years since the RMS Titanic left Southampton’s White Star Dock on its ill-fated maiden voyage. This article explores the meaning and symbolism behind the green light and its possible inspiration in the Titanic disaster of April 1912.

Also featuresa look at G.K. Chesterton, Henry Brooks Adams and the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse (Lantern Memorial Tower)

A detailed look at Father Georgy Gapon, the Russian Orthodox priest who led the Bloody Sunday Rev... more A detailed look at Father Georgy Gapon, the Russian Orthodox priest who led the Bloody Sunday Revolution in 1905 and who was brutally murdered in March 1906. This essay explores the various responses to his death and the role it played in the development of Russia's Zionist and Revolutionary movements. Figures include Pinchas Rutenberg, Maxim Gorky, David Soskice, Lenin, An-sky, Mark Twain and Zeev Jabotinsky

The Original Russian Job: The forgotten story of how a 'secret compact' between Churchill and Ame... more The Original Russian Job: The forgotten story of how a 'secret compact' between Churchill and America very nearly saved Russia from Lenin and the Soviet Union. This is the story of James V. Martin, an aviation pioneer who blew the whistle on American plans to smash the Bolsheviks at the height of postwar trade negotiations with the Soviet. It's a tortuous, complex tale of political manoeuvring, espionage and high-stake deals performed in the utmost echelons of power, featuring such legendary figures as Sidney Reilly 'Ace of Spies', pioneer aviator Glenn Curtiss, William J. Donovan and an unscrupulous consortium of bankers, bluffers and brokers. The story features a first-time exploration of Sidney Reilly's trip to New York in April 1919 with previously unacknowledged travel companions Grennadie Chmourlo, Captain Herbert Halsey Noyes, Ernest W. Byshhe and Anthony Jechalski.

Figures and events covered include 1919 Paris Peace Conference, Churchill's Secret War Documment scandal of May 1919, the Russo-Asiatic Corporation, Leslie Urquhart, the Siberian Supply Company, the Russo-Canadian Development Corporation, the the National City Bank, the National Security League, the American Legion, Andrew Carnegie, William Jennings Bryan, Thomas E. Watson, Guaranty Trust Company, Grayson M.P Murphy, Russian Supply Committee of New York, Peter Demens, Lily Irvine and Tony Jannus.

Becoming Gatsby: How the High Priest of the Jazz Age Wrote the Gospel of the American Dream, 2022

Whether you’ve seen the films or read the books, the thing that everybody seems to remember most ... more Whether you’ve seen the films or read the books, the thing that everybody seems to remember most about The Great Gatsby are the fantastic house and the riotous parties. But where did Scott get his inspiration for the house? And what was the house intended to say? At the time the novel was written Scott Fitzgerald was at a crossroads: he could either cling to his Catholic past or row furiously with the tide into an exciting, uncertain future. For answers, Scott looked to his old hero, Shane Leslie and his new hero, James Joyce.

Topics include the relationship between Gatsby's 'factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy and the Abbey of St Stephen the Martyr in Caen (where Beacon Towers drew its inspiration), the allusions to Gatsby as the Son of God, Catholic 'Americanism', the influence of Shane Leslie, Rosecliff and the Petit Trianon in Versaille, Otto Kahn's Oheka Castle and the mock Tudor village of 'Grenwolde' in Great Neck.

Join me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/repeat_the_past

Most people won't know that Nurse Florence Shore, killed on train in January 1920, was not only t... more Most people won't know that Nurse Florence Shore, killed on train in January 1920, was not only the goddaughter of Florence Nightingale but also the cousin of an Mi5 officer in charge of espionage against Russia. Can her cousin's work shed any light on her murder?

As humanity adjusts to globalization it is not moving toward the end of history but going into re... more As humanity adjusts to globalization it is not moving toward the end of history but going into reverse. The complex meta-narratives of post-modernism and consumerism have led to a sense of overcrowding and the ‘blood and soil’ aesthetics of Radical and Romantic Nationalism seem like a crude and often brutal attempt to alleviate this burden and simplify these narratives. 'Let's Make The Past Great Again' explores the idea that the past has become another modern consumable and a powerful rhetorical device and stock option for 'Nostalgia Nationalists' like Donald Trump and UKIP's Nigel Farage. The article also considers the phenomenon in light of Umberto Eco's 14-point definition of 'Eternal fascism', fundamentalism, meta-modernism, social media, conspiracy theory, extremism and in the context of the various 'justice narratives' directed at voters in the West.

Winning the justice narrative features as prominently in the tropes and pledges of Trump and Farage, as it does it in the books found in Bin Laden’s compound. Each of them tells a story of righting wrongs and restoring balances. The work of the Conspiracy Theorist is to negotiate a path through to a promised land where the air is clean and the ground more giving.

Can an analysis of chaos junkies like the Manson Family shed any further light on the paranoid wo... more Can an analysis of chaos junkies like the Manson Family shed any further light on the paranoid worldviews of Isis who similarly prey so consummately on feelings of social, racial and religious persecution?

Charlie Manson’s conspiracy theories seem to have become a part of the cultural mindset. The dark, murderous events of 1969 seem like more of a kind of birthing process in this respect. He’s the father of all paranoia. Or so it seems. This article takes a look at the popularisation of Conspiracy Theory in the broader context of 'Justice Narratives' and both ancient and modern apocalypticism sees the actions of Charlie Manson and his followers in the context of civil disengagement, emotional trauma and ongoing issues of national, ethnic and social identity. Groups and individuals looked at include: Islamic State, Nation of Islam, Malcolm X and the counter-culture movement of the 1960s.

In April 2016 Clay Cane of CNN asked the question, "Is Beyonce: The new political goddess"? The s... more In April 2016 Clay Cane of CNN asked the question, "Is Beyonce: The new political goddess"? The story was a response to the launch of her new album, 'Lemonade' and to Beyonce’s half-time performance at the 2016 Super Bowl Final at Levi Stadium, California, where the singer celebrated the more militarist aspects of Black Nationalist figureheads like Malcolm X and the Black Panther Movement.

In this informal opinion article I ask if the singer's decision to reinstate the rights message within the toxic framework of radical Black Nationalism and Radical Protest Activism was a reckless move given that racially motivated violence and lone-wolf terrorism is on the increase in America.

American Dreamer: Who Was Jay Gatsby?, 2024

A thrilling 8-part series from Blanchard House reveals the real life source for F. Scott's Fitzge... more A thrilling 8-part series from Blanchard House reveals the real life source for F. Scott's Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby. New York Times and Bloomberg Journalist investigates. Listen now on audible. Audible Link included.