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Bedside Table: A 100-plus-year-old book proves illuminating
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“I recently made a foray to the upstairs library in our old family farm, where generations have left their favorite books behind. I picked up ‘The Enemies of Women’ by Vincente Blasco Ibanez, printed in 1920, just after World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic. Interestingly, the latter isn’t mentioned in the book. The war, however, is referenced throughout from the perspective of an ex-pat Russian aristocrat living in Monte Carlo. The book is a slog at times, but captures the confusion of monarchies being challenged by unprecedented internal changes. Of particular interest is the skepticism with which the European ruling class viewed the United States mobilization efforts. Never before had great armies been raised without conscription, unless it was to defend one’s homeland.